A social networking site is one that uses these social media tools for the primary purpose of promoting connection and interaction—to facilitate people's communication with other people. An e-commerce site that allows users to purchase products and read and post product reviews on the site is an e-commerce site with social media functionality. Social media tools rely on the collaborative and continuous interaction of people in order to be relevant.
This constant interaction also means that social media websites are constantly evolving. A website often adds additional social media applications as it expands and attracts new audiences. The question of when social media began to take its modern form will forever remain a source of debate.
After the turn of the new century, blogs continued to gain popularity and other social media sites began to emerge. With social media applications, anyone can be a movie star, director, artist, lyricist, journalist or storyteller. Social media tools and the power they bring to bring communities together have been a boon for marketers.
By paying attention to the blogosphere (the blogging community as a whole), social media trends, and user opinions, marketers can track how users feel about their brands.
Who Is Using Social Media and How?
By reviewing this data, marketers can begin to understand the audiences they are likely to reach through a specific social media tool. Additionally, because reading blog posts is among the highest of all social media activities for both younger and older adults, marketers have the best chance of capturing audience attention by blogging. Companies that implement social media applications do so externally, but also use these tools within their organizations as a means to improve internal operations.
Companies using these tools report that the biggest obstacle to pursuing social media strategies is a lack of internal resources.
Social Networking Sites
Types and Audiences
General social networking sites have something for everyone and attract audiences regardless of age, race, gender or interest. The advantage of social networking sites is that the developers of these sites do not have to generate any significant amount of content. Generalist social networking sites offer users their own unique page or profile, which they can customize by adding their photo, caption, and personal information (age, gender, city and state, school, occupation, etc.).
As Figure 3-7 shows, people who create profiles on general social networking sites are active in creating public communication with people in their networks. This is highlighted by a June 2008 market share snapshot of the social networking industry, as reported by Hitwise, a research and data analysis firm. All of the other five most popular social networking sites only had a relatively small market share (myYearbook, which is profiled.
The dominance of MySpace and, to a lesser extent, Facebook, shows that there is little room for multiple general social networking sites to gain massive audiences. Another thing we have done is use other social networking sites to market our own. SOURCE: "Social networking sites represent an attractive venue for advertising apparel products." comScore
Niche social networking sites are social networks that are based on a specific interest or topic, or aimed at reaching a specific demographic group. Examples of social networking sites that focus on specific interests and hobbies include SkiSpace.com and BaseballNooz.com, shown in Figures 3-14 and 3-15, respectively. In 2002, he co-founded LinkedIn, one of the largest social networking sites and the most important business-oriented social networking site on the Internet.
Konstantin: jaxtr is a communication product, and communication is one of the key parts of social networking. If they want to call a friend or want to be called through their social network profile, they simply add the jaxtr link to their profile. Jason: What do you see in the future for social networking and the web in general.
Where most dating sites tend to differ from other social networking sites is the development of a personal network of "friends". Less well known is Plentyoffi sh.com, shown in Figure 3-19, which takes care of more of the traditional social networking features. As with other niche social networking sites, advertisers can use family and lifestyle sites to reach a very specific audience through page sponsorships and display advertising.
Social bookmarking sites have also begun to include other social networking applications, including user profiles, RSS subscription feeds, and the ability to comment and vote on the relevance of each new post.
Chapter Summary
Marketers use these sites to reach a large, active and information-hungry audience through display advertising. However, these pages can shine a spotlight on a company's mistakes and missteps; even a small piece of negative news about a brand can turn into something much bigger through social bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites allow users to share, organize and comment on web pages and online news.
Key Terms
Review Questions
What percentage of companies with fewer than 500 employees use social media technology as part of their marketing strategy. In which of the following age groups are over 30 percent of online users making social media applications. Which of the following is unlikely to be a reason why social media has gained popularity among marketers.
Which of the following is probably not a reason why social media has become popular among users. Which of the following types of social networks is most likely to be "all or nothing" in terms of great success. Which of the following types of social networks is most likely to have the largest number of members?
Projects
Endnotes
