DJ Francis over at the OnlineMarketerBlog recently picked up the gauntlet thown down by Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation to identify the Best Practices in Social Media. It’s a great idea as the medium is still so new, many people, and brands, are still trying to figure things out.  I’m going to give you my take, though I’m not sure this is exactly what Mitch is looking for:

Use Social Media to build a Deeply Immersive Narrative Universe (DINU).

Social media provides unique opportunities for brands. The one we hear about most often is that it allows a dialogue or two-way communication between brands and consumers. This is absolutely correct but I think an equally powerful concept is that social media allows brands and consumers to collaborate to develop the brand into something strong and more meaningful. I’ve written about this at length on this blog, including here and here. For more on this general concept, I suggest reading Henry Jenkins and Jason Mittell who are also proponents of Transmedia Storytelling, a very similar concept.

A recent great example of this has been the Mad Men on Twitter experience. Fans have added to the show by creating something compelling, original and of high quality. By doing so they have enriched the experience for all. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other channels all provide opportunities to allow you to build, or faciliate the building of your brand’s DINU.