James Spillane
The Trend Of Today And The Future
We will never forget our first screen names on AOL’s AIM, actually before our screen names; none of us will ever forget our first computers. That is where social media all began. Ten years ago there was no such thing as a “social media coordinator” or a “social media expert” position at any job, but today there is. People may ask what benefits are there to being a “social media professional?” A lot of people, still, to this day, believe that any social media job is a waste of time. That person is very, very wrong. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the leading providers for many businesses and businesses to be. Social media is a quick industry and if you have a job as a social media coordinator or a social media professional, you have to be quick with your news and updates. The world moves fast and we thank all of those people who made those computers because without them I don’t know where we would all be today. Just kidding, we would still be reading the newspaper and looking up telephone numbers in the Yellow Pages, but who wants to do that now?
The beginning of Social Media
Social media has become a huge part of society. So who knows where and when it all began? Some may think that Facebook was social medias big break or maybe it was MySpace, but believe it or not social media was around before all that, but we didn’t call it “social media” per say. Back in the early 70’s, computers were considered a foreign object and no one knew what to do with them. At this time, television was popular, yes, but there wasn’t as many shows going on like there are today, so people actually went outside of their house and had what people used to call hobbies, how weird? So now this new thing called a “computer” comes into play and people are thinking that this giant object with a keyboard was for nerds. Why do we need that? What are we going to do with it? It makes so much noise when you turn it on and it takes up too much space. Little did we know that big, hunk of machinery that once took up one side of the living room and had the loudest dial-up tone, we would grow to love and appreciate so much today.
Before Facebook, there was this networking site called Bulletin Board System. Basically what it was, for people who don’t know, was almost like an online meeting place, where you could share and download files and also be able to connect with certain people. Through BBS, you could message other users, which was a slow start to social media. To create and receive messages took a long time, but to them it was so fastback in those earlier days of “instant messaging.” This was a big deal back in the late 80’s and the early 1990’s because this was something that people weren’t used to using. One thing that BBS did not have was “chat rooms.” Through BBS you could email a friend and instant message a friend, but you weren’t able to go into a chat room and talk to more than one person at a time. CompuServe, however, was a new program that made the chat rooms accessible. CompuServe was the gateway to many social networks that we know today. Shortly after CompuServe was able to get forums and chat rooms up and running, AOL came into play. However, AOL was around before many of these programs, but they were just another database like Yahoo and all the other networks that we know today.
Oh, it’s on the rise
None of us could have ever imagined just having social media for college students, right? Well luckily, it’s not like that anymore. Social media started out small and now it is the biggest influence on people’s lives all over the world and with all different ages. The reason social media is the biggest influence on everyone’s lives right now is because pages such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are drawing in over millions of users daily who want to read messages, have the latest news, want to know different social concerns, want to gain knowledge on company products and so on and so forth. If companies and businesses want to grow, they need to keep up with the younger generation and that involves having mostly everything on the Internet. If you are an old soul when it comes to media, I would advise you to break out of your comfort zone and get used to the digital world, because it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
What to do with your social media?
First and foremost, where do you start? There are so many outlets that you can use, but how do you know you’re picking the right one? To me, Facebook is the most popular social media outlet because a lot of people have had it since day one. Twitter is up and coming but a lot of people and also businesses don’t necessarily know how to use Twitter. Facebook is the easiest to not only post on, but it’s also easier to navigate and find the right people. A lot of companies operate through Facebook and I think that is the smartest idea for companies because it enables you to find different people and also, put yourself out there for the world to see.
Starting off with social media can be tricky, just make sure you know your audience. Also make sure that you are posting about your company, what you do and how you can get more in contact with you and your business. Networking is a must, once you get a hang of how social media works and how you can connect with others, this is when you begin your networking. Find people who are interested in what your company does, find individuals who are interested in your company and begin relationships with one another. From there, you will be able to branch out and find the ones that you like the best and what works best for you. Having social media sooner or later won’t be something that you just get to have, it going to be something that your company is going to need; if it hasn’t happened yet.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
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I guess there is a grain of useful information in here, but it’s difficult to find it. I was distracted from your message, whatever it is, by the difficulty of reading the material. Anyone who is publishing written material, such as this, ought to learn basic grammer and writting skills. Seems like a no brainer to me.