Social Media Users in Finland and Poland - Assignment Example

Social Media Users in Finland and Poland Introduction Over the last two decades, social media has gained popularity in many countries. For instance, in Finland, approximately 2.25 million people used Face-book, while those using other social networks such as twitter and LinkedIn constitute the more than 2 million viewers. The penetration population for the social media in Finland remains at 48.92%. Of this population, more women are common users of these social network sites than men. This is supported by the statistics indicating that as at June 2012, 53% of women used social networks sites, a figure which was slightly above that of men which stood at 46.7%. The results further indicated that over the last six months, at least 650,000 new followers signed up for online networks. Compared to the united Poland, which had, on average, 45% of the population actively taking part in social sharing, with men only constituting 42% of social network users, it is clear than Finland has a stronger force of internet and social network users than a number of European countries. By ranking, Finland is at position 61 of Face-book users globally (Campbell, 2004, p.98). However, the statistics revealed that 80 percent of social network users are youths below 35 years. More precisely, the largest group of social networkers falls in the age bracket of 25-34 years, closely followed by 18-24 years. Social media as marketing strategy With the increased computerization and telecommunication in the twenty first century, social media are increasingly being perceived as potential marketing sites for a number of businesses. The competition in the product and service sectors has gone online to reach out to big numbers. Since the success of business is based on the availability of customer to constitute demand, it is therefore important for firms to manage their social websites as a way of gaining customers. In Finland, nearly seventy percent of firms have gone online and digital (Hoover, Clark, & Rainie, 2004, p.134). These firms use social media sites which are popular among their potential consumers to interact with these consumers. This has proved fruitful, hence prompting other social groups like churches to follow the suit. From political, corporate, to religious, all the organizations currently embrace social networks or media. Churches across Finland and Poland were surveyed on their how active to they use social media as a marketing base. The result polled by Buzzplant marketing agency revealed that these institutions often used social media to popularize themselves. Even millennium old institutions were found to have joined social network train. The survey covered about 250 churches in Finland on their position towards social media. Surprisingly, the finding of the survey established that religious institutions strongly believed on the effectiveness of social media form of outreach (Scott, 2010, p.89). Over forty six percent of the respondents indicated their preference of social media as an effective way of reaching out to their followers with only 25% of them preferring knocking on the door, and 6% indicating that TV is a better way of gaining numbers. Similar to Poland, Facebook and twitter were the most popular social networks for a large number of religious followers. This was evidence by the frequency at which these churches updated their Facebook or twitter pages on a daily account (Armfield, & Holbert, 2003, p.129). In July 2012, during the 16 International Christian Internet Congress staged in Munich, the attending church representatives unanimously agreed there was need for Christian organizations to boost their internet connective and interaction through social media. The outcome of the Munich conference was later discussed by Christian leaders in Finland in their annual meeting. Although only 35% of Finnish Christians use Facebook and other social sites, churches had lost more forty thousand faithful in less than four months. This served as an indication of how important social media are in wooing loyalist including fundamentalist. Churches therefore saw the need to retain their flocks by going socially online. It is from then that religious institutions adjusted their marketing strategy. Churches went ahead to appoint a team of delegates to investigate the role of social media in the modern society and also respond onslaught of social media criticisms (Campbell, 2004, p.92). Instead, churches in Finland and the rest of Europe proposed new ways of positively using social media to preach the gospel and win new converts. Churches therefore launched an interactive social websites where their followers can post comments, videos, blogs, and pictures which would encourage other website followers. However, because of increasing cases of hacking, churches were forced to deploy experts and administrators to manage and integrate their sites (Scott, & Scott, 2011, p.63-4). The increasing use of online and digital communication technologies, organizations (including churches) recognize the significance of social networks through building the identity of the institution. In addition, social media sites are essential in establishing and strengthening relationships, unity, and understanding among church members. More importantly, the interconnectivity and socialization through these social sites serves as a rich marketing strategy for increasing church membership through retention or new membership entrance. Churches therefore have limited choices but to understand these modern technologies and integrate their structures to match these inevitable changes. As pointed out by Roach (2011, p.287), “their websites, it will be almost impossible for these organizations to improve their dialogue with members and visitors”. How churches use social media Churches use blogs to boost their profiles by connecting believers. Since church is about membership, these religious institutions can woe more people to their organizations through posting encouraging and faith building testimonies, videos, devotionals, and podcasts in their blog pages. A research study in Finland established that youths spend more than half of their time facebooking or tweeting. Therefore, churches targeting to reach out to the youths creates Facebook page full of inspirational words to inspire the youths. Through this page, the church can send invitations to Facebook users. This would make some followers to develop strong spiritual attachment with the church, hence becoming a new convert. Finally, churches in the modern time embrace technology and communication by creating an e-mail which is used to communicate events, news, announcements, and make payments (Armfield, & Holbert, 2003, p.129). Social media therefore plays a critical role in disseminating fundamental information not only to commercial institutions but also social organizations, thus, should be embraced. Bibliography Armfield, G. G., & Holbert, R. L. 2003. The relationship between religiosity and internet use. Journal of Media & Religion, 2(3), 129. Campbell, H. 2004. Challenges created by online religious networks. Journal of Media & Religion, 3(2), 81-99. Hoover, S. M., Clark, L. S., & Rainie, L. 2004. Faith online. Retrieved from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project website: http://www.lifeway.com/article/170637/.http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2004/Faith-Online.aspx. Roach, D. 2011. LifeWay Research finds churches increasingly fans of Facebook, other social media. Retrieved from LifeWay Research website: Scott, D. M. 2010. The new rules of marketing and PR: how to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons, pp.89. Scott, D. M., & Scott, D. M. 2011. The new rules of marketing & PR how to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons, pp.45-65. Read More