SM Internet

1. Start a Blog. You don’t have to hold a master’s degree in technology or have a trust fund to start blogging. Sites like Blogger.com (a Google company) and WordPress.com are both free and have online support forums for the novice. Posting stories about your ancestors and articles about records you find in your search will draw in other who are also interested in tracing the same surname or family line.

2. Create a Facebook Fan Page. If you aren’t on Facebook you’re missing the wave. With more than 400 million users you’re bound to find someone you know! A Facebook page dedicated to a specific surname, time frame or event (like the Civil War), or a region can help you connect with others with a similar interest in the same genealogy subject. Any of the millions of Facebook users can find the Fan Page through a search and when they click the “like” button they will be connected and receive any new information you post on the page. These connections will increase the exchange of information with other researchers.

3. Subscribe to a Feed. I find in my internet marketing business that many people just aren’t taking advantage of the connectivity that happens when you subscribe to a RSS feed. You’ll know there is a feed available by the square, orange RSS icon. My favorite feed is on the Ancestry.com Message Board: “Subscribe to RSS” and you’ll always know when there’s a new message on a topic you follow.

4. Why Not Tweet From Your Family Tree? If you think Twitter is for kids and movie stars, it may also be the right social media site for your genealogy quest. It doesn’t take a lot of time or writing skills to Tweet on Twitter, in fact the shorter the better. It’s also easy to find and follow users with the surname or location that’s the core of your interest. Post interesting Tweets about what you find, where your research takes you, and who you’ve shared information with.

5. Leave a Comment. You may have been leaving comments for years and haven’t realized it. When you post an answer on any of the genealogy bulletin boards, you’re in a sense leaving a comment. When you visit a blog you can leave a comment on an article. Even writing a Google Books review or posting information in Add Alternate Info on Ancestry.com are forms of leaving comments. The trail of comments that add to genealogy research helps others and may lead a researcher to you to solve a branch of your tree where you’ve hit a “brick wall”.

At first, the concept of a Twitter account sounds laughably absurd - how could an actual television show sustain based on the random tweets of less than 140 characters? As it turns out, $#*! My Dad Says is no different from the standard laugh track comedies on CBS, complete with Shatner’s distinguished way of delivering a ha-ha punch line (or any line at all, really). Yet, it is the idea behind the sitcom that displays the most originality. Think about what the show has accomplished by its mere existence: a social media icon is being celebrated in network television! Can you imagine getting a TV show based on your disjointed thoughts online? Can you imagine being famous because of your Twitter account?

While Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter grow more dominant in our culture, it is becoming increasingly clear that social media has no boundaries anymore. Its influence extends beyond the Twitterverse or a primetime television show; it affects our modernity as a whole. This essay will analyze deeper into the seamless integration between social media and traditional media, as well as the unsettling repercussions of this recent pop culture trend.

The Facebook movie and the Twitter sitcom are just two recent examples among numerous success stories. Several high-profile entertainment bloggers have quit their day jobs so that they can become full-time online gossipmongers. HBO is in the works of producing a comedy called Tilda, featuring Diane Keaton and Ellen Page, about a fearsome blogger loosely resembling Nikki Finke. In addition, there are hundreds of minor Internet sensations made famous by their viral videos, and sometimes their fame extends to lucrative opportunities in the entertainment industry. For example, that YouTube kid is on The Amazing Race with his father a few seasons ago. In fact, YouTube is like the hub of revolving online celebrities; their stardom fades in and out over time. Leave Britney alone, anyone?

Since a sizable portion of social media users belong to the younger demographic, it is no surprise that a number of youth-oriented programs feature social media into the show’s premise. For example, iCarly showcases three teens that discover the success of their webcast as they become online celebrities. Balancing the normalcy of adolescent life along with the abrupt Internet fame makes iCarly unique from the other television shows. Similarly, while the targeted demographic of Gossip Girl is aimed towards a slightly older audience, it showcases an anonymous blogger that spreads scandalous gossip on the Internet and how this inadvertently affects the lives of several privileged young adults. Gossip Girl covers the darker side of social media, where the online anonymity poses a threat to real-life privacy.

By promoting social media so heavily into television and film, the entertainment industry has sent a message that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are integral elements in our everyday lives. It seems that a Facebook account is even more significant than an e-mail address or a cell phone number. It seems that relying on Twitter updates and viral videos are more preferable than reading an actual news article. It seems that blog posts will revolutionize the journal industry sooner enough. As the number of television shows and films about social media increases, this trend indicates that we cannot function in society without some sort of social media platform or social profiling account. How else will you communicate with your acquaintances? How else will you manage your friendships and relationships?

Described by Wikipedia, the end all of know-it-all, says Social Media is “information, content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies intended to facilitate communications, influence interaction with peers and public audiences, typically via internet and mobile communications networks.”

All media resources are wrapped up into this one little nutshell, including video, sound and text.

Users develop a sense of connection through the various forms of communication currently available over the Internet. Due to a movie recently released “The Social Network” and Mark Zuckerburg’s creation, Facebook is taking a mighty send off, with consistently growing numbers of people rushing in to join the mesh.

Currently the largest growing segment of this Social Media network is middle aged, middle income women. Not only do they have the means and the money, but as empty nesters, they have the time to participate in the excitement and buzz of social networking. Besides all that, they’re connecting with classmates, family, friends and old loves. These women have captured a nifty social value by entering the social fray with their boots on, centered on communication and connection. Their interests have as much to do with getting to know others and building a retirement fund as they do with keeping tabs on their precious grandbabies.

Social sharing media sites are classified as internet sharing sites and these internet locations offer free tools where internet users can discuss and share information at a causal level. One important note! Internet sharing sites like Twitter and YouTube are not and do not operate as search engine sites. The traffic that these sites generate particularly, Twitter and YouTube have changed and revolutionized the online internet marketing world forever.

To utilize the Social sharing media such as Twitter, YouTube and many others to benefit your online business you need to understand the basic principals. To understand what the social sharing market is you need to identify the “who” , is looking for information, “what” they are looking for, “where” they are looking for it, and “when” they are looking for it. In our article today I want to discuss some methods to understand these principles to use the social media market to your advantage.

To really understand social media you need to educate your self on have the sites communicate. If you are a older internet user like myself this communication process is quite awkward and somewhat confusing, and functions nothing like communication and marketing principles that I learned in college. If you intend to tap into a piece of this Social sharing media market and sell you’re products online you need to re-educate yourself on the communication process at the social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube. You absolutely need to keep a open mind.