The Internet has been a part of everyone's lives for well over a decade, but for most people, it was tough just getting used to email and the web. You may have heard of social media resources like Twitter or podcasting, and you may think that learning how to use social media would take too much time, energy, and money. True, some social media Applications may take a bit of time to learn, but if you have figured out how to use email and do basic things on the web like find things with a search engine. If you can do that,figuring out most social media Applications should be easy.
Cost is not an issue because much of the really good stuff is free. Some of these services are completely online, so you may not even have to download any software into your home computer. Some can also be accessed through an Internet-enabled device like a iPhone or Blackberry.
Iphone Application
Before you explore new social media Applications, you may want to get a free online email account. Having this kind of account makes using social media much more convenient. Some Applications require that you have an account with one of these email services, and most require an email account for administrative purposes. Also, if your main email account is from your organization, you may want an outside account to keep your activities more private. Three of the most popular places for online email accounts are from Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.
Suggested Resource: Gmail
The following ten social media resources are not only free, but should be useful to you in some way.
1. Blogging
Think of a blog as a web site where just about all the work is done for you. You sign in, write something, hit a button, and it is online. If you've thought about starting a web site but have no idea what it takes to do it, a blog is the easiest way to get that experience. Also, if you already have a web site, a blog is an easy way to try quickly try new ideas that may later put on the site. Two of the biggest blog services are Blogger and WordPress. Both of them can get you from login to published blog in less time than a lunch break.
Suggested Resource: Google's Blogger
2. Micoblogging
This is a stripped down version of a blog, basically little more than a couple of sentences and maybe a link to something online. Examples include Yammer and the much more widely known Twitter. This blogging method that may work best for sending short messages to portable devices like an iPhone or Blackberry, or in conjunction with other resources such as a web site, mailing list, or full sized blog.
Suggested Resource: Twitter
3. Online File Storage
If you need to share files with one or more colleagues, or you need to access key files from several different computers, and don't want the hassle carrying around a laptop or thumb drive, or emailing files, you can use one of these services to manage your files in a password protected environment.
Suggested Resource: Airset
4. Photo Sharing and Storage
If you are interested in sharing photos, services like Flickr and Picasa allow you to store photos online, and even giving you the option of allowing others to access them or download them.
Suggested Resource: Flickr
5. Intelligence Gathering
If you need to find or track some information online, for example monitoring a developing news story or keeping current on a competitor or industry, Google has a service called Google Alerts that will keep track of them for you and send regular email updates when it finds something.
Suggested Resource: Google Alerts
6. Video Sharing
Some of the millions of user generated videos are published every day may actually be of interest to you. While you may be able to find them using general search engines like Google or Bing, you may have better luck by searching within video sharing sites like YouTube, Metacafe, and LiveLeak. YouTube is by far the biggest, with the greatest variety of content. You can even use it to create a home page within YouTube that features all of your YouTube videos.
Suggested Resource: YouTube
7. Social Networking
Facebook and Myspace may be the most well known social networking sites, but a site like LinkedIn is more relevant to working professionals, providing a kind of online resume and biography, and allowing others to see you out and contact you.
AirSafe.com's Choice: LinkedIn
8. Subscribing to Podcasts
There are millions of audio and video podcasts out there that cover a huge range of topics, including a few that would be of interest to you. Both Apple (iTunes) and Microsoft (Zune) distribute free software that allows you to easily manage subscriptions to audio of and video podcasts of every description. The iTunes software also has extensive links to online audio stream of radio stations from around the world.
Suggested Resource: iTunes
9. Free Phone Calls
Wouldn't it be great if you could use the Internet to call someone long distance, even internationally, without spending any extra money? You can download a program like Skype or GoogleTalk and talk for free with anyone else who has both a connection to the Internet and who has downloaded the same software.
Suggested Resource: Skype
10. Social Bookmarking
All web browsers allow you to bookmark favorite pages, but if you use several computers, or even several browsers on the same computer, keeping track of your bookmarkes can be next to impossible. Bookmark sharing resources like Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon allow you to create an online account where you can store and manage your bookmarks, and then either make them private and password protected, or make them public and available to anyone.
Suggested Resource: Delicious
Next Steps
Take the plunge and check out one of above ten resources. If you are not sure which one to use, go with one that a friend, coworker, or family member is already using.
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