LFS:Workshops/Social Media
File:Social-media-for-public-relations1.jpg
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Sofiaperesoa
Social Media encompasses a series of tools and resources available online to users that help people engage with one another online using varying multimedia formats. The top three monster social media sites and applications are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram but there are many more in terms of audio, video, and photo sharing, and Geolocation. As well there are many tools that manoeuvre between social media sites to help connect them as well as ones that support the integration of different types of social media.
Twitter is a social media and micro blogging program designed to mass share information through the use of short updates in 140 characters or less. Twitter is accessible online or through mobile devices either online or through a downloadable Twitter Application.
Following
Users establish connections with one another by following each other. What this means is that a user’s tweets will be streamlined straight into their follower’s news feed so they can quickly access the information and consistently see information being sent out. By following multiple people a user is left with lots of tweets of varying types that come across the news feed with up-to-date real-time information. It is possible to follow any user by clicking the Follow button to the right of the username.
Security
By default all messages sent out are public but senders can restrict delivery to only followers.
Contact
To interact with other users one can tweet a user directly by using the “@” Icon infront of a users name.
Reply
To respond to a particular tweet a user sends out just press reply on the tweet and a box will come up for you to reply.
Direct Message
A personal message sent between two users that is private and only visible to the persons in the conversation. Can be accessed on a users page by clicking the “More user actions” tab to the right of the “following” bar and click “send a direct message”
Retweet
When a user sends a tweet out, followers have the ability to resend the previous tweet through their page and on to their own followers while still crediting the original creator. The “retweet” button can be found just below the tweet and will automatically repost the message on your page in it’s exact form and still through the original creator.
Modified Tweet
Similair to a retweet but has the additional option of allowing a user to add their own commentary to the tweet before sending it on.
Posting Photos
It is possible to post a picture straight to twitter from a user’s computer or phone. This can be done by clicking the photo icon by the status bar and choosing a picture. Online a user does not have the option to play around with the photo but the smart phone application allows allows minimal editing capabilities including quality fix, cropping and filter. However, there are many 3rd party application that can be used independently as well as in partnership with Twitter.
Twitpic is a photo hosting website that has the same sign in username and password combo as twitter. Twitpic also uses hashtags and Twitter user tags but also functions as a stand alone application. While posting to Twitpic a user has the option to share on Twitter but it is not mandatory. As well, it is not possible to post from Twitter to Twitpic. It is only possible to post on Twitpic and then use Twitter as a resource to pass the photo on to more followers.
This system however, it is often overshadowed by the generally more popular Instagram. Instagram is popularly linked in with Twitter since both have similar intents but use a different media style. The main difference between Instagram and Twitpic is that Instagram immediately crops pictures into a square and gives the option to add a filter of the photo which many users enjoy. Instagram can also only connect with Twitter from the smart phone application to share the pictures on the application. Instagram users can use hashtags and tag users but they tag Instagram users rather than Twitter users which is another difference between Instagram and Twitpic.
Connecting with an audience
Tweets are intended to be accessible and fast. As a resource they can be used in varying ways. A common use is to advertise current or future events by providing a short explanation, links or photos. Personal promotional use is another feature where abouts people use twitter to promote their own accomplishments or projects. Another great use for twitter is real-time updates on an event that is in a process which allows an outside audience to feel like they have an exclusive look into the experience.
Tweet Deck
Tweetdeck is a resource for social networking mass amounts of projects through different timelines, accounts and people. It allows a single user to access several accounts, while tracking topics and scheduling ahead-of-time tweets.
HootSuite (Under #Miscellany) is also a great resource for social media information broadcasting.
Instagram is an online social network service providing a platform for users to share photos and videos. Photos are confined to a square shape instead of the standard 16:9 aspect ratio of regular photographs. Videos created on instagram are also confined to 15 seconds. When posting a photo, Instagram users also have the option to use one of a series of filters to enhance their photographs
Application
Instagram is primarily a smart phone application. It is only possible to make an account through the downloadable app on a cell phone. Pictures and videos are taken, edited, and shared all on the phone. Despite this, Instagram is available online but only for browsing and editing a user profile.
Posting
Any user can post their own content. This can be done by taking a photo using the application camera given or by uploading a previous photo to the application. Users often indicate what is involved in the photo or video through a short description as well as using @hashtags.
Tagging
Tagging is an option available when posting a photo on the application. The photos in which users are tagged are then available on their page as well. This feature is more often used if the user is directly in the picture or video being tagged. You can also tag a user by using the @ icon before a username. This ensures that the user that has been notified of the post but not necessarily that they are directly present in the photo or video.
Commenting and Hearting
Commenting is available on any photo. Click on the photo to enlarge and comment boxes should be seen to the right of the picture.
A user can use hearting to show appreciation for a photo or video without commenting on it. This is done by pressing the heart button or by double tapping the picture or video itself. You can un-heart by doing the same again.
Facebook is an online social networking site that is mostly used for casual social interactions but has a very prominent educative and business aspect to it. The top resources available is the creation of online interactive communities through using Pages and Groups and the ability to create Events to share with the public or select private users.
Friends
Anytime a user wants to connect with another user they need to add them as a Friend on Facebook. This can be done by just clicking the Add Friend button on their profile. If the Friend accepts then the user has access to their photos and information as well as their posts will show up in the user's News Feed.
Profile
Each Facebook user has a profile that is made up of personal information, likes, interests, photos, and posts. Each user has the ability to edit and manipulate their profile to their specification by adding information such as work place or leaving that information blank. Users can also post up pictures, links, and statuses which come up their Timeline as well as their Feed. A Timeline is every post made on a users profile in order of posting. This includes other user's postings, pictures, updates to their profile and so on.
News Feed
A News Feed is the centralized space on the main Facebook page where a user's posts go up along with all their Friend's posts. It runs indefinitely from newest updated posts at the top going down to older and oldest at the bottom. Every time a post is Liked or Commented on it moves back up to the top of the News Feed. This is important to keep in mind when making a post about a subject that needs a lot of attention (like an upcoming event) because the more people engage with the post, the more likely it is that people will see it.
Statuses
A status can be made on the main page of Facebook. A status can be anything a user wants including lyrics, random ideas, event promotion, rants and so on. The character limit is long which gives room for longer posts and more detailed information. Statuses can include videos, links and photos or can even just be those alone. Any photos posted directly from a computer go to a photo album labeled TimeLine photos, whereas links are only available on the Timeline itself.
Pages
Pages are most often used for causes, businesses, products, bands, celebrities and so on. They are very similar to the profiles but they are less casually and set up to be more professional. As well, a user doesn't need to Friend a page, it only needs to "Like" it using the "Like" Icon at the top of the page. A user has access to all the information on the page without Liking it but they information posted on said page only comes across the newsfeed of those who have liked it. Facebook runs like a business and thus they have changed their original programing on pages, which was promotion to all persons who liked the page, to a more limited free promotion and monetized access to extended promotions. This prevents a lot of the information being posted to be sent out to the most persons possible. Anyone can make a page for whatever reason. They're a great centralized way to promote a person, program and so on in a multimedia. To create a page just go to Pages and click on Create Page. From there on Facebook will direct users on how to create a page, what type of page they would like and so on.
- E.g. UBC Farm Page
- E.g. UBC Nutrition Month
Groups
Groups are more generally used for conversation and discussion as apposed to pages which are more based on information broadcasting. Groups can be private or public. Private meaning only members can access information in the group and public meaning all persons can gain access to information on the page. Facebook users need to request to join a group and an administrator has to confirm admission to the group. Groups are very commonly used for niche cohorts of people who converse, most often there is no one person sharing information. All members can post on the page and all posts are able to be examined in the same place. Administrators of groups mostly just make sure nothing is going wrong with the group itself but is not necessarily in charge of the content, though they can be.
Events
Facebook Events are a free, easy and convenient way of advertising for an upcoming party, meeting, open house, dance and so on that may be coming up. To make an event just click the +Create Event Icon on the top right on the screen and follow instructions accordingly.
Event Planning Alternatives: Eventbrite\UBC Events
Posts
Posts are very similar to statuses but they are done on pages, groups, and events. The set up in the same, the only difference is that they more often take on more professional language and formatting.
Photos
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit and free licensing website that allows independent content creators to license their works to limit sharing ability of the public. Their mandate is to expand the range of content available for others to legally access, build upon and share. This helps content creators have legal rights to their work while still being able to share their content to the internet at large. For these licenses creators have the ability to decide which rights they reserve and which they waive for the benefit of other users. This is a great tool for accessing photos that are legally sharable and usable for public websites. As well, the site can be used to access other search engine's creative commons content
Flickr
Flickr is an easily accessible image and video hosting website hosted by Yahoo. The service is accessed widely by users to share their personal photographs as well as by photo researchers and bloggers to host their images that are imbedded in social media and blogs. Any individual can access photos without any form of account but users do need to create account if they wish to upload content. Flickr is also the Web's single largest source of Creative Commons licensed content.
Picasa
Picasa Is a free downloadable image organizer and image viewer for digital photos as well as an integrated photo-sharing website. The program was originally created by a company named Lifescape and was bought by Google in 2004 when Google transformed it into a free software program or freeware. It is downloadable on all application types including Mac OS X (Intel only) and also has an iPhoto plugin or a standalone program for uploading photos for Mac OS C 10.4 or later.
Compfight
Compfight is a powerful search engine that distills Flickr into a a searchable photo repository. Compfight is an image search tool that makes searching for Creative Commons content very simple by combing through Flickr for relevant content. Compfight has started to increase their use of ads and thus is widely considered a less efficient system than others.
Audio
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform that enables its users to upload, record, promote and share their originally-created sounds. It was created as a sort of challenge to MySpace and with the intent of being allowing artists to interact more nimbly with their fans. SoundCloud can be combined with Twitter and Facebook to let members reach their audience better. Without a paid subscription SoundCloud offers limited hosting space and distribution abilities. With a Paid subscription users have access to more hosting space, they can distribute their tracks or recordings to more groups, create sets of recordings and more thoroughly track the statistics for each of their tracks. SoundCloud also has released application for popular mobile systems like iOS and Android.
Podcasting
When podcasting it's important to keep in mind the legal guides Podcasting Guide for Canada
Free Music Archive
Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive works to offer the public free access to new music, with a similar purpose to radio but for the age of the internet.
Video
YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing website owned by Google since late 2006 on which users can upload, view and share videos. Youtube displays a wide variety of user-generated video content including video clips, TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging (Vlogging), short original videos, sketches, and educational videos. A large portion of the content on YouTube is uploaded by individuals but media corporations such as CBS and BBC offer some material on Youtube as part of the YouTube partnership program. All persons have access to content on YouTube but if they want to upload content, participate in commenting, and creating playlists then users need to create an account.
Blip
Blip is a media platform for sharing web series content. it also provides a dashboard for producers of original web series to distribute them. The site offers a huge variety of dramas, comedies, arts, sports and other shows.
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing websites on which users can upload, share and view videos. It is considered a more small, niche community of film enthusiasts different from a generally amateur hosting site like YouTube.
Sources
Internet Archive.org is a non-profit that was created as a free and accessible online media library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.
Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository which makes public domain and freely-licensed educational media content availble to everyone. You do not need to be a member to access any of the available media and it is created and maintained by volunteers and not paid archivists. Wikimedia Commons uses the same wiki-technology as Wikipedia and is available for everyone to edit. Files that are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons can also be embedded on pages of all Wikimedia projects with the need to separately upload them.
Geolocation
Foursquare
Foursquare is a location based social networking site for mobile devices where users can "check in" at venues by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby. Each check-in awards a user points and sometimes "badges". The person who checks in the most often to a venue become the "mayor" and avid users regularly vie for this position.
Flickr Photo Mapping
Flickr has a resource available where the public has the ability to view geotagged photos on a map. This allows persons to see where a user's photos were taken all over the world. E.g. Photo mapping
Other
Hashtags
A Hashtag is a word or unspaced phrase that is combined together by the prefix #. Hashtags are a way of creating commonality between posts and are used to support the post being made as well as are used to search common themes and trends in social media. Hashtags are used by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along with many other popular social media applications. Hashtags work similarly to tags in which they help center information for users to locate content that relates back to their interests.
Hastags can be organized by a group for an event or certain purpose so that users can find all the information available for that event
- E.g."Don't forget that this month is #UBCNutritionMonth"
As well, hashtags are often used as commentary or supportive information to the post.
- E.g. “Wow! Thanks everybody for supporting #sustainability #supportlocal @UBCFarms”
Trending Topics
A word, phrase or topic that is tagged at a greater rate than other tags is said to be a trending topic. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users, or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic. These topics help Twitter and their users to understand what is happening in the world.
Miscellany
- HootSuite
- HootSuite is a social media program that works as brand management. The system supports social network integration for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, Google+, and Foursquare, MySpace, Wordpress and Mixi. Additional integrations are available at the app directory for HootSuite including Instagram, Storify, and Tumlber. HootSuite has over 300 staff located in Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, London, singapore, and so on. The company operates on a freemium model and has over 7 million users in 175 countries.
- Feeding RSS via Twitter Feed
- TwitterFeed takes a users blogs and consistently promotes any updates it has through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and More
- Archiving via Backupify
- Flavors.me
- Helps users create a free and simple Website that brings together all other updates, photos, and videos from other sites in one easy to use platform.
- Pinboard
- Social Bookmarking for introverts
- Delicious
- A platform for searching and saving links that interest a user. "Never lose a link again"
- Linked In
- LinkedIn is a professionalized version of Facebook where users can network and connect with other professionals, as well as share skills, expertise and experience.
- A service geared for businesses and professionals that backs up social media content as well as application information for a monthly fee.
- URL Shortening via Bit.ly, TinyURL, Owly
- A tool for shortening website URL's for easier use in social media.
- Crafting a narrative with Storify
- The scrap book of social media, Storify allows users to collect information from all sources of social media to create a singular story. It can involve pictures, tweets, statuses, videos, and so on from different persons and publications, not just personal, to create a knowledgable post in that area.