Final Post

At the beginning of this Spring semester I had three goals for my Social Media course. I hoped to learn how to use social media correctly through experts and my classmates. Secondly I hoped to help others learn what I already know about social media. Lastly, I wanted to grow my social networking skills. 

Now as I look back, I can see that I have reached all of my goals. I learned a lot about social media and how to use it to my fullest potential. I read many articles about what to do and what not to through social media networking sites. I learned about and how to use many other networking sites I didn't know how to use before.

I will continue to use social media to connect with others after I finish this course. I will use delicious to bookmark good articles and websites I come across and then share those with others. Mashable will continue to help me learn about other networking sites and social media. 

Check out my social media resume!  

LinkedIn

I finally created a LinkedIn account! Click on the link below to check it out!
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=179773865&trk=tab_pro


Check out these additional Resources for LinkedIn beginners:
5 Top Tips for LinkedIn beginners
7 LinkedIn Tips for Beginners 

Mashable Job Search

Mashable's job section has a broad array of social media internships available. On their website I found a link to a social media internship for Kids II, Inc. Kids II in located in Atlanta, GA. If I was not already doing an internship, I would want to apply for this internship to use my social media skills. I love kids and social media so this would be a great ideal internship.

Below are the day to day duties Kids II is needing an intern to do:

• Write engaging and creative copy for Facebook posts for all 4 brands and schedule for 3 months in advance at time
• Write promotional tweets for all for Brands and schedule for 3 months at a time
• Daily monitoring of all 4 Facebook accounts responding
• Monitoring the conversations on Twitter; i.e. all mentions of our brands and products and tweeting directly when appropriate for the brand
• Create Facebook ads & managing these campaigns for CPC
• Review analytics for all Facebook accounts and ads and make suggestions to improve reach
• Research and identify what brands are doing well in the social space and how can we emulate their success?
• Monitor competitor’s social media sites
• Monitor reviews on retailer sites
• Manage the relationships with current mom bloggers and respond to new bloggers who contact us
• Review new bloggers UPV, posts, etc and decide on products
• Maintain the overall blogger schedule and spreadsheet

I feel as though I have learned how to do a lot of these things from my social media class. However, I do feel I need more experience comparing two different sites to see which one is better.

Basecamp

Basecamp is one of many outsourcing organizational tools organizations use.

Check out my slideshare about Basecamp!

My slideshare has some tools and tips for how to use Basecamp.

Also check out this video on YouTube that explains how to set up a new project on Basecamp.

Popular SMC Books

Below are three books about Social Media I would like to read sometime in the near future. They seem very interesting and they could all help me with my future career working with non-profits.

 

If Social Media is a Game, These are the Rules: 10 Rules for Building a Profitable Social Media Strategy by Joshua Leatherman

The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change by Jennifer Aaker, Andy Smith, Dan Ariely and Chip Heath

 

Social Media for Social Good: A How-to Guide for Non-profits by Heather Mansfield

Social Media One Day Training

One of the assignments for my social media class was to create a one day training for my professional colleagues to attend. My group came up with the idea below.

In order to do this one day training, we would ask our bosses to allow everyone to have the day off on Friday and instead have a conference held in downtown Nashville to teach how to use social media professionally. Below is how we would organize the training:

Session 1 - Overview of social media (What it is and Why it's important) from 9-11am
Break for lunch
Session 2 - Twitter/ Facebook (How to use it professionally) 1-2pm
Session 3 - Linked In/ YouTube (How to use it professionally) 2:25-3:15pm
Session 4 - Professional Do's and Don't in Social Media 3:30-4:30

We would promote this conference through e-vites to our colleagues, we would put a poster up in the break-room, and make an event page on Facebook.

Hopefully through this one day training our colleagues will learn the importance of social media and how to use it professionally.

What I've learned...

So I've been working on this social media blog for almost two months now and I feel like I've learned a lot about social media. Before taking the Social Media course at MTSU, I just thought of social media as using Facebook and twitter. However, over the past month and a half I've learned that it's more than Facebook and twitter. There are many other social media networks out there to use such as linkedin, google+, and many others.

I've learned about the importance of social media communication, sites such as mashable, delicious, about.me, klout, pinterest, etc. I've also learned about what to do and what not to do while networking, I've learned how to be a better listener on twitter. I'm very thankful for the amount of information I've learned over the past month or so.

My social network has also grown, specifically on twitter. Since tweeting about things I care about, such as the fight against human trafficking, other advocates have started following me and I've learned a lot more about human trafficking going on locally. I've connected with some great organizations such as One Less Ministries, End Slavery TN, and Wellspring Advocate.

I do aspire to be a better blogger.  I do not always have a lot of time to write my posts because of how busy my life is. I do like learning more about social media topics, trends, and new concepts. I hope to continue to learn more about social media after this course is over.

Guy Kawaski, A Social Media Influencer

Back in January, Forbes published a Top 50 Social Media Influencers list. I was told to choose someone off of this list to write a brief biography of their social media experience and their published work. I had no clue who to choose. So I went down the list and looked at their occupation and why they had such a big social media "pull". The first person who caught my attention was Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple evangelist with a social pull of 2, 651, who is ranked as #3 on the list of 50. I went to Guy's twitter page and began to read through his tweets. In less than two hours, he tweeted two things I am very interested in, The Hunger Games and Deadliest Catch. It was then that I decided to write my biography on him.

Guy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Alltop.com, an "online magazine rack" of popular topics on the web. Guy is also a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures. Previously Guy was the chief evangelist of Apple. He has a BA from Stanford University and has written ten books. Guy grew up in a tough part of Hawaii called Kalihi Valley. His parents worked as much as they could to ensure he and his sister always had what they needed. Guy attended a couple of different schools in pursuit of figuring what he wanted to do with his life. Guy worked for NOVA, a jewelry business, for a few years until the Apple II "removed the scales from my eyes". Later on down the road his roommate got him a job at Apple. Once he saw what Macintosh could do he thought he was in heaven. For years he "evangelized" Macintosh to software and hardware developers and "lead the charge against world-wide domination by IMB". By 1987, his job at Apple was done. Macintosh had all of the software they needed by then. He left Macintosh to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. To this day the 4th Dimension, one of the products, remains a great database. He ran that company for two years and then left to peruse writing, speaking, and consulting. In 1989, he and three others started another software company called Fog City Software. In 1995 he returned to Apple as an Apple fellow. At this time Apple was supposed to die. A couple years later, he left Apple again to start an angle investor matchmaking service called Garage.com with a couple others. Currently, he is a founding partner at Garage and co-founder of Alltop as well as a husband, father, author, speakers, and hockey addict.
            *All info on Guy Kawasaki's life is from http://www.guykawasaki.com/about/. 


If I was able to ask Guy Kawasaki any questions, they would be:

• What is your social media motto?
• Does Apple use social media effectively? (I love Apple!)
• What social media concepts do you think are most important to know?

S.M. Concepts that are a must know

Buzzgain.com suggest that all social media users should have knowledge about five specific concepts. They state,  "In today’s social economy - where attention is a precious commodity, it’s important to know the five social media concepts that is influencing the online world". The five concepts they suggest are the following: Web 2.0 and 3.0, Blogs, Forums, Social Networking, and Social News.
Below are the three concepts are most important from buzzgain.com's article on social media concepts to know. The following information is from buzzgain.com. 

• Web 2.0 "refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web". Where as Web 3.0 refers to "the advanced form of web 2.0 which is poised to facilitate the internet users to such an extent that it may understand the browser’s need as and when he searches the web".  
• Blogs are personal websites, which are created by individuals. “Once a story is on a blog, keeping a lid on it is impossible,” says Neville Hobson, an independent consultant on blogging and podcasting. 
• Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users.  Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share a common interest such as hobbies, religion, or politics or professional pursuits.  Once you are granted access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize.  Some of the popular social networking sites include orkut, linkedin, facebook etc.

Another helpful article I found on social media concepts is from searchenginepeople.com. Frank Eybsen suggests that there are seven concepts average users don't know much about. His concepts are the following: social media (in general), difference in social media and social networking, social bookmarking, copyright laws (yes, the still exist), twitter, It's private... or is it?, and web 2.0.

• Some people use the terms social networking and social media interchangeably, but they are two different entities. Social Media is the platform that allows you to share information through various forms. Where as social networking is what you do on social media outlets.
  
• When you find a website to which you want to return, you bookmark it in your internet browser, right? You do the same with social bookmarking. With social bookmarking, however, you can share your bookmarks (and resources) with the general public if you choose.
• When you find a website to which you want to return, you bookmark it in your internet browser, right? You do the same with social bookmarking. With social bookmarking, however, you can share your bookmarks (and resources) with the general public if you choose.
• Is your stuff private or public? The only way to truly protect yourself is to steer clear of social media and social networking, which isn’t an option for most people, so be sure to read the Terms of Service and Privacy Terms carefully when you sign up for a site like Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.
  • Read more: http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/social-media-faq.html#ixzz1rrUBj5gD.

2012 Presidential Election

Below are the list of Candidates for the 2012 Presidential Election

Barack Obama 

Mitt Romney

Newt Gingrich 

Ron Paul 

Since this blog is centered around social media, let's take a look at the difference in social media use from the 2008 election to this years election. The info-graph below explains it all.

According to the info-graph, there are 100 million more Facebook users in 2012 than in 2008, 20 million more Twitter users than in 2008, and 57 million more online video viewers than in 2008.

Since social media has grown rapidly within the last couple of years, it is vital that the presidential candidates use social media to help them win the election.

According to MSNBC, "Republican Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 presidential aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election bid with a digital video emailed to the 13 million online backers who helped power his historic campaign in 2008".

Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition.

Social Media Branding

Have you ever wondered what your social media brand is?

A ‘personal brand’ is in many ways synonymous with your reputation. It refers to the way other people see you, as defined from Skeelie from Skeeliewag.org.
On Skeelie's website are some good advice for how to start your own personal brand.

Skeelie explains, your personal brand is composed of your public actions and output in three main areas:

1. What you're 'about' - Think about the key ideas you would want people to associate with you. 
2. Expertise - Every good brand involves the notion of expertise. Nike brand themselves as experts in creating quality and fashionable sportswear. 
3. Your style - This is not so much what you communicate about yourself, but rather, how you do it. Are you kind and unusually enthusiastic, witty and raw, or confident and crusading? 

There are many tools out there to help you monitor your brand! Check out the tools below!

1. Google Email Alert System - Get an email alert to send to your email when certain keywords and phrases. 
2. SocialMention - This allows you to "easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product or any topic across the web's social media landscape in real time".
3. Tweet Deck - view multiple conversations and searches from one location.
4. Technorati - monitor the blogsphere for what bloggers are posting about you. 

Invisible Children Inc. is one organization that has used social media to their advantage in getting word out about KONY2012, their recent film highlighting the war going on in Africa.  As stated by Marc Ellison at Vancouversun.com, Invisible Children has "78 million views and counting on YouTube, Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 mini-documentary underlines the power of social media".


Used responsibly, tools like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook can be wielded to increase awareness about pressing international issues.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Video+Dissecting+Kony+2012+Invisible+Children+power+social+media/6325301/story.html#ixzz1rfiVL1Cl

For more on personal branding, check out Mashable's Personal Branding 101 article.

Pinterest

Mashable defines pinterest as a "pinboard-styled social photo sharing website. The service allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections. The site's mission statement is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting".

Urban Dictiionary defines pinterest as "a social networking site that allows you to figuratively "pin" pictures of your likes/interests in a simple, organized fashion".

Many entrepreneurs and businesses use pinterest to post photos of their new merchandise. For instance, take the home section on pinterest. Martha Stewarts stuff is all over pinterest and when one person pins something they like their friends will see what they pinned. It is basically a never ending cycle of networking.

My current boards on pinterest are house ideas, food, DIY yourself ideas, and random stuff. I really like pinterest because I see good do it yourself ideas and I can repin them and put them on my board and they are there when I feel "crafty".

I've also started a new board of Traveling stuff! I'm going to Thailand for six weeks this summer and hope to move there when I graduate in December! Check out my Traveling Board!

IC and IJM on YouTube

Explain how profess org are using YouTube. two examples.

In today's society many professional organizations are using YouTube to promote their organization and to spread the word about their organization. There are two organizations I follow closely who use YouTube as a social networking site. 

Invisible Children (IC) is one example of a professional organization who uses YouTube to broadcast their videos. Recently IC has shared their KONY2012 video with the world through YouTube. Their mission of the video was to tell the world about a war that has been going on in Uganda for the past twenty something years. Since that day more than a million people have viewed that video. IC continues to update people about the status of the war and their efforts through YouTube. You can check out there videos here!

The International Justice Mission (IJM) is another professional organization I follow closely that used YouTube to communicate to the public. IJM exists to protect people from violent forms of injustice by securing rescue and restoration for victims and accountability for perpetrators, ensuring that public justice systems work for the poor. They currently have thirteen videos posted on YouTube. I love watching their videos because they really help me to see what's going on in their organization.

My Klout Score

Everyone has influence over others in the world of social media.  It is important to know how much influence you have over others. Klout is an online program that tells you what your influence is through your different social media networking sites. I added my facebook account to this and my influence on Facebook is a 41. The overall average score is 20. So personally I am okay with the score of a 41. I am also considered a "networker" on Facebook. I think this is pretty accurate since I use certain networks to connect with others.
You can find out your influence here.

"Best Practices"

It is really important to build your following, reputation, and customer's trust! The top three practices I think are most important are the following:

1. Share photos and behind the scenes info about your business. 
2. Listen to your followers. Regulate comments about your company, brand, and products. 
3. Respond to your followers compliments and feedback.

 There are also things or "practices" that one should not do:

1. Make sure your twitter picture is not the egg. Make sure you upload a real graphic from your business. 
2. Just because you are using twitter to advertise your business doesn't mean every tweet has to be about advertising your company. Give away stuff or talk about current issues or things going on in your field. 
3. You should not just update twitter once a week. Twitter is a social media outlet that should be used everyday. 

Twitter ~ Quantity vs. Quality

What's more important: quantity or quality of twitter followers? I think Mike Ellsworth explains this answer right one the spot.

 According to Mike, "Twitter is a bit of a numbers game. More followers is often better if you want to get your message out. But in reality, you want your message to go to those ready to receive it. So quality is important. A large number of quality followers is the best possible outcome. You really don't even need more than a few hundred followers if they a) pay attention b) have large followings and c) will ReTweet you. In fact I have two followers who each have networks greater than 20,000 followers. And they'll retweet everything I send them”.

Tweet you later (@MikeEllsworth) 

I only choose brands and people I am interested in knowing their day to day activities and announcements.  My top five professional "tweeps" are the following: 

@ONELessMin

@EndSlaveryTN

@Lifept

@invisible

@smcorco

Most of these the organizations twitter accounts but I follow their leaders closely as well. These are the tweeps that I always want to know what they're saying because I'm invested in their organizations. 

Since learning more about twitter and how to use it effectively, I've gained about 50 followers. I would say out of those 50 I am actively engaging in conversations with 20 of them on a bi-weekly basis.

Twitter

Urban Dictionary has many definitions twitter. Here are two I thought to explain twitter in less and 140 characters:

-The facebook "status" bar...without the rest of facebook.
-A social networking site that's perfect for stalking people with ease.

Twitter is a way to see what people are doing and saying without going through your facbook wall. Most people use twitter to follow their close friends, favorite celebrities, and favorite brands or organizations. It's fun to always have something new to look at and read on twitter.

Social Media Academic Research

I recently found two published academic research articles relevant to social media and organizational communication and I wanted to share them with you all!
The first article I found is titled Serious social media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college. By: David C. DeAndrea, Nicole B. Ellison, Robert LaRose, Charles Steinfield, and Andrew Fiore.
This study reports on a "student-centered social media site designed to enhance students' perceptions of social support prior to their arrival on campus. Results indicated that site usage increased students' perceptions that they would have a diverse social support network during their first semester at college, even when controlling for other potent predictors". This article shows that social media networks do influence people and in this case the diversity in their community.


The second article I found was How sociable? An exploratory study of university brand visibility in social media. By: E. Botha, M. Farshid, and L. Pitt.
This study describes "a tool for collecting brand visibility information by looking at the visibility of various South African university brands and their relative positioning from a social media perspective". They found that the university and the brands "both have opportunities for those who manage these brands, and also threats to these institutions for taking a laissez fair attitude to social media in these times when social media are coming to dominate the Internet in particular and media in general". Social media is also used to see how much people are seeing certain brands. This study focused on one university but this study can be done across many universities.

Effective engagement and networking skills

Check out these resources to help obtain effective social media engagement skills:

 

Designing SM Engagement

Developing SM Engagement Strategy

Need help with your networking skills? Check out this link.

"Listen"

So, what does it mean to "listen" as a social media professional? 


The Search Engine People made up a acronym for LISTEN in reference to social media. 

Listen 

Identify 

Solve

Test

Engage

Nurture your Fan Base

All of these aspects are extremely important when listening to others as a social media professional.



We can improve our listening by engaging with others by listening to others and then engage in conversations with those people.

"Engagement"

What is "engagement" in social media?
In my opinion engagement in social media is when a person is actively involved in social media on a day-to-day basis. Social media is used so much in society to stay connected to friends and family as well as brands and world events. Engaging in social media is very different from the typical interpersonal communication. Social media forces us to get involved with others and businesses on a daily basis via the internet instead of face-to-face communication. In my opinion social media forces us to be more involved with the world around us.

Garin gives thirty ways to Spark Social Media Engagement.
He gives tips for Twitter, YouTube, Google +, and Facebook.

Some of the most important practices I think Garin suggest to engage in social media are the following:

1. Start a hashtag on twitter. If it goes viral this will help you get more followers.
2. Time your tweets. There are certain times of the day people get on twitter. Try to tweet when people are online the most. Do your research to see the most popular times of the day for twitter. 
3. On YouTube ask people to engage at the end of your video. Wrap up your video with a call to action. 
4. Upload pictures on Google+
5. Leave comments on Google+
6. Use Facebook question tools
7. Tag others in your updates on Facebook

How to Maintain a Facebook Fan Page!

 Check out these links for more information on how to maintain a successful facebook fan page!

http://www.openforum.com/articles/social-media-for-business-2012-how-to-maintain-a-stellar-facebook-fan-page

http://www.facebook.com/help?page=168617716530627

http://www.facebook.com/events/324158702041/ 

http://www.blogher.com/how-create-maintain-facebook-fan-page

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243138/how_to_promote_and_maintain_your_facebook_business_page.html

People to follow

Check out these people on twitter and follow them!

Professionals in my field of study
@BKWaring
@timwpatterson
@juanitokey
@ambsparagus
@davidmccaman
@jasonrussell
@lifepointsending
@dustindozier
@svandyke39
@DaleBraswell


Non- MTSU Students in my field of study
@AshleyFricks
@TheThaneMan
@Staciashew10
@justinmorton
@TiffanyHolland
@bobbybailey
@brandontomlin
@kyletanner
@jaredshingleton
@scottiemills


ORCO Professionals
@bwkaminh
I'm still working on building this section... I need to find more ORCO professionals! If you're reading this and you're one, let me know and I'll follow you!


Social Media Blogs
@socialmediablog
@PR_Couture
@socialmediaclub
@TNWsocialmedia
@socialmedia2day
@socialmediaweek
@ABCDsocialmedia
@mashable
@socialmediajobs
@socialguide

Local entrepreneurs
@lifept
@funtrepreneur
@theIDEAPot
@BCUEntrepreneur 


MTSU Organizations
@MTSUnews
@mtsualert
@mtsu_
@MTathletics
@MTCareerCenter
@MTSUGOLF
@MTSUGreeks
@MTAlumni
@MTSUsidelines
@MTSU

Facebook page vs. group for ORCO

Facebook pages and groups have many different pros and cons that should be look at when trying to decide to start a Facebook page or group.

Facebook groups: can be set to open it to a particular network (such as a university), more for personal interaction among members, extension of your personal actions, as long as it's under 5,000 members the administrators can send out messages to the group, more control over the group (like a private club), create events, great for personal level for similar interaction around a cause.

Facebook pages: mostly used to connect with brands, famous people, businesses, the ability to have friends, can add pictures, have walls so fans can post on it, doesn't list the names of the admins, send updates to fans through the page wall, can restrict page to certain ages and locations, can create events, great for businesses who want to interact with fans or customers without using a personal account.

There are also certain guidelines that must be followed when using a page or a group.


 For instance, everyone can join a page but certain people can choose to join the group or not, depending on the level of interaction they want with other ORCO people. 

Our Social Media Group thinks ORCO should start a facebook fan page and a group since both have great pros!


http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/

Starbucks Coffee and Facebook

     In my opinion, Starbucks is one organization that does a great job at using Facebook in an exemplary and successful professional manner to get their brand out there!
     Starbucks in number six on fanpagelist.com's list of top brands on Facebook. 
     Starbucks Coffee has 29,207,842 likes on on their facebook page and 2,232,668 followers on twitter!
     Everyday I see some sort of tweet from Starbucks coffee promoting a new drink, showing an awesome pic from instagram, or a tweet just to say have a great day! I have never seen a status update on their facebook page that has been negative or "unprofessional". They are always encouraging and insightful!
     Being as I am addicted to coffee, I love to be in the know of what's going on in the Starbucks world! They are a great example of a company who is taking advantage of social networking sites to get their brand and name out there!


Like Starbucks facebook page here and follow them on twitter here!

Zuckerberg's "The Social Graph"

Have you been wondering what Mark Zuckerberg's "the social graph" is all about? If so, take a look at Dan Farbers article "Facebook's Zuckerberg uncorks the social graph" on DZ Net.com. 

Farber explains that Facebook is doubling in size every six months and has over 100,000 users per day! 

Zuckerberg attributed the power of Facebook to the “social graph, ” the network of connections and relationships between people on the service. He said, “It’s the reason Facebook works.” says Dan Farber from ZD Net.  

Zuckerberg explains that “As Facebook adds more and more people with more and more connections it continues growing and becomes more useful at a faster rate. We are going to use it spread information through the social graph.” The net effect of the social graph is that groups and application can achieve exponential growth, says Zuckerberg. 

By creating this "social graph" facebook has opened up endless ways for people to organize and do business. As Farber explained with a controlled environment like Facebook one can leverage the huge network of people and allows for targeted innovation. 

People and businesses are now using facebook to reach their target audiences. For example, when Starbucks makes a status update it shows up in my newsfeed. Using facebook as a networking tool to get your company's name out there is not only smart but efficient. People spend a large part of there day surfing social networking sites and the more company's go to where the people are the more people will see the company's stuff!

      

FACEBOOK

            In the past I used facebook for personal things only. I used it to connect with friends I had not seen in a long time or friends I had met abroad. I travel a lot and facebook was a great way to keep in touch with people when I returned home. It was a great tool for just that.

            However, within the past year I have used it a lot more for work. I currently work at LifePoint Church as their Sending (missions) intern. I use my facebook to get information out there about upcoming trips people can sign up for. Being the sending intern I am leading our student internship process. We are sending nine college students to Bangkok, Thailand and three college students to Sao Paulo, Brazil this summer. I now use facebook as the main form of communication with those twelve interns. Since they are all on facebook already, it has worked great to get information to them quickly.

            Being the sending intern I also manage the LifePoint Sending facebook page. I update this on a weekly basis with information about sending and how to pray for people and how to get involved locally and globally. I think facebook is a great source of social media to help me accomplish the things I need to at this time in my life.

ORCO Communication Professionals

Today there are many organizational communication professionals that use social media to spread awareness of their company, programs and stories.

LifePoint Church, whom I work for, is one example of organizational professionals who take advantage of social media. The social media outlet LifePoint uses the most, other than their website, is twitter. If there are any events or news to get out to the church they tweet about it. Since twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites this works great for them!

Another non-profit that I think does a great job at using social media to get the word out about their ministry. ONE less ministries missions is: One less orphan, one less victim of human trafficking, one less victim of sexual exploitation, and one less victim of poverty. The social media outlet ONE less uses the most is their facebook page. Courtney Bartemus, the founder of ONE less, is great at keeping their facebook page up to date on things going on in their organization.

Brittany and Witt Kaminh use blogger to share their life story while living in Bangkok, Thailand. Blogger is another social media site people use to get word out about their work. On their blog they write about their everyday lives in BKK. They are missionaries that work for the LifePoint Bangkok campus.

I plan to follow what ONE less ministries and the Kaminhs are doing through their social media networks. I absolutely love that our world is so connected through social media these days.

Blogging 101

My top three tips for beginner bloggers are as follows:

1. Have a goal. Before starting your blog it is key to define your goals and figure out why you're blogging. Joshua Lockhart lists 7 types of blogs here. There is the teen rambler blog, the mom blog, the philosophy blog, the tech blog, the political rant blog, the gourmet blog, and the neglected blog. It is important to know why you are blogging.

2. Know your audience. Who are you targeting? Who do you want to read your blog? Once this is defined you need to target those specific people. If you are targeting other social media people then you need to follow those people.

3.  Be Consistent and Persistent. Update your blog regularly and keep the content fresh. Your blog represents you and a certain purpose. Be faithful to that "brand" or "purpose".  If you start rambling on about something completely off topic then you may lose your audience.

These are the three goals I am sticking to while writing this blog. You should consider adopting these tips too!

SOCIAL Media Writing Skills

http://www.webcontentcafe.com/2010/10/10-ways-in-which-social-media-writing-is-different-from-traditional-web-writing/#axzz1plZBKIHW

http://www.compukol.com/blog/honing-your-writing-skills-through-social-media/

Mashable

Mashable.com is a great tool for people to use to learn more about social media and technology. One can go to mashable.com and look up how to use any and every social media site. 

Some say TechCrunch is another good tool to "get up to speed" with social media communication. In the past techcrunch had more users than mashable but within the last few months more people have started using mashable. There is no doubt in my mind that mashable has more users now. Just from comparing the look of the two sites you can see they are both very different.  Out of the two I will definitely use mashable. 

However, I haven't really found any resources on mashable that have helped me "get up to speed" with professional social media communication. I know it's a great site but I have not needed to use it so far to look for certain things. I did look on there for this assignment but did not find any articles that really stood out to me. For future assignments I know I can go to mashable to find articles to help me.

Infographs about SMC

      

    Pam Dyer, a social media guru, states on her blog (HERE), "infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They illustrate information that would be unwieldy in text form and they act as a kind of visual shorthand, making information easy to understand and consume. They are driven by the same information as charts, but they’re often a better form of communication because of their pleasant aesthetics — charts and graphs can communicate data, but infographics turn data into information". 

    

    Number 23 on Dyer's blog is an infographic image that shows who participates (U.S. online users) online. It looks at the creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives. As you can see joiners have the highest percent with youth from ages 18 to 21, which is not that surprising. With this many people online one can see that it is extremely important to use social media in organizations and as professionals.

   Infographic number 25 looks at how to build a company with social media. Through this infograph one can see what social media outlets one should use in certain levels of an organization. 

   As you can see just from these two infographs, it is important and possible to use social media communication in organizations and as professionals.

Intro!

Hello! I am Erica Pope and I am a student at MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN. This is my blog to express my thoughts and opinions of my Social Media Communications and Organizational Communications 4000 course. I am taking this course to expand my knowledge of Social Media. I have three goals for this course this semester. First, I hope to learn how to use Social Media correctly through experts and my classmates. Second, I hope to help others learn what I already know about social media sites. My third goal is to grow my social networking skills. I am really excited for the assignments we have throughout the rest of the semester. I think I will learn a lot about social media from those assignments.