Quick Takes: Two Angles on Social Media

by Nicole Vargas, reporter and multimedia producer for the San Diego Union-Tribune and lecturer at San Diego State Universityandby Krista Nielsen, technologies marketing specialist for SDSU College of Extended Studies and instructor of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Here at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies, we’re lucky to bring together instructors with such a wealth of expertise and professional savvy, and we couldn’t resist asking a couple of them to weigh in on a trend that’s increasingly affecting all of us: social media.

In this double-feature of a white paper, we offer you two angles on social media that we haven’t seen out there very often. We thought we’d avoid the standard “Pros and Cons of Social Media” paper, and bypass the “Will it Take?” approach, since there’s little debate anymore whether social media is here to stay.

Instead, we asked two specialists whose work has become increasingly tied in with social media to address specific ways in which social media can be utilized by media professionals and organizations in productive and useful ways.

So in the following pages, Nicole Vargas will address how social media can provide media professionals and journalists with valuable access and information, and Krista Nielsen will weigh in on how companies often overlook the ways in which social media can be used internally to facilitate collaboration and communication within and between work groups.

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2speed can take just a few hours of your time. Still stumped? Look around the office. With literally millions of people on social networks, you can easily find someone to guide you through your social network of choice.

Social Media Tools for Journalists: From Networking to Newsgathering

by Nicole Vargas, reporter and multimedia producer for the San Diego Union-Tribune and lecturer at San Diego State University

You know they’re out there. You might even be willing to admit you spend a little of your free time catching up with old friends or former colleagues online. But what may seem on the surface to be a high-powered instrument of procrastination can also serve as a high-tech newsgathering tool.

More and more media professionals, including journalists of all stripes, are finding social networks to be a viable option when searching for tips and leads. The very public nature of these sites, which make it so easy for individuals to connect, also throws open the door of possibility for media professionals struggling against a backdrop of reduced resources and dwindling time.

In a matter of seconds, a media professional can access a long, fully searchable list of potential sources. And not only is basic information and background often readily available, but direct messaging allows for interpersonal contact that otherwise may be challenging. Meeting a source on their terms in a setting where they are comfortable, albeit in cyberspace, can often times be the difference between disclosure and indifference.

When it comes to making the most of social networks, remember why you are there. If your goal is to gather news as efficiently as possible, make learning to do that a priority. Don’t worry. Social networks are inherently very user-friendly, and getting up to

Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. LinkedIn. YouTube.

In newsgathering, social networking success isn’t measured in friends as much as it is measured in facility.

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In traditional reporting circles, savvy reporters often find their best sources are individuals close, but not too close, to the story. Next-door neighbors, extended family members or colleagues in the workplace often provide some

Don’t assume the Facebook generation is more concerned with SATs and OMGs. Some of the fastest growing demographics in social networking are, shall we say, more mature when it comes to age. Who

As a professional journalist, it is always important to identify ourselves as such. Don’t be a faceless troll on social networking sites. Establish your presence first, complete with a photo, your affiliation and a smattering of

I am a serious journalist. Why would I bother with a technology tailored for teens?

Can’t get directly to your source? Consider connecting with friends or followers.

Be open, honest and yourself. Your integrity as a journalist depends on it.

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specifically? According to Facebook, the fastest growing demographic is 35 and older. So a quick search no matter what the age of a source can yield surprising results.

of the best leads and background. The same holds true for social networking, and often, even with a profile marked “private,” a complete list of those trusted individuals can be a mouse click away.

information about yourself. Nothing too personal – keep oversharing to a minimum. Striking the right balance between representing your organization and being approachable will make your job easier.

Remain diligent. The tools may be new and different, but resist the temptation to run with them irresponsibly.

Just as you would in traditional newsgathering, verify any information disseminated online. And expect that information you give may also go beyond a single individual. They don’t call it the World Wide Web for nothing.

Resources:

The Poynter Institute (www.poynter.org) WiredJournalists (www.wiredjournalists.com) Mashable (mashable.com)

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Many of us have become comfortable integrating social media into our social lives, making digital connections with friends, families, and even professional groups through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

Integrating these and other social media tools into workplaces where communication and efficiency are key has been a slower transition. Understanding what social media tools do best and learning how to use them

at work can help you effectively streamline many processes we tackle every day.

For example, as work processes become increasingly complex and demanding, the need for seamless collaboration is becoming more important. More and more companies are finding that the innovative internal use of social media tools is enabling them to work in more productive and collaborative ways than they ever did before.

Social Media Tools Provide Efficiency in the Workplaceby Krista Nielsen, technologies marketing specialist for SDSU College of Extended Studies and instructor of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Business and Web 2.0: An Interactive Feature http://tinyurl.com/mckinsey-web-tools

How many companies are using social media tools already? And what tools are they using? McKinsey Quarterly has posted an interesting series of cuts on the data they’ve gathered about corporate use of social media tools on their site Business and Web 2.0: An Interactive Feature. In this example, they examine which social media tools companies are most readily adopting and using internally to facilitate collaboration:

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Before the use of social media became so widespread, our workplace collaboration often depended on one-one communication of circulating emails and file folders. Email isn’t a technology that supports collaboration – it’s static, messy, and difficult to organize. Using back-and-forth emails for collaborative work often results in the creation of multiple versions of the same document, file organization hassles, and general confusion. The solution is definitely not to retreat to passing around file

folders, which can only be in one set of hands at a time, can be misplaced, and can only be shared easily over short distances. Why keep a file or idea on paper when

it can be seen and manipulated by many in digital form?

Web-based social media tools are portable, personalized, and participatory. They allow for much more efficient communication and organization. Files and ideas can be created, manipulated,

shared, and organized on the web, accessible from anywhere by computer or mobile device, facilitating easy collaboration among even distant coworkers.

Web-based tools are normally cheap,

if not free, and because they store data within a database, the content you create is searchable, and can easily be organized and archived.

The first step is understanding which tools will best fit your tasks and needs.

Email isn’t a technology that supports collaboration. It’s static, messy, and difficult to organize.

The ToolsBy breaking down the social media we’re most familiar with into the distinct components they bring together, we can start to see how these tools could be used at work. Flickr is an image gallery, Wikipedia is obviously a wiki, and YouTube an image gallery of videos. Facebook incorporates a few tools: a blog, a forum, an image gallery, webmail, and a content management system.

Each tool offers a unique utility that may facilitate social use of the site, but can also powerfully address work needs as well.

These social media tools can increase the efficiency of many professional processes, from fostering collaboration and managing knowledge, to developing products and services,

identifying and recruiting talent, enhancing company culture, and training. Making the perfect match takes some understanding

of how each of these social media tools function.

Making the perfect match takes some understanding of how each of these social media tools function.

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Blog

Wiki

The blog is one of the simplest social tools, comprised of forms working in the background to push content to a web page. The newest content is posted at the top, and each new posting is identified with a title, an author, body content, and a time/date stamp. Every time a post is submitted, a link is created in an organized way and posted to a visible menu on the web page. Blogs include a search function to locate posts by using terms within the blog’s content, or search tags and/or categories the author has assigned. In standard blogs, a single author regularly posts content, and readers can then comment on the posts.

When is one-way communication with commenting needed in the workplace? CEOs are increasingly blogging about large-scale company happenings, news, and special reports. IT departments can post regular updates and announcements regarding computer systems and servers. Departments can share information that had traditionally remained silo-ed across multiple departments and locations throughout the world.

organized into problem/solution pairs, and widely-accessed information like project management documentation, staff information, or FAQs could be accessed easily throughout the organization. Any ‘how to’ documentation can be posted within a wiki, with links and images included. Most importantly, wikis keep rapidly- and continually-changing documentation up-to-date over time, so users throughout a company can use the search function to scan all of the content within wiki postings and access information based on relevance.

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The wiki is a content management system, which uses many forms to post to the web. One of the differences between a wiki and a blog is the way in which pages are organized. Unlike blogs, wikis are formatted like a standard web site, using a navigational system to sort pages or menus. Users decide how the pages are organized and linked. The pages on a wiki can be manipulated by many, so content can be maintained by a group of users, and the application keeps track of who has made changes, to what content, and when.

Wikis enable companies an easy way to organize and format a large amount of data. A company’s knowledge base could easily be

3 ForumA forum is similar to a blog, but offers a more conversational format that involves many contributors. As in a blog, postings are arranged by date with the newest ones visible at the top, and an organized digital version of each user’s contribution is maintained. The content of forum postings are searchable as well.

A forum can be very useful in facilitating conversations or online meetings to discuss work topics, events, ongoing debates, etc. Content posted to a forum remains accessible on the site, offering everyone the opportunity to reference and retrieve these conversations at a later time.

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SDSU College of Extended Studies Internal Forum

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5 Google ToolsThe tools described above can either be set up on a company’s internal server, or used on shared sites (see sources below). Another source for sharing content and facilitating easy and collaborative communication is Google Tools. Google offers users the ability to share word documents, spreadsheets, and powerpoint presentations directly on the google.com site. Google users can give others access to either view or edit shared documents, bookmarks, gadgets, and RSS feeds. Google sharing applications

include the Google Calendar, Google Groups, and Google Sites; all of these enable multiple users to view and edit shared web-based content. Google Chat also allows colleagues to contact each other quickly from anywhere and hold live conversations on work topics that need speedy resolution.

Using Google’s many tools enable people in the workplace to collaborate and share knowledge more easily than ever before.

4 Image GallerySocially, we share photos on sites like Flickr, Shutterfly, and Facebook, understanding that others can view and download our images after we place them in these sites. At work, these same tools can help us share images, pdfs, and even videos. A web-based image gallery has a built-in search tool that locates elements by tags. Also, the system organizes the data using thumbnails, allowing users to browse by viewing small images. All users can add and update the items within the gallery, keeping the most current sources available at all times.

Image galleries can be used at work to keep an inventory of marketing pieces, multiple formats of the company’s logo, photos from events and ceremonies, and even video from media spots readily accessible throughout the organization. Everything included within the gallery can be tagged with associated search terms, and organized within sets and subsets for easy search and access.

You can build it and they may come... but will they contribute?In addition to simplifying communication and efficiency, web-based social media tools enhance community and can be very effective in building morale. As collaboration is eased and enhanced through the use of online tools, users often find they’re more engaged in the projects they’re working on, and develop greater intellectual investment in the ideas they contribute. Trying out the use of these tools within an organization can also dispel any fears management may have around using these tools to market to external customers.

Using social media tools within the workplace can reduce the number of face-to-face meetings necessary for collaboration, decrease travel and operational costs, and facilitate easier access to and collaboration between internal experts and staff located at different locations or working on various schedules. These web-based tools are searchable, taggable, and allow for clean and consistent organization of a company’s knowledge base. And, because these tools are all online, telecommuting and remote meetings become productive options.

Having said that, the tools alone are not enough! You can build it and they may come... but will they contribute? Remember, the use of any new tools within an organization requires ongoing promotion, encouragement and facilitation; this is a “social” environment where more than one employee must interact!

Wikis:

pbwiki.com

wikispaces.com

mediawiki.org

Where to Get The Tools:

Blogs:

wordpress.com

blogger.com

blogspot.com

Forums:

phpbb.com

Image Gallery:

gallery.menalto.com

Other Applications:

sourceforge.com

hotscripts.com

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Nicole Vargas has been a reporter and multimedia producer at The San Diego Union-Tribune since 1999, when she graduated from the University of California, San Diego. She teaches at SDSU’s School of Journalism & Media Studies, and serves as faculty advisor to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists SDSU student chapter.

Nicole teaches Publishing on the Web and Advanced Social Networking Tools within the Professional Certificate in Digital Media program offered at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. Her first course provides students with a strategic introduction to Web 2.0 publishing tools, while the second explores the use of popular social networking tools in more depth.

Krista Nielsen is a technology marketing specialist at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. She has 13 years of web marketing, design, and analytics experience as owner of LHA, and has taught Internet marketing at North City Center. She earned a web analytics certification from the University of British Columbia, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas.

Krista’s course in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) teaches participants how to structure web sites, news or feature content, ads, and headlines to maximize their exposure to various audiences, and how to use assessment tools to measure and improve search results.

If you’ve downloaded this white paper from the CES web site, you already know where to find more information about Nicole’s and Krista’s courses and the Professional Certificate in Digital Media. If you’ve received this paper from a friend or colleague, check us out online at www.neverstoplearning.net/social.

If you have questions or comments about this white paper, feel free to email ces@mail.sdsu.edu. For questions about the Digital Media certificate program at CES, email tmcleod@mail.sdsu.edu, or give us a call at (619) 594-5640 using priority code MM005.

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