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Social Networking and Its Business Values MIS 304 Dr. Fang

December 14, 2010

Submitted By:

Anthony Bonomi Amber Heeg

Elizabeth Newton Bianca Robinson Marzi Shabani

California State University San Marcos

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Introduction

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp. These are all names of websites that didn’t

even exist ten years ago. Today, we use them daily. Social networks connect us to

family and friends, to strangers, and to the world around us. We access news and

information that ranges from within our small group of friends to our local area to

national and international. Being connected to our world through social networks has

many uses and applications. Businesses especially can benefit by having a presence on

these sites and connecting to and becoming part of their clientele’s social network.

Businesses who have a presence on social networks can communicate with their

customers and potential customers in a whole new way. On Twitter and Facebook they

can relay up to the minute information with tweets or status updates. Businesses can link

useful information, news, and sales information in real time. On sites such as Yelp,

businesses can advertise and customers can view word of mouth reviews. On LinkedIn,

business professionals can network and businesses can use it as a useful tool for hiring

new talent.

There are many ways for businesses to use social networks to reach both old and

new customers. The cost of social network marketing to a company is nearly zero,

simply the hours it takes to pay someone to update the site by status update, tweeting,

adding photos, or information. Social networks can also link to sites where customers

can shop online, buying goods or services with the click of a mouse. Websites such as

Facebook and Twitter are free. Yet the payoff could be great. It is easy to see how a

video or news story can reach millions of people in a matter of hours or days but by

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postings on social websites. When a company can access and harness this network, the

amount of people it can reach is extraordinary. But the opposite is true as well. If a

company uses social networks in a way that puts people off, they can lose fans and clients

forever. So care must be taken in how a business uses social networks to reach people. It

is difficult to measure the impact of social networks to business but it is clear that the

potential is great and the need to have a presence on one or all social sites is necessary.

Companies must stay ahead of social networking and technological trends to stay

current. In this age of instant information and constantly changing means of

communication and information exchange, businesses that fail to be forward moving will

be left in the dust.

Here, we will look at the ways business presence has grown and evolved on social

networking sites. The sites themselves have grown and changed, for example MySpace

was once the most popular social network, but is now a distant second to Facebook.

Next, we will discuss the ways social networks can be used for communicating,

marketing and advertising to customers and clients. There are many ways on each site to

reach customers and fitting the right site and mode of communication to the business and

the client is important. Foursquare is an example of how a business can reach customers

nearby and even offer deals and coupons. A great tool for a taco shop, not so for a law

firm. We will then look at the downside to social networking for businesses. Privacy

issues, Internet technology and information systems costs, spam and malware, and the

potential to put off customers by too much social networking presence. Lastly, we will

look at the best strategies for businesses to use when utilizing social networks. We will

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discuss companies that have successfully used social networks, how and why they were

so effective.

Social Networks are here to stay, and in order to compete, businesses must

actively participate in these new technologies. As time goes by we are learning more

about how businesses can use many different sites and integrate their social networking

into a useful tool to market and reach both new and returning consumers. Just few years

ago it wasn’t necessary for a company to be on social networks, but today business

presence and the applications of these networks is invaluable to companies’ business and

marketing strategy. Today companies must be connected.

Growth of Businesses on Social Networking Sites

Before social networking, businesses had to find a way to reach out to society on

their own in order to market. This could be costly and timely. Now that social

networking exists, a lot of business advertising is spread through the Internet with just a

click of the mouse, and it is overall more cost effective. Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp are

all examples of social networks that make it easier for businesses to advertise to

consumers in a matter of seconds. Social networking began as a generalized community

with a primary purpose of bringing a community of people together in order for them to

interact with one another through chat rooms. In these chat rooms users were able to

share personal information through their personal WebPages that they created. Other

sites used email addresses as a form of linkage within users. The introduction to “user

profiles” came about in the 1990’s. These “user profiles” became the main feature when

it came to social networking because it allowed for users to create friend lists, which

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made it easy for users to search for other users within the community based on their

names and similar interests. Based off of the user profile method, other more advanced

methods were introduced towards the end of the 1990’s. In 2002 Friendster became the

start of the new trend of social networking. A year later MySpace and LinkedIn came

about, followed by Yelp and Facebook, which is now the largest social network site in

the world, in 2004, and lastly Twitter in 2006.

Social networking sites know the importance of advertising and getting your

business’ name out to the public. This is why they try to make it as easy as possible to

use with plenty of help and suggestions that can be located on the site itself. For example

Facebook allows for users to learn how to get started, improve their ads, manage their

budget, get help, and track their performance all before they even decide to use Facebook

as their primary social networking site. The big question is how do you know which

social network site is best for you? It all depends on the audience that you are trying to

target and the reason of why you are targeting the audience. Each site works differently,

but is trying to get the user to have the same outcome, which is to allow for a business to

grow and be heard.

Twitter is a way for a business to be in communication with their customers and

help them stay connected with one another. What makes Twitter different from Yelp and

Facebook is that Twitter only allows users to write tweets that are no longer than 140

characters. This means these messages must be straight to the point, which allows for

unnecessary information to be eliminated from the tweet. Twitter users will be more

willing to read these short excerpts, rather than lengthy information, that usually end up

off on a tangent. With Twitter, a business is able to find users posting messages about

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how they feel about the business, whether it is a product or a service. By doing a search

on the business, all the users that are posting up tweets about that business will pop up

and it will an easy access of reviews of how that business is doing. Facebook’s main

purpose is “Marketplace Ads.”

How Businesses Use Social Networks

Businesses develop strategies to build their presence on social networking

websites. These tactics all aid companies in gaining prominence, improving sales and

providing marketing opportunities. There is a wide variety of social networking websites

used by marketers to promote their companies. Some social networking sites are more

successful than others in increasing a company’s profitability. Businesses find success

when they introduce themselves into the rising influence of user-generated communities

such as social networking websites (Krotz).

Social networking by itself is a successful tool for a company to gain prominence

as well as a useful method to build a company’s presence. The use of advertising by

companies is an additional incentive to exist in a social network. This is because all

available social networking sites are an opportunity for companies to build relationships

with potential new clients or customers. Most existing social networking sites allow for

the steady communication between company’s and the network’s users. Because of the

interactions between companies and their customers, being present on a social

networking website helps businesses build credibility and trust amongst their customers.

Customers are able to communicate with the company’s and also show their friends the

pages or advertisements of companies they like, support or trust. Having a profile or

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advertisement on a social networking site makes the company visible to people who have

never done business with that establishment. This benefits the business by reaching out

to a group that without their presence on the networking site would possibly never have

learned about the company. Each social networking website has its own protocol for its

advertisements viewed by users. Even though each site differs in their advertisement

format, most social networking websites share their users’ personal data with advertisers

without the user’s knowledge or consent (Bangeman, 2010).

Facebook and MySpace are the two primary sites which share their users’

personal information. However, Facebook has become the most acknowledged social

networking website when it comes to sharing its users’ information with businesses

(Bangeman, 2010). When facebook’s users click on ads that appear on a profile page, the

information regarding who clicked on the site along with access to that user’s profile are

made available to marketers by Facebook (Bangeman, 2010). Although these methods

are highly intrusive to each site’s users, companies benefit by targeting people who show

interests in their campaign.

Other than making personal information of its users available to companies

interested in advertising, Facebook Ads has other advantages for the companies investing

in the advertisements. For example, Facebook Ads allows a company to reach a very

large number of people—there are more than 500 million Facebook users. The power to

gain such a significant prominence provides businesses with the ability to broadcast their

products or services to all of their potential customers who are present on the social

networking website. Facebook also provides companies with the chance to promote their

company with a page, profile or website. Marketers have multiple options of how they

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would like to advocate for their company in the way they feel best fit. A final example of

the benefits and exposure associated with Facebook Ads is a company’s ability to build a

community around their company. When businesses become a member in the active

communities that social networking websites provide they can build relationships and

promote their products and/or expertise (Krotz). Building their relationships also

involves spreading the influence of their marketing campaigns onto the friends of their

current users, this aids them to build the community around their company. As the

community grows, the company’s prominence and presence on the networking site also

develops. Facebook is not the only social networking webpage used to house

advertisements.

LinkedIn is similar to Facebook in that it has a large number of users and also

allows companies to advertise on its site. The marketing opportunities provided to

businesses by LinkedIn have benefits that separate if from Facebook and other sites.

Advertisements on LinkedIn give businesses the ability to target a niche audience. If a

company has an ideal audience in mind, they can specifically arrange for people with

similarities to receive an ad on their page. Users of LinkedIn use the site daily which

ensures high exposure of each company’s advertisements (LinkedIn). Another benefit to

companies advertising on LinkedIn, especially small businesses and entrepreneurs, is that

its most common users are financial advisers, financial planners and wealth managers,

high net-worth individuals and insurance professionals (LinkedIn). This is extremely

advantageous to companies looking to gain prominence or grow with the help of

investors or “big spenders” as customers.

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When companies chose to join a social networking site they have to create an

advertisement or profile in order to make themselves visible to users. The best way to

promote their business is to provide users with as much information about the company

as possible. Things to include for potential clients or customers would be the business’s

hours of operation, location, description of the services offered, etc (eHow). These

methods will all help promote the company which leads to gaining additional presence

and prominence on social networks.

It is considered a successful investment when the continued growth of a

company’s prominence on a social networking site leads to an improvement in sales.

Success stories from businesses advertising on social networking website can be linked to

almost every site. There are many variations in businesses who utilize marketing on

social networking sites, and every type has the ability to receive feedback from their

consumers on the websites. One company Junnoon, an Indian restaurant in Palo Alto,

CA, had its consumers post reviews of meals they’ve had at their establishment. Junnoon

made this possible through the creation of a Facebook fan page. These pages also allow

consumers to recommend certain dishes to others as well as give tips for their visit; Such

as advice to make reservations ahead of time (Coster, 2008). The word-of-mouse taking

place on each company’s site will improve the company’s business because of the

recommendations by current customers. The reviews and ratings by current customers

also helps boost each business’s credibility. Twitter also grants consumers the power to

review their interaction with the company—such as whether their experience was

pleasant or disappointing which allows the company to make adjustments and

improvements based on their customer feedback. Companies altering their business

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approaches to fit the recommendations of their customers will also help to improve sales.

Additionally, Twitter’s user’s can also suggest project ideas and promotions to marketers

which can aid the companies with increasing their revenue.

A company’s credibility can also be assisted with their ability to use current

customers as references when targeting potential new customers. For example, Facebook

Ads allows their outside marketers to access the friend list of their current fans—with this

access the company’s can state in their advertisement that their friend is currently a

customer or fan of their products. Another way that Facebook helps improve a company’s

sales is through a company’s capability to choose their audience by location, age and

interests. A business’s power to target their desired demographic is a useful tool in

improving sales. The assurance that a company’s ideal customer will be viewing their

campaign on the social networking sites is incentive for businesses to pay for advertising

space. Facebook Ads also provides businesses with the chance of choosing to reach

certain people at a certain time. For example, if a user is posting about being engaged, a

business that does floral arrangements can search for such postings and issue their ad to

that user. The capacity to communicate with ideal users at that the right time leads to

companies guaranteed connecting with appropriate groups.

Another way to increase sales through presence on social networking websites is

to offer promotions and specials to customers. Foursquare encourages businesses to

introduce specials to users visiting their establishment. When the offers are enticing

enough to consumers, they will likely spread the word to their friends and return for

subsequent visits. In order to boost revenues, businesses also need to be sure to update

their pages and marketing campaigns. If companies do not keep their consumers

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educated about their most current information, products and deals growth in sales is not

likely to occur.

The improvement of a business’s sales is only made possible through the

marketing opportunities presented to them by the online social networks. In the last few

years businesses have had close to limitless access to reaching potential new customers

via social networking websites. The factors that are present in making advertising so

appealing to marketers include reasonable pricing, customer profiling, user privacy

invasion and an increasing amount of online users.

Facebook Ads is one of the most notorious choices of sites used by businesses to

advertise and promote their company. One reason many companies chose to use

Facebook Ads is because they offer flexible pricing to marketers as well as real-time

suggested bids (Facbook). The combination of these two offerings provides guidance for

companies to make cost-effective ad campaigns. Ads are not just financially beneficial to

the business, they are also great a great opportunity for the social networking websites to

make money. The social networks know that if they companies marketing on their site

are not getting results, they will not return for additional purchases of ad space. Because

of this, social networking websites attempt to make the marketing opportunities for

businesses as enticing as possible.

Most of the current social networks suggest ways for marketers to boost their ads;

this is a useful marketing opportunity available for businesses. An excellent source of

revenue that has become available to companies is to run promotions that are exclusive to

the social networking sites (eHow). For example, Foursquare assists businesses in

marketing their promotions and specials to customers by sending official foursquare

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“window clings” to their users (Foursquare). Social networks making this marketing

opportunity accessible to businesses assists businesses in attracting new customers.

Another example of the uses of promotions to users on social networking sites is the

Indian restaurant, Junnoon, from Palo Alto offering a free glass of champagne to anyone

who becomes a friend or fan of their Facebook page. The idea from the social networks

for businesses to offer promotions to their users assists the restaurant in boosting its fans

as well as the number of people who dine in the restaurant (Bush, 2008, p. 46). The

offering of “specials” becomes an added incentive for consumers to visit and use a

company.

Targeting ideal consumers is what makes advertising on social network very cost

effective to businesses. This is because businesses receive a positive response to their ad

campaigns when they reach the proper audience. Social networks provide marketers with

information about users and their interests which is a beneficial marketing opportunity to

these marketing agencies. Twitter’s ads are designed so that consumers will only see ads

when they’re searching for a relevant term (Cashmore, 2010). This ensures that

company’s ads are being viewed by their ideal consumer, as well as Twitter users seeing

ads containing content they are likely interested in. Faceboook Ads also demonstrates ad

effectiveness for businesses based on the various targeting filters they offer. For

example, when a Facebook user is posting that they are engaged or have become

pregnant, businesses are provided this users information to send ad campaigns. Facebook

also matches advertisements with these users as a service to the company. LinkedIn

opens the door for businesses to grow, it provides an opportunity for advertisers seeking

to reach and influence financial professionals and high-net worth investors directly

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(LinkedIn). The information of these users becomes available to businesses, and as a

result companies can contact these individuals as a way to gain investors. It has been

said that prior to creating an ad campaign or profile businesses need to be sure to study

the dynamics, rules and language of any social networking media because they will not

have an effective presence if they do not have an understanding of individuals using it

(Bush, 2010, p. 46). This holds true because a business will not be successful with a

presence on a social networking website that does not have users that are in their ideal

consumer group.

Although users’ privacies are commonly invaded by the collaboration of social

networking sites and advertisers, this is a marketing opportunity that benefits companies.

Social networking sites share data such as names, user ids, and other information that is

adequate enough to assist companies to identify the profiles of users they would likely

target. With the access to users’ profiles and information posted in their profile,

businesses know who to cater their ads towards. Not only are companies provided access

to users’ interests and information, but they are also allowed access to the individual’s

friend list. This ability to access the friend list of users who are already affiliated with the

company’s product based on their interests is a useful marketing tool. It becomes

possible for companies to reach their ideal consumers, have access to current consumers,

and reach potential new consumers. Facebook has “Social Ads” which sends ads to a

user’s friends when a member makes a purchase from a participating marketer’s site

(Coster, 2008). Marketing on social networks would not be effective at all if there were

not a growing number of users.

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Advertising on online social networks is a fast growing innovation (Krotz). With

hundreds of millions of users on Facebook, companies have hundreds of millions of

potential new customers. Being able to access such a significant amount of people on

one site using one advertisement or campaign is a marketing opportunity that is very

useful for advertisers. According to eMarketer, MySpace and Facebook make up 72% of

the online advertising market (Klassen, 2007, p. 15). This means that in order to get

reach their target audience, businesses need to be sure to place advertisements on these

two websites. By doing so, they are putting their company at an advantage to have online

ad campaigns elsewhere.

The Downside of Business and Social Networking

Not all businesses are in favor of social networking sites, because these sites don’t

necessarily represent the complexities of the relationship or the business. They mostly

create awkward social situations that don’t exist face to face; one common problem

would be when you want to know how to deal with an open request to be someone’s

friend, something most of us haven’t had to deal with since third grade.

Goodbye Privacy

It is clear that both consumers and businesses are benefiting from social

networking. Time, data space, and location are no longer blocking any barriers in

communication. But, as any other technological advancement out there, there are many

concerns involved as well. Information are uploaded and exchanged on-line; meaning

they can be stored and kept in cookies for almost ever. For example, most information

posted on social networking sites becomes the part of material goods of the hosting site,

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meaning that information can be used or sold without the permission of the companies.

Companies use posted pictures and information to analyze potential customer

preferences and to target products and services to consumers based on the information

shared online. In most cases, this is harmless, but still represents an invasion of privacy.

Lindsey Wise, an industry analysis for business intelligence, brings up a good point

about this matter in the article, What about our Privacy? According to Wise, “Depending

on how individuals feel about having their personal information and associations used as

marketing tools, or their photos sold to companies, general privacy might not be an issue.

However, as technology advances there is more room for individual privacy to conflict

with information gathering and marketing initiatives. Now, online activity might be

monitored and collected, but as more companies look towards location intelligence and

GPS-related data, the ability to track movements and see people using satellite

technology means that privacy no longer exists” (Wise, pars. 8). Since different

businesses have different approach when it comes to the type of information they share

on-line, the benefits might still balance the threat and risk. Here comes the importance of

concept of balance, which businesses should keep in mind when post their information on

social networking sites. As Wise says, “For organizations, the more information

available the better; however, as data volumes grow and as analytics expand towards GPS

location intelligence, the discussion surrounding privacy will become more broadly

discussed as the potential for harm also increases” (Wise, pars. 9).

Market Study

Social networking tools are spreading into core business areas, including

marketing, human relations, and customer service. Small and medium-sized businesses

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are actively using social networking channels to generate sales leads, but this remains a

growth opportunity for larger companies. According to a market research done in 2009,

“only one in seven of the companies that participated in the research noted a formal

process associated with adopting consumer-based social networking tools for business

purposes” (Deans, pars. 9). This is due to the yet unstructured nature of social

networking and companies continue to struggle with policy creation and adoption from

other more structured areas. Based on the same research, “only one in ten respondents

noted direct IT involvement in externally facing social networking initiatives” (Deans,

pars. 11). Studies in other parts of the world such as Europe and specially UK show that

most companies don’t like to be “too social”. According to a Global Secure System

(GSS) survey done by vnunet.com, “In the UK, office workers are away at least half an

hour every day on social networks like Facebook, which equates to roughly three weeks a

year” (All, pars. 2). In the same survey most of the CIO of the companies have said they

would ban social networking sites if they had the power since some of the prominent

London companies have already done that. GSS notes that there is a disagreement

between HR department and IT department in companies over social networking. HR

people like to use this tool since it helps with “Human Resources”, but IT people have a

different concern. “A bigger concern than lost productivity”, says the GSS executive, “is

the possible exposure of sensitive data” (All, pars. 6). In an informal survey, which was

done for the sake of this school project, most businesses they’ve said they have a face

book page for their business, but they don’t even have a right operator for it to have it

updated regularly. Paul Barsch, Director of Professional Services Marketing for Tradata

a data warehousing company, when asked if Tradata is using any social networking

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website, responded “Tradata is on all of the social networking websites, such as Tweeter,

LinkedIn, and Facebook; but that is just for show to confirm that we’re cool”.

No Spam and Malware Prevention

In year 2009, social networking spam hit businesses hard; 50 percent of the

companies were spammed through a social networking site, and 36 percent were hit by

malware. The concern is that the burden is not just on the users. Sophos, the anti-virus,

and the anti-spam solution producer for business market, puts down some blame in the

hands of the social-networking sites themselves. According to a report by Sophos,

“Many Web 2.0 sites have focused more on bumping up market share than on protecting

customers. Although companies like Facebook have started putting more effort into

combating cyber threats, they’re also contending with a huge and growing population of

users” (Lance, pars. 5). Although Facebook is trying to keep the good image and show

some kind of counter-threat, keeping more than 500 million users happy is not an easy

task. The Sophos survey included asking companies about the security risks of the top

four social-networking sites. Facebook ranks the list as the perceived riskiest of the

major social-networking sites, followed by MySpace, Twitter, and finally LinkedIn

(Lance, pars. 2).

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(Credit: Sophos)

Even though LinkedIn was seen as the safest of the top four social networks, it’s

not without its share of risk. “The more “inside” information that a cyber crook can

gather about a company, the more vulnerable that company becomes, and LinkedIn can

be a prime source for revealing details about a business” (Lance, pars. 7). “Sites like

LinkedIn provide hackers with what is effectively a corporate directory, listing your

staff's names and positions. This makes it child’s play to reverse-engineer the e-mail

addresses of potential victims”. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos

says about the survey report (Lance, pars. 8).

Maximizing Business Strategy and Recommendations for Social Networks

It does not matter what company, but sites like Facebook can be maximized to

any companies needs for advertising, with the free “fan” pages and ads that target

specific users based on there profile. Using sites like Twitter, which just added ads like

Facebook, can benefit like Coca-Cola. Twitter added promoted trends of the day which

cost six figures. According to New York Times, “had a huge success rate with five

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percent of the percentage of users seeing it and clicking on the ad than usual one percent”

(Miller and Vega, 2010). This was a huge success for Coca-Cola.

Case Study

Coca-Cola has around 170,000 followers on twitter, with around 20,000 tweets; a

little less than 20 million fans on Facebook. About 10,000 employees connected on

LinkedIn. This company is a good example of using these three major social networking

sites to maximize there presence, especially with the new generations relying on

technology. Coca-Cola has created apps, walls and interacting pages for fans on

Facebook. A business must make sure they use all these tools to get the best out of the

site, which they have shown is there greatest success on social networking sites. They

have a strong hold on twitter, but with a great number in fewer users, they do not have

that much strength through twitter, but with numbers of users increasing daily and the

amount of tweets and ads Coca-Cola puts on twitter, it is not a lost cause. LinkedIn is

more for a business to business relationship, so 10,000 employees connected is actually a

large number. Coca-Cola does update new job openings, new hires, and events

happening with employees are updated on the main page as well; which this is the most

you can get out of LinkedIn.

Connecting to customers can be best maximized with Facebook, with its already

huge number of users, multiple tools and filters for advertising, and news page. These

features allow businesses to see who is following them, and allowing them to post deals

or new things going on in the company, and users able to post feedback. A personal

example is me following the Chargers. I see what fund raisers are doing, what the score

is, and see updated tickets for sale or new merchandise. On those posts I am able to

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comment about it, allowing the admin to see my feedback. Utilizing the resources is a

must to be affective.

Case Story

Chargers on Facebook is a prime example of using the tools given on a social

networking site. With a base of half a million fans, Chargers are trying to get the most

interaction with the social networking site. Updated news multiple times a day, keeps

users active on their page. Comments from users give the Chargers direct feedback on

how they fill about the related updated post. They created an event page that posts all the

games and it is easy to use. As well as a ticket page that gives all the information needed

to buy a ticket to a game. These tools are key features to successfully network to the full

potential of the company.

Businesses must not simply make an account and just let it sit. They must have an

admin that works on all the social networking sites, posting, and making sure the tools

he/she is putting time into are effective. Cost effective strategy would to first use the free

told, set up accounts and see how many users interact with what you already have set up.

If that then looks promising, subsequently you can start buying ads that will focus on

more users.

Conclusion

The mutually beneficial relationship between social networks and businesses of

all types is here to stay. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, MySpace, Blogger, and Yelp,

just to name a few, are only going to get bigger and better. New networks, applications,

and possibilities we haven’t even imagined yet are sure to come along and be great for

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companies and businesses both big and small. As the internet and internet technology

grow, the world is becoming smaller, information is traveling faster, and the way

businesses do business is growing, evolving, and changing. PDA’s, smart-phones, and

tablets PC’s, such as the iPad and HP’s Slate, are making information portable, instant,

and accessible. Wi-Fi networks are everywhere from private businesses such as

McDonalds and Starbucks to public places such as campuses, universities, and libraries.

All this technology means simply, I can check my Facebook anywhere at anytime. I can

look up nearby shops or restaurants when I am out and about whenever I’d like. I can

search Google maps or check-in on foursquare and find local businesses instantly. I can

see a twitter feed right now, anywhere in the world. If that tweet sparks me to go

somewhere, like a restaurant, or buy something, like a new pair of shoes, then it is easy to

see the potential of an effective social network campaign by the business that prompted

me to act.

The evolution of business and social networks is still unknown. We are in the

infancy of this technology and type of networking. It is completely within the realm of

reality that in the near future most people will be linked into some sort of online, virtual

network where they are connected to their world through some sort of homepage.

Everything; television, movies, text messages, instant messages, chat, email, pictures,

music, books, Skype telephones, shopping, dining, bills, banking, news, information,

literally everything will be linking virtually online somehow. The way to reach

customers will be through these networks.

Social networking is a newer phenomenon. The short history of these networks is

seen in the changing trends of sites such as Friendster and MySpace to sites like

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Facebook and Twitter. The growth of businesses on these sites is illustrated in the

amount of business pages on Facebook. There are many ways that businesses use the

sites, by posting deals on Foursquare or status updates and tweets on Facebook and

Twitter. They can advertise and market with pages, links, information, video, and online

retailing on sites. Being aware and avoiding the downside of social networking, keeping

networks private, watching for malware and spam, and being aware of customers’

preferences, needs, and tastes keeps social networks and businesses running together

smoothly. Finally, by using the many tools available and staying current with new trends

companies can maximize the usefulness of social networks. Other similar companies can

serve as models for businesses that are trying to break into the online social networking

world and serve as useful guides as to how to best become a “socially networkable”

business.

Companies that employ integration, ingenuity, and creativity to utilize the myriad

of social sites will surely separate them from their competitors and predecessors.

Businesses that embrace these new ways of doing business and aren’t afraid to take risks

and lead the way into unknown social networking and technological territories will surely

benefit. These risk takers will be at the forefront of the business world. Forward thinkers

are forward movers.

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Works Cited

All, A. (2008, January 22). The Downside of Business Networking. In IT Business Edge.

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