Social media – you can’t ignore them!

Nowadays, each active internet user is a member of one or more social media networks. But what are these social media really all about? Well, they are an instrument for communicating socially and interactively; in other words any website that invites a visitor to interact with it - and other surfers - could be said to be social media friendly. Social media enable visitors to join in by communicating and becoming part of a rapidly expanding social network. Finally, social media can be broadly defined as the creation of the world as we would like it to be rather than as it actually is.

How did it all start? Maybe not everyone knows that the history of social media dates back to 1978, when two computer experts, Wards Christensen and Randy Suess, created the “bulletin board system.” In 1993, the launching of the Mosaic web browser laid the historical foundations for the creation of the “world wide web.” In the years that followed, blogs and bloggers exploded onto the scene, with Google+, Twitter and, most popular of all, Facebook (ca.600 Mil. users today), becoming worldwide “institutions,” fuelling what has become a modern communications phenomenon.

Check the following “infographic” for details on the history of social media
The importance of social media has not only been grasped by ordinary, socially engaged internet surfers, but also by some of the world’s largest corporations, as well as a variety of international organisations and public authorities. They too appreciate the considerable value to be had from communicating directly with virtual visitors to their websites.

ENS, which has over 70,000 visitors on its euronuclear.org website every month, decided to extend its communications activities to add social media to the standard, more traditional communications tools that it uses, such as ENS NEWS. Last year, ENS created a Linked-In Group called ENS Career Platform, which is linked to the ENS Education, Training and Career Platform. Through this Linked–In Group ENS shares the latest information available on education or training opportunities offered by universities and nuclear stakeholders. It is also a good place to find out more about job opportunities in the nuclear world.

The second social media network in which ENS has been actively involved recently is Twitter, where it participates under the account name euronuclear. Twitter gives ENS a great opportunity to communicate directly and succinctly about its activities, about approaching conference deadlines or about nuclear news in general. Because each tweet must be limited to only 160 characters the emphasis is on short, too-the-point and effective communications!

Become a member of the ENS Linked-In Group and follow our ENS tweets!

Emilia Janisz, ENS

Ref. 1. http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/social-media.htm
Ref. 2. http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-history_b18776