Category: Social Media

Does Social Media Bring Us Too Close to the Past?

Smart Bloggers, Social Judgement, Social Media

From time to time I get a Facebook request from someone that I have not seen in a while. I don’t know if you are like me, but it always seems like a shot out of the blue. But is it?

I actually think that this has more to do with a type of delayed ambient intimacy. After all, just because we don’t see or speak with people doesn’t mean that they AREN’T in our thoughts – and because they ARE in OUR thoughts we have a personal perception of proximity.

So what happens when an old friend reacquaints themselves with your present? What happens if you DON’T want to connect with these people? Are some relationships better off forgotten? Jeremy Fuksa explains how you can avoid your past on Facebook. Watch it. It’ll make you laugh and gasp along the way!


My Social Graph Is Getting Weird from Jeremy Fuksa:Creative Generalist on Vimeo.

Slow Blogging

Authenticity, Blogging, Life, Social Media

I wonder, in our push to get something new out, something exciting into the digital stream, do we miss out on some aspect of the creative process? For example, what would happen if we hand wrote a blog post? How would it change the quality of our thinking? Would it feel more precise or more earthy?

I am going to give it a try – just to see what happens. What about you? Willing to join me?

For the remainder of the week I will be writing my blog posts by hand.

And by the end of the week I want you to tell me whether you notice a difference. Are the posts more considered? Do they affect you more deeply? Is this something I should continue with?

It should be an interesting experiment, if nothing else!

Walk Like a Man, Talk Like a Man

Smart Bloggers, Social Media

When the Cluetrain Manifesto exhorted corporations to begin communicating as people – to people, many marketers scratched their heads. Ten years on, many businesses continue to struggle with the language that they use to communicate with people – with “consumers”, “suppliers” and “partners”.

So it is hardly surprising that social media presents a challenge for many marketers – for unlike almost any other form of business communication, authenticity and believability in social media REQUIRES thinking, speaking and communicating in ways that are fundamentally “human”. But what does this mean? How can we break it down?

Christina (CK) Kerley has a great post on exactly this. Hi, I’m Here to Help You Be More Human outlines some of the key transitions that traditional marketers need to consider as they begin to experiment and grow with social media:

  • Ivory towers keep marketers locked safely away
  • Losing control is chaotic
  • Moving from ‘The’ to ‘Me’ is tough stuff (at first)
  • People don’t speak in buzzwords, but marketers sure do
  • Marketers are used to campaigns that start and end. Not conversations that keep going… and going
  • The path to Web 2.0 cuts straight through the department labeled “Legal!”

Take a good read through CK’s post and then think about the challenges that your brands face. Think about how YOU can make a difference to the way your products and services are perceived in the marketplace. And then identify two or three areas where you can make an immediate impact. Go on. You know you want to!

Sorting the Social Media Wheat from the Chaff

Social Media

Purple Cow Family Restaurant and CASINO!For those who are new to social media, it can be a confusing place. There are dozens of new platforms, services, websites, applications and widgets appearing every week. It is hard to know whether you should be Twittering with your Dopplr or giving your Facebook the Flickr. And really, what do you do – and how best should you respond – when someone throws a cow at you (especially if it happens to be purple)?

Many organisations, when faced with this challenge decide it is all too confusing and more than a little chaotic (and uncontrollable), and turn to the relative safety of traditional marketing strategies and channels. Some businesses, however, turn to social media consultants. And while this may be a great first step, I could find over 1300 in my personal LinkedIn network – so finding the RIGHT social media expert could also be a challenge.

Joe Cothrel suggests that you just need to use the six words that make social media consultants disappear:

"Show me five things you've done."

If your expert is still there, feel free to explain what you mean.   You can explain that you'd like to see examples of social media efforts they have completed for five different companies.   You can explain that the companies sponsoring these efforts don't need to be in your industry, but they should be comparable to yours or better in terms of size and brand recognition.  You can explain that these efforts should not be in development, or coming soon: they should be ongoing or completed.   You can explain that these efforts must be successful by at least one measure — they engaged thousands or hundreds of thousands or (preferably) millions of users.

For the busy executive, Gino Cosme suggests reading this BusinessWeek special report on social media. This report talks about Twitter, keeping momentum with your social media efforts, leveraging existing social networks and features Jeff Jarvis, Jakob Nielsen and BusinessWeek Executive Editor, John A Byrne.

Of course, you could always start by dipping your own, personal, toe in the water and start your own blog or open a personal Twitter account. But then translating personal experience into business outcomes is easier said than done.

Interestingly, the upcoming Sydney Social Media Club event will be asking whether you need an agency to run effective social media campaigns. Come armed with your six words and you’ll be completely safe.

Get Some Kindling with Your Chaos

Social Media

SoCKindle In an interesting move, Amazon have now made it possible to publish your blog direct to the latest Kindle device.

All you need to do is sign-up as a Kindle publisher (and yes, it is ANOTHER new and separate Amazon account), supply your RSS feed details and a picture of your blog, and off you go (well, really, just wait 24-48 hours).

So, if you happen to have a Kindle and want your regular dose of chaos, you can do so by subscribing here. Apparently I get to keep about 60c of the $2 subscription charge – which, when converted is worth about 1000 Australian dollars 😉

Now, all I need is about 500 Kindle subscribers and I may be able to buy myself a Kindle too!

But all joking aside, this is another interesting play into the consumer generated distribution space by Amazon. Some of the big publishers could learn from their clever strategy.

Twitter for People (not Businesses)

Smart Bloggers, Social Media

Mark Pollard recently held a meeting where he freely shared his insight and understanding of Twitter with anyone wanting to learn more. Of course, there was no “backchannel” or “tweetstream” for the event as it was a talk for people who have yet to delve deeply into Twitter and the noisy place it can sometimes be.

The event was held at The Leading Edge and coordinated by Kelly Tall. It sounds like there was plenty in-room debate, with Mark describing the audience as falling into five categories:

  1. Social professionals: natural communicators who enjoy networking and talking about what they do.
  2. Banterholics: on Twitter to talk, exchange witty commentary and pass the occasional social judgement.
  3. Lost and confused: ‘someone else made me do it’ – perhaps a bit of social pressure has driven them onto Twitter and they’re trying to work out what to do next.
  4. Looking to mobilise: on Twitter to influence.
  5. Hell nos: outright rejecters of Twitter who see no point or purpose in it.

My personal experience in speaking about Twitter with non-Twitter folks correlates with Mark’s view – that there is definitely a chasm between the committed Twitter users and those who are yet to try or are in the early stages of “testing the waters”. As with any (social) technology, the challenge is how to find value quickly and how to make it easy to assimilate it into your work/private life. With those two barriers out of the way, you can quickly begin to expand your use and your network. In fact, it reminds me of my early blogging experiences.

Mark has made his presentation available which he would love for you to share with anyone who asks the question – Twitter. WTF?

View more presentations from Mark Pollard.

The Tribes Speak: Vibewire’s e-Festival of Ideas

Conferences, Innovation, Politics, Social Media

e-festlogo2009 Today sees the start of Vibewire Youth Inc’s e-Festival of Ideas – a week-long celebration of youth innovation. Focusing on four topic areas – politics, human rights, the economy and Generation Y – the e-Festival, now in its sixth year – aims to generate conversation among young people across Australia – and is using online forum technology to do so.

The forums have guest panellists organised to keep the debate going, and a hot topic list to get started includes:

  • Is there an upside to the current economic downturn?
  • How much do online profiles impact (or create) jobs?
  • What’s missing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
  • How are Facebook and Twitter making a social change?
  • How is the 24-hour news cycle affecting politics?
  • Is the quest to save the environment really about politics and power?

The guest panellists, drawn from all quarters of society, include:

To get a sense of how some of these conversations may evolve, take quick listen to Traci Fenton’s view of workplace democracy.

This year, as part of the e-Festival, Vibewire will also host some LIVE events – allowing forum participants to meet face-to-face (and don’t forget that includes our Friday Coffee Morning this week at Vibewire):

    e-FESTIVAL OF IDEAS NETWORKING NIGHT
    What Innovators, creatives, activists and everyone else. Meet, drink, talk.
    When 7pm, Wednesday May 6th
    Where Vibewire Enterprise Hub, 525 Harris St, Ultimo NSW

    e-FESTIVAL OF IDEAS FAST BREAK EVENT
    What 5 speakers on the 5 Cs of innovation: Collaboration, Connectivity, Creativity, Commercialisation & Conversation. Also available on U-Stream & Twitter (use #efest to join the conversation).
    When 8am to 10am, Friday May 8th
    Where Vibewire Enterprise Hub, 525 Harris St, Ultimo NSW

    e-FESTIVAL OF IDEAS SERIOUS GAMES
    What A treasure hunt throughout the city, using technology to collect items. Players will challenge their perspective on e-Festival topics.
    When 10am – 5pm, Sunday May 10th
    Where Start at Vibewire Enterprise Hub, 525 Harris St, Ultimo

To get started with the e-Festival:

I look forward to chatting with you!

An Optimistic Project

Influence, Optimism, Smart Bloggers, Social Judgement, Social Media

Glass half full, half empty?If you read the news, watch the TV or listen to the radio, there are boundless experts offering their advice on the state of the world. Clearly we are in the grip of a global economic crisis inflicted on the many by the greed of a few. Yes, we should be concerned about potential pandemics such as pig flu. And no doubt, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – not to mention the instability across central Africa, Israel, Fiji and a score of other nations – all make us feel a little less safe.

Yet despite the realities facing us all, there are individuals, small groups and even communities all working in their own way to transform situations. I am constantly astounded by the willingness, energy and commitment of people to do good things, to donate their skills, their abilities and their time for those that they love or who simply need help. And while our institutions continue to lag behind this progressive consensus, they too, are peopled by others “like us” – and will, at some point, have no choice but begin their own transformation. The question is just of timing.

Against this backdrop, I was invited by Ian Fitzpatrick to contribute to the Optimist Conspectus which is “a compendium of contemporary optimism, one perspective at a time”. You can read my view here, but there are many other brilliant perspectives, including Dirk Singer (read his blog too), Matt Moore (read his blog as well) and a host of others.

And I loved the grain of optimism in this from Nishad Ramachandran:

Coming from a nation that has more young people than old, more illiterates than literates, more needy than greedy you just got to believe that tomorrow will be better and that hope will ultimately triumph over gloom.

You can even add your perspective here. Or maybe that is being too
optimistic?!

Social Media Club Sydney Kicks Off

Social Media

Live from #smcsyd - pic on Twitpic

Last night 200-300 people squeezed into the Oxford Hotel in Darlinghurst to the first Social Media Club meeting here in Sydney.

Organised by Tiphereth Gloria, Doug Chapman, Heather Snodgrass, Cathie McGinn (along with a legion of helpers like Malkuth Damkar and @AngGraham) it featured two speakers on the topic of authenticity:

  • Adam Ferrier – Partner at Naked, spoke about the Witchery Man campaign
  • Leslie Nassar – the man behind the (fake) Twitter identity – StephenConroy – spoke about Telstra (his employer) and satire

Moderated by Tim Burrowes in an interview-style format, Adam shared his view of the Witchery Man campaign – taking questions, sharing statistics, plans and outcomes and, in the process, winning grudging respect from many in the audience. Some of the questions from the audience (live and via the Twitter backchannel) were evaded but many were answered head-on. It was only when the video case study of Witchery Man played that momentum flagged.

The interesting thread that linked what both Leslie and Adam spoke about was not authenticity, but narrative – storytelling and satire. And what was largely missing in the talks was a discussion of trust – except for brief flashes. As I have suggested previously, “authenticity is hard to fake – but we are easily swayed by a compelling story”. Both the Witchery Man campaign and Fake Stephen Conroy provided compelling stories. But for me, at least, trust trumps story.

With Fake Stephen Conroy, we –the viewers – were let into the game that was being masterminded by Leslie Nassar. With Witchery Man, that never happened. And the conditions under which the campaign may have unfolded, over time, were never allowed to develop. Perhaps this was intentional. Perhaps trust was never part of the agenda.

Whichever way, it was a rollicking start to the Social Media Club in Sydney. There was a huge crowd and a vibe that was closer to a party than a conference. I am looking forward to the next instalment.