How do social media platforms differ?

(Image courtesy of smashingbuzz.com)

http://www.smashingbuzz.com/2010/07/how-to-start-social-media-marketing-for-your-site/

I use many Social Media sites these days both for professional reasons and social reasons.  Each site provides a different user experience. Some are very user friendly and some may not be. Each site is suited to a particular requirement, social requirements, and business requirements. Depending on this the user interaction is different.

I am on LinkedIn and when I access the site through my Ipad it comes up with updates on jobs I may be interested in, the latest news on the company I work for or should follow, suggestions for people I should connect with and groups I should join based on my profile. As I am in the real estate business in finance I get a lot of such companies. Once you accessed it is right in “your face” so to speak. It is very business-like and the user interface to connect people to you is quite easy. A swipe on your Ipad and “hey presto” you have expanded your network!

You can share information on companies in LinkedIn with everyone in LinkedIn or on Twitter or with your connections or a combination of these so the redistribution of information is quite easy but limited. The top icons on the Ipad slides from right to left and allows you easy access to your profile, jobs, people you may know, groups, companies, connections etc. You click on the connections tab for example and you can see all the people you are connected. Click on a name and you have a full breakdown of their education, work experience etc. 

You can even see who they are connected and if you wish send a request to connect to an individual. It is all very fluent and easy to use and navigate.  I cannot see where you can email anyone outside LinkedIn which is a bit unfortunate as it would be a good way tell people about opportunities but you need to join the club so to speak.  You don’t have the choice to not like a company which I would like the option to do. I suppose you can ignore the like button and that will be the same thing.  

I have recently started using Instagram on my phone and it is an interesting app to use. The interface up is easy and as it had been acquired by Facebook it seems a bit similar to it. You open the app and you can instantly find people to follow through FB or your contacts on the phone. The bottom of the page has icons for various options. You can explore users and follow them on Instagram like Twitter, your friends or complete strangers. You can comment on posts, like them or tweet them if you like. As the site is about posting photos / videos this couldn't be any easier. Tap the camera icon and away you go. You can edit the photo, adjust its color, tilt and then share it with your followers or individuals. You can even put it on other SM sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr. Your profile page is easily accessible with one of the option icons and you can update your information easily and see the photos and videos you share.

There is a nice feature on the home page in that you can just send photos or videos (both with sound attached) just to your friends who are the only ones who can see them. It's called Instagram Direct.

As the two sites are as different as night and day in my opinion there are differences the way they interact with the user. Instagram requests access to your photos, contacts on your phone, private data. This I am not too keen on. LinkedIn doesn't ask for such access. You can interact with the outside world much easier I feel with Instagram than with LinkedIn. Also in my opinion it is too easy to mistakenly connect with someone on LinkedIn and I still haven't worked out how to disconnect from someone. With Instagram this an easy task under your profile

Overall Instagram has an easy user interface and as a SM site lives up to that mantra. You can share it all that is photos and videos, with the whole wide world and in a variety of ways. It is fun site to use and that is what I feel it is there for, an amusing way of communicating with the world in a particular way. LinkedIn has a more serious face to it and it is shown in its content. It is all about business. As it says on its website "Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful." This is certainly what it tries to do and is quite successful at it. 

How do Organizations Use Social Media?

(image courtesy of intersectionconsulting.com)

In response to week’s 7/8 blog I have looked at three of my favorite brands, organizations to see how they use social media. The results have been very interesting. All brands/organizations have large followings across multiple social media sites; they engage their followers in different ways, get their message out  and are interesting to interact with. 

The band U2 (U2.com) have a website that fans can either use for free with limited access or subscribe to for full access. They use to have a fan club magazine issued every quarter in paper but are now solely online. Subscription and non-subscription access are options provided. The site provides video, audio clips and full songs and albums of their entire catalog  Also has its one community that allows you to interact with other fans. It provides users with their own email address to allow for communication. And you can tweet from the site as well. 

U2 are on Facebook and has 17m likes. It is like any other Facebook page and has photos and comments and links to other web pages. It is kept up to date and for what I cased it keeps its fan base happy as there are a lot of comments/ feedback on postings on the page. Like its twitter page there is a lot of self-promotion going on but hey it's a rock band and its part of the business. There are exclusive video and audio clips and the comments by the band are quite funny at times. The band has a Twitter account as well which I have been following. Individual band members tweet on it along with their followers. Pictures are posted along with links to video and articles in other sites. Causes the band support are promoted on it as well. A lot of self-promotion by the band as well of new singles (new single "Invisible" promoted as a free download with $1 dollar per download going to the RED charity) or awards won.

SM platform allows the band to update their fans worldwide instantly with news about the band, tours and new albums and singles other information pertaining to the solo interests of the band members, and post new videos. The site allows for instant feedback from their fans regarding all things U2. There is no waiting for the next issue of the fan magazine in the past. In a way the band can hopefully take on board what its fan base is saying to it and adapt / change. The band has an official channel on YouTube as well with all their videos. These usually have advertisements before them to generate revenue and makes for a slightly irritating user experience. Like other videos comments can be left. If you subscribe to U2.com I would use this instead. When you subscribe you will get a book and cd as part of the package. Obviously the written word is not portable or instantly accessible. Also it is static and not updated like social media. The official site is well laid out, gives you everything you ever wanted or need as a U2 fan and in the main is good value for money. The basic subscription is $50 per year. 

British Airways (ba.com) is an airline I use when I travel internationally and that I like a lot. It has all the usual social media outlets, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. Its twitter page allows its customers to ask questions about anything from trips to problems and get replies between 9 and 5 every day, seven days a week. It is a good marketing tool for the airline as it endears itself to its customers as it shows it cares about them. It also allows passengers to leave reviews about the airline, find out about sales, weather, flight delays and other things about the airline. There are over 379,000 (which I am one of) followers and over 120,000 tweets made. Its twitter page also advertises holidays and photographs of the airline. The YouTube page is also quite good and provides video on all things to do with the airline from technical videos to mini guides about cities the airline fly’s to tours of airplanes and celebrity interviews. It has a self-promotion aspect to it that you would expect but it isn't overkill. Facebook for British Airways is a bit of a sobering experience. The page consists of mainly advertising for where the airline fly’s to and the classes available on board. Followers can leave comments about posts. It wasn't the most exciting thing to follow and felt very corporate. The airline use to send a magazine for its flying club member’s quarterly but with the advent of electronic forms of media this has “died a death.” It has an electronic version available which you can email, tweet from and share. Very 21st century! 

Overall SM is very positive for British Airways. It engages its customers, answers their questions, provides information, allows for a worldwide reach and promotes itself.  It has recently adopted “Know me” software. Per socialmediainbusiness.com; “The program is designed to collect as much information as possible about customers’ experiences with the airline, thus acting along the same principles of a social media platform. The system gathers all sorts of information related to the travel experiences of BA customers, from problems a customer may have had with BA in the past to whether a customer is flying with the airline for the very first time. By tailoring customer service towards each customer, the airline can hence show its customers that it is really listening to them and improving their experiences, and by doing so hopes to achieve a better performance in its overall customer service.”  Quite interesting and bodes well for the future.

http://socialmediainbusiness.com/social-media-case-study-british-airways

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Like other commercial organizations it has a social media presence. It can be followed on a Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, its own website, etc.

It's twitter feed which I am a follower of has posts that are linked to its main website regarding human rights around the world. It also has tweets by individuals and responses by its followers. It seems very popular and has over 972k followers and 11.3k tweets made. It is not a commercial enterprise like the other parties I have mentioned in this blog but it knows its audience, gets exactly across what it is about, and the tweets that provide links to its website and other sites are all very interesting. SM allows it to get its message out there quickly, raise awareness of some issue start, get feedback, and start petitions. Its message is maintained all the time and unlike traditional forms of media it allows its followers to keep up to date in an easy way. Its message on all the social media sites it maintains is similar and very clear. Its YouTube channel has video on all kinds (652) of human rights issues along with feedback and it is quite powerful in what it conveys. Its own website, (it also has websites by country), provide articles on campaigns, how to get involved, stories on human right abuses, how to donate to the organization. Donating to Amnesty International is not in your face and there is separate tab for it which you can choose to ignore. It is very well organizes and like all of amnesty's social media sites it conveys a powerful message.

Overall Social Media allows companies, brands, organizations to have a continuous dialogue with its customers / followers all over the world, maintain its message with its customers / followers and hopefully improve its services,where necessary as a result. In today’s world having a social media presence is necessary and vital to a company’s success and meeting the demands of its customers. Without it I feel the customer is missing out on something, the instant feedback is not there, a lack of engagement in the company’s message. In the 21st Century this is very important.  

Is social media good or bad for society?

(Image courtesy of http://xtraordinaireblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/)

It is probably a question for the ages “Is social media “good” for society?” “Is it bad for society?” Everyone uses it, some more than others but it is out there and I cannot ever see it going away. This is now firmly entrenched in society and is part of our daily lives. Its impact in such a short amount of time has been enormous and wide ranging.

Social media can be seen as good for society in the way that it brings people together, families together (the fabric of society), unites people in good causes together, provides the masses with a voice (very quickly), enables instant feedback to elected officials of what people think, helps people find a job, promotes commerce etc. I have embraced all of these things on social media sites and the convenience of it. Everything is quicker now, certain generations want instant feedback and the days of writing a letter or even making a phone call (let’s face it our mobiles are used more for SM than actually making a call) are on the way out. The change in the last 5-10 years has been incredible from this point of view and even though it has positives like everything Social Media has its negatives.

There are numerous reasons why SM is bad for society. Some of them include Cyber bullying online with our children and adults alike which is a continuing threat and this kind of bullying can be vicious and the fallout lasts for years. With people being able to be anonymous online these attacks can be done with no holds barred. The Houston Chronicle wrote that per a CBS report in 2010 “Cyber-bullying has spread widely among youth, with 42% reporting that they have been victims.”  This has to be tackled and with serious gusto. In the United Kingdom there is legislation that covers stalking and harassment over the internet but there is more to be done in this area. 

With these sites being available 24/7 the temptation is to always be on them, not just in our private lives but at work. There is Facebook and Google Chat and twitter etc. to allow continuous distraction form our work. Productivity suffers. Per the Houston Chronicle "Nucleus Research reported that Facebook shaves 1.5% off office productivity while Morse claimed that British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon." The blocking of these websites at work may help with this. I know people have to talk to family and friends during the work day but not every single minute of it! 

We have lost some of the privacy of our life with this medium. Photos, thoughts, likes and dislikes are available. People can control who sees it but, even with friends and family, revealing everything may not be a good idea. A certain mystery is gone. The loss to society of face to face contact is another concern. Society functions or human contact and current and future generations are heading down a road to where the keyboard and screen is the nearest thing to human contact. The nuances of communication are lost through social media. People can misinterpret what is said on these sites quite easily. Are we moving into a phase now where future generations will not be able to communicate without an electronic device? 

I feel as this medium gets more sophisticated with the technology that will arrive, Google Glass anyone, and new social media sites that the reach of social media into our existence will get longer. With Google Glass there is the option to record your existence 24 hours a day and film everything you do and the people you interact directly and indirectly and put this on YouTube for example. Privacy issues will be raised as who will know if people are being filmed or not. Per Social Media Today “Google Glass could identify a person on social networks just by looking at their face.” Will there be nowhere to hide! Are we moving towards being like “RoboCop” and having the vision of a half man half machine? This is first version of this device and who knows where we will be in 5 - 10 – 20 years from now. The future is now and as George Orwell said “Big Brother is watching you.”

     http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html

     http://socialmediatoday.com/webkirstie/1731431/how-google-glass-could-evolve-social-media

Relationship Killer!!

(image courtesy of pinterest.com)

With all these social media sites available to tweet on, post on, like, dislike, get in touch with lost friends, family, have interaction with people you have never met or haven't seen in years etc. is it killing relationships or enhancing them?  This may be the question of the age. One definition of a relationship per Merriam Webster is “the way in which two or more people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other.” On social media that definition may still apply. We still connect to each other, more so on a regular basis than physically, as interaction and feedback is done so quickly. This is a good thing as people stay in touch. The problem with social media is that, if we are not careful, we can lose this intimacy we have in the physical world with people and over expose ourselves online, revealing everything about ourselves, our problems, successes, highs and lows. With social media sites there is a constant review of what we do. This can be commented on, liked or not liked, re-tweeted etc. It can be easy to see if one’s life is not as exciting as all your “friends” on line and it can become very stressful very quickly. Is it worth "keeping up with the Jones" so to speak. It is a balance I suppose and if handled carefully can be good for both your private life and your work life as well.

Social media in respect of social interaction is again a balancing act. It can break down barriers one may have in the real world as people feel freer to interact and any inhibitions are gone. But this can backfire as one doesn't develop skills to get over that in the real world. Face to face with people there is nowhere to hide. You cannot turn it off or disconnect from the reality of that situation. You have to deal with it.

The whole nature of our relationships with others, I feel changes with social media. One can become very close with people on line or feel you are. In the physical world this can be very different. What you are can be put out in cyberspace forever and I feel that we tend to give too much of ourselves online. With the click of a mouse one can find a relationship with a person over or damaged where the tone of what has been said is misinterpreted. This can happen quite easily. It may be looked upon as a good thing but one can interact again with people that fell out of our social circle. Old friends are brought back into this circle but this may be not for the good. I am a believer that people loose contact for a reason and that it is a natural thing to happen. Once makes new friends through one’s life and that reconnecting can somehow skew your natural balance regarding relationships. If one is in touch with a large group of people online this may affect the people you see on a day to day or regular basis in the physical world.

Even with all these connections online, all these people we are supposed to know are they really friendships. For example if you were to look at all the people you are friends with on Facebook I would doubt if you really knew half of them. They are friends of friends, casual acquaintances, people you know vaguely at work etc. We are polite on line, like or comment positively on what people say or do but is it really a true relationship? I align it to that same person you see every day on the train going to work You know he or she to say hello but that is about that.

As a society we need to be aware of the power of social media in our lives. Younger generations’ more than older ones are totally engaged in this and everything is filtered through these sites. For future generations one cannot imagine what will be available and the power it will bring. Social media can do a lot for relationships, socially and professionally. It can help people unite in common causes, become part of groups, connect with people personally and professionally. Once something is posted, depending on the site used, it is available worldwide for good or bad. Will relationships and one of the bases of society   be maintained on line going forward? Will physical human contact fall away or be reduced to a minimum and with what will be the implications as the question say for marriage and divorce, custodial rights, friendships, employment, and any number of other social issues? I guess we will have to wait and see. I am not too hopeful though given what I have seen and written about.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/relationship

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/140244975870017072/