I have had many interactions with groups of people in the last year on the subject of Social Media Networking. The number one question I get at nearly EVERY meeting is “How do I/we/my company/they/my dog/my cat/etc…. make money from Social Media”. Because thats so commonly asked, thats not the topic of this posting. Instead, I thought to post on questions that people pose to me either when no one else is around or through email or even, in one case, through his dad (I jest not). There are five common questions that people are afraid to ask (at least in Asia) when in a group.
This post will deal with the most common one….“What Social Media Networking platform should I use?”. This is not exactly the phrasing, but its the gist of the query. Its not as obvious as it may seem. There are several factors to consider:
1) What are most of my friends using?
2) How do I interact with them?
3) How do I know I am doing the best that I can?
The answer is not obvious and is actually dependent on where you operate. In the US, some will tell you MySpace or Facebook, in Brazil and India, Orkut, in other parts of the world, Hi5 or some localized platform that caters to the language. So even while Facebook has 175 million users as of end 2008 (I’m betting at least 30% are people adopting multiple personas on Facebook) and MySpace is a close second, the choice is not simply a matter of Facebook or MySpace. I believe that the biggest consideration is what most of your friends are on. After all, the main reason for Social Media Networking is to connect with friends. Language is obviously a show stopper, but that aside, if most of the people you know are using Orkut then it makes little sense to build up to significant a profile in Facebook.
Secondly, how do you interact with your friends? If you want to show them pictures of your holiday on your Social Media profile and have them look at it there instead of boring them to death showing them slides over dinner, then you need to choose a platform that supports this (most do). At a basic level, most platforms provide the basic interaction functions of messaging, picture libraries, comments and basic security functionality that allows limited viewership to specific groups in your contact list. More sophisticated plugins are available such as games, tests, etc…..on some sites like Facebook.
The third component is maybe peculiar to Singapore. I know the sentiment is prevalent globally, but so far, I have only heard the concept taking the form of an adjective in Singapore. The term is “Kiasu” and is derived from a Chinese dialect Hokkien to denote someone who is afraid to lose out. You know, those morons who stand in line for opening day tickets to Star Wars, etc….. The fear is that having invested time and energy to build a profile and network on one platform, they find that another platform offers them so much more but are too “unmotivated” to switch their whole personas over. Well folks, welcome to the real world. No one can predict what social media platform will make it or not. Just two years ago, MySpace was the biggest thing around, now its Facebook, who knows what it’ll be later. The only way is to stay current on developments within Social Media and keep testing new services that come out.
In case you were wondering….I use and create content on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress and Blogspot. I have accounts with MySpace, Youtube, SlideSorter, Ortuk, Socialtrak, Ning, Flickr, Picasa, etc…..but seldom update my profile there.
The next post will be on the question of “Now I have a Profile on a Social Media Platform….how do I protect myself??”
Some Meowsings...... 