Ryan MacMillan

With every new social media service there are new ways for audiences to connect and share information. But we’ve always had the means to make these connections in the offline world, through town hall meetings, conferences and casual conversations. Some organisations are managing to blend the best of both of these new online and traditional offline approaches. Not surprisingly some of the more successful proponents are interest groups and organisations operating the social media space; organising events around technology and digital culture. What have they got right? Where are there lessons for the rest of us when trying  to use a mix of online and offline to foster community, communication, networking and knowledge sharing?

Before a community or company web site can attempt to apply social networking, they must insure the information they are sharing is useful, supportive, and current; or, as those of us in the know affectionately say, it must have the first three elements of KUDOS- knowledge, usability, and desirability. The knowledge on a website attracts a user, but without a purpose for the information and a continual up keeping of new, applicable content, the user will not crave the site’s knowledge and will not participate in its social media capabilities ( they will not comment, blog, or interact). There is no reason for a user to return to a site of the content does not change, and will not trust a site if its information is not accurate. The more current an organization can keep its information, the more likely it is users will use their services and attend their events; a user clearly cannot attend an event that hasn’t been publicized. Moreover, current and exciting information will inspire site visitors to comment, respond, or participate on a site. The Social Media Club, a US based international organization focused on sharing best practices, establishing media ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy, was created as an international homepage for social media professionals with local subgroups. Their blog is a perfect example of a lack of “KUD” turning a website obsolete; despite the communication, marketing, and innovation potential the website provides, it is useless without regular up-keep.

The openness and sharing potential of a community, company, or event website completes its KUDOS. Information needs to be clear and accessible, but it also needs to be sharable. The more places a company’s information about events or services appears, the better. For example, Social8 is a Brighton based consultancy company that helps innovative businesses with communication. Social8 supports other Brighton social media groups like whuffieclub, the Werks, Wired Sussex, and more. All of these groups promote their own events and activities on their sites, but also advertise events and information relevant to their users from other organizations. Information about what events entail and why they are important keep potential attendees interested. Schux, a social community architect company that rents workspace from the Werks, helps develop brands through blogs, online communities, wikis, social networking, video blogs, and more. The company has a newsfeed and markets itself not only in terms of payable services but also as a hotspot for important social media news and developments. Schux provides a service, but also gives the customer relevant information.

Sharing potential can relate to getting information to the consumer, as well. Technology, Entertainment, Design, commonly referred to as TED, is an annual conference bringing together “the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.” As access to the event is limited, TED has infinity increased its audience by placing video of talks and performances online for the public. TEDPrize and TEDGlobal also exist to bring TED outside of Long Beach, California and to allow TED to leverage their renown to perform good in the world.  TED uses their website to spread the information discussed at their events, but also to explain who they are and why they do what they do.  With 50 million views since 2006, it seems they have succeeded. The BIL Conference takes a different approach; they respond to the exclusivity of TED by creating their own, parallel all access conference. BIL is parallel to TED in function (sharing ideas) and also in location, as the original conference occured in the same city. Today, BIL promotes a BIL event anywhere there is a willing organizor, and shares information about the events online. 

The most important aspect of leveraging social networking to improve a community or company’s reach is allowing user generated interactions and discussion. The more users can interface with and participate on a website, the more likely they are to continue using the website. The most successful social networkers don’t just share information on their websites, but they receive it, too. The Werks allow visitors to book workspace online, Wired Sussex helps link employers and employees, and TED lets viewers to discuss and comment on the videos they watch.

There are other communities and companies pushing the boundaries of social interaction to help support online and offline objectives. BANG, a small Brighton animators networking website supported by Wired Sussex, uses online capabilities to share videos, to blog, to get in touch with others, and to keep in touch about events and interests. The smaller nature of this interest group allows for increased discussion about needs and collaborative work. BANG uses events to share work, listen to speakers, and talk about relevant issues and potentials in the animation field. BANG’s blog allows small, user driven events to materialize and their collaboration with FlashBrighton gives users access to larger, more organized events.

An event that uses its webpage to keep participants highly engaged is the PSFK conference, which will occur in Singapore this year. The website publishes news and opinion on culture and business throughout the year. Not only does the PSFK site support the conference by broadcasting the schedule, panel participants, and discussion topics, but it also allows companies to register to promote events, connect with people who need jobs, and more. Information from previous events is purchasable and a private page exists for registered experts and companies to communicate on. PSFK even created a secondary website, marktd.com, for a media agency news feed. By capitalizing on social networking, PSFK turns their annual conference into a commonly used webpage.

It is clear there are many different ways to reach a target population. As we become more and more of a mixed media society, the social networking capabilities of a company provide infinite potential. At R*M, we can use some of the social media support functions explored above to improve our own event, Laptopdance. By creating an open ended blog we could allow our audience to communicate and decide what they want to pursue at our next event. Even more, event follow up blogs can keep attendees in touch and help the exciting ideas we discuss to become reality.