In today’s fast-paced social media based world, it is important for corporate brands to establish a web presence. However, for some corporate brands, there is less of a need to do this, primarily because they are the web presence. Take, for example, Apple Inc. As a titan of the technological and World Wide Web industry, they have had little need to join the social media maelstrom, as other brands have felt the needs to. Other companies establish a web presence because that is a better way to be known, while Apple Inc. allows there to be a web presence at all, creating an almost derisive web-based cocoon around the brand, as if to say, if it were not for us, you would not be here. Despite the fact they do not actively participate in creating a web presence for themselves, it does not stop the name, Apple Inc., from being mentioned loudly and vastly throughout the internet.
Social media has become the fastest way for individuals and companies to get the word out on pleasures and disparities about opinions, products, and ideas. Unfortunately, due to Apple Inc.’s lack of participation in their web presence other than building websites, presenting material to stream, the only other thing they add is flooding the market with a seemingly endless supply of products and details to complain about online. Even celebrities find the time to complain about Apple’s brand on their blogs. For instance, Taylor Swift recently took to her Tumblr profile, citing her grievances against the company. Apple recently offered three months of free streaming to anybody who signed up to its services without offering to pay writers or artists for their efforts; Swift responded by publically explaining she would be withholding her latest album, and shaming the company while still somehow holding it in her highest esteem . Further tarnishing their reputation is yet another blog, having received no rebuttal from Apple, detailing what really goes on within the company’s walls. The author referred to the company is “iCult,” claiming they forced ideas and opinions on him, and refused to let employees be truly individual thinkers, as they boast to do .
Similarly, to the blogosphere, Apple Inc. lacks a presence on Facebook. Unlike many other companies and corporations who strive to use Facebook as a place for interacting with clients, giving updates, and correcting mistakes, Apple merely uses Facebook as a place to state they are, in fact a company . They do not interact with customers, nor do they release updates. The simply state the name of the company, the address of their headquarters, and post a link for their website. A brief description, copied from Wikipedia and pasted onto Facebook, is found on the page. Beyond that, Apple does not utilize Facebook for what would be considered its traditional purposes. Once again they show because they are the web presence, they do not need to establish a web presence as dominantly or overtly as other companies may feel the need to do so.
In the blogosphere, Apple’s web presence is somewhat damaging to the company’s reputation. They have no personal blog, nor do they repudiate any of these claims. The company has attempted to maintain an online web presence through other forms of social media, however. For example, they have attempted to maintain Twitter accounts for various departments within the company. One such account, @insideapple, with the latest tweets marked from 2009 wrote, “Valentine’s Day iPod? Eh? Eh? . Another account, belonging to @appstore and verified to be an official account through the Apple corporation, recently took the time to update customers with a tweets stating, “Edit your photos like a pro with powerful tools, and even create your own custom filters. http://tw.appstore.com/Polarr, “which was obviously more helpful than the former . This specific page also takes the time to reply to customers when they, in Twitter terms, “@” the company with their questions, concerns, and complaints, which allows the company’s web presence to not be overlooked or brutalized as badly as it is in the blogosphere. Their lack of web presence has not been a detriment everywhere on the internet either. For example, there is an entire podcast, entitled, “iPhone J.D.: Lawyers Using iPhones and iPads,” detailing the many ways in which Apple products help those in the legal field complete their work concisely and to the satisfaction of clients . An unofficial Apple oriented podcast called, “Apple Inside,” is fronted by different Apple experts each week discussing the faults of the brand, how to fix them, or things they love about the brand, showing again the lack of overt web presence has not been a detriment .
In sum, Apple has consistently ignored the need for a web presence for their brand because they are the conduit for web presence. They do not need a web presence because they put the tools for web presence into homes every day. Consumers, whether they love, hate, or desperately desire the product, give Apple Inc. a web presence. Since the conception of social media, Apple has denied having a major part in it for this reason. Even when consumers are squabbling over Apple’s latest folly, it appears the company sees and publicity as good publicity, preferring to stay out of the verbal limelight, and allowing the products, and the consumers, to speak for themselves. Using the two as a perpetual machine that consistently serves to keep the brand’s name not only in the hands of the world’s population, but on their screens as well, there is little reason for Apple to participate actively.
Works Cited
"Apple Insider." n.d. http://appleinsider.com/. Podcast. 29 June 2015.
"Facebook." n.d. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Inc/105596369475033?ref=br_rs. Internet. 29 June 2015.
Farrel, Ben. "I Quit: What Really Goes On At Apple." 6 April 2015. http://roadlesstravelled.me/2015/04/06/why-steve-jobs-motivated-me-to-quit-apple/. Blog. 29 June 2015.
Nelson, Sharon. "iPhone J.D.: Lawyers Using iPhones and iPads." n.d. http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2014/10/digital-edge-podcast.html. Podcast. 29 June 2015.
Swift, Taylor. "To Apple, Love Taylor." 21 June 2015. http://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/122071902085/to-apple-love-taylor. Blog. 29 June 2015.
"Twitter." 10 February 2009. https://twitter.com/insideapple. Twitter. 29 June 2015.
"Twitter." 27 June 2015. https://twitter.com/appstore. Twitter. 29 June 2015.
