of Social Media
Social media evolved from new Internet technology, mostly developed after 2000, which made it easy and cheap (often free) for non-tech users to contribute content to various kinds of websites. Blogs, for example, let you post, comment on, and discuss content with other bloggers and commenters. Social networks let members build profiles and all manner of personal and business-oriented content. Anyone can write and edit entries for Wikipedia, or post book reviews on Amazon.com. Wikis and forums let groups collaborate on content creation. You can upload your photos to Flickr and your short videos to YouTube. You can rate, share, recommend, tag, and socially bookmark the content that others create.
Around 2004, the new Internet became known variously as the user-generated web, the social web, and Web 2.0. Time magazine named "You" (as in YouTube) the person of the year in 2006.
Mainstream news and entertainment media have become increasingly social in the past few years. CNN’s iReport led the way, letting “citizen journalists” post news stories on its site. Many news sites allow users to share, rate, and comment on stories. The New York Times (TimesPeople) and Huffington Post (HuffPost Social News) were among the first news outlets, in 2009, to integrate Facebook-like social networking features on their sites.
Before 2000, the World Wide Web featured mostly one-way communication: websites to users. Now communication on the Web is every-which-way: it's a conversation.
Consumers are engaging with social media at their desks, on the road, and just about everywhere else—with computers, netbooks, smart phones, iPods, Kindles, and almost any device with an Internet connection.
For more information about social media, including a blogroll, research reports, white papers, and conferences, see Freedman's social media portal.
Social Media Resource Center
Reliable Blogs about Social Media
Mashable, The
Social Media Guide. Founded in July 2005 by
Pete Cashmore. Mashable calls
itself a "blog about Web 2.0 and social media." But it's much broader
than that, including tech, telecoms, and
T-shirts. Mashable does have a social media
category, if you want to
focus narrowly on that.
Social Media Insider (e-zine published by
MediaPost). "The inside line on
blogs, user-generated content and social networks."
MediaMemo, a feature of All Things Digital. News & opinion about media in general, including social media. Written by Peter Kafka, formerly a reporter for Forbes, and former managing editor of Silicon Alley Insider.
Web Ink Now, a blog by David Meerman Scott, relentless self-promoter and author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR (2007) and World Wide Rave (2009). The blog is about "how marketing and PR have changed because of the Web. [With] information on how to use social media, online video, news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing, and online media to reach your buyers directly."
MediaShift, a blog from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), calls itself "your guide to the digital media revolution." It has a social media section, with the tagline "Learn about blogs, citizen journalism, and social networking." The executive editor is Mark Glazer.
PoynterOnline, the website of the Poynter Institute, has an Online & Technology section that features an e-media blog. The institute (in partnership with the Knight Foundation) operates a journalism school in St. Petersburg, FL.
Educational & Research Organizations
J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism. Located in Washington, DC, J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life with projects on innovations in journalism, citizen media, news games, interactive stories, entrepreneurship, research, training, and publications.
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, in partnership with the Knight Foundation, operates a journalism school in St. Petersburg, FL. Poynter offers training for journalists through News University. One of its courses is a webinar called 10 Things You Can Do For Free on Your Web Site, which teaches how to install and use social media features on a news site. Poynter's website has an Online & Technology section that features an e-media blog. Other courses about online journalism, including Facebook for Journalists, here.
Research Reports & White Papers
Adoption & Awareness of Social Media by the Inc. 500,
a study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of
Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Published December 2, 2009.
This is the third annual study of social media use by fast-growing
companies. (For an independent summary of the study, see
eMarketer's
report.) The free
report is full of cool charts & graphs, but here are a few excerpts from
the text:
In 2007,
the Center’s first study of this group and their use of social media was
released and revealed that the
Inc. 500
was outpacing the more traditional and larger
Fortune 500
companies in their use of social media.
The technology that
continues to be the most familiar to the Inc. 500 is social networking.
While social networking and blogging have enjoyed growth in actual
adoption, the use of message boards, online video, wikis, and podcasting
has leveled off or declined.
The Inc. 500 companies are seeking to protect themselves legally, with
36 percent having implemented a formal policy concerning blogging by
their employees.
The State of Social Media Marketing, a 242-page
research report from MarketingProfs. Published December 2009. Price $600
($360 for members). Download the table of contents free.
The report tells how 5,140 marketing and business professionals are
using social media to create winning campaigns, measure ROI, and reach
audiences. With 193 charts & graphs. Contents include how to:
- Determine the true cost of tweeting, blogging and using social media tools, including social media marketing salaries.
- Understand how marketers use social media tactics and establish benchmarks for emerging tactics.
- Discover the corporate qualities and marketing personalities that are best suited to social media.
Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon. This is a free 48-page guide (plus 25 pages of author bios, footnotes, and glossary) in PDF format, published November 16, 2009 by Reed Smith, a big law firm that focuses largely on financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and the media & entertainment industry.
Reed Smith's description of the paper (slightly condensed by SnoozLooz):
This white paper will help you to maximize the huge potential benefits of using social media [to communicate with consumers] and protect against the inherent legal risks. [It provides] practical guidelines on the law in the following areas: advertising & marketing, commercial litigation, data privacy & security, employment practices, government contracts & investigations, insurance recovery, evidence & privilege, product liability, securities, and trademarks.
Wave.4, the fourth annual study of social media use around the world. Published in July 2009 by Universal McCann, a NY-based "media communications agency."
The report is full of interesting data, but without meaningful analysis or insight. By the way, Universal McCann's website is one of the worst (and slowest) corporate websites I've ever seen, in terms of both design and usability. Its blog is verbose and tedious (accessed 1/20/10).
Top 100 Social Brands of 2009. Preview: the top three are iPhone, Disney, and CNN. Presented by Vitrue, a "social media management company providing technology solutions to help brands harness the vast marketing potential of social networks."
Notable Articles
"How
Social Media Has Changed Us," by Mike
Laurie
January 7, 2010, published on the
Mashable blog
Six areas in which social media has had lasting, and arguably permanent
effects on the ways in which we live, including: child literacy,
politics, marketing, and news media.
Facebook Success Stories: How 21 Companies are Using the Social
Network to Connect with Customers
Published by MarketingProfs,
December 16, 2009. Cost $49, free to Pro Members). 47 pages. Case
studies include B2C, B2B, and non-profit companies, including:
- Adobe engaged its fans with fun activities that motivated them to repeatedly interact with each other and the company.
- Dunkin' Donuts encouraged fans to express their loyalty and rewarded them for doing so.
- Sharp Electronics promoted repeat usage by ensuring their applications were simple yet strategic.
LinkedIn Basics: the Top 3 Books: Reviews of:
How to Really Use LinkedIn, by Jan Vermeiren
(BookSurge, 2009)
LinkedIn for Dummies, by Joel Elad (For Dummies, 2008)
I'm on LinkedIn--Now What? by Jason Alba (Happy About, 2009)
"Why Twitter Will Endure," by David Carr, New York Times, Jan. 1, 2010.
Conference attendees use Twitter to disseminate and consume "real-time annotation" on the presentations and discussion. Journalists use Twitter to disseminate and consume critical updates. All kinds of professionals and consumers use Twitter for all kinds of reasons, some purely social and some life-saving. The platform is only getting more useful, thanks to its open API. It's not going away.
"Twitter Will Change the Way We Live," by Steven Johnson, Time (cover story), June 5, 2009.
The key development with Twitter is how we've jury-rigged the system to do things that its creators never dreamed of, says Johnson. "In short, the most fascinating thing about Twitter is not what it's doing to us. It's what we're doing to it."
"10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business," by Time/CNN, May 29, 2009.
10 ways in which Twitter will permanently change American business within the next two to three years, based on an examination of Twitter's model, the ways that corporations and small businesses are currently using the service, and some of the logical extensions of how companies will use Twitter in the future. Examples: hyper-local marketing, expanding the power of micro-payments, large government agencies communicating with the public, telecom revolution, collecting consumer feedback, etc.
SocialMediopolis, a social network for social media marketing professionals. Free membership. Founded by Michael Crosson, "a professional in sales management and business development in both private and public B2B and consumer markets."
This network is a work in progress—big plans, but not much going on there yet. The site itself barely explains what it's about. Crosson's LinkedIn profile describes it much better: "SocialMediopolis.com is a resource center for anyone involved in the development, management or marketing of social communities. The site...features group discussions, blogs, shared files and other resources, and a member directory for networking. There are subgroups dedicated to various vertical niches."