The main reading material for our class Social Media in Public Relations is ‘Social Media ROI’ by Olivier Blanchard. After reading the first two chapters, Blanchard has positioned Social Media in a manner that I believe is the best description I have heard yet. He states “Social Media is the new Campfire, the new water cooler.. It is how business was done hundreds of years ago, face to face, one handshake at a time.” These statements I have taken from his book, are an excellent way to describe Social Media to my colleagues or counterparts that do not completely understand how and why this new medium should be a part of every companies business plan. He goes on to describe that the social media web is about things that matter and not branding or corporate messaging. That we should not consider this method of communicating as impersonal or distracting, but rather a new form of reaching out and getting to know each other, our clients, our colleagues and even family and friends. This is our new method for sharing stories and inspiration about our daily lives that was a large part of human interaction. I think Blanchard is going to be a great read, and I’m looking forward to quoting him more on upcoming posts!
Our Virtual Society 
Pleased you like the Blanchard book. I wonder if he will come out with a new edition. This one is already a year and half old . . . which is a long time in social web terms:)
I also liked that quote, though I felt some anxiety when I read it. After all, this is not exactly like business hundreds of years ago. We probably shake more hands online in one day than a businessman hundreds of years ago did in his entire life. How are we supposed to manage all these interactions? And it’s not just on one platform! We have to “shake hands” with hundreds of people in different venues, all at the same time. It’s pretty overwhelming when you think about it.
Thanks Rachel Anne. We are a global village now after-all, so I think you are going to have to get used to shaking hundreds of hands. We are actually shaking hands right now in a way. So.. it’s nice to meet you!
I think that’s a great point as well, that social media is the new campfire, the new watercooler. We’re surrounded by social media nowadays, in an almost co-dependent relationship. For businesses to stay relevant requires they have a presence online and as Blanchard said, an active one and on a personal level, not representing yourself on LinkedIn can have much the same connotations. To stay current and relevant, we need to be wired in to what’s happening in the marketplace today. And that is social media.
First of all, I love the instagramed picture! I could not agree more that Oliver Blanchard does a wonderful job of defining social media. As a 23 year old, most of us are already so aware of social media, how it works and what it does because we use it for personal enjoyment. Unfortunately there are many other PR professionals who are not using social media during their personal time and are not familiar with it.
Erin DICarlo