Welcome to Social Town.
Mar 17 2010 9:40:35 AMBy Morgan Graham
Like any cityscape, Social Town is constantly changing – glisteningly new skyscrapers rise above the skyline, while boarded-up abandoned buildings sit empty just waiting to be demolished. In contrast, social media new deals are made and relationships are broken on a monthly (if not weekly) basis. And we agree… it’s a job in itself to keep up with this news and make any sense of it.
To help, we mapped “Social Town” to demonstrate how social channels are no longer about singular entities but an interconnected network– linking both social and non-social channels. Remember: this is an ever changing model. What is true today may not be true tomorrow; we may have to create a completely new infographic in six months. Will Buzz be banished? Will MySpace be at the center of Social Town? It all remains to be seen, not to mention the other social channels yet to hit mainstream. (And we’re okay with that – it’s a part of the thrill of social media!)
Nonsocial Gets Social
Is email social media? How about search engines? They are now. These channels were not considered a piece of the social media mix until the recent creation of strategic relationships by Microsoft and Google, respectively. These relationships are allowing nonsocial channels to become more social by providing you content from outside sources you may (or may not) be participating in.
For instance, Microsoft’s Outlook, long considered the “fuddy duddy” of email hubs, (specifically for business people), has released the new 2010 Outlook Social Connector (OSC) Beta , which streams LinkedIn information, along with MySpace and Facebook.
Three other non-social giants – Google, Yahoo, and Bing – are getting into the mix by indexing status updates, tweets, photos, videos, and other items shared through social channels to appear within searches conducted in their engines. An image search on Yahoo can filter images from Flickr; live Twitter updates appear in Google’s results; and YouTube videos appear in both Yahoo and Google’s video results. Further, posts to Facebook Fan Page walls will be searchable by Google. Yes, that means your business’s Facebook Page will be doing double duty for your SEO and online visibility.
Socialize Amongst Yourselves
Relationships within the social channels can have as much drama as relationships in real life. From the looks of it, Flickr is getting the least cozy with the others by only connecting with Buzz and Yahoo, while Twitter is a social butterfly – partnering more than any other outlet. With tweets being short and sweet, it makes sense for Twitter to connect with status update sites like Facebook and Myspace. Then there is networking giant LinkedIn which is working with Twitter and other social companies to keep business people connected socially on multiple levels through their site.
To think not long ago these social and nonsocial channels were isolated suburbs of the big Internet City. Through these relationships, the social media channels are building roads, creating relationships, and giving visitors unprecedented access to Social Town. Finally, we are seeing social media make sense, have relevance, and provide accessibility to anyone who wants to find it.
What’s your opinion of the current state of social media and its relationships in the internet community?
Tweet your questions to us at @efactormedia or please leave a comment!
Morgan Graham
Social Media Producer | Project Manager
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[...] this? Welcome to Social Town “To help, we mapped ‘Social Town’ to demonstrate how social channels are no longer about [...]