Apple and Social Media

Public Relations and Society

Apple and Social Media

Social media now provides businesses with the opportunity to go live in a new and intriguing way. More and more companies seize the opportunity to directly interact with potential customers and are unhesitant about getting actively involved in using this medium as a means to reach out to people and to influence them to develop a liking for their products. With social media now being one of the most effective tools to promote one's products, it seems especially bizarre that some companies ignore this medium and prefer to direct their attention toward other concepts.

As one of the best known companies in the contemporary society, Apple is rather hesitant to get involved in social media environments. When consulting popular social media platforms as Facebook or Twitter, one is likely to observe that Apple is relatively absent. What is even more surprising is that the masses seem to the obsessed with the company and are even willing to support it via social media networks even with the fact that it does not interact with them. The company has over twelve million likes on Facebook and appears to be uninterested in these people. Since the moment when it joined the social media platform in 2011, the company has not posted any information and has no activity whatsoever.

Apple's current CEO seems to have adopted a different attitude toward social media when compared to his predecessor, Steve Jobs. While Jobs preferred to direct his attention toward means other than social media to promote the company, Tim Cook actually appears to enjoy socializing through media platforms. Even with the fact that he only posted 77 tweets since the moment when he joined Twitter, the fact that he recently developed a liking toward the social media platform and that he appears to want to provide the masses with information regarding Apple (and concerning a series of his personal opinions about the world) makes it possible for one to acknowledge that Apple somewhat changed its attitude in the online environment during the last year.

In addition to rarely posting tweets, Cook also provides his followers with information that has nothing to do with Apple. Some of his most recent tweets relate to the 4th of July celebrations, the Gay Pride parade, and Yosemite Mountain. This contributes to the feeling that he has little to no interest in using his Twitter account as a means to connect with Apple-fans. Instead, he simply wants to focus on himself as a person and on his personal interests. This proves that Apple still wants nothing to do with social media platforms, regardless of how effective they might be in promoting the company's products.

Apple's purchase of Topsy Labs contributes to the feeling that the company is somewhat interested in the social media environment. Topsy Labs has been bought at a price above $200 million and is a company that uses social analytics with the purpose of determining popular trends on Twitter in particular and on a series of others social media networks. Even with this, the fact that it stays clear of Facebook and that Cook only writes limited information on Twitter influences many to consider that the company is yet to have actually acknowledged the significance of social media platforms in its business dealings.