Getting a Grip on Social Media
While I am lucky to be surrounded by people who get social media and are able to help me sort things out, I am finding there are a lot of PR professionals out there that know social media’s impact on the industry but don’t know where to start in trying to get a handle on all there is to know to about the subject to put the new tools to good use.
So this post is a tribute to all the social media neophites out there, because I feel your pain. Wikipedia is my new best friend, that and Mozilla Firefox, because right now I have searched Wikipedia for about 10 different terms and have three different firefox browser windows open, each with about 5-7 tabs.
Why?
That’s what it takes it seems to keep track of, or just start to understand, what is really going on with social media these days.
Josh Hallett wrote a post recently called Defining Social Media that helps to express the frustration in keeping track of all the conversations and new developments in our social media world.
The developments and changing ideas in social media turn over so fast it will make your head spin. And to top it off, it turns out, everyone who loves social media also LOVES them some jargon. And jargon being tossed around never helps a learning situation.
I (along with probably anyone else who really tries to learn anything well) have this annoying little quality of REALLY needing to understand everything about a subject before I can speak intelligently about it in a conversation. This could, well, take a lifetime I feel after spending a big ol’ chunk of time flipping through all the firefox tabs and wikipedia entries, and still feeling lost!
So here are my humble and amateur suggestions for those also trying to get a grip on this social media stuff:
- A wise professor (that’s you Robert!) once told me to not get bogged down in all the technical jargon sometimes. As PR professionals, we need to know a lot about why certain things like developments with the Social Media News Release may or may not be the most functional solution right now, but as soon as you get into the nitty gritty discussions between software developers that require multiple conversations with your brother who is working on a PhD in computer science to help you understand… well then you have probably gone too far in trying to understand EVERYTHING. Step back. Go back to another site and regain some perspective on the conversations going around the internet that pertain more to the big picture.
- Do use things like Wikipedia as a reference point in understanding some of the jargon that gets thrown around out there - it’s like a dictionary, but better! People are constantly adding to these sites and really breaking things down for people who are totally lost on the subject. The good news is that usually when there is yet another term that you do not recognize in the wikipedia entry itself, there will be a link to another entry which further explains that little nugget of info. (This is where the firefox tabs come in REAL handy…)
- And finally, while these social media know-it-alls (that’s really a term of endearment guys, I’m just jealous that I don’t know it all right now…) do use a lot of jargon, they are also very considerate to insert links to specific terms, events or developments as they talk about them. So click on those links! It does take a while sometimes because there can be so many, but it’s worth it to sort through the web - just don’t get too lost, and know where you started.
It turns out we’re really learning a whole new culture. Your knowledge of the new tools on the web will not change overnight just from reading a few things, but by immersing yourself slowly into this culture by reading blogs and looking up terms, you will slowly accrue the knowledge necessary to feel confident making suggestions and adding your opinions about the subject.
Technorati Tags: social media, social media news release, PR, public relations
These are all very solid ahd practical suggestions, Ashley.
While I, too, use Wikipedia a great deal to research a wide variety of topics, I caution relying solely on Wikipedia as one’s only authoritative source of information.
As has been discussed in the pages of Forward and other blogs, it has been come to light that some Wikipedia entries have been edited by PR professionals to remove unflattering or negative information about the topic in question. In addition, there may be inaccuracies in some entries simply because Wikipedia is created by a very large and disparate online community of contributors. Consequently, one should read Wikipedia entries with a careful eye, and review a minimum number of credible, authorized sources to ensure complete accuracy.
Nevertheless, Wikipedia is a great, and free, starting point for research which can easily be supplemented with a broad range of publicly-available sources.
Comment by Keith R. Pillow — February 6, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
[…] Getting a Grip on Social Media — One major point mentioned here is “immerse yourself.” That’s what it takes to really understand this social media thing. […]
Pingback by The Social Media Conversation » Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business — February 6, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
Thanks for the advice Ashley! I must say that I am COMPLETELY overwhelmed with social media. Like you said, it’s easy to get lost in all the jargon and want to give up. I’m a good ways behind you in trying to figure out all of these terms, but I’m going to use your suggestions to try and catch up.
As Robert has being telling my class, an understanding of social media can give me an edge in finding a job. I want to fully utilize this knowledge, but I just hope I have the patience to sort through it all. Like you said, I just need to take the time to follow the links the bloggers provide and slowly put all the pieces together!
Comment by Lauren N. — February 9, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
It is nice to know that there are others out there that have felt the same frustrations with social media. I really do understand the importance of it in the PR field, but I am still having trouble getting used to all the jargon. Your advice helps and I am hoping that I will become more comfortable using all forms of social media as time moves on. I know it is all about practice and reading up on new technology that comes out. Like you said, I am beginning to realize that the more I blog the more I understand about this culture. I am constantly having to look up words to figure out meanings but it is awesome when I come to a site and say “I know what that means!” What I have to keep telling myself is that this technology will only get more detailed and it is better to go ahead and learn it while I can. I am thankful that Robert is giving me the tools to understand this culture you speak of and give me an advantage when I enter the real world.
Comment by Dana — February 12, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
[…] Forward Blog » Blog Archive » Getting a Grip on Social Media … that’s you Robert !) once told me to not get bogged down in all … Pillow — February 6, 2007 @ 7:46 pm […] Getting a Grip on Social … Comment by Lauren N. — February 9, 2007 @ 4:08 pm http://www.forward-moving.com/blog/2007/02/06/getting-a-grip-on-social-media […]
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