How are you using social media?

By Francesca Rheannon

Question: How are you using social media? Or are you using it at all? And how are businesses using it to build their brand, market their goods, and do good in the world? Talkback’s Francesca Rheannon got the buzz from Social Media Week and poses some questions for you.

I’m in the midst of attending Social Media Week in New York City, a gathering of panels taking place all over the city about the impact of social media on business, advertising, and the evolving many-to-many model of social discourse that is becoming dominant in our society. (Tomorrow, I’ll be going to a panel on “putting the social into CSR”, so that’s something right in CSRwire’s bailiwick to look forward to.)

I haven’t yet wrapped my mind around everything this multifacted event has to offer — we’ll report more in the coming weeks on Social Media Week and social media in general — but it seemed a fitting thing to do to throw out some questions to you, readers, and get your input on them. So weigh in and help guide us here at CSRwire as we continue to think and write about this whole brave new world of social media.

1) What are the (myriad) purposes social media can be put to? Social media editors from Time, Inc., the New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly said they use it for crowdsourcing, fact checking, and to curate and aggregate the news for their readers. Publishers and authors are using it to replace the book tour — publicizing a book and getting into a conversation with readers. They’re also crowdsourcing information from their Twitter and Facebook followers while they are writing their books. Everybody is using social media for engagement and driving traffic. How about you?

2) Who “owns” social media in a company? Who’s responsibility is it? Is it marketing? PR? Is it customer service? Or is it the Social Media Editor? What do you think?

3) Social media is used for brand promotion. Are companies helped in defining their brands or does social media threaten their control over defining their brand — and is that OK? Should companies respond to every negative comment? Or could that cause more problems? What do you think?

4) Trust is a fundamental value that is becoming eroded in the public’s mind, especially among the “millenial” generation. This is also the generation that is born swimming in the social media universe like natives. Does social media build trust or erode it? Improve accountability or muddy the waters? What do you think?

5) Some companies are using social media in their philanthropic efforts. One example is Pepsi, which decided not to spend $20 million on a Superbowl ad; instead, they are giving millions away in grants through the Pepsi Refresh Project to fund “your” causes. You get to vote on causes of your choice in a variety of areas, from health and food/shelter to arts/culture, neighborhoods and education. One question asked at a panel was: does it “fracture” philanthropy for a company to give to a variety of causes rather than one of it’s own choice? What do you think?

So go cogitate! Pick any or all of the above and tell us your take on the question. And stay tuned for more from Social Media Week.

About Francesca Rheannon

Talkback’s Managing Editor is Francesca Rheannon.  An award-winning journalist, Francesca is co-founder of Sea Change Media. She produces the Sea Change Radio’s series, Back to The Future, and co-produces the Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility’s podcast The Arc of Change.  Francesca’s work has appeared at SocialFunds.com, The CRO, and E Magazine, and she is a contributing writer for CSRLive. Francesca hosts the nationally syndicated radio show, Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon.

READERS: What’s your Talkback to the question: How are you using social media? Let us know, and we’ll respond.