The Effect of Technology Change in Facebook Customer - Case Study Example

Facebook Technology 4/11 Content Basic technology and the way that it affects internet. Several sites including Facebook are widely affected by technology and details are discussed in the first and second sections. Facebook is an online social networking site which makes it easier for people and for companies to communicate and interact through the internet. The purpose and the effect of technology is discussed in the second section SWOT analysis and statistics is also discussed in the essay A common question is “How is Facebook and technology linked?” this is also discussed below What other purposes is the site used for? Conclusion is the ending section. . Introduction Facebook is a popular site which is used by millions of people worldwide. Technology plays a vital role in determining the changes and has affected the site in various ways. There have been changes in technology throughout the several recent years. A lot has changed including the way websites are run online. There are better and effective ways for companies to promote and sell their product by easily targeting a huge audience through several social networking sites including Facebook. Form online selling and political campaigns to revolutions in countries, Facebook has played a vital role and is going to keep playing this for a long time. the changes in the way that the site has been used in recent years has been the result of the advances in technology. This essay basically focuses various types of effects on the social networking site and how businesses have been affected with the greater use of sites such as Facebook. The first section discusses the basic changes that technology brought and several statistics are shown in the second section. The third section discusses this topic with a theoretical approach and a SWOT analysis is done. After that will evaluation the effects has been done and the online shopping through the site , and will determine how technology has affected the site in terms of communication and business promotions . Lastly, concluded and sum up with the effect of technology change in Facebook customer . Analysis When did technology begin? No one has the answer to that. However, people know that technology is constantly changing and the world is adapting to these changes. New firms are coming up with more innovative ideas and creativity is at its peak. Internet is the key element of the change in technology and has been the most affected factor so far. From search engine optimization to social networking, technology is affecting anything and everything that is on the internet. The change brought internet to mobile phones and the current change in technology eased up the internet use on mobile phones. First, Nokia used to work on GPRS. Now, blackberry has an unlimited internet service. This is how these changes come and affect us in a blink of the eye. From politics to business and to economies, technology changes how everything operates and brings about a more efficient and effective way to do things.( ODOM-FORREN J. (2010)) The Egypt revolution was one of the biggest revolutions in the world and Facebook and Twitter were the key elements. Basically, everyone used to be informed about several rallies on Facebook. Statuses were updated regarding the number of people who have actually showed up. Therefore, the social site was the biggest reason why the Egyptians could easily communicate with each other during the revolution. (HOLZNER, S. (2009). Data More and more people are attracted to Facebook every day and you can see the increase in the number of users on Facebook in the graph above throughout the site’s 6 years. The chart has been carefully drawn by the social media expert, Ben Foster. Statistics show that in 2010, there has been a 480% increase in the internet users in less than 11 years. Social networking is one of the parts of the internet and Facebook is the most visited social site. In 2009, the site had around 50 million users which went to more than 350 million users by 2011. The reason is that more and more people are using the internet now and social networking has become something essential for most of these people. Communication is easier than ever with the use of technology. For example, when Facebook first came out, it did not have a chat option. With the latest improvements in technology, Facebook decided to implement a chat system within Facebook. However, it was pretty basic. (HOLZNER, S. (2009). The new Facebook Polls have been really popular and these businesses are taking full advantage of it. These pages, which have hundreds and thousands of likes, start up several questions. For example Blackberry might ask ‘what do you think should be included in our next phone?’ Thousands of fans are likely to answer these questions with what they think should be included in the phone. This way, the company benefits by conducting a free survey and the fans feel that they are valued by the business. These businesses also regularly update their statuses. People like these statuses and comment on them. If the business replies back, then it shows that there is a relationship between the business and the customer. A good relationship between the 2 is a vital part in making an ordinary customer in to a loyal customer. (HOLZNER, S. (2009). Theory Facebook SWOT analysis which will determine the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. One of the weaknesses is that the site makes a lot of constant changes and people cannot adapt these changes. Another problem is that there are massive advertisements which distract the users. Lastly, the site lacks customizable pages. One of the potential strengths is that it is a free and easy way of communication. Secondly, a massive audience is already targeted and they are active on the site. The new video chat is strength for the site. (SHIH, C. C.-W. (2009)) One of the opportunities is that the site can be a path for business surveys. Also, Facebook can start buying and selling services similar to Ebay. Lastly, it can easily turn in to a global phone and address book. One of the threats is competition as new social networking sites are setting up. Another potential threat might be boredom due to low quality applications. Most importantly, there are privacy threats and private photos of the users can be leaked due to low security. The data has been carefully studied and the SWOT analysis was made by the famous social media personality, Ian David Chapman.( (SHIH, C. C.-W. (2009)) ) With the use of Facebook and technology effect, millions of users are directly targeted for marketing purposes. Businesses have been one of those groups that have been most affected by Facebook. They have seen a lot of new options for growth and promotion using the social networking site. Literally, every multinational company and every decent local firm will have an official page on Facebook. They need to have it! It’s a necessity if they want to stay in the market and to stay competitive for competitors. These businesses have benefited a lot using Facebook and they continue to see a rapid increase in their sales. Promotion has been one of the key parts in which Facebook is most used. Basically, it is free advertising and targeting millions of people all around the world. What would this mean? Out of a million, at least some WILL be attracted to the service or the product (SHIH, C. C.-W. (2009)) Application The site is also used by companies to interact with the customers. Facebook has seen a lot of multinational companies setting up their Facebook pages including giants like Blackberry, Sony and Nike. These are the companies that do not sell online using Facebook. You will never find people buying genuine mobile phone using Facebook. However, there is another tactic that these multinationals use Facebook for. Every customer is loyal to the brand if he/she thinks that they have a certain say in the company’s product or if they think that the company values them. This basically means a Company to Customer relationship which is made easy by Facebook. This interaction used to be the major problem that was lacking in this field. However, technology, along with Facebook, has changed the entire foundation of this. The site has brought in a new technique for the companies to get potential customers as well as to make the existing customers more loyal. Even if the businesses do not implement what these customers say on Facebook, these people feel themselves to be important to the company is the firm replies to their wall posts or comments. PENENBERG, A. L. (2009). The site has affected online shopping as well and people are switching to Facebook from Amazon for some of the consumer goods such as T-shirts and food items. There are a huge number of businesses doing so and several of these are T-shirt selling companies, home-made food sellers and even bakeries. Basically, what these new businesses do is that they start with an idea and then they make a Facebook page. Friends and relatives ‘like’ the page and this is how they get popularity. They upload several pictures of their products with the specific prices. The customer can then order the product. The most famous example is in cake baking. These home-made cakes are sold using Facebook and these individuals get to target an audience. It seems and is easy for these businesses to just set up these pages and upload decent pictures to attract potential customers. This guarantees them a decent number of customers. PENENBERG, A. L. (2009). A famous media marketing company, Syncapse, conducted a reseatch using over four thousand people who have liked more than twenty of the top marketing brands. Corporations are looking at their need to understand the importance of their Facebook fans, people who like their products on Facebook. The most important question is that “what do these Facebook fans do for the business?” Statistics show that over 41 percent of the fans spend money on these huge marketing brands themselves. They are also loyal to the company meaning that they are probably going to keep buying the product. These fans are also involved in an indirect promotion of the product using the word of mouth approach meaning that the business gets a greater number of customers. Each of these are likely to happen with every fan like that the business gets on the page. PENENBERG, A. L. (2009). The popular marketing site, HubSoft, have created a graph using the statistics which they found after extensive research. The chart above shows that apart from friends and relatives, most Facebook users also interact with brands, businesses and artist pages. (PENENBERG, A. L. (2009).) Conclusion Facebook has changed due to the changes in technology. The site is proactive which is why it is still the most visited site on the internet. It has affected how the world works and almost half of the world market and economy relies on Facebook for promotion and for interaction with the potential customers. In the modern world, one without a Facebook account is considered as someone who is lonely and is out of the reach of the world. This is why millions of people are active on Facebook making it an essential site for people and for companies. The site has affected the entire world from individuals to huge multinational companies. The billion dollar company keeps on changing the layout and the options on the site in an attempt to give better options and preferences to its users. With the use of technology, Facebook changes from time to time and bring about all the changes to rise up to the level. We have seen how people have been able to do things that they couldn’t even dream of using technological changes and with the use of social networking sites like Facebook. Businesses, politicians, groups and event organizers, all, use Facebook. This is the site that has made communication a lot easier and is going to make it even easier as we see the changes in technology. With Facebook, no one is alone anymore! References ODOM-FORREN J. (2010). Technology: Facebook, tweets, and the medical record. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing. 25, 337-339. (2009). Facebook Faceoff. Technology & Learning. 29, 26. SHIH, C. C.-W. (2009). The Facebook era: tapping online social networks to build better products, reach new audiences, and sell more stuff. Boston, Prentice Hall. PENENBERG, A. L. (2009). Viral loop: from Facebook to Twitter, how todays smartest businesses grow themselves. New York, Hyperion. SHIH, C. C.-W. (2011). The facebook era: tapping online social networks to market, sell, and innovate. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall KAPPAS, A., & KRÄMER, N. C. (2011). Face-to-face communication over the Internet: emotions in a web of culture, language, and technology. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. LIEBERT, E. (2010). Facebook fairytales: modern-day miracles to inspire the human spirit. New York, Skyhorse Pub. DUNAY, P., KRUEGER, R., & ELAD, J. (2011). Facebook advertising for dummies. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley Pub. HOLZNER, S. (2009). Facebook marketing: leverage social media to grow your business. Indianapolis, Ind, Que. According to the systems theory (Thomas P. Hughes (1992)) which is concern about the historic development of media and technology reflecting the connect between the intention of the technology and the economic, political , social and cultural factors surrounding it .it could be comprehended that Read More