On the arrival of the tech industry in the early 2000 to the masses, there was little law around the internet. Americans by nature crave freedom, it’s what the country was built on. It is in our DNA to gravitate toward doing what we want. Fast forward to 2019 and we are facing real challenges with social media platforms and how users want to engage.
The phrase of the day is, “Russian collusion” and the casual attitude of, “my life is an open book” on social media is being re-evaluated in daily conversation. Culturally we value the ability to share our point of view to the masses and now it’s time to take a closer look. Users are versed enough in social media and what information on users is available to anyone. Just as millennials have demanded more of our economy, culture and politics… there will soon be an opinion on what’s appropriate from a social media platform.
Our law making and infrastructure have a lot to catch up on in terms of how to handle the internet from net neutrality to cyber attacks. The subject of social media platforms as a business model, a collector of private information and allegiance to the users that make social media so successful are under scrutiny. Users have a right to share the way they want to, social media platforms have a responsibility to protect users first as they are what make the platform model thrive. In the event industry many events create a private app or use public app options to reach attendees. These options often gather content and analytics about attendees. Here are some things to consider when determining social media platforms and selecting apps to reach your target demographic.
Check privacy statements and analytic capabilities: Always check on how much data you are personally collecting and how much data the root platform company is collecting. Make this knowledge easy to digest for users.
Consider what your user wants from a social media platform or app. If your base tends to be private, consider that. If your base tends to want to share everything, consider that impact.
Always give options to contain sharing and put control in the users hands. Some attendees are perfectly happy to openly share, mostly they want to know what their options are and how to control them.
When putting content out always fact check. We live in a time where it’s clear most facts aren’t double checked, be authentic as an event organizer and always put out correct information.
Instead of abiding by the law, try to create a set of rules that are intentional and with the users or attendees best interest in mind. If you are the target user, what would you want to represent you?
Give the option for users to link to other social media apps but don’t make it mandatory. As a tech forward society we’ve gotten in the habit of requiring new users to use google, apple, facebook, etc., as a form of login. There are a lot of potential attendees that don’t want to be required to have another account or another login. If you give them the options, it’s very interesting figuring out who likes to link to what platform and how they share their event experiences.
Social media platforms should always be selected with the users best interest in mind.
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