Frank E. Parcells, Ph. D.

& Professor,
Austin Peay State University
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Executive Vice President
International Association of
Business Communicators,
Nashville Chapter
 Social Media?
 Social Networking?
 Where is it found?
 Who uses it?
 Why is it growing so
quickly?
 Why is it important for
professional
communicators?
 Just what do we mean when we say, “Social Media?”
 Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social
interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable
publishing techniques (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media).
 A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-
generated content. They include social networking sites like
LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us,
social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are
centered on user interaction (searchenginewatch.com/define).
 Social Media is…a shift in how people discover, read, and share
news and information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and
technology, tranforming monologue (one to many) into dialog
(many to many) (
http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/06/29/the-definit
ion-of-social-media
).
 Just what do we mean when we say, “Social
Networking?”
 A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of
social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share
interests and/or activities (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social
Networking).
 The process of building online communities, often accomplished
both through 'groups' and 'friends lists' that allow greater
interaction on websites. Find out more about social networking(
webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/web20-glossary_2.htm).
 Interactive communication in which participants in online
communities such as Facebook share thoughts, photos, etc. with
members of their own personal networks in a controlled way(
sait-fds.editme.com/Sssss).
SOCIAL MEDIA SITES SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

 YouTube.com
 Flickr.com
 Wikipedia.com
 and all of the social
networking websites.
 Facebook.com
 MySpace.com
 LinkedIn.com
 Bebo.com
 Friendster.com
 hi5.com
 Orkut.com
 PerfSpot.com
 SOCIAL MEDIA SOCIAL NETWORKING
 Social media is  A focus on building
disseminated through social relationships
social interaction. among people.
 Based on user  Building online
participation and user-
generated content. communities.
 A shift in how people
 Interactive
discover, share, and communication among
read news and participants.
information.
1. http://Facebook.com 11. https://Login.Live.com
2. http://Google.com 12. http://Google.pl
3. http://Mail.Google.com 13. http://Twitter.com
4. http://YouTube.com 14. https://Google.es
5. http://Google.de 15. http://Amazon.com
6. https://Google.com 16. http://Google.ca
7. http://Google.it 17. http://cgi.Ebay.de
8. http://Apps.Facebook.com 18. http://cgi.Ebay.com
9. http://Google.fr 19. http://Google.com.au
10. http://Google.co.uk 20. http://Maps.Google.com

Note that Google owns multiple websites including YouTube.com and the
other obvious listings using geographic top level domain names in the top 20
listing.
Social media and networking websites in the top 20 include Facebook.com,
YouTube.com, Twitter.com, and the applications site, Apps.Facebook.com.
Amazon.com and Ebay.com are the only non-search engine or non-social
media and networking websites in the top 20 worldwide.
1. http://Facebook.com 11. http://En.Wikipedia.org
2. http://Google.com 12. https://Login.Yahoo.co
3. http://Mail.Google.com m
4. http://YouTube.com 13. https://Login.Live.com
5. http://Google.de 14. http://Yahoo.com
6. https://Google.com 15. http://Google.pl
7. http://Google.it 16. http://Login.Live.com
8. http://Apps.Facebook.com 17. http://Twitter.com
9. http://Google.fr 18. https://Google.es
10. http://Google.co.uk 19. http://Amazon.com
20. http://Google.ca
Note that Google owns multiple websites including YouTube.com and the
other obvious listings using geographic top level domain names in the top 20
listing.
Social media and networking websites in the top 20 include Facebook.com,
YouTube.com, Twitter.com, and the applications site, Apps.Facebook.com.
Amazon.com is the only non-search engine or non-social media and
networking website in the top 20 in the U. S.
•With broadband and
Wi-Fi connectivity
available almost
anywhere today, there
are no limits on social
networking locations.
•Our mobile society
employs highly mobile
technology.
•Literally, people can
social network from
anywhere in the world.
 Broadband cellular 3G &
4G networks bring new
meaning to accessibility of
social media and social
networking.
 Again people today are
highly mobile in their
communications.
 Always increasing online
speed helps to connect
even YouTube.com videos
to smart phone
technology.
 Facebook claims that 50% of active users log into the site each day. This
would mean at least 175 million users every 24 hours.
 Twitter now has 75 million user accounts, but only around 15 million are
active users on a regular basis.
 LinkedIn has over 50 million members worldwide..
 Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users on global
basis. Six months ago, this was 250 million. This is over a 40% growth in
less than 6 months.
 Flickr now hosts more than 4 billion images.
 More than 35 million Facebook users update their status each day. 
 Wikipedia currently has in excess of 14 million articles, meaning that it’s
85,000 contributors have written nearly a million new posts in six months.
 Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%.
Currently, there are around 2.5 billion uploads to the site each month.
 The average number of tweets per day was over 27.3 million at the end of
last year .
 The average number of tweets per hour was around 1.3 million.
 More than 250 Facebook applications have over a million combined users
each month.
Site Features & Facebook.com MySpace.com Bebo.com Friendster.com
Ratings
Rank? #1 #2 #3 #4
Rating? **** **** *** ½ *** ½
Profiles? *** **** *** ½ *** ½
Security? **** **** **** *** ½
Network *** ½ *** *** **
Features?
Search? *** ½ **** ** ****
Support? **** **** *** ***
Age to Join? 13 years 14 years 13 years 16 years
% of Under 18 36% 53% 54% 3%
Users ?
Post Photos? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Post Comments? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Friends? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Blog or Journal? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Site Features & Facebook.com MySpace.com Bebo.com Friendster.com
Ratings

Privacy Settings? Yes Yes Yes Yes

Block Users? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Reporting Yes Yes Yes Yes
Abuse?
Offer Safety Yes Yes Yes No
Tips?
Chat Rooms? No Yes No No
Instant Yes Yes Yes No
Messaging?
Personal Videos? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Classified Ads? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Groups? Yes Yes No Yes
User Forums? No No No Yes
Email Tech Yes Yes Yes Yes
Support?
Source: Top Ten Reviews. (2010). Social networking websites review in Top Ten Reviews. Retrieved August
25, 2010 from http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com.
With the rising popularity of the
social media and networking
websites today, you'll find many
Cyber crimes where adults
impersonate children, becoming
friendly, and then coaxing children
to meet face-to-face. This is a
serious problem today with youth
as young as 13 years having
sanctioned access to these social
media and networking sites.
Should children (even those
over 13 years of age – the
age limit for many social
networking websites) be
able to post and
communicate without
supervision?
Statistic reveal that it is
very, very dangerous for
kids (both tweens and
teens) to establish online
relationships through social
networking.
Visit and familiarize yourself
with the appropriate social
media and networking websites.
Familiarize yourself with the
various site layouts, media, and
marketing potential for your
and your organization.
What exists on these sites that
may not yet be realized that you
can use to you and your
organization’s advantage.
 Social networking sites such like Facebook and
MySpace are today’s party lines of this young
century.
 These sites are inviting and intriguing and a
powerful communication tool.
 Jiyan Wei, product manager at PR Web, an online
press release marketing service, is a fan of social
networking sites. He says, “If we're going to have
a booth at a trade show I'll send out a note to the
group and invite them to stop by. Often someone
will post a casual comment or ask a question. If it's
too long, I take the conversation offline."
 Wei is also a member on LinkedIn, which is used
almost exclusively for professional networking.
 LinkedIn Users understand that members sign up
to promote themselves for career development
first, their companies second.
 Here the quality of LinkedIn lies solely in the
quality of the contacts, not the quantity.
 LinkedIn's PR manager, Krista Canfield, suggests
you treat your contacts like you treat your
Rolodex. She says, “once you make a contact, that
person has access to your network.”
•LinkedIn has more than
150,000 groups available to
it’s members.
•LinkedIn groups include

almuni groups, business

forums, fan clubs, and
conferences
•LinkedIn’s PR Manager

Canfield believes that the

business forums should be
used for communication
just like a business lunch.
•A soft-sell approach to

networking seems to work

best in these forums.
 Group Buying – the ability
for social media users to buy
applications and other
products and share them
with friends.
 Mobile – accessing social
media and social networking
websites by broadband,
smart phone connectivity.
 Branded Content –
Companies are realizing the
importance of creating their
brand in a way that includes
social media and networking
users.
 Google to Keep Failing – with
always increasing numbers on the
social media and networking
websites, Google will continue to
lose ground in overall audience.
 Twitter Monetizing – Twitter is
making a “land grab” for users by
introducing new options and
opportunities for their consumers
(applications etc.).
 Facebook Credits – offering
businesses an opportunity to
handle merchandise, purchase
items, and offer Facebook credit
cards and gift cards. Next, its
Facebook directly handling and
processing online financial
transactions.
 Sites like Facebook & MySpace
are powerful communication
tools today, particularly for
contact with younger
audiences.
 Using them correctly likely
will increase your business
profile.
 It is essential that you have a
marketing approach to social
networking for any business.
 Know your target audience,
market, potential customers,
and then build a social
relationship with them.
 Don’t start out promoting
yourself, your brand, or your
website.
 Establish yourself first as a
part of the online community.
 Become known, and then
share with members of your
community.
 Be yourself, be human, and
slowly begin to reveal yourself
to others in the online
community.
 Expanding is also important
by starting a blog, making and
posting a video, and then
linking to your website.
 Driving traffic and sales to
your site through visits to
your blog or other online
communications are the
greatest measures of
success in your social
networking ventures.
 Ask, “does your social
networking really drive
interest and consumers to
your website?”
 There is analytic software
available for hardcore
marketers to follow
connectivity to your
organization’s website.
 Be strategic. Plan your
use of social media from
the very start.
 Establish goals and
objectives that you can
measure.
 Then progress slowly to
establish yourself and
your organization in the
social media.
 Social media marketing  Social networking creates
creates opportunities for a buzz around an
an organization that are organization’s website.
not otherwise available to
you.
 Social media create
 Social media add a human inbound links to your
element to your business organization’s website
or product. which help you to build
 Social networking allows search engine traffic.
you to engage customers  Social networking
directly (but informally) connections to your
while hanging out online. organization’s website
 Social networking gets help to create loyalty and
traffic to your trust through your
organization’s website. customers.
 Ask yourself some important
questions like “How much
do you really know about
social media and
networking?” and “How
comfortable are you with
social networking?”
 Important concepts of social
media which you must grasp
follow with specific and
appropriate websites for
your marketing purposes.
 Use social bookmarking on
Technorati.com,
Propeller.com, Digg.com,
Reddit.com, &
StumbleUpon.com.
 Use social networking on
Facebook.com, MySpae.com,
Ryze.com, &
DirectMatches.com.
 Use content sharing on
Hubpages.com,
Squidoo.com,
EzineArticles.com, &
Gather.com.
 Use media sharing on
GoogleVideos.com,
YouTube.com, Flickr.com, &
SlideShare.com.
 Use Blog platforms like
Wordpress.com,
MovableType.com, &
Blogger.com.
 Meet Specific Business
Objectives
 Support Online
Community Goals
 Encourage Member
Interaction
 Encourage Member
Relationship Building
 Quick Information
Sharing
 Integrate with Other
Marketing Activities
 Utilize Accompanying
Media Effectively
 Offer Satisfying User
Experience
 Provide Long-term Utility
 Enhance the Value for
Online Community
Participants
 Maintain Agility &
Flexibility During the
Campaign
 Encourage Company
Employee Participation
Don’t overlook traditional media in
your marketing campaign and
integrate social media and
networking with other your other
media options.
Remember the specific types of
social media and networking
alternatives and the connections to
audience and markets that accompany
them.
Always establish yourself in any
online community before beginning
your social marketing campaign.
Always establish strategic
communication in online
communities. Have specific goals and
objectives and move slowly into your
full blown social media campaign.
 Introduce new elements slowly into a
social networking online community.
Emphasize the benefits of your
organizational affiliation to the
members of the online community and
then link to your organization’s
website.
Expand the advantages of affiliation
as members of your online community
warm up to you and your organization.
Take time to relax and enjoy your
own social networking with members
of your online community or
When planning your communities.
IMC campaign be certain Follow up with a clear evaluation
plan to determine your successes and
to include social media
failures in the social media/networking
and networking. campaign.
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