title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: After losing the Vision as its new body, Ultron tries to cause an extinction event by using Sokovia as a meteor. The Avengers, joined by James Rhodes and the Maximoffs, defeat Ultron's sentries and evacuate civilians. Pietro is killed saving Barton, and Sokovia is exploded by Stark and Thor to prevent human extinction. Vision eventually destroys the last remaining body of Ultron. In the aftermath of the battle, Stark and Barton decide to retire as active members of the team with the latter having promised his wife to come back home once the mission was over; Banner disappears, and Thor goes to space to track down the Infinity Stones; while Rhodes, Sam Wilson, Wanda, and the Vision join the team, under the leadership of Rogers and Romanoff. The Avengers also move to the new Avengers Compound in Upstate New York as their primary headquarters.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Months after the Battle of Sokovia, the Avengers New Facility becomes the target of a heist, with a skirmish between Wilson and Scott Lang. In 2016, Rogers, Romanoff, Wanda and Wilson defend a research lab in Lagos from Brock Rumlow. The Avengers successfully stop Rumlow and his crew of mercenaries, but when an attempted suicide attack by Rumlow is deflected by Wanda through telekinesis, Wakandan diplomats are killed. As a result, Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross presents the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers, a United Nations (U.N.) legislation that would bring the Avengers and other superhumans under the direct authority of the U.N. Although Stark, Rhodes, Vision and Romanoff support the idea, Rogers and Wilson object due to fears of their autonomy being limited while Wanda is uncertain.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: After Bucky Barnes is accused of killing King T'Chaka of Wakanda in an explosion, Rogers and Wilson seek to protect him from an arrest warrant, causing them to clash with Stark, Rhodes, Romanoff and T'Challa, son of T'Chaka. After Barnes is detained in Berlin, Helmut Zemo activates his 'Winter Soldier' alter-ego using the Winter Soldier Book, although Barnes later comes to his senses and reveals Zemo's interest in the Winter Soldier Program. To assist them, Wilson recruits Lang and Rogers recruits Barton, who comes out of retirement, confronts the Vision and takes Maximoff out of "de facto" house arrest at the Avengers Compound. The two sides of the Avengers then confront at the Leipzig/Halle Airport, with Rogers, Barnes, Wilson, Barton, Lang and Wanda facing Stark, Rhodes, Romanoff, the Vision, T'Challa and new recruit Peter Parker.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Rogers and Barnes manage to escape with Romanoff's help, who betrays Stark to find Zemo, while their teammates are imprisoned in the Raft. Rhodes' legs are paralyzed when he falls after being accidentally struck by a blast from the Vision that was aimed at Wilson. Rogers and Barnes head to the Hydra Siberian Facility to stop Zemo from reactivating the Winter Soldier Program, and are joined by Stark, who realized Barnes' innocence. However, Zemo shows Stark footage of Barnes' assassination of Stark's parents, turning Stark against Rogers and Barnes. In the ensuing fight, Rogers disables Stark's armor, whilst Barnes' cybernetic arm is destroyed and Rogers abandons his shield. Meanwhile, T'Challa apprehends Zemo after discovering he was his father's true killer. Rogers later breaks out his teammates from the Raft with the help of Romanoff arriving on a Quinjet, with Stark declining to stop him.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Although officially reduced to just Stark, Vision and Rhodes, the Avengers continue operating. Stark sells Avengers Tower, and Parker is offered a place on the Avengers roster by Stark (who initially thought he wasn't ready) after defeating Adrian Toomes, although he declines, choosing to remain a neighborhood superhero and having come to slowly understand the dangers of his superhero life. Parker promises Stark that though not being a member of Avengers, he will help Avengers whenever they want him. Meanwhile, Barton and Lang make a deal with the U.S. government to be placed under house arrest so they can go back to their families. The FBI, led by Jimmy Woo, monitor Lang's house arrest, which he violates due to Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym requiring his help to find Janet Van Dyne who has been trapped in the Quantum Realm. Barnes finds refuge in Wakanda, where he is rehabilitated from his former Winter Soldier programming.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2018, the Avengers come into conflict with Thanos and his children, who are seeking the six Infinity Stones to erase half of all life in the universe. Thanos forcefully boards the "Statesman", kills Loki, and incapacitates Thor. Banner, as the Hulk, is also defeated by Thanos but is sent to Earth by Heimdall to inform Stephen Strange, the keeper of the Time Stone, as well as his friend Wong, of Thanos' impending arrival. Strange, Wong and Banner, joined by Stark and Parker, confront Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian in Greenwich Village. With the Hulk reluctant to emerge, Strange is captured by Maw, while Banner contacts Rogers to warn him of Thanos' intention to acquire Vision's Mind Stone.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In space aboard Maw's ship, Stark and Parker pursue Strange and kill Maw, after which Stark anoints Parker as an official Avenger. On Stark's urging, they head for Thanos' home planet Titan, where they ally with the Guardians of the Galaxy after initial hostility. The Avengers and Guardians are able to restrain Thanos and attempt to take the Infinity Gauntlet, wielding four of the Stones, off him. However, an enraged Peter Quill attacks Thanos upon learning of the death of Gamora, allowing Thanos to escape. Thanos incapacitates the group, and Strange surrenders the Time Stone to save Stark's life, contradicting his previous promise not to.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Meanwhile, Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson, fugitives since 2016, intercept an attack on Vision and Maximoff in Edinburgh. They return to the Avengers Compound, where they reunite with Rhodes and Banner. Learning of the threat, Vision proposes to be destroyed to prevent Thanos from acquiring the Mind Stone, but Wanda and the Avengers refuse and travel to Wakanda, where Shuri, sister of T'Challa, begins an operation to remove the Stone from the Vision. Meanwhile, the Wakandan army, the Jabari Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and Barnes ally with the Avengers to defend Vision from Thanos' children and the Outriders. Banner, unable to become the Hulk, dons a modified Hulkbuster armor, and Thor, Rocket and Groot also arrive in Wakanda and join the battle, with Thor wielding his newly forged axe, Stormbreaker.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Corvus Glaive ambushes Shuri, stopping her from operating on the Vision. Vision kills Glaive, Banner kills Obsidian, and Wanda kills Proxima Midnight during the battle. When Thanos arrives, Vision urges Maximoff to destroy the Mind Stone. Rogers rallies the Avengers in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Thanos. Wanda tearfully destroys the Stone, killing Vision, but Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse the action and retrieves the Stone from Vision's forehead, killing him once more. With the Gauntlet now assembled, Thanos, despite being attacked by Thor, initiates the Blip, causing Wilson, Barnes, Wanda, Strange, Parker, T'Challa, Groot, Quill, Drax, and Mantis to disintegrate, leaving Stark and Nebula alone on Titan while the surviving Avengers in Wakanda rue their defeat after Thanos retreats.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Nick Fury and Maria Hill are blipped as they try to find out Stark and the Avengers' location but not before Fury manages to summon Carol Danvers. Barton's family also blips while he is on house arrest as he's left to mourn their loss. Upon learning of what happened he becomes the murderous vigilante Ronin to kill those he believes did not deserve to be spared by the Blip. Lang gets trapped in the Quantum Realm while he was there harvesting energy from it, as Pym, Hope and Janet van Dyne who were going to pull him out get blipped.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Three weeks later, the Avengers regroup after Stark and Nebula are rescued from space by Carol Danvers. Following an outburst from Stark towards Rogers over not supporting him on Titan, the rest of the Avengers detect an energy surge from Thanos' Garden planet, and Rogers, Romanoff, Banner, Thor, Danvers, Rhodes, Rocket and Nebula head there to ambush him. Thanos reveals that he destroyed the Infinity Stones, prompting an enraged Thor to decapitate him.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: During the next five years, Romanoff becomes the leader of the Avengers, having officially recruited Danvers, Rocket, Nebula and Okoye to the team. Romanoff's Avengers work to quell disturbances on both Earth and other planets caused by the Blip. Rogers becomes a grief counselor, while Stark retires to live with his wife Pepper Potts and daughter Morgan. Barton, with his family having fallen victim to the Blip, becomes a criminal-hunting vigilante called Ronin. Thor, overcome by depression, becomes an overweight alcoholic. Banner merges his personalities, retaining his intelligence in the Hulk's body.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2023, following the release of a trapped Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm, Lang visits Rogers and Romanoff and explains that he only experienced five hours in the Realm rather than five years, and thus suggests time travel as a method of reversing the Blip. Lang, Rogers and Romanoff visit Stark and Banner to discuss the plan, with Stark refusing and Banner running unsuccessful time travel tests on Lang using Pym's quantum tunnel. Following this, Stark, remembering the loss of Parker and the others, helps the team develop successful time travel using Pym Particles, with the Avengers conducting an operation dubbed by Lang as the "Time Heist".


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Banner, Rogers, Stark and Lang travel to New York City in 2012. Banner is given the Time Stone by the Ancient One after revealing Strange's surrender of it, Lang retrieves the Mind Stone (housed in Loki's Scepter), and Stark and Rogers retrieve the Space Stone from the 1970s after failing to retrieve it from 2012. Thor and Rocket retrieve the Reality Stone and Mjolnir from Asgard in 2013. Rhodes and Nebula retrieve the Power Stone from Morag in 2014, but Nebula is captured by a Thanos from 2014 and 2014 Nebula returns to 2023. Barton retrieves the Soul Stone after Romanoff sacrifices herself on Vormir to allow Barton to obtain it.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Reuniting in the present, the Avengers place the Stones into a gauntlet designed by Stark, Banner, and Rocket. Banner, having the most resistance to their gamma radiation, wields the gauntlet and reverses the Blip. Meanwhile, 2014-Nebula, impersonating her future self, uses the time machine to transport 2014-Thanos and his warship to the present, destroying the Avengers Compound in the process. Present-day Nebula convinces 2014-Gamora to betray Thanos, but is unable to convince 2014-Nebula and kills her. Thanos overpowers Stark, Thor, and Rogers, who wields Mjolnir. Thanos summons his army to retrieve the Stones, intent on using them to destroy the universe and create a new one. A restored Strange arrives with other sorcerers, the restored Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, the Ravagers, and the armies of Wakanda and Asgard to fight Thanos' army. Danvers also arrives and destroys Thanos' warship, but Thanos overpowers her using the Power Stone and seizes the gauntlet. After a prompt from Strange, Stark obtains the Stones and uses them to disintegrate Thanos and his army, but the strain of using them kills him.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Following Stark's funeral, the Avengers disband. Thor appoints Valkyrie as the new ruler of New Asgard and heads for space with the Guardians, including Rocket and Nebula, he later splits up with them upon discovering the threat of a man named Gorr, wherein he teams up with Korg, Valkyrie and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, whom he had not seen for eight years following their breakup and is undergoing cancer treatment as well as has received powers like his due to wielding a reconstructed Mjolnir (which bonded to her, due to a protective enchantment unknowingly left by Thor) to stop him, Thor loses Jane once she succumbs to her cancer and then regains Mjolnir while passing on Stormbreaker to Gorr's daughter Love, who was revived by Eternity and was adopted by Thor as per Gorr's dying request. Rogers returns the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their proper timelines and remains in the past to live with Peggy Carter. In the present, an elderly Rogers passes his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson. Lang returns home to spend time with Hope and his daughter, Cassie. He then starts a podcast interviews, called "Big Me Little Me", as he shares the story about the Battle of Earth. Wanda, in her grief from Vision's death, creates a magical false reality in Westview, New Jersey, which eventually unravels the origin of her powers as the Scarlet Witch while also coming into conflict with S.W.O.R.D. Her powers revive Vision, now with an altered appearance and without the Mind Stone as power-source while also creating twin children, Billy and Tommy Maximoff. Corrupted by the "Darkhold", Wanda rampages across the multiverse trying to unite with alternate real versions of her children before being stopped by Strange, Wong and America Chavez.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Rhodes and Wilson return to the U.S. military, and eventually Wilson accepts Rogers' legacy and becomes the new Captain America after stopping the threat of the Flag-Smashers with Bucky Barnes. Parker returns to school and briefly becomes Stark's chosen successor until he is brought into conflict with a former employee of Stark's Quentin Beck, who reveals Parker's secret identity and frames him as his murderer, putting Parker's reputation in jeopardy and drastically affecting his personal life. Although he manages to avoid legal troubles with lawyer Matt Murdock's help, the damage to his personal life due to controversy causes him to seek Strange's help to reverse it with a spell to make his identity secret again, but the events that transpire cause the multiverse to open and to save his universe from collapsing, Parker chooses to have the world's knowledge of his civilian identity completely erased, including the bonds he shared with his former friends and allies. Now anonymous and having lost his Aunt May in the conflict, he resumes his vigilantism as Spider-Man.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Danvers and Banner remain in contact and they answer Wong's call to discuss the origin of Shang-Chi's Ten Rings with the latter. Banner, currently living off the grid in Mexico trains his cousin, lawyer Jennifer Walters after she receives his gamma-radiated abilities upon cross-contamination with his blood following an accident, despite her reluctance to be a superhero. Barton retires and lives with his family at his Missouri farm. In New York, while celebrating Christmas with his family, his previous actions as Ronin cause him to come into conflict with elements of organized crime including Wilson Fisk, Maya Lopez and her Tracksuit Mafia as well as Romanoff's adoptive sister, Yelena Belova, who holds him responsible for her sister's death. He eventually makes peace with Yelena, and he also takes in a protégé named Kate Bishop, whose life he had saved during the Battle of New York.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Several years following the Blip, the first annual "AvengerCon" is held at Camp Lehigh to honor the Avengers. It is attended by Kamala Khan, an Avengers-fangirl (particularly a fan of Danvers) who gains powers after putting on a golden bangle heirloom while cosplaying as Danvers.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The Avengers appear in the animated series "What If...?" (2021), which depicts the team in various alternate realities within the MCU Multiverse.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate 2011, a vengeful Hank Pym eliminates the Avengers' candidates: Stark, Thor, Barton, Banner, and Romanoff. After Pym is defeated, Loki uses the opportunity to invade Earth. Meanwhile, Fury quietly prepares to reactivate the team after Rogers is discovered in the Arctic and Danvers responds to his call for help. Rogers, Danvers, and Fury later battle Loki and his Asgardian army aboard a Helicarrier. During the fight, the Watcher brings in a variant of Romanoff from a universe that was wiped out by Ultron, and she incapacitates Loki with his own scepter before being greeted by Fury.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate 2018, a quantum virus is released turning people into zombies. Some of the Avengers respond to an outbreak in San Francisco and are subsequently infected as well. Banner and Parker survive, and with other allies, find Vision who is keeping an infected Wanda Maximoff alive by feeding her pieces of T'Challa. Vision sacrifices himself to provide them with the Mind Stone so that they can use it to find a cure, and Banner stays behind to keep Maximoff at bay, allowing Parker, T'Challa, and Lang to escape to Wakanda where unbeknownst to them, an infected Thanos awaits with most of the Infinity Stones.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate 2015, Ultron successfully implants himself into Vision's body and exterminates the Avengers, except for Barton and Romanoff. Years later, when Ultron continues his campaign of destruction throughout the universe after obtaining the Infinity Stones, Barton and Romanoff fight Ultron's sentries. Realizing that their efforts are insignificant, they attempt to find a way to shutdown his AI, and eventually prepare to upload an analog copy of Arnim Zola consciousness into Ultron's hivemind, but Barton sacrifices himself in vain and the upload fails when Ultron enters the Multiverse.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: A version of the Avengers existed in Earth-838 with Peggy Carter / Captain Carter, being the first Avenger instead of Rogers.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: While the name "Avengers" and the depiction of Loki as the first antagonist is derived more from the mainstream Marvel Universe, commonly referred to as "Earth-616", other different depictions such as the original formation of the Avengers at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. along with the depicted original lineup and the portrayal of the aliens known as Chitauri as main antagonists were portrayed with a similar premise as the Ultimates, a modern re-imagining of the Avengers within the comic book universe within the multiverse that is published by Marvel Comics. The original lineup of the Avengers included Hank Pym and the Wasp instead of Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye. The Ultimates introduced the same lineup of "The Avengers" with the Earth-616's version and the addition of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, both of whom later appeared in "." The characters Rocket Raccoon and Nebula do not feature as Avengers members in the comics, differing from the film adaptations.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The response of the introduction of the superhero team was the main highlight of "The Avengers". A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" felt the chemistry of the characters were the best part of the film. Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" commented that the best thing regarding the film "is that it also unleashes them on each other. Simply put: These freaks of goodness may be a team, but they don't like one another very much." Joe Morgenstein of the "Wall Street Journal" opined that the depiction of them quarreling among themselves comically was the most fun part as depicted in the original film. The team once again mostly received praise in the sequel with critics praising the original cast reprising the role in "". Scott Foundas of "Variety" felt that the actors now "wear these roles as comfortably as second skins". He noted the Fantastic Four and Justice League as teams that can only hope to follow in the footsteps regarding the portrayal of the characters. Conversely, Scott Mendelson of "Forbes" disliked the concept that some of the Avengers (Tony Stark and Bruce Banner) were behind the creation of the antagonist of the film (Ultron).


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The depiction of the Avengers being divided in a Civil War as shown in "" was praised by critics such as Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" and Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times". However, Nicholas Barber of the "BBC" was more critical of the depiction, opining that their allegiance didn't make sense. Additionally, Stephen Whitty of the New York "Daily News" was critical of the expansion of many heroes taking sides and felt the film was more of an "overstuffed" "Avengers" film than a "Captain America" film, as referred to in the title. In 2018, around the time "" came out, film director James Cameron started a new term called "Avengers fatigue" that circulated online. Cameron told "IndieWire" that despite being a fan of the films, he feared that they had dominated the film genre, and that he hoped that people were getting tired of it so other stories could be told. This resulted in some criticism and backlash online regarding Cameron. The fourth Avengers film, "", was praised as a proper conclusion for the superhero team.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: According to film critic Peter Travers, "The Avengers" director Joss Whedon "sees the Avengers as the ultimate dysfunctional family. Their powers have estranged them from the normal world. As a result, they're lonely, cranky, emotional fuck-ups, which the actors have a ball playing."


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Also while reviewing the original Avengers films, Roger Ebert compared the original six lineup of the Avengers as uniquely different much like the assortment of dog breeds that consists of champions of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. He noted that both examples "are completely different" but "yet they're all champions". Anthony Lane of "The New Yorker" explained that the superhero group was reminiscent to what "Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and the others did to form the Traveling Wilburys" in music pop-culture. Callie Ahlgrim of "Insider Inc." described the Avengers as "the most ambitious superpowered team in cinematic history" when doing a rank down of most powerful Avengers within the MCU.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The team was the inspiration behind the documentary series "Marvel's Avengers: Building A Cinematic Universe" in 2012. Another documentary series was created in 2014 titled "". An online exhibition called Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. based on the team is located currently in Las Vegas, Toronto and Seoul with a planned upcoming one in Huizhou. Avengers Campus, a series of attractions at various Disney Parks, is inspired by the MCU's Avengers, although it is an alternate version of the team. The first of these Campuses opened on June 4, 2021, at Disney California Adventure.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The book "Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of the Avengers and Beyond" focuses on the Avengers heroes in Shuri's perspective.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Marvel Comics published Dan Abnett's "Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (2015) as a tie-in to "Avengers: Age of Ultron". The line-up in the book includes Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and the Vision.


title: Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In October 2019, Marvel Studios and ILMxLAB announced the virtual reality experience "". The experience was available for a limited time starting in mid-October 2019 at select Void VR locations. The experience was extended to the end of 2019. ESPN and Marvel collaborated to create an alternate presentation that featured the Avengers among other Marvel superheroes entitled "NBA Special Edition Presented by State Farm: Marvel's Arena of Heroes" during the NBA playoff of the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans in May 2021.


title: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

text: The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader of the PRC.


text: According to the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, the general secretary serves as an "ex officio" member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's "de facto" top decision-making body. The general secretary is also the head of the Secretariat. Since 1989, the holder of the post has been, except for transitional periods, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making the holder the supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army. The position of general secretary is the highest authority leading China's National People's Congress, State Council, Political Consultative Conference, Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate in the Chinese government. As the top leader of the world's largest economy by GDP purchasing power parity (PPP), the second largest economy by GDP nominal, the largest military in the world by personnel, a recognized nuclear weapons state, U.N. Security Council permanent member, and a potential superpower, the general secretary is considered to be one of the world's most powerful political figures.


text: The CCP general secretary is nominally elected by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In practice, the "de facto" method of selecting the general secretary has varied over time. The two most recent general secretaries, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, were first elevated to the position of first Secretary of the Secretariat in the same process used to determine the membership and roles of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee. Under this informal process, the first secretary would be chosen during deliberations by incumbent Politburo members and retired Politburo Standing Committee members in the lead up to a Party Congress. The first secretary would later succeed the retiring general secretary as part of a generational leadership transition at the subsequent party congress.


text: The incumbent general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012 and was re-elected twice on 25 October 2017 and 23 October 2022 respectively. Xi was speculated to rule the party and the country after the 20th National Congress in 2022, removing the previous "de facto" two-term limit, which was confirmed at the Congress. The last person to rule the country for more than two terms was Mao Zedong, who served as Chairman of the CCP Central Committee from 1945 until his death in 1976.


text: Since the abolition of the post of Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party by the 12th Central Committee in 1982, the general secretary has been the highest-ranking official of the party and heads the Central Secretariat, Political Bureau and its Standing Committee.


text: Since its revival in 1982, the post of general secretary has been the highest office in the CCP, though it did not become the most powerful post until Deng Xiaoping's retirement in 1990. As China is a one-party state, the general secretary holds ultimate power and authority over state and government, and is usually considered the "paramount leader" of China. However, most of the people until Xi Jinping who have held the post have held far less power than Mao Zedong. Since the mid-1990s, the general secretary has traditionally also held the post of president of China. While the presidency is a ceremonial post, it is customary for the general secretary to assume the presidency to confirm his status as head of state.


text: Since Xi Jinping's election, two new bodies of the CCP, the National Security Commission and Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission, have been established, ostensibly concentrating political power in the "paramount leader" to a greater degree than anyone since Mao. These bodies were tasked with establishing the general policy direction for national security as well as the agenda for economic reform. Both groups are headed by the CCP general secretary, thus the power of the general secretary has become more concentrated.


title: Complement system

text: The complement system, also known as complement cascade, is a part of the immune system that enhances (complements) the ability of antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear microbes and damaged cells from an organism, promote inflammation, and attack the pathogen's cell membrane. It is part of the innate immune system, which is not adaptable and does not change during an individual's lifetime. The complement system can, however, be recruited and brought into action by antibodies generated by the adaptive immune system.


title: Complement system

text: The complement system consists of a number of small proteins that are synthesized by the liver, and circulate in the blood as inactive precursors. When stimulated by one of several triggers, proteases in the system cleave specific proteins to release cytokines and initiate an amplifying cascade of further cleavages. The end result of this "complement activation" or "complement fixation" cascade is stimulation of phagocytes to clear foreign and damaged material, inflammation to attract additional phagocytes, and activation of the cell-killing membrane attack complex. About 50 proteins and protein fragments make up the complement system, including serum proteins, and cell membrane receptors. They account for about 10% of the globulin fraction of blood serum.


title: Complement system

text: Three biochemical pathways activate the complement system: the classical complement pathway, the alternative complement pathway, and the lectin pathway. The alternative pathway accounts for the majority of terminal pathway activation and so therapeutic efforts in disease have revolved around its inhibition.


title: Complement system

text: In 1888, George Nuttall found that sheep blood serum had mild killing activity against the bacterium that causes anthrax. The killing activity disappeared when he heated the blood. In 1891, Hans Ernst August Buchner, noting the same property of blood in his experiments, named the killing property "alexin", which means "to ward off" in Greek. By 1894, several laboratories had demonstrated that serum from guinea pigs that had recovered from cholera killed the cholera bacterium "in vitro". Heating the serum destroyed its killing activity. Nevertheless, the heat-inactivated serum, when injected into guinea pigs exposed to the cholera bacteria, maintained its ability to protect the animals from illness. Jules Bordet, a young Belgian scientist in Paris at the Pasteur Institute, concluded that this principle has two components, one that maintained a "sensitizing" effect after being heated and one (alexin) whose toxic effect was lost after being heated. The heat-stable component was responsible for immunity against specific microorganisms, whereas the heat-sensitive component was responsible for the non-specific antimicrobial activity conferred by all normal sera. In 1899, Paul Ehrlich renamed the heat-sensitive component "complement."


title: Complement system

text: Ehrlich introduced the term "complement" as part of his larger theory of the immune system. According to this theory, the immune system consists of cells that have specific receptors on their surface to recognize antigens. Upon immunization with an antigen, more of these receptors are formed, and they are then shed from the cells to circulate in the blood. Those receptors, which we now call "antibodies", were called by Ehrlich "amboceptors" to emphasise their bifunctional binding capacity: They recognise and bind to a specific antigen, but they also recognise and bind to the heat-labile antimicrobial component of fresh serum. Ehrlich, therefore, named this heat-labile component "complement", because it is something in the blood that "complements" the cells of the immune system. Ehrlich believed that each antigen-specific amboceptor has its own specific complement, whereas Bordet believed that there is only one type of complement. In the early 20th century, this controversy was resolved when it became understood that complement can act in combination with specific antibodies, or on its own in a non-specific way.


title: Complement system

text: Most of the proteins and glycoproteins that constitute the complement system are synthesized by hepatocytes. But significant amounts are also produced by tissue macrophages, blood monocytes, and epithelial cells of the genitourinary system and gastrointestinal tract. The three pathways of activation all generate homologous variants of the protease C3-convertase. The classical complement pathway typically requires antigen-antibody complexes for activation (specific immune response), whereas the alternative pathway can be activated by spontaneous complement component 3 (C3) hydrolysis, foreign material, pathogens, or damaged cells. The mannose-binding lectin pathway can be activated by C3 hydrolysis or antigens without the presence of antibodies (non-specific immune response). In all three pathways, C3-convertase cleaves and activates component C3, creating C3a and C3b, and causes a cascade of further cleavage and activation events. C3b binds to the surface of pathogens, leading to greater internalization by phagocytic cells by opsonization.


title: Complement system

text: In the alternative pathway, C3b binds to Factor B. Factor D releases Factor Ba from Factor B bound to C3b. The complex of C3b(2)Bb is a protease which cleaves C5 into C5b and C5a. C5 convertase is also formed by the classical pathway when C3b binds C4b and C2b. C5a is an important chemotactic protein, helping recruit inflammatory cells. C3a is the precursor of an important cytokine (adipokine) named ASP (although this is not universally accepted ) and is usually rapidly cleaved by carboxypeptidase B. Both C3a and C5a have anaphylatoxin activity, directly triggering degranulation of mast cells as well as increasing vascular permeability and smooth muscle contraction. C5b initiates the membrane attack pathway, which results in the membrane attack complex (MAC), consisting of C5b, C6, C7, C8, and polymeric C9. MAC is the cytolytic endproduct of the complement cascade; it forms a transmembrane channel, which causes osmotic lysis of the target cell. Kupffer cells and other macrophage cell types help clear complement-coated pathogens. As part of the innate immune system, elements of the complement cascade can be found in species earlier than vertebrates; most recently in the protostome horseshoe crab species, putting the origins of the system back further than was previously thought.


title: Complement system

text: The classical pathway is triggered by activation of the C1-complex. The C1-complex is composed of 1 molecule of C1q, 2 molecules of C1r and 2 molecules of C1s, or "C1qrs". This occurs when C1q binds to IgM or IgG complexed with antigens. A single pentameric IgM can initiate the pathway, while several, ideally six, IgGs are needed. This also occurs when C1q binds directly to the surface of the pathogen. Such binding leads to conformational changes in the C1q molecule, which leads to the activation of two C1r molecules. C1r is a serine protease. They then cleave C1s (another serine protease). The C1rs component now splits C4 and then C2, producing C4a, C4b, C2a, and C2b (historically, the larger fragment of C2 was called C2a but is now referred to as C2b). C4b and C2b bind to form the classical pathway C3-convertase (C4b2b complex), which promotes cleavage of C3 into C3a and C3b. C3b later joins with C4b2b to make C5 convertase (C4b2b3b complex).


title: Complement system

text: The alternative pathway is continuously activated at a low level, analogous to a car engine at idle, as a result of spontaneous C3 hydrolysis due to the breakdown of the internal thioester bond (C3 is mildly unstable in aqueous environment). The alternative pathway does not rely on pathogen-binding antibodies like the other pathways. C3b that is generated from C3 by a C3 convertase enzyme complex in the fluid phase is rapidly inactivated by factor H and factor I, as is the C3b-like C3 that is the product of spontaneous cleavage of the internal thioester. In contrast, when the internal thioester of C3 reacts with a hydroxyl or amino group of a molecule on the surface of a cell or pathogen, the C3b that is now covalently bound to the surface is protected from factor H-mediated inactivation. The surface-bound C3b may now bind factor B to form C3bB. This complex in the presence of factor D will be cleaved into Ba and Bb. Bb will remain associated with C3b to form C3bBb, which is the alternative pathway C3 convertase.


title: Complement system

text: The C3bBb complex is stabilized by binding oligomers of factor P (properdin). The stabilized C3 convertase, C3bBbP, then acts enzymatically to cleave much more C3, some of which becomes covalently attached to the same surface as C3b. This newly bound C3b recruits more B, D and P activity and greatly amplifies the complement activation. When complement is activated on a cell surface, the activation is limited by endogenous complement regulatory proteins, which include CD35, CD46, CD55 and CD59, depending on the cell. Pathogens, in general, don't have complement regulatory proteins (there are many exceptions, which reflect adaptation of microbial pathogens to vertebrate immune defenses). Thus, the alternative complement pathway is able to distinguish self from non-self on the basis of the surface expression of complement regulatory proteins. Host cells don't accumulate cell surface C3b (and the proteolytic fragment of C3b called iC3b) because this is prevented by the complement regulatory proteins, while foreign cells, pathogens and abnormal surfaces may be heavily decorated with C3b and iC3b. Accordingly, the alternative complement pathway is one element of innate immunity.


title: Complement system

text: Once the alternative C3 convertase enzyme is formed on a pathogen or cell surface, it may bind covalently another C3b, to form C3bBbC3bP, the C5 convertase. This enzyme then cleaves C5 to C5a, a potent anaphylatoxin, and C5b. The C5b then recruits and assembles C6, C7, C8 and multiple C9 molecules to assemble the membrane attack complex. This creates a hole or pore in the membrane that can kill or damage the pathogen or cell.


title: Complement system

text: The lectin pathway is homologous to the classical pathway, but with the opsonin, mannose-binding lectin (MBL), and ficolins, instead of C1q. This pathway is activated by binding of MBL to mannose residues on the pathogen surface, which activates the MBL-associated serine proteases, MASP-1, and MASP-2 (very similar to C1r and C1s, respectively), which can then split C4 into C4a and C4b and C2 into C2a and C2b. C4b and C2b then bind together to form the classical C3-convertase, as in the classical pathway. Ficolins are homologous to MBL and function via MASP in a similar way. Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms have been described in M-ficolin in humans, with effect on ligand-binding ability and serum levels. Historically, the larger fragment of C2 was named C2a, but it is now referred to as C2b. In invertebrates without an adaptive immune system, ficolins are expanded and their binding specificities diversified to compensate for the lack of pathogen-specific recognition molecules.


title: Complement system

text: Immunology textbooks have used different naming assignments for the smaller and larger fragments of C2 as C2a and C2b. The preferred assignment appears to be that the smaller fragment be designated as C2a: as early as 1994, a well known textbook recommended that the larger fragment of C2 should be designated C2b. However, this was amplified in their 1999 4th edition, to say that:


title: Complement system

text: "It is also useful to be aware that the larger active fragment of C2 was originally designated C2a, and is still called that in some texts and research papers. Here, for consistency, we shall call all large fragments of complement b, so the larger fragment of C2 will be designated C2b. In the classical and lectin pathways the C3 convertase enzyme is formed from membrane-bound C4b with C2b."


title: Complement system

text: Some sources designate the larger and smaller fragments as C2a and C2b respectively while other sources apply the converse. However, due to the widely established convention, C2b here is the larger fragment, which, in the classical pathway, forms C4b2b (classically C4b2a). It may be noteworthy that, in a series of editions of Janeway's book, 1st to 7th, in the latest edition they withdraw the stance to indicate the larger fragment of C2 as C2b.


title: Complement system

text: Fixation of the MBL protein on viral surfaces has also been shown to enhance neutralization of viral pathogens.


title: Complement system

text: In the classical pathway, C1 binds with its C1q subunits to Fc fragments (made of CH2 region) of IgG or IgM, which has formed a complex with antigens. C4b and C3b are also able to bind to antigen-associated IgG or IgM, to its Fc portion.


title: Complement system

text: Such immunoglobulin-mediated binding of the complement may be interpreted as that the complement uses the ability of the immunoglobulin to detect and bind to non-self antigens as its guiding stick. The complement itself can bind non-self pathogens after detecting their pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), however, utilizing specificity of the antibody, complements can detect non-self targets much more specifically.


title: Complement system

text: Some components have a variety of binding sites. In the classical pathway, C4 binds to Ig-associated C1q and C1rs enzyme cleaves C4 to C4b and 4a. C4b binds to C1q, antigen-associated Ig (specifically to its Fc portion), and even to the microbe surface. C3b binds to antigen-associated Ig and to the microbe surface. Ability of C3b to bind to antigen-associated Ig would work effectively against antigen-antibody complexes to make them soluble.


title: Complement system

text: The complement system has the potential to be extremely damaging to host tissues, meaning its activation must be tightly regulated. The complement system is regulated by complement control proteins, which are present at blood plasma and host cell membrane. Some complement control proteins are present on the membranes of self-cells preventing them from being targeted by complement. One example is CD59, also known as protectin, which inhibits C9 polymerization during the formation of the membrane attack complex. The classical pathway is inhibited by C1-inhibitor, which binds to C1 to prevent its activation.


title: Complement system

text: C3-convertase can be inhibited by decay accelerating factor (DAF), which is bound to erythrocyte plasma membranes via a GPI anchor.


title: Complement system

text: It is thought that the complement system might play a role in many diseases with an immune component, such as Barraquer–Simons syndrome, asthma, lupus erythematosus, glomerulonephritis, various forms of arthritis, autoimmune heart disease, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome and ischemia-reperfusion injuries, and rejection of transplanted organs.


title: Complement system

text: The complement system is also becoming increasingly implicated in diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions such as spinal cord injuries.


title: Complement system

text: Deficiencies of the terminal pathway predispose to both autoimmune disease and infections (particularly Neisseria meningitidis, due to the role that the membrane attack complex ("MAC") plays in attacking Gram-negative bacteria).


title: Complement system

text: Infections with "N. meningitidis" and "N. gonorrhoeae" are the only conditions known to be associated with deficiencies in the MAC components of complement. 40–50% of those with MAC deficiencies experience recurrent infections with "N. meningitidis".


title: Complement system

text: Mutations in the genes of complement regulators, especially factor H, have been associated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, and C3 glomerulopathy. Both of these disorders are currently thought to be due to complement overactivation either on the surface of host cells or in plasma, with the molecular location of genetic variation in complement proteins providing clues into the underlying disease processes. Moreover, several single nucleotide polymorphisms and mutations in the complement factor H gene (the most common of which results in the protein change p.Y402H) have been associated with the common eye disease age-related macular degeneration. Polymorphisms of complement component 3, complement factor B, and complement factor I, as well as deletion of complement factor H-related 3 and complement factor H-related 1, also affect a person's risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.


title: Complement system

text: Mutations in the C1 inhibitor gene can cause hereditary angioedema, a genetic condition resulting from reduced regulation of bradykinin by C1-INH.


title: Complement system

text: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is caused by complement breakdown of RBCs due to an inability to make GPI. Thus the RBCs are not protected by GPI anchored proteins such as DAF.


title: Complement system

text: The presence or absence of complement fixation upon a challenge can indicate whether particular antigens or antibodies are present in the blood. This is the principle of the complement fixation test.


title: Complement system

text: Research has suggested that the complement system is manipulated during HIV/AIDS, in a way that further damages the body.


title: Complement system

text: Research from over the last decade has shown that complement proteins of the classical complement pathway have an important role in synaptic pruning in the brain during early development.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope (e.g. more active or passive use) and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone."


title: Social media marketing

text: When using social media marketing, firms can allow customers and Internet users to post user-generated content (e.g., online comments, product reviews, etc.), also known as "earned media," rather than use marketer-prepared advertising copy.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social networking websites allow individuals, businesses and other organizations to interact with one another and build relationships and communities online. When companies join these social channels, consumers can interact with them directly. That interaction can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing and advertising. Social networking sites act as word of mouth or more precisely, e-word of mouth. The Internet's ability to reach billions across the globe has given online word of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. The ability to rapidly change buying patterns and product or service acquisition and activity to a growing number of consumers is defined as an influence network. Social networking sites and blogs allow followers to "retweet" or "repost" comments made by others about a product being promoted, which occurs quite frequently on some social media sites. By repeating the message, the user's connections are able to see the message, therefore reaching more people. Because the information about the product is being put out there and is getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social networking websites are based on building virtual communities that allow consumers to express their needs, wants and values, online. Social media marketing then connects these consumers and audiences to businesses that share the same needs, wants, and values. Through social networking sites, companies can keep in touch with individual followers. This personal interaction can instill a feeling of loyalty into followers and potential customers. Also, by choosing whom to follow on these sites, products can reach a very narrow target audience. Social networking sites also include much information about what products and services prospective clients might be interested in. Through the use of new semantic analysis technologies, marketers can detect buying signals, such as content shared by people and questions posted online. An understanding of buying signals can help sales people target relevant prospects and marketers run micro-targeted campaigns.


title: Social media marketing

text: In 2014, over 80% of business executives identified social media as an integral part of their business. Business retailers have seen 133% increases in their revenues from social media marketing.


title: Social media marketing

text: Some examples of popular social networking websites over the years are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, MySpace, LinkedIn, and SnapChat.


title: Social media marketing

text: More than three billion people in the world are active on the Internet. Over the years, the Internet has continually gained more and more users, jumping from 738 million in 2000 all the way to 3.2 billion in 2015. Roughly 81% of the current population in the United States has some type of social media profile that they engage with frequently. Mobile phone usage is beneficial for social media marketing because of their web browsing capabilities which allow individuals immediate access to social networking sites. Mobile phones have altered the path-to-purchase process by allowing consumers to easily obtain pricing and product information in real time. They have also allowed companies to constantly remind and update their followers. Many companies are now putting QR (Quick Response) codes along with products for individuals to access the company website or online services with their smart phones. Retailers use QR codes to facilitate consumer interaction with brands by linking the code to brand websites, promotions, product information, and any other mobile-enabled content. In addition, Real-time bidding use in the mobile advertising industry is high and rising due to its value for on-the-go web browsing. In 2012, Nexage, a provider of real time bidding in mobile advertising reported a 37% increase in revenue each month. Adfonic, another mobile advertisement publishing platform, reported an increase of 22 billion ad requests that same year.


title: Social media marketing

text: Mobile devices have become increasingly popular, where 5.7 billion people are using them worldwide. This has played a role in the way consumers interact with media and has many further implications for TV ratings, advertising, mobile commerce, and more. Mobile media consumption such as mobile audio streaming or mobile video are on the rise – In the United States, more than 100 million users are projected to access online video content via mobile device. Mobile video revenue consists of pay-per-view downloads, advertising and subscriptions. As of 2013, worldwide mobile phone Internet user penetration was 73.4%. In 2017, figures suggest that more than 90% of Internet users will access online content through their phones.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media can be a useful source of market information and a way to hear customer perspectives. Blogs, content communities, and forums are platforms where individuals share their reviews and recommendations of brands, products, and services. Businesses are able to tap and analyze the customer voices and feedback generated in social media for marketing purposes; in this sense the social media is a relatively inexpensive source of market intelligence which can be used by marketers and managers to track and respond to consumer-identified problems and detect market opportunities. For example, the Internet erupted with videos and pictures of iPhone 6 "bend test" which showed that the coveted phone could be bent by hand pressure. The so-called "bend gate" controversy created confusion amongst customers who had waited months for the launch of the latest rendition of the iPhone. However, Apple promptly issued a statement saying that the problem was extremely rare and that the company had taken several steps to make the mobile device's case stronger and robust. Unlike traditional market research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and data mining which are time-consuming and costly, and which take weeks or even months to analyze, marketers can use social media to obtain 'live' or "real time" information about consumer behavior and viewpoints on a company's brand or products. This can be useful in the highly dynamic, competitive, fast-paced and global marketplace of the 2010s.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media can be used not only as public relations and direct marketing tools, but also as communication channels targeting very specific audiences with social media influencers and social media personalities as effective customer engagement tools. This tactic is widely known as influencer marketing. Influencer marketing allows brands the opportunity to reach their target audience in a more genuine, authentic way via a special group of selected influencers advertising their product or service. In fact, brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, per Business Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.


title: Social media marketing

text: Technologies predating social media, such as broadcast TV and newspapers can also provide advertisers with a fairly targeted audience, given that an ad placed during a sports game broadcast or in the sports section of a newspaper is likely to be read by sports fans. However, social media websites can target niche markets even more precisely. Using digital tools such as Google AdSense, advertisers can target their ads to very specific demographics, such as people who are interested in social entrepreneurship, political activism associated with a particular political party, or video gaming. Google AdSense does this by looking for keywords in social media user's online posts and comments. It would be hard for a TV station or paper-based newspaper to provide ads that are this targeted (though not impossible, as can be seen with "special issue" sections on niche issues, which newspapers can use to sell targeted ads).


title: Social media marketing

text: Social networks are, in many cases, viewed as a great tool for avoiding costly market research. They are known for providing a short, fast, and direct way to reach an audience through a person who is widely known. For example, an athlete who gets endorsed by a sporting goods company also brings their support base of millions of people who are interested in what they do or how they play and now they want to be a part of this athlete through their endorsements with that particular company. At one point consumers would visit stores to view their products with famous athletes, but now you can view a famous athlete's, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, latest apparel online with the click of a button. He advertises them to you directly through his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts.


title: Social media marketing

text: Facebook and LinkedIn are leading social media platforms where users can hyper-target their ads. Hypertargeting not only uses public profile information but also information users submit but hide from others. There are several examples of firms initiating some form of online dialog with the public to foster relations with customers. According to Constantinides, Lorenzo and Gómez Borja (2008) "Business executives like Jonathan Swartz, President and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple Computers, and McDonald's Vice President Bob Langert post regularly in their CEO blogs, encouraging customers to interact and freely express their feelings, ideas, suggestions, or remarks about their postings, the company or its products". Using customer influencers (for example popular bloggers) can be a very efficient and cost-effective method to launch new products or services


title: Social media marketing

text: Among the political leaders in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the highest number of followers at 40 million, and President Donald Trump ranks second with 25 million followers. Modi employed social media platforms to circumvent traditional media channels to reach out to the young and urban population of India which is estimated to be 200 million.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media content that has been driven by algorithms has become an increasingly popular feature in recent years.


title: Social media marketing

text: One social media platform that has used this ground-changing strategy is TikTok. TikTok has become one of the fastest growing applications to date and currently has around 1.5 billion users, mainly consisting of children and teenagers. The algorithm used within this platform encourages creativity among TikTok users because of the platform's wide range of effects and challenges that change from day to day. Because of this feature, content creators big or small have increased chances of going viral by appearing on TikTok's "for you" page. The "for you" page algorithm allows users to have videos recommended to them based on their previous watches, likes and shares.


title: Social media marketing

text: This can be extremely beneficial for small businesses who are using this platform as a means of social media marketing. Although they may be starting off small, by following trends, using hashtags, and much more, anyone can promote themselves on this emerging application to attract new audiences from all around the world. Moreover, using algorithmically-driven content within TikTok allows for a more positive response rate from users as the target audience tends to be young users, who are more susceptible to these increasingly popular marketing communications. With this in mind, TikTok is filled with rich content that include images and videos which can beneficially aid influencer marketing over platforms that are heavily text-based as they are less engaging for their audiences.


title: Social media marketing

text: When considering algorithms in respect to social media platforms, it is evident they can heavily impact the outcomes of this marketing strategy. Since it is a new content feature, younger audiences may respond more positively to it than others, but it is not something that should be disregarded for other audiences. Anyone is able to use this marketing strategy to get themselves out there and engage with new customers or users because of the effective algorithm technique.


title: Social media marketing

text: Engagement with the social web means that customers and stakeholders are active participants rather than passive viewers. An example of these are consumer advocacy groups and groups that criticize companies (e.g., lobby groups or advocacy organizations). Social media use in a business or political context allows all consumers/citizens to express and share an opinion about a company's products, services, business practices, or a government's actions. Each participating customer, non-customer, or citizen who is participating online via social media becomes a part of the marketing department (or a challenge to the marketing effort) as other customers read their positive or negative comments or reviews. Getting consumers, potential consumers or citizens to be engaged online is fundamental to successful social media marketing. With the advent of social media marketing, it has become increasingly important to gain customer interest in products and services. This can eventually be translated into buying behavior, or voting and donating behavior in a political context. New online marketing concepts of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer participation and brand reputation.


title: Social media marketing

text: Engagement in social media for the purpose of a social media strategy is divided into two parts. The first is proactive, regular posting of new online content. This can be seen through digital photos, digital videos, text, and conversations. It is also represented through sharing of content and information from others via weblinks. The second part is reactive conversations with social media users responding to those who reach out to your social media profiles through commenting or messaging. Traditional media such as TV news shows are limited to one-way interaction with customers or 'push and tell' where only specific information is given to the customer with few or limited mechanisms to obtain customer feedback. Traditional media such as physical newspapers, do give readers the option of sending a letter to the editor. Though, this is a relatively slow process, as the editorial board has to review the letter and decide if it is appropriate for publication. On the other hand, social media is participative and open; Participants are able to instantly share their views on brands, products, and services. Traditional media gave control of message to the marketer, whereas social media shifts the balance to the consumer or citizen.


title: Social media marketing

text: Small businesses also use social networking sites as a promotional technique. Businesses can follow individuals social networking site uses in the local area and advertise specials and deals. These can be exclusive and in the form of "get a free drink with a copy of this tweet". This type of message encourages other locals to follow the business on the sites in order to obtain the promotional deal. In the process, the business is getting seen and promoting itself (brand visibility).


title: Social media marketing

text: Small businesses also use social networking sites to develop their own market research on new products and services. By encouraging their customers to give feedback on new product ideas, businesses can gain valuable insights on whether a product may be accepted by their target market enough to merit full production, or not. In addition, customers will feel the company has engaged them in the process of co-creation—the process in which the business uses customer feedback to create or modify a product or service the filling a need of the target market. Such feedback can present in various forms, such as surveys, contests, polls, etc.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, also provide an opportunity for small businesses to find candidates to fill staff positions.


title: Social media marketing

text: Of course, review sites, such as Yelp, also help small businesses to build their reputation beyond just brand visibility. Positive customer peer reviews help to influence new prospects to purchase goods and services more than company advertising.


title: Social media marketing

text: In early 2012, Nike introduced its Make It Count social media campaign. The campaign kickoff began YouTubers Casey Neistat and Max Joseph launching a YouTube video, where they traveled 34,000 miles to visit 16 cities in 13 countries. They promoted the #makeitcount hashtag, which millions of consumers shared via Twitter and Instagram by uploading photos and sending tweets. The #MakeItCount YouTube video went viral and Nike saw an 18% increase in profit in 2012, the year this product was released.


title: Social media marketing

text: One of the main purposes of employing social media in marketing is as a communications tool that makes the companies accessible to those interested in their product and makes them visible to those who have no knowledge of their products. These companies use social media to create buzz, and learn from and target customers. It's the only form of marketing that can finger consumers at each and every stage of the consumer decision journey. Marketing through social media has other benefits as well. Of the top 10 factors that correlate with a strong Google organic search, seven are social media dependent. This means that if brands are less or non-active on social media, they tend to show up less on Google searches. While platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ have a larger number of monthly users, the visual media sharing based mobile platforms, however, garner a higher interaction rate in comparison and have registered the fastest growth and have changed the ways in which consumers engage with brand content. Instagram has an interaction rate of 1.46% with an average of 130 million users monthly as opposed to Twitter which has a .03% interaction rate with an average of 210 million monthly users. Unlike traditional media that are often cost-prohibitive to many companies, a social media strategy does not require astronomical budgeting.


title: Social media marketing

text: To this end, companies make use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to reach audiences much wider than through the use of traditional print/TV/radio advertisements alone at a fraction of the cost, as most social networking sites can be used at little or no cost (however, some websites charge companies for premium services). This has changed the ways that companies approach to interact with customers, as a substantial percentage of consumer interactions are now being carried out over online platforms with much higher visibility. Customers can now post reviews of products and services, rate customer service, and ask questions or voice concerns directly to companies through social media platforms. According to "Measuring Success", over 80% of consumers use the web to research products and services. Thus social media marketing is also used by businesses in order to build relationships of trust with consumers. To this aim, companies may also hire personnel to specifically handle these social media interactions, who usually report under the title of Online community managers. Handling these interactions in a satisfactory manner can result in an increase of consumer trust. To both this aim and to fix the public's perception of a company, 3 steps are taken in order to address consumer concerns, identifying the extent of the social chatter, engaging the influencers to help, and developing a proportional response.


title: Social media marketing

text: Twitter allows companies to promote their products in short messages known as tweets limited to 280 characters which appear on followers' Home timelines. Tweets can contain text, Hashtag, photo, video, Animated GIF, Emoji, or links to the product's website and other social media profiles, etc. Twitter is also used by companies to provide customer service. Some companies make support available 24/7 and answer promptly, thus improving brand loyalty and appreciation.


title: Social media marketing

text: Facebook pages are far more detailed than Twitter accounts. They allow a product to provide videos, photos, longer descriptions, and testimonials where followers can comment on the product pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the product's Twitter page, as well as send out event reminders. As of May 2015, 93% of businesses marketers use Facebook to promote their brand. A study from 2011 attributed 84% of "engagement" or clicks and likes that link back to Facebook advertising. By 2014, Facebook had restricted the content published from business and brand pages. Adjustments in Facebook algorithms have reduced the audience for non-paying business pages (that have at least 500,000 "Likes") from 16% in 2012 down to 2% in February 2014.


title: Social media marketing

text: LinkedIn, a professional business-related networking site, allows companies to create professional profiles for themselves as well as their business to network and meet others. Through the use of widgets, members can promote their various social networking activities, such as Twitter stream or blog entries of their product pages, onto their LinkedIn profile page. LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to generate sales leads and business partners. Members can use "Company Pages" similar to Facebook pages to create an area that will allow business owners to promote their products or services and be able to interact with their customers.


title: Social media marketing

text: WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. Joining Facebook in 2014, WhatsApp continues to operate as a separate app with a laser focus on building a messaging service that works fast and reliably anywhere in the world. Started as an alternative to SMS, WhatsApp now supports sending and receiving a variety of media including text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice calls. WhatsApp messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption, meaning that no third party including WhatsApp can read or listen to them. WhatsApp has a customer base of 1 billion people in over 180 countries. It is used to send personalised promotional messages to individual customers. It has plenty of advantages over SMS that includes ability to track how Message Broadcast Performs using blue tick option in WhatsApp. It allows sending messages to Do Not Disturb (DND) customers. WhatsApp is also used to send a series of bulk messages to their targeted customers using broadcast option. Companies started using this to a large extent because it is a cost-effective promotional option and quick to spread a message. As of 2019, WhatsApp still not allow businesses to place ads in their app.


title: Social media marketing

text: Yelp consists of a comprehensive online index of business profiles. Businesses are searchable by location, similar to Yellow Pages. The website is operational in seven different countries, including the United States and Canada. Business account holders are allowed to create, share, and edit business profiles. They may post information such as the business location, contact information, pictures, and service information. The website further allows individuals to write, post reviews about businesses, and rate them on a five-point scale. Messaging and talk features are further made available for general members of the website, serving to guide thoughts and opinions.


title: Social media marketing

text: In May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users. The user engagement rate of Instagram was 15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that of Twitter. According to Scott Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business, latest studies estimate that 93% of prestige brands have an active presence on Instagram and include it in their marketing mix. When it comes to brands and businesses, Instagram's goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment. Moreover, Instagram provides a platform where user and company can communicate publicly and directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers.


title: Social media marketing

text: Many brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their marketing strategy. Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to capture the attention of the market segment that has an interest in the product offering or services. As Instagram is supported by Apple and android system, it can be easily accessed by smartphone users. Moreover, it can be accessed by the Internet as well. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to expand their brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target group. On top of this, marketers do not only use social media for traditional Internet advertising, but they also encourage users to create attention for a certain brand. This generally creates an opportunity for greater brand exposure. Furthermore, marketers are also using the platform to drive social shopping and inspire people to collect and share pictures of their favorite products. Many big names have already jumped on board: Starbucks, MTV, Nike, Marc Jacobs, and Red Bull are a few examples of multinationals that adopted the mobile photo app early. Fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein, who goes by @weworewhat on Instagram, collaborated with "Harper's Bazaar" to do a piece on how brands are using Instagram to market their products, and how bloggers make money from it. Bernstein, who currently has one and a half million followers on Instagram, and whose "outfit of the day" photos on Snapchat get tens of thousands of screenshots, explained that for a lot of her sponsored posts, she must feature the brand in a certain number of posts, and often cannot wear a competitor's product in the same picture. According to "Harper's Bazaar", industry estimates say that brands are spending more than $1 billion per year on consumer-generated advertising.


title: Social media marketing

text: Instagram has proven itself a powerful platform for marketers to reach their customers and prospects through sharing pictures and brief messages. According to a study by Simply Measured, 71% of the world's largest brands are now using Instagram as a marketing channel. For companies, Instagram can be used as a tool to connect and communicate with current


title: Social media marketing

text: and potential customers. The company can present a more personal picture of their brand, and by doing so the company conveys a better and true picture of itself. The idea of Instagram pictures lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is happening right now, and that adds another layer to the personal and accurate picture of the company. In fact, Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of the program Dash Hudson, stated that when he approves a blogger's Instagram post before it is posted on the behalf of a brand his company represents, his only negative feedback is if it looks too posed. "It's not an editorial photo," he explained, "We're not trying to be a magazine. We're trying to create a moment." Another option Instagram provides the opportunity for companies to reflect a true picture of the brand from the perspective of the customers, for instance, using the user-generated contents thought the hashtags encouragement. Other than the filters and hashtags functions, the Instagram's 15-second videos and the recently added ability to send private messages between users have opened new opportunities for brands to connect with customers in a new extent, further promoting effective marketing on Instagram.


title: Social media marketing

text: Snapchat is a popular messaging and picture exchanging application that was created in 2011 by three students at Stanford University named Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. The application was first developed to allow users to message back and forth and to also send photographs that are only available from 1–10 seconds until they are no longer available. The app was an instant hit with social media members and today there are up to 158 million people using snapchat every single day. It is also estimated that Snapchat users are opening the application approximately 18 times per day, which means users are on the app for about 25–30 minutes per day.


title: Social media marketing

text: YouTube is another popular avenue; advertisements are done in a way to suit the target audience. The type of language used in the commercials and the ideas used to promote the product reflect the audience's style and taste. Also, the ads on this platform are usually in sync with the content of the video requested, this is another advantage YouTube brings for advertisers. Certain ads are presented with certain videos since the content is relevant. Promotional opportunities such as sponsoring a video is also possible on YouTube, "for example, a user who searches for a YouTube video on dog training may be presented with a sponsored video from a dog toy company in results along with other videos." YouTube also enable publishers to earn money through its YouTube Partner Program. Companies can pay YouTube for a special "channel" which promotes the companies products or services.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social bookmarking sites are used in social media promotion. Each of these sites is dedicated to the collection, curation, and organization of links to other websites that users deem to be of good quality. This process is "crowdsourced", allowing amateur social media network members to sort and prioritize links by relevance and general category. Due to the large user bases of these websites, any link from one of them to another, the smaller website may in a flash crowd, a sudden surge of interest in the target website. In addition to user-generated promotion, these sites also offer advertisements within individual user communities and categories. Because ads can be placed in designated communities with a very specific target audience and demographic, they have far greater potential for traffic generation than ads selected simply through cookie and browser history. Additionally, some of these websites have also implemented measures to make ads more relevant to users by allowing users to vote on which ones will be shown on pages they frequent. The ability to redirect large volumes of web traffic and target specific, relevant audiences makes social bookmarking sites a valuable asset for social media marketers.


title: Social media marketing

text: Platforms like LinkedIn create an environment for companies and clients to connect online. Companies that recognize the need for information, originality and accessibility employ blogs to make their products popular and unique/ and ultimately reach out to consumers who are privy to social media. Studies from 2009 show that consumers view coverage in the media or from bloggers as being more neutral and credible than print advertisements, which are not thought of as free or independent. Blogs allow a product or company to provide longer descriptions of products or services, can include testimonials and can link to and from other social network and blog pages. Blogs can be updated frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers, and also for acquiring followers and subscribers who can then be directed to social network pages. Online communities can enable a business to reach the clients of other businesses using the platform. To allow firms to measure their standing in the corporate world, sites enable employees to place evaluations of their companies.


title: Social media marketing

text: Some businesses opt out of integrating social media platforms into their traditional marketing regimen. There are also specific corporate standards that apply when interacting online. To maintain an advantage in a business-consumer relationship, businesses have to be aware of four key assets that consumers maintain: information, involvement, community, and control.


title: Social media marketing

text: Blogging website Tumblr first launched ad products on May 29, 2012. Rather than relying on simple banner ads, Tumblr requires advertisers to create a Tumblr blog so the content of those blogs can be featured on the site. In one year, four native ad formats were created on web and mobile, and had more than 100 brands advertising on Tumblr with 500 cumulative sponsored posts.


title: Social media marketing

text: These posts can be one or more of the following: images, photo sets, animated GIFs, video, audio, and text posts. For the users to differentiate the promoted posts to the regular users' posts, the promoted posts have a dollar symbol on the corner. On May 6, 2014, Tumblr announced customization and theming on mobile apps for brands to advertise.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media marketing involves the use of social networks, "consumer's online brand-related activities" (COBRA) and "electronic word of mouth" (eWOM) to successfully advertise online. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide advertisers with information about the likes and dislikes of their consumers. This technique is crucial, as it provides the businesses with a "target audience". With social networks, information relevant to the user's likes is available to businesses; who then advertise accordingly. Activities such as uploading a picture of your "new Converse sneakers to Facebook" is an example of a "COBRA". Electronic recommendations and appraisals are a convenient manner to have a product promoted via "consumer-to-consumer interactions. An example of "eWOM" would be an online hotel review; the hotel company can have two possible outcomes based on their service. A good service would result in a positive review which gets the hotel free advertising via social media. However, a poor service will result in a negative consumer review which can potentially harm the company's reputation.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MySpace etc. have all influenced the buzz of word of mouth marketing. In 1999, Misner said that word-of mouth marketing is, "the world's most effective, yet least understood marketing strategy" (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009, p. 3). Through the influence of opinion leaders, the increased online "buzz" of "word-of-mouth" marketing that a product, service or companies are experiencing is due to the rise in use of social media and smartphones. Businesses and marketers have noticed that, "a persons behaviour is influenced by many small groups" (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013, p. 189). These small groups rotate around social networking accounts that are run by influential people (opinion leaders or "thought leaders") who have followers of groups. The types of groups (followers) are called: reference groups (people who know each other either face-to-face or have an indirect influence on a persons attitude or behaviour); membership groups (a person has a direct influence on a person's attitude or behaviour); and aspirational groups (groups which an individual wishes to belong to).


title: Social media marketing

text: Marketers target influential people, referred to as influencers, on social media who are recognized as being opinion leaders and opinion-formers to send messages to their target audiences and amplify the impact of their message. A social media post by an opinion leader can have a much greater impact (via the forwarding of the post or "liking" of the post) than a social media post by a regular user. Marketers have come to the understanding that "consumers are more prone to believe in other individuals" who they trust (Sepp, Liljander, & Gummerus, 2011). OL's and OF's can also send their own messages about products and services they choose (Fill, Hughes, & De Francesco, 2013, p. 216). The reason the opinion leader or formers have such a strong following base is because their opinion is valued or trusted (Clement, Proppe, & Rott, 2007). They can review products and services for their followings, which can be positive or negative towards the brand. OL's and OF's are people who have a social status and because of their personality, beliefs, values etc. have the potential to influence other people (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013, p. 189). They usually have a large number of followers otherwise known as their reference, membership or aspirational group (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong), 2013, p. 189. By having an OL or OF support a brands product by posting a photo, video or written recommendation on a blog, the following may be influenced and because they trust the OL/OF a high chance of the brand selling more products or creating a following base. Having an OL/OF helps spread word of mouth talk amongst reference groups and/or memberships groups e.g. family, friends, work-friends etc. (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013, p. 189). The adjusted communication model shows the use of using opinion leaders and opinion formers. The sender/source gives the message to many, many OL's/OF's who pass the message on along with their personal opinion, the receiver (followers/groups) form their own opinion and send their personal message to their group (friends, family etc.) (Dahlen, Lange, & Smith, 2010, p. 39).


title: Social media marketing

text: Owned social media channels are an essential extension of businesses and brands in today's world. Brand must seek to create their brand image on each platform, and cater to the type of consumer demographics on each respective platform. In contrast with pre-Internet marketing, such as TV ads and newspaper ads, in which the marketer controlled all aspects of the ad, with social media, users are free to post comments right below an online ad or an online post by a company about its product. Companies are increasing using their social media strategy as part of their traditional marketing effort using magazines, newspapers, radio advertisements, television advertisements. Since in the 2010s, media consumers are often using multiple platforms at the same time (e.g., surfing the Internet on a tablet while watching a streaming TV show), marketing content needs to be consistent across all platforms, whether traditional or new media. Heath (2006) wrote about the extent of attention businesses should give to their social media sites. It is about finding a balance between frequently posting but not over posting. There is a lot more attention to be paid towards social media sites because people need updates to gain brand recognition. Therefore, a lot more content is need and this can often be unplanned content.


title: Social media marketing

text: Planned content begins with the creative/marketing team generating their ideas, once they have completed their ideas they send them off for approval. There is two general ways of doing so. The first is where each sector approves the plan one after another, editor, brand, followed by the legal team (Brito, 2013). Sectors may differ depending on the size and philosophy of the business. The second is where each sector is given 24 hours (or such designated time) to sign off or disapprove. If no action is given within the 24-hour period the original plan is implemented. Planned content is often noticeable to customers and is un-original or lacks excitement but is also a safer option to avoid unnecessary backlash from the public. Both routes for planned content are time-consuming as in the above; the first way to approval takes 72 hours to be approved. Although the second route can be significantly shorter it also holds more risk particularly in the legal department.


title: Social media marketing

text: Unplanned content is an 'in the moment' idea, "a spontaneous, tactical reaction." (Cramer, 2014, p. 6). The content could be trending and not have the time to take the planned content route. The unplanned content is posted sporadically and is not calendar/date/time arranged (Deshpande, 2014). Issues with unplanned content revolve around legal issues and whether the message being sent out represents the business/brand accordingly. If a company sends out a Tweet or Facebook message too hurriedly, the company may unintentionally use insensitive language or messaging that could alienate some consumers. For example, celebrity chef Paula Deen was criticized after she made a social media post commenting about HIV-AIDS and South Africa; her message was deemed to be offensive by many observers. The main difference between planned and unplanned is the time to approve the content. Unplanned content must still be approved by marketing managers, but in a much more rapid manner e.g. 1–2 hours or less. Sectors may miss errors because of being hurried. When using unplanned content Brito (2013) says, "be prepared to be reactive and respond to issues when they arise." Brito (2013) writes about having a, "crisis escalation plan", because, "It will happen". The plan involves breaking down the issue into topics and classifying the issue into groups. Colour coding the potential risk "identify and flag potential risks" also helps to organise an issue. The problem can then be handled by the correct team and dissolved more effectively rather than any person at hand trying to solve the situation.


title: Social media marketing

text: Traditional advertising techniques include print and television advertising. The Internet has already overtaken television as the largest advertising market.


title: Social media marketing

text: Web sites often include the banner or pop-up ads. Social networking sites don't always have ads. In exchange, products have entire pages and are able to interact with users. Television commercials often end with a spokesperson asking viewers to check out the product website for more information. While briefly popular, print ads included QR codes on them. These QR codes can be scanned by cell phones and computers, sending viewers to the product website. Advertising is beginning to move viewers from the traditional outlets to the electronic ones.


title: Social media marketing

text: While traditional media, like newspapers and television advertising, are largely overshadowed by the rise of social media marketing, there is still a place for traditional marketing. For example, with newspapers, readership over the years has shown a decline. However, readership with newspapers is still fiercely loyal to print-only media. 51% of newspaper readers only read the newspaper in its print form, making well-placed ads valuable.


title: Social media marketing

text: The Internet and social networking leaks are one of the issues facing traditional advertising. Video and print ads are often leaked to the world via the Internet earlier than they are scheduled to premiere. Social networking sites allow those leaks to go viral, and be seen by many users more quickly.


title: Social media marketing

text: The time difference is also a problem facing traditional advertisers. When social events occur and are broadcast on television, there is often a time delay between airings on the east coast and west coast of the United States. Social networking sites have become a hub of comment and interaction concerning the event. This allows individuals watching the event on the west coast (time-delayed) to know the outcome before it airs. The 2011 Grammy Awards highlighted this problem. Viewers on the west coast learned who won different awards based on comments made on social networking sites by individuals watching live on the east coast. Since viewers knew who won already, many tuned out and ratings were lower. All the advertisement and promotion put into the event was lost because viewers didn't have a reason to watch.


title: Social media marketing

text: Social media marketing provides organizations with a way to connect with their customers. However, organizations must protect their information as well as closely watch comments and concerns on the social media they use. A flash poll done on 1225 IT executives from 33 countries revealed that social media mishaps caused organizations a combined $4.3 million in damages in 2010. The top three social media incidents an organization faced during the previous year included employees sharing too much information in public forums, loss or exposure of confidential information, and increased exposure to litigation. Due to the viral nature of the Internet, a mistake by a single employee has in some cases shown to result in devastating consequences for organizations. An example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter mishap in 2011. When Kenneth Cole tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor has they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [Kenneth Cole's website]". This reference to the 2011 Egyptian revolution drew an objection from the public; it was widely objected to on the Internet. Kenneth Cole realized his mistake shortly after and responded with a statement apologizing for the tweet.


title: Social media marketing

text: In 2012 during Hurricane Sandy, Gap sent out a tweet to its followers telling them to stay safe but encouraged them to shop online and offered free shipping. The tweet was deemed insensitive, and Gap eventually took it down and apologized. Numerous additional online marketing mishap examples exist. Examples include a YouTube video of a Domino's Pizza employee violating health code standards, which went viral on the Internet and later resulted in felony charges against two employees. A Twitter hashtag posted by McDonald's in 2012 attracting attention due to numerous complaints and negative events customers experienced at the chain store; and a 2011 tweet posted by a Chrysler Group employee that no one in Detroit knows how to drive. When the Link REIT opened a Facebook page to recommend old-style restaurants, the page was flooded by furious comments criticizing the REIT for having forced a lot of restaurants and stores to shut down; it had to terminate its campaign early amid further deterioration of its corporate image.


title: Social media marketing

text: In 2018, Max Factor, MAC and other beauty brands were forced to rush to disassociate themselves from Kuwaiti beauty blogger and Instagram 'influencer' Sondos Alqattan after she criticised government moves to improve conditions for domestic workers.


title: Social media marketing

text: The code of ethics that is affiliated with traditional marketing can also be applied to social media. However, with social media being so personal and international, there is another list of complications and challenges that come along with being ethical online. A sensitive topic about social media professionals is the subject of ethics in social media marketing practices, specifically: the proper uses of, often, very personal data. With the invention of social media, the marketer no longer has to focus solely on the basic demographics and psychographics given from television and magazines, but now they can see what consumers like to hear from advertisers, how they engage online, and what their needs and wants are. The general concept of being ethical while marking on social network sites is to be honest with the intentions of the campaign, avoid false advertising, be aware of user privacy conditions (which means not using consumers' private information for gain), respect the dignity of persons in the shared online community, and claim responsibility for any mistakes or mishaps that are results of your marketing campaign. Most social network marketers use websites like Facebook and MySpace to try to drive traffic to another website. While it is ethical to use social networking websites to spread a message to people who are genuinely interested, many people game the system with auto-friend adding programs and spam messages and bulletins. Social networking websites are becoming wise to these practices, however, and are effectively weeding out and banning offenders.


title: Social media marketing

text: In addition, social media platforms have become extremely aware of their users and collect information about their viewers to connect with them in various ways. Social-networking website Facebook Inc. is quietly working on a new advertising system that would let marketers target users with ads based on the massive amounts of information people reveal on the site about themselves. This may be an unethical or ethical feature to some individuals. Some people may react negatively because they believe it is an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, some individuals may enjoy this feature because their social network recognizes their interests and sends them particular advertisements pertaining to those interests. Consumers like to network with people who share their interests and desires. Individuals who agree to have their social media profile public, should be aware that advertisers have the ability to take information that interests them to be able to send them information and advertisements to boost their sales. Managers invest in social media to foster relationships and interact with customers. This is an ethical way for managers to send messages about their advertisements and products to their consumers.


title: Social media marketing

text: Since social media marketing first came into being, strategists and marketers have been getting smarter and more careful with the way they collect information and distributing advertisements. With the presence of data collecting companies, there is no longer a need to target specific audiences. This can be seen as a large ethically gray area. For many users, this is a breach of privacy, but there are no laws that prevent these companies from using the information provided on their websites. Companies like Equifax, Inc., TransUnion Corp, and LexisNexis Group thrive on collecting and sharing personal information of social media users. In 2012, Facebook purchased information from 70 million households from a third party company called Datalogix. Facebook later revealed that they purchased the information in order to create a more efficient advertising service.