Feb
19
2010
What is Social Media?
Author:Hello from Phoenix, Arizona
This evening I managed to invest some time with HTG1 and the HTG Advisory Council here in the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, Arizona. Tonight is a sad night for me. It was my official last social engagement as a member of Heartland Tech Groups (HTG) and the HTG Advisory 
Council. A great bunch of awesome guys, however with my new career direction in the Calgary Search Engine Optimization and Social Media world. it is unfortunate but I am no longer a fit for HTG, as a member at least. There maybe something else we can figure out, hopefully.
Canada’s Social Media Landscape
Yesterday I mentioned the Social Landscape and what I feel are contributors to the overall landscape in our socially connected online world that we live in. A critically important online world that can’t be overlooked any longer by business, families and anyone else who is stuck in a log cabin up north totally disconnect from all human interaction.
Many of us as professionals in social media, throw the words “social media” around pretty loosely. But really what is social media? Many of my peers including myself have different descriptions for social media and as a consultant serving the Calgary community I may just continue to use it, out of context in my mind, because that is what people know.
In my opinion, Social Media is simply the art of communicating, the art of delivering the message to a reader, the crafting of the message for people to view, and the reaction to the original message or posting. Print media is the same thing, the newspaper you read is the tool for reading print media. I can get the message in a magazine, paper or even a cocktail napkin. In our online world, Facebook is just a tool for you to read social (online) media. I hope this make sense to many of you.
Social media is the message, Facebook is the tool, and social networking is the art of creating mutual win-win online relationships and social currency is the “go giver” of the online world. Like I said, I hope this makes sense to many of you.
Here is another example. If you are a publicly traded firm in Canada and need to combat some negative press coverage in the print media world, you can turn to social media to help share your side of the story to reach your audience. Different tools and perhaps the same message. Twitter can be a service or tool for you to get your word out (the media).
Love to hear what you all think on the this topic. This is my first leg of what I can the “Social Landscape”.
