A community around using social tech for social impact
Social media FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions ... and some answers
Much of the content here is from Social by Social: a practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact. You can view it online, purchase, or download free here.
What is social media?
The Internet tools that people use to publish, converse, and share content. These include blogs, wikis, podcasts, and also sites where you might share photos, bookmarks and videos. Traditional media (television and radio) is main one-way ... broadcaster to audience. Social media is low-cost and allows many-to-many connections. It's called social media because it supports conversations, connections and the development of new relationships. There's a jargonbuster A-Z of key terms here.
Why is social media important for community groups?
It can give individuals and small groups a strong voice, better ways to communicate and collaborate, and find out what's happening. Social media is not a substitute for meetings or printed material - but increasingly important for anyone wishing to serve their community. There are articles on what social media means for different interests here, and some of the main ideas here.
How do I decide which social media tools to use?
You can find a long list of different tools here, covering the main online activities you may be involved in: finding and listening; communicating and conversing; publishing and sharing; connecting and collaborating. The Social by Social team have developed a card-based game that groups can use to choose and plan their use of tools: you can find examples of the game in use here, and download the cards.
Where can I find some simple guides to the different tools?
Tim Davies has produced a set of one-page guides. Where appropriate we have linked these to the cards in the Social by Social game, as you can see here. This should provide a quick route into what tools may be useful to you.
How do I keep track of what is happening online - and help others do that too?
You can use a social bookmarking tool like delicious.com to save useful web links you want to share with others, and a "dashboard" like Netvibes to bring content together from different sites, updated automatically. Tim Davies provides one page guides here and here. See also How to find and join the conversations that are already happening in Social by Social.
What's the easiest way to do video, audio?
Here's some tips:
A blog is best for one person or a small group, with a focus on publishing short items and/or long articles with opportunities for comment. You can also add photos, videos and display content from other sources. An online community provides a much larger number of people - possibly thousands - with these facilities, and scope for profiles, messaging, and discussion.
See Blogs and microblogging in Social by Social
See Online Communities in Social by Social
How can I join up the different tools I use - so that content from one appears in another?
You can do that using tags and RSS feeds. Simon Berry explains here how he did that for the Colalife campaign.
How much time is it likely to take to run a community site?
If you create a static site, where content doesn't change, you may only need to update occasionally - but you may not get much attention. A blog requires updating regularly ... and you'll also need to look and listen for what's happening in your community or area of interest. You'll need to check comments, and respond where necessary. The success of the blog will depend on how much time you spend: anything from a few hours a week, to some time each day. It becomes easier if you can make it part of the way you keep in touch with people, rather than an add-on, and also find others to contribute. If you are not familiar with the technology, help on that front will save frustration. An online community - where everyone has the chance to contribute - reduces the time you have to spend developing content, but increases the time spent on welcoming, managing, hosting and encouraging. It could requires several days a week for a big community - so best shared among a group.
Can one person do everything?
Blogs are ideal for one person to manage, although it always helps to have help from someone with complementary skills. If you are running an online community, you may need more help or develop new skills. See Emerging roles in Social by Social.
A blog looks like too much work, and Twitter too limited. Is there anything in between?
Take a look at Posterous.com and Tumblr.com
What should we use to help a group collaborate on projects?
See Project Management resources from Social by Social including How to set up a virtual office.
How can we use social media to get more value from our events?
See Events and facilitation in Social by Social
Much of the content here is from Social by Social: a practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact. You can view it online, purchase, or download free here.
What is social media?
The Internet tools that people use to publish, converse, and share content. These include blogs, wikis, podcasts, and also sites where you might share photos, bookmarks and videos. Traditional media (television and radio) is main one-way ... broadcaster to audience. Social media is low-cost and allows many-to-many connections. It's called social media because it supports conversations, connections and the development of new relationships. There's a jargonbuster A-Z of key terms here.
Why is social media important for community groups?
It can give individuals and small groups a strong voice, better ways to communicate and collaborate, and find out what's happening. Social media is not a substitute for meetings or printed material - but increasingly important for anyone wishing to serve their community. There are articles on what social media means for different interests here, and some of the main ideas here.
How do I decide which social media tools to use?
You can find a long list of different tools here, covering the main online activities you may be involved in: finding and listening; communicating and conversing; publishing and sharing; connecting and collaborating. The Social by Social team have developed a card-based game that groups can use to choose and plan their use of tools: you can find examples of the game in use here, and download the cards.
Where can I find some simple guides to the different tools?
Tim Davies has produced a set of one-page guides. Where appropriate we have linked these to the cards in the Social by Social game, as you can see here. This should provide a quick route into what tools may be useful to you.
How do I keep track of what is happening online - and help others do that too?
You can use a social bookmarking tool like delicious.com to save useful web links you want to share with others, and a "dashboard" like Netvibes to bring content together from different sites, updated automatically. Tim Davies provides one page guides here and here. See also How to find and join the conversations that are already happening in Social by Social.
What's the easiest way to do video, audio?
Here's some tips:
- Plan and shoot a video - one pager
- How to make and publish quick videos for the web from Social by Social
- Use an online tools to edit video yuou have shot - one pager
- Upload and share your videos on YouTube - one pager
A blog is best for one person or a small group, with a focus on publishing short items and/or long articles with opportunities for comment. You can also add photos, videos and display content from other sources. An online community provides a much larger number of people - possibly thousands - with these facilities, and scope for profiles, messaging, and discussion.
See Blogs and microblogging in Social by Social
See Online Communities in Social by Social
How do I set up somewhere for my group on Facebook, and Linkedin?
See Social networking in Social by Social
See Social networking in Social by Social
How can I join up the different tools I use - so that content from one appears in another?
You can do that using tags and RSS feeds. Simon Berry explains here how he did that for the Colalife campaign.
How much time is it likely to take to run a community site?
If you create a static site, where content doesn't change, you may only need to update occasionally - but you may not get much attention. A blog requires updating regularly ... and you'll also need to look and listen for what's happening in your community or area of interest. You'll need to check comments, and respond where necessary. The success of the blog will depend on how much time you spend: anything from a few hours a week, to some time each day. It becomes easier if you can make it part of the way you keep in touch with people, rather than an add-on, and also find others to contribute. If you are not familiar with the technology, help on that front will save frustration. An online community - where everyone has the chance to contribute - reduces the time you have to spend developing content, but increases the time spent on welcoming, managing, hosting and encouraging. It could requires several days a week for a big community - so best shared among a group.
Can one person do everything?
Blogs are ideal for one person to manage, although it always helps to have help from someone with complementary skills. If you are running an online community, you may need more help or develop new skills. See Emerging roles in Social by Social.
A blog looks like too much work, and Twitter too limited. Is there anything in between?
Take a look at Posterous.com and Tumblr.com
What should we use to help a group collaborate on projects?
See Project Management resources from Social by Social including How to set up a virtual office.
How can we use social media to get more value from our events?
See Events and facilitation in Social by Social
Last updated by David Wilcox Nov 24, 2009.
© 2013 Created by David Wilcox.
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