Social media opinions

It's just a tool

Roger — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:00:26 +0000

“Like any tool, social media, including Twitter, can be used to commit a crime.

Witness (ahem) the ongoing case of the woman indicted for falsifying a MySpace identity to motivate a girl to commit suicide. Whatever the outcome of this particular case, we need to understand that social media is a reflection of humanity. That’s the value of social media. It’s not just that it can be used for this or that purpose (although such uses have their place) but that it is a mirror of our collective selves.

In this sense, social media, and microblogging in particular is the stream of collective conscious, or panconscious (a topic on which I have blogged previously).

As some consciousnesses are given to do good, and others to do crime, so we will see this spectrum reflected in social media. The concept of crime in the social media space is not very surprising in this context.”

Original post Oct 9th, 2008 @ 4:48am

http://techdirt.com/articles/20081007/0905582476.shtml

Legal ignorance (can hurt bloggers)

Roger — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:47:37 +0000

Our educational system fails to teach people how to survive in a litigious society. Even if defamation laws were rewritten to accommodate social media (what about what people say about each other on Facebook?) most people would remain ignorant of obvious legal pitfalls, let alone the nuances.

The Media Bloggers Association recently introduced a requirement that, in order to join, its members pass an online legal course. Certainly, anyone who is blogging professionally ought to familiarize themselves with the legal basics.

Original post Sep 29th, 2008

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080922/0331332329.shtml

Twips (Twitter Tips)

Roger — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:16:29 +0000

QUESTION

Post #1

Jonathon Clarke (London) wrote on Aug 19, 2008 at 6:16 AM

How do i get more people to follow me?

ANSWER

1. Follow other people. If they are interested they will follow you. But choose wisely, since they may not bother if they see your interests are not similar to theirs.
2. If you have a blog, put a Twitter badge on your blog.
3. Include your Twitter URL in your signature line, such as in emails (e.g., http://www.twitter.com/rharris)
4. Network in social media such as Facebook and promote your Twitter URL. (Your initial post above, for example, is a missed opportunity.)
5. Tweeto mucho. The more Tweets you make the more likely you are to be noticed.
6. But… Quality is important, not just quantity. Tweet about what you think your followers want to know about. For example, if you’re an expert on something.

(Facebook)

The evolution of blogging

Roger — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:21:27 +0000

Hi Jeremiah,

Nice post and a thoughtful perspective.

Is it inevitable, as the blogosphere evolves, that the power to distribute information will remain with those that have the resources to ensure that distribution most effectively?

A lone blogger who relies on ad revenue from his or her site will not have the same money to throw at promotion or publicity that a blog run by mainstream media will have.

It’s a gloomy prospect. The cynical, critical edge of a democratized information society dulled by the conformist standards of a plutocracy’s dogma.

The question is not so much the difference between one or the other (mainstream vs. blogger) but whether the system as a whole will indeed evolve.

Evolution is only possible where there is variation (in the blogosphere there is!), that variation is passed on (maybe) and there is selection for desirable traits (remains to be seen).

We assume it is the consumer that is the selective force. Do they select for controversy, quality, the desire to feed back? I don’t think we really know. Maybe, as you say, it just depends.

The crux of the matter though, is to what extent the mainstream press–driven by its business directives–supports, supplants or sabotages consumer driven evolution.

To take your point, does business driven media counter or support those tribal instincts to form groups. Whichever it is, what does that presage for the health of society, human discourse and sustainable commerce?

Original post July 9th, 2008 6:18 am

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/07/09/how-blogs-and-mainstream-media-appear-the-same

Viral marketing history and social media

Roger — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:14:50 +0000

Great post, Chris. Thanks.

You’ve covered the main points pretty thoroughly. Just to elaborate on the theme: social media allows the realization of the original vision of viral marketing. This marketing technique was popularized in the mid-1990s before the Internet had become pervasive. In the early days of the Internet, marketing existed as vertical silos, the traditional top down methodologies transferred to the Web. Social media happened, breaking down the barriers, allowing horizontal (viral) transmission of information about products, companies, personnel, etc. In this way, viral marketing outgrew its rather seedy antecedents (such as pyramid schemes) to become an essential tool for corporate communicators.

Just thought you might appreciate the historical perspective.

Original post July 8, 2008 @ 8:14 am

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/what-social-media-does-best

Following friends: posts or profiles?

Roger — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:16:22 +0000

Interesting post, thanks. I think this type of mash up will be increasingly useful as social media continues to fragment and as each user finds features that are useful in one app but unavailable in another.

One point I would make, is that a profile is not necessarily the best way to judge who to follow on Twitter. For example, I have profiles of Facebook friends which seem interesting enough but who do not really do much. With Twitter, the best way to judge who to follow is in the quality of their Tweets. Are they posting useful links and information? Are their opinions well-considered? It’s the content they are providing rather than their profiles that is the best criterion of whether to follow or not.

Original post July 7, 2008 9:15 AM

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/add_profiles_to_friendfeed_and_extend_twitter_profile.php

CMS for social networks

Roger — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:55:05 +0000

Great post Jeremiah. You bring together two key features of the online environment, social networking and CMS. As I see it, given the diversity of CMS vendors, it is inevitable that some of them will start to move into developing social features. It seems to me a no-brainer to build into legacy systems; since social features are basically CMS-driven with additional bells and whistles. That said, it may be more cost-effective to buy social features and shoe-horn them in rather than develop them in-house. That will be a challenge for the managers. White label vendors will have to build for easy integration. A vendor will opt for those solutions that integrate easiest with their legacy systems. Competition dictates that those white labels offering the simplest route will win.

Original post June 30th, 2008 6:53 am

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/06/30/social-software-here-come-the-cms-vendors

Consoligation and SMPR

Roger — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:15:32 +0000

Hi Jeremiah,

Thoughtful and erudite post! You are right of course that consolidation (or aggregation) of social media will be necessary for effective message management.

So services such as FriendFeed are important and will continue to evolve as competitors emerge.

However, this trend overlooks one of the fundamental purposes of social media, to enhance connectivity among groups that share specific concerns or interests. So the need to consolidate is opposed by the trend to fragment.

Your colleague Charlene Li has written around this topic, and I wrote about it in my blog a couple of months back. http://snipurl.com/25gcl

My sense here is that one size can never fit all. FriendFeed will serve a purpose and some businesses may use it in place of SMPR. However, in other cases, such as B2B, SMPR will remain necessary, particularly in more fragmented markets.

Original post June 27th, 2008 5:15 am

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/06/10/how-brands-will-use-friendfeed

Blogging negatively

Roger — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:23:29 +0000

Darren, I agree with 99% of what you write, but here I’m with Jenn. I think that avoiding negativity for the sake of keeping up appearances (questionably traffic) is counterproductive. It goes against the ethos of blogging, which is to express a personal viewpoint. To have a persistently rosy polyannish perspective is surely unrealistic for any topic. You say that “There’s nothing wrong with an occasional negative Rant.” Right. But to be consistently calculating about it is disingenuous at best, if not dishonest.

I do get your point. For example, I love Twitter and devote a blog to it. So when Twitter is down or seems poorly managed, it’s hard to take a stick to it. But tough love is sometimes necessary.

Passion will keep your blog alive, whether or not it’s positive. More important than trying to keep a positive spin is to stick with the basics that you have previously so well articulated on Problogger: keep posts timely, to the point and relevant. And above all speak from the heart.

Original post June 25th, 2008 3:19 am

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/06/25/becoming-a-negative-blogger-how-to-let-your-blog-go-7/

Competing socially

Roger — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:55:48 +0000

Hi Chris, great post as always.

An essential part of the mix in determining a social media strategy is a competitive analysis. Part of strategy is understanding what else is out there–what you’re up against.

If your competitor has a social media presence, how does it present? Does it comprise a stand-alone social network, blogging or forums? Does it use open source or a custom solution? Does the competitor have a presence on Twitter, or popular social platforms such as MySpace or Facebook? If the competitor has a significant social media presence what is your value add or differentiator?

Original post June 24, 2008 @ 8:54 am

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/social-media-strategy-the-planning-stage/