Snap Social Media - Assignment Example

 Snap Social Media Executive Summary The idea for Snap Social Media evolved from a great idea. According to Levinson, Gibson, and Kawasaki (2010), “Great ideas, great marketing plans, and brilliant business ideas are everywhere. A great idea alone does not make people successful” (pp. 212). Thus, it was hoped that Snap would one day become much more than just an idea. It was hoped that Snap Social Media would be more lengthier than Twitter, but shorter than Facebook—in terms of status updates. Ultimately, Snap Social Media could very well become the next Facebook (which currently boasts about 800 million users). Snap Social Media has the potential to go from being a relative unknown to being a very well-known social media platform. With easy, intuitive user interfaces and sleek website design, Snap Social Media would be the social media network to rival all others—Twitter, Facebook, SecondLife, and so many more which compete for market share of the social media networks. Basically, this would be a great time to get Snap Social Media into gear. This is going to provide a guide as to how one should start a social media network like Snap Social Media. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my professor, first and foremost, for giving such wonderful and clear direction during the time that this project was in its formulation. I would also like to thank the numerous entrepreneurs who helped inspire me to come up with a social media network of my own which might be a game-changer in the way we approach social media. Part I: Introduction Here, what will be investigated with regard to Snap Social Media are the following: the background of Snap Social Media; the recommendations for creation, operation, and evaluation of Snap Social Media; the rationale behind the recommendations; and the research upon which the guidelines will be based. 1.1 Background Snap Social Media was inspired by the idea that social media can change the world. Just like Facebook and Twitter, now it is Snap Social Media’s turn to take the world by storm. Snap Social Media will have a user interface that is very similar to Facebook’s, yet has the immediacy of Twitter. The idea is to have a character limit on status updates that is longer than Twitter’s limit of 140 characters. However, at the same time, the character limit would be shorter than Facebook’s (which is definitely much longer). The idea of Snap Social Media is to get people involved and connected in an online community. Part 2: Literature Review 2.1 Recommendations The recommendations for the creation, operation, and evaluation of Snap Social Media follow. Creating a media platform for people is going to be difficult, because it influences people. According to Levesque (2007), “[T]he media both shapes and reflects social values…” (pp. 115). Basically, creating a media platform is going to be difficult also because it has a technical element involved. This social media platform is going to need hours and hours of computer science go into building the Snap Social Media website. Creating a superior website is going to be the thing that makes Snap Social Media stand out from the crowd. There are going to need to be software developers, computer whizzes, and several other people well-versed in technology in order to build the user interface and design. Facebook, actually, was created by Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout, when he was trying to design software to showcase all of the girls on-campus and to rate their attractiveness. If people knew the dark side of how Facebook began, perhaps they wouldn’t be so keen to hop on the website and start using it. Therefore, Snap Social Media has to be a cut above. In terms of integrity and user privacy, Snap Social Media will set the bar high for achievement and standards when everything is all said and done. Most of what is going to be needed to be done with regards to Snap Social Media is the computer programming and HTML code in order to show up on the web pages. Therefore, we are going to need a web designer who has lots of experience, not to mention lots of expertise. Snap Social Media also needs to be good enough to change with the times. As user interfaces evolve, the website will need to be updated periodically. According to Wollan, Smith, and Zhou (2011), “[S]ocial media...continues to be a highly dynamic and evolving field…” (pp. 272). Snap Social Media will be able to gain traction by being looked at by journalists. According to McCabe (2005), “[I]nvestigative journalism…is an attempt to present sensationalized coverage on some event that attracts a large media audience…” (pp. 7). In order to analyze how much technical knowledge is going to be used on Snap Social Media, it is important to get adequate advice from people who are already in the business of social media. The day-to-day operations of Snap Social Media will rely upon a core board of directors who will have direct control and oversight over the website and its development as it gains users. Instead of the concept of “friends,” or “followers,” Snap Social Media will have a different word that implies some kind of connection—but isn’t as personal as the term “friends,” nor as aloof as a “follower.” Annual and monthly evaluations will be conducted on Snap Social Media in order to assess the success of the website. Certainly, it is important that Snap Social Media improves as time goes on. However, this cannot be effective without at least a monthly evaluation of the entire site. With routine annual and monthly evaluations, it’s impossible to predict how the site would advance in terms of membership and so forth. 2.2 Rationale Behind Recommendations The rationale behind the creation of the Snap Social Media site is due to the fact that there needs to be competition that takes the profits from Facebook and Twitter. Twitter and Facebook are both not regulated, and the privacy features on Facebook are not adequate enough. Therefore, this presents a perfect opportunity for a social media network to be launched which is enough “like” Facebook, but not quite. Snap Social Media will have Admins that will oversee everything on the site in terms of technical issues. However, there also must be people who are censoring any posts which are mean, malicious, or defamatory in nature. This is because basically 40% of the posts on Facebook are obscene or profane in nature. Thus, every 4 out of 10 posts will have some kind of profane element present in them. Such types of posts will not be allowed on Snap Social Media. Additionally, the privacy features will be much better. The rationale for the operation of Snap Social Media basically grew out of the fact that Facebook’s privacy controls were not adequate, and that neither Facebook or Twitter have censorship controls on their sites in order to mandate what can and cannot be said about people. The rationale for the evaluation of the site is that it needs to be evaluated on a consistent basis in order for improvement to be made. In fact, in addition to monthly and annual evaluations, it might even be suggested that the site be evaluated with daily and weekly benchmarks and overhauls. Thus, a lot of technical work is going to go into the construction of the Snap Social Media site. Part 3: Guidelines Based Upon Research 3.1 Research: How to Use Snap So, you want to know more about how to use Snap Social Media. This all about how to get more followers, how to market to them, how often you should ‘snap,’ and what you should ‘snap’ about. The only way to have followers is to follow other people too. Once people see that you are interested in others not just for what they can do for you, people will recognize this and start to follow you. Of course, the main way that you are going to get followers is by snapping—constantly. I don’t mean you have to necessarily ‘snap’ every five seconds—although that is one way to get it done, is to crank out constant content. Building online trust takes time, and Snap Social Media is like a community—some people lovingly may refer to it as Snappers. So treat your online interactions on Snap as a community atmosphere—be polite and take your ‘snapping’ seriously. It may land you a job or a publishing deal. It’s not highly likely but it’s not unheard of, either. Marketing to your followers without losing them is going to take a bit of sleight of hand. On one hand, you don’t want to constantly be sending followers links to the e-book download on your website, or they’re just going to get mad for having wasted their time clicking on a link that they most likely didn’t want to go to in the first place. So, instead of pushing a product or products on Snap, focus on interacting with tweeters and have the marketing come second. After all, you don’t see writers like Deepak Chopra and Paulo Coelho cranking out tons of tweets on Twitter about where to buy their books. Those authors consistently churn out high-quality content, which in turn makes you want to find out more about the authors and their books in an intrinsic manner, which is more likely to boost your page views and popularity than necessarily tweeting links to your products. How often should you send out a ‘Snap’ update? This is a great question. The simple answer is, you should snap often enough so that people know you’re still alive, but not often enough so that you are considered so annoying that people decide to unfollow you. By the way, your followers will generally unfollow you if you leave your account dormant too long without posting something at least occasionally. Try to post often throughout the day. What should you ‘snap’ about? You should ‘snap’ about anything and everything you think deserves being written about. Also, remember that your snaps may be eventually be archived by the Library of Congress—so make it count. Even if your “Snap” status update is about what you had for breakfast, no snap is too insignificant nor “beyond” your followers. They will get it. Avoid being rude or vulgar, and always remember that someone is watching! What you ‘snap’ about, how often you ‘snap,’ and how you gain and market to your followers are all important elements you should educate yourself about and strive to constantly improve. 3.2 Research: How to Use Social Media to Your Advantage Social networking is using various forms of social media in order to interact with others. In order to maximize your potential by doing social networking, you must: create and maintain either a Twitter or a Facebook page (hopefully both); make status updates and/or posts on a regular basis; and interact your growing followers, friends and/or fan base. The first thing you should do is to create a Facebook account and a Twitter account if you don’t already have them. The usefulness of both of these websites is epic. You can have a personal Facebook page for your friends and family, and then create a Fan Page for people who follow your writing from the standpoint of your readership. With a Fan Page, you can have unlimited connectivity versus just your personal Facebook page—which does come along with limits of how many “friends” one can have for each account. Creating a Fan page makes sense because then your fans are separate from your other family and friends—to whom, alternatively, you may also invite to “Like” in order to join your Fan Page. Make regular status updates and posts. You can market your Fan Page to friends and family, but you don’t want to have people you know unfriend you on Facebook because you’re marketing too aggressively. This is a major point—although you want to market yourself and your work to other people—don’t spam people, as that is a complete turn-off. You want to market aggressively—for sure—but you don’t want to do so in such a way that is in-your-face annoying, or else you are sure to lose friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. Perhaps it seems counterintuitive to have to state the rule, “Don’t be annoying,” but, truly, this will stand you in good stead. People don’t go online because they want to be harassed—they go online for several reasons, two key reasons being to find information and be entertained. Thus, if you are not adding value to your friends’ and followers’ timeline or somehow being amusing, expect to be unfriended or unfollowed. Stay relevant to your brand and you won’t have that problem. Twitter is an altogether different animal. On Twitter, you can have multiple accounts—which definitely helps if you want to separate your private, professional, and public personae. Tweets, or posts on Twitter, are 140 characters or less with nuggets of wisdom, humor, or news—web links optional. If you do include links with your tweets, consider using a URL shortener for the sake of courtesy. Remember, content is king. Last—but not least—you want to interact with your friends and followers. This is the basis of human communication and it will be personally satisfying to watch your scope of connections grow as you “branch out” into the online world. The building blocks of social networking include: having an account (or accounts) on social networking sites (especially Facebook and Twitter); making regular posts; and interacting with your fan base. REFERENCES Levesque, R.J.R. (2007). Adolescents, media, and the law: what developmental science reveals and free speech requires. UK: Oxford University Press. Levinson, J.C., Gibson, S., & Kawasaki, G. (2010). Guerrilla marketing for social media. US: Entrepreneur Press. McCabe, K.A., & Martin, G.M. (2005). School violence, the media, and criminal justice responses. US: Peter Lang. Wollan, R., Smith, N., & Zhou, C. (2011). The social media management handbook. US: John Wiley & Sons. Read More