I meet people either in business meetings or in my personal life that tell me how excited they are on using social media, how much fun they have blogging – though they are the only reader of their blog – or that they use Twitter to let people know what they are getting for lunch, or on Facebook talking to their friends. They assume simply being on these platforms means they “leverage” social media!
The aforementioned led me to decide to write a series of posts attempting to better clarify the following: 
- What social media is in very simple terms
- Why we should care about social media
- How we can business benefit from social media
- What the myths are surrounding social media.
The following is post number “1.” from that series — it’s a simple introduction to the fascinating word of social media and its mysterious labyrinths:
Background:
I personally thrive in social media, it added so much to my life, made me change my whole way of thinking about traditional marketing that I have been doing for so many years. In 1997, a conversation was taking place in a corporate executives meeting room:
Social Media Introduction
I meet people either in business meetings or in my personal life that tell me how excited they are on using social media, how much fun they have blogging – though they are the only reader of their blog – or that they use Twitter to let people know what they are getting for lunch, or on Facebook talking to their friends. They assume being on these platforms means they leverage social media, so I decided to post a series of little posts trying to clarify what is social media in a very simple way, why should we care about social media, how can business benefit from social media, and what are the myths surrounding social media.
This is my first post; it is a simple introduction to the fascinating word of social media and its mysterious labyrinths. I personally thrive in social media, it added so much to my life, made me change my whole way of thinking about traditional marketing that I have been doing for so many years.
In 1997, a conversation was taking place in a corporate executives meeting room:
“We can’t allow the employees to use this; we will loose control of our brand; our confidentiality will be breached; employees will take time away from their work; legal implications of the FDIC regulating communications – legal liability.
What do you think they are talking about? Is it? Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn? And the Answer is: None of the above: It was a conversation about using Emails. Nowadays we are totally dependent on emails; Faxes and memos are now almost obsolete; social media is slowly replacing emails which were considered a fad, waste of time, only for the younger generation exactly the way social media is considered now.
What is social media?
Social media is a 2-way conversations to facilitate continuing dialogue, and communication with intended audience. It is about building and nurturing relationships. It allows community interaction using web 2.0.
Social media includes: Search engines, social networks, blogs, Vblogs, micro-blogs, message boards, instant messaging (IM), webcasts, email and podcasts, it is created by the people for the people. The individuals forming these online networks use social media to organize themselves according to:
(1) Their interests/ likes and dislikes
(2) Their preference on sharing, storing, and delivering information between themselves Individuals using these networks connect ONLY with the people they want to connect to, the way that they choose to, discuss the topics they choose to. The individual is the centre of the social media revolution, and not the companies or their products anymore; it is changing the way business is conducted.
The secret of social media is about creating value for the communities that happen to include them; it is about offering solutions to their problems and satisfying their needs. If a company wants to make a positive impact, they should start thinking about how they can contribute to their audience and their communities. The more the companies will give the more they will get back.
Social media is causing a fundamental shift in how people use the Internet and how they interact with each other online. It is about how the Internet has evolved into a communication medium between peers or members of a community. For a marketer this means that social media must be used to analyze brand sentiment, listen to customer needs, recruit talent and collaborate with partners
Social networking is like a being at a live cocktail party only with no constraint of time or place where you meet people carry conversations, build relationships and exchange business cards. Social networks are online meeting places that allow consumers and influencers to create, share, interact and build content on: Blogs, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Flickr, Technorati, Digg, newsvine.
It is important for companies to realize that if they don’t join the online conversations that are already taking place about their brand, they might damage their image forever, or they will be left alone in the cold.
Next blog will be about the different social media networks and how to use each of their unique features.
See you soon, Happy Holidays
Sahar Andrade
www.saharconsulting.com
www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade
www.twitter.com/Social Media Introduction
I meet people either in business meetings or in my personal life that tell me how excited they are on using social media, how much fun they have blogging – though they are the only reader of their blog – or that they use Twitter to let people know what they are getting for lunch, or on Facebook talking to their friends. They assume being on these platforms means they leverage social media, so I decided to post a series of little posts trying to clarify what is social media in a very simple way, why should we care about social media, how can business benefit from social media, and what are the myths surrounding social media.
This is my first post; it is a simple introduction to the fascinating word of social media and its mysterious labyrinths. I personally thrive in social media, it added so much to my life, made me change my whole way of thinking about traditional marketing that I have been doing for so many years.
In 1997, a conversation was taking place in a corporate executives meeting room:
“We can’t allow the employees to use this; we will loose control of our brand; our confidentiality will be breached; employees will take time away from their work; legal implications of the FDIC regulating communications – legal liability.
What do you think they are talking about? Is it? Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn? And the Answer is: None of the above: It was a conversation about using Emails. Nowadays we are totally dependent on emails; Faxes and memos are now almost obsolete; social media is slowly replacing emails which were considered a fad, waste of time, only for the younger generation exactly the way social media is considered now.
What is social media?
Social media is a 2-way conversations to facilitate continuing dialogue, and communication with intended audience. It is about building and nurturing relationships. It allows community interaction using web 2.0.
Social media includes: Search engines, social networks, blogs, Vblogs, micro-blogs, message boards, instant messaging (IM), webcasts, email and podcasts, it is created by the people for the people. The individuals forming these online networks use social media to organize themselves according to:
(1) Their interests/ likes and dislikes
(2) Their preference on sharing, storing, and delivering information between themselves Individuals using these networks connect ONLY with the people they want to connect to, the way that they choose to, discuss the topics they choose to. The individual is the centre of the social media revolution, and not the companies or their products anymore; it is changing the way business is conducted.
The secret of social media is about creating value for the communities that happen to include them; it is about offering solutions to their problems and satisfying their needs. If a company wants to make a positive impact, they should start thinking about how they can contribute to their audience and their communities. The more the companies will give the more they will get back.
Social media is causing a fundamental shift in how people use the Internet and how they interact with each other online. It is about how the Internet has evolved into a communication medium between peers or members of a community. For a marketer this means that social media must be used to analyze brand sentiment, listen to customer needs, recruit talent and collaborate with partners
Social networking is like a being at a live cocktail party only with no constraint of time or place where you meet people carry conversations, build relationships and exchange business cards. Social networks are online meeting places that allow consumers and influencers to create, share, interact and build content on: Blogs, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Flickr, Technorati, Digg, newsvine.
It is important for companies to realize that if they don’t join the online conversations that are already taking place about their brand, they might damage their image forever, or they will be left alone in the cold.
Next blog will be about the different social media networks and how to use each of their unique features.
See you soon, Happy Holidays
Sahar Andrade
www.saharconsulting.com
www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade
www.twitter.com/saharconsultingI meet people either in business meetings or in my personal life that tell me how excited they are on using social media, how much fun they have blogging – though they are the only reader of their blog – or that they use Twitter to let people know what they are getting for lunch, or on Facebook talking to their friends. They assume being on these platforms means they leverage social media, so I decided to post a series of little posts trying to clarify what is social media in a very simple way, why should we care about social media, how can business benefit from social media, and what are the myths surrounding social media. This is my first post; it is a simple introduction to the fascinating word of social media and its mysterious labyrinths. I personally thrive in social media, it added so much to my life, made me change my whole way of thinking about traditional marketing that I have been doing for so many years. In 1997, a conversation was taking place in a corporate executives meeting room:
“We can’t allow the employees to use this; we will loose control of our brand; our confidentiality will be breached; employees will take time away from their work; legal implications of the FDIC regulating communications – legal liability.”
What do you think they are talking about? Is it Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn?
The answer is: none of the above. The conversation was about using email.
Nowadays we are totally dependent on email; faxes and memos are now almost obsolete and social media is slowly replacing email which was once considered a fad, waste of time. For the younger generation, the so-called “fad, waste of time” today is social media.
What social media in very simple terms:
Social media is a 2-way conversations to facilitate continuing dialogue, and communication with intended audience. It is about building and nurturing relationships. It allows community interaction using web 2.0.
Social media includes: Search engines, social networks, blogs, Vblogs, micro-blogs, message boards, instant messaging (IM), webcasts, email and podcasts, it is created by the people for the people. The individuals forming these online networks use social media to organize themselves according to:
- Their interests/ likes and dislikes
- Their preferences on sharing, storing, and delivering information between themselves Individuals using these networks connect ONLY with the people they want to connect to, the way that they choose to, discuss the topics they choose to. The individual is the centre of the social media revolution, and not the companies or their products anymore; it is changing the way business is conducted.
The secret of social media is about creating value for the communities that happen to include them; it is about offering solutions to their problems and satisfying their needs.
If a company wants to make a positive impact, they should start thinking about how they can contribute to their audience and their communities. The more the companies will give the more they will get back.
Social media is causing a fundamental shift in how people use the Internet and how they interact with each other online. It is about how the Internet has evolved into a communication medium between peers or members of a community. For a marketer this means that social media must be used to analyze brand sentiment, listen to customer needs, recruit talent and collaborate with partners
Social networking is like a being at a live cocktail party only with no constraint of time or place where you meet people carry conversations, build relationships and exchange business cards. Social networks are online meeting places that allow consumers and influencers to create, share, interact and build content on: Blogs, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Flickr, Technorati, Digg, newsvine.
It is important for companies to realize that if they don’t join the online conversations that are already taking place about their brand, they might damage their image forever, or they will be left alone in the cold.
Next blog will be about the different social media networks and how to use each of their unique features.
See you soon, Happy Holidays,
Sahar Andrade
www.saharconsulting.com
www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade
www.twitter.com/saharconsulting
This entry was posted on December 18, 2009 at 5:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Hi Sahar,
Love it! I enjoyed so much indeed reading your post.
I’d like you have a look to what I wrote several weeks ago just to know your opinion http://wp.me/pwvSB-6h
Isr it would be very valuable
Thanks in advance
Best regards,
Israel G
Thank you Israel I left a comment on your blog
Please visit my other blog
http://wp.me/pytIe-2e
Thank you
Sahar
hey Sahar
This is quite illuminating and interesting too
waitin’ for more
Happy Holidays
Aziz