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Slide 1: The Social Media Food Chain Kevin Lawver | Refresh Savannah May 19, 2009 http://uplaya.com Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 2: The Intro Slide • Hi, I’m Kevin Lawver: giant nerd • I’ve built social sites big (26 million) and small (15k), some of them even won an award or two • I’ve been building web stuff for over a Tuesday, May 19, 2009 decade, speaking about best practices in building it for six.
Slide 3: Social adjective: Pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 4: Media the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 5: All Media is Social Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 6: The web just makes it easier to share our social objects and gather feedback. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 7: Social Objects • Every social network contains primary “social objects”: the thing that powers socialization (drives comments, ratings, links, etc) and used or acted on by Users • Every social object is created by an Author • We’ll talk more about these later, but they are the plankton of the food chain. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 8: Types of Social Networks Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 9: Meat Markets • They rely on their ability to represent human relationships • They’re all about getting your data and presenting it back to you • They sometimes have a hard time giving • Examples: Facebook, MySpace Tuesday, May 19, 2009 you anything to do once they have all your data.
Slide 10: Meat Market’s Primary Social Object? Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 11: You! Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 12: Aspirational • They’re built around art of some kind • Powered by Authors creating more of whatever the prized social object is. • The best inspire people to refine their craft and participation fuels a virtuous circle of activity • Example: Flickr Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 13: But what’s this ‘food chain’ thing? Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 14: The Social Media Food Chain • Platforms and their Creators • Authors • Users • Symbiotes • Archipelagos • Parasites and Predators Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 15: Platforms & Creators • Social Platforms invite participation and dialogue • There are as many different types as their are types of people, but they almost all fall into Meat Markets or Aspirational Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 16: Platforms & Creators • Platforms influence how people interact with each other • We usually have no idea how people will use the platform • The best respond and build features that support how the community uses it, they don’t force users to change behavior Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 17: Authors • In Aspirational Communities, they provide the objects for curation. In Meat Markets, they are the most talked about, most engaged users. wrong. • They are the most vocal when things go • You have to cater to them or you have nothing to build around! Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 18: Users • They may not take the pictures, but they post the comments, tags and traffic that support the site. • They’re your secondary audience - you to active. have to make it easy for them to begin to participate. • Ease them from passive participation Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 19: Symbiotes • They add value to the platform by extending its capabilities • They provide services on top of the basic service - making the platform better without changing it. TweetDeck • Examples: Tweetie, Flickr Export, Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 20: Archipelagos • Outposts for otherwise non-social entities. • They may not be social by themselves, but may serve as aggregators or the voice of a single entity meant to guide the discussion in the social media world. Groups, Tumblr • Example: Blogs, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 21: Parasites & Predators • They add no value to the platform, authors or users, just add noise and confusion join in the conversation • Usually just looking to broadcast, not • Come in without understanding the community culture or norms selling nothing to no one. • They usually end up talking to themselves, Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 22: This is a lot of fancy talk, Mr. Food Chain Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 23: But where do I fit in? Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 24: Well, let’s look at where you can start if you’re not here yet. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 25: First, you need to decide where home is. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 26: What’s Home? • A place where you’re comfortable • Where you can talk freely about your passions • Where you can make the most difference Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 27: Start Small • Get a blog. • Write about what you know. • Build karma by giving freely of something that’s of value: advice, art, knowledge Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 28: Benefits of Blogging • It’s yours, so you get to decide on the voice, culture and content • There are no pre-defined rules • It’s a good way to dip your toes in and slowly build an audience pieces later • You can always augment it with other social Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 29: Twitter: The Web’s Dinner Party • Join as a human being with a face, not a thing with a logo • Follow people you know or want to know • Don’t just broadcast. Think of twitter as a dinner party: encourage interesting conversation • Don’t be too noisy Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Slide 30: Facebook • The meat market to end all meat markets • Join, find groups that interest you • Lurk for a while and figure out the culture before diving in • Start a Facebook Page for your product • http://www.facebook.com/advertising Tuesday, May 19, 2009 and encourage feedback and conversation
Slide 31: General Rules • Be human • Participate, don’t preach. People have highly developed BS detectors • If you wouldn’t say it with your mom in the • Have fun! Tuesday, May 19, 2009 room, don’t say it online - it will come back to bite you
Slide 32: Read More! • The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt • Here Comes Everybody! by Clay Shirky • The Cluetrain Manifesto by a bunch of • Creating Passionate Users: http:// headrush.typepad.com/ Tuesday, May 19, 2009 people (also at http://cluetrain.com/book)
Slide 33: Questions? • I covered a lot very quickly • Any questions about: • social objects? • virtuous circle? • anything else? • This could just be the beginning of the discussion Tuesday, May 19, 2009