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Social Media Focus: But First, A Social Primer Chelsea Patten, Staff Writer, Dentaltown Magazine

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But First, A Social Media Primer

by Chelsea Patten, Staff Writer, Dentaltown Magazine

Not sure of the difference between microblogging and blogging? Or why someone would use Facebook instead of LinkedIn, or vice versa? Social media can be difficult to understand, but Dentaltown Magazine has your back. Below are some of the concepts and ideas behind several of the most prominent avenues of social media.

Facebook and LinkedIn
Both are interactive networking Web sites on which you create a profile page where friends, local businesses and patients are able to link to your page. This way they can easily find you – photos, reviews, comments and contact information – with no need to remember an e-mail address or URL.

Facebook and LinkedIn are designed with the same interactive, networking goal in mind, but created for different audiences. Facebook is catered to the general public – school-age kids, college students, parents, seniors, and businesses alike, while LinkedIn is focused on professional networking within the business community. MySpace is an older type of networking Web site, and is still used by some.

Microblogging versus Blogging
Twitter, the most popular microblogging site, is a real-time news feed of 140-character (or less) "tweets." People link to or "follow" each other's feeds. Think of it as a medium for frequent and concise status updates.

Foursquare is a different form of microblogging. Rather than "tweeting," participants "check in" on their smartphones whenever they arrive at a new place. "Checking in" pinpoints and publicizes their whereabouts. Foursquare-users work toward badges, milestones, and even tangible rewards based on the frequency or amount of places visited. It's microblogging to the point.

Blogging is for those who wish to be less succinct. Rather than short 140-character spurts or "checking-in," Web logs or "blogs" are used to inform the public about news on a larger scale. Did your office do a candy buyback for Halloween? Or just decorate for Christmas? Write about it and post pictures! The most popular blogging sites include: Wordpress, Blogger, and Typepad.

Host Web Sites
Flickr and Photobucket are image-host Web sites. You'll need to use one of these if you are building a customized page, like in Dr. Jason Lipscomb's article "Create a Custom Facebook Fanpage For Your Practice" on page 101. When you upload photos to one of these sites, the site creates an HTML code for the image and allows you to embed the photo on your Web site or blog (although large blogging sites like Wordpress, Blogger and Typepad have their own built-in uploaders). Picasa, a similar photo site, allows you to upload and store your photos, as well as create albums for others to view, but does not generate an HTML code for embedding.

YouTube and Vimeo are the video equivalent to image-host Web sites. Once you upload a video to either of these, the site will generate an HTML code for you to embed the video into a Web page. These sites also act as a free storage system. By uploading your videos to one of these sites, and providing a link on your site to the video, you avoid the slow load-time from having the actual video file hosted on your site.

Review Sites
Yelp and Insider Pages are review Web sites. Good reviews from your patients are crucial to maintaining your Internet reputation. If a mother appreciated the way your dental office treated her child at their last visit, she may post a great review for your practice on one of these sites. Yelp and Insider Pages allow you to create a profile, much like Facebook or LinkedIn, to post information and special offers, but primarily act as a review forum for others to read and share.

In a world of constantly evolving social media, it's difficult to keep up with all the changes. Fortunately with Dentaltown and Google as resources, you can strive to stay up-to-date on the newest media avenues.

*All of these Web sites are free to use, but do require registration.
Dentaltown Magazine
April 2024
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