Is Social Media All About The Money?
Posted by
Chris Lang on Thu, Nov 17, 2023 @ 05:10 PM
Who dictates the value of the social media, the market or the social media?
I continue to read about the growing importance of a social media strategy within your company’s overall marketing plans. It has come to the point of if you’re not, Linking In, Digging, Stumbling spacebooking, myfaceing and OrangeCupping, you are seen as a dinosaur. (I made up OrangeCupping - you know you were about to look it up.)
Throughout time the media’s financial intentions have always been questioned. Few people know that the original cave drawings were sponsored by Neanderthal Spear “Neanderthal Spears….or else you won’t eat this winter”. Take the news for example. There has always been debate over media outlets’ business portfolios and possible ulterior motives. You usually don’t see anything bad about General Electric on NBC because GE owns NBC. So the air conditioner that explodes when you look at it won’t be featured on the Today show. Similarly, Disney owned ABC won’t run a story about the disastrous trial run of the “Tower of poop” ride. Hence; the intentions of the media come into question.
In the same way, how credible are reports that declare the importance of social media if the companies distributing them have a vested financial interest in the adoption of that social media? This isn’t kids in dorm rooms stealing music and writing notes to each other anymore. This is big business. Now there are major amounts of money involved. Not only are there major corporations reporting large profits from social media, there is a new group of companies that have been created around secondary services. They are the tinted windows, spinning rims and cool stereo systems of the major social media platforms. We have a social media aftermarket. I’m of course talking about the social media technologies, consultants, service companies and new company positions being created just for social media optimization. It’s at the point where it can’t fail now. There is too much at stake.
On the converse side you can say that the people are choosing where to get their information and their choice right now happens to be through the social media. If people wanted to get their information from other sources they would do so. Hence the market is creating the demand. Additionally, the social media has made it possible for businesses of all sizes to increase revenues for much less cost than that of traditional marketing and advertising. Take this blog for example. There is no way that all of you would ever be able to read the ranting of a lunatic if it weren’t for social media! My point is, the social media has given a voice to companies and people that traditionally never would have had one. It is our new soap box! I can say for sure that my company has seen business that we wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the use of social media platforms.
So the question is, did the market create demand for the social media or did the social media create demand for itself?
