Week 7 Reading Response
The readings for this week took our knowledge of social media and content and built on it by introducing us to services such as Vine and Pinterest. These services have taken the concept of content communities and turned them into major social media fixtures that are receiving new traffic and growth at a very impressive rate. Not to be outdone, YouTube was also discussed this week and the way it has evolved to meet consumer need since its early inception. The resulting engagement with these new content based social communities has created the rise of a new type of media: Super Media!
Let’s start with YouTube and the changes it has made. In an article about the future of 
YouTube, we read of the strategy of making the platform as simple and accessible to as many people as possible. YouTube is available on most phones and tablets today in addition to being able to be streamed on PCs. Further, many mobile devices have the option of viewing YouTube videos with a home television and have continued to make this feature more accessible. Additionally, on the social side, YouTube has made its service more personal through the ability to create themed channels and even “like” or comment on the videos of others. This has resulted in much more engagement on the site and users staying on the site longer than ever before. In some instances, YouTube is even surpassing Facebook in some elements of consumer engagement. If your marketing sensors haven’t gone off in regards to YouTube and its ability to disperse your content effectively, they should! Almost any business can now benefit from having content on YouTube and with features such as Tags and related videos, your video could have a chance of being viewed right next to some of the most popular videos on the site. If you haven’t done so yet, you need to start considering making YouTube a part of your social media marketing strategy.
Super Media reaches further than just videos however and we discussed other platforms during the reading including Vine and Pinterest. Vine is the up and coming video service from Twitter that allows user to upload 6 second videos and share them with friends. While 6 seconds may not sound like a lot, many users have created some truly amazing content in that time and Vine has grown as a result. In fact, on June 7th of this year, there were more Vine videos posted than posts on Instagram. Pinterest is another service that allows users to curate their own collection of pictures and photographs (there is a difference!) into different categories and share those collections with friends. Pinterest creates engagement through content that is clickable and usually will give users more information about the content they are viewing. This is especially productive and engaging in areas such as Do-It-Yourself and Crafts. Because users do have a high level of engagement, Pinterest and Vine alike should also be highly considered when making your social media marketing strategy. Super Media is content on steroids and is being engaged with by more users on more platforms than ever before. Finally, I mentioned there was a difference between photographs and pictures and wanted to share this video illustrating that point.
Are you a Pinterest or Vine user? How do you think these services can be helpful in marketing strategy?
Have you viewed a YouTube video on a device other than your PC browser? Do you think this accessibility of video services could lead to more people “cutting the cord” and replacing cable TV with YouTube and other video services? Why or why not?
gatorjake 