Social media: What's all the fuss about?

This week marks the start of a new feature here in the Telegraph. Tech Bits, by Rossland's own Amber Hayes, will be appearing in these pages on a regular basis. Through Tech Bits, Amber will help us all understand and better appreciate the cyclonic world of technology as it constantly changes and grows.

Since Twitter announced their 10 billionth tweet on March 4th  I have received a few questions specifically about Social Media. We hear about Social Media all the time on the news, but what is it really? And should we care about it?

Wikipedia says: "Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers."

I could try to boil this down to a simpler definition: Social Media encompasses all of the online programs that allow people to talk and share through networks on the internet.  There are the biggies like Face Book, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Google apps and there a thousands more.

What is intriguing is the organic and explosive growth of these entities. What is important, particularly if you are in business, is not to dismiss them.
They are not going away and in fact they will continue to change the way we communicate worldwide in the coming years. For those despairing this trend, it is important to recognize that engaging in Social Media does not have to be all-consuming or difficult; you can start with one key tool and go from there.

Often it comes down to a review of your goals, whether it be advancing your cause, keeping in touch, saving time, making sales, marketing or the numerous other social media objectives. Align this outcome with the most appropriate Social Media tool for a positive return on your time investment and start there.

For instance, not everyone or every business should be on Face Book; there may be better tools for you in the Social Media toolkit.

In the next few articles I will do best to provide a basic explanation of some of the major players and how they apply to civilian and work life. I will also share statistics and references in case you want to delve further on your own.

Here are some basics to get you thinking until then:

• 2/3 of the global internet population visits social networks;
• over 55% of traditional journalists now source their leads on social media;
• 13 hours of video is loaded to YouTube provides 100 million views a day and it would take over 400 years to watch it all;
• Twitter just passed 10 billion tweets;
• 3.6 billion photos are on Flikr;
• if FaceBook were a country it would be the 8th most populated in the world;
• LinkedIn has over 60 million members and a new member joins every second

Amber Hayes is a technology consultant practicing in the Kootenays and beyond.