Social Networking's Engagement Rules

Businesses are increasingly harnessing social media's marketing potentials. This paper explains the major faux pas of social networking to avoid if one is to fully reap its benefits. The final analogy is that a social network site is like a cafe. Like-minded people congregate, and rules are defined partially by the cafe administrator, but by and large, interactions are governed by unwritten rules of conduct, just as they would be in a public cafe. This is the difference in marketing in social network situations. The marketer does not own the medium, nor does any one person set the rules of engagement. Social networking sites are not media vehicles that push information one way.