The Many Definitions of Social Media

by Stuart Foster on July 3, 2009

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wtf The Many Definitions of Social Media

Tyler Hayes is the owner of Minneapolis-based small business web design and marketing startup The Simple Service. Tyler blogs regularly at TheTylerHayes.com, where he offers up helpful social media advice and thoughts on Generation Y. At present, Tyler is the Social Media Strategist & Content Developer for the National Civic Summit and the upcoming civic participation portal Civic Training.

“Social media is…”

Well, what would you say?

To me, social media is just any type of media that allows us to be social together. Social, by its very nature, is the opposite of private. “Social” does not necessarily mean community, but I would contend it means any interaction – whether direct or indirect – between two or more people.

Normally, I wouldn’t write something this general, but “social media” has been reduced to a buzzword and we need to check ourselves. Within these boundaries, social media would include the websites we regularly hear about: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. But it would also include email, BluRay (when hooked up to the Internet, as it has feedback capabilities), text messaging, voicemail, and other products & services I’m sure I missed.

So what is social media then, truly? It’s merely a collection of tools and resources that are social in nature. It is literally any form of media that is social.

So what is social media not? First of all, it’s not the new, big thing (email, remember?). It’s not marketing, nor is it PR. It’s not a tactic. It’s not a synonym for Web 2.0. It’s definitely not a replacement for any other industry, such as newspapers or telephones.

Fortunately, when we think about social media in this sense, we can truly adapt it to anything. And that’s what makes social media so powerful. It can fit into nearly any strategy in life, whether it be personal, corporate, or governmental. For example, when social media tools are used in marketing, we call that subsidiary “social marketing.” And in the PR world, we call it “social PR.” It really is that simple.

The problem with this argument is that we can’t controversial-ize it. Journalists can’t predict it won’t exist in 10 years, because it’s already existed for 20 years. Non-progressive thinkers can’t scream about how much it’s destroying our society, because they’re using social media as a platform to do so. And so on. Now in which world would you rather live: the former, or an honest world where we can fit social media’s square peg into almost any other industry’s round hole?

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Feeding Our Social Ego

by Carla on July 2, 2009

i love myself and thats all that matters Feeding Our Social EgoSocial media is feeding our narcissism. The fusion of our online and offline identity is no longer divisble. But it’s also molded us into believing it’s ok to be self-important beings.

This was made evident to me last week when I was talking with Stuart Foster. I have the most respect for Stuart, as he is one of my good friends and someone with intense passion and dedication for marketing and what he does. But the other day I wanted to slap him.

Stuart and I have attended several social media events in Boston together. The other night we were out with a group of friends enjoying some dinner and drinks. After the event he turned to me and said “Yea, I knew him before I got big.”

I didn’t really think about it until I heard him say the same thing again about someone else.

I turned to him and said “Before you became a big deal? Really, Stuart!?” I had to bring him down a notch to make him realize the absurdity of his comment (by the way, he knows I’m posting this on here).

But Stuart’s comment got me started thinking: does having a blog, a Twitter account, and a voice online to discuss our own agenda inflate our egos? These channels may give us reach and influence online, but is the Internet giving us false feelings of importance? I say yes.

I always think back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Self-actualization, or the feeling of belonging and realizing how oneself fits in the world, can be paired with how we use social tools. We want to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves but that our ideas matter. The online world does this for us, but is able to quantify our reach and influence. The effects of being able to quantify personal influence are just been measured, but will surely have a psychological effects yet to be named.

Smart use of these tools can mean a big difference in how we help the world around us. I’ve worked with companies, agencies, and organizations that are using web 2.0 tools to crowdsource ideas and engage citizens for the greater good. But when we use these channels for personal use (like we all do), we get caught in a cycle of shameless self-promotion, even if it’s not intentional.

But I guess that’s the nature of our social beings.

-Carla

Photo from here.

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Accreditation for Social Media?

by Stuart Foster on July 2, 2009

boyscout badges

This post was inspired by Olivier Blanchard’s “Is your Social Media Director qualified?” post from yesterday and a comment that I wrote there.

Six months ago it was doubtful that I could walk into an agency or company and outline social strategy, or break down platforms to incorporate into their campaigns and have them listen. Now? Everyone is listening. Even Oprah.

Social media strategy is in high demand and companies are scrambling to implement it. The reason why? It augments and perfects pre-existing techniques perfectly. Add a few steps to your marketing thought process and understand the technology’s implications? You’re golden. (Granted this is a TALL order.)

When any new profession emerges onto the cultural landscape it is quickly adopted by a few great people and once it starts to gain traction is immediately followed by the snake oil people. In this environment: if you can spin, you can win.

Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of great people out in the cold (Seriously, hire Sonny Gill already) and a lot of under-qualified but silver-tongued people in positions of power (that they really have no right to be in).

Granted, it’s money for consultants who usually get half their business from coming in and cleaning up someone’s mess. However, the bad taste about social is likely to remain in that company’s mouth.

What solutions are there? Well, I thought of one: Accreditation or Membership within a certain organization that was willing to vouch for that person’s knowledge and expertise.

This could be as simple as merely giving the person a Yay or Nay vote. This obviously would become political at some point but due to the current community’s small size I don’t think it would be an issue…yet.

Could this work? I don’t know at this point. Most people barely have a cursory knowledge of social media. But would a shiny button on a blog help? I certainly don’t think it could hurt. We could even leverage something like Scribnia to take a lot of guesswork/framework out of the developing the community.

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The Community Marketer

July 1, 2009

Updated 7/2/09: Felt this article was incomplete and needed more information and explanation. Also…far to many generalizations.
The Groundswell phenomenon has been well documented since 2005. However, a lot of confusion still exists between the exact roles that Community Managers and Marketers should occupy within social media.
Marketers tend to be metrics focused and feel the need [...]

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Stay On Target. Or Just Yell.

July 1, 2009

Pitchman Billy Mays was among the celebrity deaths last week. I was never a big fan of his approach. In fact, every time his infomercials came on TV I changed the channel. He was loud and annoying and everything I disliked in advertising (men yelling to buy their product). But despite his boisterous approach, he [...]

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Marketing to the Unlimited

June 30, 2009

I’m very excited to welcome Carla Blumenthal as a partner and regular contributor to The Lost Jacket. Carla has been an established blogger at Life Before Noon and Gals’ Guide and has come roaring into the PR and social media space. Carla brings with her knowledge about a variety of gender, demographic and marketing issues [...]

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Is the 15th Explosion Necessary?

June 30, 2009

No. It definitely isn’t. Yet it  happened anyway. That’s the American way. How else could you explain why Michael Bay is continuing to make massive amounts of money?
Bloat is everywhere. Bureaucracy, politics and an inability to collaborate lead to ridiculously expensive and unwieldy marketing programs. What happened to crisp, clear and effective solutions? Where is [...]

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Companies Hire People. Not Agencies.

June 29, 2009

What convinces someone to hire an agency? Is it the awards that they have won? The prestige of the accounts they have handled? Their capabilities? Or does it come down to price?
All of these things factor into the discussion. However, more often than not an agency is hired because of the reputation of people that [...]

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Your Lifestream Sucks

June 26, 2009

Steve Rubel, Shel Holtz and Robert Scoble are big aficionados of the “lifestream”.  I could care less. I’m far more interested in reading fleshed out, comprehensive and interesting blog posts of theirs. This is a classic example of people getting too caught up in technology and what it can do for them.
Heck, my generation has  [...]

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Jesus is Magic. Social Media isn’t.

June 25, 2009

The fact that I have to explain and articulate this drives me insane. However, a lot of companies, agencies and people are completely ignorant to what social media actually does/is. Therefore I felt that I needed to clarify the differences between social media and magic.
Social Media Will Not:

Walk your dog.
Make your inferior product better.
Turn lead [...]

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