Social Media

This week, chapter 22 focuses on social media, specifically in the area of marketing. Social media is clearly a newer aspect of advertising, and a new form of networking for consumers. The first I remember of an advertisement on the internet was on a gaming website I'm sure, but the first time I recall and advertisement on a social media site was probably in eighth grade when there were advertisements were on MySpace.

Now social media has increased drastically with the development of Facebook, twitter, linked-in, and so much more. Some advertisements are serious while others can be more silly. Some move and some are just words. Now on Facebook they can even target ads based on your interests when you type them in. What I question is how beneficial social media advertising can be. I understand that advertisement are advertisements on a website and that seems to be reasonable. 

But what about when companies and businesses create their own Facebook pages to "like" and some have even gone as fas a creating twitter accounts for literally anything you an think of. So what I question is whether or not having a twitter account or a Facebook page for a company is actually beneficial? Do you believe social media marketing is beneficial, or do you think it hasn't quite reached it's maturity enough to be successful?