30 Days of Social Media – Day 1: What is social media and why do we care?
October 1, 2009 by Suzi Dafnis
Hello and welcome to Day 1 of 30 Days of Social Media.
Social Media is the ‘buzz’ right now. But what IS social media and why does it matter? Why should we care?
I’m assuming that you are a busy professional and that there’s a good reason why you are here taking part in this program. Something you’ve heard or seen has piqued an interest in social media and you want to know more.
So, let’s get started.
START HERE:
Listen to this overview of Day 1′s lesson:
QUESTION 1: What is Social Media?
You could Google the term ‘Social Media’ and come up with something like
a definition that comes from Wikipedia (a free, collaborative online encyclopedia).
I, however, prefer the explanations demonstrated in these two videos.
Social Media in Plain English
This video, by CommonCraft is one of many they’ve done and posted to YouTube. As well as being very clever, it clearly demonstrates the concept of social media.
The video demonstrates these social media elements:
- coming together with others, sharing with friends and others of like mind
- niche markets and how social media serves them
- ways to interact with your customers
- new technology and new ways to work
- “by the people for the people”
- feedback, organisation and promotion
- new opotuntitiees to communicate with people that care
… and these are all concepts we’ll explore during this program.
This second video – The Social Media Revolution – has some great statistics on the use of social media and how it’s revolutionised the way that we work and play. And, it showcases some of the tools we’ll be learning about. The other great thing about this video is that (at the time of this writing) there are 644 comments (from 730,895 views)…. from people who’ve watched the videos before you.
Conversations are being had, and we’re going to learn how to tap into those conversations (from the point of view of knowing what our customers are saying about us, about our industry, about our competitors). With social media we get to be a part of, and contribute to conversations about things we care about.
QUESTION 2: WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?
There are many reasons to care (and we’ll go deeper into those in the coming days), I care because it has changed the way that I communicate with my community, connect with my customers, share resources, do market research, distribute content, share knowledge.. But, I digress.
Why do YOU care? Why are you interested in social media? What is that you’d like to learn about over the next 30 days, and why?
TODAY’S ACTION STEP
Watch both videos. And, if you want to get more interactive comment in the comment box below a) your thoughts on these videos and b) what interests you about Social Media and what you hope to learn of the course of this program.
Thanks and ‘see you’ tomorrow.
Suzi
PS If you’re posting on Twitter about what you’re learning, use #30DSM as part of your tweet to allow us to track the conversation.
Hi Suzi
I thought the videos were great. I liked the first one as it is such a wonderul simple example and the stats in the second one are amazing!
I am interested in using social media for my business. I have been studying and applying a bit of learning in a scattered fashion and I have gaps in my knowledge.
Thanks Suzi for putting it together.
Sue
Both videos very good
first video reminder to listen to customer and can be unique or appeal to the masses
second video, the numbers blew me away. Social media definitely appears to have a strong following and explains why my son likes to get on the internet.
Looking forward to the next 29 days
Thanks Suzi and I like the short and sharp approach
Bronwyn
I really enjoyed day 1 and found both videos useful and interesting in explaining what social media is all about.
I require good social media knowledge at work and I want to learn about it in greater detail and discover its full potential.
Looking forward to day 2!
Hi Suzi
Thanks for this post, yes the first one is a fantastic analogy that explains exactly why we should care about social media. Just joined the network and really looking forward to sharing knowledge and ideas.
Thanks,
Amanda
Thanks Amanda and welcome to the network!
Hi Jemma… just took a quick look at your site and yep, being with a digital agency you’d need to be up on the social media ‘scene’. Welcome to the program!
Thanks Bronwyn, Appreciate the comment about ‘short and sharp’… not always my way, as I do like to dig deep into the details.
Some days will be more content-filled than other but brevity is definitely my goal for this program
Hi Suzi,
This was great – I have just been to an international publishers conference in the UK where the audience were twittering together so it’s brilliant timing for me to learn what its all about!
Hi Anne, I love the use of Twitter in conferences. At the South By South West conference I attended in March in Austin there was a lively debate/discussion going on in each session due to the Twitter traffic.
I can see that social media is here to stay. I am interested in exploring how I can use it my training business – both to connect with customers, potential partners, my community, and as a learning tool. I’m on a steep learning curve here myself – thanks for the program.