Old lessons in new media
By Wade Kwon
I used to be a media whore, but now I’m a new media whore. Or a whore of new media, as it were.
Last week, I had two opportunities to talk about blogs, social networking and how they can help Birmingham’s communities and citizens. One audience was a mass media class, the other was the head of a city arts and culture center.
What I’ve learned came from hard work, trial and error and an unparalleled year toiling in new media.
The highlights of my presentation, in handy bullet-point format.
• Blogging is now.
Simply put, it’s a hot format. It wasn’t five years ago, and it likely won’t be in another five years.
Google likes blogs, therefore blogs are important. Google “Taylor Hicks,” and many of the top ranking sites are … blogs. (Mine is on page eight. Sigh.)
It’s really just the same info in a different format, as opposed to Web pages, podcasts, e-mail lists or smoke signals.
• Blogging is content by you.
I like Birmingham, so that’s what you get, oodles of content about my hometown and Alabama, too.
I like haiku, so you’re stuck with that as well.
They say to write what you know. And I do. But whether it’s hopes and dreams, political screeds, techie reviews or celebrity gossip, blog what interests you. That alone can help you stand out.
• Blogging is an alternative to MSM.
Unlike some bloggers, I like the mainstream media. I work in it now, as I did before.
But blogs can provide content you won’t find on television, in newspapers or on their corresponding sites. I like to make information come alive with pictures, sound, video, maps and whatever else my creative instincts concoct.
This is the heart of new media.
• Blogging is networking.
I’ve really worked on my networking in the past 12 months, online and offline. I talk with people, ask them questions and follow up when I can.
Blogs and social networks allow me to connect with folks I might not see while tooling around town. That CEO, for instance, wanted to pick my brain about new media. He didn’t know I worked in newspapers, or that I had a day job. He just knew me from this humble site.
• Learning new media pays off.
This blog not only connected me to interesting people, it opened doors. A full-time job, freelance work and more.
As I told the CEO, harness the power of social networking as other institutions have, and you have a way to reach customers quickly and cheaply.
Even if you start now, you don’t have to be behind for long. Case in point: The Nick has close to 700 MySpace friends, while Bottletree has nearly 17,000(!) MySpace friends. Based on their social networks, you’d think that the Nick is a new unknown club and that Bottletree was the old veteran known far and wide.
Funny how Bottletree amassed such a large online crowd in only a few months.
You can do it, too.
Also:
- Podcast of the class lecture (MP3, 56 min., 32MB)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006, 8:02 am
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