Radio and Social Networking
Abstract This is a research paper on Radio and Social Networking which is the grouping of individuals or organizations in one structure that is social in nature whereby people can be connected together through social networks and radio connections. Radio network includes aspects of local radio stations in a country like US and also Germany which is entirely on listening and not sight. With radio networking it helps listeners to discover new information, listen to latest news and advertisements and also new music as well as continuous flow music that has been there for a while. On the other hand social networking involves interaction of people through the 21st century social media like the famous Facebook and Twitter. Social networking is most popular online whereby you need internet access and connections to their websites. These social websites are viewable to all and also free to sign up and connect with family and friends. This makes them so popular and the cheapest ways to communicate with friends. There are also active chats that individuals are in direct one on one connection for example facebook making social networking the most widely used form of network for people who are far apart or in different parts of the world. For example in this paper the US and Germany.
Therefore there is a relationship between the two networks where radio management in both countries compensates their upcoming costs through social media in differentiated quality. Introduction The history of radio in both the US and Germany goes way back in the 1920s. In the United States US, sound broadcasting through radio that was commercially licensed started in 1920 though it used to be there way before that in 1896 where it emerged. Radio in the US since then has grown immensely after the world war one 1914-1919. By the year 1928 the Unite States had three radio networks, they were owned by companies like CBS (Colombian Broadcasting System) which owned one network and NBC (National Broadcasting Company) that owned two networks. This drew many audiences throughout the great depression in the 1930s.
After the Second World War television images that are visual replaced the audio limited radio transmission as the dominant means of conveying news and also entertainment. This meant that the radio system had to adapt and it adapted by replacing entertainment programs with scheduled music for the people to continuously listen to. During the 1950s automobile car makers introduced radios in cars as standard accessories and with this radio was hugely boosted as Americans could listen to radio even while driving. In the 1970s towards 1980s FM radio was introduced to replace the original AM radio. The FM had better sound quality and it was the major technical change in that period.
This lead to inventions of small portable radios such as walkmans with headsets. This had better music to listen to which made AM shift to talk radio and news formats. After the 1980s and emergence of FM radio changed radio in America and its improvement hasn’t looked back ever since. This has nowadays offered entertainment and a source of news and advertisements creating jobs to many American individuals. On the other hand the history of radio in Germany evolving is somewhat not so different to the US and it’s good to note that the first official radio broadcasts in Germany started in the attic of the Vox building in Berlin on the 30th of October 1923. The rates of transmission increased since then up until 1939 whereby a lot of changes in Germany radio were seen due to the start of the war.
During the war German radio stations broadcasted not only war propaganda and some entertainment but also provided air raid alerts. Germany had experimented with television broadcasting before the world war two using a 180 line raster system and claimed it was superior to the British mechanical scanning system. Since and after the world war radio networking has grown immensely not only in Germany but the whole of Europe where recently in the 21st century stations began digital broadcasting. The influence of social media to our lives Social media has grown so much in recent times and is influencing people’s lives. This is because it has enabled people to connect with each other under little or no cost and helped them discover new information and music. Social media involves sites like facebook, twitter, MySpace, bebo, badoo and many others but facebook and twitter hold the majority of customers and are making billions of dollars from this networking.
These social media is influencing live by: First and foremost we live in a society that depends on information and communication to move forward in our daily activities like work, education, travelling, entertainment and others. It is important to be aware that most of our decisions, values and beliefs are based on what we know are facts, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we have to rely on our studies and experience but in our daily lives we have to rely on social media to get news and facts of current situations that we should be aware of. Social media also influences young people through their source of fashion. They tend to emulate what they see in the media and what their friends home and abroad are doing. There are some positives and negatives of social media to young people.
The positives are they get to share new ideas and help each other in tasks. The other positive is they get to learn what is going on around them through the various advertisements in these networks. However, the negative influence they can have on the youth is through exposure to sex images and videos, excessive images of violence and other disturbing images that spoil youth mentality. (Creighton, 2010). Social media has also influenced our lives through giving of job opportunities to the jobless whereby jobs are advertised in these media. Customers of the social media will be able to read the advertisements and also the statuses and groups of other customers who are offering jobs.
Therefore social media has improved the standards of living. What is a radio station?A radio station is a station whereby there is transmission and production of AM and FM radio broadcasts. This is intended to reach the general public. In a radio station there are producers of the information and presenters who convey messages and read news to the public and also play music continuously to the people under request or in their daily routine. Differentiation between the two markets in both countries The difference between the two markets in Germany and United States is that with the US the latest social media like facebook have surpassed the local champions of social networking that was MySpace in case of the American citizens. Unlike the US, Germany and some European countries like Belgium and the Netherlands still have local champions that are unrivalled even by the latest and commonly used social networks such as facebook and twitter.
In Germany the local champion of social networking is called Studiverzeichnis. This is the major network that people in Germany use. (Muhlenfeld, 2002). The reason for this difference is that the English language is not the first language in Germany and since these social networks are designed in the English language, it has been hard for these latest social networks to overthrow the local network since most Germans do not speak English. The English language is the most spoken language in the globe and for many countries people can be able to read and write English.
This has been also popular in the Middle Eastern countries like China and Japan who mostly love these social networks and facebook is growing rapidly. (Stassen, 2010). Hence the market of social networks is far greater in the United States than in Germany where even their education is in their language making the locals know very little about these social networks that are conveyed in the English language and writing. The Germans tend to concentrate more on their own things and it is difficult for these social media to have an impact on the country (Fursich, 2004). With the US business is as usual and English is the first and main language so social networks are growing rapidly by day.
Another thing is that the markets of the social media in Germany is to target the few English educated Germans who besides knowing their language can also enjoy the best sociial networks offered since they are better and have more features than their local champion. Marketing of foreign products and services has always been difficult to producers and marketers since people tend to like what they are familiar with and not that they cannot be able to read and comprehend. How was the managers’ work before social media? The work before social media among managers was relatively straight forward in the sense that they were in the central and mostly involved in the daily operations of many companies However with social media the need of managers has drastically suppressed and they are managed relatively easily by the customers whereby security measures like usernames and passwords are involved to make customers access these social media. Managers had to rely on giving instructions and hire employees so as to make sure the work is done but in social media nowadays the work is straight forward and instructions, terms and conditions are agreed in the copyright world of social networking. How did it develop with social media? Radio networking developed with social media since events like news are communicated in both networks.
Many radio networks in most countries have their own social networks that customers and listeners can see and follow when they are away from radio. The major one used is twitter where you are able to follow the news through the internet when you follow their usernames. They also use facebook pages as means of communicating to the public and the world as a whole. What are economic consequences (benefits and costs) of the social media usage for radio stations? There are some economic benefits and costs of the social media usage for radio stations. They include:- The making of advertising quite cheaper than the use of posters and payment of commercials to radio and television stations.
This will boost the economy a great deal since the public will always be informed through the social networks. Another benefit is social media is a marketing strategy just like any other marketing strategy and radio stations are able to keep tabs with its listeners under minimal costs. The economy will greatly improve through social media since even the youth of a country are more enlightened than the youth of 20 to30 years ago where social networking wasn’t as advanced as today.Is there a profitable future of social media in radio? Yes there is. This is due to the inexpensive methods of advertising of brands and products and also provides opportunities for businesses to offer their products and services in a way that is transparent to their customers.
Social media is considered to be cost-effective method of spreading the word and news due to their limited budgets. How can we get a better market position through social media? We can get a better market position through social media by signing up to various social media. This increases the number of customers viewing our products and services. This is because social media is based on one thing and that is conversation. When you use social media sites for your business, it allows you to magnify the conversation of your products and services to your customers.
Are the costs worth the greater number of users? Yes indeed, the costs are worth the greater number of users since social media keeps growing day by day and since the economy is recovering to a point in many nations, the use of social media by businesses has not decreased at all. In fact it has increased greatly hence the costs are worth the greater number of users. Conclusion From this research paper we can conclude that radio and social media have hugely advanced over the years and will keep growing. Social media has taken a major step and has become hugely popular even with a deteriorating economy. Business people are lucky to have these networks that will continue to provide inexpensive means of promotion of brands hence in the end conclude radio and social networking has taken the advertising industry to the next level.
