Share This

The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals

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• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781118404843
• eBook ISBN: 9781118404874
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

Share This is a practical handbook to the biggest changes taking place in the media and its professions by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Social Media Panel. The book was conceived and written by more than 20 public relations practitioners representing a cross-section of public, private and voluntary sector expertise using many of the social tools and techniques that it addresses.

The book is split into 26 chapters over eight topic areas covering the media and public relations industry, planning, social networks, online media relations, monitoring and measurement, skills, industry change and the future of the industry. It's a pragmatic guide for anyone that works in public relations and wants to continue working in the industry.

Share This was edited by Stephen Waddington with contributions from: Katy Howell, Simon Sanders, Andrew Smith, Helen Nowicka, Gemma Griffiths, Becky McMichael, Robin Wilson, Alex Lacey, Matt Appleby, Dan Tyte, Stephen Waddington, Stuart Bruce, Rob Brown, Russell Goldsmith, Adam Parker, Julio Romo, Philip Sheldrake, Richard Bagnall, Daljit Bhurji, Richard Bailey, Rachel Miller, Mark Pack, and Simon Collister.

Part I

Changing Media, Changing PR

Chapter 1

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL NETWORKS

Katy Howell

The meteoric rise of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube changed the communications landscape forever. But social media are vastly more diverse: a connected and complex ecosystem founded on relationships, passions and a desire to be connected.

Social networks are not new. As individuals, we have always maintained social connections, be they with family, friends or professional acquaintances. We belong to groups, clubs, neighbourhoods and, of course, society. The internet and developments in technology have simply made our networks visible and easily accessible. We can now meet friends and colleagues, ask for recommendations and even build relationships with brands – in an online and often public space.

It’s Big, It’s Connected and It’s Here to Stay

More than 70% of the internet population uses social networks in one form or another² and the numbers are growing daily. One in nine people³ on Earth have a Facebook account, and if it was a country, it would be the third largest after China and India. Even relative newcomer Instagram has gathered 12 million members⁴ in less than a year.

And whilst the landscape continues to grow and change apace, our audiences have moved beyond the media hype and embraced new communication channels wholeheartedly. Social networking already accounts for 1 in every 6 minutes spent online.⁵

Being social online isn’t restricted to ‘Generation Y’. At the time of writing, the average profile age on Twitter is 35 years, and a bit older on LinkedIn, at 40. Facebook’s biggest demographic is now between 35 and 54 years. Even YouTube has an even spread of users right across the 20–55 age range.

But, more significant than just the volume and demographics of participants is the change in the way people communicate, and changes in the way people are connecting, collaborating and building relationships online. A change in the way people are demanding, sharing and creating content. From user-generated content to link sharing, the frequency of participation in social networks is intense.

When it comes to sharing, the volume of content circulating through the networks is staggering. Every minute, 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, 3000 images go up on Flickr and more than 700 YouTube links⁶ are Tweeted. Conversations, too, demonstrate the enthusiasm for connecting online. There are 95 million Tweets a day, 85% of bloggers post more than once a week,⁷ and 57% of people talk more online than they do in real life.⁸

The rich and complex picture of social media is still evolving. As the networks grow and the conversations proliferate, people are increasingly engaged. Add mobile to the mix and you now have always-online, connected everywhere, through any device, social networkers.

And even when the statistics in this chapter need revising (probably in a matter of weeks), it is clear that social networks are part of our lives and they are here to stay.

People Connect, Technology Facilitates

In truth, no matter the demographic, device or even the numbers, human beings are motivated to connect and share for a multitude of reasons:⁹ researching, finding information and inspiration, participating, connecting with friends and for entertainment. Social network sites are the vehicle, not the destination.

Although ‘to Facebook’ appears to have entered the vernacular as a common verb, it is not social networking platforms that drive the conversation – it is people. People connect to share interests, passions and friendships, with content as the catalyst for conversations. This is demonstrated when conversations around topics are mapped online. It becomes clear that both people and conversations will move across the different social platforms. Migrating and coalescing in different online locations.

The BBC’s weekly political debate programme, Question Time, is a good example of how interest and conversation will move across the different types of social network. In between broadcasts the programme’s current topics of the week are debated in forums, on blogs and within the BBC website itself. But as the programme goes live, the conversation jumps to Twitter, with a rapid stream of 140-character opinions attached to the hashtag, #bbcqt. As the broadcast finishes, the conversation slides back to longer debates on other social networks.

The result is that connection and communities are spread across the social landscape in a fire hose of conversations. With so much chatter, it becomes difficult to find and join conversations or to network. But, it is again technology that can help people navigate the social landscape. Most social networks are designed with functionality to help users find connections and topics of interest within them. However, it is still a challenge to find relevant conversations and communities across the whole social landscape.

The search engines recognise that people want to source information from their trusted networks. They also understand the value of human filtering to identify valued content. Both Google and Microsoft Bing are incorporating social conversations (and social signals) into their results.

And whilst the algorithms used to rank content are still very much a secret, it seems that ‘Likes’ on Facebook or Google’s +1 recommendation and social referrals are impacting the ranking of information. Now when people search, their own social network (called the social graph) impacts results. This is called ‘social search’. It narrows the results for the searcher, making visible content created or touched by users within their social graph.

It isn’t just in searching for relevant content and conversations that technology facilitates social networking. It is technology, too, that empowers our online voice. Technology provides social network platforms that are easy to use, facilitate sharing and make it simple to connect to our friends, peers and/or any company we choose.

Explaining the Plethora of Social Network Sites

Whenever social media are mentioned, it seems that Facebook and Twitter dominate the discussion. After all, it is these well-known social networks that the traditional media consistently reference. The adverts and programmes we watch entice us to like Fan Pages and use Twitter hashtags, whilst the tabloids flash us headlines on the evils of social networks (while encouraging us to ‘share’ the very same stories with our own social network!) They are now part of the mainstream.

Of course the social media landscape is far more complex. It is an ecosystem of differing styles and types of network: networks and platforms that range from self-publishing and content sharing, through to discussion boards and virtual worlds. What they have in common, though, are principles founded on Web 2.0 technology.¹⁰ Principles that ensure communications are two-way, interactive and, above all, shareable.

Although they have a common foundation in technology, social networks don’t fit quite so neatly into categories or types. Constantly evolving to become more useful to their users, we see new applications and services launch, such as group buying and smartphone photo sharing. Established social networks, too, absorb new functionality. You are just as likely to view a video embedded on Facebook or Tumblr as you are to see it on YouTube.

Putting the complexity of creating a detailed classification aside, there is value in identifying the main types of social media platform. Understanding the primary rationale for the different social networks is invaluable when evaluating where, how and when to communicate.

Networking Sites

Networking sites should not be confused with the term ‘social networks’. The latter is an umbrella phrase that encompasses all the differing types of social media, platforms and connections.

A networking site is an online service made up of individuals and is most recognisable by the user profiles. Networkers connect with links to friends, sharing common interests, passions, ideas and content. Ultimately they are designed to enable people to socialise online.

Facebook is the most recognisable site. It was originally created for students and now accounts for 58% of all visits to social sites.¹¹ But there are many more networking sites, including the relative newcomer Google+, and there is significant variation in popularity from one country to the next.

Then there are networking sites that have a specific focus. The best example is LinkedIn, which is a business-related site and is mainly used for professional networking.

Some networks are popular in certain countries. Hyves is popular in the Netherlands, StudiVZ in Germany, Tuenti in Spain, Nasza-Klasa in Poland and Skyrock in various parts of Europe. But it is Orkut and Hi5 that lead the conversations in South America and Mixi and Cyworld in Asia.

Blogs

In February 2011 there were estima...

Table of contents

• Cover
• ENDORSEMENTS
• Title page
• Copyright page
• LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION
• Part I: Changing Media, Changing PR
• Part II: Planning
• Part III: Networks
• Part IV: Online Media Relations
• Part V: Monitoring and Measurement
• Part VI: Skills
• Part VII: Industry Change
• Part VIII: The Future
• Index