Social Networking Sites

In this blog, I will compare four different social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn. While all of them have the common characters of the 5C’s to engage their users, each platform serves a different purpose to a different audience.

Facebook is still the king of social media. It is known for its versatility and it combines many elements of social media, such as live feeds, multimedia, chat, groups and events, and third party app integrations. It’s a great way to stay in touch with family and friends. You can “like” someone’s update, tag someone a photo, and organize an event. One of the most important features is Safety Check, which lets you report your status and location to your loved ones in the event of a crisis or emergency.

Twitter is a popular platform for sending Tweets, in 140 characters or less, to a public audience. It is the quickest way to post something – whether it’s a quick message, a photo or a short video – for the world to see. You can use hashtags to organize and search messages in particular topic. President Trump is a fan of Twitter, and his messages are controversial and faces mounting criticisms for being unpresidential. Businesses often use Twitter to post service interruption notices and to keep their customers informed. Although I don’t personally use Twitter to post anything, I do follow other interest groups and trending topics. I also use Twitter for breaking news, as others often post raw videos and messages as news start to develop.

Yelp is a popular platform for writing reviews for businesses. It’s the old traditional word-of-mouth, but leveraging the social media create a robust community base of reviewers. It’s a perfect way to try out local restaurants, find new travel destinations, or discover new activities of interest. I find Yelp particularly useful because it helps me find out what to expect before I visit a place. I often depend on Yelp ratings when selecting a doctor. All doctors have different levels of compassion and patience, so having Yelp reviews is very beneficial in finding a suitable doctor for my medical needs.

LinkedIn is great way for networking and job searching. It allows you to create a professional profile, so that recruiters can contact you. LinkedIn also has a database of job postings and can recommend jobs to you based on the profile and your preference. It can also help you make a connection and ask for a recommendation. In recent years, I find myself use LinkedIn for job searching more than any other sites, primarily because the networking aspect of it really helps in landing the right job at the right company.