Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics of Northern Rock

In this article we will look at the Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics of Northern Rock. Northern Rock was a bank based in the United Kingdom that fell into a major financial crisis in 2007. Customers were worried they would lose their money so they queued outside the bank and tried to protect the capital that they had invested in the firm.

This article will discuss and analyse the different ethical and moral theories of Corporate Social Responsibility. The article will also provide an insight on the importance of applying ethical concepts and strategies to a business as well as discuss the future for CSR and make some reasonable predictions.

First you might want to know abit more about CSR and what it is. Corporate Social Responsibility aims to ensure that businesses do everything in an ethical manner. This means they should consider their social, environmental and economic impact as well as their influence on human rights.

It is a view of the corporation and its role in society that assumes a responsibility among firms to pursue goals in addition to profit maximisation and a responsibility among firm’s stakeholders to hold the firm accountable for its actions

CSR ensures that businesses focus on what is ethically and morally correct for the business and its employees while also maintaining a high level of social responsibility. Ethics looks to examine what should and can be done. There is no guarantee that ethical behaviour will be used in a business that uses CSR.

 

Customers queuing up to take their money out 

  

Who to blame for the failure of the bank?

Over forty years’ ago an economist named Milton Friedman, also winner of the Nobel Prize for his contribution to economics,  argued that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits”.  Many individuals and companies share the ethos that Friedman had, as do Northern Rock. The directors have been taking a large salary for themselves thus leaving Northern Rock in a difficult situation.  The large salaries of the directors are not possible as the inflation rate at the time was 28%.

The huge salaries of the directors were one of the reasons that the bank, Northern Rock had collapsed.  This relates to egotism as the directors are taking salaries for themselves and not thinking about the company. Egotism is when an individual shows self-interest as a trait and does not think ethically or about others. The major directors of Northern Rock thought that their salaries were justifiable and they were using this salary and position of power to fuel their ego. Many customers of Northern Rock had lost their money invested in the bank and for many customers this was a substantial amount. However the bank did not just collapse because of the salaries of the directors, other factors which contributed towards the collapse were the continuous rise of inflation, gross domestic product and the government borrowing deficit reached 10% and the government had to go to the International Monetary Fund for a loan to see it through the predicament.

Executive pay is the total amount of pay or financial compensation an executive officer or director receives with a company. Executive pay can include or be a mixtures salary, bonuses, shares of the company stock, benefits, rewards and any other incentive paid out to the executive officer.

During the mid-1990s to 2006, Northern Rock were providing loans or mortgages to people who either because of their income, or lack of assets could not obtain a loan or mortgage. This lead to a large amount of debt being bought together for the individuals, another problem also occurred; they could not pay back their loans. This is a classic example of deontology as the banks did adhere to their obligations and duties when analysing a dilemma. This means that someone will do what they have to because it is they are ethically responsible to do so, in Northern Rock’s case they were giving out loans and mortgages to everyone.

CSR diagram

Utilitarianism is a factor to consider as to why shareholders should take into account the actions of the directors. Utilitarianism is when a firm will do anything to do good regardless of the outcome or how many people it will have a negative effect on. For example; someone who sacrifices their life to save a train full of people is fulfilling an obligation to society. In Northern Rock’s case they were giving loans to everyone regardless of their situation.

Although the collapse of Northern Rock was not entirely the director’s fault and a number of factors did contribute towards it such as the large loan pay-outs to customers who could not afford to pay back their loans. On the other hand because of the director’s large salary and the egoism from the directors, the bank collapsed.

A shareholder is someone who has invested resources into a particular company to receive equity in that specific firm. It is then up to the company to issue dividends to the shareholders. Dividends are a sum of money which is usually distributed by a company among its shareholders regularly. This is typically paid out quarterly during the financial year.

Time for Northern Rock ran out

To stop the directors from receiving such a large salary, shareholders could have intervened and either elected new directors or put a limit to the directors salary. If they were to do this then Northern Rock, would not be in as much financial trouble.

Maintaining Regulation for Northern Rock is very important for the bank. Regulation is a law, order or rule which is prescribed by an authority and especially to regulate conduct. It is important for banks to follow regulations set by higher authority, banks have to comply with the laws and regulations set.

Many firms have doubts about ethics and whether what they are doing is correct. Business Ethics in terms of issues of right and wrong, and quite naturally question whether there is any way difference from the law. The words ethics and morality are often used interchangeably, although many academic writers have proposed clear differences between the two terms (e.g. Crane 2000). Ethics represents an attempt to systemize and rationalise morality, typically into generalised rules that offer a solution to situations of moral uncertainty.

Directors may have deserved to earn such a large salary because they have worked themselves up over time. The Directors think they have earned such a high salary because they do that a lot of work around Northern Rock and this justifies it. They see the day to day running of the bank and they represent the shareholders, who can just as easily elect new directors if the currents ones are not performing to a good standard. On the other hand, higher authorities should put a cap on their earning potential and limit how much they can earn yearly. If the directors cannot justify such a high salary, then it is pointless and a waste of money to allow them to earn that much.

Corporate Social Responsibility proposes to ensure companies act on their business actions in a more ethical way. This means a company would have to take account of social and economic impacts as well as consideration of human rights.

There are many different opinions concerning the use of CSR. Friedman claims it is the responsibility of the business to make as much money as the business can without any regard for ethics. However Sternberg states that business ethics is based on the result of the business selling their products and services within the law and to behave ethically.

The shareholders for Northern Rock could take action against the different directors because they are partially responsible for getting Northern Rock into such financial trouble and their arrogance caused the bank to go into a crisis. However the directors have also worked their way to their position and deserve to earn however much they earn.

What about Northern Rock's customers?

Savers of Northern Rock should have their savings guaranteed by the government because if they were not, savers would lose all their money. This would be very unethical and unfair for the savers.  There are various stakeholders involved with Northern Rock and the bank.  A stakeholder is someone who is affected by the business in anyway. A major stakeholder of Northern Rock were the shareholders as they would want the best possible dividends paid out to them regularly so they would remain happy with the company. The shareholders would want the share prices to increase, so they can gain more capital. As the shareholders also invest money into the bank they would want an increase in return capital.

Customers are one of the bank’s key stakeholders as they have savings with Northern Rock and use their services such as taking a loan or mortgage out. During the banking crisis savers were behaving very unethically as they were just thinking of themselves, this is considered as egoism. In 2008, a major financial comparison site estimated 1 in 10 adults in the UK spend more than they earn in a month. In a ten year gap between 1997 and 2007 the number of credit cards increased from 36 million to an astonishing 71 million. These statistics support the fact that customers just wanted money so they could finance a certain lifestyle. In September 2007 many first time buyers were borrowing more than 90% of the cost of the house they were purchasing. Most of the customers could not afford to repay the loan payment thus the reason for the bank’s collapse.

The Financial Services Authority would also play a stakeholder for Northern Rock as they have to approve and authorise everything that Northern Rock would have to do. Customers are also a key stakeholder in the bank as they are the users.  As the bank was a pivotal part of the community, the customers would be affected as it was a Northern bank and the community would be proud of Northern Rock.  Shareholders could have capped the director’s salary.

Employees are affected by the business and are one of the main shareholders of Northern Rock. When the employee starts work with Northern Rock they have a contract of Employment which states the employment conditions, rights, responsibilities and duties. Employees follow the deontology theory which states that people should follow and adhere to their obligations and responsibilities. During the banking failure 1/3 of the banks employees lost their jobs.

The local community is another stakeholder in Northern Rock because they used to provide financial support and funding for the local community. Without the support of the bank the local community would suffer in terms of financial support.

The government is involved in the business and is a major stakeholder. The government are affected by them as they fund the bank and authorise some of the transactions that are made by the bank. Without the authorisation of the government, Northern Rock would not be able to complete their transactions with their customers and they would not be able to give out loans and mortgages. Employees are affected by the bank because they work for Northern Rock and without people working for them, Northern Rock would not be able to run.

The Financial Services Authority is a stakeholder in Northern Rock as they would want the fair treatment of customers. The Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD), which was first adopted in 1994, governs the operation of deposit guarantee schemes all over the European Economic Area.  This meant that if the bank was the collapse customers would have their savings saved and they would not lose everything.

The government displayed signs of justice when they privatised Northern Rock to take them out of the banking crisis. They were trying act ethically while maintaining fairness and interactional. They made sure the investors in Northern Rock, including the customers, had compensation for the banking failure.

Northern Rock were regulated and by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This means all of the loans and mortgages that Northern Rock issue, had to go through the Financial Services Authority (FSA).  The government protect up to £85,000 of the customers money that is deposited within Northern Rock by customers. They are being socially responsible and are applying CSR to their actions and they are doing what is ethically correct. The government have implemented virtue ethics and utilitarianism as they were trying to do the greater amount of good for the greater amount of people. They protected some of the customer’s money and behaved ethically and morally correct.

 This video explains what CSR is

The bank collapsed in 2007 when Northern Rock ran into trouble. There are many people that are responsible for the failure of the bank.  There are various stakeholders involved in the bank. The Bank of England is one of the firm’s main stakeholders. The Bank of England issues Northern Rock with all the monies needed for financial transactions. The Bank of England could be responsible for the failure of the bank as a problem could have occurred because the Bank of England does not have enough money to support the transactions.

Moral Responsibility is when a person praises, punishes or rewards for an act for which a person is morally responsible. In Northern Rock’s case there are many people who are morally responsible for the failure of the bank. One of the reasons for the failure of the bank is the government. The government’s actions can be linked to Utilitarianism as they were issuing out loans and mortgages to customers who could not afford to pay back their loans.

Loans were provided to people, who, because of their job or income and the lack of assets or the property that the customer wanted to purchase, for this simple fact they could not obtain a loan or mortgage. Due to the booming property market from the mid-1990s to 2006, banks including Northern Rock, allowed much riskier lending to happen. This led to multiple debt problems for the people that took these loans out and they were not able to pay back their initial loan. It could also be seen as Deontology as they followed the rules, irrespective of the outcome.

Shareholders are partially to blame for the banking crisis as well. As shareholders could have capped the director’s salary or limited their salary to make sure they were not earning above a certain amount. However as they never did this, it lead to further predicaments and decline for Northern Rock.

Customers are also morally responsible for the failure of Northern Rock as they carried on taking out loans and mortgages regardless of knowing they would not have enough money to pay them back. They were trying to maintain and live a lifestyle that was out of their financial reach. This could be seen as Egoism as the customer would be taking out loans for their own personal self-interest regardless of the consequences.

Teleology is another ethical theory that can apply to both Northern Rock and their customers, this is when someone suits themselves and disregards any laws/behaviours and regulations which may prevent their behaviour.

US Economist Milton Friedman stated, "There is one and only one social responsibility of business-to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud." Friedman states how a business should use everything in its power including its resources, to increase its profits as long as it is legal and not deception or fraud. This is exactly what the shareholders job is to do within the company. This could be seen as Egoism as the business would just want to maximize its profits and have self-interest.

The directors of Northern Rock also contributed to the banking failure. The directors were taking an astronomical salary for themselves and not thinking about ethics or the bank itself, however the directors were performing their job and trying their best to keep the bank afloat. Egoism does contribute for the director’s high salary and teleology as the directors did not think about any laws and regulations in place and just did what they wanted. An ethical theory that applies to the directors in this case is teleology as they suited themselves while disregarding any laws and regulations in place which may prevent their behaviour.

Banks went ahead and allowed much riskier lending and did not contemplate the economic down turn was distressing everyone; this could be due to greed or not have proper control of finances.

They went ahead and started lending out loans which are they could not afford to give out, this resulted in way more customers coming to Northern Rock for a loan. Northern Rock were willing to lend customers up to £180,000, for those whose income was only at £30,000 while most other banks would not risk that much money.

Future of CSR and Northern Rock

Business Ethics is how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.  The banking situation has not improved by much over the years since Northern Rock’s collapse.

Corporate Social Responsibility has grown to the status of a career and is being discussed on the world stage. Companies which plan to be, or are, leaders in corporate social responsibility are faced by rising public expectations, increasing innovation and increased social problems. They are forced to chart their CSR course and document their actions.

Over the years the financial market has seen a massive meltdown due to the simple fact of over lending, poor regulation and over borrowing. Northern Rock is a prime example of how failing to act in accordance with CSR can not only upset the business but it can also jeopardise the relationship of the customers, shareholders and stakeholders. Due to their irresponsible behaviour and their lack of concern of what may happen due to their actions, Northern Rock faced their punishment in the mass financial crisis in 2008.

There are many lessons to be learned from Northern Rock’s mistake and their lack of acknowledgement for CSR. One of the main lessons to learn from the failure of the firm is to not lend money to customers who cannot afford to pay the payment back. Most Customers were just taking credit out to finance their lifestyles rather than needs according to Standard Life bank. This is also the case for the directors of Northern Rock as they were getting paid huge amounts of money and not justifying the amount they were getting paid. The massive salaries were another reason of the bank’s collapse; directors were just trying to fund their lavishing lifestyle regardless of the outcome.

Politically, there were always those people who wished the bank was to fail. Massive salaries were being to business executives and this lead to the view that things should be sorted out. Television pictures portraying angry depositors and savers of Northern Rock instigated major political problems for the government.

Firms have to think about their shareholders when they are developing new strategies for their business. The stakeholder approach was designed as a model for improving the efficiency of the firm.

Northern Rock were willing to provide customers with higher loans while other mortgage lenders were not prepared to do this. The firm made loans that were not valued much and an increase in repossessions followed nationally.

In the future, CSR optimists predict that a number of companies and firms will be convinced to implement a CSR strategy into their operations. An increasing amount of businesses see CSR as increased competitiveness and profitability. Corporate Social Responsibility is part of a search for a new social contract between business and society. This new contract will not necessarily make a new set of rules but a new set of norms arrived through experimentation.

Conculsion

Many pessimists believe that CSR will not be clear enough for firms to take it up, unless it is legislated or there are other added incentives. They also believe that CSR will not be in the public eye and there won’t be clarity to what CSR is and why it is so important for a business to implement Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. It will become labelled as surplus to requirements and increasing the costs of running the business. Companies who once implemented and embraced CSR will lose interest and pursue other interests and objectives.

Even though there is a major contrast in views of social impact and whether corporate responsibility works, the majority of researchers agree that in 5 – 10 years from now CSR will become much more main-stream with businesses. CSR in the future will become part of a business’s basic model and not an add-on. Most of the progress and commitment to CSR may be slow progress but it would increase the over time within a 5 – 10 year time frame.

Careless loans and mortgages were given to people who showed no means of paying the loan back; this showed how Northern Rock neglected CSR. For this reason, firms try to do everything to make sure that they do not suffer the same fate as Northern Rock, and they try to make their business ethically correct. If businesses were to perform an analysis on how they impacted and influenced society, it would lessen the problems for some businesses.

This article has been pretty long and if you have read the whole article I would like to thank you. I would appreciate you leaving a comment and if you could share this article I would be very grateful. Don't forget to sign up to the RSS Feed and like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter .

The Emergence of Social Media - Why you NEED to use Social Media in your Business

Social media and the internet go hand in hand, and while most business owners have their hands tied with their day to day operations, it is crucial to keep up with the latest tools and strategies that can enhance your business presence. According to a recent survey by the Wall Street Journal, six out of ten business owners claim that social media tools have proved to be invaluable to their company’s growth. With this surge in appeal and significance in social media, getting and managing the right tools for your business may seem daunting, and if you’re struggling to figure out what works and what doesn't, listed below are few avenues to explore.
 

Batman doesn't really like social media

While there are many concerns regarding social media tools for business owners, the most significant ones are building and maintaining online presence, time management, brand monitoring and attracting new customers. As more and more businesses flock towards Twitter, keeping track of tweets can be frustrating, and tweetchat allows you to do just that. This tool gives you your very own tweet space for any chat you’re following, and also helps you hide and or feature specific tweeters.

One of the most important reasons to host a website is to be found by people that are searching for products and services related to your business. This is why it is important to optimize social media content, and the Keyword Tool by Google makes this extremely easy. This platform identifies global monthly searches, level of competition, local monthly searches and approximate cost per click. These characteristics help you optimize your blog content, website text, Twitter tweets and Facebook posts, which helps people discover you business through social sharing.

Facebook fan pages are one of the most significant social media tools, and with 800 million + users, there is no better audience. There are many reasons to create a Facebook fan page for your business such as social plugins for your website, unlimited fan base, advertising options, opportunities to portray your brand through many custom applications and tabs, demographic inclined advertising options and the chance to interact in the website through your brand name. 

Anywhere else and you would look crazy

Facebook’s timeline offers additional marketing space, a profile cover image and a page admin with a personal profile. Some proven stats to take off when using Facebook as a social media tool are visitor to fan conversion are doubled with customized welcome tabs and 48% of video referrals are from the website. A highly versatile and indispensible tool, YouTube is an all in one solution for all your social media needs. New to their website is their advanced analytics tool, which gives you insight into potential consumers based on your audience interests.

Stats about YouTube include 2 billion videos watched daily, 70% of all traffic on the mobile web is streamed though the website, and the website attracts approximately 85 million viewers daily. All told, the various social media sites account for a large number of revenue from business owners, and the reasons for this is quite evident. 

Thanks for reading this article. We hope you have enjoyed it and if you did please consider leaving a comment below. Do you have strategies that you want to share? What social media websites do you use? Please share below. 

On a different note, here is a completely off topic video of cats doing funny stuff! Enjoy!

Tips on How to use Social Media more Effectively

Social media is playing a very important in the modern societies around the globe. These websites are creating some amazing chances to earn money, provided the user is keen for earning money. It is believed that every coin has two sides, one side reflect the negative impact of, and on the other hand one side shoes the glittering surface. The same case is with the use of social networking. There is no doubt that countless counterfeiters are using the platform of social networking and due to them people has started losing their trust on these websites. However, in spite of all such frauds and scams social networking has been proven as one of the best available source to earn money. Even after so many scams, people are running their advertising businesses on the different websites of social networking. They are creating pages, trying to communicate with the customers, making effort to grab the attention of the clients by different tactics. At times promoters give some discounts or special offers while the next moment they use some other way to provoke the buying intention of the customer. These activities show that the social media has great potential to reach to the customers around the globe.

The expert promoters have confidence in social networking. They are of the view that these web sites are really important as by making use if these web sites we can hit a large number of people living in different regions and the most important this is its cheapness. The marketing that the companies has been doing on the web sites of social networking are not costly so they are more interested in this form of advertising.

Issues

In this article I would like to discuss some of the issues that are related to the social media and making money. In order to get the better idea of social media and its trend one ought to be aware about the issues and their solutions as well.

Trust is not there

Apparently there is just one issue with the marketing on the websites of social networking that people do not trust these pages easily. Certainly, people spend most of their time in twitting, updating their statuses on Facebook, sharing and enjoying videos on YouTube and the rest. But they do not trust people. So at times, it turns out to be rally challenging for the promoters to grab the serious buyers headed for their manufactured goods or service.

Irrelevant market

Advertisement can never generate any outputs or results if it is not communicated to the accurate and précised targeted market. You can never sell a shaving box to a lady and lipstick to a man.  Identification of the right audience is one of the main issue of social media, because it is almost not possible to differentiate every single user to start up the marketing and making money.  

NO Response

Most of the time we use to delete the spam emails, because we do not have enough time to spend on reading irrelevant mails. This is one of the biggest issues that are creating problems for promoting any manufactured good or service. People do not bother any email, until and unless they have a clear idea about the sender of the mail. In such a scenario online marketing can never gain the status of 1^st priority and if the same will not be dealt in a proper way this format of advertising will lose its attraction among the companies and businesses.

Time differences

Different countries have different time zone. This difference of time zones is because of the solar system and the moment of the sun. This is creating issues for the marketers on social media. At time when the promoters have to deal with the international market the feel problem because they cannot do at the same time. If an American has to promote any software to the people living in Asia, he has to wait and wait for a longer period of time. This prolonged wait can cause issues for the promoters.

Tips for earning money from social media

Bearing in mind that scam and frauds are very common on social media, if the people want to earn by means of social media then they have to make sure certain things before starting their business. In the following lines I will give you some key tip that can help you for progressive start.   

Do not lie with the people

Always remember that trust is the key of any successful business relation. In order to get success people have to understand that they should not lie with their customers. Customers have great options and once they will be tricked by you, they will never revisit you ever again. For that reason if the person wants to establish some term relation with his or her clients he or she will never try to play trick on them. 

Identify your target market

Target market and identification of target market is really important. People should not start their campaigns blindly; rather they ought to choose their selected market really carefully. Marketing to the wrong audience will go in vain.

Use attractive lines       

Sugar coated information in an interesting way can grab the attention of the people. Advertising is basically playing with creative ideas and if a person has no idea about this he can never make money by means of social media.

Do not dictate

No one wants to be dictated. It is a natural phenomenon. In order to get the attention of the customers people should take care while selecting words, customer should not feel that he is being directed by the person he is dealing with.

Use simple language

Make your mind, either you want to sale you product or you want to endorse your language. After globalization English language is being admitted as one of the most influential language and people have no other choice but to understand this language. So in order to get a good response writer should consider the non-English people as well. This may help him to carter a wide range of customers.

Technology is making some dramatic changes every day and every day we are learning the challenges of technology. No one knows if the war of man and technology would ever end or not! At this time social media has given us a dare and it’s our turn to make best use of this dare.

If you have any of your own opinions about social media or any advice about how to make better use of social media for your business then please comment below. If you like this article then please share it!

Top Ten Social Networking Websites to Grow your Audience and Increase Traffic

There are many different social network and social media websites out there. Some are popular, some aren't as popular. Posting your content and engaging in social networking sites helps your website to grow and to increase your traffic.

First a bit about social networking sites and what you can actually use social networking sites for. People use social networking sites to connect with friends and companies, share interests, share content, find more people, rekindle old friendships and to connect with their favourite brands and companies. Many businesses and entrepreneurs use it to connect and engage with their customers

When it comes to marketing your website on the Internet, Social networking is a must

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You might be thinking to yourself, what's the difference between social media and social network and how does it concern me? A social media site has only one way communication. The business communicates to the customer but the customer does not engage with the company. You can compare this to newspapers slightly. Newspapers only have a one way communication with their audience as well.

However a social network site has two ways of communication. Customers can engage with their favourite brand or company and the business can inform it's  customers of any changes, offer its fans or followers discounts and many more things. The first sign of social networking sites were back in 1994 but social networking sites rose to prominence in the 2000s with Facebook and Twitter.


1. Facebook - This isn't a surprise, it is one of the most popular sites on the Internet and one of the most visited. It reportedly has over 1 billion active users. If you want to promote your website, it is a MUST for you to have a Facebook account and open a fan page for your business. This way people will be able to follow your business and be in constant contact. In 2010 a film starring Jesse Eisenberg was released called The Social Network, this film was all about how the founder Mark Zukerberg had created Facebook and the rise of Facebook.

LOL

2. Twitter - A website in which users and send and read messages of up to 140 characters which are more commonly known as tweets. Twitter is one of the most visited sites on the Internet and has over 500 million registered users. Many businesses implement Twitter into their business and using it as a platform to engage with their customers. Hashtags help visibility when it comes to writing a tweet. Be sure to include #'s into your tweets.

Many celebrities continually use Twitter as a source to voice their opinions. Celebrities and Famous people who currently use Twitter include Tom Cruise, Russel Brand, Mariah Carey and Stephen Fry among many others.

3. Google Plus - Google+ is a social networking site created by search engine giant Google. Initially Google Plus had a slow increase to users but then Google integrated Google Plus accounts with Gmail and other Google services and they saw a massive increase in users. Currently Google+ has over 200 million active users. 

Google Plus offers services like hangouts, feature that offers group video chat from anywhere in the world and Circles which allows users to put their friends in certain groups. Business owners can advertise their business and website on Google Plus and create a fan page devote enitrely to their brand, company or website.

4. MySpace - In the past this was at the top and was in the most visited sites list, but with Facebook and Twitter's incline to popularity, MySpace followed with decline. However MySpace is still slightly popular in America and has 50 million users worldwide registered. MySpace has an emphasis towards music and would be useful for businesses specialising in music.

5. LinkedIn - LinkedIn is more of a professional social network in which people use professionally and to network with people with professional occupations. It is used for professional networking and reportedly has more than 200 million users worldwide. Users can use LinkedIn to find jobs and connect with other people in their profession.


6. Pinterest - Pinterest is a social networking site and a photo sharing website which incorporates a pinboard style. The website allows users to create and edit image and videos based on the users interests, hobbies and events that have happened, it also allows users to save or 'repin' images on their own pinboard and even like photos, similar to Facebook.

Users can also follow other users who they has good images or similar tastes. Business owners can use Pinterest to further traffic to their website and to make a their website grow. Business owners can use Pinterest to sell their product and use it as their virtual storefront.

7. Instagram - This is another photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking website that enables users to apply digital filters to their photos, upload photos and video while also sharing them to a variety of different social networking sites. Instagram is very popular on mobile platforms and is downloadable on Android phones and iOS for free.

Instagram is owned by Facebook and has gain major popularity in a short space of time and has over 100 million active users.

Different amount of filters you can use to add effects to the photo on Instagram

8. Bebo - Bebo is a social networking website, that at the height of its popularity saw it rivalling many social networking sites and retaining its top position among many sites.  But over the years Bebo has suffered in traffic and like MySpace has been overtaken by Facebook.

In 2013, Bebo was declared bankrupt and was bought back by its original owners for $1 million dollars, while in 2008 they had sold it for $850 million.

Bebo can be used to advertise and promote your business and to find and maintain new followers and fans for your website.


9. Flickr - Flickr is a photo-sharing/hosting and video sharing website. Flickr was bought by Yahoo and has over 80 million registered users. Flickr can be used by your website to get access to images. You can also use Flickr to host your own images and to advertise your business via Flickr and get traffic.


10. deviantART - deviantART is an online community completely committed to art. Users can browse over 200 million pieces of art while also selling their own artwork and make money from it. According to the website, deviantART has over 28 million members.


That is it from the top ten list. We hope this article helped you and we would appreciate it if you could share this page. We would also appreciate it if you could follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. If you have any more questions or queries or would just like to add to the conversation, then please get involved in the comment section below.

Top Ten Things to Share on Social Media Websites

People often get overwhelmed and confused when it comes to social media websites. Some people do not know what to post on social media websites, while some people post to much...way to much. Obvious major no-nos for posting on social networks is; don't post personal information such as home address, bank account details, birth certificate, blood type. Well you can post the last one, if you are looking for a blood donor but otherwise don't do it!

In this article you will learn the various different things you can share on social media websites for your business and to gain more popularity over social networking sites. By the end of this article you should be an expert in knowing what to share online.

10. Articles

Sharing articles from your own sites are one of the best things to post on social media websites as this increases the popularity of your site as well as your articles become popular on social media sites. The more people share you articles on these websites the better it will be for you because they are gaining more traffic and more people are reading them. When posting articles make sure they are good in length and they are well created and original in content and not copied from other sites. People often frown upon articles that are copied from other sites.

9. Funny/Informative Pictures

Everyone likes viewing pictures that are either so funny that it gives them a cramp from laughing or a picture that informs you about something that they didn't know. Most people appreciate a funny picture of a cat holding a machine gun and saying 'I'll be back', its just too cute. Other funny pictures can include pictures of funny pop culture references like pictures from classic TV shows and movies like 'The A-Team' and 'The Terminator' to modern classics like 'Family Guy' and How I Met Your Mother'

Awww he's so cute

8. News

Do you have a blog or site dedicated to a specific audience or niche? There are many niches and specific topics out there such as certain sports, fashion, TV and movies, etc. Submitting content about your certain niche to your audience on social media sites is one of the best things to do as it makes you an authority on your subject. For example if you own a blog or site about football you should post news and content about AC Milan or Real Madrid or something football related, if you get my drift.

7. Video

They say pictures speak a thousand words. Well if pictures speak a thousand words then videos must speak a million words. Using Video is a great way to connect with your audience and increase your income in the same way. Many successful marketers share videos on social media sites to increase their own site popularity while also increasing their fan base at the same time. Some people record their own videos about their opinions on certain subjects and upload them on Youtube and their own sites. For a great example check out Elliot Hulse and his channels like Strength Camp

Project Life Mastery use the same concept

6. Your Opinion

The world loves hearing personal opinions and if you have an opinion worth hearing about people will keep coming back to hear what you have to say. Didn't like who got kicked out of X-Factor? Wanted someone else to win The Apprentice? Voice your opinion on social media sites and gain more fans. Its Simple.

5. Share Interesting Links to Articles or Websites

Find something interesting on the internet? Worthy of sharing? Share it then! People love finding resourceful things over the internet. Share more articles or website that you have found and the respect for your site increases and your social value on these social networking sites increases. People start seeing you as an authority.

4. Share a Product Launch with your followers

If you are releasing a new product and want to build your following and gain attention to the product, then this is a must do. Whatever product you are trying to launch, whether physical or digital information product, if you tell your followers on your social network sites it is more likely you will have more fans and more sales.

3. Affiliate Links for Products you Endorse

Using Affiliate Marketing on social networking sites isn't a very new concept but if done correctly it can produce a very profitable income. Recommend your followers to products you use and get a little commission for it. If you use social networking sites to your advantage and implement affiliate marketing you will be raking the benefits.

2.  Run Competitions

If you run competitions on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus more people will be inclined to join your business page. For example you can get people to join your page and let them in for a chance to win a prize and reward your followers. Running a competition never fails

1. Give Freebies

Giving freebies away is the best thing to make people follow you. You can use it as bait to bring people in. For example; tell them you get a free ebook if you follow or like the page. Giving freebies away will make people inclined to follow you and also you will get people to visit your site and increase your site traffic.

Well that's it. That's the top ten things that we recommend for you to share on social media sites for you to We hope these tips have helped you and hope you appreciate them. If you think we have missed anything out then please mention them in the comments section. 

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