Week 2A - Overview of Social Media

It is almost impossible to live in today’s world and not use some kind of social media. My generation grew up not knowing what the internet really was, and we did not have mobile phones. I got my first mobile when I finished high school. The first social media site I joined was Facebook and I was already working by that time. However, I think nowadays, if you have a smart phone, there is no way that you are not using one or two (or a bunch of) social media platforms. Most people mainly use them just for personal use, but more and more people/companies are also using them for business purposes. I still only have a few accounts, but I am in the process of learning more and more about the different ways to utilize the power of the social media. I have noticed that some platforms can be used better for personal use and some are dedicated to be a business platform. But the majority can work both ways. Let me share my thoughts with you about these social media platforms.

I think most of the social media which are for instant messaging are best for personal use. WhatsApp and Viber are the two applications which I use daily. They are a great tool for keeping in touch with your friends and family. It is easy to text, call, or have video calls on them. You can send pictures and small videos, and you can even create groups, where you can chat with the group members at the same time. My family also has a group. We live in different places and different time zones, so we would miss out a lot form each other’s lives without this. But with our Viber group we share our daily life with each other. And it is free to call each other anywhere in the world as long as we have internet. However, I would not use these platforms for my business. The reason is that the conversation is a free flow. Even for personal use sometimes it is a little hard to follow who is talking to whom and about what in a group chat. But if you just want to keep in touch with your family and friends, it’s an easy and fun way to do it.

There are special social media platforms which are dedicated to business use only. LinkedIn is one of them that comes right away to my mind. LinkedIn is what I would call the “business Facebook”. In there, people and companies are only sharing professional information. It is not about sharing cute videos about your puppies, except maybe if you are a dog shelter. It is purely about sharing information about your professional life, your business, and its achievements. Connecting with people and business in your industry and professional interest.

Many social media platforms are used both by individuals and businesses, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest just to name some of the most common ones. The goal for all these sites is sharing your ideas in words, with pictures or with the help of videos, or all of the above at the same time. However, there are a few very important differences in how an individual or a business usually uses social media. For example, one is how often they post. You as a person will post when you are in the mood. A business on the other hand has to be consistent and create posts on a regular basis, otherwise it can lose its followers. One other thing is, while you can post about pretty much anything that comes to your mind, a business needs to stay focused to be able to build a brand.

In short this is how I see social media is used today, and what different social media platform can be used. I would love to hear your thought about my writing so please leave a comment below.