www.facebook.com

Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Since September 2006, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can become a Facebook user. Facebook's target audience is more for youths than adults. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplace, school, or college. The website's name stems from the colloquial name of books given to students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.

Content sharing on Facebook:

Status updates

Photo downloading

Sharing content (web links, news stories, blogs, notes, etc).

Events creation and promotion (grand opening, open house, sales, etc).

Pages- can be created for businesses, ideas, thoughts or sayings

www.twitter.com

Twitter is a social networking and micro blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Since late 2009, users can follow lists of authors instead of following individual authors. All users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS), or external applications (notably including those developed for Smartphone). While the service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees. The website currently has more than 100 million users worldwide.

Content sharing on Twitter:

Micro blogging- 140 characters or less to update “followers” on activities, ideas or news.

Retweets- Allows you to share tweets from someone you are following.

Keeps data and information to a minimum.

Only one picture allowed – profile picture only.

www.linkedin.com

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 8 April 2010, LinkedIn had more than 65 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Content sharing on Linkedin:

Online professional networking.

Share as much or as little of your professional experience as desired.

Make “connections” with hundreds or thousands of professionals in your area.

Join “groups” that interest you or pertain to your profession (marketing, education, etc).

Interact with professionals by asking questions, posting surveys/questionnaires or participating in online forums.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Social Media

What is Social Media?

1. Media that is created to be shared freely (definition from wikipedia.com).

2. Social media is any form of online publication or presence that allows end users to engage in multi-directional conversations in or around the content on the website.(definition from www.onlinematters.com/glossary.htm).

3. Software tools that allow groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace etc. (definition from www.bottlepr.co.uk/glossary.html).

How is social media different from other means of communication?

1. Social media is instant, global and interactive.

The average time spent on social media is over four times that of radio and TV combined. (source- www.scottywilson.net).

Why do people spend hours using this new medium? Benefits?

Convenience, personal, customizable, peers are also online and using social media. Some of the benefits of social media: generates exposure, increased traffic to company/business (both the brick and mortar biz and the webpage), generates qualified leads for future business. Social media is also free. There are additional fees with purchasing “ads” on certain social media pages.

Social marketing also decreases overall marketing expenses for many businesses. Word of mouth exists in social media and used frequently.

Are there cautions to using this new medium?

1. Be cautious on ROI in comparison to time invested in creating, updating and maintaining pages.

2. Also, do not forget about your face-to-face customers. Not all customers will use social media to find you.

3. Social media can be overwhelming- pace yourself and learn each interface separately while understanding how they can work together for the benefit of your business.

How can I use social media to my advantage?

1. Free exposure/PR/Marketing/Advertising.

2. Create short reports/articles to drive traffic to your page.

3. Publish useful videos about your business or industry.

4. Give away discounts or other products to drive business to your page and bricks and mortar location.