Social Media

Lord Sugar on Facebook:

• Joined Facebook – 6^th July 2010
• 56,024 likes
• 103 talking about it
• Uses Polls to find out what people like – One poll asked the public what format they would prefer Lord Alan Sugar’s biography
• Uses his Notes section on Facebook: He talks about current issues, his businesses, his products, promoting his TV shows. Lord Sugar remains focused and on the ball when he is promoting his work. He is able to keep up to date with the information he wishes the public to receive (Facebook 2010 )

Lord Sugar is able to keep up to date with his fans and provides them with current issues that are occurring in his life. The Facebook page enables Lord Sugar to reach a wide range of audience that can be quickly addressed with information that he wants to give out. This method of communication is easily accessible and doesn’t cost. Lord Sugar has separate pages for his companies and his TV shows. The public are able to divulge into his mind and get his views and opinions on certain things. Social Media sites have been extremely popular in the last couple of years reaching thousands of people, being on websites you can become extremely influential. With today’s current generation and the futures, technology is becoming a huge influence. It has the power to change people’s mind. This is what Lord Sugar would want to do. He wants to make a difference in society by providing products and businesses in areas that have a gap in the market. Lord sugar would be able to use it as a tool to gather information on what he thinks the public needs and where there is a gap in the market to fill in.

 Lord Sugar on Twitter

     

     

•     Joined Twitter , roughly the same time as Facebook    
•     3,240,976 Followers
•     374 Following
•     23,866 Tweets
•      (Twitter 2010)

Lord Sugar uses Twitter because he explains that it is a great instrument to use when promoting his products and businesses. He is able to advertise certain things and provide opportunities for the outside public. Individuals are able to see the real Lord Sugar and what he believes in. Individuals who inspire to be an entrepreneur can get hints and tips from him and see how his work ethic helped him to get where he is today. He takes an influential role and this is important when being a leader. He could be considered to be a role model as individuals can get motivated to aspire to be successful like him. While being on these social networking sites you are able to witness the personal side of the individual. However this could have damaging affects to his persona if this is painted in a bad light.

The video above shows how Lord Sugar could be unprofessional and could represent him in a bad light. This could have negative consequences for him. Individuals may not want to work for him as they could feel he is rude. Furthermore, this could have a negative effect on his products selling and the ratings of his shows. Another consequence could be other businesses not wanting to partner up with Lord Sugar as he could create bad publicity if seen working with them.

When Lord Alan Sugar uses his social networking sites:

Lord Sugar posted a racist tweet

•       He made reference to a Chinese man in a costume and pointed out he was upset as he was told off for leaving the production line of the Iphone 
•        An individual made a complaint about this tweet and was offended by it
•         It was classed as a hate incident although no crime had taken place
•       (Sky News 2013)

Lord Sugar discusses what he thinks of social networking sites

•       He expresses that he is sick and tired of everyone trying to come up with new social media websites
•     Everyone thinks something magical will fly off and people want to start a business in a conventional way
•     He believes you should start small and this business will grow
•       Wallis 2012)

Lord Sugar gets involved in twitter rows                                                                                         (With Gary Lineker, Donald Trump, Piers Morgan)

• Twitter is known for people’s individuals opinions and views therefore it can arose fights among everyone
• Lord Sugar was having a row about football player with Gary Lineker looking at the business side of the deal (Marioni 2013)
• Donald Trump attacking Lord Sugar on his business work ethic, his income and show the apprentice
• This row was very public with a stream of abusive tweets from both ends (Arnold 2012)
• This could give Sugar the image of being a terrible leader as he is not being very professional
• Individuals would inspire to be like him and wouldn't agree with what he says and therefore could damage his credibility.