You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2009.
The next phase of social media will bring plenty of lucrative opportunities. With the rise of aggregating platforms, social networks, and new mobile and location-based features, we’re bound to see an increase in targeted and personalized ads, “freemium” packaging, revenue sharing between strategic partners, and a flow from the offline world to online social engagement (such as when real goods complement virtual ones).
Social media has forever changed the way people use technology to interact with others, but it can no longer satisfy people’s needs in its current form and must change course.
The new form of social media will be about creating “whole products” and complete experiences, all in real time, across the web, mobile, and live. Each user will be able to create his or her own experience using tools, features, and apps that magically coalesce. People will be able to move seamlessly through information that is available to them anywhere, anytime, sharing rich content with a rich set of groups and networks that they themselves define. Innovative companies that are able to listen to these needs and deliver products based on them will not only survive but thrive in the coming months and years as people eagerly advance on the inviting waters of the new social alchemy.
In a surprisingly novel twist, social media actually helped save lives. A typhoon recently hit Manila, the capital of Philippines creating havoc.
At this point people used facebook ,twitter etc. to communicate about the flood and provide safety tips.
Twitter tops the list of social tools used by many Filipinos to disseminate information during the tragic event. Flood victims trapped on rooftops or on upper floors of their houses called friends and loved ones to rescue them or to say they were safe.
Facebook
Around 1.5 million of Filipinos are on Facebook. Many of them exchanged information, relayed valuable updates and called for help and donations through their status updates.
Google Docs
A “How/Where to Help Out Ondoy Victims” Google Docs spreadsheet detailed how to donate and participate in rescue efforts.
Media is in the same position the music industry was in ten years ago. With the advent of itunes and other mp3 players, the music industry found itself in threat. Traditional media is in the same position now with digital media threatrning to take over.
Here are a few things the media industry can keep in mind according to mashable:
- Rumors of your death will be greatly exaggerated- Just like people still want music, people still need news. The news industry isn’t dying, but it must evolve to avoid stagnating.
- The print industry’s brand will suffer- Learn from the mistakes that the music industry has made. The news industry’s brand might suffer, but the decline in public perception can be mitigated by embracing new forms of content distribution.
- This is the end of one-size fits all- Independent music artists have found a way to make money by developing new, innovative value-add models — the news industry must follow suit.
According to Gaurav Mishra, there are 4 c’s to social media:
The First C: Content
The first C, Content, refers to the idea that social media tools allow everyone to become a creator, by making the publishing and distribution of multimedia content both free and easy, even for amateurs.
User generated content, and the hope of monetizing it through advertising, is at the core of the business model of almost all social media platforms.
The Second C: Collaboration
The second C, Collaboration, refers to the idea that social media facilitates the aggregation of small individual actions into meaningful collective results.
Collaboration can happen at three levels: conversation, co-creation and collective action.
The Third C: Community
The third C, Community, refers to the idea that social media facilitates sustained collaboration around a shared idea, over time and often across space.
The Fourth C: Collective Intelligence
The fourth C, Collective Intelligence, refers to the idea that the social web enables us to not only aggregate individual actions, but also run sophisticated algorithms on them and extract meaning from them.
There seems to be a greater number of politicians using social media for their campaign than ever before. Facebook , twitter and other social networking sites have become publicity tools of choice.
One example is newcomer Matt Haag, who moved to Rochester from Baltimore in 2007, and is competing for a seat in the city council. He has been able to do more than other candidates with social networking sites, targeted online advertising, video and other technologies to create buzz and build a grassroots organization — all in hopes of winning the primary election on Sept. 15.
Similarly President Obama was helped by a group called Blue State Digital for the Obama for America Web site.
Candidates agree there still is no substitute for meeting voters face to face, and direct mail remains a staple. The technology is an added tool, but likely another four or five years from supplanting traditional methods.
According to insidecrm, If your business limits its online presence to advertising banners and blogging, it’s missing out. The Internet provides powerful networking opportunities that allow users to effectively target their audience by logging on to social sites like LinkedIn, Digg and more. Take advantage of these tools by asserting your company’s presence online and reaching more potential customers, business partners and employees.
Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites
Share your favorite sites on the Web with potential clients and business partners by commenting on, uploading and ranking different newsworthy articles. You can also create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company’s Web site.
- Reddit: Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you’ll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.
- Digg: Digg has a huge following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.
- Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.
- StumbleUpon: You’ll open your online presence up to a whole new audience just by adding the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser and “channel surf[ing] the Web. You’ll “connect with friends and share your discoveries,” as well as “meet people that have similar interests.”
- Technorati: If you want to increase your blog’s readership, consider registering it with Technorati, a network of blogs and writers that lists top stories in categories like Business, Entertainment and Technology.
- Ning: After hanging around the same social networks for a while, you may feel inspired to create your own, where you can bring together clients, vendors, customers and co-workers in a confidential, secure corner of the Web. Ning lets users design free social networks that they can share with anyone.
- Squidoo: According to Squidoo, “everyone’s an expert on something. Share your knowledge!” Share your industry’s secrets by answering questions and designing a profile page to help other members.
- Furl: Make Furl “your personal Web file” by bookmarking great sites and sharing them with other users by recommending links, commenting on articles and utilizing other fantastic features.
- Tubearoo: This video network works like other social-bookmarking sites, except that it focuses on uploaded videos. Businesses can create and upload tutorials, commentaries and interviews with industry insiders to promote their own services.
- WikiHow: Create a how-to guide or tutorial on wikiHow to share your company’s services with the public for free.
- YouTube: From the fashion industry to Capitol Hill, everyone has a video floating around on YouTube. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video from your company’s latest commercial or event to give customers and clients an idea of what you do each day.
- Ma.gnolia: Share your favorite sites with friends, colleagues and clients by organizing your bookmarks with Ma.gnolia. Clients will appreciate both your Internet-savviness and your ability to stay current and organized.
According to Sean Hinton, Social media describes websites that allow users to share content, media, etc. Common examples are the popular social networking sites like Friendster, 
Facebook, MySpace, etc. Social media also includes YouTube, Photobucket, Flickr, and other sites aimed at photo and video sharing. News aggregation and online reference sources, examples of which are Digg and Wikipedia, are also counted in the social media bucket.
- News Corporation (NWS) owns Myspace, the most-viewed website in the world. It also purchased Photobucket, a photo-sharing website.
- Yahoo! (YHOO) has been making moves to enter the social media segment. Its Flickr photo-sharing website and 360 social networking site are examples of this.
- Google (GOOG) purchased YouTube, a leading online video sharing website.
- Microsoft (MSFT) announced a minority $240 million investment in Facebook in late October, valuing the company at an estimated $5 to $15 billion overall.
- AOL announced on March 2008 the $850 million purchase of Bebo. At the time, Bebo was the third largest social networking site behind MySpace and Facebook in terms of page views and unique monthly visitors, both key metrics for online advertising
In the recent past, Google and Microsoft search engines have been facing major competition from twitter which unlike the other two has the ability to unearth breaking news and links far quicker than traditional search engines.
However, competition might not even be necessary. According to The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital, Twitter is talking to both Google and Microsoft about licensing deals that would allow them to integrate Twitter data into their search engines.
This would be a revolutionary step in the field of search engines if it comes through and of course, will reportedly make Twitter several million dollars.
As social media is becoming more and more important, the issue of ownership, which was earlier only hazy in our minds is coming into the picture a lot more clearly. It is important that we do not take this issue too lightly and understand how to define other people’s property in the domain of social media.
Here are some tips suggested by matt singley in his article on ragan.com which are of use.
1. If you didn’t write, record, photograph or design it, it’s not yours. Sometimes the most difficult truths to adhere to are those that are the most obvious. I don’t think there is much more that I need to say on this point…if you didn’t create it, then you need to give proper recognition.
2. If you’re going to quote a source, use small pieces. The Copyright Act says that “fair use…for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
3. Get to know Creative Commons. I have a disclaimer on the right side of my blog that says “Some Rights Reserved” with a brief explanation and links to what it all means. In other words, I am giving blanket permission to anybody and everybody to use material that I write, with some restrictions. I ask that they do not alter what I write, and I ask that they give credit to me. Other than that, have at it…with my site.
4.. When in doubt, skip it. Honestly, this is the best advice I can give. If you want to use some material but aren’t sure whether it’s OK for whatever reason (the site’s terms are unclear, you can’t contact the owner, etc.) then it’s just not worth it. Posting someone’s photo or thought may seem innocent enough, and the reality is you probably won’t get caught unless you have a really popular site.
But in this day and age of sue-first-ask-questions-later (really interesting story, by the way; click through if you have time) only one thing is certain: people are lawsuit happy, and in the end only the attorneys are going to win.
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogging are much better tools for finding jobs that speak to your passions than job portals/consultants and corporate Web sites
If you rely on job portals, HR consultants or corporate Web sites for your job search, you’ll find yourself unemployed for a very long time. Instead, look to your networks, both in real life and in the virtual world. A recent Jobvite survey reflects this evolution in recruitment, noting that 72% of companies plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks. By using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as your own blog, you have more outlets to communicate your personal brand and find a job faster than the competition. Cloud9 Media shares a few tools for you to find the right job!
LinkedIn: The most obvious social network for corporate recruiting is LinkedIn, with more than 40 million professional member profiles across all verticals and industries. There are literally thousands of recruiters searching for passive talent—those who are employed and not actively seeking a new position—as well as job seekers who are leveraging the network to find available positions. Rick Mahn, a passive candidate, landed his current position as a social media strategist at Land O’Lakes when his LinkedIn profile came to the attention of a corporate recruiter, who reached out to him through their mutual contacts: Source Business Week. But before you begin your job search via Linkedin, there are a few things you must do – 1. Create a flawless profile, the one that describes your talents and achievements. Recruiters search using “Professional Headline”, so make sure yours is in place. Use the headline to position yourself. Also, obtain your unique LinkedIn URL, so that it appears as http://linkedin.com/in/yourfullname. The next thing you need is recommendations and don’t be shy here, if you are proud of your work go ask for one. Linked In now allows you to integrate various other social media tools on your profile such as your blog and Slideshare
Blogging: What do you do when you’re trying to stand out from the hundreds of millions of unemployed Chinese graduates and the thousands of Chinese-speaking foreign job seekers? You blog! Joel Backaler did just that when he started blogging on TheChinaObserver.com, and his blog was eventually linked to by The Wall Street Journal on several occasions. That visibility helped him secure his latest full-time job—within four months. The blog showcased Joel’s credibility as a China specialist and was leveraged as a conversation-starter during job interviews. “My blog allowed me to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of the Chinese marketplace, which separated me from my peers and helped me land a job,” explains Backaler, who currently does Asia-Pacific business development for Frontier Strategy Group, source Business Week.
Recruiters can gain a better understanding of an individual based on a blog, compared to a résumé that has the same boring standard fields, such as experience and education
Twitter: The service is more of a communication device. Twitter is the support center for businesses, and as a news source and now even jobs. For starters, you can post your résumé on Twitter using twtjobs.com, or you can search for jobs by going to twitterjobsearch.com. Billy Goodnick, a garden writer on Twitter, was followed by the Web editor of Fine Gardening magazine after he developed a loyal Twitter following. Goodnick was then invited to guest blog for the magazine and eventually received a job as a contributor, Source Business Week. Participation is the key and you never know who discovers you when.
You should focus your tweets on your expertise instead of randomly tweeting about anything that comes to your mind, so you can become the go-to source for information on that topic. You should also follow people in your field, especially those employed at companies you want to work for.
Facebook: With 250 million users, Facebook is the largest social network and is home to both corporate recruiters and headhunters, who tend to use it more for background checks than for recruiting. In fact, Careerbuilder.com reports that one in five recruiters uses Facebook for candidate background checks.
On Facebook, status updates can be a job-seeking tool. Henry Mackintosh found this out after posting a Facebook status message saying he was unemployed. He received three e-mails in two hours and eventually became a marketing manager at WorkDigital Ltd. “The genius behind the status update is that it is a way of networking old contacts without harassing them,” says Mackintosh Source: Business Week
By being both proactive and reactive on social networks, you’re able to be recruited based on your passion, while having access to people who can actually hire you—or at least forward your résumé. As the résumé becomes less and less relevant, you can count on the Web to exploit what you’re capable of and help bring your dreams to life!
Trailblazing Social Media Strategies! 