Social Media Is Calling the Shots

People these days are looking to what is the “new” social media idea or breakthrough. The idea of this is that we will not know until we tell them. Social media is reinventing “cool” constantly. Even the old platforms are constantly changing the way they look (Facebook is what I am talking about). Whenever a enough people share their wants, the speed game starts to see which platforms will come out with that idea first. According to Ann Mukherjee, chief marketing officer at Frito-Lay, “People don’t want to be told what they like; people want to tell you what they like.”  This is so true and I think that this social media fad will continue until the consumers get tired of the fad and move on to beg for a whole new way to communicate and waste time. I mean, c’mon, Zuckerberg would be nothing without his 300M fans of Facebook, no?

Pinterest is of great interest

I think all have been informally introduced to Pinterest now. In the case that you haven’t, Pinterest is a social media platform where people post ideas onto the site and others scrounge through these ideas and proceed to share ideas of their own as well.

            Is this a platform for companies to become apart of? Well, that is a great question that entrepreneur.com brought up that got me thinking. Pinterest is something that my friends go to to get ideas for weekend craft ideas or wedding ideas galore. This is all I thought it was for until reading this article. There were ideas for companies to utilize but also warnings of using it the wrong way. If you are too promotional about your “board”, where you post items interest into designated places to “organize your pinned-up mess”, people will become uninterested.

            “For example, Whole Foods Market pins pictures of delicious-looking food, food art and images of recycled or reused products to inspire customers to be environmentally responsible. Daniel Gordon, who runs Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City, pins pictures of his rings and watches, but he also has a board for images that make him laugh and other types of products he loves.” Saying all of this, I think that Pinterest could be interesting approach for companies but in moderation.

The Addiction to Post and Tweet Is Fast-Approaching

“I am not addicted to Facebook, I just use it for at least 4 hours a day to pass the time and an escape from finishing my homework.” This is something I think I would hear from any of my friends in a joking manner. Unfortunately, according to the article on ABC online, this is not sick joke. There are studies being taken from college-age and others who are diagnosed with being addicted to social media. This is crazy, no? A quote from the article reads, "With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs - long-term as well as monetary - and the opportunity may not always be the right one," Hofmann adds. The article states that it is better to be addicted to this rather than other monetary addictions. This is true but with the prices of, in my opinion, dumb Facebook apps are creating cyber-addicts that is unfortunate to hear about. I honestly think this is hogwash but I also think apps in the social media are hogwash as well as others around me LOVE them and could spend great amount of time on them.

Can A Love Connection Be Made Between Bank and Social Media?

Some banking firms claim this is not even close to being an option but others are choosing to test the waters in this. The article from a finance/banking site seems to be 50/50 on this observation and thought. According the current trend in the business world, the banking business to dragging their feet but should they be apart of this sector? Oh, you are asking me? Well, okay, I would say that they are a little bit on the edge of this idea but mobile banking is one of the greatest ideas they have come up with them in a long time so how much more do they need to go in order to be social media gurus too.

            Take TCF in the Cities, they could totally promote this “free $100 for getting your friends into the TCF family”. The hand-written Cub signs and small A-stand banners outside their branches could totally go viral if they made a Facebook or Twitter account. Am I right? College-age is the greatest population on these platforms and all of us are in search of free money everywhere. Let’s end with a great quote from the article, “Social media can offer the financial sector a new means by which to engage with its customers — to understand them better and slowly build relationships.”

Did Susan G. Komen make a good decision or just promote Parenthood more?

Golly, Christian could have been more relieved to hear the news from Susan that there is no longer a great financial tie with Planned Parenthood. What we are not excited to hear is that Planned Parenthood’s donations went up 100% since the break-up. Twitter and Facebook are the main plaintiffs in the trial of how the word spread so fast. According to the article on WSJ.com, once AP had a “breaking news” tweet, the news spread like wild fire across the web. “Activist group Moveon.org also helped start and popularize a Twitter campaign based around "#shameonkomen," which the group says was used nearly 1,500 times and reached half a million people on Twitter. On Facebook, the organization's posts about the issue were shared nearly 20,000 times in recent days, according to spokeswoman Sarah Lane”, claims this article.

            It started off as a pro-choice win and is ending up with Pro-Women’s rights overarching the conversations. This calls for prayer and support of Susan G. Komen Foundation from us Christians for sure.