I completely agree about your second bullet point, that fact that social media has become a strong player in business and advertising. To be honest, the first book I read that made me academically interested in social media is “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” by Gary Vaynerchuck. This book explores a number of social media platforms (Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) through examples of how businesses have used those platforms to either benefit or hurt their business. One of the best examples that I remember till this day is from Oreo’s, who posted an ad for their product during the Superbowl blackout on Twitter (I believe). This was an extremely clever move because they were able to recognize the influx of traffic social media platforms would receive when the blackout happened.

Because of that book, I am now constantly re-reading the ads I encounter on my own social platforms. Instead of wondering how I am able to receive such relevant ads, I instead look at the type of content these businesses are producing, always eager to see how they phrase their advertising to cater to the specific demographics and “style” of each individual social platform.