Category:Social Media

=The Big 4=

There are many players in the social media game, but four of them dominate the landscape in terms of active smartphone users. These dominating players are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Welcome to Facebook
Facebook is the most pervasive social media platform around today, as well as the third most popular smartphone app behind e-mail and browsers. It separates itself from other social media services by letting users define a huge portion of the site with regard to features, looks and feel, and privacy settings. How extensively has Facebook ingrained itself in every day life? Over 85 million people access Facebook from their smartphones on a regular basis. Let's examine the Facebook phenomenon a little closer by assuming that you represent the "average" Facebook smartphone app user...

 You check your account from your smartphone roughly 14 times per day, for about 2 minutes and 22 seconds each time. Your favorite time to check your account and update your status is in the evening just before bedtime. You spend roughly half an hour each day wandering around the Facebook smartphone app. 

The magnitude of your Facebook addiction has been brought to light now, but it can't just be you, right? To ease your nerves, take a look at some other Facebook smartphone app use statistics.

 Approximately 70% of smartphone users visit Facebook frequently, and over 50% of smartphone users visit every day. 50% of users admit to checking Facebook in movie theaters. 48% update statuses and check on friends while at the gym. 47% visit Facebook while preparing meals at home.</li> 46% use Facebook while running errands, including at red lights and in check-out lines.</li>

So, what is it about Facebook that keeps people coming back 14 times a day? Let's talk features! For the sake of brevity, we'll keep it to the most used features. <ol>  News Feed AKA stalking..?   Social Ticker - A real time display of your activities from your friends and pages you've liked that shows status updates, events, photo uploads, birthdays, friend-to-friend conversations, relationship status changes, and many more activities your friends and/or pages may engage in.</li>  Completely customizable - you get to decide who shows up in your news feeds and which of their specific activities you want to hear about.</li>  Two Way Street - You also decide who gets updates about which of your activities.</li>  Business Implication - Businesses take advantage of the real time display by offering coupons, promotions, and advertisements from their Facebook pages under the assumption that users who have liked their page will see them.</li> </ul>  Timeline - Day by day, Photo by Photo, Milestone by Milestone - Facebook's timeline organizes all of your personal information into categorical and chronological order. Your timeline offers a who/what/when/where display of   Your statuses  Posts on your wall from friends, including photos, videos, attachemnts, or just text  Your posts on friends' walls  Events you attended as well as events you plan to attend  Photos you're tagged in  Photos you uploaded  Your personal information pages <li> When you modify your personal information <li> Milestones in your life - like getting engaged, married, or having a baby <li> Content you "like" and content you've commented on <li> Who you've recently added to your friends list <li> Many other things! You can choose exactly who sees what on your timeline, and you can choose to hide some or all of your information from whomever you choose, or you can hide it all from everyone! </ul> <li> Other Features <ul> <li> Friending - The friend function on Facebook allows users to send one another requests to connect on Facebook. Users receiving requests have the option to confirm or decline, and the sender is only notified when a request is confirmed. "Unfriending" occurs when a user removes another user from his or her friend list. Additionally, Facebook users determine who sees what parts of their timelines and personal information. <li> Facebook Messaging - Combining the features of e-mail, text messaging, and instant messaging, Facebook messaging is a one-stop shop allowing users to send group messages, group chats, attachments, and manage contacts all from their Facebook accounts. <li> Notifications - Facebook notifications alert users when content has been added or modified from their timeline or from a page they like, a group they're in, or a network they're a part of. For example, notifications may appear on a user's timeline when that person is invited to an event, when someone posts on their wall, when a business they like posts a new status or promotion, or when their friends have upcoming birthdays. As is the mantra with Facebook, the individual users controls what actions send them notifications on their individual timelines. <li> Photo Sharing - This is one of the most popular features on Facebook, exemplified by the 1.5 million-plus gigabytes of online storage occupied by Facebook users' photos. Smartphones make this feature even more accessible and pervasive, as Facebook offers users the ability to photograph something using the camera on their phone and have it instantly uploaded to their timeline or even to friends' timelines. Users can upload photos as statuses with text accompaniments or directly to new or existing photo albums. </ul> </ol>

LinkedIn: The World's Largest Professional Network
LinkedIn is a social media network designed specifically for people in the professional world. While it predates Facebook by one year, it still does not boast the number of worldwide users that Facebook does, especially in the mobile department. The features of LinkedIn are not as far-reaching as those of Facebook, as LinkedIn is designed for a much more specific purpose than is Facebook and operates quite differently as well. Nevertheless, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with over 225 million active users (this is not a smartphone-specific number), and offers the following features to users:

<ol> <li> Connections - Connections are the contacts that users make and manage on the network. Essentially, a LinkedIn user can invite anyone to "connect", regardless of whether or not the invitee is a member of LinkedIn. An invitee has the option to accept the connection, or to select "I don't know" or "Spam" in response to the invite. If the inviter receives too many of these negative responses to his invites, his account can be disabled or restricted. <li> A Matter of Degree - Contact management and many features are driven by first, second, and third degree connections. This dynamic feature is used to gain access to contacts of mutual friends or mutual contacts. <li> Defining Yourself and Finding Jobs - LinkedIn users can design and fill out their own profile templates and/or upload resumes or curriculum vitae to the site. Based on the skills and job qualifications listed on profiles, the user herself can search for jobs that meet her qualifications, or hiring managers search for qualifications and skills for a job opening. Those users searching for jobs can locate hiring managers and delve into their own contacts to see if any first, second, or third degree connections could play a role in gaining access to the hiring manager. <li> Keeping up - LinkedIn users can also follow companies in order to get the latest news about the companies, changes in management, job openings, etc. Users can also keep track of jobs they are interested in by bookmarking openings, companies, or people. </ol>

Instagram: Capture and Share the World's Moments
Instagram, now owned by and synced to Facebook, functions essentially as a public photographic diary for its users. Instagram users create a profile, decide if their account is public (viewable by everyone) or private (only viewable by followers) and begin choosing who they want to follow with their Facebook account, if applicable. That is, when Instagram users create an account, Instagram automatically asks if they would like to register using their Facebook account. If so, then Instagram identifies all the new user's Facebook friends with active Instagram accounts, generates a list accordingly, and lets the new user choose which friends he would like to follow. Additionally, Facebook will notify the new user when one of his Facebook friends creates an Instagram account. Alternatively, Instagram users can search for others with similar interests through the hashtag search function, or by searching for specific account names. Similar to other social media services, Instagram has evolved into a mainstream social phenomenon with an array of dynamic uses ranging from simple photo-sharing and storage to energetic business techniques related to marketing, advertising, and promotion.

<ol> <li> Photo Sharing: Filtered or Unfiltered? - Instagram offers 19 different light filters that can be applied to photos before uploading. These filters allow users to customize the look and feel of a photograph based on how they feel or how they want the photo to be perceived. For example, the Toaster filter gives digital photographs a striking vintage quality by making the photograph appear slightly burnt and aged, similar to traditional photographs that are very old or that have been exposed to sunlight for a long time. Offering a much different feel, the Sutro filter provides a certain dark, mysterious, brooding quality to photographs by dramatizing shadows, aging edges, and washing over the picture with a puzzling metallic tint.

<li> Liking - Instagram's "like" feature is worth noting simply because of how effortlessly simple it is. Just double-tap anywhere on the picture, and then you officially like it.

<li> #Hashtagging - While hashtagging originated on Twitter, it permeates the majority of posts on Instagram. Hashtagging functions as tool to categorize, classify, or otherwise organize photographs or posts. In addition to allowing users to classify their content, hashtagging is a powerful social mechanism that can drive pop culture trends if enough people begin using a given hashtag. Denoted by "#tbt", "Throwback Thursday" is a perfect example of this phenomenon in action. At the time of this writing, searching #tbt on Instagram brings up over 64,675,000 "throwback" photographs of users, which simply means a picture of themselves from younger days.

What's the number one hashtag on Instagram, you ask? It's a landslide. At the time of this writing, over 184,500,000 photographs and comments have been hashtagged #love. Coming in at number two, #instagood has just over 100,000,000 hashtags. <li> Video Sharing - Instagram just rolled out its new 15-second video feature this year. As users scroll through their feed, video uploads from the accounts they follow play on time automatically and then can be replayed by tapping the picture once. </ol>

Follow @Twitter
Twitter offers the most succinct form of social networking. Users make tweets, simple text-only posts of 140 characters or less, throughout the day. The mobile Twitter app is available for the iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Nokia S40, as well as through SMS text messaging services allowing users without smartphones to send a text message to post a new tweet. All tweets are public unless users chooses to restrict their posts to only their followers. Additionally, users can send personal messages directly to specific users, or they can mention another user in a tweet by using the "@" sign followed by the desired username. While it may offer the least resources in terms of what content users can post, Twitter has many interesting features and capabilities that differentiate it from other social media software.

<ol> <li> #Hashtagging Tweets - The hashtag originated on Twitter, and functions almost identically on Twitter as described in the Instagram section above. However, since Twitter posts do not involve pictures, hashtags are used to categorize posts and comments exclusively rather than to classify pictures. This dynamic alters the role that hashtagging plays in the Twitter community as compared to the role it plays in the Instagram community. Twitter hashtags tend to be more formal and structured, often revolving around users' opinions regarding real people and actual events, as compared to Instagram where users frequently make up obscure hashtags and follow mainstream hashtags less formally. Mainstream Twitter hashtags tend to hold more devoted followings comprised of users who generally want their voices heard and to contribute to a conversation, rather than to simply show others photographs.

<li> Fail Whale - The Twitter community is most active right before, right after, and during major events. This can cause capacity overloads during major events such as the Olympics or coverage surrounding political and social controversies. When capacity overload occurs, users will see the Fail Whale, a big white whale being carried by eight red birds looping strings around the whale.

<li> URL Shortening - Due to the 140 character limit, users wanting to tweet web sites often use URL shortening redirect sites. Essentially, a long URL can be replaced with a shorter URL that redirects to the original page. Common examples are the bit.ly, goo.gl, and tinyurl.com redirect URLs. <li> Alternate Uses <ul> <li> As an Emergency Notification Tool and Call to Action - Twitter has the potential to be used as an emergency notification alert system. Because tweets are public, official organizations such as police departments and government entities could use Twitter to alert citizens of urgent situations or when urgent situations are resolved. The pervasiveness of Twitter guarantees that thousands will see the tweets and, ideally, disperse information to those around them. Twitter has also been used as a tool to organize protests and marches and certain forms of social appeal and civil disobedience.

<li> Chatterboxing and Impact on Television - Twitter has contributed an important interactive component to television. There are several techniques that television productions have used to integrate Twitter into their programming. Through tactful hashtagging, television shows can use Twitter as a virtual space for users to discuss and comment on television programs. The challenge is to come up with a unique hashtag that will function as the official space for a given show. One tactic is to display an official hash tag just before commercials, a second is to display the hashtag in a corner of the screen during particularly climactic moments, and a final technique used by some programs involves creating fictional Twitter accounts for the characters in the show, allowing users to feel as if they are communicating with their favorite characters and interacting with the show on a personal level.

Twitter also holds important implications for restructuring TV ratings algorithms. Accessibility from all smartphones and SMS-capable phones makes it possible for nearly every one watching a given show to tweet about it while the show is going on. Twitter use statistics show that most tweets about a given program occur just before and during the show, so it is possible to design a ratings system based on tweets including a certain hashtag. It is important to note, however, that a huge volume of tweets containing a given hashtag does not necessarily mean that there is a proportionately huge audience.

<li> Vine - Vine, the number one video-sharing app available, is a mobile app owned by Twitter that allows users to create and post 6-second stop motion animation videos on an in-app camera. Users aim the camera at something and the camera records only while the user has their finger on the screen. It can be a continuous 6-second clip or several short clips pieced together. Vine videos can show up directly in the user's Twitter feed or be restricted to just show up on the Vine app itself in scrolling list style. </ul> </ol>

Business Implications
<ol> <li> Sponsorship - Many social media users tailor their accounts to a specific passion or purpose, often in hopes of gaining sponsorship from businesses perusing the sites and searching hashtags for photographs relevant to their operations. For example, fitness enthusiasts and athletes on Instagram can post pictures of themselves, their meals, their workouts, their supplements, and before/after pictures. Then, they can include as many known fitness-related hashtags as possible in their posts in hopes of increasing visibility to that industry. Of course, the same process can be applied to any interest, industry, hobby, etc. In extreme cases, success in this endeavor can lead to thousands of followers, as well as endorsements, sponsorship, and job offers.

<li> Interacting After Hours and Offsite - Businesses can use social media to interact with their customers in several ways. One popular technique is to offer coupons or freebies via contests. For example, a restaurant could offer a free appetizer for the Instagram user that posts a photo of the "best looking" or "most creative" homemade dessert as judged by the chef at the restaurant. Contests like this are important opportunities for businesses to maintain brand awareness and stay connected to their customers after hours and offsite. Alternatively, the same restaurant could post a picture of a new dish on its Facebook account and give a free meal to the first person that comments on the picture with a correct identification of each component in the dish.

<li> Advertising - Social media offers some obvious and some not-so-obvious advertising opportunities. The most obvious way businesses can advertise is to simply make regular posts during peak social media hours. There is an etiquette element, however, as social media users tend to get annoyed by any business or person with a habit excessive. "Blowing up my Instagram/news feed" is a frequent complaint from users who get inundated by any one person, business, or group that posts excessively. While there are still no concrete rules regarding social media etiquette, the main considerations are: <ol TYPE="I"> <li> Excess - Do not blow up people's news feeds. One to three times a day for businesses seems to be generally well-received. <li> Regularity - This is the flip side of excess. Businesses using social media should not do so lackadaisically. A few well-timed posts a day can do a lot to maintain brand awareness, but it is a waste of time to post irregularly and infrequently. As is the case in personal interactions, irregular and spotty use of social media conveys a lack of commitment to keeping customers engaged on the digital front. <li> Make It Interesting - Mundane or repetitive posts annoy people. Social media is an opportunity to interact with and excite customers and potential customers. Posting links, asking questions, starting conversations, and holding contests are much more engaging tactics than simply making statements or re-posting. <li> Edgy, Not Offensive - There is a fine line between edgy and offensive content. Edgy posts can engage people and push the envelope benevolently by offering new perspectives, clever wordplay, fresh ideas, or creative content. Offensive content generally is so because it either advocates, opposes, or demeans someone or something in a harsh way. It alienates people and is obviously terrible for business. </ol> </ul>