Social Media is a Must

In an article by Kietzmann, titled “Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media”, it talks about how important social media is for today’s businesses and companies. Those that are not jumping on the band wagon that is social media are falling behind.

As a millennial, many of my friends were getting hired by companies right out of college to fill positions of “social media coordinator” or “social media director”. Their jobs required them to manage social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, being the three most popular. One of my college roommate’s big project with her organization was to launch their presence on snapchat.

The article uses United Airlines as an example when speaking about how social media may be needed to defuse situations caused by viral YouTube videos. United Airlines destroyed a customer’s guitar and the whole incident was caught on video and posted to YouTube. I feel this is common in the new age of Web 2.0 with more people watching YouTube videos and more sites having capabilities to share these videos with friends and family.

While I do not work in a corporate office, in a school setting teachers and administrators need to be aware of students’ phones and social media presence. Of course, we tell students until we turn blue in the face to turn off their phones and put them away, but they are still on and around every corner waiting to catch something on video.

When something does happen to be caught on video, such as a fight, it is up to administration to defuse the situation. In order to do this, they have to be able to understands the working of social media and how to then turn around and use it to their advantage. There are the traditional ways of using PR, but social media travels fast and seems to be the most beneficial.

Schools can also use social media to recruit students. Working a county with competitive middle school magnet programs, social media advertising and presence is very important in order to make parents aware of what each program has to offer. Having a Facebook page is also beneficial for currently enrolled parents and students because they are able to get updates on school activities and events.

So, no matter what field of work you are in it, I believe social media is the future and it is important to know its’ workings and purpose.