Social Media Overview
Information about social media
Why Social Media? Social media–social networking–allows you to connect with other people and groups to engage in conversations, exchange ideas, share pictures and content, and connect through participation, which is made available through applications such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Benefits to participation include collaborative communication, building relationships and responsive interaction.
Social Media Technologies and Tools
Twitter – http://twitter.com - is a site for posting very short (140 character) messages. Twitter is an excellent way to keep a group of people informed about an upcoming or ongoing event or to share useful information in a brief format. Some examples would be, "4-H meeting to discuss/plan upcoming events March 17th" or "Here's a good site for wheat rust information: http://bit.ly/... ." For more information see our Twitter Info page.
YouTube – http://youtube.com - is a video sharing site. Users can upload short videos, which can then be seen and commented on by other users/viewers of the site. YouTube provides easy methods for referring people to the video or embedding a YouTube video on your own website or blog. For more information see our YouTube Info page.
Facebook – http://facebook.com - is a social networking website. It allows you to connect to other individuals and groups. Once connected, you can communicate through public and private conversations, provide event notifications, and share pictures and videos. Facebook has features that may be inappropriate for use with a university-related account such as games, and quizzes and postings to your wall. If you would like to use these features, you might consider a personal account. For more infomation see our Facebook Info page.
Blogs. Web-logging–blogging–is a way of putting your thoughts and ideas online, usually in a diary or journal format. Blogging sites include http://www.wordpress.com and http://www.blogger.com. For professional use, blogging could include writing about any of the topics that you normally teach or may be of interest to a group. To remain relevant, your blog should be updated regularly – at least weekly. Blogs also work best when they are focused on a topic or area of interest such as agriculture, cooking or nutrition. Note that you may be able to use resources on your county or departmental website to post a blog. For more information see our Blog Info page.
Flickr – http://flickr.com - is a photo sharing website. Flickr allows you to upload, edit, organize and share your photos. It allows you to set the level of access for your photos to allow everyone, individuals or certain groups to see your photos. Note that many county and departmental websites provide this same capability.
Linkedin – http://linkedin.com - is a business-oriented social networking site, mainly used for professional networking. It allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details, called connections, of people they know and trust in business. Users can invite anyone to become a connection. The contact network is built through these connections and can be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities that may be recommended by someone in the contact network.
Pinterest - http://pinterest.com - is a social media site that allows you to organize, share, and follow visual items of interest such as pictures and videos on a virtual corkboard. As a Pinterest user you can follow others and be alerted when there are updates. For more information about Pinterest see our Pinterest Info page.
Helpful Tips
· When creating an account related to a group or project, choose a name that reflects the group’s identity, main topic or intended audience.
· Use the same etiquette and professional rules of behavior as face-to-face, and keep your tone personal, friendly and engaging.
· Check your account often to ensure inappropriate comments or posts are edited or deleted.
· Keep your information fresh through relevant and frequent updates.
· Privacy considerations: learn when photo or video release forms are necessary, and review the personal privacy settings of your account(s).
· Depending upon how you use the social media, keeping both your personal and business accounts may be necessary.
· Web addresses (URLs) can be shortened through bit.ly – visit http://bit.ly, then use the bit.ly address when you push information.
· Many smartphones provide applications that allow you to use social media while away from your computer.
