Social media make history?

This is my 10^th blog. I would like to talk about the development of media in human history.

TED.com is really good website to know new ideas from remarkable people across the world that I have never heard it before.

Clay Shirky held a speech in TED and the topic was “how social media make history?” Shirky said that media is increasingly social. Innovation can happen anywhere that people can take for granted the idea that we’re all in this together. 

We know that media are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data (Wikipedia, 2011). According to Shirky C (2009), there are four periods in the last 500 years where media has changed enough to qualify for the label Revolution.

1.      The printing press: Movable type, oil-based inks, that whole complex of innovation that made printing possible staring in the middle of the 1400s.

2.      Conversational media: first the telegraph, then the telephone. Slow, text based conversations.

3.      Record Media: a revolution in recorded media other than print. First photos, then recorded sound, then movies. All encoded onto physical objects.

4.      Electromagnetic spectrum: The harnessing of electromagnetic spectrum to send sound and images through the air, radio and television.

However, in the past, media are good at creating conversations is no good at creating groups. And that’s good at creating groups is not good at creating conversations. If we want to have a conversation in this world, we have it with one other person. If we want to address a group, we get the same message and we give it to everybody in the group (Shirly C, 2009)

The changes of media in last 20 decades:

1.      The internet is the first medium that has native support for groups and conversation at the same time

2.      Media is increasing less just a source of information, and it is increasingly more a site of coordination that groups can see, hear, watch and listen to something and now gather around and talk to each other in the internet

3.      Former consumers are now producers too

4.      People  are increasingly in a landscape where media is global, social ubiquitous and cheap

5.      We are living in the middle of media that we are no longer disconnected from each other and the network is growing very very large. The audience can talk directly to one another. 

6.      Media is less often about crafting a single message to be consumed by individuals. It is more and more often a way of creating an environment for convening and supporting groups

 I absolutely agree with Shirlys’ points and ideas that we are so close with each other. However, the media is changing rapidly. What can we do to make best use of it and how do we adopt to it?

Are you going to buy iPhone 4S?

I am not an Apple fan but I look forward to iphone 5 too.

New shape…..features……design…….functions

Finally, Apple launched iPhone 4S instead of the much anticipated iPhone 5.

Knowing from social networking that lots of people were disappointed with iphone 4S and they were so sad about Steve Job’s death too.  

One photo is found on Facebook ………iPhone 4S represents “iPhone For Steve”.  ???????? I think it is a rumor only~

The AGE has an online Poll about the Apple iPhone 4S.  The poll result is that over 80% of people are not going to buy iPhone 4S: 

Q: Will you buy an Apple iphone 4S?

1. YES:                                                 19%
2. NO:                                                   41%
3. I'm holding out for iPhone 5:        40%

Total votes:38626 
Source: THE AGE 

How about you?

Will you buy it? Or you are holding out for iPhone 5? 

Do you need Facebookanol?

Do u think that Facebook is a addiction?

I found a photo on facebook, which is shared by my facebook friend.

Facebookanol?  

Facebook addiction?

I am sick. I am sure I am a Facebook addict. I check the Facebook over 20 times per day. It becomes part of my life. In comparison, facebook addiction is not like drug or alcohol addiction that affects our health directly but…..it seems we cannot control ourselves. Facebookanol reminds me that it’s a time to reduce using facebook.

Of course, for marketers, Facebook is absolutely a good media to communicate and engage with customers. However, when social media becomes more important, it seems that we overlook face-to-face communication. Social and communication skills are very important too.

Sorry. It is just my personal opinion. ;) 

Block social networking sites at work? No way!

According to a recent newspoll survey commissioned by Symantec in Australia, 73 per cent of Australian workers access social networking sites at work. 

it is not a complete solution to ban and block the use of social media at work as employees are able to readily access these sites via portable devices such as smartphones. What can organizations do is to allow employees to access social networking sites but also restrict to use these sites.  

Ganin, K 2011 (from Government News), where had some recommendations for those organizations considering the restriction of social media sites:

1.  Develop publication policy though HR and corporate risk management to include staff training and awareness around refreshed ‘ authorised spokesperson policies
2.  Prohibit access doesn’t make sense because people will find ways to get around the unreasonable usage but it has to be for a genuine social purpose and within reasonable limits
3. All employers must have HR policies dealing with misuse of the social network, particularly when it arises in the harassment, discrimination or bullying areas
4.  Must cover the misuse of the network to release an agency’s (employer’s) confidential information or material which could cause reputational damage to the employers
5.    Restrict time access to the site, for example during lunch break, and out of office hours.
6.    Consider having one or two PCs in a public area, for example a kitchen or café area, where employees can check Facebook. It is much easier to monitor employees who spend all day away from their desk!
7.   Restrict tabbed browsing so employees cannot stay logged in to the site all day.
8.  Monitor time employees spend on Facebook.
9. Make it clear to employees that they are not to use corporate bandwidth by downloading Facebook applications on work networks.

What do you think of these recommendations? Or, you still think that organizations must block the social networking sites at work?  

Reference: 

Ganin, K 2011, 'THE DANGERS OF GETTING SOCIAL AT WORK', Government News, 31, 1, pp. 38-39.

 

Must see this video!!! Harry Potter!!

I am not a crazy fan of Harry Potter (but I have seen all series of Harry Potter movies) I really love this awesome video!!!

Two guys use only 99 seconds to describe 7 novels and it is fairly complete. Soooo amazing!!!!  More than 4 million people have seen this video. Youtube is really a powerful tool to share video and information with other people online.

However, one thing I am thinking is that this video is not officially released by the author, but people feel good to see this video. To some extent, people enjoy seeing different kinds of videos online, but the company cannot control other people to upload video on youtube, it could be relevance to its products, image, services etc. If the video is benefit to the company, of course, companies welcome. However, if the video deliberately damage the image of the brand, what should the company do?

Do you like this song? Can this video encourage you to download the song through iTunes? Feel free to leave your comments.

The quality of fans on social media

Last blog, the topic was the number of fans “like” fashion brand. To conclude, ‘like” button does not mean that the consumers ‘like” its brand although Zara has over 10 million fans on facebook.This issue makes me think about the importance of quality consumers and how to encourage them to purchase its products through social media?

Company invests plenty of money on social media. Of course, marketers want to increase the number of fans on social media. At the same time, they have to make sure the ROI, which is used to measure the success of social media strategy. However, does it mean that no.of fans on facebook are your "loyal" consumers? This situation is similar to the people who have lots of friends on facebook, Does it mean that all friends on facebook are the "real" friends? If over 5,000 fans for the brand, if those fans are disengaged, and have no intention to buy any of your products or services, the social media is likely useless.

Therefore, it is needed to understand the quality level of fans on social media that is benefit to its brand. Rather, it’s just a communication tool only.

What marketers can do are:

• ·      Think about how to create and deliver meaningful values for consumers to trust its brands on social media
• ·         Find a way to keep encouraging fans to return community on social media
• ·         Find a way to maintain long-term relationship with consumers that turns them into loyal consumers
• ·         Create a unique social media community 

Fashion fans!!!!! "Like" Zara, H&M, GAP on facebook

Last night, I searched information on the internet about global fashion brand. While I was searching, I was very curious…….how many super fans do some fashion brands have????

SOOOOOO, I searched it on facebook………to check how  many facebook fans do they have?

9,940,407 people like Zara http://www.facebook.com/Zara

8,013,647 people like H&M http://www.facebook.com/hm

1,630,745 people like GAP http://www.facebook.com/gap

I am so surprised that ZARA has about 10 million fans on facebook. Moreover, I am thinking….can the marketers use facebook or other social media platforms to transfer first-time consumers into loyal consumers?  According to Kotler’s model, there are different stages of relationship development. 

I believe that loyalty program is widely used to keep close relationship with consumers. However, can companies use facebook to keep relationship with its super fans instead? Does it work? I am not sure  but I believe that super fans are willing to have relationship with their favourite  brands.  

Find an agency if you are not confident to manage SM!

No doubt, companies believe that Social Media is at the lowest cost while comparing to other methods of online marketing. However, companies are confused and worry about

How to manage social media effectively in order to achieve the result that they desire? (Since they do not have that experience ……SMM is still a new method of marketing)

What they are thinking……………

•      Get involved in SM, which requires regular monitoring and engagement in   the community and sharing of valuable information with public
• ·         SM is about developing trust and respect within the community rather than it is a channel for sales promotion only
• ·         The efforts of SM are a long term strategy, not a quick solution and the results are not as tangible as traditional media, how to evaluate it?

I am thinking …why don’t companies find an agency to manage and monitor its SM? Therefore, I search online….Great!!! Some agencies provide its services and I am surprised that lots of companies have used that service already, e.g. 3M….VISA…..HSBC…..DELL……

If you were marketer and were not confident to manage the SM, would you find an agency for help? Why?   

Happy to hear your opinions. 

Have you ever left a message to Old Spice Man?

Have you left a message to Old Spice Man in Facebook or Twitter and looked forward to receiving his reply? 

Have you seen this video in YouTube before?

This is a successful campaign from Old Spice; it shows that how Old Spice makes use of social media to create a powerful viral marketing.

 (FYI: Old Spice is a prominent American brand of male grooming products).

What have I learnt in this campaign?

New model of online communication

The main feature of social media is two-way communication. The campaign shows a further two-way communication that Old Spice Man would give online audiences a verbal response (video communication).New experience and funny!!

 Connections between people

The campaign effectively reaches the online audiences that Old Spice Man connects with audiences “emotionally”. Online audiences look forward to receiving Old Spice Man’s response in social media and try to leave some provocative messages in facebook and twitter. It successfully draws online audiences’ attention and increases “brand awareness” on the internet.

Personalize the response

The response is “unique” that Old Spice Man specially records a video to his lucky fans, It really makes consumers happy and feels they are special.

What do you think of this campaign? Feel free to leave your comment. 

Who is the active user of social media?

Happy to share with you guys my second blog (my first blog was posted when I was secondary school student but I have forgotten my username and password ;)

Who is the active user of social media?

Generation Y? Generation X? Other generation…

From my personal experience, most of my friends in facebook (FB) are generation Y. They are happy and willing to share photos and comments with other FB friends. Furthermore, they check FB many times per day and enjoy sharing anything with FB friends. More importantly, they look forward to knowing who leaves messages to them and keep updating the news of daily lives. On the other hand, some people (my uncle, auntie, boss), they have FB account but they are not active to use FB and told me that they are surprised that why people actively use the facebook , no matter where they are ( in the tram, bed or even they are in class also J).

If I assume that the active user of social media is generation Y, does it mean that social media is the most effective way to communicate with generation Y?

Feel free to leave your comment here.