10 Social Media Practices

After 10 weeks in my Social Media Management class, I have learned a lot about how to effectively use social media tools. Here's a list of ten practices I find to be most useful when utilizing social media.

1. Blog - Blogging is an easy way to share any type of information to the world. They can be completely customizable and updated whenever you feel necessary. Individual blogs can be used to share personal information and interests and businesses can use blogs to post company news and brand and market themselves. Blogs are one-stop sites to push vital information to anyone.

2.  Networking - Social media connects people with technology and social interaction. Having a personal or professional profile can show others who you are and what you do. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn can connect people with similar interests and creates a network of related people. 

3. Globalization - Social media globalizes people and businesses. The internet removes geography as a barrier to connecting to others. Communication has become more efficient and community-centric because of the collaboration with people from all over the world. 

4.  Wikis - A Wiki is a collaborative tool that pulls information to facilitate communication within communities of contributors. Having a single place where a group can pull vital information from makes work easier. The virtual work environment simplifies communication and can help distribute workloads.

5. Collaboration - Social media provides a 2-way dialogue of information sharing. Anyone can share information on a social media site and get instant feedback from other users. One simple idea can start a conversation or discussion among a group of willing contributors and can further develop that original idea. 

6. Community - Digital relationships may seem impersonal, but social media can bring together a large diverse group of people who actively participate in the community. Personal and private communities can connect online to collaborate together. 

7. Cloud Computing - Social media tools that use cloud services raise the expectations of technology, accessibility, and availability. Using cloud services is efficient because it maximizes functionality and condenses space by not relying on hardware. Cloud computing allows us to go green and rely on digital bandwidth rather than physical storage hardware.

8. Branding and Marketing - Social media provides an outlet for individuals and businesses to brand and market themselves. Social sites can attract and retain customers or viewers, allows you to share news about yourself or a product, and it raises awareness. Social media can launch a personal or product campaign.

9. Technological Advancement - People are expecting more and more from their online experiences. The capabilities that social media tools give us cause the devices we use them on to stay up to par with each other. 

10. Discovery - The combination of the nine practices I just listed all lead to a world of discovery. The millions of people collaborating together create new ideas, the networking brings them together, and the community shares it. Social media allows us to push new thoughts and ideas to others and we have the ability to pull new ideas to ourselves. 

Reality > Virtual Reality

In this video, Rhonda Lowry is a big supporter of virtual realities like Second Life. She puts a big emphasis on how in order to successfully use virtual realities, we need to change the way we see our "identity." Rhonda is a credited professional with many skills and talents, yet her online "identity" is an alias. Her Second Life identity is Grace McDunnough, an avatar that she controls through her computer. Personally, I think that's silly. Social media tools and websites give us the opportunity to explore, discover, and connect with so many people and topics. I don't understand the necessity to have a different identity or avatar that is different from yourself to participate successfully. I think that your online presence should reflect your own personality as much as possible.

For networking purposes, it makes sense to have your online identity be the same as the person you really are. If I'm looking for advice or people to connect with and create a network, I want to know who it is I'm connecting to. The online profile and the actual person should be the same. Your real identity should be portrayed truthfully online because of our converging culture too. People use multiple social media sites and their presence online should be consistent for each. We are definitely moving away from the Industrial Age and virtual realities are going to become more common, but people are still people. We have new technologies and social tools to help us connect and make work more efficient, but we need to understand who we are connecting to.

A Few Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice

1. "Subscribe to 50 or more blogs in a similar space as yours, including competitors, and any industry blogs. "
 - Get connected with as many people as you can. Find out what other people are saying and get used to the type of conversations people have. 


2. "Use tagging and other metadata to improve your blog’s search features. Most newer blog software has this built in. If not, look for plugins."
 - Get noticed! Establish yourself and get people interested in checking out your blog.


3. "Look for cross-promotional opportunities for like-minded blogs in your space."
- Share with your peers. Promote your network and they will promote you back.


4. "Remember to comment on other people’s blogs frequently, and show your participation in the communities where you have presence."
- Social media is a 2-way conversation. Don't just absorb everyone's information, comment and share it!


5. "If you’re blogging, make that a home base for all your other efforts."
- Have a personal profile on the internet. With everything you read and post, make sure it is nice and organized in one place. 

Brain Technology

This type of technology is amazing! Our brain is super complex and scientists don’t even have a full understanding of how and why the brain works the way it does. This headset can gives us so much insight into our brains. 

Although it is a fascinating tool, I can only see a few ways in which it can help human communication. People with disabilities can use this technology to help them function and communicate with others easier. The scary part of this technology makes me think of Disney and Pixar’s movie Wall-E. If humans rely solely on technology like this then we can become super lazy and dependent on machines and technology. 

Work Together

Howard Rheingold has a great TED lecture on the importance of collaboration and cooperation. People are starting to realize that sharing and working together can produce creative and innovative products and services. Traditional methods companies use like keeping projects and software a secret and only work on them with internal resources has limited their development. The Open-Source Movement puts an emphasis on community collaboration. Instead of developing something from only within the company, open sourcing opens the project up to a community and allows anyone to alter and make contributions.

I think the open source movement is awesome. Collaboration from a community that is interested and dedicated to something is way better than the same small group of people working together on every project. The open source movement gives everyone a chance to make suggestions for improvement. My only concern for open source projects is standardization. The constant collaboration is great for making improvements, but too much change in a product can become annoying. Then again, is constant changes due to improvements a bad thing? Saying yes to improvements seems silly, so I think people need to start contributing, collaborating, and working as a team.

Dear Fellow Millenials,

We are the result of millions of years of evolutionary success. Can we please not screw this up?

Generation Y, we are living in a pretty awesome time. Sure there will always be the older generations that have the notion of "those were the good ol' days," but the old days suck! We live in the new and the now. We have such advanced societies and technologies that we shouldn't have to worry about the future of humanity.
I could rant forever about what really grinds my gears with humanity today, but I'll keep it simple.

Go Green & Stop Hatin'

It really isn't that difficult to do your part to keep our Earth clean. We take for granted all the resources the Earth provides for us. It's totally okay for us to use the natural resources available, but we have to give back and take care of the planet so it can continue to take care of us. Recycling is a small step that makes a difference and littering is ignorant - please just throw your trash into a garbage can.


We need to become a global society. Technology has given us the opportunity to communicate and connect with anyone in the world. Our planet has such a diverse group of people, cultures, and societies that we need to understand and respect each other. We must spend less time hating each other and more time learning from each other. Peace, love, and respect will bring our world closer together and keep us here longer.

MDIA 470B Social Media Management

Most Interesting Concept - I enjoyed our discussions about Blogs and Wikis. The "push" concept of blogs is something I've always been aware of and now I'm participating in with this blog, and I'm learning a lot. I have a better understanding of blogs due to my experience as opposed to wikis. I haven't been a part of an organization that uses wikis to "pull" important information but look forward to using one.

Boring Lectures - The IT involvement with cloud computing is a little over my head and not very relevant to me. I have a good understanding of "the cloud" and have been using more cloud resources like dropbox.com. The networking and data jargon about cloud computing is a snooze-fest.

Application - Once I get the chance to use a Wiki I'll be eager and willing to learn how to use it. I also need to start marketing my blog. I have received feedback and have a better understanding of marketing for my blog. Not only marketing myself but other organizations I'm involved in and finding the best way to "push" information.