In today’s blog post, I am taking you on a day in the life of my internet and app use on my phone. As I work on my computer mainly all day, it was interested to reflect on what applications I am frequenting most, and how much time I am on the internet.
What am I looking at most?
I wanted to narrow it down, and take a look at the top five applications and websites that I use the most. When it comes to work, WordPress is the top contender. WordPress allows you to host your website, post blog posts (such as this one you are currently reading), and share information to visitors to your URL. In terms of social media applications, I spend most of my time on Instagram and Facebook. Instagram allows you to view images, videos, and stories from people that you follow. Facebook I use more for work purposes, and catching up with family, but it is still a very social platform. You will not find my posting on Facebook nearly as often as Instagram though.
Finally, the website I frequent the most in my free time is YouTube. I find that I will watch YouTube more often than I would traditional television. I love the aspect that most content is from normal people like me and you, not actors. People can share videos that interest them, and you find people that you resonate with, or find entertaining.
Positives & Negatives to Social Media
I find that the positive and negative reactions to certain platforms all come down to who you are following and interacting with. That is what I find is the beauty in social media, it is meant to be a social interaction between people you are friends with or find interesting. On Facebook, I tend to see a lot of political agendas from certain people, but the platform allows you to “mute” or “unfollow” that person. This allows you to still be friends, but you aren’t seeing their content if it bothers you. I have positive reactions, because I am able to connect with people from all over the world, even though I live far away from them. You can easily share photos, funny images, and stories with friends who you may not see in person often.
Your Needs & Social Media
I find that my needs are met very differently across various platforms. I could not rely solely on one application to fulfill everything I am looking for. For instance, I love YouTube because it is a more long form type of media. Videos can range from 5 minutes to 5 hours, and the options are endless depending on your needs. I enjoy the visual aspect, and quickness of Instagram. You can visually scroll through your feed to find someone that you like, but it does not require much attention. Finally, I enjoy using Facebook for it’s sense of community and sharing. People can share articles, updates on their lives, and I feel it is more geared towards your immediate community or family.
Email Campaigns & Marketing
I receive emails from so many companies, and it is very rare that I would open them. I tend to find email blasts from companies to be spammy, and unrelated to anything I am interested in. The key factor for me to open the email would be for the email subject to be very catchy, and it needs to be from a company that I am familiar with, and have something of interest to offer me. For example, if I order clothing from Madewell and they send me an email about new clothing arrivals I may open it. If they were to send me an email about a 30% off sale, I am almost guaranteed to open the email. If I am an existing customer, and the company is offering a sale I am going to open the newsletter more often than not.
Digital Media Marketing
I believe that the future of marketing is and has been recently based in the digital world. According to pewresearch.org, 81% of Americans have a smartphone. This means that they are potentially on social media platforms, browsing the internet, and more all in the palm of their hand. This allows marketers the opportunity to advertise to someone in various locations. For example, someone scrolling through Facebook may be advertised a clothing company that they were looking at earlier online. There has also been an interesting shift to “Influencer” marketing as I would call it. People with large followings online are now being paid by companies to produce digital content that promotes their product. People trust those that they follow, and may be more likely to purchase something they recommend. All in all, marketers are at an advantage to merely advertising on television, newspapers, or magazines, they now have the whole world to advertise to on their individual devices.
References:
Demographics of Mobile Device Ownership and Adoption in the United States. (2018). Retrieved May 10, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
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