Social Bookmarking – Day 2 – The SOCIAL Behind Bookmarking
Dec 22, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
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.”
Twitter – Day 2 – Following & Tweeting
Dec 15, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge, Twitter
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
One 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).
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Tags: apps, blackberry, iPhone, social media challenge, stats, Twitter, yammer
Facebook / LinkedIn – Day 5 – Why you SHOULD be Using Them at Work
Dec 11, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
(Warning – this is a longer post – but it is worth it. I promise. It makes the case as to why we should use social networking sites not only inside of organizations, but also why we should not block employees from accessing outside sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.)
Before we get to the topic of using Facebook and LinkedIn at work, I want to tell a story which was prompted by the comment yesterday from @LisaMeece108. Hopefully this will give you one example of the many benefits of these social networking sites.
When I first joined Facebook I also joined my high school’s graduating class Group that one of my old classmates created. From that point on, I felt I was inundated with friend requests. Some were old friends I had lost contact with and I was excited I knew where they were. Others, to be honest, I barely remember or had not even thought about since the “good ol’ days.” If I accepted their friend requests, their updates started showing up in my “stream.” I started learning a lot about people I really didn’t know any more and I was skeptical about the value of these updates.
Fast forward to my beautiful cousin’s wedding.
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Tags: e2.0 Andrew McAfee, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media challenge, trust
Facebook / LinkedIn – Day 4 – Updates & Groups
Dec 10, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
STATUS UPDATES
A couple days ago I was in a meeting where a person said, ” I just don’t see the value of Facebook. I mean, seriously. I don’t care that someone ‘is waking up with a cup of coffee’ or is ’slowly recovering from yesterday’s surgery.’ What a waste of time.” He then grabbed someone’s iPhone with the Facebook app running and started reading off the updates. I must admit, some of them did sound silly. But let me give you a simple example of how something so mundane and initially inconsequential can help.
Photo by paulcole on Flickr
Every year our church likes to book a camping area for everyone to go camping together. It just so happened that I was flying in that Friday night and was going to make it just in time to leave with the family. But the last leg of my flight was delayed. I called my wife and let her know, then I jumped on Facebook and updated my status: “Flight is delayed. Can’t wait to see the fam after two weeks away and go camping. Hopefully I will be there in time to meet them.”
When my wife arrived at the campsite she suddenly had a number of people helping her out to set up the tent and get everything ready for her and the seven kids. Why? They saw the update, knew I would not be there with them and pitched in to help. She kept hearing, “I heard Kevin will be late.” How was that, my non-Facebook using wife thought? Did he call everyone? No, it was the Facebook status.
The other day I found out that my friend’ wife was coming home from the hospital after delivering a baby. Since we now live 2500 apart , I had not heard about the birth, and probably would not have until his wife was somewhat back to normal. But I found out early, thankfully!
Then, last week, I had an business acquaintance message me through LinkedIn. We have talked numerous times and had lunch together once. He is a great guy and I have been impressed with his work. Unfortunately, work is something he didn’t have any more and he let me know through LinkedIn. Now, I can have my eyes open for him.
Can the updates be abused? Sure, and some people are better at doing that than others. But other times, those small, seemingly insignificant updates can make a big difference.
GROUPS
Facebook and LinkedIn both have GROUPS which you can join (without giving away private information about yourself). Once in, there is usually a discussion on that topic. The Groups can be organized around causes, ideas, conspiracy theories, music artists, professional initiatives or goofy topics. Just about whatever you can think of, personal or professional, there will be a group for you to join. Some groups are VERY useful – sharing information and asking/answering questions. It becomes another set of people who have common passions to collaborate and connect with.
TO DO – Join some groups (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: 15- minutes total)
- Go to both Facebook and LinkedIn and search groups for your favorite causes and professional interests.
- Join them and jump in on the conversations!
Tags: Facebook, groups, LinkedIn, social media challenge
Facebook / LinkedIn – Day 3 – Friending & Connecting
Dec 8, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
Now that you are on, let’s get you connected.
Photo by dan taylor on Flickr
FRIENDS in ‘real life’ are not the same as friends online. In face-to-face relationships there is a certain etiquette with friends. Online, there is a totally different etiquette with friends. We won’t go over all the nuances, just know that it is OK to have thousands of friends on an online network and never really ’speak’ to any of them.
Then why have them?
When you need them, they will be there. For example, let’s say you find a past coworker from 10 years ago on LinkedIn and connect to them. Next month, suddenly, you are laid off. What is the best way to find a job? Through networking. Suddenly, you have a MUCH larger network to contact and that past coworker is no longer a distant memory, but a valuable resource.
Or, let’s say that you were involved with a volunteer music production group. In time you quit, moved across the country and life moved on – but you were friends with this group on Facebook. Five years later you get the itch and want to start up a similar production group in your new town. Even though you did not stay in touch via mail or even email very well, not only do you know where to find this group, but you can instantly contact them to get advice.
Tags: Facebook, friends, LinkedIn, social media challenge
Facebook / LinkedIn – Day 1 – Introduction
Dec 7, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
Week 5: Facebook/LinkedIn: Day 1
Photo by Tim in Sydney on Flickr
As physical entities, we can only be in one place at one time. We only have 24 hours in a day. Because of these two facts, our “reach” is limited. “Reach” can be defined as our potential sphere of influence. If we have three meetings, back to back, we have to remember the travel time between each one, the customary introduction and exit rituals will each take time, and that switching from one group to another is not always easy. (And remember, each of these meetings must fit everyone’s schedule, so even the availability for these meetings is diminished.) Because of this limited reach we are not able to be in contact with those people whom we might value the most – family, friends and colleagues – as often as we might like. We often also have to whittle out some groups altogether – even though they may be valuable – because of this limited reach.
Yet, what if we were not bound by our physical bodies, nor time? What would happen to this reach – this potential sphere of influence? What kind of influence could we have if we were able to stay in contact with thousands of people? What could we accomplish if we could join meetings or groups when it was convenient for us?
Social Computing allows us to do this.
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Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, social media challenge
Wikis – Day 4 – Overcoming Bad Stigmas
Dec 3, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
Week 4: Wikis: Day 4
Wiki, Blog, “social,” even RSS can be four letter words and leave a bad taste in the mouth. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people shutter at the very mention of any of these. Yet their bad raps are a form a pre-judgement derived (often times) from a single bad encounter which they project upon the subject as a whole.
“People have been character smeered on Wikipedia.”
“Schools won’t let their students cite Wikipedia because it is so often wrong.”
“If anyone can post anything on Wikipedia, it must be incorrect.”
There is some truth to these statements. Yet, as Sandra Ordonez, a spokeswoman from Wikipedia, has said in an email interview,
“Wikipedia is the ideal place to start your research and get a global picture of a topic, however, it is not an authoritative source. In fact, we recommend that students check the facts they find in Wikipedia against other sources. Additionally, it is generally good research practice to cite an original source when writing a paper, or completing an exam. It’s usually not advisable, particularly at the university level, to cite an encyclopedia.”
Sound advice.
Yet the prejudice does not stop there. They assume that if Wikipedia can be abused, “certainly a wiki in the workplace will be abused.” Not so fast. Change the circumstances and you change the outcome.
How can Intel create a wiki, amass tens of thousands of pages of information, have millions of page views yet have relatively no abuse? Again, the context has changed.
When we use wikis inside an organization there isn’t any hiding. If you abuse, your name is all over it. No one wants to be ‘that person’ so we all understand that civility rules. It is either that or your job. I’d take the former.
Also, what about bad information? To that I say, open your wallet or purse or daytimer. Look inside. Do you see anything (expired cards, notes, old auto insurance cards) that are out of date or old information? I decided to look in my wallet – which I like to keep lean and to a minimum size – and found five pieces of such bad/old information. If we don’t keep our own personal wallets up to tip-top shape, why are we faulting something that could involve hundreds or even thousands of people?
Very often, however wikis are for a very specific purpose. A meeting, or documentation or for project collaboration. Specific people are constantly using those pages and if there is anything incorrect or out of date, they often change it.
Because of the change of venue and those involved, wikis become highly useful. Realistically, do pages get out of date? You bet. But, like the note in my wallet, if it is out of date and not useful anymore, it is ignored. And that is OK. It isn’t needed so whether it is up to date or out of date doesn’t matter to me.
I could go on and on about negative stigmas. But until you try wikis you may not understand. Kind of like watching someone ride a bike. Someone who has never seen one before might ask, “How do they stay up! That is impossible.” Sure, it is VERY difficult if you are standing still. But if you change the context, the circumstances, and ad motion to it, it all of the sudden makes sense.
To Do: In the comments, tell us how you have used a wiki.
Tags: social media challenge, Wiki
Wikis – Day 3 – Privacy & Adoption
Dec 2, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
Week 4: Wikis: Day 3
Photo by SashaW on Flickr
Before we jump in to the exercise, let’s talk privacy. There is some information you obviously don’t want open to the public – from a work or personal standpoint. To help with this, wikis usually have a privacy setting. The Wetpaint wiki allows you to keep your pages private but allow others to approve specific others to collaborate. This way you have full control over who sees and edits the information. This is perfect for work or close knit subjects. But, just because you put it out there for others to use does NOT mean that they will.
One of the biggest impediments to the usage of any of these tools that I found early on was duplication.
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Tags: social media challenge, wetpaint, Wiki
Wiki – Day 2 – How Wikis are Used
Dec 1, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge, Uncategorized
Week 4: Wikis: Day 2
Some things are beautiful because they are easy to use the first time and don’t need much of an explanation, if any at all. It has always made me laugh that instructions are printed on a bottle of shampoo. Understandable, but still… Other products are just too over the top, or way too complicated to understand.
Wikis are simple: Click edit. Modify. Click Save. Done.
Photo by kristin wolff on Flickr
When a product is so easy to use, its adoption increases (see this post on Complexity and adoption). If we combine these together – ease of use and high adoption – something extraordinary happens: Unintended uses. We think, “Well, if I can use it in this instance, I bet I could also use it here, and here, and here…”
There are many list of how wikis can be used.
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Tags: social media challenge, Wiki
Wiki – Day 1 – An Introduction
Nov 30, 2009 Social Media & Network Challenge
Week 4: Wikis: Day 1
Not only have you lived this scenario, but I am sure you all love it – right…?
Photo by darkpatator on Flickr
You need to get some feedback on a proposal so you write it up in Microsoft Word and save it on your computer. Then you create a new email message, attach the file, add an introduction and send it off to 4 choice people. They each open it, modify it (with tracking on), save it to their computer, create a new email message, attach the modified file, add a high level explanation of their thoughts and send it back to you. You now have four email messages with four attachments – all of which you open, plus your original one (a total of 5 almost identical documents are now open). Now you cut and paste their changes into your document and save it. You email back two of the four with an explanation or clarification of a question they asked and that starts two separate conversations with follow up emails. You create a new email message, attach the newly revised document and send it back to the four original people for a final look. Two of them respond with an agreement on the document, two of them make more changes, to which you respond by creating…
(Honestly, I could go on, but I am tired of it and I think you know the end of the story.)
STOP THE MADNESS!
How about a new situation.
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Tags: common craft, social media challenge, wetpaint, Wiki
