Archive for June, 2008
Don’t be a social media optimisation (smo) H.E.R.M.I.T
June 30th, 2008
Social Media Optimisation (SMO), not to be confused with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has been around since 2006. A gent called Rohit Bhargava was credited with inventing the term SMO according to Wikipedia. View his orginal blog post here.
If you want to learn more about Social Media Optimisation, I can recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Optimization.
Here are some other relevant posts I have read on the subject:
Ultimate Social Media Optimisation List
SMO (Social Media Optimisation) and Social Media Marketing - Case Studies in Viral Marketing
New Rules for Social Media Optimization
Just to recap the smo is an optimised site that can be more easily linked to and bookmarked, is highly visabile in social media searches, and has added and extra user generated content like embeddable videos, photos and podcasts ect.
Most of the blogs we follow in the technology field have got their Social Media Optimistation down to a fine art, resulting in small blogs being catapulted into massive, mainstream, must-have RSS feed subscription and go-to sites. Getting your SMO strategy right can launch you into mainstream media and beyond!
So remember if you don’t want to be a social media optimisation H.E.R.M.I.T you should:
H: Help your content travel
E: Encourage the mash-up
R: Reward inbound links
M: Make tagging and bookmarking easy
I: Increase your linkability
T: Think about great content
This diagram below sums up smo very well:
June 26th, 2008
Tactics are of course common practice in PR and Marketing, and are being more widely used for social media means.
I have put together a list of some of the more useful social media tactics posts for your reference.
To find out much more about social media tactics go to our social media research and resource page.
Is social media now mass media?
June 25th, 2008
Is the cross-over complete? Is social media now a part of everyone’s day-to-day lives, and does everyone now know what it is and how to use it? Has social media reached mass media status?
What I mean by mass media is TV, radio and the press etc that are common communications platforms. Mass media is traditionally one dimensional in terms of communication, and social media of course is the complete opposite.
Over the past couple of months, social media references seem to be wherever I look, being highlighted in varied aspects of everyday life. For instance, on the radio you hear musicians such as Maria Carey singing about YouTube and other social networks, mainstream TV programmes are mentioning the use of blogs in their storylines (Eastenders), and mobile phone company advertisements (billboards) with social networking features are now a powerful way of selling handsets. As I saw yesterday in Waterloo London train station, Vodafone has massive banners hanging from the terminal building promoting the social networking functionality on its handsets.
That’s just a few instances I have noticed, and I bet you have noticed some too!
Is social media mass media yet or just a flash in the pan?
Here is a little slide show with more on the subject.
Top Followed Tech Twitters And Their Tag Clouds
June 20th, 2008
Today I have been delving into the top followed Twitters Twitter statistics to find out what they talk about and the best way to visually do this is via a tag cloud.
First off, in no particular order we have Robert Scoble or the Scobleizer as he likes to be called, his Twitter bio says “Bio Tech geek blogger”
Click on the tag cloud to see the full size preview:
Next up we have Guy Kawasaki his Twitter bio reads “ Alltop, Garage, and Truemors”
Chris Brogan is next, his Twitter bio reads” Social media type, but love the emerging enterprise tech space too”
Jeremiah Owyang Senior Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing.
Loic Le Meur serial entrepreneur & blogger
What do these tag clouds tell us:
After a quick review of the tag clouds some of the most popular words seem to be Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Friend Feed. Other prominent words were related to their own products e.g. Seesmic for Loic Le Meur. There was also a lot of @ loving between each other!
If you want to find out about other Twitter tag clouds go to Twitter Stats
June 19th, 2008
So who caught Mike Butcher commenting on the AP content issue on Sky News last night? Mike has linked to a recording on his post this morning. Well done Mike!
When digital content issues reach the broadcast media you know it’s either big, or has been going on for a while, and in this case it’s both.
To recap, Associated Press has announced that it doesn’t want anyone quoting more than four words from its articles without payment.
I’m sorry, before we go any further, have I just entered a time warp? Have we shot back a few years to the early days of blogging when all these arguments were vaguely relevant? Don’t get me wrong, I fully support everyone who is fighting AP on this, but why do it? Why now? What’s the deal? Surely this can only end one way?
Even if AP is successful in stopping everyone that uses more than four words without payment, which let’s face it is financially and practically impossible, what do they stand to gain? Hold back the movement of content? Freeze the evolution of open communications? Become the new hate figure for digital media?
Help me out here.
I’m not going to bang on about the ‘why’ this is so ridiculous - many high profile bloggers have already put the argument across very clearly and eloquently , such as Arrington and Jarvis and as Mike Butcher said last night on Sky news: “It’s absolutely pointless!” Oh and: “Bananas”.
The one good thing to come out of this situation is to see some of the highest-profile bloggers united in a shared cause. Just watch them go now! AP, i almost feel sorry for you!