Social networking sites – or social media – is defined in the text as “online community for expanding users’ business or social contacts by making connections through their mutual business or personal connections.” (Laudon, & Laudon, 2010) In more practical terms I define social networking as usage of web tools to share gather and use knowledge about both your business and yourself. The intent of this paper is to identify areas where both business and business professions could best leverage social media for the advantage of the company.
The usage of social media has grown and nielsenwire gives that between 2008 and 2009 the “global time spend on social media sites was up 82%” (Nielsenwire, 2010) Nielsonwire further gives that the top US social media sites in December 2009 were as below Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Classmates, and LinkedIn. (Nielsenwire, 2010) Neilsonwire states that “social networks and blogs are the most popular online category when ranked by average time spent” (Nielsenwire, 2010) This is followed by time spent on gaming and instant messaging. (Nielsenwire, 2010)
(Nielsenwire, 2010)
A study performed by pingdom resulted in interesting data upon the ages of social network users as well as age distribution across those sites. Per Pingdom the age group 35 – 44 represents 25& of those using social media. Pingdom states that this group is the “most social” group, and is represented by the generation that were “in their 20’s as the web took off in the mid ‘90s.” (Royal Pingdom, 2010) Calculations by Pingdom gave the below statistics;
The average social network user is 37 years old.
LinkedIn, with its business focus, has a predictably high average user age; 44.
The average Twitter user is 39 years old.
The...
... middle of paper ...
...f social networking for
business part ii; twitter. Retrieved from
http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/04/04/the-importance-of-using-social-networking-for-business-part-ii-twitter/id=9765/
(Quinn, 2010)
Quinn, R. (2010, May 13). The importance of social networking for
business part iii; linkedin chapter 1. Retrieved from
http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/05/13/the-importance-of-social-
networking-for-business-part-iii-linkedin-chapter-1/id=10525
(Quinn, 2010)
Rusli, E. (2010, May 13). How facebook and twitter are changing business
models, shaping brand idenity. Retrieved from
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/13/how-facebook-and-twitter-are-
changing-business-models-shaping-brand-identity-video/
(Rusli, 2010)
Young, L. (2011, February). Sphere of influence - using the social media to win the war for
talent. HR Professional, 28(2), 28-34.
(Young, 2011)
A survey carried out by a professional Social Media Company, involving 998 small and mid size businesses in North America, revealed that around 94 percent used it for marketing purposes. They found it the best way to maintain the organization's identity and existence online (Yeung, 2014).
From the above example we can see that how social media activism can influence thousands of young minds with ease. Youth today have the opportunity to use media is ways that couldn’t have ever been imagined 15 or 20 years ago. We now have the tool to use social media safely, to analytically scrutinize the messages that are being convened to us from various sources and learn to construct and share our own skills, thoughts and knowledge on our own terms. With this new knowledge and new tools, we have the open wide world to discover, learn and share.
While the latest advances in technology can provide an organization with efficiency in disseminating information, it also creates new challenges in these unchartered waters for today’s organizations. The option to work from home or telecommuting, can be an ideal situation for both the organization and the right employee interested in flextime. With the features that are widely available on today’s smartphones and the ever-increasing availability of wireless networks, employees are no longer tethered to the confines of their home or their cumbersome computers. These individuals now have the liberty of accessing information from just about anywhere in order to get work done. As in the case of SCAN Health Plan, an advantage to providing this work arrangement for the employer, is that it can provide a company a way to grow without having to incur any additional fixed costs such as office buildings, equipment or parking lot space (Fundamentals of Management pg. 152). Technology has allowed businesses to offer remote work arrangements, the daunting task is finding employees who are of the highest moral character, who have great organizational and time management skills, who are also self-motivated and self-disciplined, in addition to being responsible and trustworthy. From a managerial standpoint, helping the employee to feel connected is vital. It will be necessary for management to put forth the extra effort to develop and maintain a working relationship through constant communications. (Investor’s Business Daily 2013)
has become much easier for companies given the new technologies available. However, the wider the span of audience a company tries to reach, the higher the cost of resources. Social media websites offer numerous tools and applications that could greatly increase the growth of small businesses and non-profit organizations and can be much more cost-effective [30]. Social sites can be used to network with organizations to help potential employees find employment and give corporate ...
Since the mid 2000’s social media has gained an increasing influence on our lives. According to data by GlobalWebIndex, who polled 170.000 internet users about their use of social media, the average time spend on social media was 1.72 hours every day in 2014. In 2013 this was 1.66 hour.
Sometimes the best way to see if your business needs help with social media is to get your hands dirt with a social media evaluation. Although you might not be a social media expert...yet, you can still use these questions to see how to improve your presence.
Since the introduction of internet in the 1990’s, its importance worldwide has always grown tremendously. From the first email send to the domination of Facebook and other social media websites, it has changed the way people communicate. The use of social media is increasingly becoming the preferred way people share their daily activities, ideas and knowledge and that is why it’s the most talked about and used platform. Many companies are encouraging their employees to use various social media platforms and engage online for office productivity, posting opinions and presenting their thoughts. Corporations realize that Social Media tools such as blogs, forums, podcasts and social networking websites makes internal communications faster, more convenient and effective. Social media is a low-cost, high-impact tool that can also complement and reinforce your existing communications efforts. It gives a new dimension to internal communications in many ways: building relationship with employees, leads to diverse thinking and innovation, and reduce costs and Increase Productivity. Social media has impacted positively in the business world, but its downside has impacted teens in high school, with issues such as cyber bullying, and people using Facebook and twitter to get over their boredom and research proving that the more they use social networking websites the more envious they feel.
Olenski, Steve “Social Media Usage Up 800% for U.S. Online Adults In Just 8 Years” Forbes.com Inc. 6 September 2013. Web. 6 February 2014
Social media avenues are a new, upcoming, and popular way to advertise for businesses and for people to connect to each other. Alexis Ohanian once said that "Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention spans. They 're only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that cat. And that can be a high bar." (Ohanian) Powerful usage of social media can have a big impact.
Did you remember to tell your cousin happy birthday on Facebook? Do you know how many people liked your latest picture on instagram? Or how many retweets did you get on your totally relatable and borderline inspirational tweet? As of January 2014, 74% of online adults use social networking sites (Rainie). Also more than 9 out of 10 American teenagers use social media(Blaszczak). Because of social networking we are becoming more connected than ever before. Important information can spread faster than wildfire, and we now have the ability to have friends and relationships all over the world. With the ability to communicate and interact with anyone at our fingertips what could go wrong? Well...lots of things.
Social media is pertinent in use of communication throughout today’s organizations. There are many social media platforms that allow organizations to convey communication to potential consumers, stakeholders and the public. “It is essential for leaders to integrate these technologies and seek the best way to use social media and networks to the advantage of the business” (Billington, 2012, p.1). Business owners find that keeping up with current technology trends is essential in having a competitive advantage in the market place and having a strict set of standards and strategy is important in quickly adapting to social media trends.
Social media is becoming the most important and influential technological advancement in our country since the internet was created in the 1960s. For the longest time people were only limited to e-mails to make communication to one another and there were no large scale social media sites available. However, the internet started taking off in the early 2000s as new generations started bringing to the table new and more advanced ideas. Facebook was invented in 2004, where people were able to connect with whoever they wanted throughout the world to communicate and be able to share anything. On their
Started as a way for individuals to communicate and connect with one another over the internet, social media has evolved into a valuable tool for business. Social media is not only beneficial to modern businesses, but necessary. The biggest reason social media is so important to businesses is the size of the audience that they can reach. From a public relations standpoint, social media is a very powerful tool. It allows a company to instantly reach out to the public and receive feedback just as quickly.
Secondly, the social media has made it easier for businesses and business people such as bankers, business owners, brands, and even celebrities to communicate faster and to get things accomplished. Through social media interaction networks such as Twitter, Instagram, What...
Social media is a form of online communication channels devoted to society input, intercommunication, and cooperation. In social media, people can talk and interact without restriction, exchange and debate information with each other about their lives by using many different combinations of the words, personal multimedia, photos, and videos. Also, in social media, individulsa and groups can create, edit, comment on, and engage in personal conversations. There are numerous types of social media, for example, wikis, blogs, social network site, micro blogging services, and sites sharing media. At the beginning, social media was limited to a few networks sites, for instance, Bulletin Board System that allows people to communicate with each other and post a comment. Today, social media has transformed from ineffective sites to more useful and effective websites, for example, Facebook, and MySpace. Some companies are using social media to achieve their goals which is attracting more customers to company website. Three advantages of using social media in business are: raising brand consciousness, building customer relationships, and increasing performance measurements.