Describe What Is Social Networking in General

Assignment 3 - Dove

1. Describe what is social networking in general.

“Social media (SM) is the use of information technology to support the sharing of content among networks of users. Social media enables people to form communities of practice, or communities, which are groups of people related by a common interest. A social media information system (SMIS) is an information system that supports the sharing of content among networks of users” (6). The main idea behind social media is to provide platforms for people to exchange information, ideas, personal messages, etc, and allow people to interact with each other real time. Social media also gives businesses a valuable opportunity to do the same thing with its customer base, reducing the divide between corporate and consumer.

There are a number of different social media sites available, all geared at different types of people. Facebook is easily the largest with over 1.6 billion users per month (1). Facebook allows people to network with friends and family, and also has a large ad presence along the side pages for companies to advertise in.

Instagram is an up and coming social media site that lets people post pictures and videos of their lives on the go with cellphone cameras. These photos can be edited with filters and easily posted on other sites. Currently instagram has 400 million active users per month (1).

Twitter is a site geared around posting simple messages, generally with a # followed by a simple statement. Twitter allows users to report others ‘tweets’ and to comment on each others content. People and businesses can also easily post links to products or sites they want people to visit. Twitter generally has 320 million users per month (1).

1. Describe how social networking makes business competitive.

Social media is how current generations talk and keep each other apprised of their lives, with 69% of adults using some form of social media (8). People will commonly recommend products and brands on their social medias just by using them or mentioning them in a post. This is important, because around 70% of people will try a brand that a friend has recommended.

Marketing on social media has multiple benefits, including lower ad costs, targeted reach, and real-time performance analysis. Social media have lower costs to set up then traditional prints ads, tv, and radio, and will generally let a company scale how much it is advertising with the companies growth. Social media also allows companies to target specific niches easier, by targeting social sites and groups that contain the products market groups. Social media also gives you instantaneous response, with businesses being able to see how many times their ads were viewed and allowing the public to comment on content and express their opinions on it.

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