Web 2.0 was something that I read about in Andrew McStay’s book, ‘Digital Advertising’ but something that was relatively unknown to me. Web 2.0 was a term coined by Tim O’Reilly of Reilly Media and reflected a fundamental change in the way in which our modern culture communicates with each other. He described the concept as “creating network effects through an architecture of participation," using things such as flash player, search engine optimisation and social networking sites. Basically, the web became a whole lot more social! (Tim O’Reilly Media Inc 2010)
Who is using Social Media?
Well, pretty much every single brand has taken advantage of this digital phenomenon. I am going to use Starbucks to illustrate how brands have successfully used the platforms that Web 2.0 enables. Starbuck’s Facebook page runs events, competitions and keeps the consumer updated on new product launches and store openings, it also connects the consumers to other forms of social media that it uses like Twitter. The company takes part in a lot of community work and is renowned for its corporate social responsibility, so where better to emphasise this than with the brand’s online community?
It also regularly updates its Twitter feed to keep their loyal consumers interested and updated. The brand has adverts posted on YouTube that have ‘gone viral’ with over 99,000 hits and counting.
The company has recently decided to change their logo and actively encourages opinions and conversations about it on their website.
But, more generally what does the rapid growth of social media mean for advertisers?
Well, to answer that question, I found an interesting speech by Joanne Blakley, who talks about how social media will mean the end of gender. Traditionally segmentation has been largely based on gender and basic demographics, however she proposes that marketers will now have a large wealth of psychographic information, so that consumers are no longer defined by who they are, but what they do. For example, marketers will no longer define consumers by age, sex, occupation and class, but by their interests, so Starbucks consumers would be defined by the coffee they like etc. She talks about how social media will “free us from the absurd assumptions we make about genders in the media”. The link to her talk is below if you’re interested.
But I do question, whether stereotypes and representations can be so easily lost? Demographics are the fundamental way in which humans classify the world in order to understand it. I think that social media will provide a larger wealth of information, that will be used in addition to, but not a replacement of demographics. It will open up opportunities for advertisers to use the information to create more individualistic advertising campaigns. It will also enable advertisers and marketers to identify and successfully target more niche communities.
So, we are going through an era of digital revolution, there is no doubt about that. Social networking has changed the way a whole generation communicate with each other, which has provided a new frontier, which advertising agencies must explore in order to compete. Digital communication has provided us with an ever changing circle of communication that is further perpetuated by change in our society. It’s worth thinking about, because it is happening now. Facebook and Twitter are no longer trends that all your friends at school or work are doing, it is the signifier for cultural change globally.
Is social media good or bad? In answer to this question, I really don’t know; the only thing that’s for certain is that it is here to stay! Advertising agencies and brands alike need to embrace it as a lucrative medium of advertising or get left behind with the invention of the printing press. And on that inspirational note I will sign off until next week :)
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