Yes it’s true, apparently news out this week shows that the Irish nation has embraced social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, YouTube etc with such a vigor that now they are viewed more often than adult websites.
I read recently on a blog run by the famous Damian Mulley that facebook has gone from 200,000 users to nearly 900,000 in 2009 alone. This is faster than light, this must be a world record for the use of a product to grow this fast.
When I started this company back in 1999 here in Gorey the Internet was nearly a rude word as it always had a connotation that the use of the “Interweb” was used to view adult material or that only very big computer companies needed to use it for communication. Now everyone is seeing that the use of the internet is reducing their telephone bills as VOIP calls increase, online backups, emails, marketing, advertising and of course E-commerce and selling and buying on-line.
Using social media is a great example of how the recession is making people aware of their current marketing costs and getting them to reflect on their advertising budgets and ask them selves : are we getting bang for our buck. Usually the answer is not any more. Websites such as Facebook for example allow you to bring your company into the arena where your client base is already mingling.
Example: A pub in Gorey might not want to get a full website but they do appreciate the custom of their clients and they reach out to them using social media, They set up a facebook page and allow people to become fans, and I see now today they have 1,126 listed. They are using facebook to communicate to their customers to let them know about music nights, quiz night, sports matches etc.
Fantastic use the social media and the Internet. Well done guys.
