lucindigo.com

I read an interesting article on Readwriteweb this morning titled, “Real people don’t have time for social media”. There were a few really interesting points in there that helped formulate my understanding of roles within a social media scene although I think “most people” as opposed to real people would have been much more accurate headline for this article.

I think social media still has connotations of unproductive time wasting through things like online chatting. This isn’t the case at all. What social media tools allow are a huge increase in efficiency and productivity.

Some “real people” use social media tools to help them stay up to date with topics they wish to follow and are passionate about (personal) but also use them to do their job better (professional).

In the information age that is today there is a mass of research, data and opinion readily available at our fingers tips. Social media tools, are just that tools, for us at home and in the workplace to filter, sort and receive all information that is relevant and potentially critical to our areas of personal and professional interest.

I did like the breakdown of roles ReadWriteWeb made within a social media community
1) Participants
2) Content providers
3) Community Directors (What must be the mayoral equivalent in the offline world)

I think people must move through each role as they find their areas of interest (participant), find a voice and form opinions (content provider) and then connections are made with others and the interest becomes a true passion that they really want to share ideas around with others (community director).

My point for this post is to say that yes, social media tools and the increases in efficiency and productivity they provide are currently not accessed by most (”real”) people. But for people like myself for whom information is integral to staying abreast of developments they can really make a difference to building understanding, skills and expertise and in ensuring you are up to date with any shifts of new developments.

I use a number of social media tools for both my personal interests (online/New media, emerging tech, journalism) and professional interests (finance, capital markets and investment) and since I have done so it has made a huge positive difference in both areas. Based on this, I would recommend that more “real people” give these tools a go.

Another great ReadWriteWeb post here Ten common objections to social media adoption and how you can respond

See here for a diagram of a vision for 2010 that came out of an LA Times offsite of 24 newsroom editors “to develop a three year plan for the newsroom.” As you would expect there is a focus on feedback and input from readers, customisable content, a recognition of content from professionals and amateur and a wide channel view for the future across TV, print, web and mobile. See this link for the memo sent to staff and a book/blog reading list provided to those going along.

“Rest assured that we still want to break news and do in-depth and investigative stories that matter to our readers. But we also are looking for ways to reimagine our business so that we can remain relevant for many years to come.” - LA Times Editor

When easily accessible publishing tools such as blogs and citizen journalism sites first came into existence they were very far removed from traditional publishing houses. In the last 6 -7 years they have become commonplace, in use by individuals who would not previously been able to publish their ideas, opinions and any other creative content they choose to generate. If this content is generated out of a work setting and of a person’s own initiative many claim it is because it is a created out of passion, which makes for expertise, understanding and a good read. This is how many of the leading blogs were formed and the reason they can gain such a strong and rapid readership.These tools are now also used widely by organisations, with main benefits that come to mind gains in productivity, increased ability for collaboration and the ability to have a two way conversation.

But more relevant here is that they are also used to today by “traditional” media companies, complementing (e.g. add a comment, social media tools) and in some cases replacing traditional journalism. What I thought first thought when I read the article about the LA Times offsite was how difficult it must be to accelerate change within a large media organisation. This is where pure new media companies have an edge through agility. This LA Times plan is a couple of years off (2010), when realistically technology that is hot now and integral to this roadmap plan from LA Times may will be archaic, may have evolved, maybe even totally replaced.
In my mind it would be best to run this type of “Newsroom to New media” offsite with the understanding that “remaining relevant” will always be an ongoing process, not a fixed project with an end date looked to, in this case 2010. At the offsite focus would be best set on reinforcing to the whole editing team that the fact the roadmap that they set today will quite possibly need to change daily, weekly, monthly. And that this is one of the most exciting aspects of their field.

On the journalism note this seems relevant,

“The latest gaff in online journalism comes courtesy of prominent tech blog, emphasizing once again an important point: When bloggers are under pressure to be first and fast, the journalistic process is undermined and due diligence is neglected.”

“New Media’s final hurdle for true credibility can be summed up in one word: veracity.In two words: journalistic standards.” Read the full article here

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 8:05 AM, Ali Spagnola wrote:
hi lucy!
i finished your painting! i know i said i had a long list of requests
but…..i moved you to the front because you told me about that broken
link on my website! i hope you dont mind hahaha! i appreciate you
pointing that out. sooo, you can see your painting here:

www.alispagnola.com/Free/lucy.jpg

what do you think? if you like it, i’ll mail it to you right away!

talk to you soon,
ali

See Ali’s site here at www.alispagnola.com - such creative brilliance, i love it.

We watch the world change daily, new technologies are created then shortly after evolve again, new jobs are created that didn’t exist when our parents (or when we) were children and new concepts come into existence that we may have once thought of as impossible.

Nothing remains the same no matter which way you look at it. So why should our language? We must create new words and phrases to communicate these new concepts and technologies to the world. Thousands of books today in the management literature category espouse how critical agility and flexibility (for individuals and organisations) are to survive in today’s global marketplace.

We need to be just as flexible and agile with our language, which in essence creates our world. This summarises exactly why the urban dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) is such a progressive forward-thinking tool helping to continuously create our future.