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Legitimising Social Media for Business

iggypintado's picture

Last month, Jen Bishop, the innovative editor of Dynamic Business magazine, Australia's largest subscription magazine for small business sent a tweet on Twitter asking people who they would most like to see featured in their November issue. She contacted me shortly afterwards and we met for a coffee meeting interview.

This month, I'm not only featured in an article in the magazine, I also made the front cover.

Aside from being humbled by the honour, profile and exposure, in my mind it's also resulted in three great outcomes for social media and business:

Dynamic Business Magazine cover1. Social Media is for business. This is the first time a player in the social media space has appeared on the front cover of a mainstream business magazine in Australia. This highlights that social media has arrived as a legitimate business platform for business owners and managers to consider and leverage.

2. Social Media Experts vs. Practioners. To represent social media for business, the magazine didn't pick a self-proclaimed social media "expert or guru" i.e. some who claim to know social media yet rarely tweet or last accessed their Linkedin account eighteen months ago. The fact is that Dynamic Business chose a social media practitioner - someone who regularly uses social media personally and commercially to collaborate, participate and connect with people and communities, in a disciplined manner.

3. Traditional and Social Media can co-exist. Much has been said about the potential demise of print and broadcast media with the rise of "new" media. With forward thinking editors like Jen Bishop leading the way, there is a place for both mediums if leveraged 'inline' with media consumption behaviour and preferences. I'm pleased to be working with Jen to use this magazine issue as an experiment on print and social media coexistence as she details in her recent blog post.

Kudos to Jen and her team for having the vision to realise that social media is relevant, practical and good - for business.

What do you think? Would appreciate any thoughts and comments on this post.

 

Iggy Pintado is CEO and Chief Networking Officer at ConnectGen, a business networking consulting firm. As a 'super-connected' networker on LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook and Twitter, Iggy has earned his place in the Top 25 list of the most connected business networkers in Australia. In April 2009, he has published his first book, Connection Generation, a study of how connectedness affects our place in society and business and the challenges and opportunities this development presents. In December 2008 Iggy joined GAP as Project Director of First 5000 - an exclusive online business alliance for leading Australian small and medium size enterprises.

 

Comments

so many contacts and communication!

re;Social Media Experts vs.Practitioners.(I think the print still looks uniquely attractive, something which the internet can never replace).actually i am quite curious to know how much "spatial infrastructure" do you get to use deliberately or not.what is written here sure calls for lots of spatial to do! 

Opportunities are there to be taken

 Foggy,

 I too was once like yourself. Love flicking through the news paper (as I am a speed reader), and the magazines but admit I still do like picking up that book to read.
 
I knew nothing about social networking or social media until the end of March this year where I was forced to find another way to find work. Even though I have yet to find that job I believe (fingers crossed) that it will be soon
 
This spatial infrastructure you talk about is there to be used and deliberately.  I have been able to use social networking and the social media to find so many new discoveries and would not give up any of my experiences I have had over the past 7 months. I have become a blogger in this time and have had my very first outside my personal blog posted on this website!
 
I am not a commercial social media person, I do not make a single cent from my blog or from social networking but I am reaching out to people I would have never thought I would. Part of my blog I have written about my journey through web 2.0, maybe you would like to read, http://colleenchanblog.com/wordpress/the-story/ , I talk about my struggles in understanding all this space and how it all connects.
 
The opportunities are there, I saw a story on TV last night where some guy is making 80k this year by wearing a different t-shirt everyday and sitting on YouTube and advertising the company as there is an audience there for him and companies willing to pay him just to sit there and talk.
 
I will never expect to make money from what I am doing in the social media, other than finding that job, but I am enjoying every moment of it!
 
Just my 5 cents worth...