Social Media 101
Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan is the very reason I am at wordpress. I picked up this book at a Barnes and Noble, thumbed through it, and realized this was the book I’ve been waiting for. A book to guide me through both the etiquette, ‘how to’s', and ‘what does this thing do’, regarding the internet.
I know the internet has evolved into more than a hobby for geeks. Unfortunately, I meet a number of people, usually my age or above*, who still treat the internet like a time waster. Nevertheless, these last three years have demonstrated to me that the internet is a valuable tool which has increased my social structure, given me new jobs I never would have dreamed about, and helped me make a difference in tangible ways that resulted in a lead story of a news broadcast, and a two page article in the Sunday supplement edition of a local newspaper.
My concern was that all this was accidental. Plus, during the grand saga of using the internet as a social networking tool, I also made serious breaches in etiquette that I was not aware of until I read Brogan’s book.
One of the more serious breaches had to do with deleting posts. The main reasons I deleted posts on one blog had to deal with the aftereffects of feeling I hit ‘below the belt’. A few times, I received a request from people whom I wrote about to remove the blog. Normally, I’d keep it up, but in the rare case where the person was clearly not a public figure, I decided to remove the blogs.
It turns out, this is a ‘no no’ in the blogosphere and now, it seems, in the publishing industry. Social Media 101 references internet posts in it’s footnotes. Wingnuts by John Avlon, which centers around the conservative and liberal fringe, relies heavily on internet posts for the footnotes.
So, properly chastened, I’ll have to think twice before posting, or removing, anything on or off the internet. Especially, if there’s a chance that something I wrote might be footnoted in somebody else’s study.
Social Media 101 is a pandora’s box of resources for bloggers who want to use the internet to either increase their business, or just expand their social horizons. Everything from video blogging, the giving of comments (besides a simple ‘me, too’ post) are covered in this book. I was not aware of on-line photo and video editing software that’s currently available.
A little stretched for money to buy Adobe Photoshop? Not a problem! Check out lunapic or picnik to make your banners or animated gifs. Video shortcuts are also included in this book.
Social Media 101 is a resource I definitely recommend. For those who are established in their menial day labor jobs, best wishes! Those of us who need to adapt to the changing times, though, will have much valuable advice in this book.
I heartily recommend Social Media 101!
website: chrisbrogan.com
*100 years old, in myspace terms.
