Social media
Social media can be defining as websites and
applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in
social networking. Moreover they are internet sites where people interact
freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives,
using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, video & audio.
Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and
web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which
individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify
user-generated content.
Classification
of Social Media
- Collaborative projects - Wikipedia
- Blogs & micro blogs - Twitter
- Social news networking
sites - Digg & Liker net
- Content
communities - YouTube
& Dailymotion
- Social Networking
sites - Facebook
- Virtual game
worlds - World of warcraft
- Virtual social world - Second Life
Quality, reach, frequency, accessibility, immediacy,
usability & permanence are special features that differentiate social media
from industrial media.
Advantages
of Social Media
- Easy for communication
- Quick & cost
effective
- Build associations
- Knowledge sharing -Social media contains
wide range of knowledge related to different fields and it is free to share any
kind of knowledge through social media. It is a way to enhance the knowledge of
people.
- Opportunity for shy,
socially awkward people to communicate
Advantages of Social Media for Business Organizations
Broad
reach
Global
connections can be made by social media. Consequently businesses can reach to a
huge market where number of consumers & opportunities available.
Reduces
overall marketing cost
Since
social media is free business organizations can use it as a marketing tool. As
the above mention business can reach to a large number for customers with no or
less cost. Likewise make aware about product & services can be done
effectively than other methods.
Help to offer better
customer service & engage with the customers
Businesses can create value for the customers through social media.Customer complaints handling & giving quick response to them can be done
too.
Ability to design own
online personality
Business organizations
can develop & maintain their own personality through social media.
Ability to monitor other businesses
Through social media organizations can monitor their competitors and see what they are doing and how the customers are reacting to them.
Provide competitive
advantage
Achieve above
advantages in an extraordinary manner leads organization to achieve competitive
advantage than other organizations.
Disadvantages
of Social Media
- Time wasting
- Privacy issues
- Online bulling
- Fake profiles
- Boast & exaggerates
- Less face to face interaction with family &
friends
