Analysis of Search Terms used to Find Onlineandloggedin

Apparently Google must have sent some bots creeping in this direction because search hits have been piling up.  In keeping this blog vanilla, most of my posts are about something mainstream or about one of my more dorky esoteric interests.  It’s plain to me that the web, and blogs in particular, serve to demassify mass media.  All of that fancy journalism/college talk just means that people are reading about/searching for/finding whatever they are interested in.  Demassification, dear readers, is not about people searching for “cooking”.  This is about people searching for “how to use ingredients local to Irmo, SC”, or other highly specialized areas.  Apparently, my humble blog has managed to find its way into a ton of searches regarding “Joe Walther” and “The Social Information Processing Theory” .   When I wrote about those things, they were the last topics that I thought anyone would find interesting.  This is great, the most uninteresting topic, that I’m glad to talk about, is the one that draws them in.

Closing thoughts:  Market to your niche.  Say your piece.

Mark Zuckerberg Open Letter

It has been a great year for making the world more open and connected. Thanks to your help, more than 350 million people around the world are using Facebook to share their lives online.

To make this possible, we have focused on giving you the tools you need to share and control your information. Starting with the very first version of Facebook five years ago, we’ve built tools that help you control what you share with which individuals and groups of people. Our work to improve privacy continues today.

Facebook’s current privacy model revolves around “networks” — communities for your school, your company or your region. This worked well when Facebook was mostly used by students, since it made sense that a student might want to share content with their fellow students.

Over time people also asked us to add networks for companies and regions as well. Today we even have networks for some entire countries, like India and China.

However, as Facebook has grown, some of these regional networks now have millions of members and we’ve concluded that this is no longer the best way for you to control your privacy. Almost 50 percent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks, so this is an important issue for us. If we can build a better system, then more than 100 million people will have even more control of their information.

The plan we’ve come up with is to remove regional networks completely and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone.

We’re adding something that many of you have asked for — the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload. In addition, we’ll also be fulfilling a request made by many of you to make the privacy settings page simpler by combining some settings. If you want to read more about this, we began discussing this plan back in July.

Since this update will remove regional networks and create some new settings, in the next couple of weeks we’ll ask you to review and update your privacy settings. You’ll see a message that will explain the changes and take you to a page where you can update your settings. When you’re finished, we’ll show you a confirmation page so you can make sure you chose the right settings for you. As always, once you’re done you’ll still be able to change your settings whenever you want.

We’ve worked hard to build controls that we think will be better for you, but we also understand that everyone’s needs are different. We’ll suggest settings for you based on your current level of privacy, but the best way for you to find the right settings is to read through all your options and customize them for yourself. I encourage you to do this and consider who you’re sharing with online.

Thanks for being a part of making Facebook what it is today, and for helping to make the world more open and connected.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Has Twitter Envy

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then it seems that Twitter is officially the cool kid on the block. Facebook users have been tagging pictures for a long time but now they can tag posts as well. Users can tag their “friends” using the @ symbol which was started by Twitter users. The tagged person’s name then appears as a hyperlink in the post.

 

CC- Licensed Hang Grebe

In another step towards their Twitterization facebook has now launched Facebook Lite which allows users to have a more streamlined feed page.

I wonder how long it will take for Facebook to have “trending topics” and “music monday” or hash tags.

 

 

Migration and Trends of Social Media

Social Media is like this. In years past I was a paintball player and a member of a sizable online forum.  As time went by I became a large voice in the scenario paintball of the south east.  One day I was asked why people will come to one game or another.  I decided that people will go where they know others will be also, bonus points if they know the other people.

CC-Licensed by Flickr User fredcavazza

People will go where their friends go or where a lot of people are.  Also, they will participate in that which is comfortable and easy.  This is especially true in recreational activities; let’s face it, much usage of social media is recreational.

With these things in mind, everybody has a Facebook now.  No longer the college hideout from the days of yore, even grandmothers are on Facebook—including mine.  Facebook is easy to use.  It uses no HTML, unlike Myspace, and almost everyone you have ever met (or haven’t) is a user.  Facebook allows instant gratification.  Once registered, a member can begin collecting a massive array of “friends” immediately.

Twitter requires some effort in order to set up a profitable community, but once achieved, Twitter can be very interesting.  Twitter is the land where most of the professional conversations occur.  It is also a resource that many have flocked to – because of the buzz, I suspect – and many have vacated – likely due to the lack of instant gratification.

Some social media sites are more conducive to some forms of communication than others.  I have discussed my preferred use in this past blog entry.  Most people use Twitter professionally/intellectually and Facebook for relationship maintenance and phatic communication.  That being said, people are flocking to wherever the big buzz for the minute is.

McMaster to Run for Governor of South Carolina

South Carolina Attorney General Henry Mccmaster announced on his Facebook page that he will be announcing his candidacy in the S.C. gubernatorial race. McMaster a member of the GOP, is notable for his offensive against Craigslist.com as AG of South Carolina. I’m looking forward to seeing how Social Media plays a role in local and state-wide elections.

Follow McMaster on Twitter @henrymcmaster

CC-Licensed by Flickr user Drewstowe

Democratization and social media

In discussing Twitter this evening my wife pointed out that it is interesting how businesses are now able to broadcast directly to their consumers rather than go through the media.

Journalists have long been the gatekeepers between the news itself and what every day America reads about.  As social media is on the rise it is more and more popular for everyone to be a journalist.  Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can create news.  This also means that businesses can generate their own public relations, which is a big factor in businesses using social media such as Twitter.

As a journalist, I too urge you to be the middle-man.  Get your information from the source when you can and respond to it.  Businesses who use social media will listen to comments that you make.  This is especially true of social media with smaller audiences; you will more likely be heard.

You can learn more about social media and its effects by attending a meeting of your local Social Media Club. Click one of the images below for local clubs.

How I use Social Media to Advertise my Blog

I promote my blog almost exclusively using social media.  It is my opinion that various forms of social media have different functions which best suit them.  Almost every article I publish, I advertise of Facebook.  I use Facebook as my primary friend maintenance platform.  My more academic blogs are reserved for Twitter, where my audience is more academic and likely would not be interested in most of my day-to-day posts.

Wordle of Online and Logged In

I estimate that over 90% of my blog’s hits are generated directly by my links on Facebook and Twitter. The vast majority of my blogs hits are generated from Facebooker’s who click my link in their news feed.   Approximately 90% of the hits for any one article are generated within a day or two of its initial advertisement.  Other hits are found through google searches and the built in WordPress related links function that appear at the bottom of each article.

When I write blogs I try to use as many search engine friendly terms as possible, with diverse tags.  I try to write catchy headlines that convey the meaning of my story.  Because the first sentence or two of any given article appears in Facebook’s feed I write them very carefully.  In journalism this sentence is commonly known as the lead and is important to grabbing and keeping a readers attention.

Localized Social Media: Flash Mob

Social Media is a big thing.  As businesses get into it, and as CMC becomes a more widely regarded medium for relational and phatic communication, social media too is going to morph into a very large thing.

I read this morning about a flash mob at the University of Kentucky.  Presumably using Facebook, Twitter, and or the red headed step child of social media…Myspace, college students organized something as awesomely pointless as a flash mob.

At about 9:00 pm about 300 people crammed into the library and began dancing, chanting and otherwise being unruly.  The president of the student government spoke highly of the student spirit shown here.

Even though many people boast hundreds of Facebook friends, and thousands of twitter followers, it’s awesome to me to see social media used on such a local scale.  This is what it’s all about, it’s not about living a “second life” it’s about being closer and having a more effective relationship with the real people around you.  It’s just healthier that way, this isn’t academic, and it’s just common sense.

1. http://improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy/