I like Rex Hammock’s term “Mediacasting”; he is good at the semantics of “conversational media” (another term I got from Rex).
So, we are casting out communications on all these different channels: web sites, RSS feeds, Twitter, social networks (Facebook, Plaxo Pulse), email, etc. The goal is to make sure everyone is able to get the message via the channel they want. This creates the temptation to cast the same message to every channel.
There are ways to automatically post links to new blog posts to Twitter. There are ways to aggregate summaries from various sources into your RSS feeds. There are ways to have Twitter update your Facebook status and Facebook to send status updates to your Twitter account. All of these are problematic in some form or another.
Absent that ability for subscribers to define detailed preferences on every channel, these tools create some unwanted redundancy. The trick is to find a balance between getting the message to everyone while reducing unwanted redundancy. I have some guidelines that I use and would be interested in suggestions. So without further ado…
5 tips for integrating social media:
- Cross post with care
I see the benefit of posting a link to a blog post on Twitter. Just don’t do it with every post. - Use the inherent advantages of each channel.
Every item in an RSS feed should have a permalink. Twitter should have immediacy. Facebook should be social. Plaxo should be spammy (kidding). - Content should be related, but unique.
If there is a message you want to get out, chances are it is more complex than any one channel can convey. The initial thought could be a blog post. THe conversation could take place on Twitter. Del.icio.us can hold related links. Flickr can hold pictures or screenshots. Facebook can be a place for solidifying spawned relationships. - Post exceptional related highlights to other channels.
If a great conversation starts on Twitter, update the initial blog post with a pointer. Great responses can be bookmarked. - Keep original content off aggregators.
If you use something like Tumblr to aggregate all the channels together, refrain from posting original content to the aggregator; it makes it too hard to get that content without getting overwhelmed with stuff you have seen elsewhere.
The tips above are things I have learned from watching other people get it right. It is a rough set of guidelines that I try to follow. It seems like the key is to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. Cross posting can create a lot of noise which really reduces the message.
What am I missing?
5 Comments
I’ll have to think a little more about this, but it looks like you got the big ones covered. I particularly like the “Cross post with care.”
Great points. I’m having a dilemma myself w/ a couple of these. I’ve got a couple of places I’m now trying post similar types of things — but I can’t quite figure out how to alert readers of one thing to know about the other thing. Also, I’m rethinking the whole idea of using my name URL (rexhammock.com) as an aggregator to collect everything — even I get overwhelmed by it. I’m working on a solution — at least one that works for me.
Clarification: I like personal aggregators. I just don’t think something should appear first/only there.
Interesting post. I’m not sure why keeping original content off aggregators is important. It seems more like a personal preference. In fact, it seems to defeat the whole purpose of a lifestream–to stream everything together. If you omit the original content–arguably the most personal content you miss 50% of the person.
Just say’n….
>>>>Keep original content off aggregators.
If you use something like Tumblr to aggregate all the channels together, refrain from posting original content to the aggregator; it makes it too hard to get that content without getting overwhelmed with stuff you have seen elsewhere.
By “original content” I mean something that was not posted somewhere else first (like a blog, flickr, del.icio.us, etc).
I think lifestreams should pull from sorces and not be a new source.