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).
