Understanding Social Media - Part 1

So what does the term 'social media' mean?

If we break it down it may help. Social, is of course relating anything from our community around us, and extends to the big wide world. Media, is a mass mean of communication. So putting the two together, social media in a nutshell is a sharing of information, comments and photographs etc, to the audience you wish to target. We will look at some of the most popular platforms in more detail below.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)
Ease of Use Rating: 4/5

The first symbol above is Facebook, no doubt you have heard it with around 2 billion users across the globe, with its iconic blue square with a white square. Facebook was Mark Zuckerberg's creation in February 2004, along with Edward Saverin, both were students at Harvard College.

It is a social networking site - you can search for friends and family, old and new, share how you are feeling, add photographs, view pages of interest, play games and many more features. It is like a social CV, and you can put on here as much or as little information about yourself as you feel. You are able to control what information is shared about yourself and with whom.

You are able to access facebook via apps on your phone or tablet and via a laptop or p.c. You need to enter some personal information and an email address in order to set up an account.

There are functions for personal and business use, and both are effective forms of communicaton. When connected to wi-fi or you have data, you are able to private message friends, add photos and updates, or some business owners use it to share information about what is going on. Minumum age restriction is 13 years of age. There is a decent beginners guide to facebook, courtesy of lifewire, click here to access the guide.

Twitter (www.twitter.com)
Ease of use rating: 3/5

Have you blue square with a white bird? That is Twitter, and has around 328 million users. Short sharp bursts of information publicized to the world is the easiest way to describe Twitter (like a bird's tweet in the morning)

There is a 140 character limit on twitter which can be very frustrating, so most likely to include a web link to attract people to the information you want to shout about, or an image with a few words underneath.

Follow your favorite celebrity, fashion, industry, sport or hobby to name but a few to keep up to date with latest information and trends! Or start your own twitter feed about something that interests you!

Youtube (www.youtube.com)
Ease of use rating: 5/5

You tube symbol above is a red square with a white button and is essentially a video sharing platform. You can search for videos relating to your particular area of interest. From music, tv, funny videos, how to learn a skill, basically anything.

It is a quick way for Joe Public to get 5 minutes of fame - remember Psy and 'Gangnam Style' this started from a you tube post that went viral. Going viral means in social media terms, something that spreads through the population rapidly. The video was uploaded on 15th July 2012, and by 30th May 2014 had received over 2 million views

Anything you post on here can be seen by anyone using you tube, so upload with care!

How to Google

So, one of the best functions on the internet is Google. Google is a search engine and allows you to enter words, a question, a statement, anything you like and it will come up with answers. The more accurate your search term, the more accurate the results.

Now, the world wide web (www.), yep that is what is stands for, will yield many many results, and you have to use judgement on what information to believe. The internet is full of good and bad, so always check the website you are on - is it a well known site, is it fact or opinion. You may want to look at a few of the answers that google has thrown up for you to be sure.

You might want to google a simple D.I.Y task, such as putting up a shelf. A good way to do this would be to put 'D.I.Y put up a shelf' in the google search box, which is a free type box. Press the enter key and wait for the results to show on the next page. There will probably be pages and pages of results, however, the first few pages will yield the closest results for you. If you are looking for something very specific, such as a person, you may need to filter through every page until you find what you are looking for.

With google, the world really is at your fingertips, you can google images, videos, quotes, how to do..., jobs, buying items, pretty much anything that you can imagine.

There are other search engines, such as Bing, but I do not find them as accurate or reliable with the information returned, but everyone will find their own preference.

Have a go, and if you need any further help or advice, pop me a question here.

Happy Googling!

Welcome to My 'How to Do i.T' Blog

First of all, this blog is dedicated to my Dad, the handiest man in the universe when it comes to D.I.Y, navigating any country on earth, but give him a screen and a keyboard and he has a mini meltdown.

First of all - there is no shame in being a technophobe. Technology is still relatively new and is changing all of the time, so nearly impossible to keep up with.

Here, I plan to blog about the basics, and give tips and hints on using your computer for relatively simple tasks, who knows, you might even begin to enjoy it and set up your own blog!

I hope you enjoy the blog, and are able to humour me as sometimes, even I get it wrong. I have no degree in I.T or am no expert, and my aim is to show people that with a bit of patience, anyone can create a spreadsheet, work a PC, download apps, trouble shooting, or whatever you would like to do.

Go wild and learn something new today with 'How to Do I.T'