AJLI Basics of Social Networks

PRESENTED BY
HOWARD GREENSTEIN
PRESIDENT
THE HARBROOKE GROUP
AJLI: Using Social Media and Social Networks (updated) Entire presentation CopyLEFT (CC) 2008 by The Harbrooke Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

My Bio
Howard Greenstein
BS from Cornell, Masters at NYU ITP
On-air DJ in the ‘80s, during and after college
Started first Web users group in US 1994, on Board of NY New Media Association and NY Software Industry Association
First Internet Streaming station in NYC - Netcast - 1996
Microsoft Evangelist: Internet Explorer and Windows Media Team 1997-2000 - responsible for top media properties including Fox, MTV, Time Warner and ClearChannel
Other Media Startups, Ran 9-11 related charity
NYU Administration and Lecturer
Created Social Media Club 2006 - Social Media Consulting

Agenda
What is/are Social Media?
Using Social Media for Educating/Spreading the Word
Considerations
Your turn - Ask anything!

Ground Rules
I’m a fast talking New Yorker – stop me if you’re confused. Please.
I’ll attempt to answer short questions at the time you have them, but if we’re going to far off track, I may ask you to follow up afterwards, during the Q&A time.
Finally – I’m Here to learn from you!
Your questions and concerns will be used to update a guide that will come from AJLI with advice for all Leagues - so don’t be shy!

Defining Terms for Social Media

How Many People Have Passed Along…
An email?
An article from an online newspaper?
An emailed joke?
A funny video clip?
A web site or a link?

Social Media
Describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves.
Social Software: “Software that’s no fun to experiment with by yourself.” (It needs friends in order to work)

Elements of Social Media
Social Networks
Photo and video sharing sites
Blogs
Podcasts

Social Network
Technically, a social network is a:
social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency...

Examples of Social Networking Sites
B2B
LinkedIn
Social network with 20MM+ users. Business is facilitated as users connect other users.
XING
4M+ paying users primarily in Europe; used to make business introductions and connect for sales leads.
Consumer
MySpace
180+ million users (and growing), 6th largest web property (Alexa)
The new way music gets discovered
Facebook
100+ million users, the place everyone wants to be now for business and social connections.
Fastest growing of all Social Networks; Huge in 12-34, growing 35+. Facebook is the 2nd most-trafficked social media site in the world (comScore)
Imeem, BuzzNet, MOG
TV Sites like IslandDoo

Facebook
A Social Networking website where users create profiles that often contain photos and lists of personal interests, exchange private or public messages, and join groups of friends.
Facebook also allows 3rd party developers to create applications that leverage the Facebook platform to attract users to their web tools or sites.

Facebook Screens

Social Photo Sharing

Del.icio.us - Shared Bookmarking

Blog:
Short for Weblog, it is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.
"Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.
Blogs let other websites know when new content is available.

Screenshot of my blog

New Ways to think about Communications
“ We are the authors of each other.”
Doc Searls
“ I am who I am because of who we are together.”
Definition of the Zulu word Ubuntu.
(Ubuntu is also the name of popular variant of the Linux free operating system.)

Podcast:
A Podcast (also know as an “Audio Blog”) is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers.
A Radio Program on the net - made by amateurs or pros.
Vlog: A video blog, sometimes shortened to vlog is a blog that comprises video.

Purina in iTunes Podcast = Repeat Behavior

RSS
RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually - similar to receiving a Newspaper daily.
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader," "feed reader" or an "aggregator."
TIP: A variation of RSS is known as ATOM, but it is essentially the same thing.

Web 1.0 (then) Web 2.0 (now)
Web 1.0 was about connecting computers and making technology more efficient for computers. People got only some of the benefits.
Open Standards have enabled innovation and efficiency of “social experience” in what is now known as Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is about connecting people and making technology efficient for people.
Participate Publish

Social Media to Spread the Word

Your members...
Talk with each other

Teach each other

Tell each other stories about what they care about

Tell Stories?
Probably the oldest form of learning/sharing of information
Effective way to pass along information
The original “Word of Mouth” marketing
It is a form of Informal Learning
(see the book Informal Learning by Jay Cross, published Nov. 2006)

What do these Social Media/Web 2.0 sites have in common?

Expression

Social Media make it easier to spread the word…
But it is not automatic.
I found a League with a nice MySpace presence, but no link to it on their site
Same with Facebook
If you build it…they may not come. Why not tell them about it?

When to use Different Social Media

Early Blogs
Cave Drawings annotated life, kept a record, served to inform future visitors (and “the future” was a much shorter time span back then when life span was shorter).

Someday our tools will probably seem equally primitive

“ How to Dial a Telephone” (1927)

Blogging 101
Blogging is meant to be fun and personal.
The best way to think of a blog is that a good blog is like a great conversation taking place at a cocktail or dinner party.

Content & Tone
Use a Human Voice – blogs are a personal medium.
Think about blog posts as a conversation and use a conversational tone.
Be personal, be REAL, be TRUTHFUL, be a LEADER. Use the word “I”, instead of “we”. Don’t use corporate speak.

Blogging Voice
Here’s a nice paragraph from an excellent SEO blogger (search engine optimization):
Charisma is a valuable quality, both online and off. Through a blog, it's most often judged by the voice you present to your users. People like empathy, compassion, authority and honesty.
I’d also add “humility.”

Link intelligently
Linking is part of what makes blogging so viral.
Link to other blogs or sources discussing the same topic as you.
Link to related stories on other sites you write for, and most importantly,
Link to other network bloggers who are blogging on the same topic as you.

Blog Search Engines:
Google - http://blogsearch.google.com/
Google news alerts – to subscribe via email to terms, URLs
Google Reader or MyYahoo
A Free Service you can use to track other blogs, or see how your own blog comes across as a feed

Feed Readers
Some people like to subscribe to feeds offline or in a separate application. Here are some great applications.
NewsGator - http://www.newsgator.com - makes two great applications to track feeds offline;
NetNewsWire – for Mac
Feedemon – for Windows

Using Social Communities

Goals and Measurement
What’s the goal of the community?
Where are you now and where do you hope to go?
What are you measuring (and how)?
Can everyone see the measurements?

Running a Social Media Site Is Like Hosting an Event
Create a clear purpose
Inviting the early users
Setting the mood
Picking the people needed to get the party started
Having someone or a group tasked to help introduce new people
A basic set of rules or guidelines
A “bouncer” to take care of unexpected situations
A way for attendees to pitch in
Multiple ways to participate
Everybody has fun
References:
http://www.commoncraft.com/party
http://www.slideshare.net/leelefever/online-community-as-party

Community Moderation
Self-moderation and self-policing – “report this”
Tools to manage language and issues
Reporting on the back end
Personnel to moderate and manage situations where “flaming” or “trolling” may potentially make community communications uncomfortable

Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Communities
All intended to bring people together
People can show their interests, join groups
Photo and Video Sharing, links, information, invitations
Applications – allow for games, socializing, spending virtual time with friends

LinkedIn.com
A Professional/Work focused social networking site
Big draw is the Questions and Answers feature
Some ability to form groups, but not as developed as some of the other networks
Great place to make connections for future employment, to endorse the work of others by recommending them, to get recommendations

Myspace.com

A JL League page on Facebook

Picture of MySpace Profile

Show me your League’s page!

How to get your community known
Watermark/url images in bottom corner- they’re free advertising for your site
Ratings, Polls, Reviews
Make it easy for people to recommend your site, content, etc. (sharethis.com)
Set good examples for your members
Staff/Hosts participating in forums should be “perfect” members of the community

Some specific advice on how to use these communities
Connecting members together
Sharing photos from events
Attracting new members
Place to show good works done
It’s a place to get FEEDBACK from members, the community, even the people you helped!

Here are some screens from different Junior League pages on social networks

Which is the better presence?

Taking Communicating and Connecting to the Next Level
New Website Initiative Open presentation

Additional Benefits from new AJLI site
No reinventing the wheel
Learn what is successful for other Leagues
Ability to connect with members in other towns you meet at conferences!
Others…

Is Social Media for Everyone?
Legal issues and Terms of Service
Privacy vs. Spreading the Word
Sustaining your effort - Volunteers
Social Media Considerations

Public vs. Private Sites
Some Leagues, and some people, won’t be comfortable with using public sites like Facebook or MySpace, or with sharing using a photo or video sharing site
Some social networking sites have a perception that they’re ‘just for the kids’
Some information is best shared privately within your League, members-only

Consideration: Not Everyone Participates

The 1-9-90 Rule
In online communities, there is a 1-9-90 rule
1% of people will be most active and create most of the content
9% will be active but will contribute much less
90% will lurk and obtain information without giving back
Really successful communities grow by helping move people from the 90 to the 9 and from the 9 to the 1 (or shifting the ratio)

Less Computer-Literate Users
Remember the 1927 Film
Some people may be intimidated by a blog instead of an online newsletter
Some people don’t know how to join Facebook, nor are they sure what they’re getting into
Best practices to help:
Demonstrations at group meetings
Buddy Program – Experienced with inexperienced users – Great opportunity to reach out to sustainers – Some of them Will Teach You!

I fought the law…and the law won…
Can you be sued for blogging? Sure. This is America – they can sue you for anything!
It is worth looking at http://w2.eff.org/bloggers/lg/ which is the Legal Guide for Bloggers.
I am not a lawyer but the guide has useful ideas.

Terms of Service
Tell people how you expect them to act on your site
That way, if they violate your ‘terms of service’ you can remove anything they have posted in comments, etc. , and you are more legally ‘covered’ as a publisher
Again, a lawyer will have more information on this

Legal Considerations Continued
When consulting I generally advise:
Don’t publish falsehoods, or defame someone’s reputation.
Be careful when republishing ANY information from another site or source, (copyrighted or not) and always provide a citation to where you found the information. (Fair Use)
Watch for guidelines about the usage of logos, trademarks, and other protected and valuable items of intellectual property.
Learn the differences between being a publisher and being an editor.
And of course, if you have questions, ask an attorney!

Non-legal ‘rules’ to consider
Posting photos – does everyone look good?

More “rules”
Do you post photos with kids?
Is anyone under an order of protection, in a foster care situation, etc?
Do you keep comments on a site if they’re negative?
We could spend an hour on that one, but I advise yes
Your site is a conversation. Not everyone agrees with you. That’s ok.

Don’t run out of gas…you need volunteers
Who will blog?
Who will edit?
Who has the final say?
Who monitors the social network?
Jobs include: Welcoming new people, teaching, reminding people of rules of etiquette
Who creates the content and uploads it?
Who approves it?

Your Turn!

Final thoughts

HOWARD GREENSTEIN
[email_address]
http://www.HowardGreenstein.com/
Thank You!

AJLI Basics of Social Networks

by Howard Greenstein on Oct 31, 2008

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AJLI Basics of Social Networks — Presentation Transcript