What is social media - answers here

Anthony Mayfield writing in Digital Bulletin gives a very good description of social media.

The article was adapted from the e-Book "What is social media?" from Spannerworks Social Media division, which can be downloaded free at spannerworks.com/ebooks.

Just to give you a flavour, here is part of his post.

Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following characteristics:

- Participation: social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between the concept of media and audience.

- Openness: most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, feedback, comments and sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content - password protected content is frowned on.

- Conversation: whereas traditional media is about "broadcast", content transmitted or distributed to an audience, social media is better seen as conversational, two-way.

- Community: social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively around common interests - be that a love of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show.

- Connectedness: Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, via links and combining different kinds of media in one place.

At this time, there are basically five main types of social media. Note though that innovation and change are rife in social media -- definitions and categories don't stand still for long.

The most common kinds of social media are blogs, social networks, content communities (sometimes called folksonomies), wikis and podcasts. You may have heard of many of these, and we'll go into a little more depth on these later, but here are some one line descriptions to be going on with:

- Blogs: perhaps, the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals, with entries appearing with the most recent first.

- Social networks: these websites allow people to build personal websites and then connect with friends to share content and communication. The best known example of a social network is MySpace, which has over 100m members.

- Content communities (aka folksonomies): communities that organise and share particular kinds of content. The most popular kinds of content communities tend to be around photos (Flickr), bookmarked links (del.icio.us) and videos (YouTube).

- Wikis: these websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting as a communal document or database. The best-known wiki is the online encyclopedia, which has over 1.25 million articles published in English alone.

- Podcasts: audio and video files that are available by subscription through services like Apple iTunes.

What sort of image do you project from space

Two Google Earth users got an extra surprise when they explored the Dutch city of the Hague and spotted topless sunbathers we learn from Metro.

It made me think of the impression our organisations give from space.

It may be worth a look to monitor what you look like from Mars or No 10 Easington Avenue, Leicester.

This is a Bubble - yes it is

Yes it is.

The mad mad mad venture capitalists and hype merchants are at it and it will take a big tumble soon.

This comment in Mad made me make this post:

The sense that the internet has been running ahead of itself was strongly reinforced last week when Yahoo! chief executive Terry Semel warned that the growth in online advertising was weakening. Advertising has been the backbone of almost all internet companies, so the warning from one of the biggest online media players that two of the most important advertising sectors - automotive and finance - were weakening sent shockwaves through the online world.

But lets put this into perspective. Last time (the dot com bubble) saw the web go out of fashion. Millions were lost. It was said that the web was finished and acquaintances smirked when you talked about your online business.

The PR industry turned its back on the web and now has to regret the lost opportunity.

Last year 11 million bananas were purchased online in the UK. The web is now ubiquitous.

The social media and 'web 2.0' stuff will crash. Possibly as early as this winter.

But, for the reasons made clear here, social media will thrive.

The marketing chiefs will, of course, shun these media because they will no longer be cool.

They will be wrong, but that never stopped them in the past. They will find another way to scream at punters. And, because Advertising has to change, and they will not understand, the PR opportunity will grow. That is not to say that PR does not have to change. It does.

Public Relations has to stay calm and focused and believe in itself. We build relationships and here are 14 reasons why we can be confident. Relationships out-last downturns and will even save reputations. We will achieve this by standing by our beliefs.

In the meantime, we have a great opportunity.

Think not of advertising. Its day is done. Think more of how you can introduce a willing partner in conversation to buy because your recommendation and that of other users is worth it.

Mobile is the new newspaper

The pressure on the media to understand the news consumption habits in the real world is now pressing.

It is an argument one also has to put to the PR industry. Here are three simple questions:

'How many times was your story read on a mobile?'

'Was it more times that in print?'

'Do you really know?'

Well it is getting important.


I learn from M:Metrics that 14% of Brits Browsed News and Information on their Mobile in the three months to July, up 3% over the previous quarter (so expect that to double by next summer).

U.K. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: July 2006
Activity	Subscribers (1000s)	Pct	Pct Change
Sent Text Message	36,240	84.3%	(0.5%)
Used Photo Messaging	12,877	29.9%	1.0%
Browsed News and Information	6,229	14.5%	(3.2%)
Used Personal E-Mail	2,721	6.3%	(4.4%)
Purchased Ringtone	2,343	5.4%	(4.2%)
Downloaded Mobile Game	1,737	4.0%	(6.8%)
Used Mobile Instant Messenger	1,585	3.7%	(9.0%)
Used Work E-Mail	1,298	3.0%	(5.6%)
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver	945	2.2%	(2.1%)

There is a further issue for PR. Are we pitching to the print editor or to the mobile editor?

There is something missing in Social Media

A splendid article in the Scotsman looks into social media and its significance including this snippet:

Recent research suggests that social networking sites are not going away and the behaviour that drives them is among the strongest of current social trends. Monthly figures from industry watchers M:Metrics suggest that 10 per cent of online users in the UK have used social networking sites and that 15 per cent thought they were likely to post photos or videos on the web in the coming 12 months.

It also quotes Dr Cynthia McVey, lecturer in psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, who says:

"There are going to be some things missing from electronic interaction such as the use of body language and expression. You can say something in words and it can be funny, ironic, sad or malicious depending on your facial expression or your hand movements."

There is much more in the article.

Perhaps this is why so many people who have on-line acquaintances are so happy to meet at conferences to get a deeper sense of who they are interacting with. Is this what PR can add to social media? The opportunity to meet face to face.... Absolutely.

What is PR?

Today, I was asked (again), what is PR?

In social science:

"Concerning that complex whole which creates cultural acceptance for an organisation including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society to contribute values through the creation of effective relationships"

(from “Sir Edward B. Tylor 1871: "culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society".)

In management:

"That practice which facilitates the nexus of relationship to define an organisation."

In practice

The capability which facilitates relationships to affect an organisation and its constituency to their mutual advantage.


Thus... its all about relationships.

See also:

A previous answer

PR practices

The scope of PR

PR serving industry

What is an organisation

O Table - a communication platform?

Welcome to the latest eye boggling invention in audiovisual (AV) technology. It is a 50in table, with an LCD screen, which looks a bit like an upturned TV.

VNUNet has some other ideas too.

Users can download images from a mobile phone onto the computer below. They can be networked with all the other ‘terminals’ in the seminar area, shared with everyone else on the network or projected onto large screens.

Handy AV has recently installed a 100in screen, illuminated by a 6,500 lumin projector, in London’s Park Lane. It has recently been working on a similarly scaled project at Brompton Road, opposite Harrods.


These platforms for communication can be used for advertising but that would be a terrible waste.

Much better to used them to engage in relationship building, making them relevant and appealing in conversations.

Can I use my phone to send a Happy Christmas message to all my friends using the Screen outside Harrods, video it and send it to everyone all from my cell phone - technically yes.

I bet the screens will be used to show Santa Clause holding up aftershave - yuk!

Can I take my client into Second Life gazing into the conference room table - yup! Hooray!!!!

Smart Cards and mobiles open doors and communication

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a guidance for enterprises setting out how they must deal with individuals' data when it becomes linked to RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags - whether they're found attached to goods in a supermarket or on smartcards such as the Oyster card (from Silicon.com).

Everton Football club uses this technology to replace tickets and it may yet speed up airport check in.

RFID is now to be included in cell phones (Manchester City Football Club is trialing it now) which mean that it is becoming an important part of the communication mix.

It means that there is an interactive interface between the phone, location, device and message.

It means that a range of devices from turnstiles to electronic posters can be made to do things (open, present a message etc) as people walk by.

Right message, right person, right time, right location - what more do you need to begin to create a conversation and interactive relationship.

At present scream marketing is trying to use these technologies but as a Social media, interactive and relationship building idea it has much better applications.

This is no longer future technology, it is ready for use in campaigns now.


A backgrounder is here.

The Grocer is on his way

Tesco.com is coming up with new uses for the handheld devices that help its drivers to deliver home shopping orders without getting lost.

The retailer rolled out the devices - combining the delivery scheduling system and a satellite navigation package - to 50 drivers operating from its South London dot-com store in March this year. The store delivers to a big chunk of South London so the drivers are often in areas they aren't familiar with.

The company is also reviewing other areas where the devices could be useful - for example whether the devices can be used to give customers better information on when their groceries will arrive such as alerting them via text message when the van has left the store.

This is communication and therefore part of PR thinking.

Imagine the opportunities for interactive relationships with customers when they know that the driver will arrive and can combine human and technology communication.

There will also be a need for PR issues and crisis management round such technologies.

Foxed - and groveling

FoxNews has admitted that it used 'poor judgement' when it demanded that YouTube remove its interview with Bill Clinton.

The interview, originally broadcast on the FoxNews channel, showed former President Clinton becoming antagonised by what he perceived as a biased line of questioning from FoxNews journalist Chris Wallace.

FoxNews drew heavy criticism after raising its hackles requiring that it get back its belongings in its manger with all the other dusty toys under its bushy tail.


Journalism.c.uk tells the story.

I wonder if Rupert Murdoch really understands that if he hides content such as news. He shuts down the opportunity for it to be sought, seen and useable online when it is fish and chip wrapping or etherware in traditional outlets.

Same goes for press clippings. They are useless to anyone except the PR exec pasting them up and the client. But as brand messenger, they are ace. Enter the NLA the biggest blunderbuss Murdoch has aimes at his feet for years.

But we know that Fox and the Times have some way to go before they understand social media (MySpace) and the long tail (Time archive).

More podcasting thoughts and examples

David Meerman Scott offers:

For content that is best delivered via audio or for buyers who prefer to listen to audio content, podcasting is obviously essential. For example, many politicians and churches podcast so that supporters can keep up with speeches and sermons when they can’t hear them live.

While the podcasting of music is perhaps an obvious choice given the medium's similarity to radio, all marketers can learn from what the music business and bands like Uncle Seth have been doing with podcasts. After all, who would believe that a business like that of student loans providers would benefit from a podcast?

He offers more examples here.

Peter Shankman gets all the good jobs

Like him... despite my best efforts not to, I find myself actually LIKING the video. Damn it.

Social video metrics

From TechCrunch comes news of a for of evaluation for on-line video.

London-based, Unruly Media recently launched Viral Video Chart “the first chart to independently monitor the popularity of videos” from the world’s most influential video-sharing sites i.e YouTube, MySpace and Google Video. They tried looking for references to videos on Yahoo AOL MSN for a while, but nothing ever made the top 25 so they stopped!? This is surprising given that according to Hitwise, the top 5 sites in the US for online video are YouTube (43% market share), MySpace (25%), Yahoo! (10%), MSN (9%) and Google (6%) (Hitwise,24 May 2006)

So if you want to know the number one video that people are talking about today, you can find it on www.viralvideochart.com. Equally there is also a weekly and monthly chart available, plus an archive of previous number ones

Tag - a word to play with

Ian Delaney has an introduction to social tagging. I mentioned tagging on For Immediate Release on Tuesday and this is a less culinary approach.

Tags and tagging are a big part of social media. Instead of sorting items into folders, you describe them with a series of words. The words you use, the ‘tags’, are up to you. Some people refer to this as ‘folksonomy’ in the sense that tags are home-grown and created by users, as opposed to putting things into folders in a tree structure decided by other people, ‘taxonomy’.ote>

This can be useful for lots of reasons and Ian shows some of them.

This is getting crowded - another MySpace look alike

Microsoft spin-off Wallop launched its social networking service at the DEMOfall technology conference Tuesday, saying its unique business model is what sets itself apart from competing services like Facebook and MySpace reports BetaNews.

"After taking a long, hard look at social computing, it became clear that it is not simply about the technology, which has been limited and plagued with problems to date," said Karl Jacob, CEO and founder of Wallop.

"It's about the trend of self-expression moving online, creating enormous demand for easy and limitless customization and an enlightened social experience where the user is in control," he continued.

In addition, users will be able to share music, pictures and commentary across the site. Wallop says all the digital rights management functionality would be controlled by the site. This would include the mods to site pages, where the company asks for a 30 percent cut.

Do I really have to try yet another one?

Well, what did catch my eye is that it sets out to offer a market:

Want to become a Modder?

Create cool Flash and sell it on Wallop. Check out the
Wallop Modder Network.

If people can also make money here, they may be tempted.

BBC peek into the dark side

Well, here is a story.

The BBC and Microsoft have signed a memorandum of understanding to look at areas of common interest as they develop the next generation of digital broadcasting.

"We are currently witnessing unprecedented rates of change in technology and audience expectations," said Mark Thompson, BBC director-general.

"To ensure that the BBC is able to embrace the creative challenges of the digital future, we need to forge strategic partnerships with technology companies and distributors for the benefit of licence payers."

Citzen Journalism - a backgrouder

Mark Glaser, has a nice little backgrounder to citizen journalism, which he says: is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.

It goes back to some of the early examples and is a light introduction and will offer some insight for those practitioners who want to interact in this space.

Diversity in Social Media

'The Business of Diversity - how PR performance can be improved by embracing diversity'. is to be debated by the CIPR on 18 October, the conference will see leading speakers address the issues posed by Britain's increasingly diverse society. At the heart of the conference is the proposition that it is in the best interests of businesses to diversify their workforce.The report will review the diversity of the PR profession today in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, age and sexuality.

One notes that diversity has not being extended to people without the ability, education or technical skills to be a blogger of Colin Farrington's stature. I have a young dyspraxic friend who is a wizzard Instant Messaging. Perhaps he can attend and explain the problems of using and being accepted as a blogger and with other social media.

Knee jerk

Currys has announced plans to launch a low-cost online DVD and CD store aimed at undercutting major offline and online retailers.

The electrical goods firm said it would offer around 180,000 CDs and 40,000 DVDs for purchase online, with free delivery and chart and new releases priced from £8.99 and £12.99 respectively.

This just does not make sense. If online download to to MP3 player. If not, go to store.

Or did I miss something?

If Currys had offered a 'free to play' instore wifi I could believe it. Then they could make a profit selling coffee.

I don't know who their CMO is but its bout they got a new one.

The web magazines with content 95% suppliers by 'users'.

My out takes from the Journalism.co.uk interview with Jeremy Tapp of online publisher Magicalia.

What we learn from this is yet another market that now exists for good copy from the Public relations industry.

"It doesn't take a genius to look at the ABCs this year to know things are changing.


"Frankly, I think a large part of what is happening is because of the web, it has finally started to grow commercial teeth, its bite is becoming as bad as its bark," said Jeremy Tapp.

Tapp and his business partner Adam Laird co-founded Magicalia seven years ago. It is home to 40 specialist website communities.

However, last month Magicalia bought Encanta Media for £2.72 million to get its hands on its woodworking, modelling, patchwork and gardening magazines and initiate its move from solely digital into duel publishing.

"A lot of people say web is important to their magazines but what they really mean is that it is a defensive action, essentially 'how do we deal with this thing that we would rather not deal with,' by which they mean the ingress of something that changes their world.

"We recognise that magazines are fabulous and have a deep connection with readers, a permanent connection with readers and advertisers, and we want to do that too.

"The fully evolved cross-media company in a couple or three years time will be seamless and will have skills in both those worlds."

Many of Magicalia's sites have up to 95 per cent of their content supplied by the users.

Publishing online and having a sturdy technological base has allowed Magicalia to launch titles that would not otherwise survive in print and attract several small audience groups that when combined offer a powerful advertising bait.

"Without the cost of distribution, without the cost of paper, we can reach into a smaller niche."

"Getting money out of readers for content when there is high quality content available for free on the website next door is always going to be difficult.

"You have to create an environment that is really high quality if you are going to do that, the reason that we have not done it yet is for precisely that difficulty. It's a new world and people are still scrambling for market share."