MARK 490 ASSIGNMENT 2: SOCIAL MEDIA TOOL ASSESSMENT AND
EVALUATION
1
Select one social media tool from the list on Google Drive. Only one student for each social media tool
please. Feel free to add additional services if the one you wish to study is not listed.
2
Research your chosen social media tool and write an assessment and evaluation of the service. Your
report must include the following sections. Some sections will be very short and will consist just of the
data and the source (eg. number of active users) some will require some explanation (eg. stage of
development, open or closed network), and the final section will require extensive explanation and
evaluation.
Use screenshots, graphs etc to illustrate where applicable. You MUST provide authoritative sources for
every section, plus a bibliography at the end of the report.
Sections
1. Name of service and URL
2. Date of launch
3. Stage of development (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation) ) - see
Week 1 slides for definitions
4. Parent company (if applicable)
5. Revenue model (how does the firm make money?)
6. Type/s (from typology created in Week 1
7. Demographics and demographic trends
8. Number of registered accounts
9. Number of “active” users
10. Growth of service since launch
11. Primary media (text, video, images, audio)
12. Constraints (eg. type of media, number of characters, links out
from posts etc) and forbidden content (eg. nudity, shortened
URLs etc)
13. Open network or closed network
14. Reciprocal or non-reciprocal relationships possible
15. Default = public or private postings
16. Marketing opportunities for paid media
17. #Hashtags can be actively used
18. Long form or short form posts
19. Algorithmically controlled stream or organic stream
20. Metrics (eg. follows, likes, reposts etc)
21. Anonymous accounts or real name only
22. Availability of multiple account types
23. Detailed evaluation of the tool, including best practices for
marketers and examples of successful and unsuccessful use.
Identify any unique feature(s) / differentiation factors. (This
section should be around 1000 words)
Content
Data only
Data only
Explanation needed
Data only
Explanation needed
Data only
Explanation needed
Data only
Data plus definition of "active"
Explanation needed
Data only
Explanation
Explanation needed
Explanation needed
Explanation needed
Explanation needed
Data only
Data only
Explanation needed
Data only
Data only
Data only
Detailed explanation and
evaluation needed
This assignment is due on Tuesday, July 7th at 4:30pm via email and is worth 25% of the grade for the course.
Marking scheme
Sections
1. Name of service and URL
2. Date of launch
3. Stage of development (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation)
4. Parent company (if applicable)
5. Revenue model
6. Type/s (from typology created in Week 1)
7. Demographics
8. Number of registered accounts
9. Number of “active” users
10. Growth of service since launch
11. Primary media (text, video, images, audio)
12. Constraints (eg. type of media, number of characters,
links out from posts etc) and forbidden content (eg.
nudity, shortened URLs etc)
13. Open network or closed network
14. Reciprocal or non-reciprocal relationships possible
15. Default = public or private postings
16. Marketing opportunities for paid media
17. #Hashtags can be actively used
18. Long form or short form posts
19. Algorithmically controlled stream or organic stream
20. Metrics (eg. follows, likes, reposts etc)
21. Anonymous accounts or real name only
22. Availability of multiple account types
23. Detailed evaluation of the tool, including best practices
for marketers and examples of successful and
unsuccessful use. (around 1000 words)
All sections fully and correctly referenced with the use of
authoritative and current sources.
Good use of screenshots, graphs etc to illustrate points
TOTAL
Marks available
0
1
4
1
3
1
5
1
2
3
2
5
4
4
3
6
2
3
5
5
3
2
20
10
5
100
Marks gained