Social Networking in Today's Business Environment MIS 304 Dr. Fang 5/11/09 Patrick Fahey Jordan Pepper Lance Johnson Clarke Ledger James Olas Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Twitter ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Facebook ......................................................................................................................................... 5 MySpace ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Friendster ...................................................................................................................................... 12 LinkedIn ........................................................................................................................................ 13 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 18 Bibliography: ................................................................................................................................ 21 1 Introduction Web 2.0 is the new method of communication and collaboration on the internet. It reduces the degrees of separation commonly thought of as the distance between two people on the earth. It also reduces the distance between businesses and consumers. Social networking sites are a critical segment of Web 2.0 and requires businesses to change their approach in reaching customers on the internet. Social networking sites started out as online hubs where friends, family, and co-workers were able to communicate with each other. Now businesses are seeing that these sites have value for their businesses. Many businesses do not see the value in social networking, their reluctance to embrace these media may leave them handicapped. A few key social networking examples are Twitter, Linked-In, Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook. An analysis of each of these web sites will demonstrate how social networking is relevant in today's business environment. These sites have varying degrees of usefulness for individual businesses. Advertising, public relations, marketing customer service, and human resources are the main aspects that businesses use social networking sites for. The analysis of these sites will include their backgrounds, current uses, and best business applications. A detailed description of how key social networking sites are being adopted by the business communtiy will help clarify how Web 2.0 is changing the way business is done. Twit ter Twitter is a social networking service that is similar to a blog. Users post a message with a maximum character count of one hundred forty characters; these posts are called “tweets.” People are able to subscribe to these messages from a person; these people are called “followers.” The service is free to use and users must sign up for a username.2 One of the best things about Twitter is that it contains only short messages. Because messages are limited to one hundred forty characters, messages must be short and to the point. This helps readers to be protected from information overload. If messages are short, people will likely be more interested in what others have to say. They will also probably have the patience to read a person’s entire thought. According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter was designed for people to read on their cell phones, which perfectly justifies the short character limit similar to a cell phone text message. Another great attribute of Twitter is its timeliness. The messages that people post on Twitter are instantaneously available for everyone to see. The reason that this is so important on Twitter is that it is considered to be an information site also. People go on Twitter to see the latest news either from friends or from people who talk about topics they are interested in. People can usually get the latest news on Twitter, even before other news sites. According to Emily Fraser from http://db.riskwaters.com “Twitter users have managed to break news faster than traditional media outlets.” Ms. Fraser goes on to say that online news sites such as The New York Times, the BBC, and the Wall Street Journal even have their own Twitter profiles. Advertising and public relations are the main uses of social media sites such as Twitter for businesses. While Twitter is an excellent method to get a business’s information shown to the public in a fast and efficient way, tweets usually are not the whole picture for advertising. Due to the character limit on tweets, companies usually post a link to their own web sites on the tweet to bring more traffic to their web site. Ms. Fraser states that “Tweets often contain links to longer online articles and blog posts, but the 140-character limit ensures that posts are concise…” Ms. Fraser says that the online news sites post tweets with links to their articles as they are published online.3 The main purpose of posting tweets on Twitter for business use is providing current information about the business and its products/services and to bring more traffic to its own web site. Businesses can advertise their own products on the site for free. One word of warning from the Financial Times is “…gratuitous self-promotion is frowned on.” Joanna L. Krotz recommends that companies add value to their products instead of just advertising them. If a consumer is interested in the company’s tweet, he or she is more likely to visit the link provided in the tweet to visit the company’s own web page. Bringing traffic to a company’s own page through social networking sites is the new marketing campaign for businesses. Businesses trying to get more web traffic from their tweets work well, but people are also using Twitter to find business from potential clients. One example is from The Wall Street Journal; one person goes on Twitter looking for people who need help building web pages. This person asks people on Twitter if they need his or her help with building their web page; this person then asks for a tip in return. In a recent MIS (Management Information Systems) presentation at Cal State San
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