Tag: social media news

Youth begin to flee from Facebook

The youth of the world are beginning to favor simple messaging applications for their mobile devices over Facebook. These applications allow consumers to create personal profiles, build networks of friends and other contacts, share digital content, such as video, music, and pictures. While these applications provide many of the same services that made Facebook popular several years ago, these applications have one thing that Facebook does not have: They are not Facebook.

Consumers beginning to favor simple messaging apps for their mobile devices

Young, tech-savvy consumers through North America, Asia, and Europe are beginning to flock to these messaging applications in order to connect with one another. Many of these applications, such as Kik and Whatsapp, both of which are very popular in North America, combine text messaging with social networking, allowing users to connect with one another quickly without relying on messaging plans offered by wireless network operators or the sometimes stifling design of social networking platforms.

Apps could provide better services than Facebook

These apps have an appeal to consumers based on the fact that they are designed around the concept of communication. Google Ventures partner Rich Miner suggests that the majority of interactions that people have with one another come in the form of text messages and phone calls. Many people do not involve themselves in social networks simply for the purpose of communication. Consumers are beginning to find that simple messaging applications can suffice their need to communicate with others. These applications can also effectively share digital content, removing yet another reason for consumers to rely on social networking platforms.

Facebook remains the champion of social networking

Facebook boasts of more than 1 billion users worldwide, thus solidifying it as the most popular and widely used social networking platform in the world. The company recently began embracing the mobile space more aggressively, producing the most used smartphone application on the market today. Nonetheless, consumers are still flocking to messaging applications that offer the same services as Facebook but without any association to the sometimes controversial social network.

Social media marketing offers many new opportunities for businesses

Social media plays an important role in the lives of millions of people around the world. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have shown that consumers are very interested in keeping in touch with their friends and family online, while also sharing their interests with others and promoting companies they like. Social media offers many opportunities to the marketing sector, especially in terms of mobile marketing. A new report from NM Incite, a social media and market research firm, highlights the opportunities that social media marketing represents.

Report highlights the growth of social media platforms

The report, titled “Social Media Report 2012,” details the ways social media can be used as a communications tool for advertisers. The report highlights the growth of several social media platforms, noting that Facebook remains the most popular platform among consumers and businesses. Blogger and Twitter continue to be rising stars in the social media space, with marketers eyeing Twitter for its potential in social media marketing. Pintrest, a relatively new content sharing website, has seen the most aggressive growth this year, in terms of users.

Consumers showing more interest in mobile devices than in PCs

According to the report, more consumers are making use of their mobile devices to stay connected to social media platforms. The report shows that the amount of time consumers spend on these sites with their mobile device has gone up 21% this year. More consumers are showing favor for their smart phones and tablets than they are for their PCs, presenting an opportunity for advertisers to establish a constant connection with people no matter where they go. Businesses are also responding to this by making themselves more available to social media sites, encouraging consumers to share these sites to their friends and families.

Social media marketing presents its own challenges

The report notes that social media marketing presents several challenges, despite its beneficial prospects. Mobile consumers have shown that they are interested in visits that are marketed to them, but only 14% of these people actually purchased products that they looked up through social media marketing campaigns. Moreover, constant connection with consumers opens businesses up to more scrutiny, increasing the need for comprehensive customer service on a 24-hour cycle.