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Northwest Editors Guild Meeting, March 9, 2009Hosted by: Michele Whitehead and Karalynn Ott, with Susan Hodges
The meeting centered around the questions, "Who uses social media? What sites are worthwhile? What, and whom, are all these sites for, anyway?"
Michele and Karalynn gathered a selection of articles and posts both explaining and discussing the benefits, pitfalls, and trends in social media. They will provide a link to all the articles at the end of these notes.
Members' thoughts on/General perception of these networks:
MySpace For youngest group of users, and artists, musicians, and others selling something
For largest cross-section of users, mostly in their 20s-50s
TBD For "grown-ups" over 40
Biznik For independent business owners and "solopreneurs"
For business, blogging, and chatter
For business
Facebook (The guild should/does have a page? Board to discuss)
Biznik
Lively discussions ran throughout the meeting, including:"Don't be afraid to say what you do." "Now, most jobs are word of mouth." Largest % of referrals come from 2 degrees out (friend of a friend) How do you choose what information you share on Facebook? How do you think about social media? The etiquette of social media is still evolving. Some people get it, some don't. "I thought Twitter was just for cell phones." Do you use just one email, or do you use different ones for business and personal? Who has a website? Why? Why not? Is your website a business card or a portfolio/CV? Social media sites get more traffic than websites - point profile viewers to website Do you want to be on the bandwagon? SEO Requests for work you don't want? Post info on profile: "I'm busy for the next 16 months." The Guild needs a bigger presence online.
Wonderful questions (from Marguerite Langlois): thought process one can employ when considering whether/how much to delve into social media: "It's about choosing what I want." "What kind of connections do I want?" "What audience do I want?" "What type of communications am I looking for?" "What is my message? " "What the purpose of this for me?" "What results do I want?" "How much time do I want to spend on this?"
Fear that you can't retract anything that's posted on the Internet
User agreements are scary and deceitful
Facebook's announcement that they owned everything written on site & user backlash
No one knows if LI and Biznik are any better, although Biznik strives for transparency
None of the sites walk you through how to use them (high frustration level)
This discussion will be continued in a breakout session at the 2009 Guild conference. Useful, related links"Social networking also works for Tacoma business"
"Tens Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job"
"8 Ways that Twitter Can Grow Your Freelance Business"
"Twitter For Freelance Writers - I've Signed Up, Now What?"
"Twitter? It's What You Make It"
"How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business"
"35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users"
"How Facebook is taking over our lives"
"When Everyone's a Friend, Is Anything Private?"
"How to Delete Accounts from Any Website"
"How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook...Safely" "Koobface, Other Worms Target Facebook Friends"
Meeting guests Suzanne Griscom and Annika Hipple are both available to assist members in getting connected to the sites of your choice. They can be reached at:
Annika Hipple annikahipple[at]yahoo{dot}com and
Suzanne Griscom That Wordsmith Editing, Writing & Coaching Services www.ThatWordsmith.com (in process) http://biznik.com/members/suzanne-griscom Land: 206-533-2040 Air: 206-331-1705
--notes provided by Suzanne Griscom and Michele Whitehead |
