Exploring Social Media Tools

Exploring social media tools Melanie Moran Vanderbilt University May 17, 2008 Today Discuss podcasting Discuss YouTube Discuss blogging Discuss Twitter Discuss mobile First off, what’s RSS? Web “feeds” used to publish content Stands for “real simple syndication” Allows for subscription Allows for aggregation of content Must-have for any site with regular updates Built in to any blogging / social media software Google Reader To succeed with any or all of these tools... Be a consumer Know your audience Be relevant Be honest Be timely Understand and watch your stats Links and comments rule the day Content is still king Podcasting - What and how? Plan - live event? Scripted story? Images? Shorter is often better Equipment: Recorder, microphone, software, RSS feed More info. on equipment and how to: http://itunesu.vanderbilt.edu/contribute.html (Check out Talkr) Marketing your podcast Register with iTunes Music Store Register with podcast search engines Include podcast information in your news releases and printed materials Feature podcasts on your Web site, blog, calendar, etc. Online Video Over 60% of American Internet users on broadband 57% of internet users have watched video online 76% of 18-29 year olds watch video online Most share what they watch with others YouTube 411 Launched in 2005 Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim June ’06 - 100 million videos watched daily Aug. ’06 - 6.1 million hosted videos 20 million unique monthly visitors Doesn’t turn a profit Capturing and uploading video Camera Microphone Editing software File format Permission Lots of good howto info. online Building a solid YouTube presence Brand your page - colors, logos, graphics Work to bring consistency to video Playlists Links Subscribers Comments YouTube and embedding YouTube tools allow you to embed videos and playlists in your Web site Great jumpstart if you don’t have support / ability to host your own videos All hits to your videos - wherever they are embedded - count towards your YouTube views YouTube adding more tools / functions all of the time Blogging 9% of Internet users have created a blog - 6% of all Americans - 11 million people 25% of Internet users read blogs - 1 in 6 of all Americans - 32 million people Some blog content options About your organization About your field About your profession About a particular area of expertise About an event From the painfully obvious files - Don’t blog unless you have something to say! Blogging platforms and how to choose Wordpress, Blogger, TypePad Decide how you want content to be hosted (domain) What are your audiences using? What features are offered and how easily with this merge with your other tools Twitter Immediate, brief, global Social messaging Mobile Mini, constant blog Increasing news use Learn more from Common Craft Let’s look... Going mobile 62% of American adults have used mobile devices to access internet, take photos, text, etc. Market will continue to grow, particularly with 18-24 year olds Content is being captured by mobile devices Align your content with these devices Check out Qik - live video streaming from your phone Contact Melanie Moran Assistant Director Vanderbilt News Service (615) 322-NEWS melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu blogvu.wordpress.com twitter.com/melaniemoran www.slideshare.net/melaniemoran