Facebook should devise new strategies to meet the changing demands among the clients. Innovation is a fundamental process because it enhances profitability within online corporations. Over the years, the company has been relying solely on revenues from basic advertisements and campaigns that promote different organizational processes.
This signifies that the Facebook is popular among populations that do not contribute to its financial growth. Furthermore, the corporations’ administrators have limited revenue because majority of their clients lack resources (Baloun, 2007). The company can reinstate its position in the market through invention and innovation. These changes will aid the company capitalize on profitability. Consequently, it is necessary to highlight the changes that will increase the profitability of facebook.
Change/innovation strategies
Facebook should introduce new features that will enable the site to maximize profitability (Vander, 2008). It is important for the company to rebrand to tap on the unexploited potential of the market. For instance, the organization should ensure that Facebook’s “time-line” meets the needs of users without compromising their privacy. This is critical for the success of the company. Additionally, facebook should introduce fees to people who intend to use the social networking site in streaming videos online.
The administrators of facebook should capitalize on technological innovations such as streaming music online. This can be a source of revenue for the site. The administrators should introduce features that will allow customers to customize their sites on facebook (Carter & Levy, 2011).
A subscription fee should be introduced for people who have already created profiles in the site. The fee will equally apply to those intending to join facebook. Moreover, the administrators of Facebook should lobby for a reduction on the charges levied to the company by organizations that monitor online trade (Baloun, 2007).
Charges are crucial when creating groups for people with common interests. Membership should be open to all members of the public as long as they are capable of paying a subscription fee. Besides, punitive measures should be introduced to subscribers of the site who violate the rules and regulations when using Facebook. Formulating programs that recompense loyalty based on membership on Facebook will also lead to rewards.
The corporation can maximize its profitability by levying charges on features that use live chats. The company should conduct various forms of online research; thereafter; they should give the findings to interested parties at a fee. Moreover, Facebook can provide security agencies and other organizations with vital information that might help during emergencies.
According to Carter & Levy (2011), Facebook administrators should encourage governments to use the site as a platform for promoting national activities. Promoting the use of facebook in countries like China will capitalize on the potential of the site. Additionally, the use of Facebook should not be limited to networking; however, it should focus on academic purposes such as creating database for keeping student records within institutions (Carter & Levy, 2011).
Conclusion
Facebook has made progress despite the challenges arising during operations. Vander (2008) indicates that Facebook is the only social network used throughout the globe. However, several users feel that the site is underutilizing its potential as apparent in its diminishing returns. As a result, it is imperative for the administrators to make several features compatible with other forms of technology. This will increase the demand for Facebook among consumers.
References
Baloun, K. M. (2007). Inside Facebook: Life, work and visions of greatness. Victoria, B.C: Trafford.
Carter, B., & Levy, J. R. (2011). Facebook marketing: Leveraging Facebook’s features for your marketing campaigns. Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.
Vander, V. E. A. (2008). Facebook: The missing manual. Sebastopol, CA: Pogue Press O’Rielly.
Based on the research of the Facebook page owned by Oschner Lafayette General, it is possible to conclude about the target audience. The first post on the page describes a marathon that encourages healthy sleep and invites young parents to join in. From this, it can be assumed that part of Oschner Lafayette General’s audience is young parents who require support with their child’s sleep schedule (Ochsner Lafayette General, 2022a). At the same time, this post suggests that young parents are open to professional recommendations and interested in advice.
Besides, the post about the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. indicates that a large percentage of visitors to the page are Black (Ochsner Lafayette General, 2022b). Another post in the profile concerns testing to detect COVID-19 disease. The public commented on this post as they expressed a desire to examine their own health, too (Ochsner Lafayette General, 2021). Thus, it can be argued that the target audience of this page wants to identify health problems and treat them before symptoms are even detected. Accordingly, Oschner Lafayette General’s target audience is young parents, the black population, motivated to enhance their health.
Concerning Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center’s viewership, it is clear from the first post on the profile that sisters who serve for the well-being of humanity visit the center’s page (Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, 2022c). In addition, a post about Lent educating people about spiritual disciplines indicates that visitors to the page are religious individuals (Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, 2022b). Another characteristic of the public is a desire to eat healthy foods, which is why the center posts advice for that purpose (Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, 2022a). In summary, it can be deduced that Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center’s Facebook page presents more interesting and targeted messages to the public. New publications also frequently appear on this page, unlike the previous one, which encourages users to visit the profile regularly. Furthermore, the content is filled with links to videos or other materials that will be valuable to the audience.
References
Ochsner Lafayette General. (2022a). March 13-19 is #NationalSleepWeek [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Ochsner Lafayette General. (2021). Our COVID-19 testing site is free, fast and a convenient drive-thru [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Ochsner Lafayette General. (2022b). We remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s words [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. (2022a). National nutrition month falls in March [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. (2022b). The season of Lent is often an opportunity to pick up a new habit or form a spiritual discipline [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. (2022c). #WomensHistoryMonth [Images attached]. Facebook. Web.
Information Technology (IT) is becoming a fundamental requirement for people with desires to align with the modern world. It has been established in a multidimensional perspective that incorporates a variety of fields. These advances in IT are facilitated by mass media, cloud and mobile computing, business analytic, and social media among others (Voss, 2011).
Apparently, the development of IT will continue integrating, advancing and producing quality outcomes. Social media are among the most developing areas in IT. It has contributed significantly to socialization, information dispersion, advertisement, sales, and business development among others. Consequently, this analysis report will pay particulate attention to social media (Facebook) that have enabled business development.
Facebook
Description
Facebook is a social network that allows interaction of signed users. It was implemented by Mark Zuckerberg in the year two thousand and four (Decarie, 2010). The initial target was to enable students’ interaction in universities.
However, the development of the network assumed a broad dimension that facilitated global interactions. A person registers for free and meets friends from various backgrounds for interaction. It allows users to post ideas, comment, request friendship, create pages, and chat among others. It has managed to collect users throughout the globe since 2004.
Furthermore, Facebook has brought people together for communication and interaction. They allow businesses to advertise their products and services through a section referred to as the business page. Facebook has a patent that allows partnership with other profit making organizations. This depicts that there are opportunities to develop businesses through this popular network. In fact, most businesses have identified the opportunities and applied them for developmental purposes.
Current Capabilities
Popularity of Facebook has managed to bring people together and allow business activities. These services are being offered for free to users. Consequently, it can unite many people regardless of social class and distance between them. The large number of people logging into Facebook facilitates the advertisement and announcement through social sites.
Consequently, it can collect worldwide data and information to display the prevailing issues. It is potential of accessing the globe and retrieving information in a fast manner. For instance, the arising issues about violence appear in Facebook within minutes. People post current issues freely without the necessity of confirmation.
In the recent Boston bombing, people were able to distribute the threats and suspicious activities throughout the globe. Consequently, people understood conversely about the exact occurrences at the place of bombing. Finally, it has the capacity to restrict information meant for specified people. Facebook can prevent people to access confidential information. This could be facilitated by the request of the posting user.
Strengths
Marketing is an area that relies on advertisements facilitated partly by the social media (Waters et al, 2009). Facebook accommodates more than one billion users worldwide.
This epic tally enhances mass operation especially where many ideas area required at once. The visits made to the website facilitate sales of goods and services. In fact, Facebook redirects to partner businesses for selling reasons. The trust created by Facebook facilitates sales and development of other businesses. For instance, Facebook can influence the income of key businesses such as Safaricom.
The distribution of Facebook throughout the globe allows fast and efficient spread of information. In the United States, it is apparent that politics rely on Facebook. Also, many other civilized nations are applying Facebook to disseminate political ambitions. Facebook has achieved a criterion to facilitate business competition. Price advertisement is the most prevailing factor of this competition. This allows people to buy products after comparing prices and qualities. Finally, Facebook can facilitate mass survey for research activities.
Weaknesses
However, it must be noted that Facebook is not liable for individual posts. The accuracy of information posted on Facebook might be misleading. Therefore, conciseness of information posted on this site relies on the posting party. For instance, if a company claim to offer products at cheap prices, the definition of cheap would be on the hands of the buyer and the company. Facebook is facing competition from other social medias such as Twitter and Google plus.
Also, accessing Facebook requires the user to pay the server. Additionally, since Facebook is not a search engine, people might prefer to join the advanced Google plus media. People can try to make fake Facebook pages with similar appearances to confuse users and hark their sites. Another, unexceptional weakness involves wastage of time. If students and children do not manage Facebook appropriately, it could consume their time and arrest the prioritized activities.
Near-Term Expansion
The development of Facebook is mitigating many loops about new opportunities and techniques (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). For instance, there are developments that were made recently about the Facebook Exchange. This development is expected to integrate marketing through Facebook. It is targeted that a company/business will have signed customers. The customers will be able to buy products from this page.
The development of Facebook Exchange is being tested and will be available after some time. The expansion of Facebook does not rely solely on the website. The headquarters have targeted to employ 1000 new workers to operate on the site. This implies that there are additional infrastructure and facilities required for this expansion. The number of new registrations is increasing in a geometric manner. Consequently, there will be an expansion of the members signed to the site.
Adoption to Safaricom
Safaricom limited is a Kenyan company that runs a variety of profit making activities. The company has been providing mobile networks since 1997. It has managed to establish shops and integrate its services in many dimensions. Safaricom’s profits are related partially to social media including Facebook.
Advertisements
Advertisements allow Safaricom to reach customers worldwide. Customers and other people are granted the opportunity to access information. Safaricom has a Facebook page that allows people to check for the offer on call rates, data bundles and products. This familiarity allows people to identify the opportunities that could arise from Safaricom.
It increases the income due to increment of purchases performed. The page shows the popularity of Safaricom limited due to the comments made on their Facebook wall and credible attitude designated by the ‘likes’ (Kirk, 2010). The page allows customers to ask questions through a messaging systems and receive adequate reply. In some instances, the advertisements include direction and privacy policies to enlighten customers about their operations.
In product advertisements, Safaricom assesses customer and announces their appealing product to people. For instance, there were advertisements made about phones. Ideos were the most selling phone brands for 2 years in Kenya. The popularity of this product arose due advertisement through social and msass media.
Socialization
This aspect mitigates Safaricom to apply the most sociable sites that can unite people. Apparently, the integrity and trust of Safaricom lies squarely on interactions with Kenyans. Facebook offers Safaricom the opportunity to integrate its ideas with people. In fact, people from all over the globe could access Facebook and its services without going to the headquarters.
The interactions allow them to present their services, such as study mode, to customers. Also, open channel for socialization allows the potential customers to integrate their abilities explicitly and gain attraction from Safaricom services. This is because there are other existing companies offering similar services to the country. These companies include Zain, Yu and Orange. This field of competition has been described explicitly under the section of competition in a following paragraph.
Competition
Facebook has created a desire for many companies, including those competing with Safaricom, to engage in social media (Lerner, 2011). Consequently, a business that disregards the social media is assumed odd. This influences the income and popularity of the business.
It could have influenced Safaricom to create a page showing how people are attracted to its services. Otherwise, the comments that customers provide are critical for modifications and expansions (Dickson & Eckman, 2008). Safaricom manages to post its financial analysis to the social media. This depicts their apparent strategies in conducting business.
Ideologies
Facebook allows Safaricom to evaluate customers throughout the globe. The fast and easy services allow customers to provide comments about how they perceive Safaricom services. This facilitates modifications of their services and cautiousness when operating.
For instances, it was established recently that there was a crying need for clients to share data bundles. This arose from the continued comments and complaints about internet sharing. Therefore, it can be identified that Facebook played a vital role of determining the needs of people. Other forums allow Safaricom to post questionnaires that can be answered by well-wishers through Facebook.
Additionally, there are questions that Facebook creates to facilitate rating of business services. Safaricom services have been rated to lay the bases and trust in services and products. However, Facebook has shown the areas that Safaricom needs to modify when providing services to customers. For instance, what if the support center did not cater for customers conveniently? Individuals have been fired from jobs due to their disrespect on customers through call and Facebook support centers.
Browsing
Safaricom makes profits when people buy airtime to browse and chat on Facebook. Active users must ensure that they have data bundles to maintain the Facebook account online. Therefore, users buy airtime and raise the income of Safaricom. In Kenya, the development of these social sites triggered Safaricom to develop a daily internet bundle.
The daily bundles vary from five to twenty Kenyan shillings. Additionally, this development triggers Kenyans to buy phones that can browse Facebook. Consequently, Safaricom developed shops to sell phones, laptops, modems, and electronic accessories among others. Therefore, it could be concluded that Facebook has led to the development of Safaricom through browsing charges.
Messaging Facebook
Safaricom has integrated the use of Facebook through messaging. Individuals without browsing devices can use Facebook through sending messages. These messages are sent from the Safaricom network. Therefore, charges are incurred to cater for the services being offered by Safaricom.
This messaging Facebook allows the use of Facebook to every person owning a phone. In Kenya, 70% of the total country population own phones that can reply to messages. Consequently, Safaricom’s income from messaging services is increased due to the increased number of Facebook users.
Security
Facebook and Safaricom have a mutual share of identity. Irregularities identified under browsing of unidentified individuals are established and defined under the Safaricom customer databases. For instance, if a person uses Facebook to cyberbully another individual, Safaricom provides records of all customer registered to use the internet. Consequently, Facebook and Safaricom can assist each other to eradicate illegal activities.
Facebook users comply with the companies policies that disregard illegal activities. The registered name must represent a real person (Kim, & Choi, 2007). Therefore, Safaricom allows registration of customers to the website through Facebook account. This simplifies the process of signing up to a Safaricom account. When customers increase, it is expected that profits will rise proportionally. The relationship between Safaricom and Facebook achieves attainment of trust due to their high rating.
Privacy
Facebook privacy keeps Safaricom confident when posting and serving customers through its channel. The privacy allows Safaricom to secure the contents of customers and their activities. Customers are, therefore, confident when sharing through the website. They are aware that their private issues will not be accessed by third parties. Legal activities require companies to provide the exact requirements and services offered.
These policies are signed to ensure that a court of law can be involved in cases of dispute. It is, therefore, promising when both Safaricom and Facebook have a privacy policy to protect customers. In case a customer is offended by the companies, the legal necessities can isolate the mistakes and charge the party concerned. This makes Safaricom and Facebook trustworthy to the customers. This development boosts Safaricom when operating and serving the customers appropriately.
Suggestions and Comments
This area has valid and practical implications to the development of Safaricom limited. They gather information from Kenyans and other people from the globe to develop the business. Safaricom remains updated about the occurrences of every day. This allows abrupt response before customers are lost.
Otherwise, if customers remain dissatisfied without any responsive measure towards the dissatisfaction, other businesses will join the market. The suggestions allow Safaricom to evaluate the mood of people and determine the best strategies of fixing issues in accordance to the suggestions.
Attraction becomes evident when a need is addressed. Customers appreciate that their voice matters to the business operations. Facebook facilitates this assessment at a fast rate and on a wide area. The media can manage to collect ideas from a million people in different countries.
Conclusion
Advancements of information technology are prevalent and exposed throughout the globe (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). This growth has been facilitated significantly by social media. Facebook has dispersed well throughout the world. It could be used to develop businesses and trigger other developments in information technology.
The growth of Facebook could assume a bigger dimension than the one that we experience today. However, it is through determination and desires to test/apply ideas that these establishments become successful. Developers and other liberal minded people should establish bases to allow prosperity of businesses such as Safaricom. Also, businesses should recognize Facebook and design strategies to develop it towards their advantage.
References
Decarie, C. (2010). Facebook: Challenges and Opportunities for Business Communication Students. Business Communication Quarterly, 73(4), 449-452.
Dickson, M. A., & Eckman, M. (2008). Media Portrayal Of Voluntary Public Reporting About Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Does Coverage Encourage Or Discourage Ethical Management? Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 725-743.
Kim, S. W., & Choi, C. J. (2007). Habits, Self-Control and Social Conventions: The Role of Global Media and Corporations. Journal of Business Ethics, 76(2), 147-154.
Kirk, H. (2010). How Social Media Are Changing The Face Of Business. Leader to Leader, 2010(57), 59-60.
Lerner, T. (2011). Friends in Online Places: Business and Social Media. Strategic Direction, 27(10), 19-22.
Digital privacy issues have become a major concern and keeping track of reactions and responses to prominent scandals is pivotal. This case study analyzes a recent Facebook security breach reported in April 2021 with attention to the event’s local, national, and global media portrayals. Common media consumers’ responses to the topic are similar, especially in relation to supporting Ireland’s movement against Facebook, but local media in California manifest excessive optimism regarding the breach’s influences compared to the other levels.
There are notable differences between local and national/international sources in recognizing the potential harm to Facebook users whose confidential information has been posted for sale. Regarding local coverage in California, the state in which Facebook is headquartered, some materials in the Los Angeles Times tend to understate the issue’s large-scale consequences. Lazarus (2021) highlights that users’ exposed data, including names, dates of birth, physical locations, and contact information, “may pose relatively little risk to people’s privacy” (para. 4). In contrast, national-level sources, including the Insider, are less optimistic concerning the breach. The mentioned source’s staff journalists rely on digital security specialists’ predictions, including the possibility of instrumentalizing the exposed data to impersonate users and commit identity crimes (Holmes, 2021). Using appeals to authority and credibility, Holmes (2021) cites Alon Gal, a cybercrime intelligence professional, to review the breach’s helpfulness for criminal plans. Sources outside of the U.S., including BBC and the Irish Mirror, also confirm the event’s seriousness through the selection of epithets and raising cybercrime and identity theft topics (BBC News Staff, 2021; Kent, 2021). Therefore, the security breach’s possible consequences find heterogeneous media coverage.
From a global standpoint, it is possible to discover only some slight differences between the perspectives of unrelated news sources in other parts of the world aside from the U.S. In particular, the related publications vary in terms of criticizing Facebook’s reactions to the incident. As an example, the publication in the Irish Mirror briefly reports well-established facts regarding the number of exposed accounts and complaints from Facebook users and focuses on comparisons between diverse incidents (Kent, 2021). In contrast, BBC emphasizes Facebook’s insufficient sense of social responsibility manifested in internal communication about the event (BBC News Staff, 2021). The absence of extreme diversity in coverage might stem from the incident’s non-political nature and the lack of threats for influential individuals or agencies.
The presence of reaction movements and their similarities and differences constitute another crucial point for discussion. Instead of multiple movements against social media giants’ imperfect privacy guarantees, the event resulted in the activities of a state-level civil rights group in Ireland. Specifically, Digital Rights Ireland invited Irish Facebook users and other affected customers in the European Union to join its campaign and sue Facebook’s managerial team for damages to service consumers (U/[deleted], 2021). Aside from encouraging Facebook to offer new privacy protections, the digital rights lobbying group sought to get monetary compensation for affected users, which became a crucial motivator for individuals to join the initiative (U/[deleted], 2021). The agency anticipated the campaign to become the largest mass action against social media giants. No prominent movements apart from the aforementioned one emerged outside of the U.S., which nullifies the opportunity for making inter-movement comparisons.
To continue, finding specific dissimilarities between media consumers’ reactions in different parts of the world might be problematic. The reason for it is that the audiences’ perceptions are likely to depend on individuals’ IT and cybersecurity literacy rather than the fact of living in a specific country. Considering this, common consumers’ perceptions of the scandal are not varied, which finds reflection in a discussion thread started by an anonymous user on Reddit, an international forum for English-speaking populations (U/[deleted], 2021). Based on the leading comments in the thread, most users are positive towards the need for action against Facebook and take the data breach incident seriously, resulting in massive support for anti-Facebook rhetorics (U/[deleted], 2021). From individual comments’ social karma counts, it is also visible that media consumers doubt that collective lawsuits are more effective compared to individual ones (U/[deleted], 2021). Such statements might stem from perceptions that overly massive responses dilute social issues and understate the most affected parties’ suffering and losses. With that in mind, media consumers’ reactions to the incident and the subsequent action against Facebook are quite homogenous at the international level.
Finally, local news sources’ ways of portraying the issue are notably different from the coverage at the national and the international levels in terms of using expert opinions and recognizing the risks for users. Instead of promoting various separate initiatives, the event resulted in one movement in Ireland with some contributions from the European Union. From the global standpoint, common media consumers’ reactions to the security incident and the resulting cases against Facebook mainly represent the anti-tech-giant standpoint without notable country-related dissimilarities.
Facebook, a giant American online communication platform, officially adopted the name Metaverse on October 28th, 2021. The Silicon Valley-based company, founded in 2004, was rebranded during the Connect 2021 conference signaling the onset of a global internet progression commonly referred to as Web 3.0 (Zyda, 2022). According to the New York Times, the change of brand was prompted by allegations tabled by Frances Haugens, a whistleblower who charged the company’s chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg with ethical malpractice.
The forecited 37-year-old taleteller claimed that Zuckerberg’s company infringed the privacy and safety policies of its users by prioritizing profits and foregoing the health implications of its content (Sriram, 2022). The rebranding was effected at the time when Zuckerberg was facing these allegations, which caught the public’s attention over time. An analysis of digital promotion techniques adopted by Facebook, its campaign use of social media platforms, and the theoretical frameworks associated with its rebranding form the basis of discussion for this paper.
Background Review of Facebook’s Rebranding
On a rather different ground, the company’s CEO argued that the rebranding process aimed at condensing other social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Instagram. The goal was to bring these channels under one umbrella to help people to socialize more efficiently through online interactions. The 37-year-old American billionaire later emphasized that Metaverse would be useful in promoting interpersonal connections across the globe while helping business owners to access a wider market through e-commerce. The CEO clarified further that the company’s identity transformation was tailored toward availing a hybrid avenue upon which online and social media surfers would compound their experiences using integrated software.
Concurrently, he clarified that the transformation to Meta platforms would provide a dynamic shift from the physical world to a more futuristic virtual existence, especially for gamers and artists. From the above discussion, it is evident that the rebranding targeted all former Facebook users, including entrepreneurs in cosmopolitan localities and those living in marginalized areas across the world. However, the whistleblower’s stance that Zuckerberg incorporated the idea of identity transmutability to divert users’ attention from the breach of privacy and safety allegations cannot be overlooked.
It is important to note that despite the accusations and controversies that the company faced at the time of identity transformation, the process was conducted smoothly. Recent updates from Zuckerberg demonstrate a successful transition into a technological-based software and virtual reality link that can be accessed without requiring the user to have an active Facebook account. Artists and celebrities such as Travis Scott and Arianna Grande have already conducted virtual concerts, while some Bitcoin owners have purchased intangible assets like land on the Metaverse. This implies that a significant proportion of users have started capitalizing on the rebranded application, using it as a tool to attain great experiences while welcoming more users to an augmented virtual space era. Ideally, the Metaverse platform is a key milestone that will pave the way for unprecedented socio-technological advancement and online network building (Narin, 2021).
Historical Background
Although some Facebook users may consider CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the pioneer of virtual reality, the origin of this niche dates back to twenty-nine years ago. In 1992, Neal Stephenson and William Gibson authored utopian novels, namely ‘Snow crash’ and ‘Neuromancer’ respectively (Stokel-Walker, 2021). The two masterpieces envisioned a glimpse into the dystopian future that blends a cluster of new technological components such as cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. For example, in the first novel, the author describes a digital environment explored by a user wearing the modern Oculus Quest 2. With the aid of a pair of headsets, he can navigate through a three-dimensional virtual space while exploring a wide range of habitats. This implies that Zuckerberg’s idea of an augmented existence, commonly referred to as the Metaverse, was already predetermined by the two authors. The two sections that follow highlight the significance of digital promotion and the role it played in publicizing the Metaverse campaign.
Introduction to Digital Promotion and the Need for its Incorporation in Business
The idea of digital promotion has gained popularity in the modern-day world of business and economics compared to the past several decades, including the times of the Great Depression. It entails the incorporation of online channels to market goods and services offered by a company. The online avenues mentioned above include but are not limited to social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, sales organizations, online marketing websites, and the internet. These channels can be used by business owners as links to connect potential customers to their respective sellers through digital communication (Narin, 2021). Platforms such as Whatsapp and Instagram had over two billion and 815 million users, respectively, as of 2019 (Muhlberg, 2021). The large statistics offer a solid framework that all companies can use to promote their merchandise at affordable charges.
The current dynamism in the business world makes it vital for all companies, small or large, to capitalize on digital promotion and online marketing. There are quite many factors that can easily inconvenience a company that relies on traditional methods of product promotion such use of salespersons. For example, the recent COVID-19 pandemic forced all firms to adopt a work-from-home policy, thus terminating any form of face-to-face business or advertising. The adoption of digital promotion methods allows companies to override such unplanned occurrences. Furthermore, sales agents may not be flexible enough to access potential clients living in remote areas and are easily affected by natural aspects such as bad weather (Narin, 2021). In cases where access is made possible, the company will have to incur additional charges in terms of transportation and food allowances which are separate from the mandatory basic salary.
Corresponding Section
Large companies such as Facebook, which have fully incorporated online marketing for their clients as well as themselves, tend to incur less overhead costs associated with promoting their products or informing their users about an upcoming upgrade or innovation. The company enjoys all the benefits related to digital promotion that have been highlighted in the previous paragraph, which includes reduced overhead costs. This prompts the need for other corporations that rely on traditional product promotion modalities to find better alternatives online. The section that follows describes how Facebook used the digital promotion strategy during its Metaverse brand campaign.
Digital Promotion of Facebook’s Metaverse Rebranding
In the case of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding, the use of social media websites and not-for-profit organizations did not occur in the manner that many would have expected. Facebook being a global company with a large number of active users as per the time of its identity transmutability, made it unnecessary to participate in active mass awareness about its prospects. However, there were prior announcements made by the CEO regarding the new software, Metaverse, that were publicized by major media houses in the United States (Mystakidis, 2022). The idea of rebranding was further escalated after the October conference when Zuckerberg officially launched the platform.
Over time, there have been controversial remarks from billionaire Elon Musk regarding Zuckerberg’s idea of a new reality. Musk has over 81 million followers and indirectly propagated the spread of Metaverse through his random tweets (Stokel-Walker, 2022). On the same note, different journals, tabloid newspapers, books, and business web pages mentioned the transition alongside the expected results. In a nutshell, the promotion of Zuckerberg’s platform through other digital modalities was not aggressive since the company already had a large number of active users who were well-informed about it. The section that follows highlights the implication of the transition on other social media platforms such as Whatsapp and Twitter.
Campaign Use of Facebook and Related Social Media Platforms as Public Relations Tools
Generally, public relations campaigns are centered on creating awareness about the existence of a product; changes were done to it or simply the introduction of a new one. Large communication companies like Facebook may use public relations campaigns to pursue objectives such as availing current trends to its users or restoring their image. During Facebook’s rebranding phase, there was massive sensitization through other media platforms for instance, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit.
The public relations campaign quickly spread from Facebook to other social media channels listed above. It is critical to note that most of these communications on social media were triggered by internet users themselves rather than the company (Lawrence, 2022). The consolidation of hashtags during the rebranding phase contributed to the active spread of the transition, especially on Twitter, where #Metaverse became a trending topic for several days. Whereas different Social Movement Organizations (SMO) and Non-Governmental Organizations played a negligible role in this digital promotion, the use of hashtag activism on Twitter channels gained massive momentum for mass awareness.
This technique can be best defined as making an issue popular by building public support and awareness around it. It is commonly practiced on Twitter whereby a topic that is deemed critical is actively projected to the public by the use of hashtags. According to one of the attached files, hashtag activism breeds familiarity whereby different internet users form discussion forums around a given topic or event, thus resulting in a strong driving force of civil engagement.
The incorporation of hashtags after Connect 2021 summit perpetuated a wild social movement across Twitter and Whatsapp, thus bridging the gap between collective and connective digital content promotion. Similarly, the aggressiveness of the movement depicts that Facebook has wide coverage averaging at two point nine billion users that quickly accessed the news and spread it to other social media channels (Zuckerberg, 2021). However, it is not clear whether the hashtag movement was triggered by the company itself or it was autonomously bottom-up (Fernandez, 2022). On the other hand, platforms such as Whatsapp might have played a key role in the promotion of the rebranding agenda when users update their statuses by posting trending topics within their locality.
These updates, when received by other individuals in their contact list, promote the trending topic even further. The section that follows gives an additional analysis of tribal marketing as an element of the theoretical framework related to the inception of Metaverse. Issues regarding corporate social responsibility and how the company was able to restore its damaged reputation after the whistleblower’s allegations to ensure a smooth transition have been included.
Theoretical Framework Based on Class concepts
In this section, the discussion is based on two strategies highlighted in class namely corporate social responsibility and tribal marketing. Additionally, an analysis of how the two phenomena relate to the public relations campaign of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding has been blended. The first concept to be probed is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Generally, CSR is a multifaceted discipline that defines how a company can strike equilibrium across different tenets such as employee relations, environmental conservation, proper human resource management, and community relations. It encompasses all facets of workers’ ethical awareness, philanthropic movements, and community-based charity programs.
As discussed earlier, Frances Haugen had pressed charges against the company’s breach of users’ privacy and safety. These allegations imply that, at one point, Facebook was insensitive to customers’ welfare and primarily focused on profit maximization. When such scenarios occur, the corporate social responsibility of the firm to the public is violated. The negative impacts of Facebook’s content on the mental health of its users signify that the company had become unethical and hence irresponsible by neglecting the safety of its minority users.
The CEO had to act promptly to adopt one of Benoit’s image restoration strategies that would effectively restore good public relations quickly enough while ensuring that the rebranding initiative is not distracted. One of the blueprints under CSR restoration employed by Facebook involved the use of the denial approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg refuted the accusation that the firm had prioritized profits for the safety of its users. He clarified further that the firm makes over 95% of its revenue through displaying Google Adsense and advertisers never recommend their content to be close to other harmful or explicit material (Fernandez, 2022). Zuckerberg used the same response to counteract further allegations from Haugen that one of Facebook’s subsidiaries, Instagram, was responsible for damaging young adolescents’ mental health as revealed in internal research.
Based on the topic of discussion, it is clear that if Zuckerberg had not responded to these critical issues early enough, the rebranding process could have been greatly affected despite the aggressive promotion on Twitter. Alternatively, the process could have been a success but eventually failed to reach its target audience since the company’s reputation was already at stake. The CEO understood the intensity of the whistleblower’s charges and embraced the denial scheme to avoid the risk of making further losses, thus losing more shareholders.
His prompt actions contributed to the massive public acceptance of the new brand as it was able to restore its tarnished reputation. Active digital promotion of Metaverse through other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Whatsapp, was smoothened after the restoration of Corporate Social Responsibility (Ramesh et al., 2019). Although the accusations may be justified, there is insufficient evidence available to the public that reveals Facebook’s unethical malpractices as forwarded by the whistleblower. Thus, the transition process was insignificantly affected.
In addition, Facebook had maintained an indisputable and clear reputation in the past through adherence to corporate social responsibility initiatives. For example, on November 30th, 2017, the company launched a $50 million gift fund as cited in the Philanthropy News Digest (Kraus et al., 2022). This pool of funds gathered throughout the year and donated annually is targeted at funding community-rebuilding initiatives after pandemics and disasters. The CEO clarified that some proportion of these finds would be channeled toward suicide prevention. The gift fund was a philanthropic initiative by Facebook, confirming the fact that the company upheld corporate social responsibility.
On the other hand, tribal marketing was directly associated with the successful rebranding of Facebook through digital promotion. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as cult marketing, requires that a company should have an identity that goes beyond its area of jurisdiction as highlighted in one of the attached files. Tribal marketing involves the firm dividing its market into cohorts based on its sociocultural beliefs rather than treating it as a single unit. It is a form of market segmentation only that in this case, price is not the determinant.
From the introductory sections, it is evident that Facebook does not practice cult marketing, which made the transition via digital promotions much easier. The Silicon Valley-based firm has been experiencing an increased number of active users. There has been an increment from 1.22 billion in 2015 to 1.69 billion in 2020, with an average of 2.91 active accounts, implying that most people have more than one account (Hollensen, Kotler & Opresnik, 2022). With these statistics in mind, it is easy to explain the rapid spread and adoption of Metaverse since its inception across different cultures. The blending of global communities, irrespective of their affiliations and interests, served as an essential tool to ensure that the company incorporates a large number of users as it transits across social platforms. According to consumer tribe theory, for a public relations brand to be considered successful, it has to offer consumers a sense of belonging that matches their identity.
In the context of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding, the new platform is not limited to specific groups. The avenue offers different virtual environments for conducting meetings, concerts, and even trading. There are avatars that game lovers can use to play real-time games with one another or customize their players into digital versions of themselves (Kim, 2021). The wide range of activities that can be done on the platform played a significant role in ensuring public acceptance and hence the rapid growth of Metaverse users across the globe. However, there was a need for a further advertisement about the transition; the platform on its own offered wide interaction opportunities that were well supported by a futuristic framework.
Findings and Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is factual that Facebook as a company played a nearly negligible role in the digital promotion of its public relations campaign. The large fan base made it easier for the rebranding news to spread across the globe within a very short time. However, even though the advertisement of the new platform was very insignificant, other social media platforms that are linked to Facebook were equally important in public sensitization. The use of hashtag activism on Twitter and Instagram was the main channel that aided in spreading the news about Metaverse. This was well emphasized by the futuristic technology that was blended in the process of developing the software.
The integration of augmented and virtual reality in a dynamic online environment was satisfactory to many internet users, especially game lovers. From this term paper, business managers can learn to adopt digital promotion techniques, for instance, using hashtags to be sensitive to a wider market regarding a new product or modifications done to the good or service. The Twitter platform has been known for rapidly spreading information through hashtags when they appear as trending topics on users’ timelines. In addition, the news about the Metaverse campaign was able to break geographical boundaries quickly since Facebook, unlike other large firms, does not practice cult marketing. The abolishment of tribal product promotion ensured that information reaches a wide population at the same time. Although it was a new platform, business people and celebrities were confident enough to use it for business transactions and music concerts because they could easily get to their remote fans regardless of their location.
On the other hand, companies can use Benoit’s image restoration strategy, highlighted in one of the attached files to counteract unauthentic whistleblower allegations that could damage the firm’s digital promotion periods. It is advisable that all firms, regardless of their scale of operation, capitalize on the online marketing space to reduce operational expenses and access wider markets. The use of traditional product promotion approaches, such as salespersons, is very susceptible to unforeseen crises like pandemics which may require firms to adopt work-from-home policies.
In addition, the costs incurred in paying for allowances and the remoteness of areas with potential customers further emphasize the need for online marketing. The internet can play a significant role in informing the public about new trends; hence companies should be quick to blend it into their advertisement operations. On the same note, social media platforms, specifically Twitter, have features such as hashtags that can be used to make important business updates go viral within a short span. They should therefore form part of firms’ main advertising modalities, as illustrated in the case of Facebook’s Metaverse rebranding campaign.
Lawrence, K. (2022). Facebook’s New Chapter: Rebranding to Meta, 11(13), 128-135
Muhlberg, H. (2021). Meta–What the Zuck. Without Prejudice, 21(4), 18-19.
Mystakidis, S. (2022). Metaverse. Encyclopedia, 2(1), 486-497.
Narin, N. G. (2021). A content analysis of the Metaverse articles. Journal of Metaverse, 1(1), 17-24.
Ramesh, U. V., Harini, A., Gowri, C. S. D., Durga, K. V., Druvitha, P., & Kumar, K. S. (2019) Metaverse: Future of the Internet. Journal homepage, ISSN, 2582, 7421.
Sparkes, M. (2021). What is a metaverse. NewScientist 251(3348), 18. Web.
Sriram, G. K. (2022). A comprehensive survey on metaverse. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology, 15(6), 104-111
It is hard to disagree that many modern people are addicted to social networks and begin to use their Facebook, Instagram, and other profiles in a way that harms them. Overall, such social media platforms may be very effective for small businesses in attracting their target audience, but the effects of networks on ordinary people are very negative. Frances Haugen, former Facebook product manager, decided to reveal the terrible truth about how this platform violates Corporate Social Responsibility.
The testimony of Ms. Haugen is full of details and information that may make people want to delete their Facebook accounts. First of all, Frances notices that Facebook is “tearing apart our democracy, putting our children in danger, and sewing ethnic violence around the world” (C-SPAN, 2021). Facebook has had many challenges where the choice was between the company’s own profit and the safety of users’ personal data. Notwithstanding the aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility that state that businesses are responsible for the well-being of society, the social media platform’s managers “consistently resolved these conflicts in favor of their own profits” (C-SPAN, 2021). Instead of protecting its clients and making ethical choices, Facebook has been hiding vital information from people and governments while continuing to make choices that are harmful to societies.
The question is, are those people who do not use Facebook safe? Ms. Haugen’s answer is no: they are under the influence of Facebook users, and this disastrous impact has to stop (C-SPAN, 2021). The media platform hides the truth, does not allow anyone to see the essence of its operations, and promotes the spread of extremist ideas. These are the ways Facebook violates CSR, and this is why governments need to take action.
For entities to understand the needs of their target market, they need to increase their level of interaction with their customers. Social media has made it easy for firms of all sizes to realize this goal. The article ‘Myspace DIY Ad Service’ expounded on the advertisement that aimed at encouraging businesses of all sizes to create banner advertisements at minimal cost and direct them to their preferred target audience within the Myspace social network site (Woody 1).
Through the operation of this advert campaign, firms can now easily market their products and services to their target audience at minimal costs. Moreover, firms also have the chance to directly interact with their customers and can get feedback on their products. This is an effective way for a firm to determine the impacts that their products have and the changes that they need to put to improve the overall quality of their products hence achieving consumer satisfaction.
The article ‘Twitter will learn from Facebook’ is a classic example of how social network sites are branding themselves to increase the number of firms that advertise through their platforms (Marshall and Koh 1). This article expounds on the strategies that Twitter has recently put in place to increase the number of entities that advertise on its website. To be particular, Twitter has reduced its advertising charges as a means of encouraging more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to advertise through its platform.
By remodeling its pricing mechanism, Twitter believes it will increase its level of competitiveness against its main rival Facebook. Through this strategy, Twitter also aims at increasing its brand awareness as well as its market reach within the online advertising industry.
Critical Analysis
In the contemporary world, firms are operating in a very competitive environment. To stand at a competitive edge, many entities strive to offer high-quality products and services at affordable prices. To realize this objective, firms have come up with policies and strategies that ensure their products and services meet the needs of their target markets. To reach out to their target markets, most firms advertise their products through various platforms.
Due to its coverage, social media have grown to be the leading avenue through which firms use to advertise their products and reach out to their clientele. Advertising is one of the marketing strategies that is used to enhance the brand reach and product awareness. In the current competitive world, firms have been forced to come up with effective and efficient advertisement campaigns as a means of not only standing at a competitive edge over their rivals but also as a means of becoming profitable and sustainable in the short run and in the long run. This message has been clearly presented in the two articles that have been covered in this paper.
In both articles, pricing is the main services marketing concept that has been expounded on. Consumers are usually sensitive to the price that they have to pay for a product or service. This phenomenon is present in a business to business (B2B) as well as a business to consumer (B2C) environment. The articles that have been covered in this paper focus on the provision of advertising services in a B2B environment. With the advancement in information technology, most firms have turned to social media as their main mode of reaching their target audience. Thus, they use this platform to showcase the products and services that they have to offer to their target market.
In this process, Myspace and Twitter aim at increasing the market reach for these entities while at the same time reducing their advertising costs. Through this process, entities can therefore promote their products and interact with their target audience. Therefore, through the online portal, firms not only have the opportunity of providing customers with the goods and services that meet their needs and requirements but also have the chance to enhance their overall consumer experience.
Reaction to the Articles
The aim of service marketing is to market the goods and services that a given firm produces in an effective and efficient manner. The articles that have been covered in this paper showcase the campaigns that firms put in place in order to increase their market share. For instance, Twitter is in the process of remodeling its advertising strategy to increase the number of SMEs that advertise through its site (Marshall and Koh 1).
This is an effective strategy for increasing its level of competitiveness especially after considering the fact that the number of SMEs s growing across the world. Therefore, by targeting this growing market, Twitter not only stands a chance of increasing its competitiveness but also its revenue. By critically analyzing the article on Myspace, it is evident that this entity has taken a similar approach. Therefore, for a firm to be profitable and sustainable in the contemporary world, it is essential that it advertises its products and services in an effective and efficient manner.
Works Cited
Marshall, Jack, and Yoree Koh. “Twitter Learns from Facebook.” Wall Street Journal. 2014. Web.
Woody, Todd. “MySpace’s DIY ad Service.” Fortune. 2008. Web.
Advertising has a powerful effect on how a company, product, or service is viewed by target customers. Brands spend a large part of their marketing budget on the development of new ads, such as posters, videos, or radio commercials. An effective advertisement can help a business to improve its reputation, draw customers’ attention to its products, and gain a competitive advantage. A poorly made ad, on the other side, can do the exact opposite.
Creating an ad is about portraying the company in a positive light, showing its most attractive features and qualities. The purpose of this task, however, was to create an ad that critiques a brand or product. Thus, the aim was to depict the negative qualities of the brand and the controversy surrounding it.
Facebook is a social networking platform that is subject to criticism and suspicion. The primary concern surrounding Facebook is that of data safety and security, as Facebook was linked to major data leaks and is now under investigation. Also, people often criticize Facebook for creating a space for gossip, which often turns into cyberbullying. The image of Facebook is controversial, which is a good opportunity to create a satirical ad. The paper will seek to describe and explain the process of creating the advertisement for this assignment.
Description
The color scheme and style used in Facebook ads were among the main inspirations for this ad. Facebook often uses simple, blue, and white designs when advertising its services, which reflects the style of the website itself. The overall style of the ad also mirrors Facebook ads’ style, as it is simple and focused on small details, while the large part of the poster is a plain background with no text or images.
On the left side of the poster, there is a group of words shaped to resemble Mark Zuckerberg’s head and face. The text includes words often used on social media, such as “chat,” “lol,” and “like,” as well as bigger, more prominent words that are connected to the meaning of the ad, including “gossip” and “irony.” Next to the head, there is a slogan: “We will share your data with anyone.” The visuals of the ad server create meaning by highlighting important ideas and topics in the debate surrounding Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg
The image of Mark Zuckerberg was also an inspiration for the ad. First of all, Zuckerberg represents Facebook in the eyes of the public. As the co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg also answers to the public for the controversies and scandals surrounding his company. For instance, he recently represented the company during the congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, where he attempted to apologize for the data leaks and assumed personal responsibility for them (McGregor).
Indeed, the figure of Mark Zuckerberg has been subject to scrutiny in the past, particularly for unethical acts. Although Facebook was founded by a team of four co-founders, Zuckerberg became the most famous and earned the most profits from the company. One of the co-founders, Eduardo Saverin, was ousted by Zuckerberg, which later resulted in a lawsuit and a settlement (Kosoff). Other co-founders received minor shares in the company when it went public. In addition to this, Zuckerberg is known for creating controversial services and features on Facebook that affect the users’ privacy and confidentiality. Thus, using Zuckerberg’s image as a representation of ethical conflicts surrounding Facebook was a useful idea, as it creates a strong association between the company’s past and present.
Words
A significant part of the meaning is hidden behind the group of words on the left side of the poster. There are several subgroups, and each one has a different meaning or association. First of all, there are short words and abbreviations, often used in chats to save time (e.g., “lol,” “lolz,” and “OMG”), as well as words and phrases specific to the context of social networks (e.g., “like this,” “comment,” and “tagged a photo”). These words serve to draw attention to the use of social networks and their effect on our daily lives. For many people, online popularity and connectedness became substitutes for real-life communication. This contributes to the threat posed by Facebook, as the more information, photos, and posts people share, the more data becomes subject to leaks and misuse.
The next subgroup of words repeated throughout the text refers to online behaviors (e.g., “gossip” and “network”). While many people use Facebook to connect with others, it also creates space for gossip, trolling, and other harmful behaviors. For example, Facebook is often connected to cases of cyberbullying, which is damaging to victims. Over 85% of reported cases of cyberbullying occur on Facebook (Gayle).
The ad attempts to show that what might begin as innocent gossip or a networking opportunity could lead to bullying and cause psychological damage to many Facebook users. Lastly, “irony,” “data leaks,” and “identity theft” constitute an important subgroup of words that create an association between online behaviors and threats to the safety and security of information. The irony is largely focused on the fact that, while Facebook attempts to clear its name after the most recent scandal, it continues to trade users’ information to third parties for the purpose of advertising and increasing profits. Such an approach to information security leads to data leaks and cybercrime, including identity theft.
Slogan
The slogan for the ad was inspired by the most recent controversy, as well as Facebook’s history of user data misuse. In March 2018, Facebook became the center of public attention after major news outlets released reports that claimed that the data of 50 million users was sold without consent to Cambridge Analytica, a company that specializes in political targeting of the electorate (Lomas). However, this was not the first report of data leaks for Facebook. Starting from 2007, when Facebook launched a program utilizing data about users’ online purchases on other sites to provide targeted advertisement, the company was subject to data abuse (Lomas).
The history of controversies surrounding Facebook paints the picture that the company would sell the personal data of users to third parties to achieve higher profits, regardless of the consequences. The slogan is used to convey this idea to the audience, thus critiquing Facebook and warning users about data leaks. Another important aspect of the slogan is that it is placed next to Zuckerberg’s mouth as if he is the one saying those words. This feature adds to the connection between Zuckerberg and Facebook’s failing business ethics.
Conclusion
Overall, the satirical ad produced as part of the assignment serves to critique Facebook. The advertisement was largely inspired by the scandals surrounding Facebook throughout its lifetime, whereas the visual aspects of the ad work as a reference to real Facebook ads. The advertisement uses text, image, and association to create an effect on the audience and draw their attention to the controversial practices of the company.
There seems to have been a sudden explosion of social networking sites that are all designed to keep people in touch with other at the touch of a keypad. Two of the most notable founders of this new internet media outlet are Facebook and Twitter, both are now billions of dollars worth as a company and yet, mass media is torn between portraying these two as either the dividers or uniting forces of a society that constantly feeds on media innovations.
A perception that is fueled by their lack of understanding of the constantly growing Social Networking trend. Angela Nielsen (2011) explained that most businesses and corporate leaders still tend to view social media networks as a fad because that is how the others who fail to understand that growing business tool portray it.
According to Susan Guenlius (2011), online social networks are defined by the way they allow users to “…share content, interact and develop communities around similar interests. ” The media is constantly concerned about privacy and tracking issues for the users because of the way these networks use targeted advertising to help generate income for their sites.
Just as the users freely exchange information within their network, so too does the company, like Facebook, have the freedom to pull your personal information for sharing with their business partners.
I will admit to being a Facebook and Twitter user. as such, I can understand the concerns that the security professionals have and continue to warn people about about the way these social networks seem to have become part and parcel of our daily lives. The social networks tend to be a modern version of the Wild-West and can be unruly at times.
But just like the Wild-West, these networks learn from their mistakes and continue to evolve their policies and regulations based upon the demands and comfort of their users.
These social networks have beefed up their security and non-user related information sharing access over time. Facebook (2011) launched this past April their latest security innovation that uses the https to further secure your page and insure that my personal information does not get shared with advertisers whom I have not given permission to do so.
This is part of their constantly evolving rules and regulations governing the use of their members personal information by other parties. Even Twitter already has a function disabling their users location per post software which can be used by advertisers to target consumers.
Facebook and twitter are constantly working on improving their system of service and security for their members. However, the media only chooses to concentrate on the negative aspects of this quest. They seem to have made it their mission to constantly find fault in a service that has become most beneficial not only to the members of the community, but also to the business owners whom they also host and accept paid advertising from.
According to Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes (2011), social networks paved the way for a new business environment due to the fact that; “71% have corporate Facebook pages, 59% have corporate accounts on Twitter, 50% have a public facing corporate blog , 44% say Facebook is the single most effective social networking platform they use.”
These statistics have helped open the door to a new version of mass media which we now call Social Networks which have proven to be highly successful mass media promotional tools.
We can expect that these particular services will continue to lead the way in data security and theft prevention and business marketing campaigns in the future. Television will still be one form of business promotion, but as people spend increased amounts of time online and with the line between television and the internet further blurring, mass media will find itself being more absorbed into social networking.
References
Dr. Barnes, Nora Ganim. (2011). Facebook Cited As Most Effective Social Networking Tool Among Inc. 500. E-Commerce SEO. Web.
Gunelus, Susan. (2011). What Is Social Networking? about.com. Web.
Nielsen, Angela. (2011). Still Think Social Media Is A Fad? InspiredMag. Web.
When we talk of social media in this present generation of the internet and new technology, we refer to a continuing struggle of a culture or cultures of peoples of the world. It has always been claimed that we are now living in a global village. Students who are studying and working hard in their studies, for their future careers, are also preparing for a so-called “bigger and smaller” world. Their interactions with social media, for example the Facebook, is a preparation for their later lives that will later be filled with excitement and frustration as they battle the competition and the “survival-of-the-fittest” strategies in the business world.
Facebook is an example of a social medium that allows people to interact, communicate, and know each other. There are features that are also available in other networking sites, but what makes Facebook more popular and sought after social network. Stone (2007) described it as “one of the fastest-growing and best-known sites on the internet today”.
What makes Facebook tick and how does it work?
Facebook is an online social networking, connecting people of diverse cultures from all over the world through the power of the internet. It was started in 2004 by a Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg, whose first objective was to cater to Harvard students. This was later expanded to all high school and college students. Now, teenagers and even adults from around the world who patronize the internet use Facebook. Stone (2007) says that “like other social networks, the site allows its users to create a profile page and forge online links with friends and acquaintances”.
Levenson (2008) explains it clearly that three students started the idea but that they had not “enough computer expertise” that compelled them to hire Mark Zuckerberg. They just learned later on that Zuckerberg launched Facebook. However, this has already been settled with Facebook giving a certain amount to Narendra and the Winklevoss twins, the three students who the original idea about it. (Levenson 2008)
As you log in to the site – i.e., after you have registered – you are introduced to many options. Your profile is personalized; you can upload pictures which can be viewed by anybody you authorize; there are many features of networking to friends, connecting to people from around the world, blogging, and news in and out of campus. Facebook is marked by some controversies however in its initial stage. Some students claimed that they were the first to own the idea and that Mr. Zuckerberg just copied it. Popular things are always marred by controversies.
One of Facebook’s fascinating but controversial features is the News Feed. Thompson says that this is a “built-in service that would actively broadcast changes in a user’s page to anyone of his or her friends.” Students like this feature because it “delivered a long list of up-to-the-minute gossip about their friends, around the clock, all in one piece”, says Thompson. At first, some students did not like it because of its “non-privacy” feature, meaning everyone seems to know what was going on. Zuckerberg decided to stick to it, and then everything turned to normal.
Thompson (2008) says, “Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it ‘ambient awareness.” With this feature, you can have access to other people’s activities, which can be intriguing and fascinating for many of us. Students are thrilled by this kind of ‘power’, so to speak. You’re just in the confines of your room, and with the push of the button, you have some glimpses or peeks of your fellow students’ activities.
What do we have in the political scene? Yes, indeed the politicians are joining the bandwagon, making themselves available on Facebook. What else, this is a social site, and where people go, politicians surely go. Virginia Heffernan (2008) on The New York Times Magazine (online) revealed that John McCain’s Facebook page “featured a martial semi-profile of the candidate emblazoned with the slogan, ‘Country First: The Official Home of John McCain on Facebook’, and then replaced in September with ‘The Ticket for America’” (Heffernan 2008). Barack Obama has a sound feature in his page; both candidates exchange some “pleasantries” in the site, and use it to forward their platforms (McCain has so far 60,000 posts since he started in February 2007).
Despite all its popularity, Facebook hasn’t found a business model yet. Ives (2008) says in an article, that it “has been testing an interactive product that draw willing consumers into the advertising itself”. Ives further adds, “MTV tried it out to promote its latest video music awards, posting clips of Britney Spears, for example, and allowing viewers to post comments about them.” Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was quoted as saying that “the results were really positive.” There was a problem with “monetization” question, and that Facebook really needed a “new model and new metrics”, she added. This is to get ad revenue for the site, which to date has not been wholly realized.
Ms. Sandberg further revealed that the site has a new feature added known as “Facebook Connect” which brings Facebook contacts into other sites. With the site’s new innovations and remodeling, some people have complained, but Facebook is still going forward.
The question is, “What does Facebook need for a new face?” The answer to that is none actually. It has good features that have been tested. Now, it has to survive financially. According to some reliable information, like that from Ms. Sandberg, Facebook needs ad revenues. This is where how the owners and managers of the site have to test their mettle and expertise. And how their loyalty and expertise can make Facebook, as a social medium and business, survive in the “smaller and bigger” world of the internet.
References
Berkman, L. F. (2008). Encyclopedia of Public Health: Social Networks and Social Support. Web.
Heffernan, V. (2008). Facebook Politics. The New York Times Magazine. Web.
Ives, N. (2008). Facebook COO: Web Needs New Model, New Metrics. Advertising Age website. Web.
Levenson, M. (2008). Facebook, ConnectU Settle Dispute. Web.
Stone, B. (2007). Facebook. The New York Times. Web.
Thompson, C. (2008). Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. The New York Times Magazine. Web.