Try New Social Media

Social Media. It's all we talk about. It's what we crave. It's how we learn.

In "The 19 Strangest Social Networks On The Web: Zombies, Hamsters, Implants And More" by Catharine Smith of The Huffington Post, readers who "are looking for something more personal or unique" can see 20 different "crazy," social mediums.

Below are the three sites that I found most interesting:

- REMcloud, or "the Twitter of dreams" according to The Wall Street Journal, lets readers post brief descriptions of dreams they had the previous night.

Creators say REMcloud is about "making deep connections happen for people all over the world, around the most unique and powerful experience we all share: OUR DREAMS."

The site focuses on people connecting after seeing that they share the same dreams. However, the site seems to have more humor to it than a deep connection. People seem to share only their most ridiculous dreams.

- HAMSTERster, just like Dogster and Catster, is a site modeled after the original Friendster. Creator David Hornbuckle says the website "is intended to be amusing but is not a complete joke."

People can share photos of their pet hamster, make friends with other hamsters and add hamsters to their family. And, if the unthinkable happens, users can check the box that says "Hamster Heaven" if they wish to make a profile in memory of their favorite friend.

- Ravelry, describes itself as "a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration."

Users can keep notes and ideas about their projects on the site, get patterns for projects added by others, share ideas and give encouragement.

If you're feeling even more outside the box, Smith shares more social mediums such as Lost Zombie– a "zombie themed social network whose goal is to created a community generated zombie movie" – which received Best of Show at the SXSW Interactive Web Awards.

Personally, I use three primary social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr – a photo-sharing site. However, there are plenty of other social mediums that people – especially college students – are now using.

Two fairly popular social media sites are Texts From Last Night and FMyLife.

Texts From Last Night is just what it sounds like: people share the texts they received the previous night. The site is completely anonymous, providing an area code the text came from rather than a name.

According to the website, two friends created created TFLN "for reasons that may or may not include: the tendency to press send more easily as the night turns to morning, friends' social habits, disgraced government officials, exes, law school, closing down bars and leaving tabs open, general debauchery and/or a common disgust for all negativity surrounding the 'sexting' phenomenon."

FMyLife lets people share short descriptions of unfortunate events that happen to them during the day. They can be: funny, sad, scary, ironic.

Each post beings with "Today,..." and ends with "FML." Viewers, after reading, can click on either "I agree, your life sucks" or "you totally deserved it."

I think when people are trying to find a social media website, they need to find their niche.

If you interested in networking yourself professionally, use websites such as LinkedIn that connect employers with future employees.

If you just want a humorous website, try HAMSTERster or Texts From Last Night.

If you love being connected with everyone you know, join Facebook or Twitter.

Social media is a great resource for anything your heart desires.

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Social Media as a 'Social' Tool Yesterday is a Marketing Tool Today

Social medias as a social network are transitioning to an intriguing marketing tool for marketers.

Many businesses are using social medias as a marketing tool now that it is figured out what does and doesn't work, and that it needs to be integrated into a marketing plan.

Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses releases information after a study done on marketers specifically focusing on top 10 media questions marketers want answered.

1. What are the best tactics to use?

2. How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?

3. Where do I start?

4. How do I manage the social balance?

5. What are the best sites and tools out there?

6. How do I make the most of my available time?

7. How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience?

8. How do I convert my social media marketing efforts into tangible results?

9. How do I cohesively tie different social media efforts together?

10. Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

This study also revealed that many marketers are wanting to learn more about the social medias and take full advantage of the many free social media tools.

Of the marketers put under used for questioning, the majority of them used Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were at the top, but at the same time Twitter and LinkedIn were also the two social networks that marketers wanted to learn more about.

Social medias are being used more frequently than not especially for marketers. The what does and doesn't work with in social medias is now starting to be acknowledged in marketing.

So even with the use of social media platforms such as Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook, there is still more that marketers are wanting to learn about these still newer forms of social medias to establish their foothold in the market.

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How to Get Noticed

Here is something that will interest a lot journalism students, especially those who are attending smaller, lesser known journalism schools. How to get noticed by big newspapers.

PoynterOnline's segment Ask the Recruiter points out that the biggest problem, that students of smaller journalism schools have is visibility. Bigger schools have very little trouble getting noticed by recruiters. The easiest thing you can do to be noticed is build a network.

Big schools already have their own networks that are made up of the thousands of alumni established in the working world. This makes finding the right people to talk to a lot easier for students that attend the larger schools.

You can do three things to start building up your network. First, participate in journalism associations that can get you connected to people in the newsrooms you want to work in. Second, attend workshops to meet potential contacts. Finally, request informational interviews at the newsrooms you desire.

Doing these things are not a guaranteed in to your dream job, but they are a step in the right direction.

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