social arguments

There are two social media sites that have the cyber world connecting billions of people. Facebook and Twitter have risen to the top of the food chain in regards to staying up to date on the world around you. There are very valid arguments on both sides of the spectrum when it comes to the discussion on the positives and negatives of these sites and I would like to go into further detail about a couple of them. With Facebook being as popular as it is there is a huge beneficial aspect for small businesses and corporations alike. The amount of publicity a business can receive from one person liking their page can be astronomical. An article by Jason Spindle talks about business advantages due to Facebook, saying it increases the advertising and promotes recurring customers. Think about it like this; say a random girl goes to the store and buys a drink. On the side of this drink is a label offering a 15% discount for liking their page on Facebook. The girl immediately reaches for her phone, finds and likes the page, thus receiving her discount. She has 672 friends. That means 672 people just saw the name of this product on their newsfeed. 123 of them like the page so they can receive the discount. Each of those 123 has an average of 300 friends who have now also seen the page… it would not be fallacious to say that by the end of the day over 5000 people may have now seen the name of this product. In order for this to happen, all the store has to do is start a free page on Facebook and update the label on their product. This saves a huge amount of money that would have been spent booking a commercial spot on television as well as all the work and money involved in the making of a commercial. http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2534-facebook-benefits.html While Facebook has its pro’s, there is always a downside to everything and this site is no different. One of the biggest and most logical arguments against Facebook is the factor of privacy. Kashmir Hill, a Forbes staff member wrote an article going into three real stories about how seriously Facebook can negatively affect your life. The second story in the article talks about a 13 year old boy who was visited by the Secret Service and questioned about a post he wrote after Osama Bin Laden was killed. This shows exactly how far and fast Facebook content can be seen. Once you decide to put something on Facebook you run the risk of it being maladaptive to your future. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/05/18/the-dangers-of-facebook/ Twitter is also a huge topic of debate for people today. There are those that find it to be a mind numbing waste of time, and those that think it is a great asset to today’s world. I do not personally have a Twitter and I myself am exposed to it on a constant basis. I have seen ways that it can be positive, but can completely understand why somebody would find it to be a huge waste of time. In my opinion the biggest benefit for Twitter seems to be with the business aspect. It is basically the same concept as Facebook. An article on Queensland Gov’t talks about how using Twitter can help a business become further integrated with its target audience. Being able to be hands on with your customer brings about a sense of security that can create an ongoing relationship. If a company is easy to communicate with it has a better shot at having a loyal customer. http://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/running/marketing/online-marketing/using-twitter-to-market-your-business/benefits-of-twitter-for-business One of the biggest arguments those against Twitter have is how addictive and time consuming it is. I found an article by James Meikle of The Guardian that goes into depth about a study done on how hard it is to break the addiction that is Twitter. He speaks about how easy it is to pick up your phone and start typing and says that because it isn’t deadly or financially risky people tend to have a harder time kicking the habit of tweeting than they do cigarettes. I believe it! http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/feb/03/twitter-resist-cigarettes-alcohol-study Each one of the arguments towards both the negative and positives of these two sites have a point. I can honestly say I agree with each argument. I have seen how both of these sites can affect a person and a business and my view point is, socialize! Just be aware of what you are doing, as with anything else. Thanks for taking the time to read another one of my truly educational blogs, have a good day!