http://www.livescience.com/58121-social-media-use-perceived-isolation.html
Live Science is reporting that too much social media leaves to feelings of isolation. I could see how living in a virtual world could allow people to feel isolated. Especially if they don’t get out a lot. Honestly, I can easily see that happening. Lately, I have been so overwhelmed with work and school and raising 4 kids, its easily to spend the little bits of free time online perusing flip board, checking my emails, etc.
The study also says “In addition, social media can give people the impression that others are leading happier lives, because people sometimes portray themselves unrealistically online, the researchers wrote.”(livescience.com). I actually might agree with that comment somewhat, because we don’t get to see what goes on at all times in peoples lives, so maybe some people only post when they have good things to post. However, there are those people who post all the time, good or bad. In my case some of the last things I posted was regarding the deaths of my parents, because I wanted to make sure all the friends and family were aware.
Mycustomer.com talks about “the business of being social”, reminding businesses the importance of social media, traditional marketing principles, like positioning and branding, are no less important in a multi-channel social media environment. Moreover, care has to be taken with decisions about who tweets, who blogs, and why, just as care has to be taken with selection of influencers and the strategy to reach them.” (mycustomer.com). Many of the ideas that mycustomer.com discusses are in tandem with Breakenridge and Blanchard. It seems that social media is now even being considered as a form of “traditional” public relations. I mean, as we continue to move forward with technological advances, social media for a business really should be considered “traditional” if a business expects to stay competitive.
Personally, any time some one refers me to a restaurant or a business, the first thing I do is look at their website. I even make a judgement call to determine if I am going to go to the business, or do business with them at all based on their website. Even when I was reviewing organizations to fund, working for an agency that was a funder – the website was something I took into consideration to determine how professional they were. If they had reviews, that was the next thing I looked at.
Its interesting how one an judge a company by their website, its almost like another form of discrimination. You see something, and you make a determination based on what you see. I guess we could call it social media discrimination. It may not be a “thing”, but it definitely happens!