It is a sobering thought to remember that only 8 years ago there was no such thing as ‘Facebook’ or ‘Twitter’.  Prior to February of 2004 and March of 2006 respectively, these titles literally had no meaning in the modern world.  Over the last 15 or so years, technology and social media have literally been born, raised, adapted and developed, eventually transforming into the giant industry it is today.  But how does this relate directly to businesses?  As you can likely imagine, in the past firms had to implement product or service feedback surveys of some sort in order to try and grasp their effect on consumers.  In order to maximize a companies profit and effectively provide what the consumer is looking for, they need up to date, accurate information on how their product is being bought, used, for what price, etc.  With new technology, trends and social media, an unimaginably vast utopia of raw data is available to anyone with a computer and an email address.  Thanks to recent years’s technological growth rates, almost any sized company can now properly conduct their business, with a heightened awareness on how the public will respond to a product.

(Image taken from http://www.openforum.com/infographics/social-media-for-business-2012-a-history-of-the-business-of-social-media/)

-As we have been learning more and more about social entrepreneurship and have been exposed to several real-life examples, I cannot help but realize that having the title of “social entrepreneur” is good for business.  Almost everyone I can think of enjoys doing something kind for someone else.  That warm feeling we all get inside makes us feel good, knowing we have done something we didn’t necessarily need to do, for reasons that are unselfish.  As with the examples we have studied, people are more likely to promote one’s business if they get these feelings from doing so.  For example, Save On Meats in Vancouver, British Columbia, employs struggling individuals who need employment in order to stay clean.  People from the local area are much more likely to contribute to Save On Meats’s business knowing this, in contrast to the store having more ‘regular’ employees.  Social entrepreneurs are typically genuine people with intentions of making positive contributions to society.  The fact that a new spectrum of potential customers appears to social entrepreneurial-based businesses is an added bonus.

Enbridge Inc.’s controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline can be considered a fish with it’s belly up.  After months of political discussions, debate, public protest and heated arguments, the obstacles facing the company and its project have formed a mountain not even the North American energy giant can climb.  According to an article written in The Globe and Mail newspaper on October 5th 2012 by Jeffrey Simpson, regardless of the companies efforts form this point onward, the fight is over.  Even though the National Energy Board hearings and last-ditch efforts will be continue, it just simply isn’t going to happen.

   The project would have supposedly created 300 new jobs, 560 of which would be long-term employment, and bring in $318 million in local goods and services to the coast of British Columbia.  It sounds nice, I know, but the risk involved and the other side of the issue are also convincing, as displayed by the loud protesters of the project.  Will this outcome be a missed opportunity for the West-Coast market?  Would the environmental risks have been worth it?  Or would there have been another ‘technical failure‘?  I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I value our beautiful BC setting greatly and any threat avoided can be seen in a positive light.