8/27 Reading

Gillin provides a nice overview of some of the basics of social media relations in regards to tools and goals in this week’s reading, Chapter 2 Making Choices from Secrets of Social Media Marketing. What is remarkable about his words is that I’ve never actually stopped to think about social media, rather I’ve grown up in the world where it exists and its popularity has grown tremendously since my birth. Although I am and have been involved with dozens of media sites, I’ve never stopped to think about what these sites say about our culture, and who exactly these sites are targeting.

Gillin provides us with a tip: start with the business goal, not the tools. He explains by saying that the tools are flexible: so much so that picking and choosing between can be a waste of time and energy. A clear goal is useful in producing an outcome that is desirable. With technological change happening so rapidly (and often) it is more important to use something that is already out and advanced enough, rather than attempting to wait for bigger and better things to come as they do not always come out as such.

In Chapter 2, he goes over the importance of designating certain people to be in charge of contributing on websites where consumers are able to post and discuss freely the (overwhelming) negatives in regards to certain companies, whether it be through personal experience or secondhand.  He encourages companies to pick people who are “passionate about their work/product, enjoy sharing with others, risk takers, goal oriented” (30) among other traits to be in the position of handling blogging responsibilities.

Dr. Tharon Howard’s book Design to Thrive chapters one and two are full of information regarding some basics in online communities and related topics. His very first page starts with the headline “Buzz – Why Should You be Interested?” which is so appropriate in today’s world because of the rampant growth in social networking and online communities.

On page 7 Howard gives us RIBS: The Four Elements Necessary for Long-Term Success.  The acronym stands for Remuneration, Influence, Belonging and Significance. Remuneration is, simply, that people need to “believe that they will obtain some positive return on the investment of their time and energy” (7) in terms of virtual communities. Influence: the belief that you, as a member of a community, have an actual voice that is heard. Belonging in terms of members getting to know members more intimately rather than strangers remaining strangers and finally significance which is pretty self-explanatory, that your community is significant in some way or another.

Chapter 2 of Design is entitled The Nature of the Beasts where Howard makes sure firs that we even know what we are talking about in terms of the differences between a social network and an online community. Although I’ve been a part of both, I never considered them different so it was nice to have a clear understanding of what exactly I was even doing on the internet. Social networks put individuals are center of relationships (13) while a community is focused on “the user’s commitment to a core set of interests, values, and communication practices” (15).