Global Outsourcing, Social Media, and the Redefinition of Labor Essay

Technological advancements have changed how people work; advertise products and hoew people interact with each other. Global outsourcing has enabled American companies to shift to service economies. Most companies in the fortune 500 lists are service companies while a few are manufacturing companies. This shift has increased the number of service jobs available while reducing the number of manufacturing jobs in the USA. Social media, blog culture, share/trust economies and others have redefined labor and introduced new kinds of jobs. A company now requires a social media manager who ensures that its social media is up-to-date and posts are relevant to potential customers. Bloggers are also paid by companies to advertise their products.

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Users of social media platforms are necessary for the production process. Consumers are changed to producers on social media since they create content that is important for the existence of companies. Companies take advantage of the time that consumers spend online and the information they share online to make huge profits by advertising products that suit them (McAllister and Emily 178). Customers perform labor for brands via social media through the number of followers, Likes and Comments. These methods increase the number of people who desire to purchase a company's products and follow the company. Positive comments on a product attract potential buyers to purchase a product. A high number of Likes increases the popularity of a brand or product. Advertising on a social media platform that has many followers is likely to increase the number of potential buyers. Customers perform labor for businesses through reviews. Reviews allow a potential customer to judge whether a product is good for them or not. Positive reviews can help a company increase sales since customers are likely to trust a brand if other people feel it is good for them.

The positive effects of the dramatic changes are many. First, companies can reach a wide range of audience through social media. It is therefore easy to market products to the millennials who are always on these platforms for companies that target these groups of customers. Further, today work is defined differently as it can be done by not only those who present themselves in the office but also those who work online. Companies today can outsource their jobs to people they do not know, they have never met in the virtual world. Workers can, therefore, work for any company in the world as long as they have the skills to do a job. The value that a job is determined by how much customers, sales and revenues it brings. Social media platforms such as Facebook tracks the things people "Like" on Facebook and offers pop up ads that are personalized to individuals. Marketers use social media to target particular advertisements to specific people depending on what they click or type online. Social media allows business to collect personal information through these platforms and integrate advertising and social networks to market products (McAllister and Emily 178).

The negative effect of the changes in how work is defined has affected many traditional workers. Workers now are forced to learn how to use various technologies such as social media, computers, internet and other platforms to be relevant in the market. This situation affects the older generation who are not excited to use these technologies. It is also costly and draining emotionally, physically and financially to acquire the skills. The negative effects on who is doing the work are that people are recruited while companies cannot monitor their activities and can, therefore, do things that are not good for an organization. Sometimes a company can pay people who do not bring expected value for an organization especially those that work online because it is difficult to ensure that they deliver desired outcomes.

Conclusion

Social media presents new challenges in traditional advertising or marketing. Traditional advertising/marketing needs to change to be more relevant in today's world. Advertising cannot force people to purchase things. Advertising must change from achieving short-term goals to achieving long-term goals. This can be accomplished by grabbing the attention of the audience for hours rather than in a few seconds. Advertisers will be forced to motivate people to tune to their TV shows, replay my spot on their DVR and other activities that will allow a brand to close to the heart of people. Traditional advertising is facing pressures to remove obvious appeals and implement hidden marketing messages. People are repealed by direct advertisements, and therefore, marketing messages that are embedded in films are more suitable especially for millennials. Popular music is today being used in adverts which make it easier for people to identify with a brand or product. Artists are associating themselves with big brands which make it possible for them to sell their music (Serazio 45). Television and other traditional advertising platforms find it necessary to create content to ensure they remain relevant in today's market. Traditional marketing mechanisms need to be creative to compete with digital platforms like social media in advertising.

Works cited

McAllister, Matthew P., and Emily West, eds. The Routledge companion to advertising and promotional culture. Routledge, 2013.

Serazio, Michael. Your ad here: The cool sell of guerrilla marketing. NYU Press, 2013.