I have always been a big fan of studies because they are based on facts and can affirm or deny our conception of something.
The latest report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, “New Media, Old Media findings.” More than 99% of the stories linked to blogs came from legacy outlets such as newspapers and broadcast networks. And just four – the BBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post- accounted for 80% of all links.”
According to the study, there was no original news at all on Twitter. “Half of the links were to legacy outlets; 40% went to web-only news sources such as Mashable and CNET. The remaining 10% went to wire stories or non-news sources…”
I have to say there is a lot of regurgitated “stuff” out there. Most people who have used Twitter for any time would agree. Also, with Facebook making suggestions and recommendations of things you may like, it is only encouraging re-hash after re-hash. We all know that this is true of the Music industry. We have artists covering the cover of the mashup of the re-mix cover.
So what does this mean to us? Should we stop using Facebook for this reason and its privacy policy issues? Should we stop Retweeting what people are saying cause it’s old news that someone just dragged the article out of the Newspaper?
We can all agree on another thing that Social Media is here to stay, so what it needs is content. Good new content is where businesses and organisations of all kinds can win out.
But content building can seem daunting. Imagine what it must be like to be a Radio talk show host, and you have 2hrs of content to fill every day. New topics maintain interest from a diverse listener base. No easy task. Do you have to have the gift of the Gab?
When it comes to content for you to promote your business or organisation, who is better than you? You are the expert, the one with the knowledge, and the person with all the content in your head. You don’t have to have the gift of the Gab. You already have the blood, sweat, and tears of putting a company together. And believe it or not, that is the kind of content people want to know about. And you usually don’t have to worry about trying to keep the attention of 1000 people; you are just concerned about the demographic that buys your product and service. And the other good thing about that is that they usually look for you.
Getting your business involved in Social Media should only be jumped into with a strategy. Mix it in with any other form of advertising you may be doing. But the nice part is you can get involved for a low cost. You will have to throw time and effort and download some of that great material in your head down onto paper and then upload to the web. If you are not a big keyboard fanatic, upload video content to Youtube.
The same study I mentioned above, stating there is no such thing as original content, did lead further to say that any non-mainstream media content talked about online was viewed initially via YouTube.
The great thing about you adding original content is that Mainstream Media are also looking for it. Reporters scan the web the same way we do, looking for a story to fill that 2hr radio segment, and yes, you could be the one adding value to their show and your business.