In 2005, Thomas L. Friedman wrote the best-seller The World is Flat. The book describes the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, wherein all competitors have an equal opportunity. The book’s title is also an appropriate metaphor for the way many forward-thinking organizations are starting to view internal social media. More and more, we are seeing examples of how social media is being used to break down the silos of communication within an organization and level the playing field for everyone, from executive assistants to CEOs. Social media is opening the flood gates to free-form conversations about everything from business strategy to personal development to social advocacy. If social media is indeed the new world order for effective organizational communications, then, like Friedman’s book, that world looks increasingly flat.

Social media platforms are always looking for new and futuristic ways for their audiences to interact with one and other. Creating a social media platform that is more humanizing, more compelling and lifelike is exactly what Facebook is trying to accomplish. Oculus VR is an American tech company founded in 2012, by Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, Jack McCauley and Nate Mitchell in Irvine, California now based in Menlo Park. It specializes in virtual reality hardware and software products. (Wikipedia, 2017) In March 2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to acquireOculus VR for US $2.3 billion in cash and stock. In 2015, Oculus VR acquired Surreal Vision, a British startup focused on 3D reconstruction and mixed reality, stating that it could be possible for Oculus VR to develop products with the concept of telepresence. (Wikipedia, 2017) The company also partnered with Samsung to develop the Samsung Gear VR in November 2015, for the Samsung Galaxy smartphones. (Wikipedia, 2017)

Social Media Marketing has changed , more so then ever consumers are only communicating through facebook.  Today Facebook is one of the fastest growing, most well known, most trusted, and most valuable companies in the world. Its only rivals may be Apple and Google. .there are only 24 hours in a day, and the average person sleeps for 8.8 of them. That means more than one-sixteenth of the average user’s waking time is spent on Facebook.  – New York Times

Prior to Social Media one of the earliest types of advertising was through word of mouth followed by engraving or drawing images on a cave wall, those images told a story, and promoted ideas.   Early printing in the 15th (1401 to 1500) and 16th (1501 to 1600) centuries created a mark in advertising and companies were able to reach a wider audience. In the 18th (1701 to 1800) and 19th (1801 to 1900) centuries advertising was expanded to newspapers.   One of the first advertising agencies was set-up in Philadelphia in 1842 by Volney Palmer, the agency acted as a broker for newspaper space and later on they became a full service by offering ad-placement services and a full production that organized advertising by a target market and population.   In the 20th (1901 to 2000) century the radio was born and was part of a new era on advertising it offered a complete new way of reaching potential audiences. Followed by television which introduced a new type of advertising that was more visual than the previous advertising methods, by the end of the 20th century the internet was introduced to the masses and it became a valuable communication tool for businesses to advertise in a complete different way.   According to Visually technology and the use of Social Media and Internet has accelerated the pace in which people are able to connect, be engaged and be informed. Below is a list of the time frame it took for various modes of communication to reach 50 million users. Telephone: 75 years Radio: 38 years Television : 13 years Internet: 4 years Facebook: 3.5 years IPOD: 3 years Angry Birds Space app: 35 days   Many organizations still depend on word of mouth as the main form of communication mostly used in marketing and advertising initiatives. These companies are considered to be in the stone ages as compared to organizations that are using Social Media in a big way. A good example of a company that is using Social Media very well is FIFA.   FIFA was taken by surprise in the last World Cup in Brazil when 1 billion people attended FIFA’s Global Stadium, according to the current Deputy Head of FIFA Digital. Senior Manager – Social Media & Video, Alex Stone they began evaluating the data collected from the 2014 World Cup in 2015.   Based on the 2014… Read more »

Figuring out your content marketing strategy is, like many things, a bit of a dance: You make choreographed choices, pause, look backward, figure, and then move forward with a new set of designed steps, all in the spirit of wowing your audience and reaching the right people. This is certainly the case in figuring if and how social media will find its place in the future marketing strategies of organizations, across most industries. Deciding to ditch or dedicate your time to social media channels depends largely on assessing the successes and failures of its use in the past (and following suit with a similar or wildly different strategy, depending on your research findings). It also depends on your key objectives, goals, and measurable targets. Toronto’s Furniture Bank, a charity and social enterprise bringing gently-used furniture into the homes of people coming out of poverty, sees a hopeful future for social media in its overall marketing scheme in future. With goals to build brand awareness, strengthen relationships with partners over the social sphere, and market its charitable and industry events, the future is bright for social media in the context of this social enterprise. (Below: A personal story distributed on social channels on the impact of Furniture Bank’s work.)

Social media is spider-webbing into so many nooks and crannies of our everyday lives, it is a challenge to truly answer the question of “where is social media going in the future?” in a simplistic form. On one hand, the easy answer is, social media is going everywhere. For example, think of a recent time when you came across a product or app that you never thought of yourself and you say “ah…yes, that is a really good idea”…how many times has that included an accompanying app or tracking application? Social media is everywhere! There is nothing truer to that just described, to the wearables sector. From keeping a light eye on wearables through personal interest, I thought where Fit Bit and similar product is going was interesting; I also found Bellabeat, a women’s focused wearable of smart jewellery. I knew there was innovation and development, and I also knew there are apps that are built around integration with these devices. I thought looking at the future of social media through wearables would be interesting, but I had no idea how huge this space was. It was predicted (in 2016) that by 2020 that the wearables market will be worth $34 billion (Lamkin, 2016). This is up from a forecast in 2015 for the wearables market to be worth $25 billion in 2019 (CCS Insight, 2015).

It’s inevitable. The future of social media is going to be bigger and greater. I can’t say it is coming because it is already here, so if you are a business, company or person who isn’t signed up to one of the many social media platforms, you are already falling behind. So much happens on social media – the good, bad and ugly – but it is up to you on how you are going to use it and the contributions you are going to make to the greater conversations. People give social media a bad rap because there is a lot of negative that goes on with it, but truthfully, it’s how you interact with it, what you share, and who you interact with that makes the platform you choose really amazing. If you look for the bad, you’ll find it. If you look for the good, you’ll find it and hopefully be amazed at the power these channels have.

We’ve known this for a while now – humans have a need to be social.  They have a need to feel seen, heard and valued.  They have a need to connect with their fellow humans and a need to feel they are a part of something greater than themselves.  Social media platforms happen to be a perfect way to fulfill a lot of those needs.   Because of this, and the fact that it is open and readily available to anyone, it tends to attract people from all walks of life.  It is a mirror, reflecting back to us the behaviours, views, sentiments, predilections, fears, dreams, and values that are present in the collective human sphere at any given time.  Some of those things, when we see them, can cause us utter disgust.   Other things might inspire us to change, while others still might comfort us.  Social media seems to have become a very useful and valuable tool in self-awareness and personal growth. “Having knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses gives us the ability to use our strengths at opportune times and work on our weaknesses when we can. As we understand ourselves better, we can also understand others. Through this wisdom and understanding, we uplift each other.” 

“As more people use social media to tell the story of the future, the wants and needs of more people will be reflected” – Simon Mainwaring.  Although Mainwaring  is an award-winning branding consultant, advertising creative director, and social media specialist and blogger, no one can really predict the future.   Many people believe that Internet of things  will be an area of substantial growth.  Others have put much work in Artificial Intelligence. Although the future remains unknown, one thing remains certain – as technology progresses, so will advances in Social Media.

“The future is always virtual and some things that may seem imminent or inevitable never actually happen. Fortunately, our ability to survive the future is not predicated on our capacity for prediction, although, and on those much more rare occasions, something remarkable does come staring the future deep in the eyes and challenging everything that it seems to promise.”     Luke Robert Mason, Ethereal Summit, May 19, 2017, Brooklin, NY The purpose of this case study is to look at the future impact of social media on organizations. The premise is an expected progression of social media use integration with other integrated information technology–based systems will increase organizational performance. It is a popular opinion that despite enormous potential, most organizations have failed to capitalize on inter-stakeholder collaboration because the elusive but profound emotional factor, being able to trust partners without fear of exploitation, is an almost impossible obstacle to overcome in most existing business-to-business transactions today. The premise then is that the trust factor is likely to continue to be a hurdle in the future. The premise is that through social media integration, collaboration on improvements to product and process performance are possible at all levels and offer the opportunity for substantial benefits. The above are the premises behind the examination of the future impact of social media on organizations. Let’s first be clear: what social media integration platforms are being put forth to change the nature of knowledge work and management inside organizations? In 2016, products like Jive, IBM Connections, Salesforce Chatter, Cisco Quad, Microsoft Yammer, Google Apps for Work, Facebook at Work, Facebook Messenger, etc. were indeed being used to improve performance and foster innovation. In 2017, Slack for chat, JIRA for task and issue tracking, CONFLUENCE for wiki, and GOOGLE DOCS for document editing and management are being integrated rapidly in transformative technology businesses. Social software integration will become a vital tool for transforming virtually every part of business operations, from product development to human resources, marketing, customer service and sales – in a sense becoming the new intra-operating system for the twenty-first century organization. But what if it is already recognized there are clear limitations on today’s suite of tools? And what about that small matter of trust – just what are the economic issues (apart from the ethical ones) about the importance of trust in business? Let’s define trust as the expectation the other party will… Read more »

It is safe to say that social media is one of the most talked about topics currently in the world and it doesn’t look to be fizzling out anytime soon. Social media platforms have gone from a place to connect with friends and family, to a regular social tool for organizations to utilize and maximize the many properties and capabilities it holds. Technology is advancing at an astonishing rate, and there is no telling what a social media platform will look like or what the functionality of it will be in the future. For an organization like Metroland Media, they are already behind in terms of implementing any kind of social media, so if they do choose to move forward with it, it’s possible for them to enter the social media world at a very different and confusing time. The real question is, will they?

Recently I was invited over to my Friend Jeff’s for dinner. He mentioned that he recently had purchased a new VR (Virtual Reality) system and thought, while the kids were playing after dinner, the adults could take turns exploring his new toy. I was hesitant at first, as some of the POV video games makes me feel light headed and unbalanced. I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to try new technology, so after setting up all the proximity sensors, I slipped on the Oculus system and was immediately transported to another world. VR and AR (Augmented Reality) are two technologies that are changing how social media adapts and individualizes experiencesfor consumers. While the experience wasn’t tailored to me, I did get a first-hand look at how realistic the experience can be through VR. The individualization of experiences for consumers is setting the tone for new ways to use technology. One company in the hospitality industry that has done this is Marriott International. A massive hospitality and entertainment company. They have long been using social media to help drive business performance but they also use it to help create experiences for their guests. Listening to their guests’ needs helps Marriott ensure that the guests’ every wish is fulfilled while they are in their care.

You may have heard about Snapchat, the mobile app that allows users to capture videos and pictures that appear for a maximum of 10 seconds, and then it disappears. This instant messaging app created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown became increasingly popular within a few months of its launch and is now a leading platform for social media. What is more interesting is how Snapchat itself uses social media in its day-to-day functioning. The increase of social media in today’s society has led to an increase in opportunities organization-wide collaboration and sharing information, which is exactly how Snapchat has taken advantage of social media. It ‘s hard to know how businesses will use social media in the future; however, there are a few predictions about how Snapchat will possibly use social media in its next phases of evolution.

Located in the Caribbean and spread out among many island nations, Budget Marine has a reputation for being a leader in the region’s marine industry. Budget Marine embraced social media as a sales and marketing tool over a decade ago.  It also implemented a social-media based intranet to encourage internal communications (Koerner-Gifford, Katherine (2017), Employee Involvement Key to Budget Marine’s Success, University of Waterloo Archive, May 17, 2017). As for the future?  To quote company founder, Robbie Ferron, “There is no turning back.  Period.”  (Kroon, Els, Robbie Ferron A Dynamic Driving Force for Thirty Years, All at Sea Magazine, March 1 2010) By means of this course, Budget Marine has been exposed to the ways in which it can better utilize social media to enhance business performance.

If your brand is not on Instagram, it should be. Instagram is beautifully simplistic and the most personal of the mobile platforms. It’s full of potential with people eager to connect with a brand on a more intimate and tangible level. Creating content for Instagram can be a challenge, it’s true. The importance of visual imagery is key to tell a brand’s story, any brand. Regardless of the industry, any company can create campaigns to utilize this platform to reach their targeted audience, sharing alluring imagery and creative captions. There are many companies getting it right, using this platform to share their story, their background, and their vision.

There is a continuing revolution of communication occurring in our midst called Social Media and many of us are scrambling to understand it, to use it effectively and to measure the real impact that social media may be having when so strategically employed. Social Media engagement at its best, opens up a dialogue with relevant, interested parties, where none might have existed before. These parties could be creators or consumers of the web communication, the employees who sustain the business being discussed or the customers who acquire the business product. These parties might also be the essential stakeholders in a critical supply chain whose contribution, although indirect to the business itself, may determine overall success of the enterprise. The participants may be passion player readers, influencers or activists. Social Media is affecting media business practices in a big way. Where is Social Media, as a new means of communications, going to go from here? There is little doubt of its continuing effect upon business. But will social media redefine business itself?  Will social media become the new lingua franca for generation Z and beyond, the primary means of marketing a service or product and then determining a virtual, then real value for the item in question? The question of language itself is important. As a language in its own right, the epistemological question asks whether the language will change the mind’s thought process rather than the process changing the language? Will Social Media ultimately alter human business perceptions and consumer consciousness? Social Media, in a political and cultural way, is certainly changing journalism and how writers now perceive their role and behavior in the American and Canadian marketplace of ideas. [The Tyranny of Twitter] There are also now, so many possible variations to Social Media that it makes sense that business and media people understand and are trained in its many facets. So, I decided to integrate a social media webmaster “teacher’s” thinking into the case study mix so that any musings on the future of Social media would include this element of the discourse. This week I have chosen to study the Corus – Global Media organization and to speak directly with a veteran journalist-social media expert and marathon runner Peter Hadzipetros, who now teaches social media in his role as web coordinator to journalists at Global Corus.  Peter began his career as a radio journalist but then intuitively… Read more »

Social media for business purposes has been a main staple of marketing for many years now. As each new trend and each new platform is released, companies have scrambled to be at the forefront. Over the years we have seen many success stories and many disasters come of social media, but the fact is it isn’t going to go away. Truth be told, social media advertising budgets have doubled over the past 2 years and ad spending has ballooned to roughly $35 billion this year, according to Hootsuite. The future of social media will likely require marketers to rethink their current strategy. The move toward instant, in the moment news feeds, augmented reality, and posts that will disappear after 24 hours are changing the way we view social media. Businesses will have to become adept at following these trends if they want to stay in the game.

“I think that [social media] will be more integrated into everything. As you think further down the road, I don’t think that there’s going to be something called social media that people will be talking about in 30 years. I’m not even sure if people will be talking about it in five years.” – Ellie Wheeler, Greycroft Partners, Principal Social Media’s future is being shaped by such emerging technological trends as wearable electronic devices and activity tracker applications. Both FitBit wearable activity tracker device and iFit fitness application for treadmills are actively engaged in building social communities on-line, making them an integral part of the overall experience.

An infographic on HighQ.com proclaims 2017 to be “the year of video marketing”. It states that this year, online video will account for 74% of all web traffic. Here are a few other metrics from the infographic  that make a compelling case for video content: 500 million people are watching Facebook videos every day Snapchatters watch 10 billion videos a day 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter 52% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI In the blog post The Future of Social Media (And How To Prepare For It), author Ash Read provides the following takeaway from Buffer’s research report The State of Social 2016:  “Right now, video is hot and is standing out… But that won’t always be the way. As video creeps up in popularity and more and more brands and individuals are sharing it, it’ll be harder to get noticed.” One way of getting your video content noticed is by using aerial tech – using drones to capture or stream your video from a novel point of view. And one product that is promising to make this kind of tech more accessible is Selfly.

The future is NOW! and this realization calls for a bit of self-reflection. How far have we been dragged desperately clinging to the coat-tails of Mark Zuckerberg and his social media posse? Where are the new niches and opportunities for greater engagement, reach and visibility? How can companies differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive social media space?

If you’re like me and a fan of the television show Big Brother Canada, you were undoubtedly excited when it returned earlier this month for its fifth season. One thing they changed up however, was the live show following the eviction. In the past, the evicted house guest was interviewed on stage by the show’s host Arisa Cox and former house guests Peter Brown and Gary Levy. This year however, the format has changed and viewers are now asked to watch ‘After the Eviction’ live on Facebook. Every day when I scroll through my Facebook feed I notice at least one Facebook Live video posted by someone I follow. Whether it’s an acquaintance who as has begun using the social media platform to try and make a name for them self in the fitness community, or someone who has attended a concert and wanted everyone to get a glimpse into the show by posting their favourite song as it’s being played – live streaming appears to be here to stay.

Custom solutions are the cornerstone of the manufacturing world.  Seeing a problem and creating a unique solution is an endeavor that takes engineering, creativity leadership and most importantly collaboration.  As we move rapidly into the future, organizations are faced with the opportunity to harness one of the biggest opportunities to break down silos and bring people together by embracing social media.    

It is estimated that by 2018 there will be almost 2.5 billion people using social networks, up from under 1 million (970,000) in 2010, and it just keeps growing.  As we move forward, social media is no longer just an option for businesses.  Much like paying for a listing or an ad in the yellow pages was once a necessity, today, marketing without the inclusion of social media is no longer an option.   In today’s world, social media is used in every part of our lives.  Our personal relationships are fostered online, while some are even formed online first.  Social media is used for entertainment, at work and is a big part of business in general.  But – social media hasn’t reached every part of our lives… yet.

WebiMax is an internet marketing company that was founded in 2008 by Ken Wisnefski. According to Wisnefski, the company was founded on the principle of providing a service that would actually help clients succeed “by working with them more as a strategic partner than merely an outsourced vendor.” WebiMax boasts that since its founding in 2008, the company continues to evolve as the internet marketing industry evolves. The company claims to have the largest number of internet marketing professionals in the US, with over 100 marketing specialists on their team to help their clients reach their organizational goals. The company provides a wide range of services to their clients such as: Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Marketing Web Design Social Media Marketing Reputation Management Conversion Optimization PR Marketing Lead Generation E-mail Marketing E-Commerce Solutions Mobile Websites Link Removal Services

On February 4, 2005, YouTube started a revolution by giving us a seemingly endless stream of content, on demand. You could watch videos by celebrities, tutorials by up-and-comers, or movie trailers released by studios. Over the years, videos continue to be released, creating new stars and streams of content from global contributors. But no more is YouTube the only major player in the game. With over a billion users generating billions of views and hundreds of thousands of hours of content watched, it is only natural that other players would want to capitalize on this captive and attentive audience. Social media giants Facebook and Twitter are getting in on the action by promoting real-time engagement video capability aimed at engaging the attention of global audiences.