The Social Media Landscape- A Terrifying Tale
The social media landscape- a terrifying tale to debunk the myths.
It all began with blogging. We remember it well. The conversations that we usually had inside our own heads whilst looking into the bathroom mirror began making their way into the public domain from the end of our fingertips. It was a period so unusual that the keys on our keyboards were forced to take the brunt of our steady stream of woes, until eventually they almost crumbled under the weight of them. This still continues to this day, although the mediums in which our expressions manifest themselves are now able to differ slightly.
A little over a decade and a half ago, a space was created online for those wishing to do more than just grumble at the daily injustices that they were confronted with. MySpace, as it was affectionally named, allowed its users to put forward the best and alternate versions of themselves whilst their haunting ditty of choice merrily chimed in the background. Images would flicker back and forth, exposing snippets of a life that was being created in front of a lens.
Across the other side of the treacherous terrain that was the original Internet of Things, professionals and entrepreneurs began communicating with others like themselves. The uncanny notion of business networking without shaking hands started to become a reality, and the cascades of white teeth across our screens penetrated their way into the norm.
That’s when it happened.
Facebook, the Dracula of the shapeshifting social world, offered us the ultimate spectacle and gave us the voyeuristic platform our mortal selves so desperately desired. Fast forward ten years and you no longer need to step outside to see the world around you; someone you’re following is doing it for you on Facebook Live.
Marketeers are tracking your every move through this platform, the shoes that you thought about in your sleep are now tiptoeing their way across your newsfeed and any other pages that they’re being paid to dance on. Everything has a price.
So, what is the real cost of social media marketing?
Surprisingly, it doesn’t have to cost the consumer a single thing. Not even their sanity. If your business is responsible and keeps that aggressive marketing Mr Hyde at bay then your audience will happily digest your content, they may even feed it to likeminded others. Just as spectres and the living share the same spaces, businesses and their customers can inhabit the same social media landscape too. Electrical appliances being able to talk to one another is no longer a myth, so how is it so difficult to believe that people are able to use technology to create great relationships between themselves? We are human, after all.
If your business has embarked upon its social media journey but is being met with pitchforks, or even worse: a dip in engagement, then it may not be that your creation has rebelled… it’s possible that you weren’t its true master to begin with.
Written by Keeley Sawdon-Molloy