SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Having lived in six countries, it was quite challenging to keep in touch with all my childhood friends. Phone calls were extremely expensive and e-mails were exchanged only when major occurrences happened in our lives. This caused us to lose touch with one another. I decided to experiment with social network sites in order to reconnect and rekindle old friendships. I was fortunate to find that many of my friends from Egypt and Morocco were active on Facebook and it only took me a few hours to add them to my list. Although I am a member of MySpace, LinkedIn, Second Life, Twitter, and Hi5, I am most active on Facebook where I spend approximately 30 minutes daily corresponding with friends.

As the social networks are evolving and increasing in number, online users are becoming selective in which sites they want to be active in. Danah Boyd, researcher at University of California-Berkley, noted that affluent and educated kids are leaving MySpace and joining Facebook. The working-class populace is joining or maintaining presence in MySpace. Some kids have migrated from MySpace due to the negative publicity it received regarding pedophiles preying on that site. However, this has not put a dent in MySpace’s role as a leader amongst social network sites, with approximately 114 million visitors in June 2007. The main element in play is the social shift which might have an impact on the advertisers’ site selection process.

Marketers are also jumping on this new wave to directly connect with their core audience. To optimize promotional efforts, companies are also looking at demographics to determine the site best suited for the company. For example, Wal-mart teamed up with Facebook to offer college freshmen the opportunity to design their dorm room with the new roommate they’ve been paired with. These users will take a quiz to ascertain their decorating style and will receive a list of “recommended products” that can be purchased at Wal-Mart to blend the two roommates’ styles. These are amongst many reasons why this new technology is receiving high praises, increasing its participant toll, and developing a new medium for conversation.

The social network space is growing at an exponential rate with approximately 17.2 million unique vistors in 2006, according to comScore Media Metrix. This dramatic ascent has drawn some companies to spend millions of dollars in advertising. There is still a general hesitancy to invest millions of dollars in new media because of the possible negative comments posted by online users. However, Fortune 500 companies are increasingly realizing that the conversation is going on with or without them. The best thing to do is jump aboard and provide input and feedback. It is extremely crucial to build a direct relationship with your audience in order to establish credibility and loyalty, and what better way than to have interactive engagement?

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