Social Media: A Necessary Evil.

Cheryl Snapp-Conner is the president and founder of Snapp-Conner PR. I don't know if she planned on talking about social media when she presented to my PR class, but what she said really inspired me, and also made me realize that all forms of social media are a necessary evil.

Why evil? Because never before in the history of the world has anyone had this easy access to personal and revealing information about us. From blogs to micro-blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and linked in, anyone can see what you are doing and who you are doing it with. This is scary...but also intriguing...need I mention, addicting?

As a future PR professional, I need to be connected with people. People are my source for everything. I can't survive without them. In 5 years (or even sooner) our Facebook friends list will turn magically into a professional network. Our linked-in accounts might land us a sweet job, and our Twitter followers might provide us with conversation currency when talking with friends or colleagues. In a perfect world, our Facebook pics might provoke a prospective lover to ask us on a date. Of course, these sound like extreme outcomes, but they do happen. They happen everyday.

I deleted my Facbook account last summer because I was so annoyed with the social media craze. This was a huge mistake. After about two months, I realized I had totally lost touch with people. I had no idea who was where, and who was with who. I was meeting new people, and wanted to stay in touch, but the old fashioned ways of calling and hanging out have gone the way of the buffalo. Face it. We are busy people. That doesn't mean we don't want friends. Quite the opposite in fact. We NEED friends. We need to feel connected. This is perhaps the best way, and a revolutionary way to be connected to all those people whom we might need, and those who will need us in the near future...

To help you on your way to being a social media whiz, I have done some research on the most popular sites and have complied a list of need-to-know items. Study-up. Or else you could get lost in the midst of social networking, and left out of the game. Remember, I am new at this too, so if you are a social networking guru, please help me out and let me know if I am forgetting any key players.

Social networking sites:

Facebook: This is the most popular social-networking site among college students. Totally free and getting more updates every quarter. Increasingly, we are seeing more professionals joining in. The fastest growing demographic for facebook is people 30-40 years old. The easy to use interface and the clean style make it something almost everyone can master. You can easily search for friends and add them to your friends list. Basically, Facebook is so popular that if you don't have it, you are out of the loop. So out of the loop, that you might not even be able to hoola-hoop....ha ha, forgive me. I found it funny that Facebook has been banned at many places of work to increase productivity. I can't lie, my GPA would be higher if I was not addicted. It has more than 110 million active users worldwide

Linked-in: This is primarily for professionals. It is also free but, I don't like it, but I probably will when I am getting ready to graduate jobless. It allows people to upload resumes and network or 'connect' with people in a specific field. People can also 'recommend' other people they trust in business for a position, or just vouch for them in general. Employers use the site to list jobs and people can search the listings for free. It is definitely catered to the older more professional generation, but like I said, most of the people reading this blog will be there soon if not already. This site gets over 3.2 million visitors per month.

Bebo:"Bebo" is an acronym for "Blog early, blog often" It too, is a social networking site. Not unlike Facebook, bebo users can add quizzes and polls for their friends to vote on and comment on. Photo albums with a maximum limit of 48 per album, can keep their friends updated on what fun things they have been doing. It also has its own blog section--kind-of like the Facebook 'notes' with a comments section. There is also a list of bands of which the user is a fan, and a list of groups that the user is a member of. (Facebook has these too)

Blogs:
Not up to speed on what a blog is? Have you been living in a barn for the past year or so? Wiki it and you will find this: "Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs."

Blogger: THIS IS BLOGGER..isn't it great?

Wordpress: Another blogging service. I have heard good and bad commentary on both blog services...I like Blogger.



Micro-blogs:

Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts.

Twitter: Twitter allows you to blog as a network. With limited characters, you answer the question, "What are you doing?" You and your friends, or random people you 'follow' can have discussions about whatever you want. When I first joined Twitter I was was a little confused. Why on earth would I want to know what someone else is doing? Well, it is pretty fun. Also, you get to know people a little better. Cheryl Snapp-Conner said she is connected with some very powerful people on her Twitter page. She said she might not have a personal relationship with them, but she knows what they ate for breakfast!

I just recently heard that terrorists where using Twitter to plan attacks....A friend heard it on NPR. Bwahaha. I guess the report sent Twitter into a coding frenzy to stop this from happening.

Twinkle: It t is basically just like twitter only it is an Iphone application (get it for free here). Users like it because it syncs to your phone and it also says where the person is located. If someone twitters that they are having a bad day and it says that are in Hawaii... you should probably tell them they are stupid because even if they are having a bad day...they are still in HAWAII.


Popular Stories:

Digg: This is a really fun site to check out when you are bored...or not bored. Digg is a Web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front page.


Well, that is pretty much all I have for you. Here is a list of other sites I would recommend you check out. They all offer something different.

Stumbleupon
Del.icio.us


Don't be afraid of social media...embrace it. It is the wave of the future.