Some impacts of social media include

- cheapness (once a campaign is launched, its distribution is "free"; dealing with a tweet is cheaper than a call to a customer centre)

- viral nature (uncontrollable; once information is out there, it is common knowledge; no privacy or confidentiality)

- speed (real time, eg Qantas Flight QF32, Michael Jackson's death; put a question out there and get feedback within minutes;

- data, etc (taps into a great wealth of data, information and knowledge)

- convenience (90% of consumer believe it saves them time shopping; 40% use the web for competitive shopping; home-bound people use the Internet for communications, including contact with friends & relatives, shopping, health care, etc)

- social media can hold you accountable (for example, if you are sharing articles, posts, photos, blogs, etc that show you are morally inconsistent on issues like the environment, your followers will hold you accountable!!)

- can change behaviours (despite the constant interruptions, obsession with style over substance, repetitive and shallow posts that are more mimicry than meaning, etc, there is some evidence that social media can change behaviours. While sharing comments, photos and messages, etc it is like people socialising in the town square, talking about the newest and latest trends. These comments and images can be meaningful, ie

"...the act of being creative, sharing information, reinforcing affiliations and identities, projecting our moral values......A brief statement or picture can arouse similar sentiments in others and encourage new behaviours..."
Derek Brown 2019

- social scoring (credit worthiness)

Using algorithms to determine a person's credit wordiness.
"...developed......credit assessment algorithms that factors in a range of data points that it gleans from nothing more than a customer's phone number, such as social media and proprietary marketing database...... pinpointed 70,000 personal qualities which predict a person's likelihood to pay back the loan, in a way that provides a more holistic view of the borrower taking into account the non-traditional data points, rather than black and white nature of credit scores......algorithm approves 126% more people than industry averages for loans..."
Yolanda Redrup, (2017/18)

This method of determining credit worthiness is fitting in with the shift in the Millennial behaviour away from credit cards to people, like refugees and students, who do not have financial history to demonstrate their credit worthiness.

The algorithms in one platform
"...with users' permission, analyses their e-mails and smart phone usage to detect patterns across 12,000 data points - such as how frequently a person responds to e-mails and at what time of the day, or what they buy online - to predict the likelihood that they would or would not repay a loan..."
Yolanda Redrup, (2017/18)

Social scoring (using behavioural pattern) can be used to compliment traditional credit reporting and decision-making, like credit history (including defaults), bank statements (verifying income and expenses), etc.

 

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