In my social media class at Lee, we have moved beyond focusing on innovation. Now we are delving into the essence of social media. In this post, I shall attempt to provide a tentative description for this rapidly growing and changing phenomenon. Please do not consider the following ideas to be complete. Professionals themselves disagree on how to define social media and, no doubt, my 40 classmates turned in 40 descriptions in completing the class assigment.
Social media enable one person to talk with and inform many people. They include electronic technologies such as television (think TV news) and the radio. Many are conglomerations of various Web-based utility sites that serve as aggregates of information, connecting people. They provide a forum for discussion on every topic imaginable and give users control over how (within the medium’s parameters) and with whom they communicate. Many systems also provide a method of cataloguing the dialogue for easy retrieval. Social media is increasingly tailored to suit the individual; personalization may be its defining characteristic. Social media takes many shapes and forms, but in the end, it is about furthering communication and providing easy access for as many as possible.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Oreo Cakesters
Oreo cakesters. What do they have to do with social media? Advertising.
In a recently run commercial, a father and son are pictured chatting about dunking oreo cakesters in milk. The son was creating his own facebook group for people who love dunking oreo cakesters in milk. Meanwhile, his facebook-illiterate father was questioning how to even access facebook. Did he just sign up? Enter the web address? The commercial reflects typical trends in many families. The younger generation is tech savvy and the older generation is the one trying to catch up. Nabisco tapped into the power of social media and used it to relate to their audience. Both facebook and Nabisco profitted from the commercial. Facebook recieved exposure while Nabisco tapped into a new advertising medium. Will we see more of this cross-advertising in the future? My guess is yes. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks wield enormous power in the amount of participants they attract and conversations they sponsor. The advertising industry is likely to not pass by this rich venue.
In a recently run commercial, a father and son are pictured chatting about dunking oreo cakesters in milk. The son was creating his own facebook group for people who love dunking oreo cakesters in milk. Meanwhile, his facebook-illiterate father was questioning how to even access facebook. Did he just sign up? Enter the web address? The commercial reflects typical trends in many families. The younger generation is tech savvy and the older generation is the one trying to catch up. Nabisco tapped into the power of social media and used it to relate to their audience. Both facebook and Nabisco profitted from the commercial. Facebook recieved exposure while Nabisco tapped into a new advertising medium. Will we see more of this cross-advertising in the future? My guess is yes. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks wield enormous power in the amount of participants they attract and conversations they sponsor. The advertising industry is likely to not pass by this rich venue.
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