by Gaurav Pradhan
Social Media has been the buzz word for people irrespective of city, state or country. It has been growing since the advent of Internet. Everyone is sharing the social platform whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Google. Social Media has helped us see the world in a different view altogether. We know the places without actually visiting them. We can see people and talk without actually standing in front of them. We can work with people without sitting in their offices.
Impact of Social Media can be measured by the number of social network users worldwide. It is seen that the number has grown from 0.97 billion and it is expected to grow to a staggering 2.33 billion in a period of 2010-2017 (an illustration from ‘statista’-The Statistical Portal).
Social Networking , a vital part of Social Media, is the most popular online activity which engages users and can be accessed on-the-go. This provides a door of opportunity for people as well as businesses in various ways. The growth of social network can be attributed to increased usage of smartphones and mobile devices like tablets. Most social networks are now available as mobile apps which can help users access the sites without any hassles.
Facebook is the market leader in social network because of its scope and reach. It has a worldwide subscriber base of more than 1.1 billion active users monthly.
Social networks allow users to communicate across the boundaries of country and society. This also helps in generating content based on user engagement. This user-generated content can be a source of information regarding many studies and business. Social advertising and Social gaming has been a source of revenue for social networks.
There are some Social networks which can be joined because of their different features and utility.
Facebook can be used by everyone. It offers one-to-one connection with people, companies and other members present in the network. You can interact with people via its messenger, can share photos and videos. You can also enjoy the social gaming apps which can be a helpful distraction while being stressed in a work or situation.
Twitter can be used by everyone. It offers to follow people, groups, and companies, events – commenting and joining the conversations. This can be regarded as most democratic platform of the social-sharing economy. It gives the freedom to interact directly with users and brands.
LinkedIn can be used by job-seekers, recruiters and businesses. It offers job openings along with description of the company. This helps in the research for job-seeker for jobs as well as employer for recruitment.
Individuals who seek employment can get benefited by growing their LinkedIn networks focussing the upcoming opportunities with real connections.
Pinterest is a very interesting social network which deals with creative and visual content related to fashion, food, design, travel and anything which is DIY (Do It Yourself). Its remarkable to see that there are more female users dominating the male users in a ratio of 4:1. It offers rich content regarding fashion, food, design and travel. Users can pin and re-pin the posts to Pinterest with appropriately chosen keywords which makes it easy to be categorized.
Google+ is a more formal and professional social network compared to Facebook, but it has its own special features. Users can use it for Business networking and for blogging. Google Authorship allows users to have a Google+ profile and access the content from Web in the search results. Users are more likely to enjoy it because of its integration with Google’s products.
Tumblr is another platform dedicated to blogging and posting creative content. The features offered mainly are Dashboard enabling to managing the live feed of recent posts from blogs followed. It also allows you to plan your posts and schedule its posting for a later period. Tagging is helpful in finding the posts by their audience. HTML editing is allowed which is helpful in changing the blog’s theme and appearance and also a separate domain name is designated.
Instagram is another social networking platform providing scope for photo-sharing, content sharing enabling users to take pictures and videos. It can then be shared in various networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr by applying digital filters to it. The users can create Instagram accounts which allowed then to have web profiles containing a selection of recently shared photographs, biographical information and other personal information.
The above mentioned social networks platforms have different utilities and levels of user engagement and user generated content. It provides users the freedom to express and communicate. This is changing the way of lives as it is changing the way of interacting and looking to the world.
So, To be active in all forms of Social Media means Increasing your Presence.
(Author is a Management student of IIM Bangalore having an experience in Manufacturing Industry, Follow On Twitter @GauravToYou)
#SocialMediaTrendIndia #SocialMedia : Changing Lives – http://t.co/lXPGQYE3x5 #Facebook #Twitter #WhatsApp #SocialNetwork #SEO #Branding
— Social Media Trend (@SocialMTrndInd) October 17, 2014
Also Read:
Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2017 (in billions)- Statista – The statistical portal – http://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
Which social media platform is best for your business – http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/03/05/social-media-platform-best-business/
What Your Social Media Presence Says About Why You Share – http://socialmediatoday.com/evan-lepage/2544046/what-your-social-media-presence-says-about-why-you-share?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=hootsuite_tweets
