Social Media Platforms — Similar Yet Diverse!
Social media has become a vital part of social life. It affects the beliefs, values, and attitudes of people, as well as their intentions and behaviors. In particular, social networking sites, online forums, instant messaging services, and mobile smart platforms have grown exponentially, resulting in the widespread use of social media. In this regard, social media has become a powerful force of democratization. Social media enabled communication and collaboration among individuals at a massive scale without geographical, time, and system constraints. The rapidly increasing amount of social media information and consumer views on a product or service, which can be either positive or negative, has a considerable effect on an organization.
Despite the important role of social media in shaping societies, content analysis in media remains an under researched area in electronic commerce. In the past, its poor quality has been the subject of criticism, as evidenced by issues such as duplicated content and spam. Nevertheless, as the number of people who use social media and create content increases, high-quality content has become increasingly available.
Social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter make it easier for people to maintain or extend their social networks and to increase their social capital. LinkedIn, for example, promises to make the world’s’ professionals “more productive and successful” by providing access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do. Social media differ in their primary purpose and the architectural elements that suggest the intended form of use. On Facebook, many profile fields refer to hobbies, favorite music, and other personal interests, staying in touch with family and friends is the main motivation for use. On LinkedIn or other business networks, the focus is clearly on professional life. The profile fields resemble the categories of a CV but do not provide fields for hobbies or favorite music.
When it comes to professional informational benefits, a platform that provides work-related content and access to weaker ties in the relevant field should result in higher informational benefits. People are more likely to follow colleagues, former colleagues, and important people in their field on business networks than on Facebook. Thus, it can be assumed that the structure and content of the social networks people maintain on LinkedIn are well suited for providing professional informational benefits.
With regard to Facebook, two lines of reasoning are possible. The core of Facebook culture is friendship. Most posts on Facebook are about everyday activities with a strong focus on positive and entertaining aspects, and users mainly ask questions about home, family, and entertainment. Based on these findings, Facebook seems less suited for professional information exchange and is more suited for informal sharing of day-to-day activities and thereby staying connected to people around the globe. A peculiar thing about Facebook is that it shows posts most relevant to you, thus reflecting a personalized platform altogether.
Social media can be used in a rather passive way by mainly reading what others post or in a more active way by posting regularly. Social media is ever-changing. There’s always a new crazy way people can document every aspect of their lives. What’s your way of documenting your life story?
