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.