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Big Data creates "Big Bucks" - Louise Stokes

Each time a new media user likes, shares, hashtags or online purchases, the concept of big data is displayed. What is big data really though? “Big data is a way of understanding the world, we can measure so much more than we ever could, and now we’re going to be able to visualise so much more than we ever could. It’s going to provide a whole new framework for understanding human civilisation” - Jason Silva, (2012, The Economist). Big data gives large corporations the chance to examine and act accordingly to data collected through social media platforms. Siegel (2013) explains that by gathering big data it “embodies a priceless collection of experience of which to learn”. In the event that organisations are to take in and raise their benefit from huge data, what are the successful ways in which to do so?

An example of where big data is collected from is Instagram. It is a mobile social media, photo-sharing platform that allows users to follow and like/comment on brands and people they are interested in. According to Smith (2014), there are 200 million monthly, active users on Instagram. “Instagram has quickly gone from a trendy iOS-app, to a massive social network with Android and web presence. Instagram hasn’t shown any sign of slowing down, and with Facebook’s pocketbook behind it now, its growth will surely continue,” (Smith, 2014).

A local brand that has increased its marketing exposure by using Instagram effectively is SaboSkirt. Two Brisbane girls originally started fashion blogging in early 2010 and since then has created an online store and now has one million Instagram followers from all over the world. I believe without Instagram they wouldn’t have been able to experience growth in the way they have.

(Instagram Profile @saboskirt)

By utilising big data through Instagram, Saboskirt has been able to experience global success. Instagram has allowed customers to interact directly with the brand and given them the platform for such close engagement.

Companies can examine their audiences in greater depth and thus give them and continue to deliver to their needs as a group. This new understanding can give the company new ways to promote to their followers and continue to grow them, creating a hugely popular concept.

In summary, big data gives a shifting control to brands. It allows companies to better promote to its audiences and therefore grow its business. Big data is an ever increasing popular tool, that when efficiently dissected, can affect monetarily and fascally, as well as inside social domains.

Siegel, Eric. 2013. “Introduction – The Prediction Effect.” In Predictive Analytics, 1-16. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Inc.

Silva, J. (The Economist). 2012. “What is Big Data?”. Youtube Video, posted June 26. Accessed May 10, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZGEusG13A

Smith, C. (Digital Maketing Ramblings). 2014, “(April 2014) By The Numbers: 70 Interesting Instagram Statistics, posted March 6, 2014. Accessed May 9, 2014 http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/important-instagram-stats/#.U3gSdRCLNoc

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Obama, Facebook & Twitter – A formula for success - Louise Stokes

There are many ways in which people can interact with politics. They could write a letter, they could meet with their local MP to discuss issues of personal importance or they could tweet any political figure directly and often times get an instantaneous response. No one doubts that social media activity produces results in politics, in particular the USA 2012 election, where President Obama’s ground game made the difference (Hendricks, 2011). Hendricks (2011) states that ground game was an extension of the 2008 strategy for involving millions of small donors. Suddenly there was a grassroots movement that made individuals feel as if their actions mattered. Optimists saw a huge shift in the democratic process, away from huge corporate donors and the corrupt influence of lobbyists. Small money could beat big money in a presidential election (Harfoush, 2012).

“As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action. In the political arena … these increased freedoms can help loosely coordinated publics demand change” (Shirky, 2011). In the case of the President Barack Obama, Shirky was accurate in his ideas about the population engaging very closely in the political landscape. “Change” was the theme itself for the first campaign.

Obama and his team employed the use of top social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook to actively engage with voters. In 2007, the Barack Obama team created an connection between a user's account of the Obama official website and Facebook, so a user could publish activities via sending postings from one to another. In 2008, in addition to Facebook accounts of Barack and Michelle Obama, the Obama team created ten more Facebook accounts for "specific demographics”, such as Veterans for Obama, Women for Obama, and African Americans for Obama (Harfoush, 2012).

Barack Obama's Twitter account (@BarackObama) is the official Twitter account for United States President Barack Obama and is used for his election efforts. Obama also uses the White House's Twitter account (@WhiteHouse) for his presidential activities. As of 2014, Obama's account had 43 million followers, followed with 651,188 accounts and had posted 11,839 tweets. Well into 2011, it was following the most people of any account on the platform and was the third to achieve ten million followers. It is one of only two accounts in the world to be in the top ten in both followers and followees (Harfoush, 2012).

Image from Twitter.com

Obama has used Twitter to promote legislation and support for his policies.Obama is also the subject of various debates on Twitter. He has also used his account to respond to the public regarding the economy and employment. Based on its rate of adoption, Twitter will have a complementary role to other communication efforts that is more significant in Obama's 2012 presidential campaign than in prior elections. Barack Obama’s use of new media exemplifies how engaging with voters in a forum where they can speak their mind can be successful in winning political campaigns.

Harfoush, Rahaf. 2012. Yes We Did: An Inside Look at How Social Media Built the Obama Brand. Berkeley, California: New Riders—Peachpit.

Hendricks, John Allen; Denton, Robert E. Jr. 2011. Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

Shirky, Clay. 2011 “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change.”In Foreign Affairs 90:1. Accessed May 4 2014 at: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media