Social Networking FTW

This week, In Medias Res was asked, “What is the competitive landscape of the media industry in the US?” and we will be answering this question specifically in terms of popular social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, as they have been utilized most by other businesses implementing social media as a tool to further themselves.

That's because even established companies (Google, Time Warner Inc., Disney, etc.) seem to be rethinking their business models to incorporate websites, mobile functions, and social networking sites in order to make their products more accessible.

But what is the social media medium doing to the competitive landscape exactly?

The company’s branding, or the way it gets is name out, is done through the outreach it has online. The top social networking companies are as follows:

Facebook (700 mil. monthly viewers)

Twitter (200 mil. monthly viewers)

LinkedIn (100 mil. monthly viewers)

MySpace (80.5 mil. monthly viewers)

Ning (60 mil. monthly viewers)

Google Plus+ (32 mil. monthly viewers)

The viewership alone should not be telling of the competitive landscape of social networking sites in the media industry. It also depends how these web sites are used by other companies- outside advertising being how a lot of them make money. According to USAToday, Facebook, specifically, stands out as a promoter of small businesses, making coupons, special offers, and more available to followers/users.

The newer of these social networks, Google Plus+, has tried to revolutionize social networking accessibility by having "friend circles" and allowing Google hangouts (or video chats) for large groups of people. As a user of both Facebook and Google Plus+, I find Google Plus+ to be more fun and creative to use. But ol' reliable (Facebook!) is what seems to draw me in- simply because it seems like everyone uses it! It's hard to compare social networking sites when Facebook and, as of late, Twitter seem to be much more mainstream than the rest.

While Facebook is used by a lot of small businesses, Twitter is being utilized by some very smart companies, too. The online retailer, Zappos, and Comcast are using Twitter to further public relations and advertise their company.

When you get down to it, these popular social networks offer many different things: LinkedIn, specifically, serves as a way to distribute your resume to potential employers. All these unique groups come with downsides to them too: MySpace has a lot of spam and an outdated look to what used to be a site meant for artists to share their work and music; Facebook used to spam their users' in-boxes and many people are dissatisfied with the changing formats; Google Plus+ is very exclusive and you can't make an account without being invited by a current user. As for Ning, and other popular social networking sites like Hi-5, -they simply have not established themselves enough to make as much of a mark as Facebook and Twitter.

It would be interesting to fast-forward 5 years and see what we're still into. I don't know if Facebook will stay on top- or if a completely different player will take us by storm. So far, the competitive landscape of the media industry- as far as social media goes, is such that it is dominated by Facebook and Twitter, with some other competitors fighting for third place.