WhatsAppening on Social media?
Jeremy Page MPRCA
Executive Vice President | Global Director of Creative at KWT Global
So it's basically been ages since I updated my LinkedIn and frankly the resolution I set myself, to draft at least one update a month, went out the window in January as quickly as my self-imposed Yum-Yum ban....
Still, this morning i saw some genuinely interesting news and I felt the need to communicate. I tried telling someone at home but her face was screaming 'please don't start that social media update stuff again' so here we are. I'm venting.
This morning I saw that Facebook had revealed that 1 in 7 people in the world now use WhatsApp. Yup. That's one billion people.
Why? Well the honest truth is that the longer we use smart phones, the smarter we become (well at least on social media), unlike the old days where numerous stories of employees fired for pulling a sickie and heading out on the smash - only to be busted and disciplined by their boss - would pop up all over the Daily Mail.
Today, few, if any people would make this error.
It's not that pulling a cheeky sickie has gone out the window - i think ;-) - but the emergence of closed community forums (Facebook messenger or WhatsApp) or disposable content/anonymous communities (Snapchat and Yik Yak) have changed the playing field.
If you wanted to today as a social media user, you could carefully create a live social media filing cabinet, with different draws for different interactions. WhatsApp for mates, Tinder for dates and Instagram for plates (of food that is - apparently Pizza is the most photographed food on Instagram).
Cool your email enquiry boots though chaps because I'm preempting your FAQs.
No, PR is not dead in the social media sphere. In fact, it's quite the opposite. PR is back where it always belonged, nestled within a recommendation from the ultimate endorser - your best mate.
It's up to us as marketiers to create content so inspiring, funny, emotive and interesting that they feel the need to share it (publically and privately). If you're wondering how - drop me a message. I'd love to chat further.