Social media - the new communication tool - what's in it for companies Research Paper

Social media - the new communication tool - what's in it for companies - Research Paper Example Meanwhile, the 35+ demographic makes up 30% of the user database.2 There are also many users who use Facebook quite frequently – 48% of 18 to 34 year olds check Facebook right when they first wake up, and 28% check their Facebook from their smart phones before they get out of bed.3 The reasons why people use Facebook are shown in the activities on Facebook – on an average day, 20% of the users will comment on another users photo, 26% of users will like another users content, 10% of users will send another user a private message, 15% of users will update their own status, and 22% of users will comment on Facebook has made one’s social circle wider, but much more shallow, with some people having 1,000s of â€Å"friends.† And, since it would presumably be impossible for any one person to have that many â€Å"friends†, a person’s friends list is mainly populated by â€Å"weak ties† who might be mere acquaintances – â€Å"it might be someone they met at a conference, or someone from high school who recently ‘friended’ them on Facebook, or somebody from last year’s holiday party. In their pre-Internet lives, these sorts of acquaintances would have quickly faded from their attention. But when one of these far-flung people suddenly posts a personal note to your feed, it is essentially a reminder that they exist.† 5 While this is an accurate description of the vast majority of â€Å"friends† on one’s Facebook account, it often gets even further removed. Some of the â€Å"friends† , in fact, for a lot o f us, many of the â€Å"friends† are people to whom one has never spoken a word – random people from school that you know of, have seen around, but have never spoken to, along with many â€Å"frenemies† who you maybe never liked, all show up on one’s â€Å"friend† list and proceed to bombard you with their everyday mundane activities. Yet these silly, mundane, borderline narcissistic news feed