INFINITY.

Social media is defined in Wikipedia as the “democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers”.

Social network is defined in Wikipedia as “a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, vision, idea, exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, web links, sexual relations, disease transmission (epidemiology), or airline routes”.

And here’s the definition of both according to NEENZ: Social media are the parts of my soul shared with the world, and if it stirs another individual in any way it’s synergistic.

For nearly six months I’ve been religiously feeding my social media/networking addiction, and the more I learn about the different sites, the more I learn about myself. In the beginning, as with everything I do, it’s with a “mind wide-open” approach, otherwise how do you reap the full benefits of anything with a closed mind? And then, perhaps it’s just the “diva” in me, I have to try on everything, before I realize the clothing store doesn’t even carry my size.

The first thing I learned is that it’s about “people” on several different levels. A social networking site cannot work if it does not have the users. The ones who are living and breathing and actually participating; and not the users who have the smarts to automate, but not the smarts to participate.

Second, you must be able to relate to the living and breathing people participating on the social networking site. I still have an account with MySpace, but long ago I realized the site no longer had my attention.

The next thing I learned is that my real life rule of simplicity carried over into my social media/networking habits. The social networking sites needed to be simple to keep my attention. From registration, to customization, to application all simple. But, simple for me means convenient too. In Hawaii my home is centrally located to everything; the mall, gas station, movies, beach, work, schools, my parents are all literally between 2-20 minutes away.

With using my definition and preferences of “people” and “simplicity” I’ve narrowed my palate of sites:

• Twitter: Registration and customization are simple, and is available for use via SMS on your mobile phone. Without being logged in to the site, I can text to Twitter “what I am doing” and if I receive a reply I will be notified via text message as well. Each post is strictly limited to 140 characters, and depending on “what you’re doing” it could be a positive or a negative.

• UTTERZ: Don’t want to type or text, pick up your phone (any phone) and utter a post. This site captures all of my simple needs. I can upload either a video, text message, photo or voice to UTTERZ and then have it set-up to cross post to Twitter or INFINITY.

• TRUEMORS: A plethora of news all in one site, promised at no more than 340 characters. Simple.

• HawaiiThreads: If you’re anxious to join, you may require patience in order to begin posting, but if you’re like me, you’ll persistently email the Administration. This forum is organized, easy to follow, and really a lot of fun if you’re not a “troll”.

Finally, this post would not be complete without mentioning the people who make the different social networking sites comfortable and fun. And, really for me, it’s all about the fun of participating.

• Ryan Ozawa: I’ve mentioned him before and he’s worth mentioning any time I talk about social media and networking. I credit Ryan with instigating my curiosity in social media, and also for feeding my addiction for social networking in a healthy way. But, his true worth is his generosity of his knowledge.

• Guy Kawasaki: He too has been mentioned in previous posts, especially since he’s the first person from my virtual world to collide with my real one. I “found” this famous Guy on Twitter, and some have complained that he doesn’t “participate” enough, but I say they just want his individual attention. Guy has blessed me and my family, and I don’t think he’s realized that until now. How’s that for some individual attention!

• Chris Brogan: If you really want the nuts and bolts of social media and social networking, you need to be in touch with Chris. A social media and social network expert, he’s currently in the process of writing his next 100 posts dedicated to teaching others about the value of social media/network and more importantly the value of your efforts.

There are a lot more people that have created this synergy for me, but in order to fully understand you need to get involved and participate yourself. Each person’s experience have but few similarities since we’re all different people, different souls.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pm and is filed under SOCIAL MEDIA., LIFE., SOCIAL NETWORKING., SELF.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.