The retailer I chose to analyze is TOMS shoes. I think the website looks great and is very easy to navigate. The design is both consistent and reflective of their products. It is very clean looking and modern so you are drawn to looking at the different aspects of it. 

Because they are a company with a cause, it is important for them to illustrate that on their website. “Our Movement” is one of the tabs at the top and gives you a few options of pages that will explain their mission as a company. Here they have a video that shows what their mission is as a company:

When you are on the TOMS homepage, you will first see that they have a blog. That link is located at the top and is clearer than the other social media sites. If you scroll to farther down on the page (which isn’t long to begin with), there is a box labeled “CONNECT” which includes Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and RSS buttons. I also noticed that as you move onto other pages, that are not sales pages, the buttons more to a more prominent, left side of the page. 

I think that because an important part of this company is their cause, it is perhaps more important for them to build community with their customers. When you click on the different buttons, you are encouraged to “follow” or “like” in order to “stay up to date with the movement. I think that this is a good tactic for getting customers involved because they feel connected to the company after having bought their product. I think that this investment will make them more likely to want to stay up to date on the progress of “the movement” and more likely to be involved socially. On Twitter, TOMS gives links to videos, products and promotes other causes so I think they are speaking to the right market. 

Overall I feel that TOMS is doing a pretty great job of building community through social media sites. I think that they are aware of their target market, and are doing a good job of speaking to them. They have a certain way of using design and photo to be consistent and compelling in their advertisement and website. I think if anything, TOMS could improve by maybe just tweeting more and having a larger presence on Facebook. I think they are a pretty well known and respected retailer, so that they could have even more success in the social media world.

Lurker or Participant?

When I think about my online social media uses, my mind first goes to Facebook and Twitter. Analyzing whether or not I am a lurker or participant on those sites is difficult because it seems to be conditional.

When I am on Facebook, in most cases I am a participant. It creates a social atmosphere surrounding you with “friends” so it is likely that I feel comfortable speaking my mind to send a message or make a point, and reaching out to others. The exception where I do feel like more of a lurker is where I feel less comfortable or do not have a degree of relationship with a person. There are some people on Facebook who I would not talk to directly, but I do have the option of looking at their page and pictures to see what they are up to without having direct contact with them.

When I am on Twitter, I would say I am more of a lurker because I have less close relationships.  I have a much smaller network on Twitter so my action consists of more reading and “re-tweeting” of strangers and less direct conversation. I am also less of a participant on Twitter because, with this smaller audience, I might be less likely to try and send a message or cause.

Overall, I think for me it depends on which type of social media I am using and who it is I am communicating with. Like in real life, I attempt to be aware of my surroundings and how I will be perceived and it seems to be no different with social media.

"A Focus Group in the Wild"

          I read an interesting article this week regarding the use of social media in the recent election. The primary claim that the article makes is that voters turn to old media—television—as their primary new source in elections. Andrew Kohut, President of PEW Research Center says, “Social media has been much heralded but relatively little used by average voters.” Only 2 percent of voters sought news through Twitter, 3 percent from YouTube, and 6 percent through Facebook.

           What is most interesting about this subject is the way that we can analyze the pros and cons of social media in a professional setting like this one. The drawback of social media here is that it is mostly citizen journalism, not fact. Voters are dramatically less likely to believe something that “Aunt Sharon” says over an actual news reporter on TV. As far as the benefits, a great quote from the article is, “Powers calls twitter a focus group in the wild. With hundred of thousands of tweets responding to each debaters speech as seen on cable tv. It is a layered conception of media, old and new, coexisting like modern apartments buildings standing amidst the ancient ruins in Rome”. The benefit of social media here is not to get facts or news—but to get opinion. I think that this may not have been the purpose of social media, but it is certainly its future.