The Phenomenon of Social Network

In today’s world, in which we are all involved in a let’s say difficult economic situation that has cached up the concern of everyone. There is a latent phenomenon that let’s people worldwide stay 24/7 in touch and from which companies are starting to take advantage of: Social Networking.

As we have talked several times about, a characteristic that today’s generation has is the amount of information which is reachable for us. This situation is linked with the appearance of tools as Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 or Tuenti (this last one in Spain) in our everyday life. Not so long ago, the only way for knowing about others was being physically in the same place or making calls from the only fix telephone everyone had at home. Today if we don’t have the option of talking whoever we want and share our thoughts immediately we think we are disconnected of the world. Of course this worldwide connection influences in our way of being as customers.

The social network we are involved in lets us share our thoughts about any product or service we consume with people rather than we know or that we are linked with for being consumers of the same product. This is why (linking this blog with last weeks topic) we don’t only have a large wide of choice in our daily consuming decisions but we can also build our own thoughts from the experiences of others. In some way our customer insights are totally generated for a social living experience stimulated by the world of mouth.

With the more information we have it decreases the uncertainty when we consume. This, in consequence reduces the risk we have when we take a decision as a customer, which is a fact that people is starting to appreciate more and more because of the worldwide situation.

Big companies are becoming aware of this situation and are starting to take advantage of it. Big brands are using these social networks to let people share their opinions about their products and in this way get a better approach to the segment they are focused in. To give a concrete example Pepsico has created the group Lays which has more than 500,000 people in it, all usual potato chips consumers, and with this they approach to the sensations of actual customers. It looks like an easy, direct and fast way to know what consumers think about a new flavor, a marketing campaign or even the new display of the products at the university/school cafeteria.

Anyway, the social network it’s becoming an essential tool in our life’s as it is the cell phone today. If we focus in the segment of college students, almost everyone checks Facebook daily or use their blogs often to share their latest concerns. This is why companies should find the way of reaching to their customers through these tools. To show the importance that social surfaces are gaining, I was watching the all-star NBA game this evening when a facebook advertising appeared. Marketers should have in mind the impact it has as the all-star game is watched by millions of people all over the word.

But this is not only a way of approaching from companies to customers or customer-to-customer, it can (and actually is) a way of connecting companies between them. There are networks as Ryze (which is a social network for entrepreneurs) or LinkedIn that are doing it, but I’ve read some articles in which actual CEO’s are skeptical about the actual utility of social networking as I recommend you to read in the following link:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-6240543-1.html

In any case, the social network phenomenon is present in our lifes and increasing rapidly. We have to be concerned about it and I strongly think that if companies find the way of taking advantage will have a competitive advantage among their competitors and will reach more efficiently to their customers insights.