The Social Media Mystery

This morning, I attended a Buffalo/Niagara Public Relations Society of America seminar titled, "Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & More: A Guide to Social Media & How It Applies to PR Practitioners." According to PRSA's website, the purpose of the event was to inform attendees of, "the basic applications of social media for their own organization, but also how to monitor them and respond effectively."

The turn out was phenomenal, every seat in the room was full. Social media is certainly a buzzword these days, but few people understand what it is or how it can be applied to business. PBS published a story today about getting journalism students to buy in to Twitter. According to a New York Times article, advertisers are still struggling with how to reach their target markets. According to Time, members of Congress are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon and causing quite a stir.

My point is that social media is huge, but the vast majority of the population is still in the dark. Events like the one today are helping to shed some light on the subject and encouraging those who are still puzzled by the whole thing to ask questions. I think this was one of the most relevant topics PRSA has ever covered and the number of attendees proved that people want to learn more.

That's why I was shocked to read WNYMedia's take on today's seminar. The author of that post was perplexed by one woman's inquiry as to whether or not Facebook was just a tool for teenagers to socialize. He equated one person's misinterpretation of social media to all PR professionals, which was unfair, irresponsible and wrong. Obviously, this woman doesn't have a clue about social media, but her question was an honest attempt to get one! If people can't come together in a friendly learning environment to ask questions without being criticized, how will they ever learn?

In my opinion, all three panelists at the event were engaging, informative and knowledgeable. They provided information to educate social media users of all levels and were patient enough to entertain questions from some obvious beginners. Kara Kane from Medaille College spoke about the benefits of Facebook, including creating a group or fan page for your company and targeted paid advertising. AJ Diciembre, founder of BuffaloMe, discussed various aspects of his Buffalo-oriented social networking site and other sites, including Twitter and MySpace.

The most entertaining panelist by far, Kevin Lim, self-titled cyberculturalist/social cyborg stressed the importance of listening to what's happening in the social media world and how to break through the noise. His quirky presentation included a hilarious review of the different responses by Kellogg and Subway over the Michael Phelps incident and how much social media traffic it generated. (Side note: In my opinion, even though Kellogg pissed off some people by letting Phelps go, I don't think it's going to bother their core customer base. Most families aren't going to stop eating Corn Flakes because of this.)

Overall, the event seemed to be a huge success, despite one person's criticism. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable on social media, with active accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and BuffaloMe, but there's still so much to learn. I hope to attend more events like this to better learn how to explain social media to by clients and get them to buy in to it's benefits.