Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are here to stay. There are different strategies that companies and individuals use to convey the information they want and develop their own online identity. Companies using Facebook and Twitter have target audiences they are trying to reach out to. I am going to be talking about two different organizations that have completely separate agendas in their online presence, and what their reasons are for using these services.

Many of us frequent big box stores like Walmart often to do some if not all of our shopping due to cheap prices and wide selections. These kinds of companies are using Facebook and Twitter profiles, mainly targeting people that are already customers. If you like them on Facebook or Twitter you see between 3 and 5 posts a day, mainly targeted product advertisements. Around Halloween they were bombarding people will ideas of things to buy for Halloween parties like costumes, food, crafts for a successful Walmart purchased Halloween. There is very little distinction between their Facebook and Twitter pages, they are used very similarly in the fact that it is a flow of products and services that they would love for you to buy at Walmart. It also offers a unique experience where they will respond to your Tweets or Facebook posts with customized responses to make it a friendly and inviting online experience. In general it’s a way for them to constantly feed you advertisements for free with the intention of making more money. For many it could be useful to get ideas for holiday season, similar to how Pinterest is used.

The next example I will use is completely different both in its delivery of content and its reasoning for doing so. The Green Bay Packers use their Twitter and Facebook the same way most sports teams do, more as a source for news, updates and a means to get fans excited for upcoming events and contests. Similarly to Walmart, both its Facebook and Twitter are used for essentially the same purpose, almost with identical content. This is due to the fact that most of what they do is news related. The Packers use their Twitter account as an official way to release information about injured players and their expected returns. Really the NFL and world as a whole use Twitter as a way to get news extremely fast and to the point.

Twitter and Facebook have become means for organizations to easily pass current information and ideas on to their followers. The interesting thing is that you aren’t forced to follow anyone, and conversely you can unfollow anyone at any point. If an entities followers are going up or down is a pretty solid indicator if they’re doing a good job or not in the eyes of their followers.