I am not a Social Media junkie
Dear social media monster,
Saturday 14.05.2011-12:30 pm – On the quiet sunny roads towards Nessebar, a magnificent Bulgarian UNESCO classified site, I had a thought for my fellow web 2.0 addicts. Recently a friend decided to share her concerns towards the vicious side of her online life. And I was somehow connecting to that depressive feeling she was undergoing. Discovering the Bulgarian South coast became one of the solutions to switch my online oriented life for an experience based more on offline interactions which led me to this string of thoughts: In this unbridled race towards information, aren’t we missing something important? What are the dangers of being ‘blind” and how can we prevent ourselves and the future generations from getting intoxicated?
We all know how the Internet can be time consuming without us noticing. A recent study showed the impact Facebook had on students. Here are some results:
- Students that use Facebook while studying had 20% lower grades. Yet it turns out, students on Facebook are more likely to be involved in their student community, accepted by their peers and invited to extra-curricular activities.
- Facebook is highly connected with emotions and results being as addictive as tobacco.
- 48 % Students on Facebook feel sadder than their friends
- 1 out of 3 students uses Facebook for educational purposes
Granted, we make figures say whatever we want them to say but what this study shows is that the solution is not as simple as deleting your Facebook account. On the contrary: Good grades yes… Dull life, no one wants that. Some of the education programs have found a solution while using social media solution to help students participate in class. How do you think education institutions can use social media to improve their student programs? And is it relevant to do so? The debate is open.
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Euro RSCG 4d Bulgaria is based in Sofia, 18 Ivan Vazov street.
We are specialists in digital strategy and consultant in communication online.
Our clients are the largest companies worldwide such as Carrefour, Volkswagen, Societe generale, Edenred BACB, Eon, Solvay, etc
Our main team comprise of Nicolas Galand, Alexandre Glas, Biliana Bogdanova, Zdravko Totinov, Martin Zhelyazkov.
You can send us an email to contact@eurorscg4d.bg or find us on Twitter @4d_bulgaria
The 4D Show – Episode 2: Holy Mobile Quest
Yesterday at 6:00 pm, We published on our Facebook Fan page the second episode of the most boring show ever. In the 4D Show, powered by the fans on Facebook, the Host, Xavier Oyharcabal, is discussing topics related to the digital life of the Y generation spiced with “nonsense” – or he tries to. The subject of each show is selected by our fans via a Facebook poll which builds the basis for the following episode. On the second episode, “Holy Mobile Quest”, a fan pondered if smartphones really make people smart. We invite you to participate in our latest poll on Facebook to give us your feeling about the 4D Show. The idea behind the series of episodes and why we make it so tedious will be “clarified” later on …. Just wait and see 
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Euro RSCG 4d Bulgaria is based in Sofia, 18 Ivan Vazov street.
We are specialists in digital strategy and consultant in communication online.
Our clients are the largest companies worldwide such as Carrefour, Volkswagen, Societe generale, Edenred BACB, Eon, Solvay, etc
Our main team comprise of Nicolas Galand, Alexandre Glas, Biliana Bogdanova, Zdravko Totinov, Martin Zhelyazkov.
You can send us an email to contact@eurorscg4d.bg or find us on Twitter @4d_bulgaria
Taking part in the conversation with the right #hashtag
Twitter has been growing quite significantly since its inception in 2006. Last month, the company presented some really impressive statistics about this. Currently, Twitter boasts more than 180 million unique visitors each month and it has over 105 million registered users. And this remarkable and growing environment is producing 140 million updates on average per day. Everyone can share posts without any restrictions as long as they fit within the 140 character limit.
But with such a big growth of new users joining and messages being posted, there is a great chance that your own updates will quickly disappear in the stream and your voice might not be heard. One can try to update more frequently, but this may be a time consuming and costly activity which might fail. So, what can you do to ensure that your message will reach its intended audience? Enter the #hashtag!
What is a hashtag?
A hashtag is basically a keyword. It can be used to easily categorize your messages and put them under a topic, together with updates from everyone else using the same keyword. Clicking on the hashtag or searching for it will take you to a corresponding topic.
Benefits of using hashtags
Using hashtags presents great opportunities for people to start or join relevant conversations about current events or common interests. Following a hashtag can help you find more information and expand your knowledge on a specific topic.
Furthermore, it is a great way of expanding one’s personal and professional network. Adding a hashtag to your message puts your update under a specific category where others can easily find it, like what you are saying, check your profile and decide to connect with you.
Another benefit of using hashtags is the ability to monitor the Twitter stream for conversations relevant to you. Either with the help of Twitter search or a third party application, you can browse thorough the noise and select only the posts that matter. This can be very helpful for brands who want to engage and maintain a conversation with their customers (prospective, current and past) online.
The “right” hashtag
There is another challenge facing users who are using hashtags. With more than 100 million people tweeting, a significant part of them posting more than once a day on various topics, we must accept that there will be many variations of hashtags for different topics. So, once again we can ask ourselves how to break through the noise and make sure we use the “right” hashtag to join the conversation?
Well, first of all, there is no right or wrong hashtag. They have been adopted by users organically and everyone can use and post with whatever tag he or she prefers. One way of ensuring that it will serve its purpose is to stick with the same hashtag over a long period of time so your audience can see it, begin to recognize it and adopt it.
You can also have a look at which hashtags the people you are following are using and take the same approach. Look at those users in your network who are well-connected, very influential and highly-recognized within their field of expertise. They usually have very broad audiences. And there’s no better way to reach out to these audiences by using the same hashtag.
It is up to YOU!
The use of Twitter and hashtags is different for everyone. Regular users and brands have their own unique motivation and purpose for using Twitter – for example, staying informed on current events. Others might want to expand or share their knowledge. Some will want to gain exposure for a new product or service they are launching. For all of these uses and many more there will be thousands, if not millions, of hashtags posted with new updates. So, it is up to you to decide what your goal is, do your research, and join the conversation with the “right” hashtag.
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Marin Gerov has been studying international marketing and communication in both the Netherlands and Sweden. He’s also been working for the M&C department of Hanze University Groningen. Marin maintains an active online presence and would love to connect with you. So feel free to follow him on Twitter and read his Communications Blog. He’s also a motorsports junkie.————————————————————————————————————–
Euro RSCG 4d Bulgaria is based in Sofia, 18 Ivan Vazov street.
We are specialists in digital strategy and consultant in communication online.
Our clients are the largest companies worldwide such as Carrefour, Volkswagen, Societe generale, Edenred BACB, Eon, Solvay, etc
Our main team comprise of Nicolas Galand, Alexandre Glas, Biliana Bogdanova, Zdravko Totinov, Martin Zhelyazkov.
You can send us an email to contact@eurorscg4d.bg or find us on Twitter @4d_bulgaria