6-2 Blog: Social Media Tools

With these technological advancements of communication, a vast majority of businesses have adapted to the growing trends of social interaction via the World Wide Web. Many businesses utilize social networks to build it's brand by promoting it's products as well as blogging initiatives to acquire consumer feedback. I have selected three social media networks for specific purposes based on popularity, efficiency and convenience.

Twitter is by far one of the most popular and successful social media platforms. "You use your computer or mobile phone to broadcast short messages, or “tweets,” that are limited to 140 characters" (Twitter, 2014). In a sense, Twitter is a short-handed version of blogging. Tweets are generally posted and accompanied by a hashtag for tagging purposes. Hashtags are also used to identify a specific subject and or topic, also as a marketing tool.

Video streaming has also gained popularity based on the phenomenon of live video footage and as a visual aide for claims of instances of a variety of different scenarios. Video streaming allow photos and videos to be shared on social media links such as: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Vine and Flicker. Often times popular videos go viral with the efforts of fame and or marketing strategies are earned based on the amount of views (hits).

Lastly, going 'mobile' has been by far the most effective measure of communication. A mobile device, specifically a cellular phone provides access to all avenues of social media interaction and the usage of all media content listed and much more. Mobile devices allow users to send and receive texts messages and phone calls, view media content, access emails, internet access, webinars and multimedia content. These devices are practically the equivalent to an actual computer; however, some features are modified to fit the format of a hand held device. Mobile devices are considered a universal concept of global communication. References: http://www.twitter.com; Google.com (2014). Top 7 Video Sharing Sites. Retrieved October 26, 2014; Geeky Gadgets.com (2014). Apple iPhone Grabs 36% of Japanese Mobile Phone Sales. Retrieved October 26, 2014.