Most Used Platforms

              After all of the talk about the most popular social media platforms I was surprised that I haven’t heard of some in the top 15. I thought I was up to date on my social media, but I’m actually pretty far behind. I knew the name, but didn’t know much about them or their functions. Google+ was one that I was not familiar with. Yes, I knew of it, and that I had an account because my email is through google. At first you had to request to get a google+ account, but recently everyone who has some type of google account received a google+ account automatically. I knew of this awhile back because when I signed into my Gmail account I was asked for some more information about google+. I just skipped through the steps and didn’t really take time to explore or understand what it was and how it would benefit me. I still don’t completely understand what it is. However, I do know that it is very similar to Facebook. It is almost exactly the same, with a few different things that may be implemented in the future. According to the Business Insider google+ is “an amalgamation of several services we already use. The idea is to do them better”. This statement made me curious to pay attention to how they are going to keep up with Facebook. I need to pay more attention to the minor details/updates they come out with.

                If they are so similar what gives Facebook the upper hand? It’s been around longer? It does everything google+ does and many other platforms? I guess it is just a personal preference and the majority of the world agrees that Facebook is a better platform at this time. Who knows if they will ever lose the number 1 spot.

                After reading a few articles about the top social media platforms, I was amazed on how much marketing is put into the top 5 platforms. I heard a quote by an invited guest speaker that cleared up the reason why marketers focus on these top platforms. He stated “for every free app or platform you are using, you are not the customer but the product”. That’s exactly why we receive these platforms for free. They (the platforms) see what we like and send the information out to marketers to help sell their products. It didn’t really make sense until after hearing that quote. Facebook holds the majority of marketer’s interest since it is the largest. Social media helps out everyone, and can be very beneficial to whoever is using it. We just need to know that anything we post, like, or view will be information that will be given away as data for businesses. So we need to be aware of what we are getting into before you sign up new platforms. Read the terms, and actually read them before you sign up. Because once you sign up your data could be given away to help marketers find your needs/wants. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Just be aware that these most used platforms could give out a lot of information!