Social Media. Expand Your Network

Getting Social

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• MySpace
• FlickR
• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Yahoo!Buzz
• Technorati
• StumbleUpon
• Slideshare
• Crowdstorm
• Orkut
• Bebo
• Plaxo

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction with technology, transforming broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

Social media can be said to have 3 components;

• Concept (art, information, or meme).
• Media (physical, electronic, or verbal).
• Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).

Common forms of social media;

• Concepts, slogans, and statements with a high memory retention quotient, that excite others to repeat.
• Grass-Roots direct action information dissemination such as public speaking, installations, performance, and demonstrations.
• Electronic media with 'sharing', syndication, or search algorithm technologies (includes internet and mobile devices).
• Print media, designed to be re-distributed.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Social media marketing also known as social influence marketing is the act of using social influencers, social media platforms, online communities for marketing, publication relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. It is a form of internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media networks

-- View Social Media In Plain English (Video) --
-- View Social Media Revolution (Video) --

"Rather than a wholly new medium of its own, social media is the next evolution of all media as we know it. If media refers to our society’s means of communication, e.g. books, newspapers, radio, TV, film, and the Internet, then social media is the enhanced experience of all media in the context of a self-authored digital network of personal and business relationships."

Let there be no mistake, NO ONE IS A SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT. How can anyone claim to be a social media expert when no one can even begin to imagine what social media is going to become.

Everyone on the internet is currently in the process of building a network of personal relationships, unbound by time and space. We are building a worldwide network of shared thoughts and information that will enable us to communicate and collaborate in ways that human beings have never imagined. Social media is not a fleeting fad, it's the future of mankind.

The following was posted by eConsultancy: 20+ more mind-blowing social media statistics. Here We've listed the top 5, which even surprised us, the rest we are sure will surprise you;

• Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities online, including beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populated place in the world. This means it easily beats the likes of Brazil, Russia and Japan in terms of size.
• 80% of companies use, (or are planning to use), LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees during the course of this year. The site has just celebrated reaching their 45-millionth membership.
• Around 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week during campaigns, with 39% using it for 10 or more hours per week.
• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people... In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.

Social media marketing can help you increase the activity around these top goals:

• Website traffic and user behavior (external and internal tracking)
• Conversion and sales tracking
• Page views, ad exposure
• Growing brand awareness (a softer value, takes longer to build)
• Creating a positive brand association and keeping it there
• Business development and a broader customer reach

Since the social web allows you to interact with others, create and promote content that can get links and viral attraction, you can – with the right strategy – reach key influencers using this medium. We all know what blogs alone can do, and they are pretty search engine friendly out of the box.

Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and more targeted traffic.

Those who ignore the efficacy of social media usually fall into three categories; the ones who don’t know much or anything about social media, the ones who are interested but don’t know how to use it and those who don’t believe in the value that a social media strategy can bring to any site or business.

Yet social media marketing is not difficult at all. It is something every one can do with some effort and knowledge. It isn’t some secret art form that only experts can master. Unlike other skills, social media has a remarkably low barrier of entry. Everyone is invited to the party. No one is excluded.