"The Human Network"

The thing that I would like to focus on from this week's readings is Brian Solis' chapter on the "Human Network". According to Solis, "the Human Network is representative of the connections that link us to one another across multiple social networks". This concept made me reflect on a video that we watched and discussed in my social media for PR class last week concerning How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer.

Basically what this video discussed is that anyone in the world can be connected to anyone else in the world in a matter of six steps. A mere six connections can bring two complete strangers together.

The human network is a little more specific though because it refers specifically to social networking online, rather than the direct person to person networking. This concept is inspiring because it shows how one thing can be spread throughout the Internet through connections. A very simple example of this in my mind is how a newspaper may tweet some information, multiple people will RT or comment, some that RT may link it to Facebook, people will comment it there and so on.

This concept stood out to me as something in particular that I could easily relate to and see happen (not that the other ideas in the book aren't accessible)!

"The Era of Now": Affecting Types of Social Media

This week I am focusing on chapters 12 through 18 of Engage! by Brian Solis. The section that I found particularly interesting regarded the concept of information finding you rather than you having to go and fetch it yourself. Solis brings in the concept that "The era of 'now' is fueling new media," and by this he is asserting that because we are being more and more conditioned to expect instantaneous news or information, social media sites are becoming more equipped to give it to us. It only makes sense that social media/networking sites would be the place to go for such "now" information. Solis' idea of the "statusphere" makes this "now" information structure between people and social media more concrete because it allows for people to post information as they see fit as often as they might like and in addition it is available to everyone-there is a WARNING label associated with this though and that is by all mean not everything posted is going to be relevant or even true. Overall though the concept is in place that information is at our hands and is only going to become more so.

While I was reading this I was reminded of an article that I posted about earlier this week concerning the Department of Homeland Security and their steps to make alert systems more accessible to the general public. Through various types of social media information is readily available at our fingertips. The Department of Homeland Security, if you didn't read the post (which you should), is eliminating their color-coded security alert system which I'm sure we are all aware of when it comes to flying and are implementing a system that alerts people via posts on Facebook and Twitter.

In addition, in class we've discussed that concept pretty thoroughly when it comes to PR. Basically social media allows for companies to collect data on itself or clients without having to go out and search for it. Sites like Google Reader or Yahoo Pipes will do all the work and all you have to do is sit back and wait for the information to flow in. The "now" era has provided us with the capability to get information with ease and this is only going to continue to progress in the future.

Need Help Getting Noticed?

Week 11 readings were chapters 6-12 of Engage by Brian Solis. The chapters all discuss different variants of social media and how it is effectively used for instance with micro-blogs or syndicating a network. The chapter that I would really like to focus on for this particular blog post is chapter 9 and social media optimization to be more precise.

Social media optimization (SMO) is something that hits home. As an individual not necessarily new to social media but new to the blogging world SMO is something that is proving to a new challenge. In class we have discussed the concept of search engine optimization and Solis explains SMO in terms of it being "The New SEO". Solis refers to social media optimization as "the deliberate acts of aligning keywords with social objects to improve the association of your content with the individuals performing the search within a specific social network as well as traditional searches and also real-time/social search engines". In more laymen terms I would characterize SMO as basically working in tags, keywords, titles, etc  strategically so that your blog/webpage shows up high in search results.

The way that you describe, title, tag, link, and provide the content of your blog or webpage is crucial in getting noticed. I think if you want to master SMO you need to view as a strategy through and through. You need to constantly be keeping up with cleverly arranging your content so that it works to your advantage and I for one will be doing my best to actively work my blog so that I come up on searches.