Social Mediarology

So, is social media just a fad?

There are plenty of people who still dismiss social media as useless. In fact, there are studies that show that 40% of all ‘tweets’ are pointless babble. Even though that may be true, that doesn’t diminish the power and usefulness of social media in marketing and PR today. There will always be people who don’t understand new technologies and how they can be useful, and social media is no exception. The video below has been circulating online in the past couple of weeks and it does a fantastic job of highlighting how much a part of our lives social media has become. No longer can you ignore social media, in fact, in a recent survey of Indiana Tourism entities, nearly 30% of respondents use Twitter on to promote their destination and more than 90% use Facebook.

My favorite quote in the entire presentation is:

Social Media isn’t a fad – it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.

That’s such a true statement. Social Media isn’t just a way to waste time and talk with friends about useless bits of trivia, it’s truly a new way to communicate directly with consumers, with your customers.

Some other encouraging news for the use of social media is that more 80% of US adults use social media on a monthly basis. For more information about the different types of social media use check out these posts on Groundswell):

The video below is the precursor to the other video in this post. While this one doesn’t focus on social media exclusively, there is still some pretty amazing information in here.

You may have heard about Twitter in the past few weeks. It seems everyone from Brian Williams to Charlie Gibson to Jon Stewart has been talking about it. In fact, our Governor (@MyManMitch) and Lieutenant Governor (@BeckySkillman) have accounts now. You can also see if your US Congressional Representatives are on Twitter at TweetCongress.org, and you can probably find the account of your favorite company or organization (@Starbucks, @WholeFoods, @FoundersHeart (American Heart Association), and @VisitIndiana – I threw that one in to see if you were still reading) So, what exactly is Twitter?

I embedded the video above in my last post, but here it is again if you need a quick primer on Twitter. Twitter is a website that allows you to post 140-character updates. You can also “follow” other people on Twitter to see what they’re up to and people can “follow” you and your updates. While it sounds a little odd, it’s really just a new step in mass communication and “crowd-sourcing”.

When you post a message to Twitter, anyone who is following you can see it. This works great if you’re trying to get information out or if you have a question to ask (ex. “Who is planning a trip to Indiana this summer? Let us know if you need any tips” – That was only 79 characters, by the way and Twitter allows up to 140).  We use our account (@VisitIndiana) to post new entries on our blogs, new photos from our Flickr group and announcements various other new things happening in Indiana or on VisitIndiana.com.

While Twitter might seem to be overwhelming or even useless, it serves a great purpose. Just like with other forms of social media, Twitter helps you to connect with people who are interested in what you or your organization have to offer.

There are tools that can help organize the constant stream of information that is Twitter, including TweetDeck, PowerTwitter, and Twhirl. These tools give you the ability to filter out specific words or phrases or even users that you want to listen to.

Twitter an be a powerful tool for getting information out to some of your more tech-savvy users and is quickly becoming a tool that more and more organizations are using.

Are you on Twitter? If so, follow us (@VisitIndiana) and leave a comment on this blog with your Twitter name.

Here’s a video that shows you exactly what Google Friend Connect is and how to use it, but I’ll give you a quick run-down. Google Friend Connect provides website owners with the quick and easy ability to implement social networking ‘widgets’ to their website using a quick copy and paste. No coding needed!

Google Friend Connect can help turn your website into more of a community space where users can comment and rate stories, add their own pictures and even see who else is participating on your website. When you come across a website with Friend Connect installed, you can sign in using your existing Google, Yahoo or AOL account information, and you can invite friends from your Facebook, GoogleTalk, LinkedIn accounts and more. Every time you come across a site with Google Friend Connect, you can sign in to that website’s Friend Connect and all your information is right there waiting for you.

Google is looking to the next phase of social networking and the next phase of where I believe the internet is headed. Call it Web 2.5 or Web 3.0 if you wish. I think the internet is heading in the direction where every website you visit can be a part of your community. Rather than having to join proprietary networks like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to be a part of a community, it will more like being members of a big public university. You’re all connected, in that you’re all a part of the same University system, but you have different classes with different people, and you spend your free time differently too. But if you meet a new friend in class, you can invite them to be a part of one of your extra-curricular activities.

Maybe I went a bit overboard with my college analogy, but I think it works. Right now Google Friend Connect is only being rolled out to a select group of users, but before long, I expect this will be opened up to anyone interested.