5 things to be thankful for in social media
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Because the bait came from Rick Mahn, I’ll bite. I’ve been tapped to share “five things in social media to be thankful for.” Relevant both for the season and for my intended focus here, so I should be able to turn this lighthearted game of tag into something of substance for you all.
As a rabid consumer of media, as a young PR professional and as a wide-eyed observer of the amazing changes underway in the world of communication, here are five things I’m thankful for in the broad realm of “social media.” If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself thankful for these, as well.
More voices, more reach
Even as recently as, say, five or ten years ago, we had mass media, e-mail, static Web page, phone and face-to-face communication. I know there was a lot more, but nothing compared to what we have now. I have about 1,700 people in my Twitter crowd. Some are robo-spam-bot-devils, but an overwhelming majority are smart, funny, interesting, helpful, insightful people — people I’d likely never have interacted with if it weren’t for the Web as we now know it.
Look at the PR business specifically. A few years ago, PRSA and its publications, PRWeek, O’Dwyer’s and a couple of others dominated the media landscape. Now I can find more information, research, case studies, advice and examples than I can shake an RSS reader at. People like Todd Defren, Jason Falls, Jeremiah Owyang, Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson and so, so many more help me become smarter and do my job better — and have more fun.
Format silos obliterated
I used to watch TV, listen to the radio, read the newspaper, look at Web sites. Now I consume all of that media in all of those ways at the same time. I watch Jason DeRusha’s “Good Question” segments from the local CBS affiliate online, just like I watch Lost, the Daily Show and SNL clips on the Web. Listen to the radio? Yeah, but I read news reports on Minnesota Public Radio’s site at least as often, if not more, and Bob Collins does a great job with the NewsCut blog.
Did I mention the biggest daily newspaper in the state just hired the director of photography from the local NBC TV affiliate? Yeah, that happened. A former Star Tribune editor and publisher decided to start a new kind of media outlet with a non-profit model, and now we have the transmedia creature called MinnPost.com (of which I’m a paying member; yeah, I gave actually U.S. currency). And on the Web, there’s almost no such thing as a silo. Blogs and news sites and YouTube and podcasts and Facebook and Twitter and all that craziness basically mean I can get anything, any way I want it. Opportunities, for creators and consumers, are limitless. Which brings me to…
RSS
As has been documented, I’m a huge fan of RSS. People who produce content and search engines that help me find stuff give me this awesome way to have just about everything I could ever want come right to me. That’s RSS. I get your stuff without needing to visit you to get it. Wild, isn’t it? If you don’t let me read your stuff that way, I’m not going to read your stuff. That’s pretty much how I roll.
But here’s the cool part: Once I am reading your stuff, you’re top of mind, and I’m doing more than just reading passively. I’m commenting on your work. I’m linking to it. I’m talking about how smart you are and how much you contribute to the community. Remember those examples of bloggers and news outlets I mentioned above? I subscribe to their stuff. In my eyes, they all kick ass.
I could go on for days about how cool Twitter is. People like Michael Benidt will, with good reason, occasionally throw some water on my fire, which is great. As my seemingly limitless love for Twitter and the people within is challenged or questioned, I occasionally find ways to “do Twitter better,” to get even more out of it. But the point is, Twitter’s awesomeness is so profound I can barely put it in to meaningful words. I’ve tried.
The people
No list of “cool things about social media” would be even good, let alone complete, without mentioning The People. The People create the content I consume, the content that informs me, the content that entertains me. The People consume the content I create (sometimes). The People smile and shake my hand and pat me on the back when we meet in person. The People introduce me to other smart folks.
The People are what It is all about.
I’ll tag Chris Lynn, Ken Kadet, Greg Swan and the team at Idea Peepshow. Topic: Five things about social media you’d be thankful to see change. That is, things you don’t like or could be better. That oughtta make for some good reading.
Photo courtesy of cheeseroc on Flickr
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Good stuff Mike! We should be careful with our love for Twitter- my husband is already jealous.
Finding out that one of the benefits of Twitter is that I can actually have friends. After being shunned in the real world for decades, I now even have a few “followers.” To paraphrase the New Yorker cartoon - “On Twitter no one knows you are a dog.” And, it’s somewhat like eating peanuts. I have to constantly put the bag away.
On the other hand, the students who commented on our “Continuous Partial Inanity” article that you linked to above - pretty much universally think Twitter is for the birds. Something to think about, because students do know (and use) social networks.
Can’t identify at all with multitasking - I don’t even like to listen to music while I Twitter. Definite need for more cloud staring and walks in the woods among the online world. Dave Taylor just tweeted his 10,000 tweet. Can’t say as I think that’s a good thing.
Liz: My wife often asks me why I like my computer more than I like her. That, of course, is nowhere near the truth, but sometimes it takes some extra persuasion to make her believe me.
Michael: Sometimes multitasking comes easy and makes life easier, and other times it’s the most horrible, productivity-killing nightmare on earth. Depends on my mood, I guess. But I certainly have times where I just “shut it all off” and do wild stuff like actually write ideas in ink — on crushed dead trees.
Of course, I usually end up e-mailing those notes to someone anyway…
Great list Mike! I really enjoyed your perspective on these things.
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