Social Media and Fast Food Restaurants

Social media is something that has quickly gained the attention of Americans across the board. Americans as young as 13 and as old at 60+ actively use some sort of social media throughout the day. Mind you, different social medias draw attention from different age groups. I have noticed that Twitter and Instagram appeals to the younger generation, ranging from teens to late 20s. Facebook on the other hand, no only targets the youth market but reaches out to adults in their late adulthood as well.

Seeing as so many Americans are collecting involved in this one thing, what is something Americans like to do as well? EAT. They must eat to survive. Aside from eating the food they have at home, I know that many people like to go out to eat as well. Restaurants are not only competitive with the food they make but they are also in a battling out in the social media world.

Seeing the graph above, we see how Starbucks  is the KING of social media right now. This graph does not include Instagram but the last time that I checked, Starbucks had 1,700,000+ followers. Social media is something that is super important for fast food restaurants. It is assumed that people go to fast food restaurants because they want they food fast and in a hurry. Social media fits in the world of the fast paced American. Someone can look at the social media of a restaurant to find out about any special deals, the latest items of the restaurant, fan feedback about the restaurant and so much more. Rapport and word of mouth is something that most restaurants thrive off of when they first start. Social media helps these restaurants reach people they normally would not reach.

Having social medias also builds a relationship with consumers. On Instagram for example, people get a behind the scenes look on products and things of the business they normally would not see walking into a store. Starbucks, uploads a bunch of pictures that promote customer engagement. Since the holidays are rolling around, customers are familiar with the #redcups holiday cups that Starbucks releases during the fall/winter time. This idea and concept keeps customers engaged and makes them feel more connected with the company. The more closer a consumer feels with a restaurant, the more they will want to come back.

I believe it is safe to say that any fast food restaurant with social media is a better restaurant for having it assisting them to reach the highest level of success.

Does Privacy Exist In The World of Social Media?

Social Media has become rampant in the world of marketing. Whenever you pick up a cereal box, look on television, drive by a billboard, you will normally see a hashtag or a logo showing the company has Facebook, twitter or an Instagram. Social media is one of the biggest reasons why some people log on to the internet besides checking their emails. 

Seeing how addictive this new concept is, we need to look at some the downfalls of the concept, one of them being our privacy. Facebook, is one of the social medias that we know of that is CONSTANTLY changes. As soon as we get used to an update, Facebook decides to throw another one our way. This goes with Facebook trying to keep it's site constantly new and to keep users wanting to stay with the website. 

One thing that Facebook seems to always seem to have a problem with is maintaining the privacy of it's users. Currently, if you have logged on to Facebook lately and you are going through pictures to tag, you will see that Facebook already offers suggestions to some people. I saw this recently when going through my photos. See the image below:

In August, Facebook said they might be adding our pictures to a facial recognition software to tag people easily with suggestions being made from Facebook. The downside to this is the fact that this information can be accessed by the government if need be. This makes me wonder, how private is my profile? I might have it to the ultimate privacy, with images blocked only to me, random people cannot request me, the whole nine. All someone needs to do to find me, is access that software Facebook wants to add us too, and they can easily locate me by the backgrounds in my photo. 

If you ever noticed certain ads showing on the side of your Facebook, nine times out of ten, they are things that are relevant to you. For me, the ads I see deal with greek apparel, red sox apparel and things I normally look at on a daily basis. How is it that those ads get to be there? When we are on google or surf the web on things we do on a daily basis, cookies are collected onto our data. It collects data on what sites we visit, what items we purchase, things that fit us into a category. Pages like FB use that data and put ads on our FB newsfeeds that relate to us to optimize the marketing of that specific business. This is good from a marketing standpoint, but what about our privacy? Seeing the changes on FB and their privacy rules makes me feel that they cater more to marketers than they do to their users in regards to their privacy.