Business World Embraces Social Media

By Lauren Higgins

St. Thomas Aquinas College held its annual Communication Arts lecture panel Thursday, March 20 in the Romano Alumni Center. Entitled “More Than Fun and Games: How Industry Is Using Social Media,” the lecture included five panelists who spoke to the audience about how social media is playing a vital role in the business world.

Each panelist informed the crowd of students and faculty members how they use social media as a way to get their company’s message across to the public. They explained why social media seems to have taken over the business industry and gave examples about the specific social media sites they use to attract their audiences.

Ryan Finch and Liz Kaminski, recent STAC graduates, explained how they use social media at their jobs routinely. Like many people, both Ryan and Liz enjoy using Facebook and Twitter; they also feel that LinkedIn is a great tool in networking and finding careers. Many people believe this website is simply just a way to put our résumés on display; however, there is much more it has to offer. They stressed that we should use LinkedIn to our advantage as a way to get corporation managers interested in our skills and what we as individuals can contribute to the industry.       

Panelist Michael Fasano earned his MBA in Finance at STAC. As the owner and co-founder of Golfcity, the fastest growing online golf magazine, Michael uses social media as a way to advertise the magazine. It gives him the opportunity to truly understand what the customers are looking for by offering numerous products to choose from. Michael said he had the chance to meet Tiger Woods and several other golfers after the success of this website. He stated that online magazines are increasing more and more and fewer people are buying magazines in stores. Michael says he still subscribes to a few magazines and will flip through them occasionally, but will likely turn to the Internet to find most of his information.

The lecture panelists showed just how rapid social media is growing in the business industry. By hearing their stories about how they use social media on a day-to-day basis, it is certain that social media has changed the way we communicate and shows the overall effects it has on companies. The panelists helped us understand how different forms of social media can be useful in the real world by giving us examples on how we can “brand” ourselves using these websites to our best advantage.