The Social Media Way Of Life
Last Night, I attended what I hope will be the first of many Social Media Club – DC meetings held at the National Press Club.
The topic was on social search and there were a lot of really interesting points that were made. I’ve forgotten the majority, but some that have stuck with me include:
- Is there any value in organizing and archiving old social networking actions?
- Are mobile communities the next step in this media revolution?
- What are the ways social networking sites are trying to create revenue?
- Why isn’t Google more involved in this social media space?
There were a few things that distinguished this club meeting from others:
First, cell phones and laptops were everywhere with people typing away. By cell phones I mean iPhones because you aren’t cool in the social media world if you don’t have one. (I own one so I’m allowed to mock.) BlackBerrys will do as well. The amazing thing was that no one was offended by the attention given to these electronic devices rather than the presenters. In fact, it was almost encouraged.
That’s because everyone who was typing away was most likely providing commentary on the live discussion by posting to their twitter accounts. It was almost like there were two interconnected conversations taking place concurrently but separately. The second, the one on twitter, was, of course, a result of the in-person discussion and the twitter comments were mentioned a few times in the live discussion, but again, for the most part, they were taking place independently and simultaneously.
Also, people were referring to others not by there real names but by their twitter pseudonyms which sounds really awkward but wasn’t. If you think about it, attendees probably interact with each other primarily online and are used to identifying each other by their twitter user names.
Lastly, everyone was so social it was almost overpowering. This, of course, makes perfect sense. The whole basis of social media is the connections you make with others. Those who are best at making those connections can take full advantage of this new phenomenon and are most likely to be its biggest proponents.
If you were at the SMC-DC meeting last night, were my impressions correct? Are there other nuances I missed?
If you have no idea what any of this means, what clubs are you a part of that have their own special traditions? Does what I’ve described sound completely crazy?
My-Work-Space?
An article in today’s Boston Globe, Social-network sites give businesses ideas for new collaboration, highlights the soon-to-be movement of using social networking sites, blogs and other connection tools within a corporate setting.
“The new technologies will help companies empower workers, pool expertise across departments and geographies, and attract young workers who grew up with blogs and social networks. But critics of social networking in business applications cited the dangers of relaxing control of in-house communities… However, companies cited competitive advantages they’d gained from new collaborative technologies.”
In my previous position, I created a screen name for my boss so that we could talk through instant messages rather than those annoying 1 line emails. And I’ve always said that there’s something missing from the workplace in terms of a tool for getting to know your employees. As a new employee at a big (or even small) company, all those new names are hard to memorize, especially for someone who a visual learner. (If I see a picture with a name below it, I’ll remember that person’s name forever. If I meet someone and their name is said out loud, I’ve gotten worse and worse at being able to recall what I was told.) I tried to organize an employee cookbook in the past. The premise was that everyone contributes a recipe, which is then included in the book along with a picture and some basic information. The cookbook is then given to new employees when they begin.
A social networking site like MySpace or Facebook for businesses would allow employees to get to know each other – better and faster.
