1www.TecAccess.net The Increasingly Accessible World of Social Media

Understanding The Terms What is social media/emerging media? The use of telecommunications to interact with others online through the sharing of words, pictures, video and audio. Most social network services begin with a virtual representation of each user (a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional personal or professional information. Networks become richer with more personal connections and more diverse ways to spread and gather information.

Social media: 6 years old and growing  Though online social platforms such as chat rooms or message boards have been around for decades, it’s been only recently that they’ve found mainstream reception. Most came online around 2004 and  Facebook: 500 million users as of July 2010  YouTube: 2 billion videos watched daily. 24 hours of video uploaded per minute.  Twitter: 55 million monthly visits; 3 rd largest social network  LinkedIn: 70 million users, mostly business-oriented  Wikipedia: More than 15 million articles

Beyond Facebook: What’s new? Mobility The “third screen” increases accessibility to Web Analysts predict that by 2015 that more users will connect to the Internet over mobile devices than on PCs Integration Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are trickling into other websites, from news outlets to blogs, creating a “network beyond the networks.” Location services Social networks are finding ways to play a role in daily life with technologies that help you while on-the-go.

Mobility 49 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones in May, up 8.1 percent from three months earlier. Led by BlackBerry, Apple, Microsoft and Google’s Android operating systems. Of those users:  32 percent browse the Internet  30 percent use apps  21 percent access social media sites or blogs  The majority of usage is data/text, not phone service.

Integration Facebook now allows websites to integrate it into their own blogs or websites. It works best on sites with frequently updated content. How? “Like”/“Recommend” button: Lets visitors to your site/blog “like” or recommend an article, video or other content and comment on it Visitor activity is shown on their Facebook page and others’ News Feeds, expanding your distribution network

Customized landing pages Built within an organization or business’ “Fan” page, a customized landing page is created to promote new offers, draw attention to new products and services, or to simply act as a digital welcome mat.

Targeted ads Google, in particular, is able to integrate advertisements that target users of its Gmail service based on the content of messages, creating a new revenue stream for Google…and a new touch point for marketers.

Location-based services Location services let people with a mobile device (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android) “check in” at businesses, events and more. Users earn badges and keep a running tab on places they visit, can see who else is nearby, learn about deals and get tips from others who have been there before. Most popular location-based service is Foursquare. Others include Gowalla and Google Latitude. Many businesses – particularly, restaurants and bars - have deals for Foursquare users, such as drink or food specials.

An update on Twitter… Allows users to send 140-character updates, share links, get breaking news updates, and more. No account necessary to use for search News breaks on Twitter before going mainstream Influencers from all industries are active on Twitter

Twitter as Google: search.twitter.com Use as you would Google – search for your company’s name, competitor’s names, links and more. A search for “TecAccess” reveals…

Twitter Tips If you do have Twitter: Integrate onto your blog/website with a plugin Feed it into your LinkedIn/Facebook accounts Be sure it’s on your mobile device 2-3 updates/links per day. Converse at least once a day If you don’t have Twitter: Use it as a search engine Consider setting up an account to “listen” to important sources of news or information Know that if you aren’t on Twitter, your competitors may be

New This year LinkedIn - the “professional Facebook” – has released some new technologies to make the experience better for users. Two of them: Groups Easier to share information in groups of like-minded people or those in the same industry. Consistent information sharing brands you as expert in field; users can see “top influencers” each week on different group conversations. Bump App for iPhone allows LinkedIn information to be exchanged simply by “bumping” two devices together – no typing necessary.

QR codes Like a bar code for a website or social media profile. QR stands for “Quick Response,” and these codes are placed on billboards, in magazines, on websites and more. Turns camera on a mobile device (iPhone, BlackBerry, etc) into a QR code reader with an app. Great for businesses to “extend” message and track advertising effectiveness. Have a QR reader? Check it out!

Takeaways. Social networking is moving beyond just a dot-com website and entering our lives in new and meaningful ways (whether that’s good or bad is a matter of opinion). Social media is changing through: Mobility Mobile device saturation makes it easier to share information and connect with friends and businesses. Mobility is making social tools on the Web more accessible to everyone. Integration Social networks are spreading into news sites and blogs, giving visitors to such sites a richer experience if they are users of Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Location services Social networks are starting to play a role in helping users interact with organizations and people while on-the-go.