Seek social media quality, not quantity
- Updated on: 2019-05-29
- Read original article here
Maswanganyi echoes these sentiments. "Sometimes in real life, one good friend is enough. Building a genuine, large fan base online is difficult and takes time. Be patient, be disciplined.
"Social media is about being social. The more you socialise, the bigger the reward and the more others will want to socialise with you. Keep posting engaging content. Ask questions. Make bold statements. Post pretty pictures. Comment on other people’s posts. Share other people’s content."
As trends evolve, and with blogging no longer satisfying needs, users are advised to add podcasting (audio blogging) and vlogging (video blogging) on their already full to-do lists.
Abandoning social media because of a paucity of followers would be futile and illogical. The technology has become indispensable. But websites and blogs are no longer the shiniest tools in the shed. Initially, blogs were popular among amateur writers and opinionistas marginalised by mainstream media. But after governments and big companies harnessed the potential of social media, everyone wants in.
Mphahlele and Fisher say that social media allows citizens to communicate with government departments without having to spend much on airtime.
According to World Wide Worx and Ornico’s 2017 research, 97% of South African companies use Facebook. Corporate blogs rose from 24% in 2016 to 36% in 2017. But half of the companies concede they lack digital skills, while at the same time they are battling to curb internet addiction among their workers.
According to a paper by American professors Kimberly Young and Carl Case, 37% of corporate employees with internet access abuse it for non-work purposes.
Posting content on microblogging sites and networking with like-minded people is more rewarding than posting messages on blogs, which can feel uninspiringly formal for users. On Twitter and Instagram, the messages are short, easy to create and feedback is instantaneous.
Yet, digital marketer Solomon Thimothy puts the number of group members who stick around for updates of messages at between 1% and 5%. People are easily distracted on social media. In a genuine, albeit naive, step to increase their networks, users populate Facebook with personal information.
Wily marketers abusing such naivety make newspaper headlines and shame the online marketing industry. The now defunct public relations firm Bell Pottinger was employed by the Guptas to create fake social media users to worsen SA’s already prickly race relations. Using personal data from Facebook users, UK company Cambridge Analytica ran campaigns to influence the outcomes of the US and Kenyan elections. It closed shop recently.
Data analyst Kyle Findlay says such behaviour is disconcerting to social media users as it goes against social media’s raison d’etre. "Successful platforms have an interest in ensuring that users have the best, most authentic, trustworthy experience possible.
"Underhanded social media techniques undermine the trust and enjoyment of the platform — which is bad for business."
The utopia social media promised the world has not materialised. People are only just beginning to realise this, Findlay says. "We’re just waking up from the modern tech utopia to realise the complex reality that is actually involved."
