Stratification of the Social Media
Posted by Pat Kitano at 7/25/2008 6:56 AM 
Categories: social networking, New Business Models, Blog networks, Blogging, Social Media
Categories: social networking, New Business Models, Blog networks, Blogging, Social Media
The Social Media has developed a variety of functional layers for the purposes of online social expression. At Inman Real Estate Connect Wednesday, I discussed the topic of how to use different social media applications that I want to clarify in this simple post. The Social Media has developed a variety of functional layers for the purposes of online social expression:
(The slide is a part of the slideshow "How to Become an Online Authority")
Online resume - LinkedIn seems to be the only social network application that is widely used as an online resume, and has positioned itself for professional networking. The job sites like Monster and Career Builder focus only on the job search functionality that services their client bases of corporate job posters and have completely missed out on the social community opportunity of defining their applicant by their networks. Beyond job sites, it's surprising no other social networks, or even Google, has focused on adding a full featured resume offering.
Online society - the Social Networking applications define who you know. For business development purposes, they are essential for referrals in the discovery process of finding common "connections" between two previously unrelated parties. These connections, such as finding out a best friend is a cousin of the other party, are treated as serendipitous events and can create the link that instantly gels the new relationship. Without social networks, the discovery process is harder, and networks more time and resource consuming to build. Simple mathematics dictates that two well connected people in a locality are going to share some sort of serendipity.
Active Rain
and the myriad social networking sites
Broadcast media - new applications that act as massive community IM applications like Twitter allow groups to easily broadcast breaking news and information, as well as conversations, across their network. The key to these micro-blogging applications is their simplicity - messages are short and sweet, and don't require the time resources writing a blog article takes. Second, network building is easy because "followers" only need click once to join the group. (At LinkedIn, it takes about 5 steps to add a friend because one needs to qualify their affiliations). Online resumes and society applications are developed for self presentation, broadcast media applications are used for self expression (and thus, marketing).
Check out slideshow Explaining Twitter and Friendfeed.
Friendfeed
and clones like Identi.ca
Shared knowledge applications - Sharing knowledge and expertise has become the preferred marketing method for reaching an audience pleasantly over the more traditional advertising ethos of spamming one-way messages to a readership who regard them as "commercials". The concept of sharing knowledge in order to establish authority is actually a new, sea change societal concept. Before Web 2.0, authority (in its purest definition) was established by creating and owning the content that developed a loyal following. Its industrial parallel is the mainstream media... it once owned all media content, and built a business model around charging subscription fees for consuming such content. Web 2.0's user-generated content (being shared at applications like YouTube and Digg) has driven the cost of consuming content down to zero (free), and is forcing media companies to fire their producers and journalists. The new media business model is to position themselves as distributors, as well as creator, of news in order to maintain traffic (and thus influence) to their portal websites.
By extension, sharing knowledge positions it practitioners as authoritative "media sources". In addition, since mainstream media is actively adding credible media sources for distribution to their readership, the looming opportunity is to be recognized by mainstream media as authorities and become recipients of their reader traffic.
Check out slideshows Mass Media is Embracing the Social Media, and The Hard Sell is Dead.
Google Reader
Del.icio.us
Digg
YouTube
Friendfeed
Stumbleupon
Blogs
Obviously, the blog performs all four functions as a focal point for social expression (and marketing if the blog is being positioned for business development). Most participants in the social media will eventually realize that the blog centralizes their message, and will take the leap to develop one, particularly when they understand that the exercise of blogging is simply an extension of what they are doing on Facebook and Twitter. The blog platform is becoming commoditized in real estate as blogging is becoming integrated into the offerings of HomeGain and Trulia as marketing tools.
Well, this needed to be written!
Thanks Pat - 30,000 feet sure makes it easier for the noobs to get their head around the usefulness of this social media tidal wave they have found themselves drowning in.
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WOW, what a great post, thanks for sharing. Made much more sense the way you broke down.
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