Sree Sreenivasan guide to social media

Sree Sreenivasan
Columbia Journalism School Dean of Student Affairs
Contributing editor, DNAinfo.com: http://dnainfo.com
Twitter: @sreenet | http://twitter.com/sreenet/favorites
Facebook: http://facebook.com/sreetips
Site: Sree.net | SreeTips.com
E-mail: sree[at]sree.net
Cell: 678-379-SREE
http://sreetips.tumblr.com/post/342517218/socmedia

==> Hope you will connect with me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sreenet and on my new Facebook page at http://facebook.com/SreeTips (I post only tech tips and job leads there).

HANDOUTS, TIP SHEETS & READING MATERIAL:

* @Sreenet’s Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics: http://bit.ly/twitterideas
* Syllabus and notes for my new, five-week Social-Media Skills for Journalists course at Columbia: http://bit.ly/socmediaskills (created with Adam Glenn)
* My Poynter column on the rise of social-media editors at news orgs around the country: http://bit.ly/sssocmed
* My columns on the intersection of media and technology for DNAinfo.com, a Manhattan hyperlocal site I helped create with Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts (whose family just bought the Cubs and Wrigley Field): Twitter Comes of Age. Again | Thoughts About the iPad | Twiangulate Helps You Find New People to Follow
* My Mashable essay, video and slides (co-written with student Vadim Lavrusik, @lavrusik, on traits of the future journalist: http://bit.ly/sreefuture
* BBC tells news staff to embrace social media - or leave: http://bit.ly/9qyl5h
* How to promote your offline events using social media: http://bit.ly/bxWCsQ
* Useful stats about social media, from LukeW
* 25 amazing social-media infographics, collected by WebDoctus
* CMO.com’s useful infographic explaining how marketing officers should look at various social media channels’ impact on customer communication; brand exposure; traffic; SEO

CHANGE YOUR MEDIA DIET:

* Mashable: the best guide to the changing world of social media and something you must add to your media diet - http://mashable.com
o Sample post: 10 most extraordinary Twitter updates
* MuckRack: the best way to find and follow journalists - by beat, by news org * similar lists for certain topics: WanderListing (travel); CleanPlater (food); TechPicnic (tech) - see full list across top of any of them
* LifeHacker: lots of tips on using technology in smarter ways (ignore the more geeky items; I do)
* ReadWriteWeb: another good way to keep your pulse on the changing web landscape
* PaidContent.org: an excellent resource about the future of the media

FACEBOOK GUIDES:

* ArsTechnica’s updated (Dec. 2009) guide to Facebook privacy
* Mashable Facebook Guidebook
* Facebook Pages:
o WebProNews on how to make your Facebook Page better
o AllFacebook on Facebook Pages Create More Loyal Customers
o IDAconcpts: How to target your audience using Facebook Pages
o Mashable: How to make a FB landing page
* Facebook Ads:
o New advertiser guide
* InsideFacebook.com: tracking Facebook and the Facebook Platform for developers and marketers
* Fun & scary: WhatTheFacebook
* My DNAinfo column on FB’s 6th birthday features some amazing stats

LINKEDIN GUIDES:

* Learn.LinkedIn.com: user guides for Job Seekers * Entrepreneurs * Business Development * Consultants * Non-Profits
* LI’s user guide for journalists * page of tips for journalists
* Mashable on how to build your brand on LinkedIn
* CIO’s collection of tips (each bullet is also a headline to a deeper article)
* Jason Alba’s I’m on LinkedIn, Now What

GOOGLE BUZZ GUIDES:

* Mashable on how it has changed the game
* RRW’s 5 Buzz tips for the advanced user | collection of Buzz tips
* How to incorporate FB, Twitter, Buzz into your Gmail

FOURSQUARE/GEO-LOCATION GUIDES (not a user myself, yet):

* FastCompany/Shane Snow on FourSquare vs Gowalla
* Mashable: how to make your company geo-location ready | 9 killer tips for location-ready services
* ReadWriteWeb: “If Obama used Foursquare” | Fourwhere mashes up Foursquare and Google Maps

TWITTER GUIDES:

* @sreenet’s Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics: http://bit.ly/twitterideas
* @sreenet’s two webcasts with all-star tweeting journos: http://bit.ly/columbiajtw2
* WebDesignerDepot’s Guide to Twitter
* Mashable’s Twitter Guide

BUSINESS & TWITTER:

* Twitter’s official Business 101: excellent guide from the Twitter folks, with case studies
* ExecTweets.com: Senior execs, tweeting
* 24/7 WallStreet on “Ten ways Twitter will permanently change business”
* Contrapaul on “5 Ways Your Business Isn’t Using Twitter Well”
* CityBakery and Twittering cookies

TWITTER TOOLS/SERVICES TO KNOW:

* HootSuite: my preferred alternative to the (very) popular TweetDeck. Fully web-based; allows post-dated tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn updates; new-to-me features: get previews of all links and photos and see YouTube videos there itself; save drafts
* bit.ly: the best URL shortener because of its access to metrics (see my early review); new-to-me feature: type “http://bit.ly” before any URL in the address bar and it will automagically shorten it for you
* FIND NEW FEEDS: Twiangulate: discover who people you follow are following (see my column about Twiangulate) * FollowerWonk * HiveMind (read RRW post, First Miners of the New Social Graph)
* IN A RUSH?
o T4BP.com: Twitter for Busy People
o TwitterTim.es: tweets you follow, laid out newspaper-style (see mine)
* KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: TwitterSheep: See what are the common themes among the bios of the folks who follow you (corollary is TweetStats, below)
* TWITTER STATS:
o Klout: purports to show you clout and influence
o TweetStats: tweet stats, including tweets per day + a very useful tweet cloud, to see your most commonly used words
o Twitter.Grader.com: graph your follower stats (see my summary | analysis of my followers | analysis of those I follow)
o TwitterCounter: some useful stats, including ways to compare Twitter users’ stats and predictions on how many followers you are likely to have in 30 days or more
o RetweetRank: where do you rank in amount of retweets by others? (mine)
o Twitterscope: to follow Twitter conversations, install the bookmark on this page; click on a tweet, then click the bookmark… the whole conversation will open in a new window
* TRACK YOUR CONTENT:
o TweetReach: get a sense of how widely your tweets MAY have gone (see mine)
o WTHashtag: a good way to track hashtags, especially those you create (for conferences and such)
o TwitterAnalyzer: shows you theoretical cumulative reader #s, based on followers of those who RT an item
* KEEP TRACK VIA E-MAIL:
o SocialOomph: get keyword alerts by e-mail
o TweetBeep: get @replies via e-mail
o Feedera: get a digest in your inbox every morning with the best of your feed.
* TRACK THE UNFOLLOWS:
o ChirpStats: get aggregate stats about new and lost followers
o TwUnfollow: get notification about who’s unfollowing you - USE WITH GREAT CARE!!!
* MANAGE YOUR FOLLOWEES/FOLLOWERS:
o FriendOrFollow: see who’s following you among those you follow and who you’re note following among those who follow you
o Tweepi: sort of a Twitter contact management system
* LISTS: Listorious: best lists in one place | ConversationList: created an automated list of those you most interact with on Twitter | Twitter’s improved Suggested list (my compilation of social-media editors) | WeFollow’s directory of feeds by category
* TRENDING TOPICS:
o WhatTheTrend: learn why something is trending, Twitter-style
o Trendistic: get analytics of trends on Twitter
o Trendsmap: mapping local trends
* TRACKING FAVORITES: Favstar: track favorites, ie, who has “favorited” your tweets (mine) | Favorites explained, by Twitter
* MUST DO: BackupMyTweets: get an archive of your own tweets
* PHOTOS & VIDEOS: Twitpic: share photos via Twitter; lots of choices, but the one I use most | Twitcam: instant, live video broadcasts, from the makers of LiveStream.com
* FUN STUFF: TweetBookz: tweets (yours or others’) in book form (similar to Blog2Print for blogs) | Twilk: your followers as your background image | WhoTechPunditsTweet: tracking tweets by tech pundits (mine) | ArjunBasu & his 140-character stories | HBR on 4 ways to visualize Twitter feeds

GUIDES/RATINGS FOR TWITTER TOOLS

* ShortyAwards: trying to find the best of Twitter
* Mashable Open Web Awards: readers pick best of Twitter and FB (I know very little about many of the winners)
* OneForty.com: find great Twitter tools
* Twitter’s list of suggested Twitter feeds