"Social Media is Incredibly Local"

The phrase “social media is incredibly local” definitely makes me wonder what social media actually is and the purpose of it. Is social media intended to reach a local audience or is it really the complete opposite and is it intended to reach a global audience? Can social media be used for local leisure and local business or used for global leisure and global business? After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that it does both. It is up to the receiver and the audience of the particular social media they are using to decide what their intention is in using the various social media sites.

Personally, when I think of local, I think of my community. Local social media allows small businesses in my community to thrive because they are able to spread the word about events and activities going on within their own organization. When I was reading blogs, I found this example of a small restaurant in Miami called Lulu. The author, Hugo Guzman, explain how they use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Yelp to promote their business. Guzman said, “What makes them successful in their social media endeavors is their willingness to blend “real life” interaction with social media interaction”. They have excellent customer service on their designated social media sites—responding to customer’s reviews, posting pictures, and actively engaging in conversations with patrons. This example applies to many companies but defines how social media can be incredibly local to such a small local family-run restaurant in Miami. Lulu has found their own niche and most importantly, has found how they can reach that niche and their local community through various social media tactics.

On the opposite side, social media is extremely global. International companies use the same social media sites that the small restaurant in Miami does but does so in a very different way. They use Facebook and Twitter to attract an extremely large audience of people, all across the world. For example, LinkedIn was a small online site that allowed business members to connect with each other and over the past couple of years it has expanded immensely, reaching an international market. This growth to an international and global market has allowed business executives in other countries connect and learn from each other’s strategies and sometimes even become successful partners. In this example as well as many others, it is proven how global social media can be.

“Social media is incredibly local” has definitely sparked my interest in the debate over what the real intention and purpose of social media is. Was it created to promote local businesses to their own community or was it instead created to globally connect people to learn about the world? I think that the person using the social media site decides what they ultimately want out of it. Some people just use Facebook to interact with their friends while others use every social media site available in order to promote their business locally or globally. Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to decide.