As would be expected in a Social Media Marketing services firm, our office is constantly full of buzz, opinion, and new discoveries int he world of online marketing. We also have some very interesting people stop by for meetings or to work on client deliverables.

Jerod and I thought it would be a good idea to simple turn on the microphones once and a while. After all, we do have a fully digital studio in our offices that we use for client work.

In our first podcast, we simply decided to have an open discussion about the complex world of social media and provide some insight as to where a small or medium sized business owner should begin. We cover topics like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupon, and blogging with WordPress. And believe it or not, we aren’t bullish on all in the social media world.

Enjoy the information and the debate!

We would like to thank the people over at Marshall Electronics for bringing the vintage warmth of Ribbon Microphone technology to a price point affordable by the masses. This is the first series where we are putting our newly acquired MXL R144 microphones to work! We connected these directly into our Zoom H4N and what you hear is what you get. (We do run our microphones into an 8 track board if we are recording 3 or more guests but for normal two person podcasts in person or via phone we go direct to the H4N)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I have several post over the coming days that will examine the impact of Social Media on the landmark election of Barak Obama as the next President of the United States.  In the United States, casting a vote is the first indication of public support for a nominee.  However, public opinion has a huge impact on a President after an election.  I will be dissecting the world wide public opinion of Barack Obama via the “blogosphere” and other elements of social media the next few days.  However, the first and most instantaneous indicator of public support is Digg.

Digg is a social media site that allows for online news and information to be shared.  Participants in the community can either “Digg It” or “Burry It”.  A Digg submission made on Nov 4th, 2008 upon CNN’s announcement that Barack Obama had been elected President of the United States recieved over 25,000 diggs by the next morning and over 2,300 comments making it the “greatest digg submission ever”.

barack obama digg

Digg: Innovating Digital Media, and Information Sharing

In several of our e-marketing campaigns, we have found it very cumbersome to ‘get the word out’ on the web. Sure we list information in general directories; however, we thought to ourselves – ‘there has to be something better’! And VIOLA! Digg! Digg has helped us to update information about marketing solutions we have found helpful, customer updates, and relevant information related to our business, and the business ventures of friends and family! If you are looking for information about current events, news articles or commentary about a specific event or topic – DIGG IT!

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Digg is a solely devoted to sharing information on the web, as submitted by the user community. Digg users are able to upload interesting information from some of the most widely popular sites in the world, to a simple blog of interest.
Digg is an online portal for people to share information, take part in online discussion, and rank submitted content in terms of importance and interest. Digg allows its user community to vote, or ‘digg’ submitted articles, podcasts and video clips. This process allows for the users to act as the ‘editors’ of the site, and in a sense, have entire control over information sharing. All articles and submitted information to Digg can be shared between users, commented on, and ‘dugg’ by the users.
The ‘digg’ process involves just a few easy steps. First, find content that you think is interesting. This can be a video clip, a podcast you just heard, a news article or press release – anything you want! Once you submit it to Digg, it become available for all to see, and ‘digg’ if they like it! Once a submission gains popularity, it can possibly be brought to the Digg homepage! This is all dependent upon the user community and who ‘diggs’ your submission.
A major part of the Digg community is allowing Digg users to selectively choose, and ‘digg’ what they like. Since Digg is based on users collaboratively editing submissions, this adds to the Digg community by not only aiding in ranking popularity, but also bringing to light the most frequently viewed articles.
Digg also allows for building an online network; the more people you invite to join your Digg network, the more information you can share online! Friends and family can see what articles and submissions you ‘digg’ making it possible to share information and news with each other! Additionally, all Digg submissions can be commented on – so share your opinion with the world, and contribute to this digital media phenomenon!

Digg takes the concept of information and search to the next level since it interjects humans into the creation, sharing, and overall rating of information.