Social Media Platforms are Marketing Ninjas

Social media platforms are like marketing ninjas!  I have been asked to specify what is geared toward personal use and what seems to work better for business.  My head is spinning.  Let's look at this for a moment...

Facebook - You get on for personal use.  You post pics of your kids, like some other posts and maybe agree to join your friend's Mary Kay party.  Wait just a minute!  You joined a Mary Kay party through Facebook?  So, this is being used for business?  That funny meme you liked and shared is phishing your information, your friends are having you like their business pages to get more coverage with their advertisements and suddenly Facebook is offering you t-shirts with #! on them (how did they know you know Linux?).  Well, looks like this one is more business than personal underneath it all...NEXT!

Pintrest - I used to think this was an  innocent way for us all to share and say, "OMG look at these cute shoes" and "I want a fountain of Brides Maids tears at our wedding!".  Wrong again, after reading a classmates blog I realized that this is just us all advertising product after product via the most effective form of marketing, word of mouth.

LinkedIn - Thank you so much, LinkedIn, for being honest about your intentions and providing a place to organize the hundreds of recruiters that stalk our lives once we step into the technology industry.

Twitter - This one is yet another business orientated platform but I have to say, hats off to Twitter!  When there are fires in San Diego, new technology announcements, political debates and of course, Jimmy Fallon being his amazing self I get notified right away and can get instant updates before they even hit the news.  Definitely another business related platform but this is also a great network of instant updates on current events.

Instagram - In my opinion, this is the most "personal use" geared platform.  Still, it's moving quickly away from that.  If you don't believe me, go to a dance competition.  The only reason I even downloaded this application is because of a contest at one of my daughter's dance competitions.

So, there you have it.  The bottom line of my synopsis is that almost every social media platform out there is geared to look like it is for personal use while sneaking marketing propaganda right into your own posts on Aunt Martha's page.