Social media is an explosion that has taken the world by storm. As a species, human beings love to talk. And technology has widened our horizons. Sitting in the comforts of our homes, internet has opened up a magical world for us where a person sitting in any one corner of the world can exchange views, comment upon, laugh and joke around with a stranger in another part of the world. As a blogger, I am sometimes amazed with the power that writing wields. Blogging as a concept began by sharing slice-of-life incidents from one’s life. It then diversified and took many forms – photoblogs, travel blogs, podcasting, microblogging and so on. Blogging has made writing accessible to a common person. You don’t have to be a journalist to get your views out. You don’t have to be published in newspapers to be heard. Blogging community has its own credibility and impact that cannot be ignored. So much so that today even Corporates cannot make do without reaching out to their potential clients and customers through blogs. Celebrities, movie stars, and sports people, everyone is hopping on to the blogging and social media bandwagon.
Blogging and social media sites have hundreds of millions of subscribers today. As per Wikipedia, there were 156 million registered public blogs in the world in February 2011. And, Facebook today has over 800 million subscribers and twitter over 300 million subscribers. It just shows that social media and blogs have been accepted with open arms globally irrespective of race, culture, prosperity, development and so on.
Written word always has been powerful and more meaningful compared to the spoken word. Once you have put a thought down and published it, you can be sure that it will be saved for posterity. Even if you delete that entry, it will be cached somewhere. The biggest power of this revolution is the direct reach of the medium. War-torn countries can have the voice of its people heard via their blogs and social media profiles. Revolutions can be started on social media. But social media and blogs are effective only if they have an audience.
How do you stand out amongst hundreds and millions of people out there? How do you get the eyeballs? Yes, you will have a handful of people coming back to read what you write, but how do you reach out to the larger masses? SEO, keyword optimization, choice of correct topic, online advertising are some of the tools that can help you reach page 1 of organic searches. But, I also believe that it is content, which is very important along with a website that is user friendly. Simplicity in thought and simple, impactful words are important.
See the video above to understand what Francesco Rulli, founder of Film Annex, says about social media and blogs from his own experience. He also gives some great relevant tips.
For all my blog posts on Afghanistan, women’s education and social media, do see my webchannel here.
