How can we communicate? Let me count the ways…

Social Media Bible, Chapter 22–Let the Conversation Begin (Interpersonal)

So, how many ways are there to use all this new social media “stuff” to communicate. Too many to list here. But, this final chapter of the “Tactics” section of Lon Safko’s Social Media Bible attempts to begin such a list, divided into categories like one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many. I won’t regurgitate all of the apps and websites mentioned in the chapter, but I will comment on a few of them.

There’s a sentence on the first page of this chapter that is especially appropriate: “As with all of the other chapters’ content, useful tools, and applications, the players are continuously changing. Many are being added, and some are becoming extinct.” (p. 421) I applaud the author for even trying to put together a book of this magnitude, knowing full well that at the great speed with which technology changes, you’d “gain a few, lose a few.”

A few highlights from this chapter, organized into categories:

One-to-One: Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, iChat all fall in this category, as does the newly launched Facebook “videocalling” feature. By the way, if you haven’t tried that new FB function (which is a joint venture of FB and Skype), you should check it out. Very easy to use from within FB.(As mentioned in my blog for the previous chapter, the service from Jott.com is unfortunately no longer available. But, it is still worth reading the “Expert Insight” section of this chapter (p. 440) which is an interview with the founder of Jott)

One-to-Many: This category includes Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft Live Messenger, and Doodle. I was intrigued by Doodle, because its functionality sounded a lot like another very useful service I use for scheduling meetings, “Meeting Wizard.” Upon further investigation, I realized other people have used Doodle for scheduling meetings with me. Both programs look very similar, are easy to use…and they’re free!

Many-to-Many: This section includes software which makes it possible for business meetings and training seminars to be held across the miles without having to worry about hotel and travel costs.Included are GoToMeeting, WebEx, and Adobe Connect. I’ve used all of these services for various meetings in the past couple of years. In fact, Adobe Connect is the software used for synchronous distance learning courses for UNL. I can sit in my office in Sioux City, Iowa and see all of the students in a classroom in Lincoln, and they can see me and we can interact in real time.

The chapter includes with the ROI of Social Media section (p. 438) giving a very good example of what it takes to set up a social media plan for a company. It shows how many of the tactics we’ve discussed in our class can be used in such a plan.

What can we take away from the Tactics portion of Safko’s book? As the author says, “go explore…unless you investigate and try out the various services that you’ve read about here, you won’t know what incredible tools are available to help grow your business, build your community, and develop trust within that community.” (p. 443)

Well said, Mr. Safko.