Social Media Participation
Throughout my experience with Social media I’ve learned how useful these forms of communication can be, and how much more aware i have become since using them for class. I currently participate and have an account through Twitter, and of course this blog through WordPress. I can’t begin to explain how much I would love to encourage others to use, try out and experience different social networking websites, there are several out there, and majority of them are free. I feel so confident in this because I have seen people be creative through these forms of communication, whether it’s running a business, or getting out there artwork, or even starting charities or artists getting their music out there for others to hear across the world.
Many people have their doubts at first, i did, but once it was assigned in my class to set up a Twitter account my opinion changed. I found how much more aware I was becoming as far as things going on in the news and media, being that I don’t read the newspaper or watch the news. I would definitely encourage college students, business owners, even marketing agents to try these outlets. It’s very effective when businesses use Twitter as a way to post coupons, and different events going on. One business that uses this outlet quite a bit is Borders. Since using these networks, i have found them as not only outlets for socializing and finding past friends, but to get ones name out there. My personal opinion is that anything can be abused, and I feel Facebook is one that is very abused, and takes up a very large amount of time of young people.
There’s a few ways one can get started using these social network sites/outlets is simply click on any of the links i have listed above, or even go to Google and just type social networking in the search engine. The sign up process is fairly simple for the most part, and is very user-friendly. So try it out, give it a chance, and the best thing about it is it’s free.
You are absolutely right about people abusing Facebook. It is one of those things that you cannot help but be involved in. Twitter is another one that I never took interest in but eventually will because of a college class. I am hoping to find it as helpful as you think it is in regards to knowing more of what is going on in our world. Thanks for sharing!
That’s great the you got started on Twitter and blogging through WordPress (even if it’s only blogging for class). I’m a PR major also, and I think it’s great to at least have a knowledge about different social networks, if not participate in them. Although I agree with your statement about Facebook being an abused site, especially in our generation, I also think it’s a great way to network yourself and to stay connected–not only with friends and family, but with businesses and musicians. To use your own words, people can be creative through these forms of communication; however, like you also said, we do have to be careful–especially in casual sites like Facebook and Twitter–with what we post if we are truly trying to promote and network ourselves. Good insight, though!
I definitely agree with you, Mike, that Facebook can be overused with the younger crowd. Companies can also overuse their Facebook pages (have you seen Chegg’s page? Most of their posts have nothing to do with textbook rentals, but they still get tons of feedback. Crazy.) But I love it when businesses have promos for their Facebook fans or Twitter followers. Bath and Body Works does this frequently with free lotion coupons exclusively for their fans. It’s a great way to get “likes” and to get people in your store. So I agree that social media can be quite useful. Thanks for posting!
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Mike,
This was a good observation of Social Media. I think the most overused media right now is definitely Facebook. The age structure on Facebook is so broad that it is hard to sensor all of the abuse that could occur. I think many companies could hurt themselves and Facebook by abusing it with insignificant information. You are right about what you have posted here. I think it is necessary for people to correctly use social media or else we could contaminate Facebook and twitter just like we did Myspace. Good job!
Cress