Orange County Register

Your blogger spent Wednesday in Sin City, listening to “Social Media Jungle” — a workshop on how to best use  online communication from relatively older blogging to newer Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc. These are tools that allow the audience to play a heavy role in the conversation — if not dictate the structure and content of the chats.

For the many of you who can’t fully get a grasp around the ever-morphing online world: Don’t worry! You’re not alone! Just think how blogging altered the discussion of housing markets. Then think of that expanding exponentially with these newer platforms touching various slices of humanity!

In a touch of a departure from our real estate debate, let me pass along some of the wisdom I discovered at the Jungle — part of the massive Consumer Electronics Show. It may help you better your blog-reading adventures; or expand your online communication savvy…

• The best explanation I heard of what’s going on came from Jungle’s organizer Jeff Pulver, of Vonage fame and telephoning over the Internet. He explained that you should think of social media is a bit like ham radio — another form of tech-driven, open conversation that was cutting-edge decades ago.
• This is just not a thing for kids. Forrester’s Jeremiah Owyang says research shows one-third of U.S. seniors engage in some form of social media.
• Part of the appeal is the serendipity of it all. Author Warren Whitlock says a key to social media success is “no rules!” and that it’s exciting that these new voices and conversations, “can change lives.”
• This just isn’t people sharing small talk or silly personal banter. As social media pioneer Chris Brogan of New Marketing Labs tells it, “I don’t care about your cat, I want real business conversation.”
• It is real business. Ask Massachusetts steakhouse owner Justin Levy who last year cut out 80% of his budget for print and billboard ads. He turned to social media tools — such as his http://primecutsblog.com blog — and sales rose 24% in a harsh economic environment.
• The wide collection of information sources may confuse you. Yet Howard Greenstein of the Harbrooke Group says TV execs tell him, for example, that audiences want (or don’t mind) seeing the content they read/watch in numerous places/platforms.
• As Owyang of Forrester sees it, in the new communications game news is like shish-kabob; bite-sized pieces vs. a big steak!
• The push won’t stand still. And Jeremy Toeman of LIVEDigitally says watch for a growing convergence of consumer electronics and social media through various online and wireless technologies, citing services like Chumby, Boxee, BugLab and EyeFi.

Social media is changing the news business, as you are likely well aware …

• Tribune Interactive’s Dan Honigman says the social media craze demands that reporters must be entrepreneurial in how they expand their work’s reach.
• Orange Couny Register’s Kevin Sablan notes that new counting technology lets newsrooms clearly track what online readers want to read.
• So Orlando Sentinel tech reporter Etan Horowitz says that a reason why he doesn’t compete with giant international technology news organizations, rather, he spend much of his time focused on Orlando issues, like cable TV outages.
• And this social media push, PR veteran Susan Etlinger says, is not all so bad for the flow of information. Blogs forced Apple Co. to recently admit to CEO Steve Jobs’ illness. A decade ago when media outlets were far fewer, she surmises that Apple could have controlled the story line.

Perhaps, as notable, is that social media is not about being tethered to a computer. Dean Landsman says “the future is already here” with mobile media.

Note that your blogger’s coverage of the Jungle included posting some of the thoughts listed above to my Twitter stream (I’m jonlan, for those who know Twitter!) with my relatively low-tech cellphone!

Other coverage of CES from The Register’s Gadgetress, CLICK HERE! And ..

• How tech can help you have the perfect garden
• Tech toys, crowds and other early scenes from CES
• Samsung slims down Blu-ray player
• Panasonic’s 0.3-inch skinny TV
• The best TV Toshiba has to offer
• Wireless TVs without the lag
• Powermat: Charging up without cables — or electricity!
• What we all need: A Minoru (3D webcam)
• How green can Fuji’s EnvironMax batteries be?
• Meade’s no muss, no fuss automated telescope
• CES gadgets: D-Link’s nifty photo router, USB monitor

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.