What is Social Media?
Wikipedia defines Social Media as “an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories, and understandings.”
Social in this context should not as Bronwyn O’Shea (a member of my ExecTec networking group) has pointed out before be confused with the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition: “marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one’s friends or associates”. As clearly there is no or very little companionship (at least of the type that can be discussed in polite “HR approved” conversation) occurring online.
More specifically, I think they are trying to say that this media is “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one’s kind.”
So what the heck does that really mean?
More importantly should we even bother to care or is this destined to be as relevant as my pet rock and mood ring?
It seems things are involving at a rapid pace and media, in this context, now includes many more sources of information then the traditional print, radio, film and television.
Online more and more forms of “cultivation, conveyance, or expression” are coming into being.
More importantly these new types of expression are truly hyper forms of expression which interact with other forms of conveyance and seem to almost cultivate on their own.
Change is happening and while I do not think the dust is anywhere near settled, I think that now is the time to put a toe in the water so that we as executives do not end up as technological sticks in the mud being laughed at as the next generation of technological elites march past us.
Face it by 2010 there will be more Millennials and GEN-Y-ers then Baby Boomers. With 96% of this up and coming generation already participating in “social media” and today wielding $350 billion per year worth of spending power, the fact that they spend an average 16 hours per week online is a sign post we should not ignore.
So where can we start?
I need not say that if you are not on Linkedin.com stop wasting time reading this and go sign up. I will wait till your done and come back.
Good now that is done, I will not be discussing Linkedin.
In order to be involved in social media it must be something you participate in. This is about the conversation and is not a passive experience. Social media is about interaction it takes theinternet, which has been till recently as much about one way broadcasting as network television was and is, to a new level.
In the past, we interacted with the internet, which is to say a bunch of static information. Now the aim is interact with each other through the internet. Not to use it as a way to avoid each other but as a way to engage and deepen ones connection.
There are the obvious sites like Facebook, Myspace and many others. But I think to get a true understanding of what is out there one needs to look to Friendfeed, Twitter and Plurk. Here on the cutting edge one can glimpse where things are going. One need not get sucked in and tank there GTD track record but to ignore the trend is to flirt with obsolescence.
If you wish to interact with me (besides the obvious first choice of coming to one of my ExecTec dinners) you can do so on Twitter or Friendfeed or BrightKite