Michael Harrington

UWRT 1103-21
October 21, 2014
Assignment Two
Research for Twitter Advertisement
Introduction and Background
There are many debates as to who first invented the computer. One thing that is
clear though is who ultimately revolutionized the computer for home use. This mans
name is Bill Gates. Through years of hard work and determination he took a machine
many didnt understand and had them incorporated as a basic resource in ones house.
Bill Gates once said, I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the
most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools
of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user. To tell the truth I dont think he
realized how accurate that statement was. Social media was to become a new wave on the
Internet that would completely overtake individuals everywhere.
Social medias purpose in short is to allow individuals keep in contact with
friends and family. Sources like Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter make this
possible. Twitter is one of the larger sites among these many social media sources. This
huge website was created in only one brainstorming session of a small group of people.
When searching for a name for the media source the creators came across the word
twitter. Its means a short burst of inconsequential information. Instantly they knew this
was perfect. Over the years the company has continued to make changes and improve the
networking source. I, along with almost all my friends, have all made Twitter accounts.
My friends and I use this social media source to share information and keep in touch. For

Harrington 2
the younger generation I feel that we would all agree that Twitters primary use is to keep
in contact with one another. Depending on the individual, the actual purpose can vary.
Since the invention and many innovations of the computer and cellphone, the uses
of these technologies has gradually shifted from a professional work tool to a device for
browsing social media. As time has progressed countless sources of social media, with
endless functions, have come and gone. This paper considers the varied purposes and
intentions of social media; more specifically we will explore the mass diffusion of
information, advertising, and using social media as a space to personally engage with
friends and family. In this paper I aim to propose an idea how a company may effectively
determine whether their advertisements are useful or whether they should change their
techniques. We as consumers are exposed to countless ads a day. What I will propose is a
way for companies to determine whether their advertising techniques are effective or not.
Literature Review
As years have gone by the computer and web function have slowly shifted
towards information sharing, networking, and social media (Smith 2009). Originally the
computer existed purely because they made many operations for a business quicker and
more convenient. As time has progressed more and more applications that are non-work
related have emerged and taken over the technology world. Now applications such as
Facebook and Twitter exist. Here people may do things such as posting a small status of
140 characters or less in order to express thoughts or ideas the user may have (Java
2007). In Facebook you can also post albums of pictures and play games as well. Twitter
also gives you an option to post a picture if the user would so chose to. Another way we
as individuals can utilize social media is to keep in touch with friends and family, to

Harrington 3
connect with others with a similar interest, and to communicate with other public figures
in a community (Smith 2011). Constantly young people are reprimanded for being on
their phones constantly doing things such as tweeting or updating their status. It has
gotten to the point where the technology addiction has become a joke in society. You
hear it all the time the younger generation cannot get their face away from their phone.
The fact of the matter is that there are also adults as well that are victim to a similar
problem. Adults and teens before 2006 took part in blogging and recording things about
their lives but since Twitter came to light the practice of blogging in teens AND adults
has been exchanged for microblogging (Lenhart 2010). As one can see, social media has
completely changed the way we, as young people and adults, use computers and
smartphones.
As the use of computer and Internet has progressively grown and new discoveries
have arisen about how connected we are on a global scale and just how fast information
can spread. Especially on an app such as Twitter a user has the option to retweet and post
they choose and once that happens that same comment is displayed to everyone that
follows them (Kwak 2010). As one may realize this causes a potential for a single post to
spread at an exponential speed once a comment is made it is theoretically in cyberspace
forever. The speed at which a comment may spread is determined by the speed at which
people are retweeting it, the scale of people seeing the post, and also the geographical
range of people viewing the comment (Yang). The rapid spread of information can be a
dangerous thing when it comes to the Internet but companies and franchises have
attempted to use this to their advantage.

Harrington 4
Franchises and companies will use the social media sites in order to advertise
their products. Twitter has recently taken part in sports tem marketing by allowing
professional sports team franchises to promote their teams and interact with fans
(Wysocki 2012). This is just one of the many ways companies use social media. They
also use sites like Twitter for a research platform in order to discover trends and different
interests in pop culture in order to gain an edge for their company (Goyal 2013).
Sometimes companies will even place their ads into the media feed in order to have their
product gain exposure. The only problem with this is they sometimes advertise to the
wrong target group. As seen in my observations I received Budweiser ads on my feed but
it makes no sense to advertise an alcoholic drink to an individual to young to purchase it
(Harrington 2014). What I intend to propose is a way from the companies to determine
whether their ads are useful in the areas they put them or if they need to reconsider their
tactics.
Entering the Conversation
In recent years huge advances in computers and the worldwide web have brought
light to many applications that in the past were nothing more than a concept. Social
media is a growing trend that has almost become almost synonymous with the nothing
but the mention of technology and computers especially with a younger generation that
has known nothing but this rapid innovation of technology and a highly technical and
informational age. T.V. and radio constantly flood our minds with knowledge, news,
information, and advertisements but what some may not realize is the Internet, and more
specifically social media, play just as large a role in this diffusion of material. As
technology has improved so has the market and they have noticed, blogs, wikis, video

Harrington 5
sites, and social networks offer interesting platforms for collecting opinions, content and
data(Smith).

Everyday more and more people join a social media source of some kind and add
themselves to the masses of people who also have one. The amount of people on one of
these sources is not only enormous but is also growing exponentially so shouldnt a
business take advantage of that? The answer is yes, and they do everyday and people may
be unaware of it. Social media platforms are becoming research platforms and whether
or not we recognize it we see it every day in fact we are overloaded with it and we as
users may try to block it out because there is such a plethora of ads (Smith). Just as a
viewer or listener will tune out an ad, lots of social media users can scroll through ads
constantly and not even notice them.

When a company or franchise places ads or promotional information on a social

media source they have to pay a large amount of money to the media source. The
question is does this investment actually benefit them? Do viewers actually pay attention
to the advertisement and read what it has to say or do they simply scroll by it and brush it
off as another annoying ad? We as the consumer all look at all different types
advertisements in different ways depending on what it is showing or aiming to do. If ads
are targeted at the wrong crowd or dont convey a message well enough then essentially
it is useless. Also some individuals may just completely resent the ideas of advertisement
and therefore attempts to share your companys ideas and services with people like this
are quite frankly futile.

Harrington 6

What a company could consider doing is putting together a study to identify the
usefulness of there advertisements and whether or not it is worth the money and time they
are spending to do so. In order to do so a good way to measure this is to create a survey
that people can fill out with their own personal responses. This survey could contain
questions about the relevance of their ads on the social media source. Some example
questions could be something along the lines of On a scale of one to five how much do
you pay attention to the ads as you scroll through the feed? This key to the questions
will be having a scale in order to grade the surveys in order to collect data. If you allow
participants to just write in answers in a free response format there will be know way to
study the data.

After the survey is completed the study can only begin once a group of
participants, that use the media source they are researching, is collected in order to fill it
out. To obtain participants the company may wish put out a want ad just as many other
studies do asking for people to volunteer their time. In some cases studies will offer
monetary compensation for their time so this may not be out of the question. The number
of people to fill out the survey will not necessarily matter, but the more people that
participate in it, the better the results that will be acquired. In order to get the best results
possible the study should be undergone with a good amount of people and they should
also be required to fill out the survey alone in order to minimize bias from peers.

Harrington 7
As mentioned earlier each question should be formatted in a way that they can be
answered in a numerical scale in order to help simplify the data when it comes to
interpreting its meaning. In the study, in order to help understand the results, the results
could be based on the addition of a certain number scale applied to each question. This
would require a scale that would need be determined by the individuals running the
survey. For instance, a range of 1-10 may mean the ads are not necessary and I pay them
no attention yet on the other hand a range of 40-50 may mean these ads are good for
your business continue to include them on this site. After all the results for the survey
are collected and scored the overall results of every single one can be compiled and
placed into charts and tables in order to be further studied. After the study is completed it
will help to shed light on the situation and inform the company whether or not the
advertisements are worth the time and resources, or whether they should explore different
techniques or medium. In order to draw more attention to their ads the company could
consider looking at successful ads from the past and try to incorporate elements from
those.
Conclusion
This paper has explored the many uses of social media ranging anywhere from
conversing with friends and family to using it as an advertising source. Also we aimed to
explore the mass diffusion of information and what factors can affect how quickly this
can occur. And finally an idea was proposed as to how a company may determine
whether their advertising techniques are effective or not. It was proposed that a survey be
compiled that could be filled out by users of the social media source. This survey could
then be scored and studied to obtain information from the consumers. After it was studied

Harrington 8
the company would be able to make adjustments to there advertising strategies as needed.
This contribution is important because it could help for a business or franchise to become
more successful. If they stop wasting money with promoting products or services in the
wrong areas or the wrong ways they can save money or even gain more business by
placing ads in the right areas.
You may ask yourself when reading this, Why does this matter to me? but in
fact it this research helps you as a consumer just as much as it would help a business.
When a consumer can understand how a company will advertise and the techniques they
use, they can keep themselves from foolishly purchasing items and being tricked into it.
When the consumer stays informed they avoid falling into traps set by companies that
trick people into spending their money. It may also cause one to pay more attention to the
advertisements as they scroll past them and in a way this helps a company and also the
consumer by promoting the business but allowing the individual to closely analyze the ad
and understand what is being said. There a few ways a company may expand the research
to better help themselves. They could also create another study if they find their
techniques are not working. They may wish to research ways that people say are effective
for getting them to make purchases. This will obviously take another completely separate
study but it could make a great impact for a business. Advertising is not an easy thing to
do and is never 100 percent effective. Next time you find yourself on social media trying
to see what your friends are up to, ask yourself if you have actually noticed a presence of
ads.

Harrington 9
Works Cited
Aaron Smith. Why Americans use social media. November 15, 2011. Pew Research
Internet Project.
Akshay Java, Tim Finin, Xiaodan Song, Belle Tseng. Why We Twitter: Understanding
Microblogging Usage and Communities. August 12, 2007. ACM Digital library.
Amanda Lenhart, Kristen Purcell, Aaron Smith, Kathryn Zickuhr. Social Media &
Mobile Internet Use among Teens and Young Adults. February 3, 2010. Pew
Internet & American Life Project.
Haewoon Kwak, Changhyun Lee, Hosung Park, and Sue Moon. What is Twitter, A social
Network or a News Media. April 26, 2010. ACM Digital Library.
Harrington, Michael. Twitter Observations. Assignment One, 2014.
Jiang Yang, Scott Counts. Predicting the Speed, Scale, and Range of Information
Diffusion in Twitter. Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and
Social Media.
Mark Wysocki. The Role of Social Media in Sports Commmunication: An Analysis of
NBA Teams Strategy. April 30, 2012. American University.
S. Goyal. Advertising on social media. May 31, 2013. Scientific Journal of Pure and
Applied Sciences.
Tom Smith. The social media revolution. International Journal of Market Research. 2009.