Social Media to the Side

While thinking about the ways businesses use social media, I began to wonder why many businesses do not use it. In a world where technology and the World Wide Web point toward the future, it seems that joining in on Facebook, Twitter and other social media giants would be the most commonsensical thing to do. From what I've gathered from research as well as an interview with one of these non-conforming companies, fear of negative feedback and uncertainty of employee reception seem to be the most common reasons businesses are not participating.

A Google.com search under "businesses that do not use social media" found many websites listing reasons why, how to use and other helpful ideas on the use of social media. Very few yielded negative results such as this one which gives reasons businesses should not use social media; however, it maintains social media can be positive if planned and maintained on a regular basis. While many listed websites were opinion-based, the benefits of using social media can be obvious, from the immediacy of getting information to target audiences to positive ideas being spread around the Net.

Twitter has over 100 million active users worldwide, Facebook currently has more than 400 million users and there are countless other websites out there dedicated to social networking. It seems like a no-brainer to find a way into social networking for businesses to create or build relationships with their publics.