socialINDY Media Blog

New Facebook is better than Old Facebook October 15, 2008

I’ve got to get this off my chest.  I’ve kept quiet for far too long.  I LIKE THE NEW FACEBOOK!   There I said it.  I feel so much better.  Why? I’ll tell ya why.

Facebook had to change.  It was getting rediculous.  There was simply too much input from app developers that had infiltrated the old facebook.  It had honestly gotten to the point where I didn’t want to use it any more.  There was too much clutter on the page and it just looked disorganized.  I know that there were certain ways to customize your page that people miss, but I’ve been on facebook for a long time and I remember how sweet it was when it first started… it had gotten really crappy.

In the beginning facebook was a content driven platform.  It grew primarily as a picture-sharing platform for college students (I was one of those students at the time).  From the inception of social media there were two constants 1) Myspace is for music 2) Facebook is for pictures.   As soon as they made it possible to ‘tag’ your friends in your pictures and and notify everyone as soon as that happened, facebook set themselves up as the most efficient way to ‘show’ your friends what you were up to.  Unfortunately, facebook became infiltrated with WAY to much other stuff from independent developers and it got all mucked up.

I began using the new facebook the day that it became available, and I realized that the facebook folks were aware (as I was aware) that they were going downhill fast and needed to fix it if they were going to remain relevent.  The new platform is simply a work of art.  It takes the core features of facebook (pictures, video, events, groups, notes) and puts that on the front end.  The other applications are still availabe, but they don’t clutter the community.  I think this was a great move for facebook and it definitely kept me using the platform.

Social Media Savior October 9, 2008

Every once in a while I’m reminded of just how amazing it is to be involved in social media.  When the reality of unemployment hit me I new that my online connections would be imporant, but I think that I might have underestimated just how important it might be.  

Yesterday my fiancee walked into our bedroom to find me parked next to the headboard with my laptop.  ‘Are you blogging?  You’re supposed to be job-hunting!’  Now I don’t blame her for scolding me.  We’re getting married next summer and I really need a job before we ‘officially’ begin our lives together.  What people who aren’t initiated into the social media world will never understand is the power of being connected online.  What’s even more important is that I’m trying to get a job in social media.  Should I really be blogging less?

Whenever I write a blog, I like to post in multiple places so that my words of wisdom will get as much exposure as possible (I learned this trick from Kyle Lacy).  It was particularly important in this case that my message be heard (I need a livelyhood folks!).  Luckily, because of my activity in various online communities, it was only a matter of hours before I had a much better idea of what was out there.

The beautiful thing about social media is that it’s a fantastic way for people to make all sorts of interesting connections.  For me, my social media journey began 4 years ago when I first found out about facebook.  I thought ‘Wow!  That’s an amazing way to keep in touch with people.’  Then, I discovered all the unique ways that businesses can use social media to connect with customers.  One thing that organizaitons sometimes forget is that social media is best at connecting individuals.  

I’m looking for work, so social media can help me connect with the human resources manager of a company I’m interested in or even with the CEO.  It helps me get over the initial hurdle of connecting with the people who will help me get where I need to be.  One thing that big business is slow to understand is that this phenomenon can work in reverse as long as you realize that it’s all about INDIVIDUAL interactions.  Company ABC can try to connect to individuals using social media, but it is very likely that it will fail.  But, if Ed from the marketing department and Joe from sales each start blogging (authentically) about what they do, they can connect with other individuals who might be interested in Company ABC’s products and services.

Basically what I’m saying is that in order for social media to be effective for business you have to eliminate the B2B, B2C, the branding, and all the other crap that keeps the people in your organization who are truly interested in social media from connecting with a world of potential customers.  I’m still on the job hunt, and I’ll always be crazy about social media.  If anyone sees a classified ad reading ‘social media mogul wanted – 100k/year’ please let me know.