1A. Instagram & Twitter

This blog has been created as a part of the coursework for my studies. The first task from the course is to look into two social media platforms. One that you use a lot and are familiar with, and one you are not. My most used social media site is IG. I have used IG since 2013 and I still use it daily. My second platform is Twitter. In high school, I used Twitter frequently. However, I have not used Twitter in years. I haven't stayed in tune with what is going on in there.

Instagram

Instagram is a free photosharing and social platform mostly used on mobile devices. Instagram was established in 2010 and grew fast to be one of the biggest platforms. Currently, Instagram is owned by Facebook. Instagram is a versatile platform used by individuals, organizations, and businesses. Social media marketing has a major role in business these days and Instagram is one of the most used for marketing. (Reference)

These days social media is a necessity and users can choose from multiple platforms to use. Even more likely is to use multiple or even all of them. In my daily life, Instagram (IG) is the most used social media platform out of all of them. I also like to think that I understand the site quite well. I have used Instagram for various purposes, including personal use, work, and studies. Still, personal use is the biggest part and I browse through Instagram multiple times a day. 

I’ve been using it since 2013, and I’m still using Instagram daily, but I’ve never thought of myself as an active IG user for a few reasons. I upload pictures on a semi-regular basis, but all my pictures are similar. This makes my page a little dull and repetitive. I have mostly posted selfies, which is also boring and doesn’t tell that much about me. POsting only selfies in IG these days is sometimes considered to be self-centered and boring. Some time ago I was cleaning through my IG and realized this. So lately I have tried to get to variety in my content.

I also rarely write any captions to my posts. That also I have tried to change lately but not very successfully.

Also telling about my non-activity in IG, I never comment on anything. I don't comment in my friends' posts, nor on anything else. A few times I have tagged my friend in memes but that's it. I do answer if someone comments on my posts but that is just good manners.

I have maybe made 2 or 3 Instagram stories in the past. I like the stories feature in IG but for some reason, I can’t wrap my head around how to use it properly. I see these wonderful stories made by my friends and companies that I follow but I can’t create a nice looking IG-story. I think I would use the stories feature a lot more for a reason I have figured out in my head. I prefer Snapchat over any other messaging platform. I see a similarity in Snapchat's features and IG stories. So f I knew how to properly use stories, I probably would use them a lot more. 

Still, the most used app on my phone is Instagram. I browse through it maybe 10 times a day. The main reasons are nosiness and boredom. 

Twitter

As a free social networking and online news platform, Twitter has been popular for a long time. Twitter's character-limited posts are appealing to both readers and content creators. Twitter makes it easy to take part in current topics and social conversations. Both companies and organizations also use Twitter to reach their audiences. (Reference)

During high school, my friends and I used Twitter quite frequently. We used to communicate with each other and to follow artists and musicians to get information about new releases and such. In recent years, however, I have stopped using Twitter. I have found other social media platforms more appealing to me, such as Instagram.  Recently I have considered including Twitter into my daily social media habit in the hopes of me re-learning how to use Twitter effectively.

I see Twitter as a possible tool in the future for work opportunities. As I have planned to pursue a career in social media marketing, I must use and understand how Twitter works. Twitter offers an easy and effective platform to reach possible jobs, customers, and partnership opportunities.

For companies looking to expand social media marketing, I think that Twitter is a great opportunity to reach customers through conversation.

In Angela Hausman's article How to Use Twitter as a Marketing Tool the use of Twitter in marketing is well thought out. In my personal opinion using Twitter to reach customers, new and exciting is highly valuable. In the conversation-based app sharing information and having conversations with customers is easy and adds value to the social media marketing strategy. I also like to believe that in business-to-business marketing Twitter is more important than Instagram, and gives the company chance to create more relaxed content when compared to LinkedIn, a highly professional platform, but one that is most important in B2B marketing.