Hi! Im Jeff, your friendly neighborhood Communications Director. When I am out of the office, you can find me at Truist Park in Atlanta, going on an adventure, or behind my camera lens. In times past, I would have no problem calling or texting someone to verify information, to confirm a shoot location, or to update the status of a client’s photo gallery. However in today’s culture, I find it more effective to communicate with individuals through various avenues of social media. Snapchat, Instagram, and Messenger (Facebook) are far more efficient than calling or texting. And email? What is that?! Some archaic way to communicate some would say.
Bashing email is not the goal here. According to a Statista article on March 19, 2021, “e-mail is still an integral part of daily online life. In 2020, the number of global e-mail users amounted to four billion and is set to grow to 4.6 billion users in 2025.” Email is important and certainly has a place, but so does social media.
Its Time for a History Lesson
The Big 3
Facebook wasn’t always Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg created Fasemash (October 2003), which was an internal Hot or Not site for Harvard. It was quite popular, having over 22k photo views in the first few hours of existence. However, the ladies of Harvard were not happy about having their photos plastered on the internet without their permission. It was shut down days after its launch and Zuckerberg was threatened with expulsion. In February 2004, TheFacebook was launched. At first, it was only offered to those with a Harvard email address. In August 2005, “the” was dropped and Facebook became the official name. Finally in September 2006, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid email address could obtain a Facebook profile.
The first few years were huge for Facebook. December 2006 showed 12 million users were active on the social media site. By October 2007, Facebook had 50 million users. In the first quarter of 2021, Facebook had roughly 2.85 billion monthly active users. (Statisa; May 21, 2021) It is the largest social media platform to date.
Twitter started in 2006 as a microblogging site. Originally, Twitter was intended to be a SMS-based communication platform for groups of people to keep tabs on one another. However, unlimited texting and iMessage was not available at the time and SMS charges increased phones bills by hundreds of dollars. Twitter quickly launched an app, but still kept the ability to use SMS. In 2017, Twitter increased the 140 character limits to 280. This made those who got SMS tweets receive two messages because an SMS message can only have 140 characters. In April of 2020, the SMS messaging platform was completely stopped. At the end of Q1 2021, Twitter had 199 million active users (Statista; June 2021).
Instagram was founded in 2010. At the end of day one, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger (co-founders) had 25,000 users signed up. After only one month, Instagram had one million users and just before it’s one year anniversary, they hit 10 million users. The platform had immediate success, and it was noticed. In April 2012, Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion. According to Omicore, as of June 28, 2021, the social media photo/video platform had 1.074 billion active users.
The Others
This platform has over 335 million active users. As the name suggests, it is a virtual “pin board” that allows you to save ideas and suggestions from other people. This site is popular among photographers, DIY’er’s, those who love to cook and bake, and crafters.
Starting in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002, LinkedIn was officially launched in 2003. Their mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” In 2016, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn. Today, it is the world’s largest professional network with 756 million members in over 200 countries.
Snapchat
Started in 2011 by students at Stanford, this video-sharing application had 360 million month users in January 2020. The attraction to the app is that what you share is only available for a short amount of time. This was a solution to an ongoing issue of individuals posting embarrassing photos, videos, and statements on social media when not in a clear and coherent state of mind.
TikTok
Chinese tech company ByteDance started TikTok in 2016. It too is a video-based platform and merged with the U.S.-based mobile app Musical.ly in 2018. According to Wallaroo Media, TikTok has over one billion active users as of June 2021.
So, Who Cares?
Social media has a plethora of uses both personal and corporate. Originally created to build community and the network, it also has multiple business functionalities. Let’s dive in and see the practical uses for the some of the platforms mentioned for the more than 4.2 billion active users across the globe.
The ins and outs of all that Facebook can be overwhelming and will be discussed in a later post. For personal use, Facebook is good for seeking recommendations and opinions for places to go, things to do, and companies to use. It can also be used as a photo and video sharing platform. Whether it be from a vacation, or showcasing a collection, using Facebook can give others a glimpse into your world. I am an avid Atlanta Braves fan. I am a part of multiple Braves Facebook Groups, and there I am able to connect with other fans from around the country. We talk about the games, stats, trades, and future of the team and organization. Facebook connects people. That is why it was created and what it does best.
For business, Facebook is great for showing services offered and alerting the public to specials, news about your company, or increasing brand awareness. Facebook can be used as a B2B and B2C platform. The approach is different to each, however, when using Facebook for business, you are staying in front of 70% of all Americans.
We have stated that Instagram is a video and photo sharing platform. What better place to showcase your product, your infographics, and your highlight videos! From 2020 to 2021, there has been a 22.9% increase of the number of users on Instagram. It has grown from just teens to one of the most popular social media sites in the world, spanning all ages. Consumers are now able to shop directly from the app, increasing sales. This platform is quickly becoming popular with many businesses, as 7 in 10 have a Instagram that is used for brand awareness and a digital store.
Twitter is primarily used for one liners and announcements. Think of it like your digital marquee. Celebrities, like Taylor Swift, use Twitter frequently to announce surprise concerts and album releases. For the average Joe, it is used to speak conversation about political beliefs or reactions to the news. It is also used to reach out to larger organizations. Personally, I have used it to tweet my internet provider due to low bandwidth. It was quickly resolved.
For businesses professionals, it’s so important to network with others in the same or similar fields. LinkedIn is the perfect site for that! It is basically Facebook for professionals. Articles, polls, jobs, success stories, and much more are found on LinkedIn. I have personally discovered free certification courses on LinkedIn. I even found my current position due to an acquaintance posting about it.
In Conclusion
Social media is here to stay. There are new apps every day and the ways to communicate are many. It is an important part of our culture and a very effective way to share a message. Does it replace email? No. Email is important in it’s own right and has a place in our society, both personal and professional. However, in a self gratifying, want-it-now culture, social media delivers a message faster, straight to the palm of your hand.
References
https://online.maryville.edu/blog/evolution-social-media/ // https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/#Benefits_of_social_media_for_communication
Jeff Fyke 
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