Let's Get Social-A Social Media Round Up: No. 3 in an Occasional Series on KM and Social Media

  

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When you spend as much time as I do reading technically oriented content and how it pertains to customer service and support, it is easy to think everyone in the whole world knows about all the applications in the Social Mediasphere. It certainly seems like everyone is on Facebook and Twitter, doesn't it? And if you admit you don't participate in any of these activities, you tend to get that "look"...You know. The one full of pity for the uneducated, oblivious, and backward.

So as a public service to the recipients of those looks (at least the ones that go so far as to read blogs) I thought I would put together a Social Media Brief, brief being the operative word. You can read or hear about social media all day but it isn't the same as using one of the applications (of which there are larger numbers every day). However, this list may give you an idea what to expect.

Social media is so called because of its interactive ability. In the past, consumers of content on the web did just that: consume. There was no way to respond in an immediate way to the content. This also occurred with consumers of everything else including customer service.

Now there is a way for media consumers to interact with the creators of content, services, products, just about anything. And that is through the phenomenon of social media applications.

A quick rundown of some of the major social media types:

• Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Applications that allow people with similar interests or agendas to band together in groups online - way easier and cheaper than getting on a plane, train, or automobile for a little face to face. More immediate than snail mail, and, depending on a person's online usage, sometimes even email. More convenient and better at communicating with large groups of people all at once than phone calls.
• Blogs: A diary that anyone can not only read, but make comments on the entry!  No more kid brother breaking the little lock on the book, now the contents are on the web for anyone to look at. Seriously, blogs are becoming the newspaper columns of the internet. Some blogs are only about day to day stuff, but others are breaking out as the place to get specific information or opinions on almost any subject. Some of these blogs become very well known with many followers who, in turn, can make comments on the information or opinions found there.
• Wikis: Most notable one so far - Wikipedia. But businesses are getting in on wikis too, as a way of recording and consolidating institutional knowledge, making it searchable and available for anyone else in the enterprise to use. And the users can act as content creators or editors as well. Generally opinions are not part of the package. Wikis are treated more like an encyclopedia and are expected to contain objective, factual information.
• Forums or Communities: A setting where people can ask and answer questions about a specific idea, product, service, interest, whatever. These are the online versions of the garden club. Businesses are beginning to create an online forum for their customers to be able to interact with each other and people within the company about their products and services. An excellent place for companies to talk to customers about their likes, dislikes, and ideas about the products or services offered.
• Social Bookmarking: This is just like bookmarking on the desktop; bookmarks can be organized and tagged for easy use. The difference is that the bookmarks are online and can be shared with others. So the number of del.icio.us bookmarks can be an indicator of popularity or even authority.
• Social Recommendations: Those buttons on blogs and articles that say Digg or Stumbleupon are for the reader to submit an article for others to vote on. The ones that float to the top are the most recommended.
• Chat: like a phone call only with text. Good for having a slow but documented conversation.
• Other Social Apps: There are applications such as Technorati that are for bookmarking, recommending, and networking all in one site.

There are many, many sites offering these types of tools. Everyone from your weird neighbor across the hall to the largest enterprise is getting in on the act. Just be careful. It's still a jungle out there. It's all there, the good, the bad, and the downright strange.

I hope this was helpful. Please, offer your own favorite applications for us to learn about. After all, this is a social application. Be sociable.

Thank you for reading our blog. Leave comments and don't forget to use the social bookmarking widgets to spread the news!