Social Media

Social Media describes a broad set of online and mobile tools which allow users to:

  • Meet new people
  • Communicate with existing contacts
  • Create and share content and views
  • Collaborate with known and unknown individuals
  • Confer and compare with our online networks

The world of social media is rapidly evolving, with new tools and functionality being developed all the time. This means any hard and fast definition is likely to become outdated pretty quickly so it is better to focus on understanding the broad types of activities which social media allows users to do.

1) Contact.

ContactAny dialogue first requires you to meet people to communicate with and for them to be able to meet you. Social media sites therefore usually allow you to create a 'profile' by recording information about yourself (name, contact details, photo image etc). The level of information depends on the nature of the site, so while Twitter requires a fairly basic set of personal information, getting full benefit from Linked-in requires rather more. Sites also allow you to search for other users who you might like to contact, with the search criteria generally reflecting the profile data. They usually require you to send an initial invite to any potential contact who then decides if they are happy to become a contact of yours.

2) Communicate.

CommunicateAll social media sites offer the ability for you to communicate, ranging from a targeted, confidential message to a known contact, to a comment expressed in a forum which can be read by anyone. There are many types of communication tool available, from email and instant messaging, to wall posts and forums comments. Communication can also be via PC based sites and mobile text messaging, while the rapid uptake of mobile web access means that social media users can now easily stay in touch while on the move.

3) Create & share.

CreateA key feature of social media sites is that they offer users the facility to create content (photos, video, music, blog posts etc) and to then share it with either known contacts or the on-line world at large. Indeed there is an insatiable appetite amongst social media users to share and access shared content, with over 1.2 billion videos being viewed on YouTube each day, 3.6 billion photos being stored on Flickr and over 120 million blogs available to read.

4) Collaborate.

CollaborateSocial media sites can enable users to work together on common projects. For example, wikis are collaborative sites that let users contribute their knowledge on a subject. As more knowledge is contributed, the breadth of information grows, while peer reviews improve the accuracy of the data. Wikipedia is the best known wiki, providing a free online encyclopedia with over 12 million articles.

5) Confer & Compare.

ConferFinally, social media provides mechanisms by which digital consumers confer and compare, asking each other for advice on everything from how to manage personal relationships or solve a problem with an employer, to product reviews and advice on what to buy. As this advice is coming from their peers, social media users will often trust it far more than information that comes from more traditional sources or promotional material from product suppliers.

Understanding these activities and the associated underlying social media trends is critical for organisations as it is these which are reshaping how people relate and communicate with each other in their personal and work lives. It is also changing who they look to for advice and how they make their purchase decisions.

For information on how using social media could benefit your organisation, contact us now.