Media Monday Again! I read an article on Digital Sharecropping today and it got me thinking. Is being a digital sharecropper a good thing or a bad thing?
The term Sharecropper essentially means a landowner allowing others to farm on their land in exchange for part of the crop. Digital Sharecropping, a term coined by Nicholas Carr, describes how many business use platforms like Facebook or eBay to run their business. The downside is that you relinquish ownership of your content by use of some of these mediums. It is not as bad as it sounds, but if you read the fine print, you agreed to it when you opened your account.
The fear is that at any time, and almost all of the time, these platforms can make changes that can impact your business. They can increase or implement fees. They can change the terms of use. Or even scarier, in the case of Facebook, if you are thought to be doing something that violates their policy, they can just delete your page! Regardless of how long you have had your account, how good of a user you have been in the past or even how many fans you have. Just poof! One day you could be deleted!
Of course, how can you deny that operating in the social world is incredibly important to the growth of your client base?
Never fear! Having a good balance of where you are putting your efforts ensures that you will be prepared for any changes that may come.
- Make sure that you are collecting fans on more than one social medium, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Find the ones that work best for you and start tapping the social frenzy.
- Have your own “land”. That means have a well-designed, content rich website with your own hosting account, not hosted on a “free” platform. In other words, you own the content.
- Leverage an opt-in email list to connect with your customers outside of social media
The point is, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Technology is exploding at a phenomenal rate so being able to respond easily to change is imperative. Be smart, not afraid and make social media work for you.
This is a nice post!
I had this page saved a while previously but my computer crashed. I have since gotten a new one and it took me a while to find this! I also actually like the template though.
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