I caught wind of this diagram the other day (originally from FredCavazza.net):
The immediate message is pretty clear. Social media is everywhere, and can perform many different functions. I thought it might be fun to take a little closer look at this list and how it’s organized.
At the top of the circle, we’ve got “publish,” which basically seems to refer to self-publishing (i.e. blogs) and is probably one of the most important aspects of new social media. The opportunity to put one’s knowledge and opinions out there in the world for anyone to see is revolutionary. Next, and related to publishing, is “share,” which refers to sites that give people the opportunity to share not just their words and opinions, but things like video and pictures, taking full advantage of the visual media aspects of the Internet. Then we’ve got “discuss,” discussion sites, “microblog,” which maybe should be up next to blog, and of course, “social networks.” Here we have a list of the Myspaces, the Facebooks, and so on (poor Friendster!), the sites people use to stay connected. If blogging isn’t the most important social media innovation, it’s probably social networks. These are the applications that allow you to connect with lots of people fast, without ever having to leave your living room.
Social Media and Business
If you’ve got a business that you want to be successful, you need to have a presence in every domain (not necessarily every site) on the right half of this diagram. (The left half seems to be more of the ‘fun and games’ aspect of social media which, if you want to participate in them, by all means do so, but it’s not quite as crucial from a business perspective.) You should have a blog with regular posts that potential customers can visit when killing time, Twitter updates to keep people apprised of everything new that is happening with your company, and a presence on social networks so that your client base can connect with you easily.
The Golden Age of Social Media
It may seem like a lot to keep track of, but it’s not too tough once you get the hang of it. Plus, it’s FREE ADVERTISING. If you told a company twenty years ago that they would have the opportunity to reach millions of potential customers without laying out a cent, they’d be drooling. Don’t ignore the opportunity technology has given you.
