Social Media Catalyst

Evolution of social media:

2006 was about “What is social media” and “Why does it matter”. Business blogging, flogs, podcasting and second life were the hot topics.
2007 is about “How do I deploy social media”. Companies will start to integrate Social Media up and down and side to side in the organization, both externally as well as internally.
2008 was about how I get in touch with my customers directly for feedback and help in innovations.
2009 was about using social mass media like facebook, Orkut, twitter into the fold.

Social Media (Blogs, Forums, Wikis, Podcasts, Video blogs and other tools) are appearing in every industry.

Below are some strategies for 2010:

1) Social Media is about people. Customers and Prospects and Partners are connecting, sharing and growing with each other, never forget this. Do it authentically, openly, and knowing the world is watching. Prospects trust consumers more than you, now they are talking to each other using Social Media tools.

2) Communities are the goal, conversations are the verb. Social Media can be used to reach and connect with customers, you can participate in communities. Obvious outputs of this community are the digital and real life conversations that will manifest. You can read, join, and even measure those conversations, this is your currency.

3) Let go to gain more. The participants of these tools are in charge; typically customers are using these tools long before corporate types do. Thereby, you must participate to be in charge. The more a corporation controls the less effective this will be.

4) Measurement will be important. It will be important to measure the interaction between people. Such terms such as Engagement, Participation, and Attention are rising. Qualitative responses that happen are what is important, not page views or downloads. Teach executives that Web Marketing has left the corporate .com site and has now spread globally and to small islands of conversations.

5) Organize internally. As much focus on internal communication about community should empower a fast, coordinated response. Some employees will be more passionate about one area over others, reward them, and support them.

By providing just a taste of how social technologies have altered the architecture of public life, it is critical for educators to understand how mediated publics are shifting the lives of youth. There are very good reasons why youth use them and encouraging them to return to traditional socialisation structures is simply not feasible. Let us look at offering some concrete advice to educators about how to think about the new media and how to engage with youth directly.

1. We should recognize that youth want to hang out with their friends in youth space.

Although most adults wish that formal education was the number one priority of youth, this is rarely the case. Most youth are far more concerned with connecting with friends. Their activities are very much driven by their friend group and there is immense informal
learning taking place outside of school. Learning social norms, status structures, and how to negotiate relationships of all types is crucial to teens. While most adults take these skills for granted, they are heavily developed during the teen years. In contemporary society, this process primarily takes place amongst peer groups.

2. The Internet mirrors and magnifies all aspects of social life.

When a teen is engaged in risky behaviour online, that is typically a sign that they’re engaged in risky behaviour offline. Troubled teens reveal their troubles online both explicitly and implicitly. It is not the online world that is making them troubled, but it is a fantastic opportunity for intervention. What would it mean to have digital street outreach where people started reaching out to troubled teens, not to punish them, but to be able to help? We already do street outreach in cities – why not treat the networked world as one large city? Imagine having college students troll the profiles of teens in their area in order to help troubled kids, just as they wander the physical streets. Too often we blame technology for what it reveals, but destroying or regulating the technology will not solve
the underlying problems that are made visible through mediated publics like social network sites.

It’s also important to realise that the technology makes it easier to find those who are seeking attention than those who are not. The vast majority of teens using these sites are engaged in relatively mundane activities, but the ‘at risk’ ones are made visible through mainstream media. In this way, both the technology and the press coverage magnify the most troublesome aspects of everyday life because they are inherently more interesting.

3. Questions abound. There are no truths, only conversations.

Over the last year, dozens of parenting guides have emerged to provide black and white rules about how youth should interact with social network sites. These rules though fail to protect youth. Rules motivate submissive youth, but they do little to get youth to think through the major issues. Conversation (not lecturing) is a key and it needs to be clear that there is no correct answer; it’s all a matter of choices and pros and cons.

MySpace and Friendster’s runaway popularity and exposure have helped spawn an array of targeted networking sites. Are Advertisers noticing?

Vox, a social networking and blogging site with strict privacy controls, so users can limit who sees particular posts. Vox users can make some content available to the general public. Other posts and photos can only be seen by users designated as true friends, family members, or people in the user’s extended neighborhood (which includes friends of friends).

NEW MODELS
Since launching to the general public, Vox has nearly tripled in size. Its success indicates a trend among newer social networking sites, which are gaining traction not by focusing on the mass-popularity model that made News Corp.’s MySpace famous, but by helping users connect with smaller, more specific, groups.

ItLinkz ,on Jan. 31, the social networking company launched the first of its 13 planned targeted networking sites. Its initial offering, NurseLinkup.com, already has more than 500 health professionals visiting the site. The site launched, in part, to help users frustrated with the party atmosphere of MySpace, which has users with hundreds of thousands of friends and a reputation for having a 25-and-under audience. (Incidentally, comScore reports that more than half of MySpace users are over 35.) “MySpace is for everyone, our focus is on communities” according to Myspace executives.

Many business-networking sites also post jobs on their sites. So, you get one more online option to look out for jobs, i.e. in addition to the job portals. Online networking also helps you to build relationships before you can actually ask for a job. And that too without facing the recruiter. It is always better to break the ice in the virtual world before meeting in the real world. This is particularly beneficial to people who are somewhat apprehensive about talking to strangers.

Many of the recruiters also use networking sites for finding out potential employees. In an interview, there is always a chance of the candidate lying about his capabilities, though, the availability of sophisticated software and the various developments taking place in the HR field makes it very easy for the recruiter to spot the lies. In an online networking site, the relationship is established and trust is built over a period. Hence, the recruiter is able to decide the true capabilities of a person. This is also perhaps the reason why more and more recruiters are choosing the ‘networking’ way instead of posting jobs online.

Business and networking sites are thus revolutionizing the way people are getting jobs. More and more people are becoming aware of the power and benefits of online networking. Online methods should be judiciously combined with traditional methods to make sure that you do bag that coveted job.

Business networking sites allow you to get in touch with high-end executives and business professionals. It is often noticed that many times jobs are not advertised. They are filled in through recommendation and referrals. Business networking sites allow you to get in touch with people who are directly involved in the decision making process. Many business-networking sites allow one to paste profile and get connected to people who share the same skill or who are employed in the same profession. These connections can be successfully harnessed to get a job.

Networking also helps one stay in tune with the demands of the industry. For e.g. you are software engineers, currently working on software testing. You are a member of a social and business-networking site. A high school friend of yours, [with whom you got reconnected through a social networking site] who is also a recruitment consultant informs you that nowadays the focus has started shifting to Oracle or Java. An IT expert in your business-networking site confirms this fact. Now, you can start upgrading your skill set, so that you can get a bigger pay packet.

Many networking sites also offer offline events. Attending such events is a good way to create new relationships with people who can help you in further career advancements. Networking sites also give an opportunity to contact people who can answer career related queries.

Some networking sites also give opportunity for people to write endorsements about those with whom they have worked. This recommendation can be used for getting better job opportunities. Also there are many business-networking sites that focus on a particular field, industry or profession. Making connections with people who are from the same industry or profession allows one to remain aware of the latest job vacancies; trends and changes taking place in the job market that will help to steal march over others. This is because online networking lets one foster relationship with innumerable people and who can say, when one of them will help us strike a goldmine?

70% of successful job searches depend on personal contacts’ according to Career Development Center of Hollins University. The above fact emphasizes the need for having and creating personal contacts and networking. In an age, where job seekers outnumber the available jobs, it has become imperative to be at the right place at the right time. But how will you know where to be at and at what time? Someone has got to inform you. And this is where ‘networking’ assumes importance.

Networking is not a new age phenomenon. The Western world came to know about Indian spices through networking. Trade between the Indus valley civilization and Mesopotamia can be attributed to networking.

The rise of the Internet saw the traditional avatar of networking donning new clothes. While traditional networking allowed making contacts via our acquaintances, online networking allows us to contact people with whom we share something in common. For e.g., online networking allows you to contact someone who is engaged in the same profession. You can directly approach the person on your own.

Business and social networking sites are changing the way of searching and finding the latest vacancies that exist. More and more people are logging into the virtual world and making appropriate connections to land that dream job.

Thus, business and social networking sites are witnessing a phenomenal growth rate. But how are business and social networking sites changing the way we find jobs? Social networking makes sure that you are among the first who gets the whiff of the latest job posted. Networking allows the easy and free flow of information. It also makes sure that the information is forwarded at a lightning speed. For e.g. you are a resident of Mumbai looking out for a job as a sales person. You comb the local newspapers, swamp innumerable firms with your resumes and make sure that your profile is visible on all job sites such as naukri, monster, timesjobs, shine etc. that you can possibly think of. And the result- you are still looking for a job. And then a miracle takes place. You are registered with one of the social networking sites. You get a call from your friend who knows about a particular vacancy.

Business networking sites are a great way to connect with people that have similar businesses to yours. It is an easy way to learn of how they got through their rough times, or maybe even go and make collaboration effort if you feel that the person and the timing is right. However, these business networking sites are similar to forums and blogs – there is a netiquette involved, and if one wants to prove worthy of being on that particular business networking site, he should prove that he can abide to those particular rules.

When we are discussing about small business networking sites (usually those built for niche businesses, so people can narrow down their searches) the rules tend to apply less, mostly because the community is smaller and it is easy to get over mistakes. The thing is, and I will restate something I mentioned two phrases ago – you need to make an impression, you cannot play the know-it-all and you surely cannot play the little kid that asks why at just about everything.

Let us see what are the do’s and don’t of business networking sites.

Do your homework:
Remember that business networking sites are built for business owners, or for people that want to find out more about businesses in that particular niche. Try not to mistake it for a social networking site – make sure you know what is discussed within each of them, and avoid being too social. While you can be friendly on the appropriate topic do not deviate with personal issues or things that have nothing to do with the subject.

Respect the users around you:
While some users may be rude, or may push that know-it-all attitude we all hate, it does not mean you have to start a war with them. Doing so will only affect your image on that forum. If you plan on making useful connections and finding out new things about what it means to own a business, then temper your attitude and apply the live and let live technique. Whatever happens, try solving your problem via private message or by ignoring any annoying issue. You will notice that it will make a real difference.

Know how to deal with the people there:
With any niche forum, there are three types of users – the shameless self promoter, the critic, the know-it-all and the genuine user. Avoid being any of the first three, and avoid them on the forum too. The first will seem to spam you with his business and ideas all the time – the individual might only have two fixed ideas, but he will be sure to get his message through.

The critic will find everything you say ridiculous, obsolete – he is the hip business owner, he knows “everything” about the new business technique and does not avoid making everyone around them stupid. The know-it-all is my personal “favorite” – while he may actually be a useful resource of information, he will send the info in such a way, that you will feel like banning him as soon as possible.

The genuine user is the one that shares both questions and information, know to handle a situation when he is caught with his guard down, and delivers his information in a useful manner.

LinkedIn has some of the smartest investors around. These investors have deep pockets and they are almost certainly following the model of building both scale and deep end user value before attempting too much monetization.

There are signs that they are looking at deepening their service value, specifically by becoming a network to find small service providers. With reputation ratings, that has big value. It has reciprocity as there are times as a buyer when you really need a small, specialist firm at short notice. So this is valuable to buyers as well as sellers. There are specialist networks doing this already, so LinkedIn can do it at scale across multiple domains.

Thinking about monetization, the primary motivations for using a business networking service like LinkedIn:

1. Push marketing. Find the right contacts to avoid cold call. This has limits. Over-use will lead to barriers getting erected to avoid ‘networking spam’. This is true whether one is selling a product, a service or person (e.g. recruiters). This works when it is occasional, uses close contacts only and there is reciprocity in the real world relationship.

2. Pull markerting. Put up your profile, or your firm’s profile, and get found by the right buyers. This is nascent in LinkedIn today but shows big promise.

3. Just-in-time expert advice for cash. This is what companies have done for years and they have built a real business. There are more consumer-oriented variants such as BitWine. With their scale, LinkedIn could easily get into this business.

Would all types of audiences be conducive for the idea?

It’s a great idea for the corporate industries to pursue, whether they have a product or a service. The goal of any business that is customer-driven wants to generate buzz about their activities. What better way to do that than by engaging in social media and social networking in order to do so?

Photos add an especially nice touch to the social networking idea. Businesses can certainly expect a lot of activity from that particular action as customers will likely love sharing their purchases that show off the size, colors, and types of purchases that they make.

As it goes in social circles, online business networking certainly is going to make a big impact in their industry as they delve into a very popular, fast growing technology. Imagine:

• Facebook pages with pictures of their products, satisfied customers giving feedback, others with suggestions.

• Twitter updates on a frequent basis – - announcing sales, product updates, etc.

• Linkedin updates with connections to key business partners in their corporation.

All of these platforms, and still more where they will appear, are going to be extraordinary for a retailer who has been around for quite some time. They have definitely latched on to the next best wonderful thing that can enable them to be around for a long, long time to come.

The past couple of years, largely with Facebook and Orkut growing the social networks and social computing tools having grown into the edges of mainstream, nearly every argument made against these tools and services was laid down against e-mail, rich UI desktops (people spent hours changing the colors and arranging the interfaces), and Instant Messaging years ago.

The only place that these tools are “seemingly” not working is mostly attributed to a severe lack of defining the value derived from using the tools. These news tools and services, even more so those of us working around them, need to communicate how to use the tools effectively and efficiently. The conceptual models & frameworks for those of us analyzing the tools have been really poor and missing giant perspectives and frameworks.

One of the biggest problems with many of these tools and services is they have yet to move out of early product mode especially in developing countries where the internet awareness and reach isn’t widespread as against developed countries. The tools and services are working on maturity getting features in the tools that people need and want, working on scaling, and developing based on early adopters which is not necessarily how those who follow will use the tools or need the tools to work.

Simplicity and limited options on top of tools work easily and provide good derived value for the worklife. As the tools that were disrupters to work culture in the past, the focus needs to be on what is getting done and let people do it. Befriending people, adding applications, tweaking the interface, etc. are not things that lead to easy monetization.

Tools that help people really be social, interact, and get more value in their life (fun, entertainment, connecting with people near in thought, filtering information from the massive flow, and using the information and social connections in context where people need it) from the tools is there things must head. We are in the process of building the platforms for this, but we need to also focus on how to improve use of these platforms and have strong vision of what this is and how to get there.