Social Media has always been a bit daunting to me. I didn't grow up with computers, in fact, when home computers first came out, I really didn't think it would be something that would stick around. Everyone used typewriters and home computers were really just glorified rolodexes and something to play games with.
With the introduction to the internet, all of a sudden, computers became indispensable. I even spoke to my 80 year old mother one day and asked her what she was doing and she replied that she was looking up on Google the gestation period for a cat!
Before social media, emails seemed revolutionary. We were able to communicate with family and friends whenever we wanted, for any length of time and it was pretty much instantaneous. Receiving letters in the mail was a thing of the past.
I think Classmates.com was probably the first tiny glimpse into what social media was going to become. You were able to find old classmates and then email them and catch up.
Facebook opened up a whole new world of interaction. By the time I was able to grasp the whole Facebook concept, I was already behind. My 14 year old niece started telling me about something called Instagram and then showing me pictures of hairstyles on Pinterest. What were all these platforms? I also was reluctant to get a smart phone because I couldn't really see a purpose in it. Why couldn't this information gathering wait until I was home in front of my computer? Now I can hardly imagine not being able to check the traffic, weather, emails and send and receive text messages.
Since this class I've become an avid user of Instagram and follow interesting bloggers who post inspiring and interesting things as well as recipes and pictures of vacations. I also follow a few friends to keep up with the new baby or the upcoming wedding. I've started using Facebook consistently for my business, but I'm not seeing a lot of interaction with the customers. It seems to currently be more about connecting with employees and stores that carry our product. I hope that as time goes by more and more customers will reach out and connect. I used Twitter a few times for the class, but don't really desire at this time to follow people "live". I prefer to catch up on posts when I have the time to sign into Facebook or flip through Instagram, but for some reason Twitter seems like a lot of work. Pinterest is a platform that I really enjoy because of the fact that it is so visual. I don't have a lot of time to spend getting lost in all the photos that are out there, but if I did, I know that almost anything can be found on it.
All in all, this class was extremely beneficial to me. It changed my view on the purpose of promoting your business through social media and explained why it's important to be accessible to the public. It also broke down for me the exact use and function of the different platforms and explained who they would benefit most.
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