How did some of the social media networks fade away?

It was about 15 years ago when I saw a friend chatting on her computer. I was so curious to know what she was doing. She explained it was called Orkut, and showed me all the friends with whom she could chat with or see pictures of at once. Somehow, even though I was working as a marketer at that time, I didn’t think that this new trend, social media, would replace any of the traditional strategies in positioning, advertising, and public relations.

Image credit: Leader Networks

Lets take a peek at their stories and what pushed them out!

 

Friendster was launched in 2002 and lasted for thirteen years with about 100 million subscribers at its peak. It was the first platform that provided an environment for its users to share their pictures and thoughts with their contacts. It also allowed for public announcements of events and news.

This network was designed on becoming connected to your friends’ friends; they assumed this would be an ideal way to expand their acquaintance network. Based on a study done by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, loose connections and interactions among people who knew each other only through a third or fourth party, as well as the  time consuming and poorly designed navigating system, were the issues that killed this network.

Photo credit: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Open Diary was launched in 2004 and outed in 2014. It started as a blogging website for journalists and bloggers to write about any subject where the authors were also able to change the privacy setting of their posts to be private or public. This website disappeared when they started asking their subscribers to pay as compensation for their losses after two security glitches.

Eons was another site founded in 2006 and shuttered in 2012, with about 800.000 subscribers, which was targeting senior citizens. Although they dropped the age restriction to 40 year old from 50, they never reached their desired volume.

Ello was founded as an alternative to Facebook by a few friends in California in 2014. They were tired of the advertising of said network and were bored of seeing the same recycled posts everyone shared. How to join? You were needed to be invited, therefore no boring people allowed, and the creators could monitor which company they actually allowed in. The promise was no advertisement, ever (which made the few businesses to make in struggle to create a new way to advertise without advertising). Too many people flocked to the site while it was still in Beta mode, which caused the creators to have queues of people waiting months to be accepted in to join (and losing interest) only to get in while the site was still barely functioning. What was heralded as the network to finally take down Facebook flopped. While it is still functioning with over a million users, who even remembers it?

Image credit: KSDK

What’s for us to take away?

 

As an entrepreneur, sometimes we get too passionate about our new discovery, and we introduce it to the world before it’s ready, or before we are ready. Right there, we forget about  the proper positioning, advertising, our competitors, etc…The passion becomes a downfall and doesn’t let us take the suitable steps to conquer and establish ourselves correctly. I believe researching the history on any subject, and uncovering the reasons behind the successes and failures of predecessors may be the best lessons to learn. Seeking expert advice is also not to be snubbed.

As a marketer, we should know that the number of followers doesn’t guarantee the success; it’s the volume and quality of the engagement that will provide the corporations the chance to achieve the goals. Easy navigation is another component that should be factored in. Assuming every user is a pro and tech savvy can lead to a catastrophe, where the blind can’t even at least try to lead the blind. Asking subscribers/users to pay for the platform has also proven that they will eventually switch to the competitors. However, designing the advertisement opportunity for other brands may be a way to generate the money. Furthermore, overselling doesn’t sound original to anyone: stay real and be truthful!

Do you remember any other platforms?

#SM platforms failure stories, #faded away NetWorks, How to stay up on SM, Why did some networks fade away?

#sad stories of some platforms, what did go wrong with the unsuccessful platforms?

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#fadedawaynetworks#failurestoriesSM#learnfromfailedplatforms

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Looking for more attention on Instagram!

                                                                   Image credit: Makeamemo.org

Make your account open to the Public

500 million people are following Instagram today, with  %59 of them using it every day, and  %35 of them (including myself) having a frequent daily peek on it. Given that, if your primary concern is getting more attention, this will do it for you. It opens the whole world to see your life or views or moments you wish to share. However, don’t get upset when you receive inappropriate comments!

Determine your Target

Did you join just to post about your daily thoughts and life?

Did you join to be part of the instamodel or instaartist community?

Are you a business trying to reach the younger generation that already thinks Facebook is for “old people”?

This will make a difference in your content and the intent of each post.

 Image credit: dreamstime

Consistency

If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, once a week can be fine, but accept that your account will not grow very quickly. Just be consistent. Once a week, once a day, twice a day… Those who don’t enjoy many posts will quickly get rid of your weekly account posts, however the opposite is true for those who love knowing every single minute of everybody’s life. Don’t do too much or be too shy and quiet. There are no confirmed rules, but 1 to 3 posts is usually optimal. Stay in touch with them, inform them of what you think, how you feel. Comment on their posts, follow their accounts, like random posts using the same hashtags you personally used.

Warmer colours & Contrast

Using tools like filters can change the appearance of the pictures and posts, keeping with a constant look. All black and white, all quotes, all cats, all nature, all pink, all you. Studies showed that warmer colours and using the right contrasts will increase engagement. And that’s exactly what you WANT!

                                                  Image credit: Shonta

Hashtags, the Eyecatcher

No one even knew about this weird looking digit until Chris Messina invented it. He originally started #ing to create groups on Instagram back in 2007. Here is his original tweet on the subject: “How do you feel about using # (pound)for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”

AND this is what he was told: “These things are for nerds. They’re never going to catch on.”

Less than a decade later, # has become the magic number. However try not to use more than 5 in each post for personal “blog” accounts. For business, modeling and art pages, finding the larger hub accounts,modelinging larger relevant companies that are active on the network and finding your city’s prominent tags will help boost viewership and collaborations with others in the community. Hahstagging large hub accounts also tells them that it is ok to use your work for a feature (most who believe your content to be of high enough quality for their gallery will direct message you asking for payment for this, however). Viewership from an account with 10K+ followers will buy you an easy few hundred new “fans” per feature.

Headline, Content & Engagement

Forget the boring headlines. Captions are the first thing that can raise curiosity and mesmerize the audience to notice, and follow, your posts. Make the headline simple, interesting and easy to understand for different demographics. When it comes to content, do not post only for the sake of posting; be creative, surprising and unique. That’s what attracts attention, creates activity, and brings involvement on your posts. Moreover, ask your audience to participate; let them know their opinions count and that you emjoy hearing from them. Host contests, offer giveaways and draws to increase the engagement.

Overall, just remember that you are on Instagram. Have fun, anjoy the visuals and also give them something a day by applying all the tips and tricks above!

I would love to read your tips and triks…..

Insta&attention!Social Media&more likes/shares! Looking for attention on Instagram#SM attention

#more likes#more shares#ing

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Insta&attention!SMlikes&shares!lookingforattention#SMattention#opentopublic

#morelikes#moreshares#ing#eyecatcher

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Image Credit: IndianAwazz.com

Blog #2 – Gen Alpha ON Social Media!

 

1st Image Credit: The author (my nephew checking his cell phone!) – 2nd Image Credit: My nephew (selfie!)

People are getting more and more attached to social media, especially our kids and teenagers. Despite the official age limitations for users, more than 50% of children have used at least one platform by the age of ten (more likely Facebook as smartphones aren’t required for its usage). Owning a cell phone/laptop among school kids has become so common, so banal, that not having one seems weird. It used to start with parents thinking the worst drama scenarios of “what if my kid is stuck in an emergency situation where he/she needs a cell phone? Or maybe it might be easier to locate them?” but not so much anymore. It’s just a thing that happens. Two months ago, I traveled to Iran to visit my family. I was shocked when I saw that my lovely eighteen-month-old nephew could easily find apps like Radio Javan on his cell phone to play music he loved. He even knew he had to use his father’s cell phone for specific apps such as YouTube to play videos like Bob The Train (some platforms are banned in Iran and one must have a VPN to be able to use them). This made my jaw drop! However, for the most part, parents, in general, may simply be unable to resist their kids’ persistent claim for the need to own them. This is not like our time when we had kept in queues just to make an emergency call!

To give worried parents due credit in their thinking, one can bring up the case of the 2 girls, Abigail Williams and Liberty German, in Delphi, Indiana, who were murdered by a man back in February. The phones may not have saved their lives, but the parents, knowing the girls were Snapchatting their day while hiking in well-used trails, knew to alert the police when they didn’t show up at the meeting point at the designated time, nor answered their phones. The Snapchat stories gave clues as to where they could be found on the trails and timeframe of when they went missing. When their bodies were recovered, it was found that they had also filmed the man, which has led to a nationwide manhunt in the United States. There is even an accumulated reward of a crowdsourced $200, 000 for whoever helps bring this man to jail. While a happier ending would have been preferred, every element of society’s obsession with smartphones and social media here played a crucial role that will eventually lead to the man’s arrest.

But I digress a bit. Even with all the constant warnings about the destructive effects of social media (such as decreasing kids’ creativity, damaging eyesight, neck and shoulder pains, losing connectivity with family members, sharing too much information, and being bullied, to name a few), it seems playing freely with kids in the neighbourhood at hide and seek, tag, rope games, and others, seems to be fading away in popularity. It’s now the ways of the old, more and more forgotten. I sometimes think this is nobody’s fault. It’s just the way our race, human beings, are. Our greed and covetousness on the one hand, with the inclination for exploration and seeking of technology on the other, are leading us towards a very different destiny.

  Image Credit: EuroSTAR

I watched a movie years ago (sorry, can’t recall the name!) about a group of different mutant generations who took over the world. There were almost no humans left, and those who survived became enslaved to the mutants. The poignant factor was that it seemed quite normal to them. Of course, this is an exaggerated example, but when the mutants are interchanged with the internet and, more specifically, social media, the similarities in these perspectives becomes more clear. Social media stages are not just the new trends, they are the new ways of communication and being. Ultimately, the next generations are going to be entirely different in the ways they think, live, and interact. Sometimes I wonder, perhaps the new generations, Gen Alpha and their descendants, just don’t fit in our definition and understanding of living and communicating. They will connect and, possibly, humanize, in a new realm that we may not comprehend properly.

 My question is, would that be a concern when they are all going to think similarly?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image Credit: IndianAwazz.com

 

FuturoftheGenAlphaandSocialMedia!! nextgeneration&the internet#destinycalls

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#don’tfit#worriedparents#parents&genalpha

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Owning a Business? Fear the Social Media!

Photo Credit: Goggle Images

After less than 40 years since the first computer device, social media, a relatively new movement, has become the most popular platform of communication. It can easily drive a tremendous number of audiences to a subject, from forums and chat groups to keeping up with your loved ones and your favorite brands’ latest novelties. It, therefore, makes one wonder, why do some businesses avoid joining in on this global craze?

Photo Credit: Pr Tips, Social Media

Many new businesses (e.g. eBay, Amazon, etc.) started employing the technology just after this unique trend picked up. Lots of jobs have been created because of this. Online shopping is also becoming more and more common; to the point, many physical stores are going out of commission and adopting a solely online stage to sustain themselves. In this new era, businesses do not need a fancy office nor a huge fund to start up. As long as an entrepreneur understands the social media’s functions (or has an expert), knows the target audience thoroughly, and finds a strong, reliable supply chain management team, boooom! It’s on. Some organizations have already joined this current and have been very successful in building a stronger public relation with their customers at a fraction of the cost (Wendy’s now infamous trolling Twitter account, for example). It can also help them to foresee their marketing strategies and focus on the specific needs and motivations of their target market. It leads one to believe that the logic lies in joining, not avoiding, social media.

Photo Credit: Waimea cliff jump

Despite all that, there is still a considerable number of large organizations which are not willing to enter this new technology and prefer the traditional channels of marketing, in contrast to the many small enterprises who are more likely to use social media. Are these large and sometimes famous corporations scared of the negative feedback they may receive? Is it because they don’t want to be clear? Is it because they are unaware or inexperienced in this domain? Are they just ignoring it? Are they hiding something? Don’t they understand the whole world is changing and social media is not only fashion but a new way of living?

 

Photo Credit: National Council

I recently read an article on this matter which suggests that the main reason is corporations are terrified of getting a galactic amount of negative feedback. This brings to mind the McDonald’s twitter campaign #McDstories, which went so wrong they had to shut it off immediately. Instead of happy tales, people were talking about bad experiences and bad service. It also brings to mind the negative comments you will find on all new Facebook posts from big oil companies about the spills and environment damage. It also brings to mind the Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner, which received a tremendous backlash for its insensitivities to the world surrounding it. It makes you wonder why such organizations with such a strong marketing team and assets still don’t know, or perhaps don’t care, about their actual audience.

It also makes you ask, how far can they get to?

 

Fear from social media? Time to CATCH UP!!#fear#social media#small business#large business https://lala.fear77.n9M%253

Corporation scared from social media!Time to catch up#catchup#trend#future https://lala.fear77.n9M%253

 

 

 

 

Hi!

Hi folks,

My name is Leila and I am very new to “Blogging” concept. I am just trying to figure it out!!!!

cheers,