Student Writing: WTF is Social Media?

This is the first in a series of writings by PSU Graphic Design students. This series doesn't have a name yet, and I promise every post won't be made by me. This is just to get things started. Please let me know what you think. If this was useful to you, speak up! If you'd like to write the next installment, let us know! Thanks for your time.

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Last night I attended an event called, "WTF is Social Media?"t It was put on by 52 Ltd., a creative staffing firm who connects creative professionals to the clients who need their work. I rolled up to the White Stag building in Old Town, the University of Oregon's LEED remodel of an historic building. I locked up my bike among throngs of others and entered the swinging glass doors. I did my best to not be nervous among the crowd of older, cleaner, better-dressed interactive developers and designers, and I even showed up early for the "drinks and networking" part of the evening. Dank catering, free beer and the importance of networking for designers kept the snacking and chatting part going far over schedule. Luckily I had a buddy with me so things weren't too awkward.

I gave out one of my business cards out, to a man I already knew. That might sound lame, but he was one of the folks speaking that night so I felt like that networking interaction deserved extra points.

The event was organized as a panel discussion, the "experts" including an interactive developer, a cyborg anthropologist, the interactive coordinator for the Portland Trailblazers, and one other guy who didn't say much of anything.

I was there to see what kinds of social media could best be used for a small business or creative professional looking to augment their real-life community with a virtual one. I had a series of questions written down that I'd been thinking about.

Is there a danger of losing respect or credibility as a business that uses social media for commercial purposes? Do you think there is an inherent etiquette that complicates it for businesses using social media? Can social media rival advertising? Has the most effective advertising become socially engaged, interactive advertising? Can virtual social networks replace real, live social networks?

I had been thinking of the businesses that advertised on Facebook, and the mess that is Myspace, and how much it irritated me that the social networks I had once enjoyed were now so overtly commercial. It's a feeling akin to disgust that I feel when I'm bombarded with pop-ups or "clever" schemes to grab my attention. I was curious to hear some thoughts on the appropriateness of a business's presence on social networking sites. I wanted to know how to transcend above those advertising cheap shots I was so unamused by. I was interested in the fine line between what I saw as two distinct kinds of social interaction: "hanging out" and "making friends" on the internet, and then selling your goods or yourself to your network.

Despite the distracting live Twitter feed cascading down the screen behind the panelists, I managed to stay focused. What ways can a business (or creative professional, acting as their commercial self) use social networks to their advantage? What to do and what not to do when presenting oneself and one's business to the neverending sea of connected people? Answers were revealed. What follows is my take on the night's discussion.

1. Businesses can use social media to break down barriers. BUT: each virtual interaction, to be effective, must lead back to the option of a real, face-to-face, "old-fashioned" interaction.
2. Be a real person. Be transparent. Be clear an unobstructive in your motives. Be personable and open. Injecting personality into virtual interactions will heighten their impact. Don't be a faceless brand.
3. Strike an appropriate balance between personal and professional. Remember everything on the web is indexed and you must craft your image. It becomes increasingly important to think carefully about how to present yourself. The key is to be personable while maintaining a filter.
4. Don't splinter. Have a centralized hub that social networks lead back to. Lead to social networks from your hub. All of your content should come back to one place. "DRIVE IT BACK."
5. When you choose to enter a social network, understand the rules and etiquette of that network. You can then make the best impression and use it the most effectively.
6. LEAD WITH THE IDEA. Consider social media as the platform, not the content. A strong participatory concept can be highly effective, but a weak participatory concept will flop. Use the best tool for the job. If it makes sense to use social media as a tool, then do it. If it doesn't, don't.
7. Don't overdo it. Don't check off social networking sites one by one simply to be part of them all. Featuring thirty small icons at the bottom of your blog isn't impressive, it's irritating.
8. LISTEN TO YOUR NETWORK. If you have thousands of friends, buddies, contacts, you cannot only GIVE content, but you must be willing and available to RECEIVE it. "You can talk to a city, but how do you listen to a city?"
9. Consider social media as an ecosystem, many different parts functioning as a whole and each element dependent on the actions of the others. The "social" is ever-amorphous, always changing. To understand one's role in the social media ecosystem is to understand one's own connectedness.
10. Social media is, essentially, a new way of storytelling. "Social media has a publishing base to it." People are telling their stories. They are reading your story. Together, users of a network are crafting a narrative. Make your story interesting. Have something to say. The sheer mass of drivel on the web can undermine GOOD content, so make sure you stand out with a unique approach or an interesting story.

The event ran a little long and people began to file out long before the panelists were finished talking. Chatty networking started up again in the atrium. Our row emptied of Tweeting youngfolks and we followed suit, getting out before the networking started up again in full force. I simply get nervous around tall people in nice shirts and funky glasses.

All in all, it was a really interesting evening. Useful. I think I understand a little more about the interactivity of social media. The key, for a small business or someone like myself, is not simply to sign up for every social network under the sun. The key is to be an active personality and a contributing part of a network. I can tweet all day long, but if I'm simply broadcasting my own agenda and not listening to my network, I'll have a rude awakening when no one listens to me.

I see this stuff as particularly relevant to all of us, as plain old people who communicate on a basic level, and as designers stepping into an ever-changing realm of social media. And I feel that we're in a unique position here at PSU. Our university strongly supports community-based education with things like its Capstone program. Graphic design, as a field, is currently exploring and asking questions of relation and interaction. The Art and Social Practice program is graduating its very first group of graduate students this month. Our very own department has newly adopted a focus on the ideas of Art and Social Practice. I think that contemplating the effects of user-generated content and interactive media is especially important in the work we do here at PSU.

The most important idea I took away from this event, though, is that it's not necessary to limit social media to the internet. What? What am I talking about? Last night's even was a perfect example. There will never be a substitute for talking to people, face to face. Food can't be shared through Twitter. The awkward jokes aren't the same when listening to a podcast of a lecture. I can't feel the same weird anxiety around well-groomed, fast talking designers if I'm simply reading a web article. I must always remember that first guideline of using social media: each virtual interaction must always lead back to a real, face-to-face interaction. Start a Facebook group, connect with people, and send out invitations. Just make sure the invites are to an event where you can connect with people in the flesh. Good, old-fashioned face-to-face friendship. Let's not let that die.

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R E L E V A N T   L I N K S
Ten of the smartest big brands in social media
Portland Trailblazers fan social network
52 Ltd.
Amber Case, cyborg anthropologist and Lewis and Clark College graduate: @caseorganic
Dan Harbison, Director of Interactive Marketing and Media at the Portland Trailblazers: @danstwitter

Comments

[kate]

excellent nicole!

I TOTALLY believe that to be an effective social media user you have to be sincere and real - and you must be able to be these exact same things when you interact in the real life too.

be good. work hard. be aware. be real.

online and off.

great write up! love the start of this series!
huzzah!