Broadcast vs. Intimate Social Conversations

When I post a facebook status, I usually expect my friends (and non-friends?) to comment, like, or provide any level of attention to my public broadcast.  On the other hand, I use the private messaging feature if I have a particularly interesting piece of news to share with one or two people.   This article on techcrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/07/the-forgotten-half-of-social/) highlights this dichotomy of broadcast vs. intimate interaction we engage in, and the ways social media businesses enhance the benefit of these interactions for the user.  Businesses need to fine tune their messaging, and the platforms they currently use to allow users to drive useful conversations.  The article uses Warby Parker, the eyeglass company, as an example of a business that uses social media as a means to promote the brand with little perceived regard to the actual benefit to the user of such interactions.  They have a feature on their website that allows users to plot glasses on a photo of their face and then posts it on facebook.  If I were using this feature, I may want to send the photo to a friend or two for an opinion, but definitely would not want to broadcast this photo on my facebook profile.  This social feature would have the highest benefit to me as a user if Warby understood the intimate vs. broadcast implications of my experience.

In any case, with the evolution of social media in the past decade, broadcast conversations have become far more common, as people initiate public dialogue with posted photos, ‘liked’ articles on blogs, or comments on youtube videos. It is up to new businesses that wish to leverage social media to decide the types of conversations they want their customers to initiate, and the overall benefit these interactions can confer to users and the business.