(Image courtesy of smashingbuzz.com)
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.
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