The Different Social Media Platforms – Part 1
Everyone seems to be talking about Social Media, probably because it is the next big thing when it comes to the development of the internet, and also because Social Media actually revolves around, strangely enough, talking. However while Social Media revolves around people being able to find each other and communicate with each other, Social Media can come in several shapes and sizes. Here are some of the most popular Social Media platforms that you can use in order to interact with your market easier.
Facebook is currently the Social Media giant. Social Media gets more effective depending on the amount of users using that platform. For example if there’s a Social Media platform that is the “best” but nobody is using it, then it doesn’t do you very much good to get involved.
The opposite is also true, even if a Social Media platform is hard and difficult to use, if it has the most users the more you have to gain by getting involved. Facebook’s success perpetuates itself. In order to get in contact with the most people you need to go where most of the people are, and that is Facebook.
Facebook recently has been trying to cover more and more territory in order to compete with Twitter. Now pages can be made for your organization/business/personality (see celebrity pages), and people can “like” which essentially means follow. You can then leave posts that will be seen by all of the people that “like” your page.
One of the advantages that Facebook has, is that when someone “likes” one of your pages, all of their friends and followers will see that they “liked” your page, then their friends will see it and perhaps “like” your page as well, and then their friends, and their friends, and sometimes the situation snowballs out of proportion.
Twitter has exploded in popularity recently. Twitter is probably the best Social Media platform that allows you to send out little “check this out” like messages.
To give you a quick rundown Twitter works like this. You set up a twitter account, you can then follow people, or wait for people to find and follow you. You will see messages sent out (tweeted) by the people you are following, and the messages you tweet will be seen by the people that are following you.
What is interesting about Twitter is that people can be following you without you following them back. It is one of the only Social Media platforms that allows for “one way” communication.
MySpace
Even though MySpace’s popularity has been rapidly dwindling I want to give it an honorary mention. Mainly because it was one of the first big Social Media platforms, and by familiarizing yourself with MySpace you can get a pretty good understanding of how Social Media works.
MySpace is the best platform for displaying and helping musicians and bands and promoting music because it has a very unique music player coded into profiles. In this regard MySpace stands alone.
Which of these platforms do you think would be a good avenue to market your business?
