Social Networking

Many businesses today are implementing social media into their core values to connect better with their consumer base.  If used correctly Social Networking can be as effective if not more effective than any ad campaign your marketing department can draw up.  A company that is great at utilizing the great power of social media is StubHub.  On twitter StubHub runs daily contests and trivia games and they give the winner free tickets/gift cards.  By using this business tactic StubHub stirs some excitement from their target audience and makes them want to use their site the next time the buyer needs tickets to an event.  Social media has even become a key aspect of job recruitment.  As stated by Frank Langfitt in NPR's "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting",  he illustrates how recruiters in todays job market are using the services of Linkedin to research potential candidates and deem how fit they are for the position. An alternative way to implement social media was through the use of a political campaign.  According to "How Obama Tapped into Social Network's Power" by David Carr, President Barack Obama's campaign in 2008 was the prime example of how to raise money, fight smear campaigns, and recruit millions of followers almost instantly.  Social Networking is one of the reasons that put him over the top to win the campaign outright.  Since that campaign every politician is using social media as a weapon to try to get ahead and stay ahead of their competitors during election years.  In my opinion this can work the opposite way as well.  Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has utilized twitter to try to get an advantage over the field.  He even "live tweeted" the democratic debate the other night. Personally I think it is hurting his chances more than helping him.  He is giving his unfiltered opinion on certain topics without even consulting his PR team.  It's a risky move on his part but could work out in the long run.  Overall Social Media is an incredible tool that should be utilized by all because it's a fantastic way to connect the world.  I believe that these social media platforms are only going to keep evolving more and more to try to keep their users interest in it.  I also think that so many new platforms are going to come out that the field is going to become very cluttered.  I'm curious to see if users will become more dependent on social media, or if down the road society will move on from it.