“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.”.

— Jeff Bezos, CEO at Amazon.com

In today’s day and age, online internet access has become somewhat essential in how people communicate, educate, buy and sell, and question. When one enters the realm of “social media*”, they allow for thousands of websites, applications, and even viruses to flood their lives. Because of this, the “Conversation Prism*” was created.

The CP breaks down each “SM” network into a visually appealing diagram to help you “understand and appreciate the stratusphere”. This of course is according to conversationprism.com (which can also be included in the prism). Just like the social media era, the CP is no where near the same as it was it started in 2008. Websites have come and gone due to the constant need for updates, upgrades, and reformats; that means along with the CP, those included also need to update. 

Back in 1150, Homing Pigeons were used to inform those in power of who had won the Ancient Olympics. In the 12th Century, they were used in war efforts to relay messages to military. People began writing letters to loved ones, books to carry on information, and as time went on, these things continued to evolve. If you did not have these mediums, you could not receive the information (at the time) first hand. Each of these mediums, including “SM”, were used for certain tasks which then began to transformed as needed for new tasks. For my generation, we had myspace, followed by MSN, then Facebook, and now the hundreds of other applications. Each application/“SM” has an intended use which is then transformed to help other tasks. 

This is a positive for organizations because they can help manipulate how these changes occur. The University of Western Ontario, is an example of these organizations that benefits from a social media presence. It has almost become a requirement to have a “SM” presence in order survive these times. Say a student (age 17/18) wants to apply to a University out of their home province. They then rely on a quick Google search for “Universities in BC”, resulting in Facebook somehow finding that information, and then applying UoBC ads but not UoV. Without those ads, students won’t apply and a downhill spiral of negativity may occur for UoV. 

This is not to say that a professional organization like Professional Engineers Ontario need an Instagram page or Ontario Medical Association needs a Twitter page, but, they should cater to the audience they want to reach. This is why local London sports teams have Instagram (@westernmustangs), Twitter (@LondonLightning), or TikTok (@londonknightsohl). That’s why organizations like TD insurance have a page on Linkdin or YAHOO! Answers just having their website attached to the YAHOO home page. Each organization needs to have a plan that mainly includes who they want to reach and how they’re going to do so. That means putting the London Knights on Snapchat but not Pinterest, would benefit them more than if it was the other way around. Because “SM” has become somewhat essential, as stated above, organizations are almost being forced into having some kind, even just one, “SM” presence if they want to succeed.

Photo Curtesy of: https://conversationprism.com

*Conversation Prism = CP

*Social Media is in quotation marks because there is not ONE set definition for ALL social media sites and somewhat subjective; = SM