This week's main focus is on social networking sites. If there's one social networking site that I am really familiar with, it's probably facebook. Or maybe friendster (mostly in the past though) too.. :P So that got me thinking... why not check out other social networking sites that i don't use??
The social networking site that popped right into my mind was twitter! Reason: i don't really know much about it and people seem to be so hyped up about "tweeting" and all.
What striked me at first glance about twitter when i went to my profile, was its simple yet easy to use layout. I must admit that it has a very clean look that is not jarring to the eyes. :) Furthermore, i liked that each message that i typed (or twitter's words, "tweet") was limited to 140 words so unlike other social networking sites, i did not have to look at such long paragraphs of words. Neat stuff!
Other interesting things i found out about twitter is that twitter has their own microsyntax and abbreviated Twitter grammar to make their Tweets more expressive. If your are merely retweeting someone else’s tweet, for example, you acknowledge that by placing a ‘RT’ at the beginning of your micro-message. If you are replying publicly to another user or just referring to them, you indicate that with an ‘@username.’ You can even add hashtags to a tweet so that it shows up in searches for specific topics. That is seriously a cool and interesting creation on twitter's part!! :)
Searching for a certain topic is also made very easy by just typing in the topic in the search bar like seen below. Indeed it's almost idiot proof and anyone will find the ease of using twitter almost addictive! :D
Another niffy tab that twitter has is the "follow" tab that allows one to follow and hear what an individual tweets on their home page. It's so fuss free and all it needs is a click of a button and i'm instantly updated with the latest stuff the people i'm following has to say.
I would say that twitter is a good way of advertising for businesses in the sense that it allows supporters of a certain business to be updated with the current progress. For example, with some online blog shops, they constantly tweet their newest products and by placing their link there, it makes it easy for followers to click it and immediately to see the product.
A personal example would be myself, i'm currently following Chef Gordon Ramsay (https://twitter.com/GordonRamsay01) on his twitter page and i discovered that his newest restaurant, Petrus is almost in completion and that the restaurant has been booked for the next few weeks! His twitter page can be seen in my screenshot below:
By reading his tweets that give updates about the setup of his restaurant, it creates a sense of excitement and anticipation for his restaurant. Moreover, it also creates a sense of closeness between himself and the followers (potential future client/customers to his restaurants) as we are able to "see" into some of his thoughts about certain stuff. All these i believe would undoubtedly serve to help his business. :)
In short, i believe that as many people globally are connected through social networking sites, it is useful for businesses to bank on this aspect to reach out to this huge supply of people to promote and advertise their businesses to the huge masses.
In short, i believe that as many people globally are connected through social networking sites, it is useful for businesses to bank on this aspect to reach out to this huge supply of people to promote and advertise their businesses to the huge masses.
3 comments:
One way that is different about the way we communicate in the present, is the availability of new media. With the phone or computer at your fingertips, you can put out what you want to say in an instant. I agree that new media is a good way for organisations, not just businesses to engage the public. This extends to selling products, promoting messages and essentially, getting the word out there. The promotion of new media will also ensure that information is readily and constantly updated. For instance, I like to read food blogs, and many food bloggers also have a twitter account, so that they can update their twitter accounts with a very short blurb of their dining experience at a particular place, in realtime.For instance, chubby hubby has this twitter account: http://twitter.com/chubbyhubby
yes, i agree that twitter, facebook and the like are good for promoting businesses and keeping in touch with business partners. However i think that this kind of promotion was not used in the past not because of the new social networking sites. I think social networking sites have changed the interactions between people not so much because of the newer platforms available, but more of the speed at which we are able to communicate. however, this depends on the time frame that is of interest. for example, 50 years ago snail mail which is a form of social networking, is the only way of communicating with people that are across the globe. now with email, facebook and other platforms, the speed at which people are able to communicate with each other is much reduced. the way that people interact through snail mail and facebook for example would not be much different, only the speed.
Kudos to the people above whom have touched on several relevant factors which might have contributed to the growing success of social networking sites. In addition to that 'list', another interesting point one might like to look into (when delving into this issue) is the CHANGING PSYCHOLOGY and the general EDUCATIONAL LEVEL of today's consumers.
The blogger has appropriately pointed out the "sense of closeness" and the need to "see into some of his thoughts" which educated consumers of the present expect from their service providers. In the past, due to the lack of technology and absence of the internet, product information wasn't readily available to the masses. Coupled with the lower levels of education, this resulted in consumers whom were less knowledgable, and thus weren't as psychologically demanding as compared to their current counterparts. To put it simply, there was a 'distance' between the consumers and their retailers.
In order for businesses to succeed in this present competitive market, leaders must also take into account this changing trend and close the distance from that of a consumer-business relationship to that of a friend-friend (for lack of a better term) relationship. For that, social networking sites are great mediums to bridge this gap.
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