Homework assignment (week 5): LinkedIn versus Facebook
3
October
2013
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LinkedIn is a professional network often used as corporate recruitment platform. LinkedIn earns money of its users’ connections by selling data and application services to recruiters and ´hiring solutions’. LinkedIn is the strongest player its field (strength). Recruiters are prepared to spend a lot of money to find the ‘right person’ (strength). The scope of LinkedIn and its strong position is supported by a strong market demand for professional social network sites (strength). However, LinkedIn-users are just a limited population (40+, white collar, college degrees) while the world population is getting younger (weakness).
Facebook is a social network which is build on ‘sharing-and-communicating’. Facebook-users are stimulated to share as much as possible sometimes even ‘over-sharing’ (strength/weakness). Facebook generates 10% of its revenue from Facebook Platform. Advertiser are another source of revenue for Facebook which is a $350-400 billion market (strength) but risky market (weakness). Facebook’s platform allows for many business models (strengths). E.g., it could try to attract more developers for travel applications, but also for recruiting applications
BranchOut saw the growing opportunities of LinkedIn and have combined that with the fact that many people are already Facebook-users. BranchOut is an application that allows Facebook-users to create a professional network from all your Facebook friends. This is an additional strength for Facebook.
Social Media into the Future
19
September
2013
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As shown in this video, 2012 has been a great year for social media. It makes me think what we can expect for the future. The development of social media has taken a quick spin with new applications being published at increasingly smaller intervals. For me, it is hard to imagine that developers can come up with new applications that do not already exist.
I began think about what kind of features of the current applications I enjoy the most. First, I like the fact that I can see where other people are hanging out via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Second, I like the fact that Facebook allows people to post pictures with people tagged in the picture with the location included. Third, I like the quick delivery of Bol.com. Finally, I like the online shop of H&M. It is offers a range of fashionable products with an easy-to-understand way of ordering them. Thus, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a way to combine these four features?
How did I have this in mind? For example, wouldn’t it be wonderful if H&M offered a plug-in/application to be used in combination with Facebook? Thus, I would only need to have to log into my Facebook account which allows me to shop in the H&M store. Furthermore, I can use my pictures to try on H&M products. However, I wouldn’t only mix-and-match closed for myself, I would also suggest clothes for my friends using our party pictures in which I would tag them so they can see my ideas and tips. That combined with the within-24-hours delivery of Bol.com would make a very convenient social media tool for me.
Although it may seem like a dreamy idea to some of you, it is actually quite realistic. A lot of the applications being developed now are combinations of things that already existed. An example of this can be seen in the takeover of Instagram by Facebook. Instead of developing its own photo features, Facebook decided that it was better to buy a company that already had them. While it may seem unrealistic for H&M to buy Facebook or vice versa, it is very realistic for the two of them to work together on a whole new level. Offering Facebook users and H&M customers a new and unique experience (at least for now).
What kind of applications do you have in mind for the near future of social media? What do you think of my idea? Make sure to keep an eye on the title of this post! I might be updating it with a part 2!
Fired… for BLOGGING?!
10
September
2013
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Hello fellow bloggers! We are all enthusiastically writing posts for this very interesting blog. Besides the fact that it is fun, we actually get rewarded for it with a pass or a fail. However, not everyone is as lucky as we are…
What some of us do not realize is that what we post on the Internet, whether it is a blog, Facebook post, Twitter update, or LinkedIn status-change, not only gets read by our friends and family but also by your future employers. You can save yourself the following embarrassment by taking into account this realization every time before you post something.
(Lifehacker)
However, you should not forget about your colleagues and bosses! They might also check your Facebook or blog and might not be too happy with what you are posting there. Flight attendant Ellen Simonetti and Google employee Mark Jen know this from experience. Simonetti had posted some pictures of herself in uniform on her blog while Jen speculated about Google’s finances. Neither of their bosses were happy with their employees’ love for blogging and both of them got fired.
(Luckyaviation)
Now you might think the following: “I am way too smart to do such things! I know what I can and cannot do.” However, can you actually know what you can or cannot do? The fact is that many companies have guidelines that prohibit visiting porn sites (really?) or posting racist comments (duh!), there are not many companies that explicitly state their policies regarding social media use.
Thus, can you actually fire employees for their social media use?
In my opinion, companies should first make sure to have a social media policy and spread this policy amongst their employees. Companies can only fire people for breaking rules that 1) exist and 2) widely known. Second, there should be a widespread realization amongst students and employees that whatever they post will be available for everyone forever! Universities, parents, and employers are just a few of the many institutions that can help in establishing this realization.
My tip for you: Make sure you get this realization before it is too late.
Sadly, this realization came too late for Lindsay…
(Lifehacker)
Social Media: Platform for Large-Scale Manipulation?
6
September
2013
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With all those e-mails, messages, Whatsapps, and notifications that we get all the time, it feels as if we are surrounded 24/7 by our friends and family. It might give us the sense of being up-to-date of our friends’ thoughts, ideas, life events and gives us the feeling that we “know” them well. But how well do we actually know our Facebook friends, LinkedIn colleagues, and Twitter followers? How easy is it to manipulate the idea one has about us using social media?
Although social media offers us the opportunity to stay “connected” to our friends and families, I doubt that being connected equals being really knowledgeable about our friends and family. In my opinion, it just gives the impression that we know them.
In my opinion, impressions are more important that actual policies in politics. A good example can be found as early as the 1960s (you can find the debate at the end of this post). Some of you may know the story about the first televised presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
To make the example clearer, I will provide you with some additional background information. Just before the debates, Nixon had spent two weeks in hospital. Thus, when it was time for the first debate, he had lost some weight and looked weak. However, Kennedy had been campaigning in California and had a tan. Additionally, he was taking steroids for his many health problems which bulked up his appearance making him appear strong and healthy.
After the debate, people were asked who they considered the winner of the presidential debate. Those who watched the debate on TV believed that Kennedy was the winner. However, those who only heard the debate on the radio believed that Nixon was the winner.
What caused this difference between the watchers and the listeners? The watchers were able to connect the words of the candidates with their respective names and faces. Where the focus of the listeners was 100 percent on what the candidates actually said, the watchers looked at the total picture: the body language, facial expressions, and the political comments.
Initially, people felt that Kennedy lacked experience and age. Afterwards, Kennedy and his “way with the camera” convinced many people that he should be the next president of the United States. In a way, you could say that Kennedy used the media to manipulate the people by creating a favorable impression.
However, is this really the case? Can we actually know someone for real based on what he or she presents his- or herself to be during a television debate, on his or her Facebook or LinkedIn page for that matter? As a matter a fact, a new question might arise with the upcoming use of social media: Are we able to actually get to know someone in a world where social media can make it very easy to manipulate those around us?
I am very interested in your thoughts about social media being a platform for large-scale manipulation. Do you agree? Do you disagree? And why?
