Quality > Popularity in Social Media: "Medium"

Social media usually means jokes about funny cat pictures (click here if you dare) or posting to Twitter about what you ate for lunch. This isn't really fair. Like any tool, social media can be used for worthwhile as well as inane things. However, there are some aspects of social media that makes inane things simply easier, like a concentration on volume of interaction and popularity as an indicator of success. It's why George Takei is so popular on Facebook, for example. (Heck, even I follow him.)

Now, some of the very people who helped create the social media platforms that built the popularity dynamic are trying to change this. Ev Williams and Biz Stone founded Blogger (the platform this blog is on, now part of Google) and later Twitter. Last year, the duo teamed up with other developers to help launch Branch, a social media site built around discussion, and their most recent collaboration is Medium. As Ev describes it:

Lots of services have successfully lowered the bar for sharing information, but there’s been less progress toward raising the quality of what’s produced. It’s great that you can be a one-person media outlet, but it’d be even better if there were more ways you could work with others. And in a world of overwhelming quantities of content, how do we direct our attention to what’s most valuable, not just what’s interesting and of-the-moment?

This is what Medium is intended to do. The point of Medium is to put content forward -- the "what" that we talk about -- and create "[a] world where thought and craftsmanship is rewarded more than knee-jerk reactions." Right now, Medium is invite only and in development. Ev talks about it more in his own Medium post, read the whole thing, it's good stuff.

Thought leaders like Chris Brogan are using Medium to test ideas, while engadget describes it as a sort of "Pintrest for text" that allows people to collect and collaborate with meaningful information.

But I want to offer a word of caution:

When we approach social media, it's important to understand how specific platforms affect the quality of interaction, but it is also important not to cede control of our behavior to platform constraints. While Branch, Medium, and other emerging platforms are attempting to change the nature of social media interactions to one of greater depth and meaning, that doesn't mean that you, the user, have to wait for those inventions to experience those qualities. Thoughtful approaches on existing platforms can be just as powerful.

I like to talk in analogies, so let me offer one here. Think of this like driving a car. You can be a good, safe, efficient driver in a 1970s Detroit-built tank just as much as in a 2007 Volvo. How the driver -- you -- drives the car is still a matter that is mostly in the hands of the driver, not the car maker.

This is one of the reasons Joanne and I offer CCM 376E Communication in the Digital Age: Integrating Social Media Effectively. Every time we teach this class, we try and empower our students to see social media in new ways that empower them to be thoughtful and effective. It's one of the reasons we are both excited to teach it again in Spring 2013. So consider coming along with us next term!

The world is social: are you ready?

It is 2013. The Internet is a global force, and an information pool that is turned to by nearly every demographic for nearly every initial piece of research.

This means that if you are going to do anything that involves interacting with the public -- start a business, lead a non-profit, represent your community -- you'd better have a presence on the Internet. The same is true if you want to change the path of your career:  Forbes Magazine last year recommended that companies search for job applicants on Facebook in order to determine if they are a good fit for the job. Some career thinkers even suggest that you must have a LinkedIn profile.

The reality is that social media -- or digitally mediated communication, or electronic communication, or whatever you would like to call it -- is optional only to the degree that having a mailing address or a telephone is optional. Yes, you can get along without it, but it's a lot harder to get what you want done.

This is why Joanne McCall and I teach our social media class each year. Our goal isn't to get our students to be social media addicts. Instead, we offer a practical, guided exploration of social media and the web, so that students can figure out how to make use of it in positive, meaningful ways. It's a hands-on class with a safe environment where experimentation is encouraged.

If you would like to learn along with us, this Spring we will again be offering our class CCM376E, now retitled as "Communication in the Digital Age: Integrating Social Media Effectively."

Because, as we put on one of our class fliers, "fear and loathing in social media is not a requirement."

Week 10

Wow. Is it really possible we have reached the final week of our class, Intermediate Social Media? It has been such a privilege to work with each and everyone of you, but before I get too emotional here, we still have another week to go. 

So this week it is all about your projects. You may be happy to know that there are no readings to engage in, no videos to watch, only your projects to work on. Plus, of course, a few discussion questions to answer, and for those of you who have contracted for an A, you have a reflection paper to work on. That paper is due on June 12th and you'll need to put it in the Moodle drop box for week 10.

I can't tell you what a pleasure it has been for both of us to work with you. One of the enriching things about social media is its ability to create community online. We both feel we have all created a community together and we hope you do as well. 

We will see you on the discussion boards and in the Facebook group. If you have questions, both Alex and I are available to help. 

Warmly,

Alex & Joanne

Welcome to Week Nine!

Creative deadline management from Calvin & Hobbes, courtesy Go! Comics

Wow! It's Week Nine!
That's right, it's week nine, and our class is now drawing to a close. We've had some real great discussions over the term, and though we are almost out of time, we still have a few more in the pipeline. This week, we will be talking about the wider implications of Social Media in society. Political power, media, and quality of life are at the forefront. 
First though, an announcement. Earlier in the term, we asked you about interest in a meet-up, an in-person, face-to-face meeting of the class. We've set a date and time for that:

CCM 376E Intermediate Social Media Meet-Up

Friday, June 1, 2012, 5:00 pm

Manzana Grill in Lake Oswego, OR

View Larger Map

Just to restate, this is totally optional, but it is an opportunity for you to meet your instructors (Joanne and I) as well as your classmates. There's no grades, it's not required, nor are purchases required, and for those unable to make it due to time and distance, we will miss you!
However, optional though it is, we also thought we would do this meet-up for an extra-curricular learning opportunity. For the last eight weeks, we have been communicating constantly via electronic means, much as people who you interact with on social media. For those of you meeting each other for the first time this way, it may be interesting to see if your level of comfort or connection is different than with people you have no electronic relationship with whom you are meeting for the first time. Consider it a social experiment!
Now a little reminder. For those contracting for an A, we will soon be asking for your final reflection papers. It may be worthwhile to begin making notes about your projects and possibly starting on your papers. Also, keep plugging away at the projects themselves. 
Now, onto our browsings for the week:

• Net Neutrality: Why it may be a hot topic is 2012: http://bit.ly/zLgZ30
• ...and peoples reactions to it on Social Media shook Congress: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/sopa_awareness_goes_mainstream.php
• Meanwhile, even larger issues are at stake in other countries, such as Egypt: http://www.fastcompany.com/1809458/wael-ghonim-egypt-revolution-20
• Breaking down old paradigms: Twitter makes us all journalists, says Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab: http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/05/you-might-not-be-a-journalist-but-you-play-one-on-twitter/
• And the revolution continues in media: http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/05/rory-oconnor-traditional-media-companies-cling-to-their-brands-at-their-peril/
• Social Media changing how we relate to each other in time and space: http://www.ted.com/talks/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html
• ...and Social Media changing how we understand the places we live: http://livehoods.org/

As always, there are discussion questions in Moodle related to our browsings for the week. We'll see you online!

Week Eight Assignments

Hi everyone,

Can you believe we are now beginning week #8 of Intermediate Social Media?

The topic this week has been one that several of you have brought up in past weeks. Now we're devoting a lot of time to the very important issue of privacy.We know you'll have a lot to say about it.

Here are your assignments for this week:

1) Keep working on those projects. We are looking forward to seeing your progress and the results you are able to create.

2) Read this: Who Owns Your Personal History?

Read this: Burglars picked homes based on FB postings

Watch this: Seeing burglars in action

Read this: Mark Zuckerberg losing war on privacy

Watch this: Zuckerberg sweats

Read this: The Age of Privacy is over

Read this: Using FB to spy on people

Read this: Not fired after FB posting

Watch this: Facebook privacy

3) Remember to answer the discussion questions posted on Moodle and respond to at least two of your classmates comments. Make it more than just, "I agree with you," or "Good point." Add why you agree with him or her. (You've all been really good about this. Just wanted to add a little reminder to keep it up.)

We look forward to seeing your comments and questions this week.

Alex & Joanne

Your Assignment for Class Final

Earlier in the term, you identified a social media project that you would engage in during the course of this class/. For those students contracting for an A grade, a paper reflecting on this project and its relationship to course learning must be written and submitted.

PROJECT REVIEW

The description of the project assignment as shown in the course syllabus:

Students will also engage in a social media research project. This project will require them to choose from one of the following two options:

Project Track A: Choose a pre-existing social media community to join and engage in. This should be a community you are not already involved in. This may include one of the following: 

• Follow and engage with a blog that has a robust comments section 

• Join and engage a Facebook page or group

• Join and engage a LinkedIn group 

• Join and engage others on Twitter 

• Propose to the instructors another social media site that you think is worth exploring.

Project Track B: Plan, create, and implement your own social media community, which may include one of the following: 

• Plan and create a blog for a specific purpose 

• Plan and create a Facebook page or group for a specific purpose

• Plan and create a LinkedIn page or group for a specific purpose 

• Plan and create a YouTube channel for a specific purpose 

• Plan and create a Twitter account for a specific purpose

• Combination of some or all of the above 

• Propose something else to the instructors that will best meet your needs for learning and using social media.

Please note: regardless of which track is chosen, students will be graded by their observations and learning from these experiences, as demonstrated in the discussion areas of the course’s Moodle site and/or in the final reflection paper, not on the content the student has created outside of Moodle. Further, we understand that some students will have privacy concerns regarding participation in social media; we encourage but do not require students to utilize their real names in their social media projects. If you have specific privacy concerns, please contact the course instructors and accommodations will be made.

The social media community chosen may be for personal, professional, and/or educational purposes. Students should expect to choose and begin to engage in their social media community in week two, and be prepared to discuss initial observations during week six. Interaction will continue throughout the class. 

PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Deadline. Those contracting for an A grade also need to submit a 5-6 page reflection paper on their learning and observations from this project by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, 6/12/12. 

Graded Content. Students will not be graded on the content or extent of their engagement in their chosen social media communities, but rather by demonstration in their reflection papers of their observations and learning during the engagement process.

Style & Etc. In addition, this paper is expected to meet or exceed Marylhurst writing standards, as described in full in the syllabus. Please use whatever academic writing style is used in your major, e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, etcetera. We are more concerned with the content than with what specific style you write in. Please do cite outside sources if you include any, for example, any specific course browsings you want to mention.

REQUIRED ELEMENTS OF YOUR PAPER

At a minimum, please answer the following questions in your paper:

• What was the project you took on, and why?

• What if any things that you learned during this course directly affected your project?

• If you are going to carry your project forward after the class ends, how do you see it changing over time?

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR PAPER

To make this paper easier for you to start, here are some things to keep in mind as you write:

• Consider comparing and contrasting how you felt about Social Media versus how you feel now. Have your feelings changed? Your confidence level? How about your skill level?
• What surprised you about your project? Did anything disappointed you? What were unique challenges that you experienced?
• Were there any course browsings or readings that might relate to what you did? If so, tell us how.

SUBMISSION 

Submit the paper using the Drop Box on Moodle in the Week Ten section. 

If you have problems submitting the paper, please contact one/both of us using the course mail function on Moodle. 

Enjoy!

~Joanne & Alex

Social Proof: A Powerful Concept

Hi everyone,

You may recall last week in the discussion questions, Alex and I asked you the following: 

We're almost halfway through our class term. Before we move on, we're very interested in your feedback. Do you have any suggestions for how we can make this course even better for you? 

There is a reason we asked this of you publicly. In social media, we find ourselves in very public spaces with others in our networks who can see everything we're saying. Not only that, but friends of friends in other networks can often see what we're saying. So, the question becomes, does your feedback change when you know other people are watching? And, whether it changes or not, do you feel differently while writing your comments when you know they are not anonymous? Are others impacted by what you are saying?

 

Before social media, feedback was mostly given in a private way, whether it was over the phone, a letter, or email. The exceptions to this are when people are physically gathered together or if you cc or bcc others in an email. However, with social media, what you say is seen by many others--many of whom you don't specifically choose. Does this impact what you say or how you say it? How does it impact them?

In the case of your responses to our question, it was just our class who saw the comments. But imagine if we were asking you via the social media platforms and all of our friends and associates saw your comments? What if all the students at Marylhurst University saw your positive comments. Do you think that would help enrollment in future classes? 


Social proof is a very powerful concept. When you are looking to make an online purchase, how often has another person's comments persuaded you to buy or not to buy? Companies such as Yelp understand this very well. What if you have a bad customer service experience with a particular company or brand. Would you post about it? And how do you think others would react to that? How would the company react?

I know that for me, I like to know what my friends think. For example, when I was selecting a smart phone, I simply tweeted: iphone or blackberry? I got a lot of feedback, and I was much more inclined to listen to what my friends had to say than some glossy brochure put together by a company's marketing department. 

Social proof. Powerful. Can you think of a situation in which you were influenced via social proof? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

Joanne

Week Seven Assignments

The mobile-social world can be a cruel one....

Hello Class!

It's now Week Seven, and before we get started, congratulations on Week Six and the midterms! You all contributed to a lively discussion on Moodle and Joanne and I are proud of you all.

(Later this week, Joanne is going to talk a bit about the feedback question we asked in a post here on the blog. Watch for that.)

Now for this week:

1.) Keep working on your projects! We only have four more weeks left counting this one, so keep at them. In fact, from here out, we will be asking about them as part of every week's discussion questions on Moodle.

2.) This weeks theme is the ever changing nature of Social Media. Complete the following assigned browsings for the week. There are a lot here, however, do not panic. They are all short. You do not have to read them in order but you may want to:

Myspace Gains a Million Users in One Month from Mashable
Myspace Memories from Mashable
Local Will Matter More and More from Chris Brogan
The App is Dead Okay Not Really but the Browser is Back from ReadWriteWeb
First Night with Google Plus from ReadWriteWeb
How to Get Started with Google Hangouts from ReadWriteWeb
Kickstarter to Outfund National Endowment for the Arts from ReadWriteWeb
What Goes Where from Chris Brogan

3.) Answer the three discussion questions for this week in Moodle.

That's all!

Also, we will have more information on the final paper assignment next week. As stated in the syllabus, it will be brief, so worry not.

As always, if you have problems or questions, ask away!

Week Six Assignments

Welcome to week six!

We have been talking about authenticity in social media and have had some very stimulating discussions on Moodle, as well as some good comments on recent blog posts.

Now that we are officially half way through the term, it's time to get focused on those final projects. Therefore, during week six, your only assignment is to work on your projects and answer the discussion questions in Moodle.

We'll see you online.

Alex & Joanne

Social Media Myths & Difficulties

Alex and I have a similar philosophy when it comes to social media. It's one that I believe reflects how much we have embraced this form of communication and interaction with others in a public space. 

I'm not sure there is anything I can add to Alex's last post in terms of what it means to be authentic online, so I thought I would add to this conversation by sharing the difficulties I find many people have when working to embrace this new communication channel. Here are just a few of them:

I want to keep my private and professional lives separate.

I am afraid that ship has sailed. I can't tell you how many people have opened up more than one account and profile on the various platforms in an attempt to completely separate these areas of their lives. But what happens is it simply causes all kinds of confusion in their minds and much more to maintain on the sites themselves, which of course, they soon fail to do and end up looking like they're dead. Plus, when they realize they can't keep it up they have followers or friends on each of these different accounts and trying to get them all in one place brings about a whole new challenge. 

I don't care what people are eating for lunch and I don't want to share that.

You don't have to share what you're having for lunch. Why this statement has become such a shared negative view about social media is beyond me. I don't know that I have ever shared what I'm eating. However, at times when someone posts what their meal is, or even takes a picture of it, I sometimes find that rather interesting, particularly if it's a new restaurant that I might want to sample. Is it an important piece of information to know? No. Is it going to impact the world in some way? No. It's just a little peek into someone else's world that can be intriguing. Besides, one of the reasons I think reality television is so popular is that as human beings we really like knowing what other people are up to. I'm sure there has been research done on this. However, this statement is simply my opinion.

It's a fad that is going to go away.

That's a good one. For those in business, don't be surprised if you're out of business in a couple of years.

What do you mean I'm broadcasting and not engaging?

Back in the "olden days" and by that I mean a few years ago, businesses paid a lot of money to have commercials produced and then aired. In the case of magazines and newspapers, it would be ads created and placed. These commercials were all about "me me me" whereas now with social media when you talk about your business it needs to be about them. Even more than that, it has to engage them. There is a two-way conversation that needs to happen. We covered much of this in week 1 so I know you know what I'm getting at here. 

What do you mean spraying all over someone's wall is like spray painting their front door?

Do you remember when your friends or family were just getting online and all they could do was forward jokes and share warnings about disasters that were actually urban legends? Well, whenever we start something new there is a learning curve. Social media is the same way, so some begin by "broadcasting" what they're up to on your wall without even asking, e.g., someone I know with a new book posted that fact along with a link to their Amazon page where my friends could buy a copy. Not cool. I make the comparison that doing this is like driving by someone's house and spray painting all over their front door. You wouldn't do that right? So doing it on someone's wall isn't OK either. (This is a point of etiquette.) Oh, and by the way, some people never really get this even when they are beyond the early learning stages.

I want to tie all my accounts together so that I can post one thing and it goes out to all the platforms.

I understand wanting to do this, but it's really a bad idea. Each platform has its own culture so when I see people do this, it screams amateur to me. Maybe that's too harsh, but that's how I seem to react. Nothing looks worse to me that seeing someone tweet with a bunch of hash tags and links posted on Facebook. It's just wrong.

If I were to summarize my philosophy for getting involved in social media it would come down to this: There is a lot to be said for observing before reaching out and connecting online. Some call it lurking and a little lurking just to get an idea of the culture of a platform is a really good idea. Then begin to engage when you are ready. 

We'd be very interested in hearing how your philosophy of social media is growing and developing. Go ahead and add any of your thoughts below.

Authenticity, Professionalism, and Personal Space

This week we've been examining authenticity in the Social Media sphere, and Joanne and I are going to share some of how we approach this aspect.

As Social Media rapidly grew in popularity over the last five years, more and more there have been commercial uses for it. Companies frequently have presences on Facebook and Twitter, for example, sometimes even incorporating such presences into their customer service or advertising plans. With more bombardments of "HEY! LOOK AT ME! BUY MY STUFF!" on Social Media, as well as more instances of spam moving onto such platforms, one of the key strategies that have emerged is a drive for authenticity. Some of your readings this week have dealt with this, and here's another from the Gaurdian.co.uk that gives some good examples.

Of course not everyone agrees. Some have more cynical views, suggesting that by definition a company is always profit driven, and therefore everything they post is inauthentic, as it's all just about your wallet.

But I want to talk more about personal authenticity. In 2005, Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer prize winning New York Times columnist, wrote a book called The World is Flat.

Friedman was talking about economics, suggesting that geography was no longer an advantage on labor price. This means competition for jobs won't be based on the price of labor, but potentially on other things, like quality of life. It was a revolutionary notion.

Well in the world of Internet privacy -- or perhaps what might better be described as the world of personality and positioning -- the world is also becoming flat. Whether we like it or not, much about us can be learned on the web, and many aspects of ourselves that were once separate are converging. 

This is only going to increase. It is part of why Mark Zuckerberg, in 2010, essentially declared that privacy was dead. He didn't mean that you were going to be stalked more often, but that in some ways, Social Media makes us all public people. A simple search on Google reveals many aspects of ourselves at once: it becomes harder to "dress the part."

Logically, there seem only three choices for a response. The first is to withdraw entirely, to disengage from Social Media and the Internet in general. The second is to carefully craft a public persona for the Web -- the route many celebrities take.

The last is to find an authentic approach and stick with it. This is the route I chose, and the one I advocate fervently to others. It has been rewarding in many ways.

But what does it mean to be authentic? Here's how I answer that:

1.) It forces me to think about who I am, instead of who I want to appear to be. Maintaining a front or mask on the web -- the carefully crafter persona -- is a nice sort of lie. It's about what you want others to see -- it's about that crafted resume and dressing the part, something the last century taught us to do well, but that has always, at least for me, felt vaguely worrying. By choosing authenticity, I still have to think about what others will see, but it is how I think of myself and who I am that are the things I can change, not what I am "wearing" on Social Media.

2.) It forces me not to hide. I have a lot of diverse interests. For many years, I maintained a certain separation between these different worlds of friends, acquaintances, and coworkers. It was the classic attempt to separate personal from professional, as well as lofty aspirations from the day jobs. And you know what? It was hard work. That level of self-censoring is exhausting, and in the end, its purpose seems unclear. By being authentic, I don't have to waste my energy dividing those I know into different themed camps of knowledge.

3.) It makes me be more thoughtful. Yes, being authentic does mean being a bit more open about some matters, sometimes including personal or political beliefs, or matters pertaining to daily life. But it also means being thoughtful about that. By being an authentic but public person on Social Media, I find I am less likely to:

• Use curse words or inappropriate language
• Frequently post on political issues or be disrespectful in political comments
• Post incessantly about trivial matters like what I ate for lunch.

Because what I say will be public, and because what I say will be a reflection of me, I am careful that I am committed and willing to stand by what I say, instead of just throwing in a reactive or half-thought-out post.

Does it help me? Well more and more of my professional activities are centered on very public work, such as speaking or publishing. I find that having a public and authentic voice on Social Media has made talking with and working with others in my field easier and more personable. When I post something, people I work with know I am genuinely interested in the matter, and not merely pursuing some kind of Social Media marketing strategy. 

Week Five Assignments

Noise to Signal Cartoon

Welcome to Week Five!

It's been a fun week of discussions and Joanne and I are both very impressed with the comments this week. Great work, everyone. Now it's time to move to Week 5. This week, we will discuss the concept of authenticity in social media, along with touching on privacy a tiny bit, and continue thinking about how to approach social media strategically.

First, a reminder. Next week, Week Six, we will be asking for you to talk quite a lot about your final projects and how they are going. If you haven't worked on them in a while, spend some time on them. If you are having difficulties with them, contact one or both of us and we will work with you.

Second, some of you haven't messaged us with a grade contract yet. Please do so.

Now, onto this week's assignments:

1.) Read/Browse:
Why we think we can speak our minds on Social Media from ReadWriteWeb
The Battle for Social Media Authenticity from Forbes

2.) Check back with the blog over midweek and read two posts that Joanne and I will add for this week. Mine will be up by early Tuesday morning, (or for those who are insomniacs, realllllly late on Monday).

3.) Go to Moodle and answer the discussion questions there. Note there are four this week.

It's a short order on assignments this week as we want to give you time to work on your projects, and we want to continue to see energy spent on the discussions.

Welcome again to Week Five, and onwards!

Is it Public? Or is it Private? How to Create Both.

My first career, before starting my own publicity firm, was as a radio broadcasting talent working at several radio stations including K103 FM here in Portland. I have recently realized that what I had to develop early on in my radio career is something that everyone is now having to learn and develop in their own lives, and that is: How to develop a private/personal life online.

Social media is all about engagement, authenticity, and communication. So was radio broadcasting to a certain extent. We just had the phone, mail, and person-to-person events for engagement, while social media demands engagement and involvement from everyone and more often.

In radio, I had to develop ways of reaching my audience and building rapport with them so that they felt they knew me. From the station's perspective, this brought them more listeners and therefore more advertising dollars since rates were set by the results of the Arbitron ratings. From my perspective, I wanted to entertain my audience and make them feel like they had a friend in me.

In order to do that, I had to create a public/private life. Think about it. When do you feel like you're really getting to know someone? When they share things about themselves at a private level. The superficial level is OK, but it doesn't go very far. At the other end of the spectrum is TMI or "too much information." When someone shares too much, it can be very awkward and can damage a person or relationship. Sharing one's deepest, darkest secrets isn't a good idea either, so, how do we do this? How do we create a public/private life online?

There are lots of ways, but an example of this from radio was while doing the morning drive show, I'd tell a story to my co-host, the news guy. I remember one story was about how my husband and I had had an argument the night before and I wanted to know if he thought I was right, or if he thought Gary was right. I also wanted to hear from some listeners who would then call to give us their two cents. What this did was it created rapport. Notice I didn't share some awful story, some deep dark secret that would embarrass me or my family. No. I shared something that was private but that it was OK if others heard about it since I knew they would be able to relate to it. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship with someone else has had disagreements. I knew sharing about a personal disagreement would be a great way for my audience to connect with me.

So, how does this apply to Social Media? As you are strategically using it to build your business, ramp up your cause, promote an event or service, or simply to add to your social life, think about who your friends or followers are and what they would be interested in. Then post accordingly. Not everyone will like every post, and that isn't the point. It's simply important to discover for yourself what you are comfortable talking about regarding your personal life, and what is off limits.

You get to decide what to share, and share we must. Our connected world now demands this kind of interaction, and beyond that it can be a lot of fun

Do let me know your thoughts below regarding this post. Have you already developed a public/private life, or are you just considering how you'll begin doing that?

Warmly,
Joanne

Recent Blog/Mini Blog related article-Steven Salapich

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nj-devils-fan-gets-suite-revenge-panthers-coo-125652793.html




I thought this article was interesting because it involved the mini-blog action of using twitter and sports. What was even more interesting, was the level of use the team owner gets out of twitter. I have not seen an outspoken owner like this since Mark Cuban. The story kind of leans in defense of the antagonizing fan instead of the evil wealthy owner, who is apparently held to a higher standard as he is somewhat of a public figure. The owners response was humorous and clever I thought, but the feuding fan did not appreciate it. I can't believe it took so little effort for the fan to get an interaction or response with the famous team owner. I don't think this type of banter between fans and organizations happened much by way of snail mail, prior to email and social media sites.

Week Four Reading: Old & New Media Collide in Video

This week we've been discussing video as a social media avenue, and I want to explore this a bit more.

Social video is a lot like traditional broadcast video in that it is:
• A static creation
• Disseminated over a broad aucience

Because of this, many news organizations, advertisers, and other traditional media users have found it comfortable to move into social video. For example, the Center for Investigative Reporting, an advocacy group that supports traditional media investigative reporting, recently announced that it is launching an investigative journalism video project that will be distributed on YouTube.

Another great example is how YouTube itself is now putting more effort into putting advertisements on its site, such as the now well-known AdSense ads from Google, which look like this:

Okay, well maybe they aren't always so... um... weird?

Another big player in Video is TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, & Design. TED has hosted conferences of intelligent speakers on a variety of topics since 1984, and began placing videos of these talks online for free in 2006. We have used some TED talks in this class, as you may have noticed. Recently, TED announced a new series of videos to teach children basics of science and other topics. Like CIR, TED is also using, on the surface, a broadcast model, as it is disseminating videos of talks that occurred prior to video posting, and do not incorporate any two-way aspects in the content.

However, remember how these videos are being distributed. TED puts it videos on its own web site, but still incorporates social features like allowing commenting on the videos. It also redistributes many videos on YouTube. CIR, meanwhile, is going straight onto YouTube without their own platform. Why?

First, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet. To have your video on YouTube is to be far more likely to be found. But on a more social level, YouTube is a community with registered users, rich commenting abilities, rating systems, and built-in sharing mechanisms to embed or share YouTube videos on still other social media platforms with still other users. This is the power behind how a video can go "viral": search and share, the second being the heart and soul of social media.

To get a good example of how this is being used, take a look at this post from Chris Brogan, where he talks about how a restaurant is making video ads for YouTube that are social. Watch the video there. Why are they social? Note that the advertisement is more than an advertisement. It doesn't state "here, come eat at our restaurant!" Instead it offers useful content that a YouTube user may actually want to watch, and then because that content also relates to a product that the restaurant sells, it makes that company's products seem better, higher quality, and made by people who care about the diner. This is an ad, but it's a useful ad and one that may be both enjoyed and shared. Thus we have a form of social media marketing known as content marketing.

Week Four Assignments

Hi everyone!

Here are the assignments for Week 4 of Intermediate Social Media, which runs April 23 - April 29. These all need to be completed by Sunday evening, April 29th.

Here are a couple of items to note. 

Be sure and check our group blog frequently this week as Alex and I will be adding additional posts containing interesting and important information (at least we hope you will find it to be helpful.). In addition, this is a good time to catch up on any assignments that may not be as far along as they should be.

Last week, in light of our discussions on Moodle, we posted some additional articles that are  enlightening. Because they were within other conversations, some of you may have missed them, so here they are again. Would love to hear your comments, which you could put in a blog post.

Read this: What's more important: Speed or Accuracy?

Read this: How to get Customer Service

Read this: Moms and Motrine

This week we're exploring:

• Video/YouTube
• Podcasts
• Skype
• Webinars
• Teleseminars

In addition to learning how these tools work, we will be discussing how to use them in a professional and strategic way. 

Let's begin with a special message from Alex!

Great job, Alex! We feel like we know you even better now!

LEARNING ACTIVITIES & ASSIGNMENTS

Watch this: Why videos go viral

After you read and watch what is posted above, then go to Moodle and begin to answer the discussion questions. Be sure and comment on other people's answers in addition to posting yours.

See you on the discussion forum and on this blog!

Alex & Joanne

Alone Together

Yesterday, I was walking down my block in SE Tabor neighborhood and I ran into my neighbor Dan. Dan  is a personal coach. He asked what I had been up to lately and I mentioned I was studying social media and it's implications on our society. He mentioned a book he was reading called "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor who in the 1990's celebrated technology and was optimistic that the internet was the answer to many of our global dilemmas.

"In Turkle’s latest book, “Alone Together,” this optimism is long gone. If the Internet of 1995 was a postmodern playhouse, allowing individuals to engage in unbridled expression, Turkle describes it today as a corporate trap, a ball and chain that keeps us tethered to the tiny screens of our cellphones, tapping out trite messages to stay in touch. She summarizes her new view of things with typical eloquence: “We expect more from technology and less from each other.” (NYtimes Book Review)




To watch a video where she discusses her evolution in her her thinking check tis out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AeMSQdUUEM

I find myself both intrigued by the power of social media and curious what it will look like in five, ten years. How it will it impact the life of my four year old son? Will be better off as a global society or will be so virtual that personal contact will be a rare occurrence. So many questions about the future!


Will the good outweigh the potential dangers? 


Do we need to unplug for awhile and get back to reading a book under a tree. Or is social media a snowball rolling downhill and uncontrollable?


Mykel

How To: Post on Blogger

Here's a brief how-to video on how to post on Blogger.

Tumblr: The New Blog?

There's a lot of buzz recently about the future of blogs. One service, called Tumblr, is a kind of halfway between the simplicity and brevity of Twitter, and the full sized blog. Check out this story on Fast Company about the rise of Twitter.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1834801/tumblr-editorial-blog-storyboard

Twitter

Hi Everyone,
Below is a link to a Times article titled, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." I chose this article because I used to be one of those people who was very skeptical about Twitter and the way people use it. It wasn't until I started using Twitter for professional networking that I discovered just how useful this tool is.

This article explains how Twitter has changed the face of digital "conversation." It discusses the basic elements of Twitter and how people can actively engage in it. The article goes on to further discuss how individual people use Twitter in their daily and professional lives. Overall, this article gives great insight into social media tool Twitter.

How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live

Bree