I just bumped into an interesting SEO blog, Hawaii Online Advertising. There is a post, way back in June, about successful social media.

Since our blog is written for a wide audience, including people who don’t use the internet all that much, let’s have a definition of social media. I like Big Mouth Media’s thoughts:

Social media incorporates the online technology and methods through which people can share content, personal opinions, swap different perspectives and insights into world issues and generally discuss the evolution of media in itself.

Social media website content can come in many shapes and forms:
* Text - text is often used to put across opinions or write blog posts.
* Images - images and photos can display anything from holiday photos to shots by professional photographers.
* Audio - social media lets you create podcasts for users to download.
* Video - video sites mean that you’ll be able to record a video of your child’s birthday for friends all over the world to see.

(For more ideas on this, visit Scoble’s What is Social Media?)

Okay, so now that we all know what we’re talking about, here is my comment to our Hawaiian friend. He had asked who the thought leaders were on the topic of social media. Here’s my reply.

I come to this conversation late but - oh well, here are my .002 cents worth:

Three people who come to mind who I think really know how to have blog conversations are Liz Strauss (check here for a list of thought leaders she follows), Lifecruiser, who has turned her blog into a cruise, and Netchick (check her mid-week socializing game). Now they’re maybe not thought leaders in a more academic sense but they certainly get social media and use it, to many people’s delight.

Now to the sites that were suggested over in Hawaii.

Apophenia seems interesting but I find it difficult to read from a design perspective.

Similar with Augmented Social Cognition: White on black? A white-on-black blog has to really grab me for me to want to read it (unfortunately it didn’t, at least not today). Also, a serious problem on the blogger platform is that there are no categories. How am I supposed to tell whether there’s something of interest for me?

Buzznetworker: Yes, been there before. Like it. Easy to read, easy to navigate, interesting topics. Really liked his latest post on Facebook spam .

Influential Interactive Marketing isn’t bad but doesn’t excite me. What’s it with all these guest posts? Where is the author?

PR 2.0. Like how he gives his readers the choice between two difference backgrounds, and how each post is followed by invitations to link with him in various social networks. That’s what I call walking the social media talk. Posts a bit too long, though.

Unit structures - a place I’d go back to if I wanted to read more on Facebook. But again, I have a bit of a problem with someone who doesn’t walk his social media talk on his blog.

Web Strategy - yes, that’s a good one! His picture is right up there - immediately signals “social” to me. There’s a mix of video and text. One of his Facebook groups is one of his first links. Great mix of academic and non-academic thoughts.

What I’ve learned from this is that for me at least, I want to feel invited and welcome. That’s where the design, length social media at yahooof posts, and ease of navigation come in. I also need to get a sense that a blogger is walking her or his talk. If it’s about social media, show me where you’re sociable. If it’s about conversation, invite people to comment. If it’s about design, show right on your blog what you mean by good design.

Finally, here are two more social media related blogs I read on a regular basis: Profy – check out their post on BookMooch, a web site for book lovers, and Blognation, for example Blognation Japan. Its main guy, Robert Sanzalone, really understands that social media is not just about offline socializing – true social media integrates face-to-face socializing as well.

P.S. I totally forgot Nancy White’s blog - Full Circle Online Interaction. How could I?