Social Media Friend or Foe ?
Social Media Friend or Foe?
… after discussions over the holiday period with family, friends and businesspeople I find there is still a reluctance to embrace Social Media as an opportunity to be used to connect with people / clients and to market products and services. There seems to be a real lack of understanding of what a powerful asset social media could be if truly comprehended. Maybe it’s because media reports always highlighting the pitfalls and negative experiences to being online. It’s interesting to look at statistics of the growth of online social media.
The phenomenon has moved through significant growth and is now experiencing AN EXPLOSION…even just within Facebook and Twitter networks, not counting the other social media sites. The power and influence of these networks are recognised as billion dollar opportunities, as evidenced by the acquisition of Facebook by Goldman Sachs this past week.
Just look at these statistics of just one network- Facebook. Over 500 million people are regular users worldwide. In Australia, with a population of 22,523,020 ( ABS estimate for 5 Jan2011), Facebook is the most popular social networking site with more than 8.6 million unique visitors per month !! Consider the significance of these statistics:-
• 78 % of Australia’s 9 million Facebook users have chatted, sent or shared photo in the past year
• 74% have shared a link
• 20% of Australians aged 55 or older have used Facebook
• 2.5 million is the number of Australian Twitter users
• People spending more time each day
• LinkedIn (Australia) membership now > 1 million
• 60,000 in people in SYDNEY are using Foursquare
• 2.1 million MySpace unique users in Australia
• Flicker has 10 million plus groups and more than 4 billion photos
What does this massive growth in online users in 2010 mean, and how does it impact us… and why? Does this Social Media phenomenon ever look like slowing down? While the numerical growth must eventually reach saturation point, the power of social media as a major influence on our culture ……how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we do business…. is still growing. As long as people have a need to be connected, to feel connected: as long as people are looking for a sense of community; as long as people have a message to be communicated or a product to be promoted: it is unlikely that the phenomenal growth will subside.
If we would position ourselves as master players in the social media phenomenon, what are some of the considerations we need to look at, and what could be considered “best practice” and what are the pitfalls that come with such an explosive growth in Social Media… Follow my next post as I explore the things that will bring us undone or make us Social Media master players
Make it a terrific day
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