Social media in business?

I talked to a friend who's a business student about his education through the business school and whether the business school is integrating social media into their curriculum. We also discussed a few more social media topics, including his feelings on politicians entering into the realm of social media.

You can listen to our discussion here. Be forewarned - there's some sweet island music in this podcast that might get stuck in your head. Oh and tons of social media content too. But the island music is pretty cool.

Tracking music with the Hype Machine

Update: The link, "Here" now goes to My podcast instead of our Channel

I found this really cool site that tracks songs and blogs that are posted in music blogoshpere. You can listen all about it in my podcast Here.

Check out the Hype Machine in person

Using You Tube to break into the music industry

Update: The "Listen to it here" link now go to my podcsat and not our podcast channel

This is my podcast about Esmee Denters, You Tube star who was signed by a major label.

You can Listen to it here

If you want to check it our yourself here some links

Esmee singing "Cry me a River"
Oprah's after the show interview with Esmee
Esmee on the the Jenters! show

Be A Safe Twitterer

Sharing every detail of what we are doing to strangers can be fun, but make sure you are not making yourself vulnerable. Listen to some advice I got about Twitter safety.

Here are the blogs I refer to:

Teaching PR Blog

Disruptive Conversations

Categorizing Social Media

Susan Getgood's Nov. 19 post about who should "own" social media, and Scott Bauman's response to her post made me wonder why do so-called professionals even waste their time with trying to categorize where social media fits into a "skill set" or "channel expertise."

Getgood argues:

"The functional lines between our marketing disciplines of PR, direct marketing
and advertising are blurring. Social media marketing requires a blending of
marketing and PR/communications skills. BTW, this line is blurring
everywhere but it is more readily and immediately apparent in the social media
world than offline. But it is offline too. Remember that online social networks
are reflections of the interests and affiliations we have "in real life."
Computer networks simply speed up the effect. "

Why does it matter if social media falls under public relations, marketing or advertising? Trying to classify where a coming-of-age shift in communication should be utilized is irresponsible. Social media should be available to anyone who wants to learn this great tool.

Bauman's reaction to Getgood states:

"Social media doesn't belong to anyone with a particular "skill set" or "channel
expertise." Instead, it belongs to people who understand consumers and how
to engage in them in conversations. The conversationalist could be a PR
person, an interactive agency rep or a direct marketing expert."

I agree with Bauman's analysis that social media should not belong to a specific field.
Why try to monopolize social media when it should be diversified among all these fields? Limiting this knowledge will only be a detriment to a company. Since experts are too busy discussing who should "own" social media, it may be time to teach ourselves.