The net is a buzz with the social media craze! The buzz only a few years ago was Web 2.0, now it has given way to "Going Social" – or has it? Searching the net, you get different definitions of what Web 2.0 actually is, but it first became notable after the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference in 2004. Web 2.0 was actually the new vision for the web based businesses after the collapse of the "Dot-Com" bubble in 2001 and also a guide for distinguishing characteristics of the projects that survived the bust or thrived thereafter. That vision was one of sharing information, networking and collaboration projects - such as Wikis. In short, Web 2.0 was the discussion point that created the evolution of the web into social media and the ability to feed information across the internet.
So, what is the power behind all this and why should you use it? The power rest in what you want to do with your business – no matter what business you are in, you have a consumer, and you need to reach them. As we are in the housing business – we want to market our communities to potential residents, so we need to span out with a far reach to stay one up on the guys down the street with the new landscaping. The power we have seen most effective in housing is a simple one – a picture is worth a thousand words. So we look at video as a solid investment. We can create a full view of the community, model units and amenities – wrap it in a pretty package and deliver it in less than 2 minutes. We can put it on YouTube and they seem to push it across the internet like nothing we have ever seen. We can also place it on our website, social networks and it just takes a life of its own. Now that is Social Power – the Web 2.0 vision has come to life!
Social Media is all about the power of feeding data across the net, exchanging it, coupling it with other resources and playing into other media channels. We are now seeing RSS Feeds evolving (RSS is a standard format to push data) from feeding content to RSS Readers to pushing it into another website. This is opening the social networks up even deeper. A lot of the power we see behind Social Networks is the power of the feed – see Social Networks are feeding content out also – the content just happens to be user generated. As an example of the power of "The Feed" go to YouTube, find a video and look at the tools they deliver under "Share." This is an example of how important social media is becoming – it is the feed that pushes the web – yet it exists on being fed. So the next time you are questioning how "Going Social" will benefit your business – take a walk back in time to the birth of this vision – it was born from the crash of a bubble – sounds familiar?
Where is that social economic package I was sending to congress……