How Social Media Influences Your Shopping Essay Example for Free

How Social Media Influences Your Shopping Essay At the present time social media is the one of the most powerful ways to shop and advertise online via the use of web-based and mobile technologies; it transforms online communication into an interactive dialogue. Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins (2011) defined social media as â€Å"media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques.† According to Vithoulkas, social media is more than just the hardware or software which enables it, instead he argues that it is more of a philosophy of communication where honest and transparency is required and information is shared and has the potential to â€Å"spread virally very quickly†. For the consumer, social media can be a continual bombardment of advertising and promotion every time we use communication modes, such as the internet or mobile, which may be infuriating for the consumer but increases the market exposure for the seller. This report intends to analyse the effectiveness of social media in influencing the general population to purchase more than presently before. When large companies, such as Pepsi, invest 50% of their annual advertising budget into Social Media it is obviously a worthy idea for the discussion of marketing professionals worldwide. The buyer behaviour system has been challenged in ranges of high involvement and low involvement alike. Consumer control is now the focus of consumption, when before it was heavily regulated institutionally. Although social media is an inescapable part of every day life it cannot be assumed that it will replace other forms of communication. A great number of people of all ages use social networking sites before purchasing a product, especially in high involvement purchases. Seidma (2010, p11) has demonstrated that the large majority of people are engaged in some form of social media, showing its considerable societal acceptance; Marketing magazine online tells us that â€Å"Facebook has more than 400 million active users. Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. An estimated 5–10 thousand Twitter accounts are opened per day,† showing that when information is directly found by a population 20 times that of Australia there is serious product awareness to gain . Quester et al. (2011) stated that there are fives stages of decisions making processes prior to making the choice in buying a product or service. These include problem recognition, information search, evaluation and selection, store choice and purchase and post purchase processes. When consumers’ recognise a need or identify a problem which may exist, they then undertake an information search on the product or service with their behaviour influenced by internal and external factors, Consumers evaluate the various alternatives after they have gathered all information, and afterwards they make a selection of retail outlets for the actual purchase of the good or service. Lastly, the consumer compares the product performance against their expectations and decide whether they satisfied or dissatisfied with it. In last few decades, traditional media such as television, radio, newspaper has been the only way to promote and communicate with the target market, but now it appears that the trend has changed. As seen in diagram one (below) consumer control is now the driver in the marketing segment. As seen in chart one (below), it can be seen that on average people spend more time when choosing and product and general spend more money, suggesting that when purchasing online the products will be a high involvement purchase. Marketing Magazine online tell us â€Å"For 35% of shoppers, the process starts with online search; 30% of consumers read user reviews on retailer websites as a part of the shopping process.† In the U.S.A. alone there are 95 million people who admit to frequently using social-media in their purchase decisions. Hub Magazine found that more than 40% of American adults currently use social media as part of their shopping experiences, with further data showing most consumers increased in use of social media for shopping within an annual period. Hub magazine also found that 39% have strongly agreed with the statement that ‘they can learn a lot more about a brand by seeing what everyday people are saying about it online’ in comparison with only 22% percent of non-social media shoppers agreeing with the statement. This clealy shows us that Social Media can obviously affect buying habits. However, social media may not be the first choice for every business or organisation for their marketing strategy. In December 2009, COM Score released a report of their customer survey that showed peoples views on social media in comparison to traditional forms of media. Overall, they found that 28% of respondents were likely to notice advertising on social media and less than that 23% are likely to trust the advertisements they notice. Those numbers put social media websites at #5 on the list behind television, print, news and corporate websites. In the same findings it also showed that only 28% of those who had began their holiday shopping this season indicated that social media has influenced their purchases specifically consumers said their influences were: †¢ Reading a consumer-generated product review (13% of respondents) †¢ Reading an expert product review (11 %)  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Following a fan page on Face book to take advantage of special offers and deals (7%) †¢ Influence by a friend’s Face book status update referring to a particular product (6%) †¢ Following a company on Twitter to take advantage of special offers and deals (5%) †¢ A friend’s â€Å"tweet† about a product influenced their purchase behaviour (3%) Given the exposure to the internet that we in the western world undergo every day versus time spend watching television, it is odd that only 13% saw the high consumer involvement in reading reviews of products. What is even stranger is that these consumers have shifted from trusting expert reviews to peer reviews. In traditional media reputable sources were usually quoted to give weight to a certain product. It seems in the days of social media, peer influence has replaced the trustworthiness of reputable sources. Thus changing the buyer behaviour process. Social Media may influence and change the buyer behaviour process but it is not necessarily a replacement for tradition media. Although it is a change to the normal standards of media, it will never replace traditional media given the system of interaction in our society. The interesting thing, as discussed in this essay, is the change in the high involvement purchase process and the consumer control over purchases. It is effective to some degree, given the right target audience and consumer group, but in our society with the lack of general literacy (21.1% of the world are internet literate) and dramatic choices for consumers it is not the answer to the change of the consumer buyer process.

Sex Education Should Be Offered in Public Schools Essay -- Sexual Educ

Should Sex Education Be Offered in Public Schools Sex can be traced back as far as Adam and Eve, the first two people on this planet. Today, all age groups encounter things associated with sex, but it is not a problem that concerns everyone. The problem that has been at hand for more than thirty years is should sex education classes be offered in Public Schools? (1.Teaching Fear; 1996) The reason such debate has arose over the years is because there are many diverse opinions about the topic. Children are now faced with problems at a much earlier age than years passed. There must be a way to reach the children before they are in such need of help and are clueless about the devastating problems around them. Sex education is one step in the right direction, when it comes to the health of our children, and the guarantee of a solid future. Although some people disagree with the idea of sex education classes, in the public school system, the majorities seem to favor it. On the other hand, some people agree with the idea of sex education, but feel like the problem lies more in the way that it is taught, rather than being totally against the idea. Those who are against sex education in class feel as though all the classes would do is create more problems. They are uncertain about the outcome, whether or not it would cause students to be more or less likely to engage in sexual activities and intercourse.( 2.Keen, Cathy. Florida Teens Get Inadequate Sex Education; 1999) The main concerns for most people, especially parents, are what can the students learn from the classes and how can they apply it to their lives. In some cases, people feel as though new methods of teaching the subject would bring better results, such as lower t... ...2000 file://A:OnHealthSmarterTeensLikelytoDelaySex.html 5. " Sex Education in Schools; Its Effects on Sexual Behavior." Sept. 1995. HealthFacts. Vol. 20 Issue 196. 26 Sept. 2000. 6. Dunn, Vincy. "Profile of a Sex Education Program." 1995. SchoolNurse.com. 09 Sept. 2000. 7. " Do Abstinence Only Sex Education Programs Work?" 15 July 2000 Kentucky Community College. Network-KCTCS Health Reference Center Academic. 26 Sept2000 8. Decarlo, Pamela. "Does Sex Education Work?" 7 Sept 2000. UCSF 9. " National Adolescent Reproductive Health Partnership." 1998. What the Experts Say. 16 Oct.2000 10. Woznicki, Katrina. "Some Girls Need Sex Education Earlier." 28 June 1999. 26 Sept. 2000 11. Alexander, Linda. "Sex Ed. Coalition." 26 Sept 2000 12. Weston, Louanne. "Teaching Teens to Think Before Sex." 29 April 2000. 26 Sept 2000.

Never Forget Event in My Life Essay

There is an event that I will never forget in my life. It was the day experienced my first accident in the river. At that time, I and my friends came to river to fishing after having a class in the afternoon. at exactly3. 00 pm, I got there on foot and brought all fishing equipments. we were so happy and singing together. sometimes we made a joke and screamed like a crazy man. It was a nice and unforgettable childhood. In the fishing place, we made a chair from unuseful wood around of the river. Then, we sat on it and fishing together. Close to an hour, we had not got even one fish and made us felt so bored. Although, we were still going on and tried it again and again. About 30 minutes later, the float of my fishing equipment moved. Then my friend said that â€Å"you got it† and I pulled it and finally I got one fish, but it was not too big. I felt so happy and all of my friends came to me to see that fish. Then, they back to their sit and tried it again 15 minutes later, they got it one by one. one hour later, we had got many fish about 23 fish. One of my friend told me that â€Å" it is better to swim because it is so hot today. † All of my friend agreed and decided to stop fishing and swimming in the river. One by one they jumped in the river but at that time I felt so doubt to jump because I could not swim but my friends gave me spirit and one of them said that â€Å" you are a loser â€Å". Of course, that was made me angry. Then I jumped into the water. Because I could not swim, I asked help to my friends, but they could not help me because they were far enough from me. Suddenly, I looked at a wood float on the water on my right side, I reached it and hold it. It had saved my life. I was so scare and took a deep breath. All of my friends laughed me and they came to me and took me to the land. They asked me that â€Å"why did not you tell us that you cannot swim ? â€Å" and just said† I just want to having fun with you all. † Then they took me to the water again and taught me to swim well. I tried it and one hour later I did it even it was not to well, but I had made good trying. They were so happy and so did I. That was a nice and unforgettable childhood. I have many best many friends and they are helpful. At that time, I realized that if we want to do something, we have to think about it well before, even it is just a little thing in our life. An important event changed my life – going to the university Everyone knows how Cinderella changed her life after meeting the prince. I have my own Cinderella story. I was a little girl who was always in shame. I studied hard but always got bad scores. All my friends were my neighbors. I had never gone to a far place without keeping my family company. However, an amazing change happened in 1989. I did not meet the prince, but passed the universities’ entrance examination. As lucky as Cinderella, I went to the top university of my country. My life was changed from that moment. The first change was independence. I lived in a church dormitory which was near the campus; my parents could not cook and do laundry for me anymore. I had to deal with everything by myself even handle accidents. Once, I fell down from a scooter and hurt my neck and head. I knew I had to save myself at that moment. My parents knew that their little girl had grown up after that. Now, I study alone in a country far from my hometown I can live here as well as I do in my own place. Getting confidence in myself has led me to more successes. I got my first award of the top five percent in my class in the second year. I was not as smart as a lot of geniuses on the campus, but I got great scores in my interesting subjects. I was active in student activities. We succeeded in holding a campus book exhibition. We survived a serious typhoon when we had a tour in the mountain area. When I became an elder student, I taught and took care of the younger students. An interesting major and abundant student activities built my confidence step by step. The last change deeply affects my work, my research, and my life now. The university provided a good environment to open my view. My university is famous for freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of life, and freedom in academics.

Facebook Catalyzing Social Media - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1813 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/04/10 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Social Media Essay Did you like this example? A world without the internet is a world that seems impossible to imagine, just as a world without information is impossible to comprehend. Facebook is to communication as Tesla is to energy, paving the way to the future with game-changing technology, dictating the way humans live life. Sharing a lifetime worth of experiences takes less than a couple of seconds. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Facebook Catalyzing Social Media" essay for you Create order Emotions, feelings, and opinions are instantly expressed through the click of a button. Childhood memories flash by as you connect with old friends again. One simple application, Facebook, reunites friends and families and gives an easy platform to always stay connected. By the time he was a sophomore in Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg launched what would soon stay a part of billions of lives. Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire at age 23, did not always start as the man working to connect mankind with Facebook. During his years at Harvard, Zuckerberg launched an app called Facemash, which gave pictures of two Harvard students and allowed people to choose which was better looking and which was worse. Facemash spread virally throughout the campus and led to a quickly prompted outrage and was taken down (Yglesias). After nearly being expelled for inappropriate behavior and misconduct, Zuckerberg decided it was time to create something useful, so when he heard rumors that there was a team currently working on a project called Harvard Connections, where three people were trying to convert their paper directories into a soft copy, Zuckerberg saw an opportunity. Recommended by a mutual friend, Divya Narendra and the Winklevosses came to Mark Zuckerberg as the coder to execute their plan (Carlson). They wanted to create a website called Harvard Connections that would be an online directory, but needed an experienced coder in order to get the project running as quick as possible. Meanwhile, there were two other popular social networking sites, MySpace and Friendster, but each of them had their own problems. MySpace became far too complex to grab audiences from all ages. Those too young a nd too old were unable to use MySpace and quit in frustration. Friendsters demise was due to its large fan base, and it was unable to build software capable of handling such load (Blodget). Keeping the weaknesses of these sites in mind, Zuckerberg began working on his project. One of the most popular trials of the decade was about the controversial origins of Facebook. Originally called thefacebook, Zuckerberg and his team had a completely different purpose in mind than what Facebook is today. Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss, and Tyler Winklevoss presented this online directory in order to accomplish two main goals: build a Harvard-only website directory and soon expand to other colleges to act as an online directory. But on February 4th, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg released thefacebook to Harvard students, and immediately caught the attention of them (Carlson). Within a week, Divya and the Winklevosses filed a lawsuit claiming the Zuckerberg stole their idea, however, they presented a very weak case. From contracts to patents, Divya and the Winklevosses were lacking any form of tangible proof, to the point where they could not even prove that Zuckerberg worked with them with the Harvard Connection project (Carlson). After initial hurdles, the credit of its s uccess goes equally to the design of the app and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerbergs popularity contributed to the initial success. Due to Marks notoriety of creating the viral game Facemash, and the simplicity of the design, Facebook became an instant hit. Zuckerberg took into account what led to the death of other social networking sites, such as complexity and overload, and understood what would kill Facebook (Carlson 2018). Even though the Facebook became a hit in Harvard, he still needed to accomplish his second goal: expansion. So in the summer of 2004, Zuckerberg left Harvard and started a full time Facebook job in Palo Alto.Facebook still had a long way to go before it became the powerful entity that it is today. By taking the first step to introduce the marketplace, which is is a convenient destination to discover, buy, and sell items with people in your community onto Facebook, it was able to attract many businesses and sellers, further expanding the company (Ku). With the ability for companies or individuals to sell their products, Facebook added a new perspective to the existing idea. Rather than just being a place for people to post pictures and see faces, Facebook became a professional site where customers and producers can meet and interact. Then, on April 9, 2012, Facebook made the decision to buy Instagram for one billion dollars, an investment that proved to be very useful. Until then, Facebook was reluctant on making large purchases and acquisitions, with nothing exceeding $100,000 (Rusli). Another simple piece of software that improved the overall experience was released in April of 2008, called Facebook Chat (Boyd). Essentially, it allowed users to text their friends from the same application that allowed them to share pictures and sell products. Facebook had successfully built a one stop shop technique in the world of connectivity, but was certainly not going to be the last company to make it.Between the release of Facebook and today many competitors appeared, but rather than taking Facebook out of the race, the competition pushed Facebook toward a more immersive experience and integrated it into our lives. The simplistic aspect is what kept Facebook ahead of its competitors. While companies added software updates every month with brand new features, it forgot to balance the simplicity. Products became bulky in an attempt to cram everything onto one piece of software, therefore overcomplicating the original app, leading to frustration when used by customers. Facebook , on the other hand, kept in mind that people were not always able to navigate a webpage or smartphone, so kept it as natural as possible. Zuckerbergs genuine passion for the product, rather than the money behind it, also put Facebook ahead of the curve (Blodget). Companies that began to lose focus of their original goals and began to chase after money, started to sacrifice on the quality of the product. Whether that be lowering maintenance costs or implementing too many ads, Facebook turned away any opportunity that took away from the overall experience (Blodget). Another idea Zuckerberg believed in to make Facebook into the product that it is today, is the constant updates and improvement he made. Zuckerberg turned away from the traditional approach of using focus groups and beta testing, before any update (Blodget). He would let the reviews and voice of the users determine how well the update was. By taking this approach, Facebook started to know what exactly the customer wanted, and soon outgrew its competitors.Fourteen years later, Facebook has revolutionized the concept of social media, which used to be limited to interacting with your friends online, but has now been incorporated into more than two billion lives and thousands of companies. One reason Facebook has changed social media is because of how it incorporates business into its system. It does this with the process of a dvertising, where other businesses will pay by either clicks or views. Even if each click or view pays very little individually, with all of Facebooks users and all the businesses who market on it, the revenue can stack up quickly. Since a majority of Facebooks total revenue comes from advertising, about 98%, it is critical they emphasize it. In 2017 alone, Facebook made almost 39.9 billion U.S. dollars (Statista). This relation between Facebook and its businesses is mutualistic, because Facebook gets money, and companies can gain awareness and customer through advertising, boosting the economy. Society also relies on Facebook for its element of instantaneous feedback and outreach. People are aware of what is happening at all times around the world, whether it pertains to a catastrophe, politics, or an event your friend is attending (Blodget). Even if one were to stay offline for a couple days, they would be able to catch up in the matter of minutes, and this catalyzation of information is what Facebook is able to offer the 21st century. Although it may seem obvious, Facebooks greatest strength that brought it to its height is the connectivity it presents. With about 400 million people visiting each day, Facebooks scope has widely increased with people making friends and meeting each other online (Carlson) . As people continue to join Facebook for social, educational, or corporate purposes, the large scope makes it more imperative in our daily lives. Having messenger, marketplace, ones Facebook feed, and much more in one location is far too convenient for any user to leave. With 2.2 billion users, Facebook has a huge responsibility for keeping the users happy, safe, and secure when using their site, something that they have not lived up to at times. With fake news, Russias intervention in the election, and most recently, the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has not had the greatest track record when it comes to privacy. In an interview, Zuckerberg acknowledged that, We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we cannot, we do not deserve it, (Ygleias). After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook saw a sharp decrease in users, and ever since the overall trends are going down. The reason behind this is the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where in mid-March, people discovered that a data-mining company, Cambridge Analytica, took tens of millions of profiles without their permission in an attempt to alter the outcome of the 2016 election (Anderson). People were afraid that any action by Facebook would start a ripple effect and could impact their lives in negative ways. Facebook, however, is not one to simply move forward with their mistakes, they make changes. Facebook now allows users to download their personal data and gives customers more freedom with their privacy settings (Jenkins). They also hired the first head of cybersecurity, Nathaniel Gleicher, the former white house official (Salinas). Cyber attacks are increasing every year, and with Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook is determinan t on fighting back. They have developed software and made more restrictions and precautions with their databases. Everytime Facebook invests in cybersecurity, it is not only Zuckerberg who has changed, it is all the other tech companies who continue to take the same actions. Seeing the consequence of the lack of security, many companies, whether that be a startup, or a tech giant such as Google, are taking cyber security more seriously. With each mistake Facebook makes, they find a way to protect users from the dangers of the internet and behind them are all the other companies, following in their footstep. One man, one idea, and one goal is all it took for Zuckerberg to create an empire that influenced the way people live their lives. Facebook has become an integral part of society in almost every aspect, whether it be social, corporate, and educational. Facebook has catalyzed the way we communicate and has become a part of our daily lives.