Communicating and Problem-Solving…With Social Networking Tools

•Engage•Form Relationships•Share content

•Social media may be a new term, but the theories and fundamentals are not.

Guess what. Social media is not new• In a recent blog, Alexandar Blom wrote: There

was a time when the Internet did not exist. People sent letters to each other. Telephones and telegrams came to prominence. People spoke in small gatherings. They communicated. They made friends. They formed relationships. They engaged. Sound familiar?

• Social media is people communicating and collaborating online.

Today’s Objectives

•Background numbers—Video •Introduce you to social media platforms;

learn pros and cons of each•Examples – our social media services and

how these technologies have worked for us

•Help you pick tools appropriate for your audience and goals

Social Networking Advantages

•FREE!•Easily accessible

▫Anyone can sign up▫Updated in real time and accessible on

YOUR schedule•Community-oriented

Blogs

•Many uses:▫Platform for posting information, reports,

resources, links▫Or, can serve as all-purpose website—

maybe the only one you need

Blogs—Examples

•4-H Arts in Wisconsin•News from Cooperative Extension•Updates from the Dean

Blogs—Advantages

•WordPress is supported by CE IT•Customizable templates•Good for multimedia

▫Post: videos, audio, pictures•Great platform for long posts

▫Articles, documents•Internal blog advantage – great for

archiving materials

Blogs—Disadvantages

•Not great for facilitating conversation•If audience doesn’t use an RSS reader,

blogs can be hard to follow▫Readers have to navigate to the site to see

updates

Podcasts and YouTube

•Multimedia supplements that can be combined with other social media platforms▫Great way to incorporate interactive

content•While audio and video production aren’t

too hard, they do require a little skill, as well as software and equipment

Twitter

•Micro-blogging service▫Messages are limited to 140 characters

•Twitter users “follow” each other to receive updates

Twitter—Examples

•CNN Breaking News•UW-Extension ANRE•UW-Madison

Twitter—Advantages

•Great for sharing quick thoughts•Good for reposting articles from other

sources•Can build large networks of similar

organizations to share ideas and information

•Mobile-accessible (cell phones, PDAs)•Desktop and web-based applications

▫Ex: HootSuite, TweetDeck, many more

Twitter—Disadvantages

•Message size limit •Cannot share documents, just links •Two-way conversations can be

exclusionary for other followers•Distracting!

Facebook

•Social network•Groups vs. pages vs. profiles•More than 500 million active users•Members can join networks and

communities

Facebook—Examples

•American Red Cross•UW-Extension Family Living Programs•UW-Extension ANRE•UW-Extension CNRED

Facebook—Advantages

•Multimedia-capable▫Video, photos

•Good for community input▫The wall-post structure encourages back-

and-forth communication•Potential to reach large audiences – and

strategic audiences▫Facebook advertising is customized for

every user based on personal profile keywords

Facebook—Disadvantages

•Not good for posting documents•Personal profiles

▫Need to have a profile to access pages, but some may be uncomfortable with creating a personal profile

•Access▫Many county offices block Facebook and

other social networking sites

Cautions

•Security▫With any third-party site, using emails and

passwords can be a weak spot. Big security incidents are rare, but do sometimes happen.

•Privacy▫Remember that anything online may be

seen by others—only post what you’re comfortable with.

Social Media & Strategy

•Social media is just part of a larger communication plan

•Hopefully one—or more—of these platforms can be a valuable supplement to your communications.