melThe popularity of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook has grown exponentially in recent years. Wikipedia estimates that 1. 5 billion people use social Media websites. This speaks of the enormous power of social sites in terms of its reach.
While websites like Facebook, Twitter etc. Has become a global phenomenon regional social media sites are not far behind. It would be difficult to believe but Japan occupies second place in terms of twitter community. QQ, the largest social networking site of China has more than 300 million active members who form a vibrant community.
The popularity of social sites has proved the notion that consumer is the king. The consumer is no longer at the mercy of companies if he is not satisfied with their services. He just has to post his experience on the Facebook wall or another social network or share his experience with a simple tweet. Since the communication these sites has potential to become viral, it alerts other consumers about non-responsive company. A complaint on social sites evokes faster response than writing an email to the company.
Social networking sites have become integral part of social life. It does not matter if a person is a customer, producer or a marketer. If he is not using social site he is risking losing his business to his competitor.
Social sites have proved to be the boon for marketers. They have their potential customers right in front of them. There have been cases where the company whose product failed initially was able to re-launch the product successfully with the help of social sites.
Ironically, it is estimated that only 7% of marketers utilize the power of social sites. Given their enormous clout in terms of reach and viral nature, social sites have forged way ahead of traditional form of communication like e-mail. The phenomenon of social sites has just begun and it is here to stay for years to come.
The transformation that social sites have brought in the lives of people has been unbelievable. It has been noticed that the people living in the same house use these social sites to communicate with each other. Social sites have made the individual more confident. A person can freely share his thoughts with thousands of users which he might not be able to do so in his real life. The evolution of social sites has just begun. With rapidly changing technology these social sites would occupy an indispensable position in the lives of an individual. Communication would never be the same. Thanks to social sites.