social media relations: navigating the shift from traditional to new media

Kevin R. BurkittM.A., Educational TechnologyMedia Technician Specialist

Spring 2014

Merriam-Webster defines Social Media as: “forms of electronic communication (as web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).”

Printed Materials such as: Books Newspapers Mailers

Broadcast Medias such as: Radio Television

A single producer generates the content.

This “one to many” model generates one message to many recipients.

Traditional media remains consistent.

Media outlets such as radio and television reach a larger core audience when they are ready to receive the message.

Not everyone uses Social, or Web-Driven Media.

That traditional media as we know it is no longer viable, effective, or sufficient.

However, one can not ignore the history, legacy, and impact of these mediums.

Instead of eliminating them, traditional media needs to be blended with new “social” media applications to ensure that the core audience continues to be reached regardless of how media is consumed.

That print and broadcast media have been adversely affected by web-based media.

That there is time to re-think how these mediums are being utilized and how they can be re-purposed to fit with today’s web- driven models.

Social Affordable Ubiquitous Global Free

A “many to many” communication model.

The power of the individual social network allows users to broadcast self generated content to internal and external contacts at all times.

Has the ability to produce various types of user generated content at all times.

Creates the media, and media messages.

Uses the power of the network to transfer information to his or her internal network.

Creates content that is posted, shared, and re-distributed.

Content is cyclical because of the power of the social networks.

Role shifts from creating content to consuming and sharing.

Responds to media and media messages in real time.

By doing so, he or she is strengthening the power of the network and the network effect.

For every one producer of content there are 10 Consumers waiting to rate, comment, share, and re-distribute information.

Arguably, the Consumer is more powerful than the Producer.

A voice which allows us to “self broadcast” text, audio, video, images, and other mixed media to “our” target audience of friends, family, and co-workers.

Have become: entertainment, professional, and communication destinations used for recreation, socialization, information gathering, and content creation.

The primary way in which many people gather non-vetted, real-time information about: social, political, economical, and entertainment events which pertain to their direct interests.

Arguably, Facebook is the largest Social Networking website used today.

Facebook’s use of the open graph, along with advances in how information is shared, makes this site the most powerful Social Networking website being used today.

However, there are concerns with how Facebook uses their privacy settings and data gathering methods to target the end user.

There is additional concern with how Facebook data mines user information as well.

In many respects, Facebook may become more than a social network by becoming a data haven for targeted data driven decision making.

Instagram started as an independent mobile application which allowed users to take pictures, stylize them, and post them to an independent social network using their iPhones.

After the acquisition of Instagram, Facebook changed the architecture to make Instagram more like Twitter, a microblogging website.

Today, 150 million people access Instagram monthly.

16.8 billion photos are shared each month.

There are 1.2 billion likes daily.

Approximately 55 million photos are shared daily.

Started in 2005, YouTube became the first website which allowed anyone to upload video content to the Internet regardless of format.

Users create channels based on their individual interests and build a following based on the “quality” of their videos

Today YouTube is owned by Google.

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month.

Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.

100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US.

YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages.

Mobile makes up almost 40% of YouTube's global watch time.

YouTube is available on hundreds of millions of devices.

Twitter started in 2006 as a microblogging service and was limited to 140 text (txt) characters at a time.

There are approximately 645,750,000 registered users today.

Since 2006, there have been approximately 300 billion tweets sent.

43% of users are using Twitter on mobile devices.

Approximately 135,000 new users sign up for Twitter every day.

The average account has approximately 200 followers.

Since 2003, LinkedIn has become the premier Social Network for working professionals.

Individuals can

upload and share resumes’, contact information, and job postings.

LinkedIn is used by: speakers, leaders, consultants, designers, engineers, bloggers, organizations and even schools to collaborate and learn.

There are approximately 238 million registered users in 200 countries and territories world wide.

There are 84 million users in the United States.

LinkedIn supports 1.5 million sub groups.

In 2012, LinkedIn purchased SlideShare, a slide building website which allows the user to create shareable content online.

In 2003 WordPress started as an open source project to make blogging easier.

Over time, WordPress has become a website development tool and content manager designed to create both internal and external websites.

WordPress requires a basic hosting service capable of handling the back-end architecture which will allow the end user to create just about anything.

WordPress is used for approximately 18.9% of the top 10 million websites.

WordPress is the most popular blogging system with more than 60 million active blogspots.

“a social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard.”

“Invite multiple collaborators to manage social networks securely, plus provide custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools for measurement.”

In 2012, over 700 million messages have been sent through over 6 million unique social profiles.

Currently HootSuite has 4.5 million business users.

The re-distribution of materials using a blended approach will help to reach a new core audience of faculty, staff, students, community members and constituents.

Choosing the right Social Media

outlet is critical when reaching and maintaining a social audience.

Choosing the right Social Media network should be application dependent.

Social Media outlets such as YouTube should be used to cross promote existing video content along with new marketing initiatives presented to Brookdale Television, faculty, and campus groups.

Additionally, Social Media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook should be used in real time to inform the audience of happenings and events.

Subsequently, these same mediums ought to be be used by Brookdalians to share information about the campus community and beyond.

All of these outlets ought to be used in conjunction with the Brookdale Newsroom to promote current projects, events, and happenings at Brookdale regardless of physical location.

Engaging the former audience while building a new social audience has to be recognized as a goal of the institution.

Finally, using tools like HootSuite to generate content, parse data, and generate reports based off analytical data will help the College determine how Social Media implementation can benefit the institution.

Kevin Burkitt is a Media Technician Specialist, Adjunct Instructor and non-credit photography instructor at Brookdale Community College. He has a variety of experience in traditional, new, social, interactive, and web-based media.

Kevin received his Masters of the Arts from New Jersey City University, NJ in Educational Technology. He received his Bachelor of Arts from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA in Mass Communication.

Kevin approaches his work with one simple goal: to help others understand how to navigate through today’s changing media environments.

Kevin R. Burkitt, M.A., Educational Technology

kburkitt77@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-burkitt/8a/4a0/b50

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