How Social Media Are Changing the Way We Consume
With the creeping up of social media in every part of our lives, we are more connected than ever before. Instantaneous, global, but also sometimes overwhelmingly present, they have transformed how we communicate, interact and transact.
“When we change the way we communicate, we change society” (Shirky, 2008). As a consequence, we also consume differently.
Here are a few examples of commercial services that have had to transform themselves in order to answer this new need for brand interaction.
Customer Service
Since customer service has always depended on customer feedback, the ease in which social media has allowed brands to connect with their customers is revolutionary, to the point they need to switch their allocations from call centers to community managers, making way in the process for leaner management. Social media make contact and feedback easier and more natural than it has ever been.
Brands are now able to turn a bad review into a positive situation: by replying in a swift and personalized manner, a brand increases engagement. You see it all the time on Twitter and Facebook: a witty and funny answer to a not-so-good review can go viral in a matter of hours. Moreover, customers know that they can get a personalized answer without having to go through the hurdles of a customer service phone call.
Marketing & Advertisement
One could say social media and marketing were made to go hand in hand: indeed, few media allow for such detailed and personalized offers and feedback. Advertisers can now go where (potential) customers are. Furthermore, the informal and flexible context of social platforms is very stimulating from a creative standpoint.
This is a situation that is quite unique in the history of retail. On the one hand, the seller is guaranteed a marketing audience interested in the products or services. On the other hand, the customer is offered direct interaction.
The quantity and quality of the insights and data that marketers get from customers has never been so great. This means they are able to study their customer segment over long periods of time without disturbance, or the need for an intermediary. This allows for advertisement campaigns that feel like a natural part of the user’s social experience.
Product Review
It is impossible to talk about the impact of social media on our commercial habits without mentioning community-based reviews. Besides the feedback brands get from their customers, social media make it possible to highlight a good deal, or warn a bad one. This, of course, is nothing new, with such reviews available for years on Amazon and similar services, but what is, is the ease to comment virtually any brand you know, within a few clicks.
Is this only the beginning?
With the advent of technology, we can expect social media to continue its expansion into many other areas of our everyday life. Among the technologies that could revolutionize ever more our habits is blockchain. “Why is it so revolutionary?” you’re probably thinking. Well, foremost, blockchain allows for disintermediation, meaning you can cut out the middleman in most transactions. With that in mind, you can probably start to see how it can impact social media, and in fine, the way we consume.
As stated above, peer-reviewed products are one of the most effective ways to get a good idea of a product or service without actually having to pay for it. Problem is, you can hardly protect yourself against fake or biased reviews, be they good or bad, nor can you read comments that have been deleted by the seller or site owner. This is where blockchain comes into play: by having access to this transparent and immutable ledger, you can actually verify any comment placed at any time.
This allows for a more transparent internet, one where retailers have no censorship rights, one where helpful comments are naturally highlighted and rewarded.
This is the vision of the web we have, at Hey.
About Hey, the friendly internet
Our will to support the web of communities arose from a simple observation: avoiding scams online can be tricky and often requires to spend hours on FAQs and forums. Hey is the accessible, transparent and community-based answer to this problem. A social media embedded in each web page, but functioning on an independent blockchain network, that rewards assistance with tokens. This makes sure that the page owner can’t censor comments, while our algorithms and community-based moderation guarantee a “troll-free” space.
Next? Read the manifesto.
