Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

social media

Discussing Social Media with… Eric Guerin

A little while back, I sent out a request via Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in being interviewed for a discussion on social media. With the medium meaning so many different things to so many people, as well as how it can be used, I was interested to hear the views of the people I connect with.

My original plan was to run a “round table” style of blog post – raise the questions and then have a mix of views as the responses. However, the answers I received back were all excellent, and showed why social media is the mix of interesting people and views that it is. So, I decided individual posts would be far more effective in an on-going series of interviews.

First up is Eric Guerin, co-founder of SmartMarket Movie, offering marketing tools via the medium of online video. My sincere thanks to Eric for taking the time to reply and share his views. To connect with Eric, or find out more about him, please visit his profile at SmartMarket Movie.

If someone was to ask you for your definition of social media, what would it be?

Social media for me are tools, interfaces & websites where you as an individual can seek to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media networks.

What is your reason for using social media?

I own a small virtual business creating online marketing videos. Participation in various social media communities allows me:

a.? The ability to promote my business through social media community engagement

b.? Extend the reach of my business outside of my local region to compete on a national level

c.? The ability to promote my customers products or services to people who trust my opinion

Do you feel that social media is being used to its maximum effect?

No, I feel that there are a select few people who understand the opportunities for engagement by using social media and how to go about utilizing it correctly. I think with time more and more businesses will begin to see what prospects are available by taking part in social media.

What social media tools or applications do you use? Why these ones in particular?

I have tried many different social media tools. The ones I have settled on were largely because they were the ones I was the most comfortable with and the tools where I saw the majority of my potential customers engaging. I utilize Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl and Reddit for social bookmarking but am really only active and engaging with people on Digg. As a video producer I am active and launching videos weekly on almost all of the video sharing sites including YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Revver, Viddler, Metacafe, AOL Video and Dailymotion. For everyday tools I blog, comment on other blogs and I use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Where do you see the future of social media, both in general and for you?

I think as more and more people start to utilize social media in their daily lives it will become more and more effective and accepted by the main stream masses.

Right now there are a select group who are utilizing what it has to offer but as that group starts spreading the word the acceptance of social media will grow. As for me, my usage of social media will definitely grow and refine as I see more and more applications for what I do and opportunities to engage in communities.

Are businesses effectively using social media? If not, what can they do to improve?

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t feel most businesses are effectively using social media. Most jump in like they would with an advertising plug and without looking to connect with the community first. Then they assume that social media doesn’t work so they abandon it.

What do you feel are the best and worst features/uses of social media?

The best features of social media are the opportunities for engagement in various ways across all of the different social media websites/applications. People feel like they get to know you on a somewhat more personal level by reading your updates, watching your videos, etc. So, as a business, they are more apt to remember what you do, particularly when you allow your personality to shine through in your social media involvement.

My pet peeves with social media are when I get direct message sales pitches through Twitter or get invited to some online game that gets passed around on Facebook because “if you invite 5 friends you get a new ____” so people just choose 5 friends, or all their friends, and just forward it on.

People need to know and understand who they are communicating with first before they start sending invitations to games some of their Friends are probably not interested in or sending direct sales pitches to people they don’t even know. One thing I know for sure is that cold-calling DOES NOT work in social media.

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Interview on Comet Branding Radio and Other News

One of the great things about social media is the people you meet and connect with. From curious newcomers to social media experts and everyone in between, it’s truly a medium for everyone to connect and discuss. Next week I’ll be involved in the discussion side of things when I talk about the social media press release on Comet Branding Radio.

One of the foremost branding and communications firms in North America, Comet Branding combines traditional branding and marketing with social media and all that has to offer. Their radio show has included the likes of Brian Solis, Jennifer Leggio and others and looks at how to build brands using traditional PR, social media, eco-friendly approaches and more.

The founder of Comet Branding, Al Krueger, kindly offered an invitation to discuss the social media press release. I’ll be appearing with Jason Kintzler, founder of Pitch Engine; Todd Defren, Principal of Shift Communications; and Mike Volpe, VP of Marketing at HubSpot. It looks set to be an interesting discussion – I hope you can join us.

In other “special appearance” news, myself and fellow social media advocate Susan Murphy recently collaborated on a guest post at the blog of author and Emmy award-winning former CBS corespondent David Henderson. This came about after our responses to one of David’s posts on social media and its perceived non-effectiveness in business use. It was an enjoyable partnership and my thanks to David for extending the invite – you can read the guest post here.

Finally, I just received confirmation that I will be a blog partner for this years’s Open Web Awards, or Webby’s. Run by the good folks over at Mashable, the Webby’s recognize the major innovations in web technology. There are 26 categories, and nominations run between November 5 to November 18 2008. The actual voting will take place between November 19 and December 15 – make sure you stop by.

I’d like to thank everyone for inviting me to take part in these events and discussions, and I’m looking forward to hearing and sharing the views of some of my peers and contemporaries.

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The Growing Elitism of Social Media

Recently I questioned whether we were turning into social media snobs. This wasn’t an attack on social media per se – more a valid look at whether certain people in the social media arena were beginning to try and wield a little too much (and possibly unwanted) influence over the medium.

However, perhaps even more disappointing than snobbery is the elitism that seems to be creeping into social media as well. While they may share certain characteristics, they are two different beasts.

Instead of the “do as I do” approach I discussed in my snobbery post, there’s a growing trend of “I want to feel more important than you” elitism that’s becoming more apparent.

A good example is the Twitter phenomenon. At its heart, it’s an excellent tool to not only make new friends and potential business contacts – it’s also a great way to see a microscopic snapshot of someone’s life in nibble-sized chunks. The fact that Twitter only allows you 140 characters to say your piece means you have to use that space wisely. This can lead to some very inventive and humorous comments.

Yet lately Twitter has become nothing more than a virtual brothel for people to either whore themselves out or to come across as a “look at me, I’m great” type of person. As a fan of social media and all it can offer, I find that sad and a little disappointing.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ll notify my fellow Twitter users/followers of a new blog post – but then, that’s fairly standard for pretty much everyone on Twitter.

Where the application is losing its appeal (for me) is the amount of people that shout out about how many followers they have, or how many more they need to reach 500, or 1,000, or something similar. When did Twitter become a popularity contest? Isn’t that what MySpace is for (and one of the reasons Facebook is starting to take over from the Fox-backed networking site as the most popular)?

Maybe it’s just me, but I can see from your Twitter profile how many followers you have, or how many people you are following. That doesn’t interest me – and judging by the reaction of some of my friends who have stopped following certain Twitter accounts, it doesn’t impress them either.

Instead, tell people about excellent sites or blogs they should be checking out. Tell them about tools they can use to make them more effective in either their online brand building or improving their social media awareness.

Constantly mentioning you have so many followers often emits an air of superiority that no-one really enjoys and can lead to them unsubscribing from your updates. Which kind of goes against all that social media stands for, no?

The A-Z of Social Media Part 1 – Michael Arrington

As social media begins to find its feet, so the major players in it stand out – Michael Arrington is one such player. Widely recognized as one of the more “vocal” inhabitants of the social media world, Michael Arrington is undoubtedly one of the more successful proponents of it as well.

He is the founder of TechCrunch, one of the leading weblogs dedicated to profiling new Internet companies and products as well as those that are making a cultural impact on the Internet. From a small beginning as just another blog, TechCrunch has been built by Arrington and his team into a site that is consistently featured in online Top 100 lists.

As well as TechCrunch, Michael Arrington has also been involved in numerous other social media start-ups. These include OmniDrive, Dogster and Seesmic amongst others. This has led to Arrington being named as one of the most influential people on the Web.

As much as he is respected for his role in online and social media development, Michael Arrington also draws his fair share of criticism as well – most notably, that he often uses TechCrunch as nothing more than a soap box for his Silicon Valley friends. He’s also been criticised for posting stories on TechCrunch and lambasting people without knowing all the facts, as the debate about a recent story regarding a dying ex-corporate lawyer attests to.

Whether you’re a fan of Arrington or feel he’s been overhyped by both the mainstream and specialist media, there’s no denying the part played by both him and his companies in the rise of social media as a viable medium. For that alone, he deserves his part in the A-Z of social media.

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Are We Turning into Social Media Snobs?

From its inception, social media has always been about the romantic notion of connectivity. Full connectivity. Whether it?s being able to interact with the Internet in a more open manner than we?d ever known previously, or connecting with other like-minded people to share, advise and learn, social media and full connectivity have gone hand in hand. Until now.

I read a lot of blogs – some by the biggest names in social media, some by the rising stars, and some that are just entertaining reads by people starting to find their feet in this whole social media world. Then there are the non-niche blogs that are worth anybody?s time.

What I like most about these blogs (and the others that are recommended to me by friends) is the openness and free-to-all approach that they offer the reader. There?s no hidden agenda here – simply the proponents of social media and those interested in it, sharing views along the way.

Recently though, I?ve been leaving many of these blogs with the feeling that the authors are beginning to believe a little bit too much in their own hype. Instead of sharing openly with their readers and asking for opinions on how they view social media, the authors are instead preaching how to approach the medium.

This would be okay if it was merely helpful advice from someone who?s been there and done that. Sadly, it?s becoming less so. Instead, we?re treated to people virtually attacking the medium that gave them such a popular voice to begin with.

Example – there?s a particularly well-known tech blogger that recently chastised other bloggers for not name-checking thousands of blogs a day, or for not using tools like Google Reader in their sidebar to let other bloggers know what they?re currently reading. This irks me.

Not everyone is (or wants to be) a professional blogger. Many simply use the medium for sharing their innermost thoughts with a curious world. So what if someone doesn?t want to link to another blog, or website, just for the sake of linking? Does that make them any less of a person (or blogger)? Does it mean they don?t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as this tech blogger that raised the point in the first place?

Of course not.

There are many ways that bloggers can show appreciation of the work of others without blatant shout-outs and name checks all the time. Blogrolls, or links, for example. Or using an application like CommentLuv, that shows the last blog post of anyone leaving a comment.

Blogging shouldn’t be a private playground where the ?privileged few? set the rules. Nor should social media. Instead, both should be methods of bringing people together to ultimately make the world a friendlier and better place. Shouldn?t we try keep it that way, before the snobs ruin it for everyone?