Bickford, CrystalLaurin, Nathaniel2014-04-152014-04-152014-04-02https://hdl.handle.net/10474/2468The poster, “The Advantages of Social Media for Small Businesses” focuses on social media and its positive and negative effects on small businesses. The author begins by introducing the topic through a brief history of the internet, web 2.0, and its byproduct, social media. The text continues on to discuss the central question of, “is social media beneficial for small businesses?” This question is studied as the author negotiates the positives and negatives associated with social media and its potential impact on small businesses. The author outlines the main benefits of social media and examines them in greater detail and then provides examples of ways businesses can use social media to increase their publicity. These range from targeted and affordable advertising, to funding a project using fans as backers. The poster also compares these benefits of social media with the potential downsides and offers specific examples of products developed by small businesses, such as Minecraft, the Ouya Console, and the Pebble Smartwatch, to illustrate the ways in which social media has contributed to make each a success. The author concludes the research project with a summarization of why the benefits of social media outweigh the detriments for small businesses. (Author abstract)1697147 bytesen-USAuthors retains all ownership rights. Further reproduction in violation of copyright is prohibitedPresentationapplication/pdf