The Internet: Social Networking

Social networking is undoutably big business on the internet. I mean, as of March 2010, there is over 400 million active Facebook accounts. Facebook is used as a free tool to contact friends and family, as are other social networking sites, such as Myspace, Twitter and Bebo.

Myspace, was the first to be used to promote services, mostly music artists. Where they could set up a free account and stream music to visitors to their site. This was music getting back to its routes, where you would pass cassettes of your favourite music on to your friends. And Myspace quickly became the best way to stay in contact with favourite bands as well, with being able to add bands such as My Chemical Romance and The Editors as friends. This improved contact with bands, made people become more involved in music.

And this concept has spread to other sites, and to other types of promotion. For instance, fast food outlet, McDonalds' Facebook page as over 2,000,000 fans. This means that the groups can send offers to the people who like their business, and to the people who are their customer base. This reaches people, who may not read daily newspapers or don't watch a lot of tv. And the best part is, it is free. Doesn't cost McDonald's a penny.

Then Twitter, which is now being actively used in offices, where people can send each other short messages to discuss information. It means that rather than having long distance calls, which can cost a fortune, they can 'tweet' each other, and it costs nothing. Twitter is widely used to promote businesses or offers, where again, if someone follows you, you can send them out new updates or offers. Which again, closes the gap between customer and business. And the more involved the customer feels with the company, the more likely it is, that they will use them for work purposes.

And yet, when doing online advertising, too many companies still overlook the power of social networking. Some think it is just for teenagers, some think it is a fad. But fad or not, free advertising is free advertising, and businesses should learn to uses this new media.

If you run a business and considering social networking to advertise, think of this: More people under the age of 25 use the internet and social networking sites, than they use any other type of media, including TV.

Crazy that isn't it. If that is the case, how benifical is it to still spend so much money, advertising on TV and in newspapers?

Updateez

Ok, this week has been a bit of a minefield, with my brain wanting to explode on me.

I have been left with the dilemma on whether I should finish college this year. I mean I have already decided that I am not returning to the world of education this year. Why? Because I hate it.

To put a few things straight here, I don't hate everything. I hate my work being in direct comparison with others, when whether its better or no, makes no difference.  I hate the atmosphere. The college seems to be such an uninspiring place at times. Because everything is in an open enviroment, as in one big room, lots of classes within that room,  and if one person decides to fuck around, it distracts everyone.

Well, I've spent my last few weeks of bloggie silence to think about what I want to do. Because I have been so uninspired at college, and I work every night, I have fallen behind in my work very easily. And it gets to the point where I was wondering whether I should rush everything, just to pass, when I know that passing grade won't get me anywhere, due to me not continuing with education. Is it not better, that I take time over my projects, do a good job, and use them to build my portfolio? I think that is a lot more beneficial to me.

Now don't get me wrong, I liked the course, and I love the people at the college, it's just everyone gets to the point where that can no longer work in that enviroment. To me, in the overall task of getting my business up and running, this is the best decision.

Its kind of taking a step backwards, before you can go forwards.

Calm before storm

I am at work and I am so chilled out.  I work on the phones, for a television company (who shall remain nameless), and I have been getting technical training, so that I can help more of our customers sort out their problems, rather than transfering calls.

What happens is we get this training in a classroom, much like school, and then we spend two weeks taking nothing but technical calls. And right now, I am in the middle part, as I have just finished the training about 20 minutes ago. :) So I am on the phone, for the last hour of my shift, taking my normal Customer Services calls, and to be honest, it is totally dead.  And I am really excited about starting to take tech calls tomorrow :) , as in really cannot wait. I guess its just because I am trying something new, so it is always exciting. I am just happy its not billing, because I like techincal, but I cannot do billing for the life of me.

The one thing that is important with working on the phone, and even moreso with tech, is how you explain something to a customer. Which is how graphic design works, its how you communicate  the information. Its one of the things I have learnt, working for such a large company, customers only take in what they want to. So I suppose an important thing in what I do, is finding a way that all the important information will be taken in by whoever looks at it.

Because of the industry I am planning to go into, I am very big on reading the small print, but that is something I have learnt working here, as well as creating my own advertisements.  People absorb what you tell them to, and people use that power against the very people they set out to have as customers.

By not displaying information as clearly as they should, people don't even read important things such as contracts and small print, because they are boring. They just want to watch their new tv, not sit and read through a book of terms of their contract.  As a business who serves the public, is it not important that we tell customers EVERYTHING, and not just the good bits to make a quick sale.

At the end of the day, if you are honest and upfront, a client or customer will respect you for giving them all the facts. Just because there are conditions to your free broadband, does not mean that is anyless of an offer if we tell you of the conditions.

I believe that the public should be given as much information as possible, by us, as in businesses, so that the can make the best decision. And people who withhold information, should get charged, as we need to defend the public. They have faith in who they deal with, too many people take advantage of that faith.

**sorry for rambling, but its a thought which has been in my head a long time, and I think that it is something that should be openly discussed. **