This is Social Media Weekend (#smwknd) at Columbia and since Patient POV is a pretty new blog, it is great to hear about the latest in social media. It is definitely changing so the meeting was exciting. Based on my day today, I’d say that this is a moment when blogging and social media are having a growth spurt and shifting. Readers and bloggers are interacting more on the same playing field. There seems to be much less of a divide, that is, if you decide to converse, rather than write a monologue. That’s the case for bloggers that I especially like reading anyway. I’d prefer to have bloggers open conversation, rather than pontificate to readers.
Some discussion that I really like here at the meeting, include the following:
From NPR’s Andy Carvin @acarvin who gave Friday night’s keynote, urging people to speak to readers –not like they are disengaged audience – but as experts, eyewitnesses, and more. He is not alone in that perspective: Miriam Al-Khawaja, a blogger from Bahrain, said: “I respect the fact that people say I don’t represent them. I don’t represent anyone, just the cause of human rights.”
In fact, I am really trying to get more people’s stories up on Patient POV. I don’t want to make assumptions about my readers. I find it challenging to elicit their voice when so their voice has not been valued in organizing patient care.
Other things that I learned are that LinkedInToday, launched just this week and added more real-time functionality, its page views are multiplying fast. Twitter analytics are on the horizon, now in alpha. If you a journalist, Facebook Journalist Pages have just gotten underway, and are worth using to build readership and engagement.
I had to leave just as the Facebook for Journalists talk was getting underway. I will definitely follow it and follow @lavrusik, the only one of Facebook’s 2,000 employees socializing with journalists. One thing that struck me about Facebook for Journalists before I left, is how people who find blogs because of Facebook friend recommendations tend to stay with your blog longer.That’s because people use FB in a more leisurely way.
In the past year, many people have criticized LinkedIn as being out of step, sometimes almost moribund. You might consider this self serving, but I found it interesting. People really pressed for social media optimization (SMO), not paying hefty fees for search engine optimization ISEO). Bloggers might take that different ways, depending on who they are, whether they really want to converse with readers, or whether they just want to rise to the top of Google, and talk down. Of course, pitching SMO was inevitable in a meeting devoted to social media.
That’s just a snapshot of what I picked up today. There is much more. I’ll be back early tomorrow. I am looking forwards to “digital doctors” reviewing my blog and taking a professional photo that you may soon see here. Next year, I will plan to make it to every session.
Social Media Weekend (#smwknd) is organized by the quintessential Sree Sreenivasam @sree at Columbia J School, Sree has brought together phenomenal panels and people who have plenty to say about engaging readers. Mo Krochmal @krochmal has a neat Posterous that is aggregating a lot of the interaction over the weekend, including links to presentations and much more. You can also keep up with the weekend via http://j.mp?iuwchq #smwknd. Perhaps I’ll file another short report tomorrow.
And I’ll take the opportunity to thank Michelle Rafter, who organized Word Count’s 2011 May Blogathon #blog2011. This is my 14th post in 14 consecutive days. I very much appreciate her organizing this. It has been a great opportunity to focus on blogging and pick up fabulous tips.