Welcome to the Social Media Community : Start Here

Pick an Internet subject: how many "how to" guides are there, either online or in bookstores?

Web newbie? There is a myriad of introductory texts written for the semi-literate to the PHD. Need something more specific? You can find that too. Whether in print or electronic ("ebook") form, there are books galore, all vying for attention, many promising to be, in some way or another, the only book you’ll ever need.

If you need a guide on something somewhat established, say HTML programming, you have much to choose from. Unlike many of their contemporary subjects, however, social media guides attempt to capture a subject that is still evolving…at a rate far beyond that at which writers and publishers must be able to keep up with.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great books or blogs out there that are worth reading because they teach an approach to social media, not necessarily the "only way" to do it (a great beginner’s guide is Chris Brogan’s "If I started Today").

Now, many people who use social media on a regular basis are likely to be early adopters of new social technology. Each time something new comes out, these people take another step away from those people only just trying to figure out how to step on the ladder.

Do a Google search for “how do I use social media” or “new to social media”…if you know a little, you can probably sort out where you might want to look, but it’s intimidating if you’re not familiar with the web (One of good introductions, I came a across was Mike Fruchter’s "40 Key Elements to Getting Started In Social Media")

Doesn’t a "guide of guides" makes sense?

I would love to see a wiki-style guide or suite of guides (a wiki is an almost ever-changing document or site that is edited by the community at large). A wiki format does allow quick updating and rapid dissemination. It could be broken down into the myriad of subjects that all make up the world of social media and, more importantly, could be as up-to-date as the technology.

There are many bloggers doing some of this sort of thing on their own sites(Jonathan Fields’ "7 Unwritten Rules For Social Media Newbies”). There are some really great "how to" guides out there for varying levels of expertise(Saravanan Sahadevan’s “What’s Social Media?”). There is so much to learn out there that it can’t possibly be absorbed by any one person in any reasonable time. For those established bloggers with a reputation, a readership is already in place. But where do newbies go?

Of course, one has to acknowledge that people are trying to make money and earn a living. Popularity, whether in print or online, is crucial. My "semi-socialist" approach is a little to communal, yet would reflect the ever-changing, ever-growing world that web 2.0 will become.

There are so many brilliant people out there. Just spend a couple of hours on any one of the social networks and watch the energy at work – you can almost see evolution in progress! Imagine combining all these brains into a "distributed network", and harnessing the resources to develop and maintain the ultimate guide…"Welcome to the Social Media Community : Start Here"….

Maybe one day?