Discussion Board Forum Thread Instructions
Write a thread of at least 350 words, not including abstract, title page, or references, responding to the topic presented. Current APA format, spelling, and grammar are expected.
Topic:
Social Media continues to revolutionize the way that we communicate with one another.For many companies, it is becoming the medium of choice in the way that they advertise to consumers in existing and new markets.
Create and post an initial thread that addresses the following questions or issues:
How did social media begin, and why has it become popular so quickly?
Compare and contrast Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, briefly describe how and why subscribers use them (no citations from the text).
Explain the use of “#hashtag” in social media platforms.Why do people us “hashtags” and how does “#hashtag” tags work?
How would a business use “#hashtagging” to advance consumer awareness of products and services?
How does a business measure the effectiveness of their social media advertising effort?
“Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies …” 1 Tim 5:13 (ESV).
Is social media becoming a form of “gossiping” today?How do Christian men and women use social media as a business tool, while stopping short of gossiping?
Social Media
Social media has become an essential communication tool and revolutionized the way individuals and businesses connect with others for personal and business purposes. Social networking tools change how people do business by interacting with their customers using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Evolution of Social Media
The need for people to communicate using digital technologies fuelled the development of social media after the internet and computers. Social media is a story of creating and nurturing personal connections ad interactions in a communicative environment. People accepted social media fast due to their content creation capabilities since they can develop their desired messages and content.
Comparing Social Media Sites
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are all social media sites that people use to create content and communicate with others by sharing content, such as information, personalized messages, ideas, and videos. Facebook involves the creation of a profile on which individuals develop content to share with others. The difference with Twitter is that upon registration for a Twitter account, the user connects with others using tweets, small pieces of information, such as information and images. Businesses and professionals use LinkedIn to share job experience and business ideas, while YouTube is used for sharing different types of videos.
The Use of “#hashtag”
Social media uses #hashtag as a label for content. The hashtag helps people tag along with people interested in a common topic to find and follow it easily. “#hashtags” help people find the target content fast. Businesses can use “#hashtagging” to advance consumer awareness of products and services by creating a word or phrase related to the business and that customers can easily find (Zain & Selamat, 2019). Effective “#hashtags” can easily go viral, helping as many as possible of the target customers to get information about a product, brand, or campaign. People use the “#hashtags” to extend the message reach.
Evaluating Effectiveness
Businesses should measure the effectiveness of their social media advertising efforts to ensure that their invested resources add value to the business. They should collect data from before and after implementing a social media campaign to understand quantifiable outcomes such as increased customer engagement or a positive change in sales and revenue (Effing & Spil, 2016). The evaluation will indicate any need for change to achieve objectives.
Social Media and Gossip
Social media can be used for gossip, creating a challenge for Christians because of the caution in 1 Tim 5:13 (ESV): “Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies …” However, the statement should not stop Christians from enjoying the benefits of social media in business and professional communication (Miller et al., 2016). True Christian men and women should make conscious and moral decisions to avoid gossip in social media. They should have a moral conviction to use social media for the proper purpose and prevent harming others with their content.
Conclusion
Social media is one of the most powerful tools in modern society to support personal and business communications. Social networking tools have developed fast through the content generation capability as users can decide what to post and how to communicate to their target audience. However, they should learn to use it morally ethically to enjoy the benefits while mitigating the negative effects, such as gossip. Businesses can build massive following from their customers to market their products and brands.
References
Effing, R., & Spil, T. A. (2016). The social strategy cone: Towards a framework for evaluating social media strategies. International journal of information management, 36(1), 1-8.
Miller, D., Sinanan, J., Wang, X., McDonald, T., Haynes, N., Costa, E., … & Nicolescu, R. (2016). How the world changed social media (p. 286). UCL press.
Zain, S. Z. M., & Selamat, M. H. (2019, December). Derivation of Hashtag (#) Factors for Hashtag Marketing Model (HASHMAM) in Social Media Platform. In 2019 6th International Conference on Research and Innovation in Information Systems (ICRIIS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.