There's no denying it: Twitter keeps us connected

Posted Feb. 16, 2010

Just when I think I don’t have the time (or energy) for social media, I attend an event that changes my perspective. Today, that event was the New North Social Media Breakfast in Little Chute. I normally don’t make it to these events since they are usually held while I’m supposed to be taking my kids to school, but today I was a presenter, along with Erin Davisson and Angenette Levy of WFRV and Mark Zahn of Woodward Radio Group. The topic: How us members of the traditional media are leveraging social media.

First of all, I’m always fascinated to meet people in person whom I've only “met” before on Twitter (not everyone looks like their avatar) and secondly I’m amazed at how serious some people take social media. In fact, during our presentation, a screen on the side of the room showed all of the tweets being sent by people in that room about that event using the #nnsmb handle.

For those people who think Twitter and other forms of social media are a passing fad, forget about it. People are tuned in to social media and using it to communicate with each other, share information and get their news. That’s where I come in. While Insight may not be a 24/7 operation like radio, TV or even the local newspaper, it is still a news organization and we are still reaching readers. At Insight, we’re using Twitter and Facebook to help connect people throughout the New North. We use Twitter to drive people to our blog where we share regional news with a little perspective, add background to a story in the printed magazine. We can also use Twitter to drive people to our Facebook page where we can share

photos from events like last month’s InDevelopment Conference. Then, there is the obvious push to drive people to our website where they can read stories and view videos.

One observant attendee today asked how social media is changing our business and the answer to me was clear – it’s giving us another way to connect with readers and providing them a way to connect back with us.

--By MaryBeth Matzek

 

  

Comments

[Abby Gutowski]

Thanks for wrapping up the event, MaryBeth. It was great to hear how Insight is using SM to connect readers in between monthly issues.

[Mark Gehrke]

Thanks MaryBeth! You are an excellent panel presenter. Everything you shared was much appreciated.

One of the nice things about tweeting an event is us active tweeters create a live / archive of the whole experience where attendees can review the discussion and new people can join in too.