SMS 2012 - 1st International Workshop on Social Media and Services (SMS2012)

1st International Workshop on Social Media and Services (SMS2012)
Workshop Website

https://sites.google.com/site/icsocsms2012/

Workshop Summary:

The advent of social media and social networks on the Internet has redefined our existence as social beings. Driven by the phenomenal ease in discovering and maintaining relations, we can now afford to be more sociable with more people. Whether we want recommendations for grocery-shopping or we simply seek company for some idle chit-chat, we do not restrict ourselves to just our family members or our co-workers. If we are deeply concerned about a social or political issue or if we feel cheated by the quality of any product / service, we no longer feel helpless - we know that one assertive post of ours can potentially generate tremendous public opinion. We do not need to inherit the same tastes as our relatives or friends because we can easily establish new contacts with groups who share our interests and pursuits. Such a movement is reshaping our societies by eroding the constraints of geographic barriers toward social linkages.

As we increasingly become more active on online social networks, it is only natural that businesses will invest more to approach our virtual avatars to sell their products and services. However, social media has transformed advertising in unprecedented ways - the advertiser can now get a complete background of a prospective customer who "liked" the advertisement. Not just B2C, social media has revolutionized C2B communication too - it is imperative for every modern business to analyze what their consumers are saying on social forums because good vibes from end-users radiate exponentially and the bad ones propagate even faster! Even as we witness an overwhelming rise in the number of social media based businesses and their monumental impact on other businesses and society at-large, we believe that the current set of social media services, are just the tip of the iceberg of potential opportunities waiting to be unraveled.