You're sold on social networking, or at least you've decided it's going to do something for your business. Then you start to think, if only it could do something for you when you're away from your desk.
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Cloud computing: computing in which your computer acts as a terminal and you're using a computer elsewhere. It's not all that extraordinary – there are many complex applications but a simple Hotmail account is an example of cloud computing.
Social media is by no means restricted to your computer when you're sitting at your desk. Mobile working has exploded unbelievably over the last few years through a few technologies: first laptops, then mobile phones, then smartphones, then cloud computing. That's a gross simplification, but it's most of what you need to know. Let's put it this way: I'm writing the opening paragraphs to this chapter in a sport club while my daughter has her tennis lesson. I'm working on my laptop, but I'm actually logged into Google Apps, using the word processor Google offers free of charge. The advantage is that if the battery runs down and I have to continue it on my phone, I can do it.
The same principle that allows Google to 'host' my book – in other words it's on their computers, wherever they are, whereas it feels as though I'm typing it on my laptop – is allowing me to tweet at the same time. I'm logged in to Twitter using the Tweetdeck program. The fact that other people's tweets are on another computer somewhere, downloading to me, is incidental.
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Google Apps is a selection of web-based applications that Google offers customers, competing with Microsoft Office and the like.
If you're logging on to something remotely (and in the case of social media that's what you're doing: Facebook, Twitter and all the rest aren't installed on your computer, they're somewhere else and you're logged onto them), there's no need to be at a desktop computer. You can be just about anywhere.
In this chapter I'll run through the basics of what you can do with a few applications on your mobile phone. I'll look at what sort of phone you need. I won't discuss using social media on a laptop, because that's just using a smaller computer and as long as you have a decent Internet connection the process should be exactly the same.
A while ago there was an ad campaign urging people to upgrade their phones because an old one looks embarrassing. Nobody should respond to that sort of ad; if your phone works and you're happy with it don't even think of upgrading it. If you want to use it for social networking, though, the situation's a little different. You'll need something with a decent-sized screen and the ability to input text with more than a numeric keypad if you're going to do it properly.
You're looking, in fact, for a smartphone. We'll talk about the models in a second, but first a word about costs – they cost quite a lot. If you want one that's unlocked – in other words, neither tied to a contract nor shackled to any particular phone network – you can expect to pay upwards of £300. If you're not sure you're going to make up the difference in your business plan then you know the routine: don't do it.
So, a little look at some of the hardware on offer. This isn't going to be exhaustive, as the models of phone available tend to change every 18 months or so. Much of the substance will be the same, however.
The fashion statement of choice and for many people the ideal mid-point between a music machine and a phone. If you want something that's going to fit into your corporate network then you might as well forget it now; although it can be done, the Blackberry is much better suited to straight business than the iPhone.
The current model is the iPhone 3G S, which offers connections to the fast 3G data network. In the UK it's available either on pre-pay or at a vastly reduced price on contract from O2, Carphone Warehouse with others due to start selling it in late 2009/early 2010. The model name and the exclusivity can change, and the operating system is bound to be upgraded sooner or later, but the basics of the phone won't alter.
There are many add-ons and bits of software called 'apps' (short for applications) for the iPhone. You get them by visiting the iTunes store on your computer or phone, searching for the app you want and downloading it to your phone. If you download it to your computer it'll be on the phone next time you synchronize. It's really that simple.
Many of the social networks have their own iPhone apps. Go to the iTunes store and search for LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace and you'll find free apps you can download for all of them. Enter your account details when you're on a WiFi or 3G network and you'll be able to do everything on your phone that you could do with your computer.
Twitter is a little different, because there are many different apps for accepting and managing your tweets. People are developing apps all the time, but at the moment some of the better ones are:
Twitterfon: download this and it will separate your tweets into general tweets from your friends, direct messages and replies/mentions. There is a free version that carries an advert or for a small amount of money you can have an ad-free version.
Twittelator: a paid-for app, this does a lot more than the rest. Of course it handles the basics, but when you press the picture you get a very clear set of options including reply, private message, retweet, email the tweet, copy the tweet, copy a link to the tweet. If you're likely to want to share things then you need this sort of flexibility, even if it does cost nearly £3 (don't sniff, that's expensive for an iPhone app).
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I'd love to give you a simple web address for Apple's iTunes store but I can't; it's actually built into the iTunes music management program. If you want to get at it, download iTunes (it's free) from
Apple.com/ukand then click on the iTunes Store sign on the left-hand side of iTunes. I wouldn't bother if you're not using an iPod or iPhone.Aggregators: if you decide you need Facebook, Twitter and the others in your hand when you're out, then you may want to look at one of the aggregator apps that put all of these into one. Go to the Apple store and check Nimbuzz, which will find all your Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, Facebook, Yahoo!, MobileMe and MySpace contacts and a load of others. Bafflingly, it doesn't work with Twitter; presumably they're working on that. Yahoo! has also issued an aggregator app that takes in Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Dopplr, Flickr, Friendster, Last.FM, MySpace, YouTube and several different emails.
People are coming out with different apps all the time, so do check the iTunes store to see what's available.
In 2007 Google started making noises about launching its own mobile phone environment. The first phones to use it (the system was called Android but the phones weren't; technology companies are helpful like that) came out from T-Mobile in the UK the following year. Called the G1, the next version, which might if we're very lucky be called the G2 but don't bet on it, was due sometime in 2009.
Google's Android environment shares many features with Apple's iPhone, except that the aim of the Google phone is to get you online and looking at Google's various sites as often as possible. Like Apple it has opened itself up to developers, so if you buy one of these phones you can get a Facebook application called fBook (effectively a wrapper for the Internet site), a Facebook application in the shape of Twindroid or eBuddy; no doubt there will be many more as the phones continue to grow.
Many Windows applications have their mobile equivalents for Windows-based mobile phones, including some of the snazzier offerings from Samsung. CeTwit and Tiny Twitter will keep you on Twitter for as long as you like, while Friendmobilizer will allow you to keep track of Facebook.
The other major form of mobile phone is based on the Symbian operating system, favoured by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and others. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other applications are being released to work on those phones as well.
The applications available for all of these phones vary from day to day as people develop different things and make them available – and seriously, the range grows every day.
However, things to watch for include:
Data charges: if you're away from a usable WiFi hotspot and start to use a 3G network, you might well find that you're incurring a lot of costs. If you're travelling abroad and continue to use data as well as voice, the price could go up dramatically. It's never easy to tell just how much data you're using, I certainly don't know what a gigabyte looks like. If you can be a bit sparing with your use of the mobile Internet, do so.
Speed: most of these applications will work very well indeed on a 3G network. Unfortunately if you move away from this network, say you're on a coach, the speed can slow right down and keep you waiting a long time to receive even the smallest message on Facebook.
Now you know how it's done, you need to know why you'd bother. Frankly, any fool can waste time checking blogs and all sorts of stuff on a train, but some people prefer to have their downtime to themselves.
Many people use social media online to keep themselves more up-to-date than they would otherwise be. Media consultant Mark Crosby explains, 'As a PR consultant I'm constantly keeping track of customers, breaking news, stories and interesting articles. Through Twitter I have a resource that can give me live updates on all of these, acting like an interactive RSS feed.
'I use a range of Twitter clients on my iPhone, but mostly Twitterfon, because it gives me full use of Twitter while on the move, allowing me to retweet, post pictures, follow links and most importantly to interact.
'Since joining Twitter about 12 months ago I have been able to connect with journalists in a way that suits them and also see when businesses are searching for the services that I offer. Through using Twitter on a mobile I am able to stay on top of these opportunities while away from the office.
'While there is an argument that I could wait until I get back to the office, a key point of social media websites, like Twitter, is that they're constantly updating and due to the high volume of traffic on the site, by the time I return to the office I could have missed an opportunity that someone else has picked up on. As a result of using Twitter on my mobile I have picked up new customers, interacted with journalists and been able to seize opportunities to fit their deadlines.
'Media and social media move at such a pace that being able to access the information on Twitter while away from a computer is essential to anybody working in these circles.'
Like any mobile computing application, mobile social networking turns otherwise useless time – travelling on a train, waiting for a bus, just about anything – into productive time. It also means that if an opportunity for customer care or proactive selling comes up online, you don't miss it.
The media isn't the only sector that can look at mobile social media usefully, of course. Any self-employed person who is out of the office for any length of time can use mobile social networking to keep tabs on what colleagues and competitors are doing at any point. I've found it useful as a marketing tool: I mention what I'm doing online and people commission me for more because I've reminded them I'm around, possibly on their own mobile device!
It's also worth looking at what you can add to your blog, a tweet or a Facebook page in terms of audio content. There are two primary pieces of technology that will help you do this. One is called Audioboo, which is becoming well known and as long as you use an iPhone it's ideal. If you don't use an iPhone, you can't use it, it's not for you.
To start using Audioboo you need to do two things. First, go to www.audioboo.fm – the site keeps apologizing for looking scrappy but it'll do for your purposes. Along the top there's a box with 'Don't have an account? Sign up now' written on it. Click on that, they only need very basic details and you'll find you have an Audioboo account. Remember your sign-up and password, these are important.
Next, either on your iPhone or your computer, visit the iTunes store, search for Audioboo and download it. The first time you start the app it'll ask you to link an account. Enter your details again and you can now start recording using the button that appears on the screen. Remember, your iPhone's microphone will hear you like an ordinary microphone, you don't have to get close to it.
Record your Audioboo and then hit 'Publish' on your iPhone. Audioboo does the rest. If you've selected the link between Audioboo and Twitter or Facebook or both, then an automatic Tweet and/or Facebook entry that you've uploaded some audio will go out on your behalf. (Check whether these automatic notifications are on, otherwise you'll find a couple of thousand Twitter followers will be directed to an audio of you saying 'Test audioboo for social networking book...oh bugger, how do I turn this thing off?' or words to that effect. I've, er, got this friend who did that.)
Audioboo is great because the sound quality is reasonable and you can upload things really quickly. It's a nightmare, on the other hand, because you can only use it if you have an iPhone and frankly it's not worth changing your phone for the sake of a single application. More flexible is iPadio, another free application, the best feature of which is that you don't have to download anything, it's all done at their end. You go to www.ipadio.com and click on 'Register', fill in the usual boxes to set up an account, then log in. You'll be given a number you can call, and when you call you'll be asked for the PIN that is on the screen. Then start talking. Again, you can link this to your Twitter and Facebook account so that when you have a coughing fit and want to dial in again, iPadio will tweet and Facebook the fact that you've been online. There are options to have group calls so you can blog interviews.
When you go to your iPadio account and select 'My phlogs' (a phlog being a phone blog, naturally), you'll find a piece of code you can put onto your website. This places your phlog on your website, with a picture if you've uploaded one. So, you phone someone from your mobile and upload it (there can be all manner of reasons for doing this as long as your customers will be interested), you upload it and those who are following you on Twitter or reading your Facebook updates see it immediately; when you're back in the office you blog it so that your other contacts see it too.
Perhaps you want your customers to hear from a new supplier, or perhaps some of your e-newsletter or blog would work better heard than read.
A number of phones can work out where they are by simple triangulation with their signal masts. This becomes useful when a social media user wants to connect with people locally and there are a number of small network apps that will let you chat with people in your immediate area.
More importantly, people will use social media-style applications to find a restaurant or a cinema. This is very significant if you run either of those establishments, so make sure you're registered with as many directories and listings services as possible. Urbanspoon.com has listings of restaurants in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester and you can get your site listed through its website. People can then find a restaurant on the website alongside professional and amateur reviews, and they can also find it through the free Urbanspoon app on their iPhone if they're in the vicinity. Likewise, Flixster.com is a movie review site that includes information on where a film might be showing. There are ratings by fellow site members and links to professional reviews, and there is an iPhone app that finds where someone is and tells them where their nearest cinema showing a particular film is located. If you run a cinema you need to be on that site.
There is a lot going on with social media on the move, and as long as the smartphone continues to be the default phone of choice for many it's going to seem increasingly unnatural to restrict your networking to the time you're sitting at your desk. For anyone who spends significant time outside the office but still wants to take advantage of social networking, a mobile device to handle it is a must.