Focusing mostly on the way it has affected the beekeeping community.
The general public’s awareness of the bee’s importance and matters of conservation.
This blog is a project for study unit MCS 3953, University of Malta lectured by Dr Alex Grech and launched on the 18th of January 2019.
The aim of this blog is to study the relationship between social media and its effects on local trades. In the last few years, one can notice that social media has become the go-to medium of advertising and communication for everyone from students to local tradesmen, and even larger businesses. Needless to say, local trade is being affected in a way that is both positive and negative.
Some of the common advantages of social media are a digital economy, farther reach to audiences, the possibility of creating a digital identity, and access to information which may otherwise not be available. Applying this to local tradesmen by accessing a digital economy, they are increasing their profitability and also gaining access to trade opportunities which may have not been an option otherwise. Reaching audiences digitally allows for tradesmen who may have been forgotten in traditional advertising the opportunity to reach a younger and more current market, instead of relying on ageing return customers, they may broaden their customer portfolio to also include a new audience. This ties in with creating a digital identity in a world where we are constantly looking at screens it is more likely that we are to see an advertisement or facebook page then it is likely that we will come across an advert on a newspaper or television. Social media is not only beneficial to reach audiences and increase profits, but it is also a good way of sourcing good quality material at reasonable and competitive prices.
Social media’s disadvantages include but are not limited to increased competition, the requirement of computer literacy, and the constant change of platforms. From a local tradesman’s perspective, increased competition may result in pressure to cut corners in order to keep up with demand and might lead to a product of lower standard. In an age of online reviews and rant posts, it is highly likely that a bad comment or review left on someone's page may damage one’s reputation and therefore lead to loss of current and new clientele. Looking at the local context, most tradesmen are not necessarily computer literate and therefore may find it difficult to access this medium and maintain it, otherwise, it may require them to learn the medium which they might be reluctant to do since it would pull them away from their day to day work. A simple solution to this might be to recruit a tech-savvy person to do this in their place, this position is easily filled nowadays by students or even people who are looking for a job with flexible hours and a steady income.
In the following posts, I will be looking at one specific trade and how this has been affected by social media and what possible directions the trade may take to benefit or defend itself against the tide of social media.
