I took a class at UC Irvine called New Technologies during Spring quarter, which greatly changed my thoughts on the Web 2.0 craze.  In my last blog I talked about how Social Media and Web 2.0 are two very misconceived terms. I stated that I tend to agree with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, in that since the beginning of the World Wide Web his intention was to create a new level of interactivity on the internet, so there really is nothing new about Web 2.0. I also argued that it is not a business revolution, because PPC ads are still the back bone of online marketing, and they have existed since the dotcom bubble. But, now I see other aspects of Social Media that are a business revolution.

However because I will do pretty much anything to give A+ effort, I came up with the following thesis:

“New Media today is essentially no different than forms of media in the past such as radio or television. The only difference now is that there is a sort of placebo affect that the author is talking back to the mass audience. While at the same time Social Media, as a platform for communication, forces people to interact with advertisements in a way that has never been reached by any other form of media in the past.”However, after getting deep into this essay, I realized that my pretend cynicism only made me appreciate social media (as an online marketer) more than I ever have before. I started to think “this isn’t bad; on the other hand it’s great”! I titled my essay Social Media - Reality, and what I discovered through the creative process of writing the essay, greatly changed my opinions.

What I discovered about social media, regardless as to whether social networks use pay per click ads or not, is that these advertisements become more engrained in people’s every day conversation than any other form of media has achieved before.

Even paid advertisements benefit from social media. For instance, if someone sees a paid advertisement on Facebook such as for I Love You Beth Cooper the movie, they are much more prone to talk about it with their friends than if they saw it on television or the radio.

The great benefit of social media is that paid advertisements are not necessary. Continuing with Facebook as an example, advertisements can take the forms of free widgets, groups, events, or fan pages. Social media is most commonly associated with posting comments and discussions on forums and various blogs. The term is often associated with viral marketing, in which discussions about products are generated across web pages. When people communicate about these products through commenting, in the long run it is very little cost to the advertiser, outside of putting time into talking to people and spurring discussions.

I doubt Sir Time Berners-Lee ever envisioned the web to take on the form of interactivity it has between the consumer and the advertiser. He probably never considered websites like Facebook to become as popular as they are, and that online-marketers would never take advantage of these platforms.

So perhaps social media does deserve being termed as a new bubble; Web 2.0.

More and more every day, people are replacing verbal conversations in person, or even on the phone, with social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. Increasingly, people also read articles and watch clips online, and almost always on the bottom of the page will be an area to comment your opinion and rate the product. There is more and more engagement with products, news, etcetera between the viewer and the author.

In my essay, I described this conversation with the audience as a placebo affect, because when you comment back to the reader it gives the impression that there is a more personal relationship. Although there may not be any real personal connection between the two, this is a much more profitable approach to marketing than has ever existed. People talk more about a product, and do so with each other, more than ever before.

Most websites with forms and discussion boards will also integrate an Add This widget, which further engages the audience to the material, by encouraging consumers to continue discussing a product on social networks. Using Facebook as an example again, the product can be posted to people’s personal profiles, where their friends can make comments and rate it. This clearly exemplifies the new involvement advertisers have in people’s personal lives and interaction between friends.

Social monitoring becomes increasingly important in measuring the affectivity in which people communicate about a product. Applications like Radian6, allow for advertisers to continue discussions that people are having about what is being advertised. These tools enhance the placebo affect I described in my essay, in that it creates a sense that there is a real connection and way to communicate their opinion back to the author, because the author is always able to respond. Before Web 2.0, this relationship with the consumer did not exist.

So in a way, I do think that this new wave of social media is a business revolution to advertisers. Although the technology for this high level of interactivity has existed since the invention of the World Wide Web, the relationship between consumers and advertisers has changed a lot with the increased popularity of social networks and commenting. And, although pay per click advertisements have existed prior to the term web 2.0, these have never had as much affectivity as they have now.