Some time ago I read a post ‘10 reasons I won’t follow you on Twitter’. It intrigued me and all the points the author listed I could have marked as mine own. I even felt a little embarrassed when some of them might have been referring to someone like me. After all, I’m a person who enjoys her offline life; and I have to admit, I might not check my Twitter on everyday basis.
To the contrary to some arguments the writer of the post mentions, such as not believing in following someone back if they follow you, I find it difficult to not return the gesture of someone who made an effort and followed me first.
It's exactly what happened to Starbucks in the summer of 2009. Activist, Robert Greenwald, who tried to raise awareness about Starbucks policies on employee unions, spotted a perfect moment to take over Starbucks Twitter campaign.
I came across this news when I was researching for my own social media campaign and it struck me when I read about this ‘hijacking’. Maybe it will sound naïve but I didn’t think people actually do such things. I thought maybe sabotaging the campaign, but not taking control over it.
This campaign is just a theory. It is one of my New Media assignments. I’ve decided to prepare stress awareness campaign for the government where the target audience are working people aged 24 to 35. Below is the executive summary and rationale for the campaign as well as the viral video I prepared for it.
Executive Summary
The government has planned a social media campaign addressing stress issues caused by modern life. The campaign is using such new media tools as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and viral videos presenting moments worth slowing down for.
People describe new media as modern revolution. Is it true?
Social networking is the biggest shift since industrial revolution, claim new media experts. In only four years it took over developed countries beating up traditional media such as TV, radio and newspapers. It is now number one online activity leaving behind porn and web surfing.
It is gradually overtaking the way we shop, socialize, work and do business, learn and fall in love. Statistics show that 1 in 8 married couples in America today met via social media. Though it might not sound new to us, as there were internet chat rooms long before social media existed and people tended to meet with someone they have never seen any way, social platforms offer different things that online chats don't have.
As social media is now a significant part of many careers out there (such as public relations for example), knowing how to use social platforms for professional purposes can be a big advantage. Being active on facebook and twitter seem to be ‘a must’ nowadays and there aren’t many people left who don’t actually have an account on one or two networking sites.
Popular among individual people at first, social media now are now also necessity for many companies and corporations (just have a look around facebook for instance; there are facebook groups with Starbucks, Ford Motor, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, and many more). As Howard Bragman PR professional and writer said, social media is the future for brands and if none of them wants to fall behind, they have to be active on social platforms. This however makes it difficult for individuals to take part in this online part of life, mainly because of limit forced upon their freedom to express themselves.
I wanted to share with you something I came across while I researched social media for my class. There is so much talking about social media and as if there wasn’t enough of networking sites, there constantly seem to appear new ones (Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Hi5, Nasza Klasa, Google Buzz, etc. It’s unending competition among them, and honestly some of them are so similar it might seem like a waste of time to even consider joining them).
What I wanted to share with you is this cartoon, which I’m sure reflects confusion of many people out there who perhaps struggle with grasping all new media products appearing nowadays. Watch it here:
Though social media are not novelty any more they are still one of the hottest topics in public relations theories. It’s enough to listen to dissertation topics students pick for their final papers this year to find out that social media are still in the centre of discussions. People wonder, what kind of impact will/does it have on PR? Is this a threat or an opportunity to the industry? Is this another stage for corporate and political propaganda? How can we use it in PR campaigns?
I found out that in 2009 there were 225 million global facebook users. So far UnitesStates and Britain are the largest countries that use this platform and there is more female users comparing to male audience. But facebook is not the only social networking platform out there.
Pew Research Centre found out that in America “Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter. The decline is even more stark among older internet users; 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older use Twitter”.
All these information is very valuable from the point of view of marketers and PR professionals. So what that such platforms as YouTube or Twitter don’t earn money. They are worth billions of dollars because of the data gathered on them: details on date of births, locations, e-mail addresses and even interests of potential consumers to marketers and PR people.
Social networking certainly gives advantages for these two industries, such as for example: reaching vast numbers of people; a chance for two-way communication between the company and its public (especially if it comes to feedback and people’s opinion on products or services); it gives an opportunity to create a buzz among certain audiences (above all young people) and make the word of mouth more effective/vast.
„Today’s public relations industry has become so pervasive that part of its invisibility steams from the fact that it is, indeed, everywhere [...]”, wrote Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber in Trust Us, We’re Experts. This invisibility is a big advantage for PR, and new media became a new stage for public relations activities where PR can be almost transparent. Who can say who is on the other side of that net where the message was sent? Who can say, what are the motives of people posting blogs on specific topics (life for instance fashion blogs)? Who is taking up discussions on consumer forums? These people can be hired professionals exaggerating some issues or trying to divert readers’ attention from others.
I'm a MA PR graduate exploring new concepts of PR and SocialMedia and also writing about everyday experiences to keep my imagination and creativity in writing alive. Read my PR Geek Blog and share your reflections on PR with me, and my other blog 'The Other Idea of Blogging' for a lighter reading and if you like to share your experiences I always welcome comments.
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