Social media
Markus works as a trainer in a fitness centre.
He wants to help his boss to engage new clients to come to the fitness centre.
Therefore he wants to advertise on social media.
Markus has only used social media privately until now.
Don’t worry, Markus! We will help you.
Social Media are online communication tools.
With them you can share and get information,
be in contact with other people, share content in online networks and communities.
For example: ideas, thoughts, information,...
What is social about social media?
People from all over the world can communicate with each other.
What are characteristics of social media platforms?
• You can create a user account.
• There is a profile page with a description of the user.
For example: profile picture, short CV, link to the website, posts to date.
• You can connect with other users.
For example: followers, hashtags, friends, groups,...
Followers are subscribers. These persons follow your profile.
A hashtag is a special character. It looks like this: #.
On social media, you write a hashtag before an important word.
With a hashtag, you can search for information on a topic on social media.
• Newsfeed: This is where you see new posts.
• You can personalise your own channel or your profile.
• Notifications • Post text, photos, videos, links,...
• “Like” buttons and comment sections • Reviews, ratings and voting systems
The explanation of social media is vague on purpose
because it can change quickly.
You can communicate in one direction. This means that someone sends a message.
But the receivers can’t answer.
On social media, you can communicate in 2 directions.
Tradition media like TV, radio, newspapers communicate in one direction.
On social media people can leave comments.
Here are some examples of social media platforms:
• LinkedIn This is a professional network.
• Wikipedia This is a lexicon
• Instagram This is (mainly) for sharing photos.
• TikTok This is for sharing short videos.
• Snapchat This is for sending short messages.
• Discord This is for sending short messages.
• Twitter This is a platform for microblogging.
• Flickr This is for sharing photos.
• Pinterest This is for sharing graphics and photos.
• Facebook, this is for connecting with your friends,...
• YouTube This is for sharing videos.
• Vimeo This is for sharing videos.
There are many other social media platforms.
You can use social media for a lot of things.
For example: Discussion and networking.
This means being in contact with people. Either professionally or privately.
You can share content privately, For example for communication,
exchange about hobbies, search for friends or partners,...
You can also use social media for your job f.ex. job search,
professional networking, advertisement for your company,...
As you can see: social media has many advantages.
But you have to pay attention to companies that own the platforms.
These companies want to make money with your data.
Examples of data are: photos, personal opinions,...
If you shared something, it is difficult to delete the information for good.
If you inform yourself about news and politics on social media, pay attention.
Fake news spread quickly on social media. Fake news means wrong news.
In your newsfeed, you only see certain posts and opinions.
Markus sees many possibilities.
He can advertise the fitness centre on social media.