Social Media Club | Columbia If you get it, share it

Mich Sineath manages public relations and social media marketing for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), a nonprofit organization for education in journalism. At AEJMC, he plans and directs development and communication of marketing programs and member recruitment; manages internal/external communications and promotions; and represents the association to media, affiliates, members and public. In previous lives, Mich was a photographer, an entertainment columnist and an administrative assistant for a radioactive waste depository. Before coming to work at AEJMC, he worked in Public Information for the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Mich serves on the steering committee of Social Media Club Columbia, and volunteers with Wolf Haven International, an organization working toward wolf conservation and wildlife education.

Inspired by the series from *Danny Brown, here’s Mich and “Five Questions about Social Media.”

How do you define social media?

Social media is simply any multimedia platform that embraces and engages users in social interaction.

Which social media tools or applications do you use, and why these in particular?

I use Facebook to keep up with friends; Flickr to share photos; Google Reader to manage my RSS subscriptions; LinkedIn for professional networking; Twitter for mass networking; Tumblr because it’s there; Zooity to manage them all; and FriendFeed to wrangle them together.

With increasingly busy schedules, Where do you find time for social media?

I’m lucky to work for an organization where my job embraces social media, so with each new project I look for ways to engage across platforms. I also get up an hour earlier each morning, which also helps a great deal.

What advice would you give to local businesses wishing to effectively embrace social media?

Take a look at what your strengths are; take a look at where your customers are; think about what you want to do; and embrace social media that enhances those goals. Invest the time personally to engage in social media and learn the ropes before jumping in head first with your business. Do your research and always be authentic, transparent and yourself.

Where do you see the future of social media?

I look for more niche markets to develop as offshoots of some of the major players, like Facebook and Twitter. I think more innovative uses of the technologies will come about, like #journchat, a weekly online chat with journalism and public relations professionals happening Monday nights on Twitter. I’d also look for the majority of the B teams to begin dissipating and/or teaming up with the major-leaguers. I think it’s time to narrow the market down a bit, if nothing more than for confusion’s sake. Following that, I think we may see the beginning of a new trend of “un-friending” as social media integrates more and more into our personal lives. And if all goes well — depending on how you look at it — we’ll see more of a shift toward a nomadic culture as work and play begin to intermingle.

Connect with Mich across the Web…