Throughout the book it is necessary to give examples of the various platforms being covered within the chapters. In this regard I have taken the easy path of using those platforms and brands that are most popular at the time the book went to press, namely the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. However, my reason for this is that the majority of readers will recognize them, and it should not be perceived as favoritism on my part. Indeed, these branded social media platforms do not carry all before them in other parts of the world. For example, there is Orkut in Brazil, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki in Russia, Cyword and Me2day in South Korea, and Qzone, Tencent Weibo, and Sina Weibo in China.
When talking about social media presences I constantly refer to products, brands, and organizations. My reasoning for this is that such is the nature of social media that—for example—a Facebook page could be a marketing tool for a product, a brand, or an organization, where the content is written on behalf of that product, brand, or organization. In the case of organizations these can be not-for-profit or public body as well as a company or firm.
Scattered throughout the book are references to organizations with which I have worked—be that as a consultant or as part of my research—but none are named. In these examples, the identity of the organization would not add to the readers’ understanding of the subject and so I choose to not make public my association with them—or theirs with me—or because I have signed a confidentiality agreement which means they have to remain anonymous whether I like it or not. In other examples—particularly in Chapter 6—stories are available online for everyone to see, and so no anonymity is necessary. It is also the case in these illustrations that the nature of the organization, brand, or product is pertinent to the point I am making.
There are a number of occasions in the book where I refer readers to a website, or even advise a case is sought on a search engine rather than include full details within the text. I also, on occasion, type out messages posted on social media platforms rather than presenting them verbatim as a cut-copy-paste image. I would prefer to use an image of a website, tweet, or Facebook page. However, the organizations concerned either refuse outright requests for permission to reproduce those images, or make the process so laborious it—effectively—puts authors and/or publishers off of the idea.1
Such is the fast-moving nature of both social media and any marketing conducted on that media, I feel it is worth pointing out that the bulk of this book was written in winter/spring of 2017. So if you think any of the content looks a bit dated by the time you read, please bear in mind that the process of publishing a book is not instantaneous. Thank you.
1 I have written about this issue before; if you have an interest take a look at its web page—it’s an academic paper, so a bit long-winded, but you can always skip to the interesting bits in the chart at the end. See alancharlesworth.eu/free-publicity-you-cant-give-it-away/index.html.