In this era today, not that everyone knows about ‘Social Media’, many will care less about it.
Before, I go any further, we must first understand what really social media is, how it works, who uses it, is it purchasable or not, where can one find it, or is it restricted at any point in time ……… so many questions you might want to know.
Social media has been defined by many authors or online sources or we the people and so forth. But I’ll try to narrow it down for you. We define social media as tool we use to connect with billions of people in the world whether they’re near or far away from us – families, friends, relatives, in a way that we can share what’s happening in our lives, how we look, what we’re doing, and many more. All I can say is that with social media, we can do a lot with it; from sharing videos and pictures to business & marketing to shopping to gaming and so forth.
However way you understand social media, then we shall definitely go with that.
It’s free, anyone can access them, and it’s not restricted at all. All you need to do is just internet and space on your phone, so as you’re in position to download them. However, if you still own a feature phone, SORRY! You won’t be in position to have these apps, since they’re only attuned with smartphones.
The question you might be asking yourself, what are these social media platform we probably talking about? And where can I get them? Simple! Today, many developers have introduced a number of social media platforms; from FaceBook to Instagram to WhatsApp to SnapChat to Viber to Telegram to Twitter to Messenger, and now Google also has its own video-calling and messaging apps; Google Duo and Google Allo respectively. Those are some of the few I can probably give you, but just know, there a thousands of them. If you’ve an Android, or an iOS, or a Windows’ Phone, you probably have to go to your store to download these applications. For instance; Android users will use the Google Play Store while iOS users will use the App store and finally the Window’s phone users will use the Windows Store and you definitely see these apps.
So, we really want to know what SOCIAL MEDIA can really do [POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA]:
Connecting with family and friends
Wow! I can’t just can’t tell you how much social media has done for us when it comes to connecting with family and friends. With Facebook, Twitter, Viber, Instagram to name a few, you’re able to connect to more than billions of people around the world. As you may know now that, Facebook dominates the social media landscape with over 1.71 billion monthly active users, but still, doesn’t mean that it’s only Facebook where people connect.
Connecting with family and friends is the main thing social media has developed. No questions attached.
A place for business and marketing
Doing all your business on social media is really awesome, and doesn’t really take a lot. All you need to have a stable internet, a comfort zone/place; it might be at home or at school or at work or in park, wherever you choose, as long as you’ll be comfortable, you’re therefore good to go.
Social media engagement is one thing, but making actual money is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign. A Shopify study shows that photo-sharing app; Instagram recommendations had a higher average order than those customers who were referred by Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Getting more for less is a concept that any business can get behind.
So with the likes of Instagram and Pinterest, all you will have to do is post/pin [This will refer to Pinterest] a picture of a product that you might want to sale. In the description/comment section below, add that the product is on/for sale, you might probably want to say something a little about the product like; the price, size, colors available, preferred age, plus you might need to add your contact in case anyone will want to buy it.
On the other hand, most of you might say that hashtags are obsolete, BUT, they’re extremely powerful. In fact, the only way to show up in search results is through hash-tagging. Hashtags have a two-pronged effect; not only can you promote your business, but hashtags make it easier for consumers and other businesses to find you.
Thus, don’t get left behind! Start marketing through social media today, and become part of a social movement that will increase your customer base – and, of course, your bottom line.
Addiction Issues
Social media, gets us addicted to it. Making us become lazy, quiescent, getting sacked/fired from our places of work all because of our addiction to social media. Instead of sticking to our jobs first, we’re busy with Facebook, or Instagram or WhatsApp, whatever case it might be.
Carriers (Telecom Companies), today are getting a lot from us, because of ‘MOBILE DATA’. We’re spending a lot on data, you probably buy like 100Mbs of data just for sake of being connected and staying in touch with your friends. I won’t deny this, but I at times spend over $2 daily on buying mobile data. What these companies are doing, they’re busy giving promotional offers on how much we to buy mobile data from them. And am like! Why not buy since it’s cheaper, and once bought, of course you run direct to social media. Social media carries a lot of our time than web browsering. Meaning, the time we’re spending on our smartphones is social networking than any other activity.
Privacy Policy
Alright! I do understand about this ‘Privacy Policy’ issue, it’s good and at the same time it’s really bad. Am looking at the bad side of it.
If you are tech person, or a news daily person, then you might have heard of what happened in March, early this year. A Brazilian Judge; Judge Marcel Montalvao order the blockage of accessing WhatsApp for 72 hours, after Facebook failed to hand over information requested in a criminal investigation [Of course by now you might be aware that Facebook Inc. owns WhatsApp! Yeah that’s right, it does]. However, WhatsApp reportedly said, it doesn’t store client messages and neither does it read them, if they did because they are encrypted.
And social app continued to say, it was “disappointed” by the move, saying it had co-operated fully with the local court.
This decision punished more than 100 million Brazilians who rely on these service, in order to force WhatsApp to turn over information they repeatedly said they don’t have.
The same month, the judge ordered the arrest of a Facebook executive based in Brazil for failing to comply with an attempt to block WhatsApp.
All because of PRIVACY POLICY, WhatsApp and Facebook couldn’t just wake up one morning and start giving out its user’s info.
So, in the end, the culprits were to be caught through another way but not through the social media platforms. So this how powerful these social media platforms can be. The Facebook Executive in Brazil was arrested and Facebook funds were all frozen, in the name of getting the law-breakers. But still nothing was given to them.
I just listed down a few, but you might be aware that social media can do over ten-hundreds of things. Let’s me know you opinions in the comment section below. What do you think Social Media can do?
