Social media- what is it & why should I participate?

These two words hold much power. They can make people uneasy, skeptical, excited and even a little queasy. Some ignore them as much as possible. However, social media is here, and is as much part of our culture as the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.

But what is social media?

Dan Evans is the author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day, and Read This Dot Com both of which focus on social media in business.

Evans defines social media in his book as '...a natural, genuine conversation between people about something of mutual interest, a conversation built on the thoughts and experiences of the participants. It's about sharing and arriving at a collective point, often for the purpose of making a better or more-informed choice.'

So, this online born phenomenon isn't as scary after all? It's about learning what you are looking for and what you need.

For instance, if you are looking to keep track of your friend's blogs, your granddaughter's articles from her graduate work and your co-worker's website updates, facebook might not be as helpful, unless they directly post every item and update they make. So, you have a few options instead of facebooking everything. Why not try Google Reader?

Google Reader, can connect you to people through your Google Account. You can share items you like, make comments and allow others to see what you are reading. Thus, creating your own network. Who says social media has to be all sheep throwing and YouTube videos?

Participating in social media gives you the opportunity to expand your world, or bring it in closer, depending on the groups and context.

So how do you figure out what you need? Well, ask yourself some questions:

1. What is my main issue with business/communication today?

2. What are people saying about my business/product/ or industry?

3. How am I relating to my current customers/family/friends?

4. How am I recruiting vendors, customers and employees?

For questions 3 & 4, really ask yourself: How is that working for me? Is it giving me the desired results?

If you seem to be disconnected and/or not experiencing your desired results, then social media might be able to help in some areas.

You can follow my on Twitter: kristina_e

gmail (feel free to gchat me when I'm not busy): kristinaeproctor at gmail dot com

I follow some pretty awesome professionals on twitter, feel free to join the conversation.

Needed: Millennial Generation Social Network Educators

Professionals are confessing & politicians post their secret location; some even hold weapons and tweet. These adults are all the ones that are typically giving minors advice on how to behave, be safe and responsible on the internet. But, who is protecting these innocent adults?

Social networking is as common as television, perhaps, even more.
Adults, parents and safety groups have been adamant about internet safety since they figured out how their babies are susceptible to predators. Many sites discuss safety precautions that can be taken to prevent internet fraud, assault and overall embarrassment for children, tweens & teens. However, who’s protecting the grown-ups?

Today we have congressman, celebrities and business executives having direct access to tools like Twitter. In the past, the celebrity's marketing assistants might update and maintain these various social networking sites; I’m beginning to think those are nice filters. Instead, we have politicians tweeting about their arrival in Iraq and governors updating statuses with weapons in their hands, thanks Governor Schwarzenegger (watch the video: http://twitvid.io/abv1). When will they learn?

I think the college students, graduate assistants and high school kids of America need to sit CEOs and politicians down and have a come to Jesus meeting. Hey, we can all do it over Skype or Gmail, they have video chat now.

For this post, I Googled 'internet safety' and rendered 109 million results. However, only one out of the first ten hits allegedly addressed internet safety for 'all ages'. The site, wiredsafety.org, has various topics, but most are geared toward teens, tweens, children and parents for online safety. This is proof that we have not provided equal assistance to one particular demographic. They need education too.

This is what our world has come to. We need to provide adequate education to the middle aged. Why can’t this be put into the stimulus plan for education? Internet etiquette/safety. I remember learning about how to write a cover letter and resume. Why can’t we teach parents and grandparents that putting all caps in an email is comparable to yelling?

Sample:CALL!

To me, that says, emergency. Call now. Not the case, Grandma got new glasses. Oh, I just left a meeting… Let me go tell my boss.

We can teach them practical soft skills for internet use. Will they all listen? Probably not, we didn't. But that never stopped them, and it shouldn't stop us.

o, I propose that everyonn the ose meals growing up, and of course brought us into this world.

Facebook, MySpace, Social Networking

Over the course of the past few years there has been a slew of social networking sites online that have given people the ability to have their own website where they can post personal information as well as have friends that can look at their profiles. In a world where people fight for privacy it seems odd that others are putting themselves out there. I am one of those people but I try to keep perspective on what I am posting as well as what information I give to the world.
With MySpace having over 90 million visitors every month there are people out there that use it for stalking tools.
So the question is:
How can we use these sites for positives? It seems that everyone in society around us is bashing and using them for personal gain only. The culture of the United States does reflect a selfish and materialistic society. Thus, the MySpace and Facebook pages possessing egotistic representations of people.
The World Wide Web has some wonderful advantages, you can express yourself freely and however you want to without restriction, unless of course it is slander, libel or talks about harming someone or a group of people. You can talk and discuss religion, your personal philosophies as well as aimless venting about technological advances and society.
Positives always outweigh negatives but everyone has a different perspective on what is positive and what is negative.
Should a sixteen year old be able to have pictures up online with them and their buddies in bathing suits? What about sexual predators? They have the ability to look, and have contact with all of these minors, that are 'legally' allowed to have a site.
The sixteen year old would probably say that it is all about freedom of speech and the pictures were just of them swimming at a pool party. The predator would have the argument that they are trying to be accepted again into society, thus they need socialization.
Child molesters and confused teenagers aside. MySpace and places like YouTube have given many bands and even want to-be actors the opportunity to display their work.
A band can play their music online and give fellow MySpacers the option to listen or host their songs on their site. Adding to promotions. Word of mouth is now being replaced with a click of a mouse. One person can have an artist’s song and have 10 friends visit their site that day. Five like the song and visit the band's site, maybe add the song, add the band as a 'friend' or even buy the CD.
Social networking- business or pleasure? Are you willing to put yourself out there as a product, because that is ultimately what we are doing now. Displaying what we have, are you single? Divorced? A vegan? Maybe you are a nondenominational 35 year-old night student that loves to go four wheeling on the weekends and loves life?
We are turning into a globalization turntable of products. If we do not like what we hear or see, the next one is just one mouse click away.