Social Media 101 -- cbc column to air on Monday

I'm blathering about social media on CBC Radio's "The Business Network" on Monday morning (Terry Fallis alert: set your clock 10 minutes early on Sunday night so you don't miss me again!).* but Jordan Behan put out a call for ideas for presentations on social media. I figger this does the trick:

"I recently attended an “unconference.” A what?, you’re saying. It was an unconference about podcasting, called PodCamp.

I was thinking while I was there about just how confusing some business people find some of the new concepts that are permeating popular culture and business right now.

Terms like crowdsourcing and, for that matter, unconferences, are getting bandied about. And things like MySpace, FaceBook, and podcasting are being billed more and more as essential business tools.

So what does it all mean?

The first thing to do is look at all this Web 2.0 stuff with one eye wide in anticipation, and the other narrowed with scepticism. There were lots of businesses that thought the Web was a fad or a kid’s toy in 1993, and I’d wager they’re all either online or out of business by now.

I think these new media are too important to ignore. But by the same token, do your homework and tie any of these new media to your business strategy before you go investing money in them.
All these social media have a few things in common. They are based in the idea of conversation, or dialogue between equals. A static Web site delivering tightly scripted messages doesn’t work with this new world.

Wherever possible, individuals coalesce into transient groups. In the case of my conference, a small group of people created a wiki-based Web site that was the clearinghouse for conference information. There was no registration fee, no expensive conference coordination company.

People suggested sessions they wanted to see or could deliver on the Web site, and conference registrants were encouraged to leave any session they didn’t feel was meeting their needs. Every session was streamed on the Web in video and audio, and archived on the site. Most surprising of all, there was no conference fee.

The key to entereing the Web 2.0 world seems to be to tread lightly. Don’t push your way into Wikipedia or Myspace. Join, listen, read – and learn.

Start interacting gently, by commenting on a blog post or answering a question. Look to participate, not lead. Ask a lot of questions.

In the end, the new media that are out there are just one more new way of interacting. They operate a little differently, but patient and thoughtful businesses can learn to use them effectively.

For the Business Network, I’m Bob LeDrew in Ottawa."

Ciao,
Bob.

*For those of you who don't know, "The Business Network" runs nationwide on CBC Radio One each weekday at 5:45 a.m., and I appear every other Monday to talk PR. With about seven years on the job, I'd bet that I am the longest-running PR columnist in Canadian media... and perhaps the only one.