readings in social media for 10 august 2012 #aejmc12

AEJMC is celebrating 100 years and our panel on ‘social connectivity’ was designated one of the ‘highlights!’ We discussed social media, on-line education and we provided useful resources for both the practitioner and the academic. I was honored that we were so recognized!

Although my late Uncle Leroy (Sievers) was a journalist’s journalist, he saw the value of the new media in reaching a broader audience and in different ways. While executive producer at Nightline he wrote a widely read blog and he continued this for NPR writing daily for three years on his brave battle with cancer. If he was starting his career today, I know he would be right here with us!

Here is what I am reading today:

• who has the most fans on social media at the Olympic games?

“London 2012 has been dubbed the first Social Media Games with the use of Twitter and Facebook exploding since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and allowing athletes to chat directly with their fans for the first time.

It has also been a testing ground for athletes, managers and sponsors to find out what does and does not work on social media, with two athletes expelled for racist tweets and a teenager arrested for abusing British diver Tom Daley.”

• social media vs. search

“Facebook, which generates the most traffic referrals among social networks, had no trouble getting customers to view products on other sites, but nearly half of those visitors would leave the site without visiting another page. The percent of customers who did buy something when they stayed? Less than half a percent.

By contrast, Google had a conversion rate (the measurement of actual sales from traffic) of 2.44 percent, and e-mail has a rate of 4.25 percent.”

• creating BUZZzzZzZzz!

“How do you build buzz in social media? What makes social media real-life marketing events successful? It is not one thing in particular, but many things: your vision, the people you involve, and the strategies you employ. Be action-oriented and true to the principles that make social media the dynamic, global platform that it is.”

• is social media being fair to NBC?

“#NBCFail: Network’s Olympic disaster earns global social media mockery; NBC exec Schiller disses ‘whining’”