Social moves beyond media

SOCIAL MEDIA   SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK   DIGITAL

Hong Kong - As Social Media Week gets underway, a panel of users say the social phenomena has moved beyond simply connecting users to influencing all areas of life from business to government institutions.

Speaking at the Hong Kong launch of Social Media Week 2012, Jay Oatway, journalist, consultant, said social media has gone beyond "media" and has spread into culture, government, business and lifestyle areas.

"Social media has changed the way we communicate and do business, allowing brands to connect at a one-to-one basis with consumers," he said. 

"It has strong potential as a customer service tool and has opened unprecedented ways to solve problems."

He expects social media to continue to grow, driven by competition as more and more company's tap into its potential in order to be where consumers and competitors are.

Rudi Leung, director communications planning at Agenda Hong Kong, agreed social will continue to influence and grow as more and more people find their own voices through channels they are comfortable with such as Twitter, Facebook, Weibo.

However he also sees social media going beyond simply blogging and sharing content with friends, such as the situation in China where he said microblogging community has saturated.

Others, like Joanne Ooi, CEO of Plukka.com, say "visual sharing" has taken the center stage, especially in the fashion industry.

"Platforms such as Tumblr have become a turnkey resource and curator tool for brands and individuals to create a following through visual content," she argued.

Hong Kong's second Social Media Week, led by City Partner Cohn&Wolfe-impactasia looks to leverage social media for businesses and individuals looking to develop an online presence.

This year’s Social Media Week is taking place in 12 cities across the world at the same time, and last year in Hong Kong alone brought together 2,300 attendees across 38 events with online conversation generating over 400,000 tweets.

“Social Media Week highlights Hong Kong’s unique position as connector, fusing the social media scenes of the West and China," Sarah Woodhouse, group managing director of Cohn&Wolfe-impactasia.

"Where else in the world can you find the skills to seamlessly navigate social media platforms from both cultures to the benefit of brands, corporations and non-profits.”

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