There’s no doubt about the fact that we are living in the digital age with social media playing a huge part in people’s every day lives. Every little trend and issue is broadcast over a number of social media platforms with twitter especially playing an essential role in connecting people from all around the world.
This was furthered this week when the US presidential election trended worldwide with people everywhere in the world letting their thoughts and opinions be known across the web.
He’s done it. Obama is still President of the United States and making the coolest speeches known to man. Barack Obama also has been awarded another title today, his Twitter account is home to the most popular tweet ever.
At the time of writing, over 560,000 people have retweeted @BarackObama tweet which simply read “Four more years.” along with a picture of the President with the First Lady Michelle Obama
American Apparel has faced a backlash over its latest email campaign enticing east coast Americans to its stores during Hurricane Sandy. People have taken to Twitter to let the company know exactly how they feel about it.
Whilst most of the world has been worried about loved ones over on the east coast of the United States, American Apparel has offered 20% off to shoppers “in case they were bored of the storm” via email. It’s a classic misstep in judging public perception during a very sensitive time.
Some locations lend themselves to the perfect career path, for instance if you happen to live in the Shetlands and love fishing then happy days, similarly if you’re into mountain climbing, etc then living next to Snowdon is for you. The same is true with social media, believe it or not living in a big city is a huge advantage.
One of the benefits of doing social media in Manchester is that you can tap into the zeitgeist of todays modern culture. The same is true if you live in London or Liverpool as well.
By now you must be seeing a trend in my blogging activity – subject matter is always viral marketing tricks, tips and a general appreciation for the beautiful act of word of mouse. If you haven’t been following my viral thoughts and reading each blog (shame on you if you haven’t ha) some of the following may not make sense, as I will be making brief reference to points I have touched on prior. So before I delve into the magic of music in regards to viral videos I warn you there may be some terms you may have to search back into the archives of the Rionne section of the library for all to be clear.
Why do you have to love viral marketing? Because you are going around right now and sharing content that has been shared by many, many connections before it got to you.
There are always going to be hubs to find great videos or hilarious pictures such as forums, Reddit or blogs but the majority of us will find content from our own social networks.
How else do you explain the inter-stellar hit Gangnam Style? Whilst it didn’t start out to be a viral marketing hit, the mix of an incredibly catchy song (HEYYYYYYYYYYY SEXY LADY!) and a video that is so addictive to watch ensured that those in contact couldn’t help but pass-it-on.
“Okay, so what’s all this hype about social media? I know everyone says they love it but people just use it to be nosey now-a-days. I’ve had Facebook for about four years and there have been times when I have seriously thought about deleting my account because I don’t do anything with it. I probably write a status once every three months and go on it every other week to be nosey about what people from school are now up to.
And Twitter, what’s that all about? I’ve never even bothered with it, I don’t understand it and I can always find out what celebrities are up to on gossip websites or in magazines, so I have no need for it. And don’t even get me started on all of the other social media websites out there, I never knew there were so many!”
That was my viewpoint on social media a few months ago but now that I work at Neil Walker Digital my whole viewpoint has changed…
As I log onto my Facebook account I contemplate what I will spend the next hour liking and commenting on. I come to the quick conclusion that my sessions have become less social engagement and more shopping excursion. As my like list becomes larger than my friends list I wonder; what is the real use for Facebook now?
It seems it has evolved from a simple social network where we share our embarrassing weekend antics via LOL statuses and candid snaps, into a place where we can locate bespoke dresses, ipad stands, special cakes and almost anything else you can dream to search.
Social Media is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, but don’t be alarmed, this is definitely a good thing for people in the business world!
Social Media is great for businesses who want to reach out to possible new clients and gain more business. There are nearly 1 billion people in the world who have social media accounts, over 900 million people have a Facebook account and over 500 million have a Twitter account. This means that there are a lot of people out there that can mention your business and get your website known.
Many people entering the world of Twitter for the first time can often get lost in the lingo and feel a little bit left out. If you don’t know your “retweets” from your “Follow Friday” take a look at the list of Twitter terminology below.
@ – The @ sign is used to call out usernames in Tweets, like this: Hello @Twitter! When a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile. See also Replies and Mentions.
Direct Messages – Also called a DM, these messages are private between only the sender and recipient. Tweets become DMs when they begin with “d username” to specify who the message is for.