Help Someone Understand Social Media
Presumably, most of you reading this site “get it” about social media. You understand that it’s about the conversation. You understand that transparency is important. You get the power of raises voices in bringing about change, and how these new tools deliver these abilities to individuals and organizations alike. Sure, you might learn the occasional thing here, but for the most part, you’re the expert that people turn to in your own personal circle for information on how this all works.
Sometimes, explaining all this is difficult. We’ll hear something that makes sense when we read it or watch it on a video, but when we turn around to explain it to others, some of the words and ideas are lost in translate.
To that end, here are some resources you can pass on to people, to help them understand:
Understanding Blogs
Watch this video from Common Craft about blogs:
Understanding RSS
RSS (really simple syndication) is perhaps the single most important technology commonly referred to as a “Web 2.0″ technology, and yet it’s so rarely given the credit it’s due. Another Common Craft video:
Social Networking
And yes, they cover social networking, too!
Required Reading
Do you have a boss or colleague who doesn’t believe it unless she sees it in writing? Share this list of books (and feel free to add your favorites — or books you’ve written — in the comments area, to add to the list):
This is the granddaddy of all social media texts, revered by some and considered horrible by others. It has my vote as part of the story that brought a lot of this social media to the party. I should also point out that you don’t even have to buy this book, if you don’t want. The authors released the entire book for free on their site.
Both Shel Israel and Robert Scoble continue to do so much for demonstrating how organizations might interact with their customer base, but this book makes a great point-in-time capture of some of their ideas on the topic. An excellent read and definitely a classic in explaining social media to others.
David Meerman Scott has done an excellent job of sharing great bridging ideas from the old world of marketing into the new. His concepts are understandable, backed up by good information, and useful to the larger story of explaining how a marketing or PR group might better understand the new landscape.
I just finished reading this excellent book by Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis. It’s chock full of interesting points, good case studies from the real world, supporting posts and references, and a great deal of useful information. It’s packed into a very slim volume, perfect for those who have a lot to do and little time to do it, and yet excellent in dispensing the important information to be covered.
For the media makers into podcasting and videoblogging, Greg Cangialosi and Michael Geoghegan have released this book recently to cover this space. It’s pretty hefty, but there was lots to cover. It’s definitely built for the business perspective on podcasting, and has lots of information and case studies. For the how-to, there are plenty of other books I’d recommend to accompany this, but for a good view of the realm of business, this is a great guide.
Many Other Books
There are plenty of other books out there that I could recommend, written by excellent authors, some of whom are my friends and occasional visitors to this site. Feel free to plug your book in the comments section if you feel it would help someone convince their organization to get into social media, or understand the landscape, the tools, and the spirit behind it.
And Finally, Blogs and Podcasts
I truly believe that you are the experts. You who come by my blog and spend time with me, and give me your attention, your wisdom, and your excellent posts. So, for those of you seeking further information and corroboration to the story, look no further than the Rockstars page, where I list the blogs and RSS feeds of people who come by this site and make their own media. YOU. Simply find other like-minded folks from the list and refer these blogs on to your colleagues and employers, as watching a few ongoing sites do what they do best is perhaps the best way to show a “living” example of how social media can work.
What Else Would YOU Recommend?
As always, it’s about the conversation. What do you think is a great site to help others understand the value of social media? Do you have favorite haunts or specific blog posts or podcast episodes that really put this in perspective for you? Share with the others here, as it’s all with the hope of promoting understanding.
And thanks!
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Comments
I’m a HUGE fan of the Common Craft Blog–Love it! I deal with the phenomenon you describe all day, every day among friends–”what do you mean, twitter? Where do you find the time?” Oddly people may think this is coming from the “older” generation, when in actuality, for me it isn’t.
Sharing the books you mentioned helps, but most people don’t wan to take the time to invest. Who is the audience you are attempting to share your knowledge with? That makes a difference in your delivery.
So for the people who don’t have time to pick up a book, or aren’t really that invested, where do you go with them? A conversation about a conversation?
I am reading We are Smarter than Me, Which was written by a slew of people and is proving to be interesting and written in short anectodal stories which make it simpler to transfer the knowledge to the masses who “don’t have time.”
Slideshare rocks, in my opinion, and has so many fun things to send people.
We’re still on the cusp of understanding, of people seeing the value. In my opinion text messaging just became prominent in the past year where people know what it is…but many still don’t know how to do it, ironically. I got a 1st text from a friend in Cali last weekend, “testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, …Is the microphone on?”
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Hey, Chris:
Citizen Marketers has to be on this list, as does Creating Customer Evangelists. Also for consideration: Godin’s Ideavirus, Jaffe’s Life After the 30-second Spot and Made To Stick, Dan and Chip Heath.
[…] a hint by Chris Brogan, who has compiled a great set of resources to show your bosses, colleagues or friends how the social web works, I’d like to give you my […]
Each morning I look forward to cramming more of your sacred doctrine into my noggin. Veterans like you, Jeremiah Owyang along with rising stars like Jason Falls make it easier for me to translate social media for the more traditionalist mindsets.
Someone asked me yesterday, “what is social media all about?”. I responded with, “what’s the bible all about? moreover, what’s the internet all about?” In all cases it means different things for different people, so thanks to you and other thought leaders for bringing clarity to the conversation and strategies to elevate social media.
Chris, this is so helpful. I just started a blog for performing arts groups… and have been so inspired by Beth Kanter, and you. I’m finding that for my field I have to have clearer and more succinct points.
So now I’m trying to take some of these key messages, and find examples of arts groups actually doing it to make the point.
THanks!
Chris, thank you for this well-researched resources- I will most assuredly pass them on to my readers as my audience can really use this approach
Thanks!
Lawton Chiles
Hey Chris, thanks for including us. Great list, and some excellent insights in all of these books. Naked’s my favorite!
Chris -
Thanks for including our book in your list, and what a list it is! We all appreciate it. Thanks again!
Best,
Greg
Thanks a bunch for sharing our videos Chris! If nothing else, we want to help people understand. Cheers!
Great post Chris - most of what I do involves trying to communicate the impact of social networking/social media to enterprise customers and there is such a wide range of familiarity with how it works and its benefits that it is nice to have content that addresses users at every point in the spectrum.
Books that I have found incredibly thought provoking in this space are:
Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
Additionally there are reports done by Piper Jaffray, MySpace, PWC, and from people like myself that all extend the conversation about value to commercial enterprises.
Enterprises are being pushed/pulled/prodded into social computing but there is a lot of resistance and conflict regarding how to employ it and what is appropriate.
Thanks for highlighting some useful - and very well done - educational pieces!
Chris as you know I am new to Rss Etc ! I had Techburgh add a Plug In to my blog ! Andy Quayle had some interesting comments on respecting other people’s content ! By creating Rockstar’s it proves you have confidence in your own efforts and are willing to
disseminate others data ! It is a very unselfish approach ! Also reading your content which is always complete and is educational!
Being able to credit other’s efforts is admirable ! I spend a lot of time reading it makes the brain rattle ! This article will help me use RSS with an Objective ! Groban Rock’s
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Great list Chris. I have a few more resources here
http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/archive/2007/10/23/using-the-social-web-for-social-change.aspx
Chris:
Steve Garfield, who I collaborate on Spices of Life, emailed me your blog on “What Friends and Seinfeld Teach You…”. It is INSPIRATIONAL and really helpful to someone like me who has been invloved in the OLD media (NY Times, Gourmet, Oprah,Washington Post, etc) and making the crossover to the NEW media.
More importantly, it is a great tool to help my peers understand what you(we)are trying to do. So I am reproducing it under your name and passing it out to hundreds of people in an educational seminar at the Fancy Food Show in January. Thanks for taking the time and compelling me to “join the conversation”.
Nina Simonds
Mark Goren completely stole my thunder as I was coming to suggest Citizen Marketers. All of his other recommendations are excellent as well.
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Especially for those in business or organizations, I highly recommend Wikinomics by Dan Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams which helps explain how social networking and social media are truly changing the world as we know it: http://www.wikinomics.com/
I’m also a fan of The ClueTrain Manifesto and Naked Conversations previously mentioned. I have been known to randomly send copies of these books to people who I hope to enlighten.
Cheers!
Connie