social media: the misunderstood teenager

http://www.LGEOResearch.com

Social Media: The Misunderstood Teenager?Liz AzyanDoctoral ResearcherRoyal Holloway, University of LondonTwitter: @Liz_AzyanEmail: liz@lgeoresearch.com

+

Social Media Success for Twilight Author, Stephanie Meyer

Twilight Phenomenon Started on MySpace Back in 2005!

• Participated in online discussion groups.

• Fired-up fans have championed her books on

Amazon.com (AMZN) and set up their own sites,

such as Twilight Lexicon and TwilightMOMS.

• That has helped propel sales of the series to 7.5

million books.

• Now will be a guest on Oprah Winfrey Show!

“Other authors have pockets of fans online, but nothing to this extent. Stephenie Meyers Twilight series is the first social

networking best seller.”

Trevor Dayton, a vice-president at Indigo, Canada’s leading bookseller.

• The facilitation of word of mouth with technology.

• Consumer generated content that influences perceptions.

Lessons learnt from Twilight

SOCIAL MEDIA

+5 Top Social Media Myths

+

Of course there are teenagers that would do this….

+

But there are also teenagers who would do this…

+

Let’s talk about engaging with citizens who are essentially government customers!

THIS IS A TEST

Number of minutes per day

spent on ?

A. 1 millionB. 1 billionC. 5 billion

Number of minutes per day

spent on ?

C. 5 billion

That’s > 3 million days, EVERY DAY

If werea country, it would be larger than…

A. RussiaB. JapanC. MexicoD. All of the above, because in tests like these

“all of the above” is always the right answer

If werea country, it would be larger than…

A. RussiaB. JapanC. MexicoD. All of the above, because in tests like these

“all of the above” is always the right answer

More than 100 million videos are

viewed on every…

A. MonthB. WeekC. Day

More than 100 million videos are

viewed on every…

C. Day

That’s 1,157 every second

growth ratefrom Jun 08 - Jun 09

A. 1.928%B. 19.28%C. 192.8%D. 1928%

growth ratefrom Jun 08 - Jun 09

D. 1928%%

SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION

Source: Wordle.net

25

Technologies can be confusing

Source: Wordle.net25

COMMON MISTAKE BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

+

Fear gets in the way of innovation and customer engagement. Opportunities are seen as a threat.

“Despite this fear from corporate heads, the study also found that 69% of those surveyed said they did not have a written social media policy in place.” Of this group •25% said they were unsure what the policy should include•while 9% said it was unimportant.

A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY IS ALSO IMPORTANT

How is Social Media Changing Communication?

1. It’s changing the way we READ

“It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of ‘reading’ are emerging as users ‘power browse’ horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.”

--The “Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future” study

2. It’s changing the way we WRITE

“I’ve been an editor for 20-plus years. But Twitter… has become my mid-career editing coach.…If I were teaching journalism…I’d have students edit 500-word stories as Tweets. Not for the result, but the process. I’ve edited miles of copy in my day. Nonetheless, I find that every time I sit down to write a meaningful Tweet I hone my craft a bit more.”

--Craig Stoltz, ex-Washington Post, “How Twitter Finally Taught Me to be an Editor”

3. It’s changing the way access INFORMATION

“If the news is that important, it will find me.”

4. It’s making communication more EFFICIENT

+“Its not if you will make a mistake…. Its when and how big that mistake is and what fast you can overcome or fix it”Charlene Li

Groundswell Author

A FEW BAD EGGS.……

+

Making it hard to get senior management buy-in and making a good business case for social media in government…

+Truth is… it’s a learning curve for any new technology. People are learning the rules as it develops. Except these rules are determined by human behaviour. Therefore we need both sceptics and enthusiasts to work together to find a winning solution.

BECAUSE THERE IS A SHIFT HAPPENING….

+Talking about fear for security… Hey did I mention the U.S. Air Force is using social media and have already developed best practices?

Their mission is to use current and developing Web 2.0 applications as a way to actively engage conversations between Airmen and the general public.

U.S. AIR FORCE SOCIAL MEDIA HANDBOOKHTTP://WWW.AF.MIL/SHARED/MEDIA/DOCUMENT/AFD-090406-036.PDF

Impact on Politics? Remember the ‘Obama’mania during the elections?

It’s about the relationship

41

“It has never been about me.

It has always been about

you.”

Flic

kr:

Ste

ve F

urm

an

Government should beTRANSPARENTPARTICIPATORYCOLLABORATIVE

www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment

TRUST is personal . . . requires risk-taking . . . about relationships, not

transactions . . . based on being willing to put the other’s needs first.

Government “with” the people

45

. The traditional way of finding help…

. …but the world has changed

+

. Parts of the UK Government actually ‘get’ Social Media

+

+Get creative…

CllrTweeps.com Consultations

+Utilizing social media channels

Newcastle City Council has nearly 3000 followers with the city population of 142,000.

Chief Executive on YouTube Newcastle City Council Twitter

This is a YouTube channel featuring CEO at Northamptonshire County Council using YouTube to brief internal council staff on organisational changes

+UK Local Gov getting creative with Twitter & Facebook!

Somerset County Council and Wakefield Council uses Twitter to inform parents what their children are eating at school

East Renfrewshire Council uses Facebook to boost its libraries and sports centres

School Meals Libraries & Sports Centres

+Sharing activities to networks

Publish reviews from CitySearch to Facebook

Publish reviews from CitySearch to Facebook

Both CitySearch and Facebook get behavior and sharing data

Both CitySearch and Facebook get behavior and sharing data

Bring friends to CitySearchBring friends to CitySearch

+

+

+

+

+Government agencies’ uniquechallenges with using social media

March 23, 2009

+Social media enables solutions for achieving our government’s objectives

Transparency Participation Collaboration

Employees & Enterprise

Customers & Citizens

Suppliers

March 23, 2009

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

70

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+Hit some conferences and join online communities!!!

+Subscribe to my Blog!!! ;o)

http://www.lgeoresearch.com

+

Tactics

Audience

Remember: Start small, but start now

Goal

Revolutionary

+Remember: Embrace the loss of control

86

Photo: Kantor, http://www.flickr.com/photos/kantor

+Questions?

Liz AzyanTwitter:@Liz_AzyanBlog: http://www.lgeoresearch.comEmail: liz@lgeoresearch.com