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SLQOTD –> E2.0QOTD

Jan 4, 2010 E20qotd Leave a comment

The Social Learning Question of the Day on Twitter has morphed into the Enterprise 2.0 QOTD.

My work has been focusing more on the Enterprise 2.0 aspect of social technologies rather than the more niche Social Learning.  SL, however, has not been lost in what I do, but it is a part of the bigger picture.

@SLQOTD, back in the day (only a year ago) went really well.  Change in work and other circumstances made it disappear.  It has now been revived focused on E2.0.

E20-LogoOne problem with @slqotd is that it was getting spam.  I hated that.  Answers were send directly to all followers, but the spam became overwhelming.  So, this format is a bit different.  It works only off of the hashtag #E20qotd.

Each tweet will be tweeted three times throughout the day, asking a question about E2.0.  To answer it, add the hashtag #E20qotd (yes, that is E-two-zero-q-oh-t-d).  To get the answers, use your favorite Twitter app to follow the hashtag.

Result?  All the great answers an no spam.  The more of us that answer and have discussions about the question, the more we all learn!

E2.0 Failure – A Requirement

Jan 4, 2010 E2.0 1 Comment

Say it with me… “E2.0 (Enterprise 2.0) is new.”  NEW as in there are not established laws, theories, methods to make sure it is done correctly.

Rarely is something created perfect out of the gate (I still can’t think of one). It takes time, trial, error, failure, revision, and trial again.  And when we think it is perfect, the game changes and so we must adjust.

Those who think either, “E2.0 will save the awful state of organizational culture and effectiveness” or “E2.0 is a sham” are both short sighted.  It is neither.  Give it time.  Allow it fail.  Allow it to work.  For it will do both.

Set expectations correctly – THIS we can control. Try it and learn from others.  Some parts will work fantastically, others will bomb.  Take what works and expound on it.  Crush those things which kill it.

But don’t expect perfection.  Yet, expect success and eventually you will get there.

Social Media Challenge – Final Post

Dec 23, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge 9 Comments

If you have joined us over the last seven weeks you have been taken on a Social Media & Networking journey – learning some of the basics.

TO DO – FINAL POST

What have you learned?  What has been of the most value?  What benefits have you seen of these technologies?  Have you changed any habits to incorporate them?  I would love to hear from you.

Please write a blog post of your experience and add the link to the comments of this post so we can all learn from you.

If you work as NASA MSFC and would like to be in the drawing for a lunch with Center Director Robert Lightfoot, you must write a blog post and add the link to your post in the comments of this post by the end of the year, December 31st.  Winners will be announced the first week of January.

Did you miss a week or two?  These will always be available, so feel free to come back when you have the time.

Thanks for taking the Challenge!

This has been great exercise for me personally. A lot of people have given their input, which has shaped these posts.  Thanks to all for your excellent feedback.

(And now, back to the regularly scheduled program…)

Social Bookmarking – Day 2 – The SOCIAL Behind Bookmarking

Dec 22, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge 4 Comments

Let’s look at the SOCIAL part of social bookmarking.

First – a humorous story.  I was presenting at a conference and my handout was a one pager with only my social bookmarking address.  It just so happens that I often use the name of ‘Frank Ferter’ in many examples and sites.  It wan’t until then that someone pointed out how funny it looked: http://delicious.com/frankferter

If you go to my bookmarks, you will find everything that I have added (except for the ones I have made private).

By looking at my bookmarks, you will be able to tell what my interests are.  Why is that significant?  Because if we are interested in the same things, it might be a good idea to continue to explore what I have because you will most likely find something useful for yourself.

Example.  If I was a web designer and interested in color schemes I would do a search for that on Delicious and find that one of the links a lot of people have bookmarked was “COLOURlovers.”

Colourlovers link Read More..

Social Bookmarking – Day 1 – Intro

Dec 21, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge 5 Comments

(This is the final week of the Social Media Challenge)

We all have bookmarks in our browser.  Folders with bunches of bookmarks to help us get to sites we don’t want to forget about or those we go to often.

But there are a few limitations:

  • Bookmarks do not cross computers – In other words, the bookmarks you have at work are not available at home, and via versa.  If you find a great site at home that you will want to use at work you might have to email yourself to bookmark it there.  PAIN.
  • Bookmarks are hierarchical – If you were to bookmark Engaged Learning, which bookmark file would you put it in?  ”Learning” or “E2.0″ or “Social media” or “Blogs” or …  What if it could fit in all of those?  How will you remember where you put it if the bookmarks grow in number?
  • Bookmark horder!  If you find a great web page, how will you share it?  Email it to everyone?  Tweet it (good idea). But if it isn’t easy, you probably won’t share the link with anyone else.  In fact, I bet a large majority of the most useful websites you have not shared with everyone.  What if we could share those?  How much could we learn from each other?!

Enter Social Bookmarking.

Like other times, I am going to let our friends at Common Craft explain this. Read More..

Twitter – Day 5 – A Little Twitter Fun

Dec 18, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge, Twitter 1 Comment

Now, what you have all been waiting for…  A little Twitter fun.

Follow the llama

Follow the llama

#f2f or #funtofollow

  • @fakestevenwright – one of my favorite comedians.
  • @dowhatItellyou – just do that the llama tells you.  Good.
  • @awkwardfamily – Awkward family photos – the name says it all.
  • There are a TON more.  Unfortunately, many can be pretty course or raw (read: inappropriate).  My philosophy: there are so many great accounts out there, why follow these others?

#onlineapps

There are THOUSANDS of applications which pull information from and use the services of Twitter.   Read More..

Yammer – Day 4.5 – Sign up

Dec 18, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge, Twitter Leave a comment

Just a little reminder – if you are a part of NASA, go sign up for Yammer.

Get the desktop app.  Or the Firefox addon YammerFox.

If you are a part of ANY organization, see if there is an active Yammer group.  If not, start one!

That’s all I’m say’n.

TWITTER / YAMMER – DAY 4 – Professional Uses

Dec 17, 2009 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Yes, that’s right – Twitter is not all fun and games (although it can be – the subject for tomorrow’s post!).

Can it be used for professional reasons?  Absolutely.  And once you learn this it is hard to turn back because it is so useful.

Remember when I wrote about social networks and the ability to bring geographically disperse, like-minded people together?  Twitter does the same thing.  I follow people (from all over the world).

People I follow on Twitter

People I follow on Twitter

Most of the people I follow I am similar to in some way (except for maybe the llama).  Twitter brings us together to allow us to have discussions (albeit short ones).

Here are a few of the most popular professional uses of Twitter.
Read More..

Twitter – Day 3 – Twitter Language

Dec 16, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge 6 Comments

Yesterday I mentioned that “What are you doing” or “What’s happening” are bad questions to answer.  These are the questions at the top of the ‘tweet box’ in Twitter, Yammer or others which are to help you come up with information to tweet about.  Rather, you might want to answer these questions:

  • What have you seen something online that would be interesting to your followers? Tweet the link.
  • Have you had an AH-HA moment?  What was it?
  • Have you seen the ordinary in a different light?
  • Did you take a picture or video you would like to share?
  • Did someone else say something you thought was particularly interesting?

That should get you started.  As you can tell, it is all about sharing useful information.

TWICTIONARY

But, Twitter today is not what it was when it started.  In fact it was very different in the way it is being used.  And guess what?  Twitter had nothing to do with it!  It was the users that morphed Twitter (unlike MS Word morphing you).  They started using it in ways Twitter did not think of, and it grew.  In fact, its use could almost have a dictionary dedicated to it.  Here are a few:

  • RT = Retweet.  When you see another’s tweet you want to pass on, you retweet it.  Example: “RT @ThisIsSethsBlog Seth’s Blog: What Matters Now: get the free ebook http://bit.ly/5Ta1lE”
  • @ = Mention.  When I want to get your attention or attribute something to a specific person, I will use “@yourtwittername”.  For example, @kevindjones will let me know that either the tweet is for or about me in some way.
  • DM = Direct Message.  Yes, you can privately message one person only.  This is a break from the traditional twitter model.  To do this start your tweet with “d twittername’, replacing ‘twittername’ with the person you want to message.  For example, someone would DM me like this, ” d kevindjones Shhhhh.  Don’t tell anyone.”  The catch?  They have to be following you to DM them.

    • Read More..

Twitter – Day 2 – Following & Tweeting

Dec 15, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge, Twitter 2 Comments

Now that you are signed up, let’s figure out how to use this.  Let’s talk about value, following and how to tweet.

VALUE

Twitter iconsOne of the first things you might notice as you log on to your home page is that it displays the number of people you follow and the number of followers you have.

First and foremost you must understand this principle: The value of Twitter comes in the number and quality of people you follow, not in the number who follow you. Why? In the end, Twitter is about learning.  And here is my theory:

The opening question, “What’s Happening?” or “What are you doing” make very shallow conversations – on or off line.  But if I were to share with you some bit of interesting information – that’s were things could get interesting and a real conversation can take place.  But for that to happen, the information I share should be something you are interested in.  If I tweet, “interesting diagram on intentionality & formality in learning http://is.gd/5n2ar via @csessums” as did @hjarche yesterday, and I was interested in the learning profession, that would be something I would want to check out. (As you can see, it is who you follow that gives you the most value.)

So, Twitter is turning into a medium allowing professionals or other like minded individuals on a topic to share useful information.  This is why the highest demographic of users is between 18-35 (47% of users).  Read More..

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