Introduction to Social Media
Note: If you’re a regular reader, this post might be old hat for you. It’s one of several tutorials arising from a session I did recently on social meda.
Social Media (aka social networking) is a term for websites and other new media technologies which allow a high degree of interactivity as well as formation of groups or networks of people. At least, that’s how I’d define it off the top of my head. Wikipedia says:
Participatory online media where news, photos, videos, and podcasts are made public via social media websites through submission. Normally accompanied with a voting process to make media items become “popular”.
Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
So while the general idea isn’t new (forums have been around the web about as long as there’s been a web), the creation of websites that foster participation and the level of adoption are at an all-time high. They’ve also gotten a lot more interesting and useful than forums.
A sampling of Social Networking sites
- Facebook of course – my intro to Facebook has some things you should know if you’re thinking about joining.
- LinkedIn – very business focused. Kind of like putting your resume online, but linked to profiles of other people that you know. Includes a recommendation tool so you can see who your friends recommend in various fields, give recommendations for people, and show your credibility by having public recommendations for your work. You can also ask for introductions to people that your network knows but you don’t.
- MySpace – especially popular with musicians and their fans.
- YouTube – Full of videos from the insanely funny to incredibly boring to just plain stupid. If you have video content, this is a great way to share it for free. (But that doesn’t explain the social networking aspect, does it? Go visit, you’ll see.)
- Flickr – share photos, create groups, comment.
- Squidoo – you can create pages on various topics to present your expertise to the world.
- ChangeEverything.ca – A community site that encourages people to pledge a change in their lives, and then share their progress with others.
- If that’s not enough, Wikipedia has a list of notable social networking sites.
Other posts in this series:
- Blogging 101: Intro to Blogging
- Blogging 201: 5 Simple Blog Promotion Ideas
- Introduction to Facebook
- Ways to Leverage your Facebook Network
Posted: January 18th, 2008 under Computers & Tech, Marketing, Web Tips.
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