Do you need a social media specialist?

Yes, you do. 

Even if you think you know what Facebook and Twitter are.

For about three years I’ve been managing up to 10 social networks/microblogs/blogs for a big organization (naming no names). Before I took on the role of a social media manager, the organization had NO presence on social networks. Yes, you’ve heard me – no Facebook, no Twitter, no LinkedIn… Nada!

Now, the organization is represented on more than 10 social networks and holds a strong position on Facebook and Twitter with thousands of followers… But as every day shows, the strong positioning of the organization in the social media space, does not mean that its management, actually, knows what these social networks are, how they work and so on….As a matter of fact, some of them still think that a twit can hold a 500-word text and that one can go back to the twit that was sent a few days ago and edit it. Hmm, how would I explain it again that it’s impossible to do so with a twitter?

Street Fashion Bloggers: Best Sites For Street Style And Trends

Illustration by Garance Dore (follow her on Twitter)

The influence of the street fashion bloggers has been tremendous over the past few years - some of them are more influential than the others, but the trend is still very obvious and noticeable - street fashion dictates the trends, not the prêt-à-porter.

Media succumbs to smartphones, but not to tablets yet

No matter how hard the editors and writers of the New York Times, featured in the recent documentary from the director Andrew Rossi Page One: Inside the New  York Times, tried to argue that the traditional media is neither dying out nor it’s being survived and replaced by the new media, the future, however, looks much brighter on the side of the latter.

David Carr at The New York Times stays true to the traditional media

David Carr, the notorious columnist of the Media Desk of the NYT in the film refuses to be succumbed to Twitter and Facebook, calling his colleague Brian Stelter who mastered up the new media better than anyone in the department (wanna succumb to Brian's Twitter?) - the DEVIL (or similar to it), who might soon drive the players of the traditional media out of business. However, at the end of the movie, the audience sees Carr using Twitter for his articles and updates and using iPad apps to read the press. (Check out The New York Times App for iPad here.)

I’m, personally, falling David Carr on the Twitter – as well as some of his colleagues, including the press I’m reading on a regular basis, like The Huffington Post, National Geographic, Daily Beast, CNN, and such. And this IS the future of the media, want it or not – the media future is in your phone.

Despite the fact that the “old school” journalists have it harder to adapt to the changing realities of the media - especially the execs - big media companies have never been comfortable with the web – they are, however, much more optimistic about smartphones.