Oh, the humanity!

Business Week put out an awesome May 8 special report on Social Media 2009. It is a must read for anybody interested in social media! It features so many great stories that I can't possibly blog about all of them. The special report features articles on the following: Social Media Beachcombing: Survival of the Twittest; CEOs Who Use Twitter; A Twitter Code of Conduct; Starting a Corporate Social Network? Don't; Jeff Jarvis on Openness and the Internet-Opportunity Awaits; Video of Jeff Jarvis on Tapping Social Media; Jakob Nielsen Critiques Twitter; and a video on "How I Use Twitter."

This is seriously your one-stop shop for getting your learning on about social media. After reading the articles and checking out the videos, you'll walk away feeling like an expert. You owe that to yourself.

The thing I will focus on today (since I am a journalist and extremely interested in how social media tools can be used effectively by journalists) is the Jeff Jarvis' videotaped interview on Tapping Social Media. Jarvis is the author of "What Would Google Do?" He also teaches at City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and blogs at Buzzmachine.com. I like this guy. He's smart and super-pumped about what he does.



In the interview, Jarvis says companies should use the Internet to develop an open relationship with their public as people and not institutions. To do so, he says, they must "unleash the people in the company to be people, and that's scary to companies because they're so used to controlling, their attorneys are so used to controlling, they're so scared that something can go wrong. But it's far worse, it's more insulting to your public to talk as if you are an institution."

In being open, be prepared to make mistakes. It's part of the process and not the end of the world. "Just admit them and move on," Jarvis says. He cites Google as an example. When Google puts out betas of different products, it is admitting that the product is unfinished, imperfect "and it's even--if you can believe this from Google--a statement of humility and humanity." It's Google's way of saying, "We're not perfect. Help us finish this thing." And the public digs that.

"The myth of business, just like that of the media, was a myth of perfection," Jarvis says. "Nothing is perfect." Amen to that! He adds, "We have to stop thinking of ourselves as finished, perfect products and more as an ongoing process that's very open and collaborative with people. When you do that and do that sincerely, I think you'll be amazed at how generous people are and how forgiving they can be."

On the topic of Twitter, Jarvis says it's not a waste of time unless you spend your time Tweeting about stupid stuff. "If you look at having a better relationship with your public as a way to be better at what you do and more efficient, then it's not wasting time at all," Jarvis says. "It's a great resource." He says he and his colleagues at Business Week actually save a great deal of time by using Twitter, for example, before interviewing someone and asking their followers if they would like to suggest any questions for the interview or other feedback. "Much of my book was written that way on the blog," he says.

Twitter is a great, fast way to spread your message around quickly. If you're a journalist, you can use it to plug your stories. Twitter is faster at doing that than blogs. (No offense to the blogs out there. You know I love me my blogs!)

Seriously though, do yourself a favor and read this special report.