A Shift in the Status Quo — Businesses and Social Media
The internet has brought with it a new lifestyle, a new way of doing things — basically a new way of societal functioning. With each new adaption or addition to the medium that is Web 2.0, comes with it a change, in the way we communicate, interact, purchase, and many other behaviours. One of the biggest phenomena’s has been social media. Social media has effectively lowered barriers of participation in many industries so that now society can no longer be stereotyped as a mob brainless zombies, passively consuming their way through. Society are now empowered produsers. There has been a shift in the status quo.
Although social media has been met with the largest amount resistance, it has been the quickest quickest digital technology to be adopted an implemented by individuals and businesses. This new phenomena of interactivity and societal participation was seen, and is still seen by many in high positions of power, as a threat. Research has focused on exploring and exposing the negative impacts that social media has had on the traditional creative industries — music industry, film industry, journalism etc. The benefits for non-mainstream and individual artists is also well known. With all this hype over this moral panic about the death of the traditional creative industries, society has neglected the impact of social media on other industries.
Industries that are essential to our everyday living have embraced the phenomena of social media and interactivity. Many have created social media forums that encourage community engagement and allow society to have their say in the company’s product. What’s more is that studies have identified a strong positive relationship between business characteristics, performance, and use of new information technology, such as social media. So not only are companies adapting to this new age of interactivity and community engagement, but they are actually benefiting from it. A prime example of this is the franchise Woolworths.
Woolworth’s utilises social media as a key forum to promote their brand, their produce but also to allow society to be heard and feel like they have an influence. Exploring Woolworth’s Facebook page I found many examples of the positive benefits of facilitating interactivity within the business and its products. However, although social media creates a lot of opportunities for promotion, success and customer satisfaction, this medium can be used to threaten and even tarnish the company’s reputation.
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An example of how society can and will use social media to not only report their good experiences with the Woolworths service and their products but also the bad experiences.[/caption]
Interactive online forums such as Facebook, provide society with the opportunity to voice their bad experiences with a product or service, not only too the company or organisation, but to the whole of society. Whether this feedback or experience is factual or not, is irrelevant — the power is in the hands of the customer. However, the way in which organisation and companies deal with complaints and customer feedback, could either save or help dig the grave of their own brand name. The recent Black Milk episode is a prime example, of a company who contradicted the role of social media as being an ‘equal opportunity platform.’ Zibby Cameron, elaborates on this social media ‘coq up’, using it as a prime example of how companies can effectively poison their own apples by not managing their feedback in an appropriate and constructive way.
However, not only are companies and organisations running a risk by engaging in online interactivity, but apparently so are customers. A recent article reveals how one couples online feedback and personal opinion of the service they received from a company, as led to harassment and threats from the company they critiqued. Social media has no limits and anything and everything seems possible. A recent personal experience emphasised this for me.
I recently had a poor experience with Tiger Airways, and apparently I am not the only one. Without going into too much detail, what got me my way was threatening to share my experience through social media. I later discovered that the company has no online forum for which I could broadcast my experience. Despite this, it was my threat to utilise social media that got the company to cooperate. Even companies who have not incorporated social media into their way of functioning are still within reach of the split personality that is social media.
Social media forums and sites have been created especially for people to share their experience of specific services and products, whether they be good or bad. The website urbanspoon, provides an online restaurant and café review, where people can post and rate with the sole intent of making others aware. The Checkout is a new online consumer focused series, that places a satire spin on real consumer affairs. It’s content is solely based on the real experiences and opinions of society.
Overall, more powerful relationships between information & communication technologies and business performance has been founded with the use of new information technologies. The opportunities created or outcomes of this relationship can be both positive and negative. A mutually beneficial relationship is able to exist between members of society, businesses and organisations, however such a relationship is a fine balance and requires a thoughtful approach in order to be facilitated. regardless of the outcome or relationship, one thing is for sure, and that is that there has been a significant shift in the status quo.
