I have just read Altersage’s article on Social Media. Are there ‘rules’ to social media engagement? I did not attend any of the conferences as Nelspruit is a little town about 1800 km’s from the Capetonian Silicone Valley. But I do have a few comments to make.
Shawn Jooste talked about asking the right questions alledgedly. The right questions will get the right answers but what do we expect from Social Networking and Media? I want to put these questions back into common sense. I am not one to fall for the hype. In the great dot com bubble burst I was in London and turned down offers of equity and options rather than money because I know the web is just 0’s and 1’s.
Social media is no different to the normal media, It’s about publication. Rather than paper we now make everything more accessible and store it as 1’s and 0’s. The important thing to remember about Social media, Is that it lasts longer than any Newspaper and most Magazines. There is stuff floating around on the web from the 90’s. You regularly see recycled email doing the rounds that have been on snopes for years but as the saying goes, theres a new sucker born every minute. As much as everything changes it remains the same.
Social media makes it simpler for you to publish information and make it available to the masses and a damned sight cheaper too. But the problem can occur when trying to misuse social media. Companies have been know to destroy their reputation overnight. Look at the QVC / Donn Edwards debacle. If you put your self under the spotlight best you make sure you have washed and shaved.
Social Networking is the other arm. Networking tells you all. In the real world when you go to Networking get togethers do you stand their and repeat ad nauseum, I am Guy, I am a social networking specialist or do you listen add value and subtly ensure that the other people know when to ask you the questions. Well social networking is no different. Being that annoying spammer will win you no friends.
Contribute and win.
Are there ‘rules’ to social media engagement? Read Altersage’s article
Tags: Internet, Networking, Social Media
July 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Really not sure that you’ve hit the mark on SM in this clearly intended distillation of what *you* think it is.
The fall to almost insignificant, and not only in currency terms, but also effort, of the cost of publishing, is certainly *one* of the drivers.
But I’m not buying your “just 0’s and 1’s” argument. That’s like saying the works of Shakespeare are just stains on fabric. You’ve confused the message with the medium.
The biggest driver, and the one you’ve chosen to ignore, is the large-scale realisation amongst an ever-deepening pool of society, that they are/can be part of MUCH larger communities, who have an interest, however shallow, in what they say. Communities that don’t care about the well-worn rating system employed in face-to-face social interactions. Communities that only care about the quality of what you produce, words, images, music, your thoughts, opinions.
I’ve written enough for a guest post on your blog, so I’ll be quiet now, but think more about this, k? We don’t have it all figured out yet.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Andre Thanks for your inputs, I believe we are not really disagreeing, The media is the publication the way I see it. This page and article is the media. Our interaction is networking.
The realisation of the people that they can be heard is not media. The communication and interaction is not media, the messages may be but the interaction is networking.
Readers are readers, They are the audience, Bloggers such as you and I are the drama queens, We supply what our audience desires, They are not media. What our audience digests is media.
But mostly you are correct when you say we don’t have it all figured out yet. I think long after we are gone this form of social interaction will be refining and redefining itself. If you had 20 years ago told me that one social network would have 20 million participants, I would have thought you insane.
In fact 20 years ago would you have believed that a Terrabyte of storage would be neccessary for the average photography business after only 3 years.
We are practitioners of the dark arts in the opinion of many businessmen of my generation, The generation that follows are more enlightened.
July 17th, 2009 at 1:57 am
I agree, we don’t have social media figured out yet, but isn’t that what keeps it interesting? In terms of what we expect from social media, I think we all want conversations and interactions with people we never otherwise would have met or interacted with. Therefore yes, if either a brand or an individual offer content of value it will win them friends and followers, but don’t forget about the interaction / conversation aspect of social media. Ignoring a @ reply or DM on Twitter is as good as ignoring someone when they ask you a question in a face-to-face conversation – plain rude. Thus I would say contribute, interact and win
Carla Fouries last blog post..carla_fourie: @melattree And on that note, happy Friday!
July 17th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Carla “Ignoring a @ reply or DM on Twitter is as good as ignoring someone when they ask you a question in a face-to-face”
Is that how anybody would actually network?