Facebook has official taken over our society. Originally geared towards college students it has blossomed into something much more. Once it concurred the youth, it moved onto our parents age group and now has gone even further to our grandparents age group 

The elderly are one of the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. It is not uncommon anymore to see post from your friend’s grandma on his homepage. Just last week, I went to see my great Aunt at a nursing home and all her friends were showing her their grandchildren on Facebook.

Five reasons why the elderly like Facebook:

1.  It is the easiest way to keep in touch family members.
2.  Allows them to reunite with old friends they haven’t seen in years.
3.  It is a good way to plan events
4.  Keeps them in the loop. They no longer are the last ones to hear about important events.
5. Meeting new people

Social networking has added a whole new dimension to the relationships between students and teachers. Before there was a division between home life and work life for teachers, but now teachers must be careful of the information that is shown on the internet. Teachers have always been engaging in inappropriate behavior, but now it really matters who finds out. There have been increasing incidents of teachers who have been fired due to pictures or posts depicting inappropriate sexual conduct, alcohol abuse, or hateful comments about their students or school. In some states, it has been made practically illegal to be friends with a student on facebook. On the other hand, students have been getting in trouble for creating pages or writing hateful messages about teachers. So should teachers simply deactivate their accounts in order to maintain their professional status? While this may be an option for some teachers, others may want to keep their profile on facebook. Some recommendations for those who would like to stay on facebook include:

1. Change privacy settings

2. Creating a profile for classroom use only

3. Create a general profile with filtering

4. Establish a personal learning network

Facebook is undoubtedly one of the best new ways for businesses to reach potential consumers.  Facebook is no longer just accessed by college students, as it was originally designed to do, but is used by people of all age groups, which is what makes this social network so prime for innovative businesses.  Additionally, Facebook can now be accessed by most new phones.  The reach that Facebook has, in not just the advertising perspective of the business, but other crucial aspects as well, is unparalleled in comparison to any other form of media that exists today.

Controversy swarms around Facebook for many viable reasons.  It is rather addictive and wastefully consumes time of many people.  This negative aspect of Facebook, however, should not deter a business from taking advantage of potential targets.  There is so much to gain for a business getting involved in the social media area, and for it to dive into the vast Facebook ocean of consumers would be paramount in furthering its life and substantially increasing its profits.



Do you know any businesses that are stuck in the past? Stuck with advertising on only billboards and the menus full of ads (you know what I’m talking about). I know I do. Those businesses may have done well in the past and see no reason to move away from the ways they have done things.

Traditional advertising methods can still be used effectively and by no means have become obsolete. However, for those that think social networking is just another way to put their business out there for people to see, like those menu ads, are sorely mistaken.

One of the great things about social networking is its responsiveness and interaction. Not only can a business advertise but they now make themselves available to communicate. Look on Facebook or Twitter and you can tell immediately which are the businesses that are flourishing just by the amount of feedback from other users or the number of followers they have- they are the businesses that have something to say and want feedback from those who use those services.

That is the future of advertising. If you want to live in the past keep on sticking with ad menus and billboards, but if you want more than just a one-way street of communication, look no further than social networks.

Facebook.  What a groundbreaking and incredible piece of technology that can allow businesses around the world to market to and interact with millions of potential and current customers for free!  The potential is undeniable; however, it can only be utilized effectively if Facebook is used well by the businesses.  While the five tips on the Public Relations & Marketing site entitled “PR 20/20” are very helpful, the best I believe is to post about things besides specials, sales, or specific products or services.

After researching how over 30 jewelers across the country utilize Facebook to drive traffic and customer interaction, I have come to the conclusion that most companies misuse and miss the whole point.  The companies which have the most interaction on their pages generally post about interesting topics not directly related to making conversions.

People don’t want to read your posts that say there are only a few days left to purchase a certain necklace.  People want to learn new things or be involved in some sort of a poll.  People want to build relationships.  Post about things that interest your customers, and your customers will soon be interested in you.