Social media tools

A few social media tools I've tried or participated in include blogging, mobile, online collaboration tools, photosharing, social networking sites, social bookmarking, Twitter, video games, texting, and RSS feeds. For this specific post, I've decided to post examples of my engagement in blogging, video sharing/video games, and social networking. The links to my examples of each are below:

• Social Networking: my LinkedIn profile
• Video Games/Videosharing: my gaming page on YouTube
• Blogging: Rawr Nail Cosmetics - the blog that supports my home-made nail polish hobby/venture

In my opinion, the social media resources that would most impact audiences or be most successful are video sharing, mobile device integration, and a combination of RSS Feeds and social networking. I feel that social media is so big and encompassing now that it almost needs to be simplified and directly reach the audience rather than rely on them to identify or find what interests them. This is why mobile has been so successful, and continues to be, because it reached people in real time, wherever they are, no matter what they're doing.

I chose video sharing because individuals in general are bombarded by information and I've found that people are more apt to click on a video than they are to read through a full article or blog post. This helps cut out some of the noise, reduce the time commitment of the audience, and makes the content more relevant and direct. Society is becoming increasingly more visual so video sharing strongly supports that.

Lastly, I chose RSS feeds integrated with social networking. According to aids.org, 584 million people are using social networking each day. An RSS feed alone is a great strategy to deliver content and convey messages to audiences in real time and in a relevant manner, but integrating that with a "location" or "site" where they are inputting valuable information about their likes, dislikes, preferences, network, resources, etc. is only a huge benefit to not only the individuals included in the feed but the designer of the feed itself. Having access to this data will increase the ability for the feed to deliver targeted content to the audience but will also increase the level of use and visibility among audiences.