#FLIT – The Spread of Thoughts Through Social Media (Part 2)

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Dare to disagree: We are all using our mobile phones to take photos and selfies and share it with our loved ones. We use our mobile phones to check game scores, update statuses, like or post a comment, check our mails and reply to them. There is only rise in using our mobile phones to stay social and be connected.

This demand will only see a rise as mobile phone makers have only fueled people’s needs by introducing newer models with more features of staying online.

I am going to explore these two social media platforms that many people access through their mobile devices.

Instagram® 

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“A picture speaks a 1000 words”. Instagram is a trending mobile photo sharing tool. With the rise of new words like “selfies” and “photo-bombing”, it’s no wonder that photo sharing is the singular most effective way to connect to people around the globe. It uses geo-targeting and helps individuals and businesses promote themselves or their products by tagging people, keywords and locations. Users can also post short video clips to attract attention.

Instagram lets you adjust your privacy settings. It also lets you use different types of photo filters and video editing tools. I have seen many business and individuals post production videos, photos, promotions and events and establish their business from Instagram. This is the second most used social media platform enjoyed by celebrities and many influential figures to give second by second updates to their fans using mobile phones.

Individuals and small businesses who are looking to set up a link to get people look at their products or services should definitely give it a try. They have an amazing blog site that help businesses share ideas and thoughts.

Twitter®

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The name itself brings a big smile on everyone’s faces. With Twitter, you don’t have to write stories to say what you are doing what’s happening. A tweet can only be 140 characters long. This added challenge lets people think about the important bit of information they want to share with the world. It is the most powerful social media platform on which you can literally witness the entire process of tit bits turning into major headlines. 

A recent example is “What colour is this dress?” which became an epic sensation and became a news headlines. There is a lot of migration happening on social media. The dress colour was initially a question asked on Tumblr (Another social media platform) which quickly “migrated” to Twitter and gained worldwide recognition.

I recently joined the Twitter universe. It is an extremely powerful tool in connecting like-minded people and being enlightened by the vast amount of information. I had no trouble in connecting with the industry’s Greats. The thing that happens is that I go looking around for inspiration on Twitter and after a few minutes I not only get inspired but get saturated and eventually over-whelmed by the immense amount of information. HootSuite® and TweetDeck® are two tools that can help bring some calm to this chaos. Check how a 23-year old is making $500,000 dollars a year by Tweeting random facts on Twitter.

Here, I would like to say that every platform has its own benefits and shortcomings. If you are an entrepreneur and you want to kickstart your business, it’s better to stick to one social media tool that you think will work best for you and use it to its fullest potential before indulging into another one.

In my next blog, I will discuss on how to do effective blogging and the hurdles that you may face.