Daryl pressed home what I already knew, that Facebook is a very effective tool in driving sales of products, but could also be a platform for the development of ideas, largely via a crowdsourcing scheme. He mentioned that media is turning digital and I couldn't agree more, with 3G available on an ever increasing scale, it makes sense for national dailies to expand into the digital environment or fear getting left behind. Further highlighted was that, not only are traditional media "going online", but older people are also getting into social media and more technologically adept. Digital buzz blog's figures that prove this belief that older generations are increasingly becoming part of Social Media are shown in the figure below.
The best way for companies to learn how to utilise Social Media sites, seems to be to have a play around with them in an almost trial and error approach. One way that was attempted was Astroturfing, which could be used on social media to fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. (1. Monibot, 2011) Tobacco companies have a long history of creating these campaigns to fight attempts to regulate them, and the anonymity is an area that companies can utilise to create these campaigns, so regulation to ensure Astroturfing is not occurring, is required.
Companies need to listen to online forums and social media sites to become aware of areas that need addressing, engaging with the audience allows substantial feedback to be acquired. Transparency however, is key, being upfront and informing consumers of your intentions so the consumer knows who they are talking to and to what end.
The privacy of Social Media is constantly under scrutiny, as one of my previous blogs outlined. It is thought nowadays that a persons web shadow is becoming increasingly important, and this actually led to me changing my privacy settings to ensure only friends can see my Facebook profile. I did this because "Half of employers reject a potential worker after look at Facebook page" (2. The Telegraph, 2010). The question is though, is this ethical?
A company such as Nike can use social media such as their Twitter and Facebook pages to communicate with their target markets, and utilise the availability of dataveillance. This is the "systematic monitoring of people's actions or communications through the application of information technology" (3. Clarke, 2003). This allows them to monitor what consumers are looking at, liking and becoming fans of, then this enables them to provide more relevant and specific marketing communications with potential customers. In my mind, as long as the interaction between the company and the consumer is not too intrusive, (constant messages getting in the way) I don't believe that it is unethical.
With reference to employers, I put it to you, if you could find out more about a potential employee than the CV originally indicates , which supposedly puts them in as good a light as possible, why would you not? It is not unethical to utilise the avenues available unto you, and I have recently learnt that journalists are asked in interviews these days on their Social Media searching capabilities, so this is indeed a very real practice. I have used this quote before, but due to its relevance here specifically, i felt i should include this Eric Schmidt (Google's CEO) quote “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
Social Media involves sharing information about oneself on the web which then is free for all to see, if consumers do not wish to have this information used by marketers, it is their prerogative to regulate their own behaviour. Brands need to protect users privacy within the regulations in which they operate, but beyond this i feel that ethically speaking, marketers aren't doing a whole lot wrong utilising these dataveillance methods. These marketing methods are going to become more and more the norm as traditional media fades, and the likes of TV adverts, thanks to availability of modes such as Sky Plus, become less effective. The key is to remain as unintrusive as possible, and these targeted ways of communicating will benefit marketers providing the do just that.
References:
1, Moniton, G., 2011. The need to protect the internet from "astroturfing" grows ever more urgent. The Guardian. 23rd February. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing [Accessed on 24th March 2011]
2. The Telegraph, 2010. Half of employers "reject potential worker after look at Facebook page". The Telegraph. 11th January. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6968320/Half-of-employers-reject-potential-worker-after-look-at-Facebook-page.html [Accessed on: 25th March 2011]
3. Clarke, R., 2003. Dataveillance 15 years on. Available from: http://www.anu.edu.au/ people/Roger.Clarke/DV/DVNZ03.html [Accessed on: 25th March 2011]
No comments:
Post a Comment