Companies are being pressured to get into social media a lot more these days. They have to have Twitters , and face book pages and all the other fandangled social media. They have been told to connect to their customers. It’s not just about selling your product, its engaging your customers ( insert other marketing drivel)
They have been told customers want to be connected.
So… Say a blog is a company right
We use the blog to plug/produce our own ‘business’ ( our words) most blogs operate heavily in our own industry ( Wow blogging) and have business relationships with other games and game bloggers. Our own blogs are very much me me me me me, ( think company’s own profit and losses, and the authors are CEOs and sometimes I like you ( insert link) we quote other bloggers or new sources and most the time we value add to content we don’t originally create Eg Don’t just link the video because the original source ‘manufactured that video” as companies in this industry we value add to that product, and use that video in a context, or have an opinion about it. It becomes more than a piece of raw material.
But all this while, we are still operating in a very narrow field of interest. Our customers are more likely to be a blogger themselves.
Now this all ties back to Twitter ( social media, you know companies need to have this to interact with their customers ect)
Well I have noticed an increase in my followers on twitter to be people who are not bloggers, and this is interesting because bloggers have a tendency to follow and read other bloggers, but here is this ability to connect to our readers, or ‘customers’ beyond comments – and are we doing that, or like me happily tweeting away thinking its an extension of my blog and not an engagement tool
The same goes for Facebook – it’s one thing to have a page on facebook, but you need to use it and interact with the people who are your fans
But interact how. Company’s pay social media experts a lot of money to get their customers engaged
So I don’t know if I am actually asking anything or if I am making sense, and I know where aren’t really company’s, but are we using social media to communicate as we could be when we seem to only be using it as an extension to our blogs
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Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog 
I don’t think your analogy is quite right. A lot of the chat about this subject comes from companies who use social media to a) increase exposure and b) create a “community”. The overarching idea is to get the word out about one’s product and then get people interested enough in to keep coming back to the blogs, sites, Facebook pages or whatever and become loyal to the brand. If a company manages to connect with a person on that level then they have ultimately gained a very high value customer who will not only repeatedly buy from them but also market them to their friends via word-of-mouth.
The problem is that almost always blogs aren’t the actual business themself as you suggest but rather just another form of creating community engagement. For instance, you have nothing to sell on your blog and no real business behind it but, lets say for example, you opened an online shop selling MMO merchandise and game cards etc then suddenly you have access to a host of potential customers, the people who engage with your blog. They trust you and like you because of the stuff you write and are more likely going to check out your shop and buy from you if you directly advertise to them. You can now leverage the communit you’ve created through blogging, Twitter and Facebook to directly enhance your business.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that blogs aren’t usually a business themselves but just another form of communication, same as Twitter. You need a business behind it in order to benefit on that level.
Very interesting article! 🙂
The reason why you visit and use twitter is always a decision of you own. Maybe it makes sense, that from time to time, it turns from an extension to an marketing tool for increasing followers or whatever you planed. However, in the end, it’s your turn to use it for this or not.
The reason why your twitter follower maybe raised is, that some people knowingly follow huge groups of users to increase they own follower, because many tend, as you said, to follow back.
Some people even set this mechanic to an automatic process. Furthermore there are tools available, which automatically add twitter accounts to your to-follow list and recognize them, for example a week, later and unfollow them. About a third stays as follower.
I never was into social networks, but in relation to connecting with people and finding new interesting things, it can be a great addition. I just asked Adobes tool After Effects a question via Facebook instead of reading through endless forum posts and got surprisingly a fast and precise answer.
It’s your turn to use it in your way.
You know, you’re the only blog I follow and have actually stuck to it.
Although, when you link something, I usually peruse them. I’ve tried following some, but they tend to fizzle, like Jayde’s Fire or what not. Bible of Dreams seems to be interesting though. Ironically, I only found your blog via another blog, HoTs and DoTs. But I stopped following her/them months ago.
Also, I think I should be in the cool kids club because I neither have a Facebook account or a Twitter nor am I a Blogger.
I’m glad your still interested in reading 🙂 I hope I am keeping at least one person other then myself entertained. I’ve been disappointed that some people have stopped blogging. The only problem with a cool kids club not connected to social media is that you wouldn’t be able to find each other!
It may be cynical to suggest it but I dare say it’s much more about feeling part of the ‘team’ than it is business.
Most blogs have personal interaction with the writer – which most writers actively encourage – it’s not about profit or loss but about acceptance.
Most companies using social media fail horribly because they are pushing a message onto their viewers / readers rather than listening to their audience.
At the end of the day the company doesnt give 2 figs what you think as long as you buy their widget, whereas you on the other hand are interested in what people think.
I was looking for a few of the bigger companies i ‘like’ / am fans of to see what ones actually engaged me and I couldn’t find any – however a few of the indie, smaller ones are alot more involved, or active in communicating to people, I guess some of its the size, the smaller you are the more you have time to interact as well.