A written outline of a presentation on "Social Media 101" - an introductory view of the social media landscape for non-profits, in this case a faith-based non-profit.

1. Social Media 101 Presentation
What are Social Media & Social Networking?
Social Media is online media (text, audio, video, imagery, interactive) with a ‘strong participatory element’
Social networking refers to the activity of these users, connecting, sharing & discussing social media
Attributes of Social Media
• Interaction-based
• Two-way communication
• Flatter, more direct access & communication
• Open, interoperable, easily shared information (RSS, software APIs allow other web, desktop, and
mobile apps to interact beyond the browser)
Concepts & Trends
Openness What’s “Web 2.0” Mean?
Examples: Creative Commons, Open Source, etc. “Web 2.0 encapsulates the idea of the
proliferation of interconnectivity and
Interaction interactivity of web-delivered content. Tim
O'Reilly regards Web 2.0 as the way that
Discussion, relationships, reputation, conversation business embraces the strengths of the web
and uses it as a platform.” Really a internet-
Interoperable & “Mashable” biz buzzword, coined after the big DotCom
Bubble bursting of early 2001.
RSS is a universal data format that enables web apps
Essentially, it moved the more social and
to talk to each other, or be viewed & repurposed in interactive aspects of what could be done
other ways. with web browsers into the mainstream with
truly useful web applications.
Nearly every successful Web 2.0 media leverages RSS
in some way.
RSS readers: Google Reader, NetNewsWire (Mac),
Newsfire (Win), myriad others
Because of their open nature, the trend is for networks, apps and services to have “hooks” or open
standards (such as RSS) that allow them to work together. “Mashable” refers to the ability to combine
web services (such as Google Maps) with other data to produce new (and often unintended)
applications, like the indispensable EspressoMap.
R. Allan White | Thursday, March 19, 2009

2. Social Media 101 Presentation
Rich Metadata: the Semantic Web
Metadata simply means “data about data”.
All content - online and off - is being described (text and sometimes voice), discussed, tagged
(folksonomy), geotagged (GPS) & organized by the masses. Examples: Google Earth, Flickr, iPhoto ’09’s
face recognition.
Google Juice!
Google finds conversations and overlapping relationships between sites and trends “interesting”,
therefore more highly ranked. Critical in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) calculations, particularly when
ad revenues are a factor.
Identity 2.0
Web 1.0: nobody knows you’re a dog on the internet.
Web 2.0: Everyone knows your name! People want to know who they’re talking to – and people are
happy to share.
Identity is a white-hot topic for developers & users right now: Facebook Connect, Cliqset, OpenID,
Gravatar, Sxip;
Amazon “Real Name” reviewers and commenting systems like Disqus, Intense Debate et. al. are also an
expression of this need.
Personal
“The day of the expert is over” — direct access to people, no intermediaries.
Mobile
Phones aren’t just for calling anymore, but represent a distinct “platform”. In one sense, mobile social
networking (web, voice, text) is the most social of all. Explosive growth in this segment, particularly in
developing countries (the US actually lags in mobile broadband and tech).
R. Allan White | Thursday, March 19, 2009

3. Social Media 101 Presentation
User activities
The “Social Technographics Spectrum” (Forester Research 2008) describes behaviors of different types
of social networkers:
Inactives Joiners Critics
• Not participating in social • Maintain their profiles on • Social Technographics
media currently one or more social spectrum
networking sites
• Question: why is that? Are • Post ratings/reviews of
they not online, or is social • Visit and view social products or services
media intimidating? networking sites • Comment on blogs, forums,
• Examine the trend: inactives • Are willing to sign up for & online communities such
are dropping. Social media news aggregators or use as wikis
is much “friendlier”. Q: how RSS
Creators
many grandparents are
using social media?
Collectors • Social Technographics
Spectators • Social Technographics spectrum
spectrum • Publish a blog or web pages
• Read blogs • Use RSS feeds to read web • Upload videos they created
• Listen & watch podcasts content
• Upload audio/music or
• Read online forums related • “Votes” for web sites podcast they created
to their interests • Adds tags or other • Write articles or stories &
• Read customer ratings & metadata to sites, web post them
reviews (e.g. Amazon.com pages, or other media
• Manage discussions about
book reviews)
their content
Social-networking sites/products
LPA’s mass evangelism is focused on cities, the largest population centers. Reflecting that principle, we
may wish to target the most popular social networks; which ones are those? Answer: it depends on
where you are.
Here’s a great article listing sites by popularity, with nice ‘heatmaps’ of popularity by country.
The following listed are examples - there’s dozens of smaller ones in each category, and a great deal of
feature and attribute overlap.
Social Media Portals
Facebook
Once it opened beyond college, it never looked back. Already the most popular in Canada, it’s set to
take the lead in the US in 2009. Facebook is a technology leader with its Applications (web apps that live
in Facebook) and initiatives like Facebook Connect, which allow other sites to use one’s Facebook
profile.
More than 175 million active users
•
More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
•
The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years old and older
•
More than 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
•
R. Allan White | Thursday, March 19, 2009

4. Social Media 101 Presentation
LinkedIn
Example of a niche social network. Business-oriented, based on trust networks
MySpace
Very popular worldwide and with younger audiences. Allan’s least-favorite place on the internet.
However, very intense activity. Story: John Sowers’ Fatherless Generation has nearly 30,000 ‘friends’ on
Myspace, with many powerful stories being shared.
Status Updating Services
Twitter
The king of Status. What are you doing, in 140 characters? Mobile-flavored, flat-field, real-time. Link: The
Beauty of Twitter.
Media Sharing Services
Flickr
Flickr’s use of Creative Commons licensing (better usage terms) has drawn users looking for imagery.
Good social features, too.
YouTube
The King of Video, YouTube recently surpassed Yahoo! for searches, behind only Google (which bought
them last year)
Blogs & Publishing Services
Blogs are social media platforms run by individuals or corporations. From the words “web+log=blog”.
Examples: Blogger.com, Wordpress, TypePad, Expression Engine (Allan’s fave). Blogs are becoming
social media aggregators (bringing in media, updates, RSS, etc. into one space).
Link Sharing & Tagging
Armies of users tag (a “folksonomy”, sort of the opposite of top-down classification systems) and
classify sites and other online media. Examples: Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit.
Values that succeed in the social media space:
• Sincerity & authenticity
• Individual focus; real names are attached to content. This relates to Identity 2.0 (broad usage)
• Community - connecting with overlapping & related community groups. Location-based and location-
aware applications enable real-world connections in the area. Examples: Beer & Blog, Invisible
Children
• Mission: Causes that are global, local, or individual/personal
Want to learn more? Check out Allan’s links tagged with “Social Media”.
R. Allan White | Thursday, March 19, 2009