May 10
25
Social What?
Social Media is a blanket term for those services that connect people online. Since my departure from facebook, I’ve found myself turning my efforts toward other mass communication outlets and made a few realizations.
Facebook was a great example of Social Media, however the reach available to those ‘using’ it is limited in a great part to those contacts you already have. Given the noise and clutter of a service like facebook – you are competing on a daily basis with first-poops, got-drunk-and-fell-downs, hairballs, and emo grumblings from your fifth cousin 3 times removed to share your message. Oh – and by the way, the folks at facebook have probably shared that with the websites you visit too.
Location based services idealized by FourSquare (www.foursquare.com) and GoWalla (www.gowalla.com) provide a solid measure of Social content, but based around business and services. If you aren’t a social driver – as in car – you won’t often collide with the power-users of these systems. Content is limited in most cases to shouts of “I ate a pancake!” and “Yum! Breakfast for Lunch!”. Aside from the dubious ‘mayoral’ offerings, these tools are squarely targeted at promoting little more than shopping behaviour and gastronomic scheduling. They are also quite good (so says mediabistro) at pointing out when you aren’t home.
Then there are the ‘sharing myself’ crowd of services. Blip.fm, YouTube, MySpace, Reddit, and a host of others (this is actually a class that can be described as a ‘plethora’ of sites). These sites have loose communities of ‘regulars’ but again serve a targeted content form. Music, video, pictures what have you. Again valuable, but as a business or person attempting to use these services for personal or business gain – there are so many choices and each has such narrow content forms, they must be used as a collection because no one service can truly serve as a social cornerstone.
There are a few services however that do fulfil that ‘cornerstone’ niche. Most notably twitter.
With all the news, traditional media buzz, cellphone capability, ubiquitous ‘follow-me’ on every website, there are few who aren’t familiar with it. Or at least the name anyway. The 140 character explosions of dialog are succinct and take little time to peruse. Content is provided through links to other services, but you’ve still got a very capable social machine.
Following people based on shared interests or target demographics gives you a source for news and content that fits your interests, and there are routine meatspace opportunities to get face to face with many of your local stalkees (err – virtual aquaintences).
But does talking over a medium like twitter make you social? Does it make you an ‘influencer’ of any kind? If you want more than entertainment from a service like twitter it takes commitment.
1. Social media is only useful if you are useful.
Without your contribution, your followers (if you have any) won’t derive value from you. No value means no mindshare. No mindshare means you don’t exist in the social media world. Followers follow because you provide entertainment, enlightenment, or ego-stroking. Be yourself. Talk about things that you are knowledgeable about, interested in and can provide value for others.
2. Social media isn’t social.
You can’t think of social media as a cocktail party. It’s not social. While you will find and attract connections that share your interests, passion, or expertise, more often than not these connections will never see you face to face. Social media is not a dating engine, though I’m sure that it’s been done – sort of. These connections however can and will offer value in return once you’ve established some credibility.
3. Influence is a noun.
“The power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways” says Merriam Webster. The ideal definition despite it’s 14th century etymology. Your influence is a measure of your social value in the Social Media world. Without the awareness and grasp of the first two points above, this one cannot be leveraged. Your involvement, contribution, humility, humour, intellect, personality, persistence, and expertise all build this power. With all of these things in place – you will indeed be able to exert that influence on your followers and connections. If that is important to you of course…
The best users of social media are those who embrace the technology and don’t try to hard. They are genuine, thoughtful, and provide real substance to the areas for which they are passionate. These are the people who become true influencers. In general there are few of these folks. I can tell you this however. If you USE twitter and are paying attention to #1 and #2, you’re following one. If you want to be one, listen to your followers. If you don’t have any followers – I guarantee you aren’t one.
Provide that value, provide that expertise and experience. When your value extends past the 140 characters into the land of flesh and blood, then you’ve crossed that line.
Sites like the new “Empire Avenue” (@EmpireAve on Twitter) strive to put a real value on the intangible value of an influencer. But is it accurate? Ultimately these tools are rough estimates of value, but in the world of Social Media, the most valuable influencer is the one who provides real value to you the individual, not person voted most likely to succeed.
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You can follow Greg on Twitter @gscratch or Join Empire Avenue and purchase a little of the zombie stock (e) SCRAT.
