Social Media / Socialnomics

According to Wikipedia, Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. They support the democratization of knowledge and information and transform people from content consumers to content producers.

Short and Sweet summary: social med is the democratization of knowledge and information.

Web Trends has the following take on social media:  The best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument of communication, like a newspaper or a radio, so social media would be a social instrument of communication.

Short and Sweet summary: social media is a social instrument of communication.

In Web Trends terms, this would be a website that doesn’t just give you information, but interacts with you while giving you that information. This interaction can be as simple as asking for your comments or letting you vote on an article, or it can be as complex as Flixster recommending movies to you based on the ratings of other people with similar interests.

Examples of social media websites:

• Social Bookmarking. (Del.icio.us) Interact by tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked by other people.
• Social News. (Reddit) Interact by voting for articles and commenting on them.
• Social Networking. (Facebook) Interact by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
• Social Photo and Video Sharing. (YouTube, Flickr) Interact by sharing photos or videos and commenting on user submissions.
• Wikis. (Wikipedia) Interact by adding articles and editing existing articles.

Why should you care about Social Media?

So how does this concern you?  Or, to put it another way, why should you care?

Well, think about what a technological miracle it is that you and I can reach and interact with a global audience almost instantly with little or no training and at little or no cost, using software applications like: blogs (WordPress), micro-blogging (Twitter), and Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

My eighty-six year-old mother was able to reach relatives in Holland instantly via e-mail and Facebook. No more writing on that blue, fold-up stationary she once used, no more trips to the post office, no more four-week delays for information to travel back and forth.  She communicated with her children and grandchildren, spread out all over the state, and she wrote, illustrated, and published her autobiography, all from the comfort of her own home and without breaking through barriers of agents and editors, who would probably have told her, “Thanks, but we’re not interested.”

An aspiring novelist seeking publication can share his or her experiences with other writers, who might offer their own perspectives, or maybe a bit of encouragement.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one’s perspective), today’s authors are also expected to promote their own work (build a Platform).  And maintaining a presence on the Internet is one of the best ways in which to do it.  It also keeps one writing and focused.

Wikipedia Social Media Marketing, takes up the subject of Platforms.  (And don’t we all seem to need a platform these days?)  Social media marketing benefits organizations and individuals by providing an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, and a method of managing their reputation online. Key factors that ensure its success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides them with and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a stand or platform in which the organization can centralize its information and direct customers on its recent developments via other social media channels, such as article and press release publications.


The following video puts this all into perspective.

For the newest and latest on social media, CLICK HERE.

So, little old me, the most technologically challenged person in my family, is no longer fighting the challenges of social media, but joining in on the fun.  If my mother could do it, then so can I!

How good is that?

As always, thanks for stopping by.