Social Media course at Waiheke Community Education

The advent of the Internet and the rise of Social media have had considerable impact on almost all facets of our society. Over four meetings at Waiheke Community Education I will provide an introduction into the foundations of social media, reviewing some of its' history, its' basis in the values of openness and sharing, and its' current dominant platforms.

We will explore and practice how to use social media effectively for a range of use cases and audiences, and review its use in marketing, audience building, and community engagement. We will inevitably need to consider the role of mobile devices. The use of a phone, particularly a smart phone is encouraged in the meetings - please bring them if you have them.

Specifically we will be looking closely at Twitter & Facebook, and the use of a third party client (mobile or web) to access both platforms.

To enrol in the course please visit: waihekecommed.co.nz/courses/social-media-2/

Using Twitter - hashtags and trends

Well I finally made it to Webstock this year, the pre-eminent New Zealand web conference that attracts some pretty big names from a range of tech related fields like usability, start-ups, design, etc. Like most conferences these days the event was well covered on Twitter with the hash-tag #webstock. Using a hashtag (a # followed by a word) turns the word into a link which other users can click on to see all tweets which include the same tag. Tweeting at conferences creates what is called the backchannel - the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks. The almost ubiquity of Twitter on mobile devices makes the backchannel flourish at these events and can facilitate face-to-face networking outside of the presentations as well as providing links to related resources, or just a level of humour to get you through the boring bits! Searching Twitter is a great way for you to see what people are saying about any particular subject you like by performing searches across the Twitterverse. Subjects that are being spoken about frequently can also "trend" and trending topics are displayed on your Twitter page. Trending subjects are also broken down to globally trending and locally trending so you can see what is trending in New Zealand as well as what is trending internationally. If you'd like to know how you can use Twitter for your business or organisation get in touch with us.

Facebook Groups

Been a while since I posted here but has been a busy six months on the Waiheke social media scene with some new pages flourishing on Facebook. Notably are the Waiheke Trading page and the associated Waiheke Community Noticeboard. These are actually Facebook Groups and are more suited to this type of group activity around specific purposes than the more open Facebook Page option. Groups also have options of being "secret", "closed", or "open" which means that group admins have control whether information or discussions are open to the wider public as well as who are members of the group. Groups can be used in organisational settings to create spaces for conversation and discussion around issues relevant to the organisation.