Here we are. The first of June. My workload for summer semester starts here. I had to take few weeks for myself, just chilling and recharging batteries.
This morning I woke up when my girlfriend left to work, which was _way too early for me_. I can't remember when was the last time I would've got up at 7:30. I went full #healthylifestyle and started my morning with a 40-minute run. I've never been a fan of independent training sessions, but this morning I thought I'd give it a shot. It wasn't that bad, but not that enjoyable either. Plus minus zero.
After that a quick shower, checking the agenda for the day - return faulty suspenders I just bought and do this assignment - due date is closing, stuff half of my life to a backpack and go to Mikkeli. Sounds doable. Then a protein smoothie (what I said, #healthylifestyle) including a banana, blueberries, curd, vanilla protein and some raspberry-spiced old sparkling water (with no sparkles left). Mix it up, taste test, 4-/5 - we're good to go.
Why I'm telling you about my morning routine? I'll tell you why.
Exploring Social Media (Ex. 1a)
One thing that I do almost every morning, is - as a phone addict - checking social media. I master the basic apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Twitter, of which I check the first three regularly (read: all the time) and the last two at least once a week. I prefer not to count WhatsApp as a social media application, it's rather a communication tool/channel, that is here to replace normal text messages. I doesn't have a separate feed what to look at, unlike in those mentioned above.
Among those applications, I'm most familiar with Facebook. I've been a user for nine years and I've seen it's potential as a tool in work communities in real life. Creating and managing a page is easy and it can be made in minutes. I see that putting up a Facebook page is a usual and vital part of businesses marketing plans nowadays, since there are over 2 billion active users on Facebook. Also the ability of creating groups for personnel is a huge plus, when it comes to forming belonging among workers and that way increasing team spirit.
I had to google some new social media applications. Vero was one that appeared in many searches, so I decided to look into that. Vero is much like Instagram, but with a few different dimensions. According to company's description, it is a social network for anyone who loves anything enough to share it – and wants control over who they share it with. Also, "Just like we do in real life" is a sentence that pops up from that text.
Vero is described to be more personal than Instagram. It's ad-free, it has a chronological timeline (the feature Instagram ditched) and some articles emphasised that it's all about people when Instagram was accused for just trying to make money with their latest updates, which involved referenced posts and ads from sponsor's accounts - all in all, things that users weren't voluntarily chosen to be seen. In Instagram, posts can only be presented in a form of pictures or videos, when Facebook allows the user to apply sharing further. I see Vero as a mix of these two; it has a Facebook-like content in a mold of Instagram.
Of course this kind of application has potential to go far. It just needs people behind it. So far, it looks good. Vero has over one million downloads just from Google Play and the number of users is growing steadily. And this is just a beta version of the app. Reviews from the Google Play store unveil that the app is on point and will defeat already existing social media platforms easily. If development work goes right, this might be the next big one.
In terms of Game Of Thrones - Winter is coming, or more like: Vero is coming.
Sponsored by the Finnish Government.
HA! I'm so funny.
I'm just kidding, don't judge me.
Organisations in Social Media (Ex. 1b)
The rise of social media has effected companies/organizations marketing strategies during the past decade. Being online has become a norm and everyone's following the phrase "if you're not online, you don't exist". No matter what is the size of the company, it'll probably be on social media, where its information is easily accessible. I looked up some different companies and explored their behaviour and activity on the net.
Company A
One of the most innovating companies in the world (Forbes, 2018), with a capacity of over 50 000 workers worldwide. Operates globally and has a revenue of nine billion euros. Clearly not a small one - so, it is expected, if my statement is even close to the truth, that their presence online, is huge. But in this case, to be honest, this is not a company that needs to have a daily presence online. They're not pushing themselves, because they simply don't have to. The company's social links can be easily found down below from their page. They're active on Facebook, with approximately 29 000 page likes, and posting interesting content few times a week. Also the same kind of activity is perceptible in LinkedIn and Twitter, leaving YouTube channels posting activity to few times per month.
Company B
One of the most delicious companies in the world (Me, since I was a kid). Social media activity is bordered to Facebook and Instagram. Posting activity couple of times a week, but the difference to Company A lays on the content. Company B energetically freshens its marketing campaigns and actively posts them online for everyone to see. The feed is basically the same both in Facebook and Instagram. I also managed to dig an inactive YouTube channel, which its most recent video was posted for over four years ago.
Company C
Let's continue with this style: one of the most recognised company in the world. This is like Companies A and B combined together; size and content of A and content and style of B. Well, closer to Company A's size. This one has millions of followers around the world and the posts take place approximately once a week. They're promoting sponsorships and occasionally pictures of campaigns and new line of products.
People online (Ex. 1c)
My field of study is dependent of social media. I study International Business and see social media as a vital part of making people and money move. I think it's really a trend-oriented field where a company can easily become "outdated".  Accessibility is the keyword and when people find you, you interact with them and are able to find out trends of today.
Business people tend to be really active on social media. They want to follow the trends and be the first one's to share it. Following those kind of people and their journey is interesting. Go to About me page, and click my LinkedIn link. There are a punch of people in my network that fits into this criteria like cheese fits in pizza!
But, as a business person, you have to be careful and think before being "too clever". Sometimes you hit the jackpot, sometimes.. well, here are some bad examples found on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pHWZ_XNij8
Have a good one folks!
