Week 1 - Personal/Professional Use of Social Media

As we come to a closing of week one, we are made to ponder:

Which social media platforms seem geared towards personal use and which ones seem to work better for business?

I strongly believe that almost all social media can be used for personal use, however, it is the content and the intent of use one has for the information being gathered/shared that dictates what personal and "professional" aspect is being displayed.

In terms of personal use of social media I think that, as many of us will concur, Facebook tends to be one of the biggest personal, if not, most commonly used platform out there to connect with family and friends and even long lost friends that are now more of an acquaintance than actual friends. Interestingly enough we are seeing a slight shift in this since one is now able to like pages that consist from bands, books, movies, places and personal business from friends and people we may know and/or share common interests with. Likewise, YouTube still tends to be personal in that one can post videos on some rant from not getting proper service at a store/restaurant, watching someone's opinion about a current movie, or just some random video we stumbled upon. The only thing that would probably make it somewhat professional would be the "commercial" ads that at times pop up when watching music videos that allow you to skip after 5-10 seconds but at time are interesting enough that you watch the whole thing, at least that happens to me. Lastly, Instagram is still more on the personal side of social media because the pictures one shares depend greatly on what the feeling at that time (love, hunger, annoyance, etc.) is and saving the memento vs. giving an opinion of like or dislike at a service/product.

On the business side of social media we have sites such as LinkedIn. One of the more commonly known since it is a way to network with others in the line of work one would like to do/have and even obtain a job offer due to the fact that one can post their resume for prospective employers and scouts to check you out. Although strictly professional and business geared, there is a light personal use since one can also connect with people they know and depending on information submitted on profile get articles and video pertaining to one's career and hobby interests. I have talked about Facebook and how it's becoming somewhat of a hybrid between the personal and the professional/business use.

Another site better geared for business, in my opinion, would be Twitter since one can ask questions or make comments to a specific person or group and depending on traffic, get a personal response. Lately, I've seen Twitter geared towards businesses in that most publicity is being given that way. One example, although there are many that we could think of, would be the Bravo's Real Housewives shows and how the housewives have a twitter account (and a blog through Bravo) where they can talk to fans, answer questions, get feedback, etc. In a way it does work because what better way to promote a personal business venue, event, party, etc. than by having your personal fan base know what you're up to where you'll be and getting more people interested in what you're doing. Not sure if anyone else has talked about these, but other sites such as Yelp! or Angie's List, to name a few, fall into the realm of professional/business geared because not only do they require one to create a profile but once you're in you can request a service as well as provide a comment and rate your personal experience and satisfaction on a service being provided for you AND have the convenience of doing it on-the-go by downloading the mobile app.

Regardless of the preferred social media there is always room for improvement and the uses are limitless. Although some maybe more known for their social atmosphere for the most part most share the same features of finding and searching people that one known and connecting with them that way. I don't think that there is one site that is specifically just social/personal use or business/professional use because such sites are always being updated with the users/consumers voice and/or opinion in mind and having a hybrid of both personal and business tends to be what is being done.