Staying Connected with Your Community Through Social Media

Steven E. Newman, Ph.D., A.A.F.Greenhouse Crops Extension Specialist and Professor of FloricultureColorado State University Extension

or How to drink from a fire hose

MIT Museumhttp://museum.mit.edu/150/entries/684

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Staying Connected with Your CommunityThrough Social Media

Traditional Extension Model

Outreach and Service• Client based• Outreach delivery• Continuing education• Laboratory testing• Field days• Youth development• Ag consultation• Food and nutrition

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Where is our audience?

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Using Social Media for Extension

Evaluation• Clear goals• Adequate preparation• Appropriate methods• Significant results• Effective presentation• Reflective critique

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Which Social Media is for You?

• Start with the big three– LinkedIn– Facebook– Twitter

• Discover what your audience is using– Ning– MySpace– YouTube– SlideShare– Blogs

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LinkedIn• Business-oriented social

networking site• Place for professional profiles• Maintain connections• Job postings or personal search• Blog links• Groups with similar interests

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How do I use LinkedIn

• Business connection with many that do not use other social media

• Maintain connections with former students and colleagues looking for references

• Sharing among groups

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Facebook• Fourth largest population in the

world (>300 million active users)• Fastest growing group 35+• 6 billion minutes• 40 million status updates• 10 million users become fans of

Pages• 2 billion photos and 14 billion

videos• 2 billion pieces of content• 65 million mobile users• 65 translations• 70% users outside of US

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Facebook Statistics: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

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How do I use Facebook

• First, I follow my teenage sons (they don’t like it)• I have reconnected with many previous colleagues,

friends, and classmates• I have made many new friends and colleagues. It has

built some new and interesting connections• I keep what I post relevant (at least to me)• I do mix personal and professional• I follow a lot of sources that provide information that

I did not previously have access to in one spot

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Fan Pages on Facebook

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Data from Fan Pages

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Group Pages on Facebook

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Group Pages on Facebook

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Twitter

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Twitter

• Twitter is a micro-blogging service, which are text-based

• More than 25 million accounts

• Tweets are updates or a miniature blog– Announcements– reTweets– Direct messages– News reporting– Marketing

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Twitter Platforms

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Twitter Mobile

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Windows Mobile Twitter Clients Which is the right Windows Mobile Twitter microblogging client for you?• Tiny Twitter http://www.tinytwitter.com• Twobile http://www.infinitumsoftware.com/twobile• ceTwit http://www.kosertech.com/blog/?page_id=5• PockeTwit http://code.google.com/p/pocketwit/• Twikini http://www.trinketsoftware.com

Most reviewers recommend ceTwit and PockeTwithttp://www.brighthub.com/mobile/windows-mobile-platform.aspx

I have chosen ceTwitStripped down Twitter client for Windows Mobile deviceTiny downloadResource-light installationNo fussy graphics

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TwitPic

• TwitPic.com almost seems like it was developed for Extension

• Quick sharing of photos on the go from a mobile phone

• Means to get a photo out for diagnostics or comments

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Plaxo

• Plaxo is an online address book and a social networking service

• 20 million users• Plaxo will provide several

feed linkages• This was my first service and

I used originally to help manage my Outlook contacts

• I use the Plaxo Badge to combine many services

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Ning

• Ning is a mans to create your own social network

• ASHS is making use of Ning for its working groups

• Owner controlled• Private Forums

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What are the costs?

• Most are free services• LinkedIn has a fee-service

that provides more data• Advertisement is

available on Facebook• What is the value of your

time?• What does it cost for

your specific service to access the sites?

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Making them work together• Find applications that make it

easy– Facebook and Twitter are easily

linked– Tools such as FriendFeed will

merge postings from blogs automatically

• Don’t be afraid to recycle materials

• Stay current• Find the social media platforms

that you like and enjoy– Make sure that you keep it fun– Promote self

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Tools to manage the information

• Use your blog with widgets that link services

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Tools to manage the information

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• Consider using an aggregator (rss feed)

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Tools to manage the information

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• Develop a personal portal with a reader

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Tools to manage the information

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• Develop a personal portal with a reader

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Things to remember

• Keep it professional• Post what is meaningful• Make sure that your information is current• Make sure that your information is correct• Make sure that your information is relevant• Take care in the use of autofeed services• Follow many others, but use filters• Remember, social media is social and PUBLIC9/30/2009

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For more information, contact me athttp://ghex.colostate.edu/http://www.twitter.com/newman7118http://twitpic.com/photos/newman7118http://www.facebook.com/senewmanhttp://ghadvisor.blogspot.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/snewman7118stevennewman@chat.extension.orgsteven.newman@colostate.eduAnd….. (970) 491-7118