Social Networking Sites

A social network website is about building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people. It usually consists of a representation of each user, such as a profile, his/her social links, and additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Social networking sites are hugely popular these days, such as Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 and Friendster.

Being such a popular phenomenon, social networking sites are a goldmine of information for companies.

1. Social networking sites are very good place to set up profiles, as they are a great way of communicating with your target audience (for example, in Facebook, people could "become a fan" of a public profile, and keep up with all the relevant news of that organisation). Organisations can interact with their target audience, get feedback from them, find out about their needs and wants, and release important information about themselves, so that people will find out more about them. Such a tactic could build awareness about the organisation, and even customer loyalty if done right.
2. Despite the apparent danger about releasing too much information about yourself on social networking sites, some organisations have relied on looking for potential talent on social networking sites. “If we were going to attract the candidates with the skill sets we wanted, they had to be active within social media before they even came on,” says partner and co-founder Jason Throckmorton of LaunchSquad, a San Francisco PR firm working with freshly minted startups. (http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-219914.html)
3. Many people post factual, and some even rather personal, information about themselves on the websites. Such information can be used for marketing purposes so that organisations can better frame their ads to appeal better to their target audience. Organisations could also also post such ads on the social networking sites themselves.
   
4. Entrepreneurs and small business who are just starting out, can expand their contact bases through social networking sites, as social networking sites can be used at little or no cost at all.