Recently I was checking my LinkedIn and came across some content questioning the use of social media. Being 3 weeks (and 2 days – but who’s counting) social media free, I couldn’t help myself but to get involved in the conversation.
However, I soon discovered that my personal definition of social media was different to others.
The conversation went something like this:
*Clarifying what Brian meant: he unplugs for three days, three times a year—nine total unplugged days split in lots of three.
My perception of LinkedIn is truly business based, and I wouldn’t necessarily use it the same way that I would Facebook, or Instagram.
But social media, by the Cambridge Dictionary definition, would one hundred percent include LinkedIn:
Social Media
Forms of media that allow people to communicate and share information using the internet or mobile phones.
This being said, if you include LinkedIn as social media, then you wouldn’t agree that I’ve been ‘social media’ free!
Here are statistics from December 2017 of the Australian usage of social media:
- Facebook – 15,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
2. YouTube – 15,000,000 UAVs
3. Instagram – 9,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users
4. WordPress.com – 5,700,000
5. WhatsApp – 5,000,000 Active Australian Users
6. LinkedIn – 4,200,000 Monthly Active Australian Users approx
7. Snapchat – 4,000,000 DAILY Active Australian Users
8. Tumblr – 3,800,000
9. Twitter – 3,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users approx
10. Tinder – 3,000,000 Australian users
11. TripAdvisor – 2,800,000
12. WeChat – 2,750,000 Monthly Active Australian Users approxThe perception of social media truly is a powerful thing. Whenever I’m around teenagers, I note that social media to them means keeping in constant communication with friends and peers. Their amount of Instagram followers rank their value.
When I’m around marketers, I take in that social media means business – and it needs to be done religiously. On the other hand, creatives use social media as a means to express themselves, and to drive business.
Social media has created a space for people to express themselves in any way that they want.
Social media is an opportunity.
Ted Rubin, leading Social Marketing Strategist, puts it this way:
“Social marketing is second nature to me. I have always been a networker and connector. Social allows me to take it to the next level and easily create and nurture communities. Always keep in mind that a Network gives you Reach, but a Community gives you Power. In addition, I was always a frustrated author because writing, and communicating via the written word did not come naturally to me. Social allows me to do both in a similar fashion to how I communicate when I talk, and short form publishing is not only acceptable, but preferable.”
How are you utilising social media, and what are your thoughts on the definition and perception? Feel free to get in touch with me in the comments below.