Becoming More Social Means Spending More Time Online

Becoming More Social Means Spending More Time Online

March 16th, 2009 // 8:58 am @ Greg

A few years back, the Internet was positioned as the newest communication channel around. The very ability to instantly create published public content was only surpassed by being able to edit and update that content as well. In just recent years, Internet communication has moved from dynamic text to what I like to call “living on line”. This is the transparency that people now have connecting their actual lives to their virtual lives; in short melting the two together. What’s the spark of this new media paradigm: social networking.

Social networking is the ablity to dynamically connect. Whether your “tweeting, writing on a virtual wall, inviting or accepting friends, or simply posting to a blog , exposing more and more of your life’s daily thoughts, events and travel is where the web is progressing to.  In a great article by Danah Boyd of Vator News titled Social media is here to stay… Now what? “For users, Web 2.0 was all about reorganizing web-based practices around Friends. For many users, direct communication tools like email and IM were used to communicate with one’s closest and dearest while online communities were tools for connecting with strangers around shared interests. Web2.0 reworked all of that by allowing users to connect in new ways. While many of the tools may have been designed to help people find others, what Web2.0 showed was that people really wanted a way to connect with those that they already knew in new ways.“

So let’s break down the social media food chain into three groups and briefly define the usability and goal of each:

1) The User-these are the people who make up the foundation of the social media. Without user uptake, this would simply be another “great idea”. What users want to accomplish when using social networks such as MySapce, Facebook, Mebo and others is the ability to connect with friends, family and new acquaintances in a vast and “FREE” way. In short, users see social networks as a way to expand their network while cutting traditional communication related expenses.

2) The Advertiser-this group is both an enabler and a hunter. By advertising on and supporting social networks, marketers help keep the network availableo t users. But as with all things, “freedom” comes with a price. Now don’t get me wrong, my background is in helping advertisers generate more return from their online campaigns, but one of the elements I always stress to my clients is soft sale. Social media is a great way to interact with your current and prospective customers, but with this powerful connection to people, comes the challenge to add value and utilize the info sale and trust relationship in order to gain success.

3) The Techies-by far the most challenging and rewarding group. This group usually remains agnostic to the various revenue models wrapped around social media, and more concerned about the development of new applications and services that will engage, entice and gain acceptance.

The important takeaways:

1) Give: Those users and advertisers who use social media to take and never give providing no value will quickly find themselves non existent
2) Enage-When utilizing social media, no matter what group you’re in, always strive to develop content, applications, or services that spark interactivity.
3) Have fun-it’s got SOCIAL built in to the name…

Category : Blog &Social Media