Many of us use social media sites, such as Facebook and Myspace, now. The growing use of these connections is changing not only the way we communicate, but also the things we value in our lives, such as the tradeoff between privacy and our ability to reach and share news and information about ourselves with others.
Because members of the “Y” generation – 18 to 28-year-olds – receive most of their news online, hard copy newspaper subscriptions have dropped dramatically. For those of us who still like to hold reading material in our hands, this is a problem, if it reduces our options.
Social media has made substantial inroads into the way we do business, and even the way we spend our leisure time, with blogs and micro-blogs, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, dating sites and mobile commerce.
The Internet Retailer magazine’s December 2011 issue shows how e-retailers of all sizes have grown online sales in the social media field. One of the Top 500 retailers, launched in 2007, already has Web-based sales of $423 million. That is indicative of the growth of Web-based selling. Midsized e-retailers in the second 500 list grow even faster each year. It is interesting to note that some of the e-retailers launched in 2010 had Web-based sales of more than $8 million in their first year. While some e-retailers do little or no business, others can run from $80,000 in the first year, up to over $1 billion in sales a year, for a company that started a little more than 10 years ago.
In this down-turned economy, people who have lost jobs, but have good ideas, can explore how setting up an e-business might work for them. The trick is to find a need not being met, and try to offer it through a social media outlet. Growth potential is excellent for businesses in this field.We are living through a period of revolution in communications, as we change from a print-based society to a digital one. E-commerce is taking place on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn, and many other smaller sites. A number of startup e-retailers have grown at no or very low advertising costs, by using Internet sites. Most store or office-based businesses now have websites, too, so potential customers can contact them, see where they are located, or place orders.
Businesses and individuals who want to connect to friends are not the only ones using social media. Politicians have discovered how to reach people, raise money, and influence voting, through the Web. In the political world, President Barack Obama undoubtedly helped his campaign through the effective use of social media in 2008. Obama used YouTube and other websites for free advertising, greatly helping his campaign. U.S. News and World Report, in November 2008, reported that Obama was “the first occupant of the White House to have won a presidential election on the Web.”
This year, the Obama campaign is again heavily committed to its Web-based efforts, coupling these with numerous visits to college campuses, in order to attract younger voters for support in the 2012 election. Other candidates are not shy about e-campaigns, either. And both the national Democratic and Republican committees send almost daily e-mails to voters and donors on their mailing lists.
Another example of how social media has affected political change has been the set of uprisings known as the Arab Spring. Middle East dictator regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were toppled by their own countries’ citizens. Protesters were able to reach each other by “tweeting” information on where and how to meet. People used cell phones to photograph events, break news and galvanize other citizens to support their cause.
In America, we can use the Web to provide more open data from government, so that the public can easily see what is happening in city and state government – and at a low cost.
I still prefer a newspaper and a book in my hands when I read, but we all need to learn to take advantage of some of the information available to us on the Web.
— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.
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