Social media has evolved and hit some major milestones in the last couple of years. The emerging media channel has allowed us to share our daily activities in our lives. We are able to share life events and updates through social networking sites like Facebook and Google+. We are able to curate information instantaneously through condensed updates through our phone or computers with microblogs like Twitter. Editing and uploading multimedia documents like pictures for Flickr or Instagram or videos to YouTube or Vimeo are allowing users to become multipurpose digital storytellers. These stories can become viral based on several components – it has to have an emotional component to the story, support a person’s worldview, or it provides a unique perspective on a current issue or topic.
Social media has been presented and used in reporting major social events as reported by Mashable – ranging from events impacting society on a global scale or even domestically – each platform has been used for a specific means and has been a channel for others to share news, information, and life changing events to the world with just a click of a button or a tap on an application. This in many ways has influenced how we perceive the world and others as well as igniting a dynamic conversation with multiple global voices emerging and surrounding on a particular focal point or topic.
Twitter has been presented as one tool that has been used by journalists and citizen reporters to share updates and news with everyone (ex. Japanese tsunami, Hudson River Crash). Facebook has been the place for asking questions or making formalized statements or announcements to key stakeholder groups (ex. Egypt crisis,. YouTube has been used for looking for family members in a disaster situation (ex. Japanese tsunami) or being a risk in making sure to initiate proactive measures on how to address employees on social media (ex. Domino’s and YouTube crisis in 2009).
Each social media platform has arisen to an iconic perception based on one of these events. There are some that have been mentioned and used more often than others – but it is key to still be aware of the potential use and opportunities / risks associated with each of these. As PR professionals, we have to be aware of how each of these social media platform channels operate and ho people are using these to share updates on current issues, and how these stories can help define the overall reputation to define each of these platforms in a historical perspective.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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