Changing language in Social Media

Over the last few months I have been using a new set of words to tag my bookmarks on Delicious.

The words I have been using – and I expect I will continue to use are

• socialmedia,
• web
• analytics
• journalism
• business
• collaboration
• content

Along with proprietary names like

• apple
• twitter
• facebook
• bbc
• blackberry

But the new words I have been using show how our relationship with and expectations of social media are changing.

Previously I have run sessions on what social media is, how to use it and its impact. But now I will be incorporating these new words and talking to people at a different level.

While there are still people who don’t know how to use – or have not taken up – social media, to the established users it’s time to talk about

• reputation (how to manage your personal brand – or ‘your good name’ on social media)
• transparency (this has always been a problem – now there is a discussion about transparency v objectivity)
• social software (there’s more to social media than Twitter and Facebook and there is a new way to use it)
• influence (as I keep on saying to people; social media is not hard-sell)
• reach (formerly something only broadcasters were interested in – but we are all broadcasters now).