Web 2.0 and Social Media
Business in a Connected World
© McHaney and Sachs 2016
Social Media Raw

May not be central to business strategies but still need to be considered.
Numerous Applications to Help People Connect
Quick Connections
A number of social media applications
have emerged in response to
consumers wishing to have easy-to-
use, rich media applications that
permit them to quickly interact with
peers, anonymous like-minded
temporary friends, or people in close
proximity.
Relation to Business Plans
Not central to most business social
media plans, nor will many businesses
roll out a presence on these
platforms.
Exert Influence in Other Ways
May exert an influence on potential customers and on the
reputation of a business.

Fast social media via images
Instagram
Free cloud-based mobile photo and video sharing social networking service.
An easy-to-use app that allows users to quickly share pictures and videos
taken with mobile devices.

Instagram Facts
 Launched by creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010.
 More than 400 million monthly visitors.
 Facebook purchased the service in 2012 but mostly has left it to continue without
changes.
 Unlike other social media services, according to its terms of service, Instagram does
not claim ownership rights regarding any posted material (including photographs,
music and videos).
 This adds appeal for artists, musicians and photographers who want to obtain
publicity for their material but do not wish to surrender their copyright.

Instagram Premise
 Instagram use is driven by visual sharing and acquiring followers.
 A posted photo or video appears on the account holder’s profile.
 Followers see the same post in their news feed.
 Users have “Followers” and “Following” counts to display their level of popularity
and potential interaction.
 Each user’s profile has a button that can be tapped to follow their posts.
 Private profile follower requests need approval from the account holder.

 Business interest in Instagram is rapidly increasing.
 Instagram’s audience is highly desirable. The platform reaches many
females (68% of its user base), most of whom are under 35 years old. And,
many users fall into middle and higher income brackets, making them
attractive to retailers seeking customers.
 Instagram rolled out “Stories”, a feature that allows users to post videos
and photos that disappear after 24 hours. This competes with Snapchat.
Business with Instagram

 Instagram has rolled out a number of
attractive advertising programs.
Instagram provides photo, video and
carousal ads (which allow a swipe
function through a number of photos).
 Ads are designed to move customers
to a Website where items can be
purchased or other actions taken. The
ads are specifically formulated to
mobile platforms and are created with
wizards.
 Case studies and engagement statistics
from Instagram indicate its audience
comprises a highly active group of
users willing to make purchases.
Instagram Ads

Making it an effective business platform.
Instagram

Instagram Innovative Uses

Instagram Innovative Uses (Con’t)

Snapchat
Snapchat is a popular, free, trendy mobile messaging application used to
transmit photos, videos, text, images, and drawings. It has resonated with
younger users for a variety of reasons---one of which is that messages
disappear from the recipient’s phone a few seconds after receipt.

Snapchat History and Background
Started by Students
Snapchat was developed by Stanford University students Evan Spiegel,
Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. Started as a product design class
project, called Picaboo.
Communicate
Enables users to communicate using short-lived images. Snapchat now a
mix of private messaging, public content, business brand networks,
publications, and live sporting and music events.
Messaging
In spite of the public social media content, Snapchat remains most popular
as a personal messaging service.
Big Usage Numbers
Users like the idea of being able to send a message that will not be
available after a couple of seconds. By the end of 2015 users were sending
6 billion videos per day. In 2016, Snapchat videos were being viewed over
10 billion times daily

Snapchat Capabilities
Private Chat
A recent addition to Snapchat is a one-to-one private chat feature. This
feature enables users to chat via private messages that disappear when the
session ends (unless users choose to save the chat which allows both
parties to have access to it after the session is over).
Video Chat
Video chat capabilities have also been added to Snapchat.
Other Features
Users can apply fun filters and stickers to snaps. Another feature called
Snapcash permits users to transfer money through the chat function. .
Snap Chat Stories – Good for Business!
A compilation of videos and photos available to a user’s friends. Stories
persist for 24 hours and can be viewed multiple times.

Making business-friendly overtures
Snapchat and Business
Discover
One example is Snapchat’s Discover
feature. Discover provides exclusive
content from a variety of partner networks
such as CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN, and
People Magazine.
Partner Channels
Having partner channels provides a natural
location for advertising and permits
content to be viewed by a wide audience.
Users can Snap Discover stories to their
friends.

Snapchat Use in Brand Awareness

Anonymous mobile App
Yik Yak
Mobile app for anonymous communication among people within a five-mile geographic
radius. Can be fun but has been criticized as a platform that enables cyberbullying. Yik
Yak built controls to block use near all high schools and middle schools.
Yik Yak is a good place to put out
public messages, called Yaks, on
items like party or event locations,
gripes about university classes, or
searches for nearby, like-minded
companions. Many Yaks are jokes,
quips, funny sayings, sarcasm and
plain venting.

Yik Yak Origins
 Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, graduates of Furman University developed Yik
Yak after collaborating in a class that covered iPhone app development.
 Following graduation, they developed Yik Yak more fully and released the app in
November 2013.
 By 2014, it was the 9th most downloaded social media app in the United States.

Yik Yak Features

Yik Yak Features (Continued)

A question for many social media communities.
Yik Yak and Ethics
Cyberbullying is a broad and thorny challenge faced by all social media networks
and Yik Yak has taken steps to minimize it.
“Do investors and business
advertising on platforms such
as Yik Yak have a social
responsibility to ensure it does
not harm anyone?”

Yik Yak Business Ideas

Anonymous mobile social media community
Whisper
Premise
Allow users to post anonymous messages that can receive replies.
Whispers
The messages, called “whispers”, are superimposed over images supplied
automatically by Whisper or provided by the user sending the message.
History
Whisper was released March, 2012 by Michael Heyward and Brad Brooks.
Big User Numbers
By April of 2016, whisper had 30 million monthly active users
https://whisper.sh/

Some relate to businesses
Sample Whispers
Target Advertising
Whisper recently released keyword targeting to potential advertisers
interested in providing embedded messages within its app.

Dodge Ram examples
Business Whispers
Many businesses are working to develop non-intrusive
approaches to get their messages out. Some businesses post
whispers with their images and hope users spread the message.
Users do not know which Whispers are
campaign items and which are just
messages posted by other users. This
keeps people from immediately
discounting an item because they
believe it is an ad.

Contact: Roger McHaney, Kansas State University, mchaney@ksu.edu