Friday, June 15, 2007
Social networking power not yet established
Business owners have still to capitalise on the power that social networking provides. At the moment companies and Internet marketers are largely using social networking sites to advertise their products and services. Some businesses are using social networks to help communicate with customers and colleagues, but that's about all.
However, online social networking has a huge advantage compared with offline social networks. The activities of the network are visible and trackable by anyone. This is not the case with offline networks. For example, across the world there are people in bars, restaurants and at dinner parties chatting about their favourite film, for instance. However, Hollywood producers don't know what they are saying. The world over, people could be saying nice things about a movie, or nasty things.
Online, of course, what they say is there for all to see. So, Hollywood producers could track what's going on in social networks to find out what people think of their latest film. This could guide them to produce the next blockbuster. Equally it could guide them towards legal action against the negative comments.
Other businesses could do the same. Social networks provide a huge opportunity for market research. They also open up the floodgates for lawyers to take actions which previously they could not have done as the damaging comments said in offline public settings are not easily identifiable.
Business analysts in Australia expect automatic tracking software to be available in the next couple of years. In the meantime, if you are an Internet marketer you can use social networks to find out what the latest trends are, what people are discussing and use that information to help you decide what products and services you can roll out in the future.
Labels: future, social networking
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Readers' Comments:
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June 15, 2007 12:54 PM 
Gerald said…
At
June 15, 2007 6:28 PM 
Graham Jones said…
Gerald, I don't see what is so wrong with collecting the opinions of 9-year-olds. McDonalds, for instance, would not be anywhere if it didn't do market research with children.
True Facebook may be young, but the average age of MySpace users is 43.
As for the anonymity issue, it's a myth. Studies suggest that people are much more honest online than offline.
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June 16, 2007 3:21 PM Jeremy Jacobs said…
That's very true Graham.
Sorry, Graham, I just can't see it.Social networking sites have a perceived quality, which doesn't align with 'proper' business. I saw something the other day which said the average age of members on Facebook is 9. You'd need to be sure that you wanted to network with this socio-economic group before you garnered their opinions.
I also think the anonimity of the internet could lead to problems getting honest opinions - the anonimity can lead to extremism.
Good article, though, as usual.