I had a friend post on Twitter he needed help finding the official Twitter account for Apple. I responded back that Apple doesn’t “do” social media. The only thing they have is a Facebook Fan Page for iTunes.  Apple doesn’t participate in social media due to the secrecy around all the products they develop. They don’t want any information leaked out and have been criticized about this for years. Apple in fact has a very strict non-disclosure agreement for their employees and people doing business with them. This limits any information or social media they can do outside of work.

Which made me think. We have all been saying that social media is a two-way communication rather then the traditional push model. We also have said that if you are going to participate in social media you have to accept this and participate. That is if you want to succeed in social marketing. Well, with those requirements and the way Apple conducts its business, are they smart not even getting involved with social media? My answer is they should not start social media programs.

Before I starting hearing from people about why Apple should get involved, here is my reasoning:

• Apple has a very loyal and solid customer base
• They have many advocates that promote Apple and their products in social media (Including this blogger)
• There are numerous blogs who talk about all things Apple. The focus of the blog is all about apple. They rumors, new products, and more. The prime example is The Unofficial Apple Weblog. The site updates between 5-10 posts a day. The posts are always focused on Apple.
• When something new comes out for Apple (i.e. iPhone, iPad, iPod and etc) its pushed out on social networks by the advocates and spreads. The best example of that is when Apple holds one of it’s many keynote addresses, many sites attend and Tweet about what is announced. They due this because Apple doesn’t stream these events live.

These are just a few reasons I think Apple should let the people do the social media for them. This is the prime example of how well word of mouth works in social media. Word of mouth marketing is the most effective marking.

Apple, like Coke, is a special case where it is a very strong brand with tremendous loyalty. By Apple not participating in social media will not hurt their brand, or loose any type of revenue. Do you agree about that Apple should stay out of social media or should they engage their consumers?