The Language of Social Media

Dear Moxie Maven

One night I went to sleep and the next morning woke up to a whole bunch of people speaking a different language. Everyone is tweeting on Twitter, friending on Facebook, and asking if I’m doing the social media thing. What language is that? Besides isn’t all that for kids?

Sincerely Stumped

Dear Sincerely Stumped,

First, let’s tackle the question of what social media really is. I mean really what makes it any different than regular media? Most people think that social media is simply an application, like Facebook, but it is more than that. Yet, there really is one thing that really sets traditional media apart from social media and that is the time to deliver.

In traditional media it can take hours, days, or even months to deliver a newspaper, magazine, or book. Social media is instantaneous; it is all about the delivery of information in a community fashion. The information continues to grow as people in the community contribute.

It is not unheard of to have breaking news first be distributed on channels such as Twitter, and other social media sites that have status updates. News can spread as fast as someone witnessing it can send a text message.

Social media can really be broken into several different types: communication, collaboration, multi-media, opinion sharing, and entertainment.

It always seems like each social media platform comes complete with its own language, Twitter is my favorite example of this. When you communicating it said that you tweet, your followers are your tweeple or peeps, and from there you might be better off just getting a twictionary, I mean Twitter dictionary.

Social media is a collection of powerful tools that has taken communication in a completely new direction. To some this new way of communicating seems so foreign and unapproachable, but it is most certainly not just for kids.

Each and every day people are discovering ways of improving their business models and incorporating social media into their marketing strategies. Social media is working for the small one person shop just as well as the large corporations.

Think of social media as putting everyone on a level playing ground and it is all about the message. What are you doing to build an audience, to engage the audience, and to keep the audience coming back? When those questions can be answered you have mastered the use of social media.

Over the next several weeks we will be exploring the questions that will in the end answer not only why you need to pay attention to social media, but how you can incorporate social media into your business model.

As we explore social media you will also find that it can be very personally rewarding.

Sincerely Stumped, honestly to answer this question would take a book, but you are in luck. If you stick with this series by the end you will have read that book!

Published 8/3/09 in the Grand Junction Free Press.