Reflection on Reading Kaplan and Haenlein

Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2009) introduces in their article Users of the world, unite! The Challenges and opportunities of Social Media the magnificent emergence of social media, created a classification scheme by using as set of theories -- social presence/media richness and self-presentation/self-disclosure. The social media sites they researched on include Collaborative projects (Wikipedia), blogs, social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter), content communities (YouTube, Flicker), virtual social worlds (Second Life), and virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft).  According to Kaplan and Haenlein, social media sites low in social presence/media richness require simple exchange among users while high in this terms involves much interactions and information exchange among users. For example, blogs, compared to Social networking sites and virtual social worlds, has the lowest social presence/media richness, but still requires higher self-presentation/self-disclosure.

I agree the five pieces of advice Kaplan and Haenlein offered about being social: "be active, be interesting, be humble, be unprofessional and be honest." "Social media allow firms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of efficiency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools." For a company who decide to start using social media as a new communication tool, they must use it strategically, which including carefully choose the site, pick the application (or make your own), ensure activity alignment, integrate media plan and make sure the access for all (Kaplan & Haenlein). On the other side, don't forget that social media is based on people-generated content. With social media, everyone is empowered to be a publisher, a reporter and a leader of certain information. Therefore, as a company communicating to the public, you must master the basic art of communication, know that it will be a two-way symmetric communication, and make sure you hold the appropriate attitude in using this tool, otherwise, social media may enlarge your mistake or even worsen a crisis if not used correctly.

With so much profit and non-profit benefits social media generated for either an individual or a company so far, the society will definitely march on with increasing implementation on social media. And I can predict there will be changes frequently in social media industry, that is the development in cyberspace, embrace the challenge and discover the world you might never know before.

Resource:
Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2009),Users of the world, unite! The Challenges and opportunities of Social Media,Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59-68