Archive for Social Media
November 28, 2007 at 7:01 pm · Filed under Learning to Blog, Social Media
It’s odd making virtual friends. Usually you have a chance to see someone, speak in-person and size them up before entering into a friendship. Yet on-line you’re suddenly abandoning that dynamic and speaking with people you’ve never met - and are unlikely to meet in-person.
On Tuesday I flew from Adelaide to Melbourne and met with Anna Whitlam at Market U. Anna’s a class act who is also a high-end executive recruiter. It was disorienting to have her so familiar with my thinking and background - all gained by reading this blog.
On Facebook I’ve had in-depth conversations with people in South Africa, London, Dubai, Budapest and LA. I’m unlikely to meet them - ever.
But there’s a psychological closeness we gain from strangers in different lands. We can share intimacies knowing they’re unlikely to come back to us. We can try on different skins, act out fantasies or talk of details so close and painful we’d never entrust them to people in proximity for fear it may boomerang.
It’s a new social order when we retreat to a room alone in order to get close to people we’ll never meet - and leave alone those in our own household.
November 27, 2007 at 5:17 pm · Filed under Learning to Blog, Social Media
We’re all trying to be young. What else explains the obsession with casual clothing, fitness and cosmetic surgery. As Baby Boomers enter retirement and Gen Y dominate the workforce, most are seeking what Juan Ponce de Leon sought in Florida in 1513 - the Fountain of Youth.
Add to this love of youth (or denial of aging) the growing influence of social media and we’re witness to a growing informality of language.
I like the latest ad from Seek.com.au -
“Why do we need to know what’s in there, what’s up there or what’s out there?”
On a pair of Puma gym shorts I bought yesterday there are four symbols with short instructions below each:
Heart: Love Your NeighbourLeaf: Eat More GreensCar Driving into Water: Cheer Up It May Never HappenWater Drop: Wash This When Dirty
Social media allows us to get to know each-other better - in French we'd abandoning parlez-vous for "tutoyer". There are less barriers and that's starting to be reflected in casual banter.
We're younger. We're more connected. We're more social. So let's abandon the formalities, okay buddy?
November 21, 2007 at 2:50 am · Filed under Learning to Blog, Social Media, Uncategorized
I’m thick, I admit. It takes me longer sometimes to come to terms with new concepts. Social media gift giving is on area I have yet to fully come to terms with. It is money for nothing. Or is it?
For the rest of the class: Social media sites (MySpace, Facebook) allow users to connect and inter-connect with friends (and strangers) in a number of ways. One application allows you to give a gift to a friend. There’s a gallery of images and - get this - you pay $1.00 to send it to another person. What does the receiver get? An image and your message.
When you care enough to send the very best…
Seems like a killer application to me. If I could get all my loyal readers to spend $1.00 to click through and send me a four leaf clover or a piece of sushi or a traffic cone or a baby chick then in time those would add up.
And hence the incredible promise of social media. People pay to send a picture to a friend. They are that attached to the network and its reality.
Send me a dollar. I’ll email you a picture - what do you want? The slice of pizza? The inflatable shark?
PS: Have any of the global brands realised not one of those gifts is branded???
November 14, 2007 at 8:01 pm · Filed under Globalisation, Australia, Social Media
Social media is uniting the world in ways the web was developed for - but never imagined at the time. Friendships aren’t neighbourhood or school dependent. I’ve got mates in Kuwait, Taiwan, Sweden, America. And these are folks I’ll never meet in person.
We’re in election mode in Australia with a week to go until elections. Yesterday Labor candidate Kevin Rudd announced an education policy providing free PCs to school children across the country. This generation will tighten the gossamer threads of the web around the globe and further the irrelevance of national boundaries, replacing them with like pools of people linked by hobbies, interests, sport teams and friendships.
At the end of “Charlotte’s Web” the spider babies hatch and float free on gossamer threads that catch the breeze. The species’ continuation is ensured as children spread further and further from home. New links are made. Old links are broken.
Terrific!
November 13, 2007 at 9:24 pm · Filed under Workplace, Social Media
What is the cost to businesses of social media? How many hours are lost toggling back and forth between MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and all the other networks?
Bacon was already described as the friendly version of Spam - instead of being unfamiliar and annoying (Spam), bacon is a message from a social media site alerting you to news - someone sent a message, or bit you as a werewolf, or sent you a hug, or posted a video, etc.
Not so bad if everyone you know is hard at work like you. But add the global impact and it’s always happening somewhere in the world. New Facebook friends have been made in Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Connecticut, Sydney, Taiwan, London, Kuwait, South Africa - get the drift? So while I’m hard at work they’re kicking back ready to engage.
“POS” was early texting code for “Parents Over Shoulder.” It alerted teens not to get smutty on instant messaging because Mom or Dad were in the room. Is there a “BOS” for when the boss takes that spot? Leaving the corner office every boss sees screens toggled back to Outlook so employees look assiduous in their efforts.
But that Inbox may be clogged with Bacon. Meredith sent you a hug. Connie bit you. Aswani wants to be friends. I’ll have to calculate the cost to Australian business later. Someone just voted me as a Hottie - gotta go!
November 8, 2007 at 5:42 pm · Filed under Business Start-Up, Social Media
I’m a fan of etiquette. I collect old etiquette books and like to compare how manners have changed over the years. I think it set me up well for a lifetime of customer service.
When I ran a financial communications agency in Hong Kong, I had a black and white portrait in my office. It was an artist’s close-up of the chief butler at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. He was assigned to Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana when they visited. I told staff that we’re in customer service - we should make clients’ problems go away while remaining courteous and gracious.
Today as I start a new agency I’ve been thinking about values. These need to be the cornerstone.
I’m considering “Micro-Personalisation” as a concept that may morph into the value statement. It’s there for three reasons:
- Each colleague is unique. We all have our own skills, passions, likes and dislikes. I foresee the “Who We Are” page resembling a Facebook pastiche of background and interests.
- Every client needs customised service. Each business has its own challenges - each person within that client company needs personalised service.
- Technology is enabling a level of personalisation and customisation never before seen. It will be woven into all we do - but we are NOT a tech firm. We can offer expertise in social media and use those same tools to solve client issues. Why not have our own agency gadget on each client’s desktop?
The challenge I see is two-fold. One is to set yourself up to really deliver on a demanding value (or is it a principle, driving force or unique selling point?). The second is to add lots of glue to keep these disparate individuals part of one team. (”I am a rock. I am an island.” versus “We are family!”)
If Kermit were to pen “It’s Not Easy Being Green” today, would he be as soulful? After all, he’s on MySpace and has made lots of green friends…
November 7, 2007 at 4:11 pm · Filed under Social Media
A friend and former colleague sent me a monkey today. Have you gotten one? Mine wore a tiara and had a sparkler in its hand.
The Monkey is a customisable postcard you can build off of Career Builder. It’s a great way to play off their humorous advertising campaign. (See the long suffering HR Director in this ad - isn’t she wonderful?)
This is a great example of how to link your above the line advertising program with a below the line viral campaign. I want people to use Career Builder's monkey email (and maybe I'll recall the brand next time I need a good-looking monkey on staff).
When you care enough to send the very best…send a monkey.
October 10, 2007 at 8:23 pm · Filed under Globalisation, Social Media
No matter where you go they follow. Emails and phone calls that used to wait for your return now join you pool side. In discreet restaurants you hear the jangle of old telephones and hip hop millionaires - ring tones tell you a lot about the person with the phone.
Yet it also makes life easier. No waiting to get home to see what’s happening. Constant contact with clients during important projects.
And even better - immediate slide shows of the side trip that morning, then a posting on YouTube of the your friend singing Madonna while on her iPod.
And when I look across Bangkok I can only wonder - what happens when every single person is equally connected?
October 4, 2007 at 8:10 pm · Filed under Learning to Blog, Social Media
This morning I woke to an in-box filled with updates from global friends gathered through FaceBook. There were notes and photos and puzzles and games. It would easily take two hours to respond to each and participate.
The social media revolution is creating a pound of bacon each morning!
Bacon is a variant of Spam, that wonderful in-box filler offering Viagra from Thailand or promises of fortune from Nigeria. But instead of being unsolicited like Spam (I really did NOT request the Viagra emails - promise!), Bacon is from friendly sources.
Someone added a photo to Flicker. You’ve got a message on Facebook. Someone was up all night on MySpace and now you have 27 messages from the same person - really!
Social media companies are quickly trying to develop a “daily digest” option so you’ll receive one update versus dozens and dozens. They better act quickly because too much bacon did in poor old Mr Atkins. And if the protein diet king couldn’t survive on bacon, I don’t like our chances!
October 2, 2007 at 1:17 am · Filed under Social Media
In September I live-blogged from the annual conference of the Arthur W. Page Society. To be invited to join this august group you need to be the #1 communications professional in a company with more than US$2 billion in revenues. I joined when I led global communications at Ford Credit.
Social media was THE hot topic at the conference. In an adjoining salon PCs were set up and attendees were encouraged to cruise the social media landscape. There were professionals from Wieck Media on hand to guide.
I’ve been blogging for a year and I still feel like a newcomer. I’m on FaceBook and Twitter and Flicker. I watch on YouTube, gather Widgets and shop at Amazon.
Yet at this global conference the level of comfort with social media was very low. Many attendees are aware - yet paralysed and inactive. Reminds me a bit of a B movie…
Adam Brown of The Coca-Cola Company said their products or company are mentioned 3,000 times every day. And the marketing team at Coke have implemented a number of innovative campaigns. Cherry Coke has 100,000 friends on MySpace!
Yet real management of social media for corporate communications is just starting at many companies. Microsoft makes a habit of reading blog positings then adding comments even when the author disagrees with the company or adds a hate post. They hope to temper strong disagreements by letting bloggers know their voice is heard.
In short there’s no best practice for corporate communications in social media. There are some basic rules to follow, though. Always be transparent when you’re editing or adding material on-line. It’s okay for a company to edit its Wikipedia page - the Pope and the CIA have done so. But don’t try to hide that you’re a corporate voice.
Just like the top-level communicators at this conference the message is simple. Dive in. Try something new every day. Participate. You will make mistakes - but you’ll also make friends.
And throughout the process you will continue to learn.
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But there’s a psychological closeness we gain from strangers in different lands. We can share intimacies knowing they’re unlikely to come back to us. We can try on different skins, act out fantasies or talk of details so close and painful we’d never entrust them to people in proximity for fear it may boomerang. 
Thanks for visiting!
