First a disclaimer:
I work in the "old media" world.
I earn a living to support myself and my family via selling advertising schedules on a group of Fort Wayne radio stations known as Summit City Radio. Summit City Radio stations include WXKE, the city's Heritage Rock station known as ROCK 104, which has been on the air since the 1970's.
We also have WGL-AM 1250, which is Indiana's First Radio station. Currently known as 1250 The River, we acquired Pat White, former afternoon talk show host on WOWO, to host a morning talk show from 6am to 9am. We brought in his former co-host and producer, Queen Diane, and also added long time Fort Wayne weatherman Greg Shoup to keep us on top of things.
When Pat and the Queen sign off at 9am, we feature music that I would characterize as Easy Listening from 9am until 6am. Our listeners have come to rely on our hourly newscasts from CBS too. We also carry some sports on 1250 WGL, namely High School Football & Basketball, and IU sports as well.
Next on the list of Summit City Radio stations is WNHT, commonly known as WILD 96.3, and our latest addition is WGL-FM, known as V-102.9. Click here to check them out and contact me if you would like any, yes any information about advertising. My email: Scott@ScLoHo.net
Along with being in the radio business since the late 1970's, I have been involved with other forms of marketing and advertising, consulting, giving seminars, coaching, mentoring, etc.
And since 2005, I have also been involved with Social Media, which used to be called "New Media." The website you are reading write now is the second blog I created 5 years ago which is considered one form of Social Media.
The term Social Media really didn't have much of an impact and go mainstream until the rise of Facebook. Now it seems like everyone is on Facebook, young, old and in between. In the seminars I've given, I ask people if they are on Facebook, and those that are, (90% or more), are involved with social media.
So, what is social media? Basically it is any one of a number of platforms available on the internet. What makes it social is the ability to have some form of two way communication.
Facebook has the largest number of members. Over 500,000,000 worldwide. Facebook is a modern day America On-Line. It is a world of its own that includes photo albums, games, conversations and is the most accepted form of social media today.
YouTube is considered a social media platform since it is accessible to all, and you can comment online.
LinkedIn is a social media platform for connecting with professionals.
Twitter is a social media platform that when used properly is very social in that it is a conversation agent.
Also blogs, like this one are considered social media if they allow comments. No comments allowed? Sorry you're just another website in my book.
Earlier this year, my radio station managers wanted to get a handle on social media for our advertising clients. One of the stations Program Directors said "Twitter is Dead". I could have argued with him, but it wasn't worth it. My goal is for the stations to get active in using social media to interact with listeners and due to the mass appeal of Facebook, that's where our stations are focusing their efforts.
Last night I attended my first city council meeting to observe and afterward spoke with a few people I knew including one of the council members who was used to be pretty active with a local blog focused on news worthy items. He admitted to me that I am much more active than he is these days, which has been noticeable, but then he repeated a statement that I heard this summer, "Twitter is Dead".
(For more on why I went, click here).
Sorry to tell you this, but it is not dead.
The rapid growth of new members has slowed but it is not dead.
Dead would mean no one is using it.
Dying would mean people are giving up and not using it anymore to the point of decline where it will be dead soon.
I believe Twitter is neither.
And here's why.
Everybody does not stick with something that is new. Lot's of people will try it, some will understand it, others will try it for awhile, many will abandon it if they haven't figured it out for their own lives and purposes.
One notable exception in this country is toilet paper, thankfully. Bu there are other cultures around the world that don't use toilet paper. It never caught on.
Because I don't like the lyrics to Hip/Hop music and don't listen to it doesn't mean it is dead. We have over 75,000 people in Fort Wayne that listen to one of the two stations featuring Hip/Hop music in town every week according to the rating services that I have access to.
Twitter is so simple that many people don't understand it.
Twitter is a conversation tool, similar to text messaging.
Twitter is a way to send clickable links to a website.
Twitter is a way to get answers and give answers, fast.
And because it is not filled with some of the crap that Facebook has like games, photo albums and all the other silly apps, it is streamlined communication.
And I suppose I should wrap this up with ways you can contact me via social media.
Twitter is where you'll most likely find me. @ScLoHo Short & sweet.
I have a Facebook page too and LinkedIn profile, a couple of YouTube profiles and even an old MySpace account that is inactive.
If you Google ScLoHo, you'll find a few thousand links to me. Or just go here = http://www.scloho.net/
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