It’s the most wonderful time of year! The Winter school term has begun! For lots of students, back to school means plenty of early morning classes and late night study sessions. School is busy, and chaotic, and it’s hard to find time to get all your assignments done, let alone spend time online. But the truth is, there’s a whole world of knowledge and opportunity out here, if you know where to look for it. Social media is transforming the way we connect, communicate and share…but it doesn’t just have to be that way for businesses. Students can benefit a lot from social media. Here are a few ways: Building a professional network has never been easier. Are you LinkedIN yet? Many students believe that they don’t need to worry about getting their profile up on LinkedIN until after they graduate. But nothing could be further from the truth. You need to get on there. Now. LinkedIN is one of the best places to connect with the kind of companies and people you want to eventually end up working for. And the only way you’ll be able to find and connect with them is to start building your profile there. Don’t worry if you don’t have a tonne of experience to add in yet. Put the experience you do have, even if it’s not related to your field. I want to know, before I consider bringing you into a client meeting, that you have customer relations skills. I think it’s a good thing that you worked as a plumbers’ apprentice for a year…that shows a sense of commitment and ability to problem solve. And yes, add in your major school projects. Treat those like any other kind of work experience. I want to know that you delivered that client project and they were satisfied, and that you were able to work in a team. Never discount school work as “not real experience”. It totally is. LinkedIN also has plenty of groups you can join and LinkedIN Answers is a great place to post questions and get advice from industry pros. So get in there. Start filling in your profile, and connect with people you know (even those from past jobs, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Also friends and other people you know. Even that lady you used to deliver newspapers to. Who you know is EVERYTHING). Start a blog. I would estimate that about 80% of my business leads and work opportunities come through this blog. No joke. Why? Because it’s my online home. People can come here and find out all about me….they see how I write, how I think, and how I interact with people. They can find out about my business and my teaching work, and if they want to contact me, it’s super easy. I leverage other tools like Twitter and Facebook to help drive traffic here. Start building your online home now. Don’t wait till graduation. You can set up a blog for free in about 5 minutes at Wordpress or Tumblr. And you don’t have to be a computer whiz. So do it. Start sharing your ideas with the world. Building a community around a blog takes time. It won’t happen overnight. But start now. Practice. Learn, and find your voice. Employers will trust you more if they feel like they can get to know you online. If you send me your resume! the first thing I do is Google you. If I find your online home and it’s filled with great stuff, I will be about 99% more inclined to call you back than if I can’t find you at all. 99%. For realz. Just two things. Two really, really important things to start. Start them today, and by the time you graduate, you’ll have that much more of a leg up. And don’t tell me you don’t have time. Because this is your life. Your career. You didn’t spend all this money on school to wind up jobless after. This is what it takes to get there. Start. Now. [photo by wired_gr]
Social Media on Your Terms
If there’s one word I hear more than anything else when talking with people about social media, it’s “overwhelmed”. Too many different tools, too little time to learn everything. Where do I focus? Start a blog? Engage on Twitter? Set up a Facebook page? Make a video? And while you’re busy setting up your Facebook page, building an editorial calendar for your blog, and scouring Twitter for interesting people to follow, the gurus are now telling you that Google + is the next big thing for businesses, so if you’re not there, you’re missing out on more huge opportunities. Then shiny new sites like Pinterest come along to distract us even further. Eventually it all turns into a giant lumpy mess, and we long for it to be 1994 again, when things were so much simpler. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not about the tools. As much as people would like you to believe it’s about the tools, it’s not. The most kick-ass Facebook page in the world will not do you any good if your audience isn’t on Facebook. If you’re not a strong writer, then writing 500 words a day is not only going to be a struggle, it’s probably going to end up sucking and you’ll be disappointed with the results (as will your prospects and customers). Social media is not about spreading yourself around to as many tools as possible. Spray and pray marketing doesn’t work out here. Why? Because social media about talking to actual people. And smart business owners who figure out where to find the people they want to talk to, and then go there and talk to them, are the ones that are going to kick butt in this brave new world. Back up the speeding locomotive. Seriously, slow down. Take a breath. Turn off your Twitter notifications (go on, it won’t kill you). Close all the windows on your desktop except one blank document. Now write down what you really want for your business. Don’t say “500 fans on Facebook” either. What do you want…for your BUSINESS? Now, chances are, whatever you want for your business is going to mean you’ll have to, at some point, connect with some other people. Who are those people? Write them all down. Come up with names and characteristics if you have to. Draw a cartoon of them if you want. Make a stick figure – it doesn’t matter. Just figure out who they are. Now you know who you want to talk to. Open a web browser, and type www.google.com/alerts. Start doing some searches on the characteristics you just wrote down for your target people. Follow the steps to create alerts for those search terms. Go and look at the results of your alerts every day for one week. Do not judge what you see. Just be curious. Click links, read, explore, bookmark things, and make notes. By the end of the week, something magical will happen. You’ll have found the people you’re looking for. Social media and “real life” are more similar than you think. You see, finding and getting involved with your audience online is like joining any kind of group. Let’s say you decide to join a hobby group for model train enthusiasts. The first time you show up at a meeting, you walk in and you don’t know anyone. You feel like a bit of an outsider, and everyone, though friendly, are all carrying on in a very familiar way. You don’t always understand every nuance of what’s going on, but you slowly get adjusted to your new surroundings. You spend a lot of time just listening at first, getting to know the personalities of the various players in the room. Eventually, you understand the context and dynamic of the group, so you are able to share things that are relevant. People start to respond to that, and finally, you’re in. A few months go by and you can’t imagine your life without these people. Think of your foray into the online world in similar terms. At first, you are an outsider, but that’s okay. We were all outsiders once. But as you listen, you become more and more familiar with the dynamic of the conversations you’re interested in. Eventually, you are able to join in, because all your listening has given you something relevant to contribute. You are able to add value, and others will welcome that with open arms. Finally, you’re in. Do it your way. Your experience with social media is going to be different from mine. That’s okay, and that’s the beauty of it. We are talking to different people, for different reasons. What matters, what will make you successful in this world, is finding your place, fitting in, and learning, and being helpful, and making a valuable contribution. Do it your way, on your terms, and don’t listen to those who try to tell you that you have to be on any given tool on any given day. Social media is a choose your own adventure journey. What path will you choose? [photo by nickwheeleroz]
My No-Fluff Social Media Reading List
Let’s face it. There’s a lot of fluff content out there. And if you’re relatively new to social media and online marketing, it can be a real challenge to filter through all the junk to find the really good stuff. I’ve been kicking around the social media universe for 5 years now (read: I’m an old timer!), and boy oh boy I’ve seen my share of junky blogs. You know the kind, the ones that just regurgitate all the same garbage day in and day out, or just repeat what all the so-called “gurus” say, trying to make it sound original. Ugh. That’s why I’ve put together this (very short) list. These are four blogs that I turn to regularly because they are consistently great. The articles are exceptionally written, well thought out and full of substance. If you don’t put anything else into your Google Reader, put these four blogs, and you’ll be well on your way to getting a handle on this crazy online world. Six Pixels of Separation http://www.twistimage.com/blog/ This is my go-to blog for deep-thinking. Mitch Joel is one of the pre-eminient thinkers in the world on the topic of online marketing. The author of a great book by the same name, Mitch’s style is accessible, but meaty. He writes pretty well every day (which inspires me to try and do the same) and not only that, but he has a terrific weekly podcast to go along with all this great written content. This blog is chock full of great articles, amazing insights and excellent conversations in the comments. It is required reading for all my students and if you have any interest in learning more about what this fundamental shift in communications called social media really means, it’s required reading for you too. Oh, and by the way – Mitch is Canadian, and that’s yet another reason to love him! The Next Web http://www.thenextweb.com This site is like my social media newspaper. It covers way more than just social media, but I tend to focus mostly on the social media sections. It’s blessed with a team of great writers and I find that TNW really cuts to the chase. This isn’t a site full of cheesy “Top Five Ways” lists. It’s the latest news on trends, tools, issues and practical advice. Prepare to skim on this site – there’s a LOT of content. But the cool thing is, you can customize your subscription feed for the site to only grab the sections you want to see, and you can even break it down by region. Social Media Explorer http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com I can’t say enough good things about SME, and it just keeps getting better. I’ve watched Jason Falls’ Social Media Explorer evolve over the past few years into an amazing source for learning and insights from a fantastic team of some of the top social media writers in the business. The amount of free advice being dolled out on this site is incredible. The articles are quick reads, super bookmarkable, and they don’t pull any punches – this is tell it like it is social media, and is also required reading! Awaken Your Superhero http://www.christopherspenn.com Christopher S. Penn holds a special place in my heart as exactly the 2nd person I ever met who knew anything about social media. Since then, his amazing blog has been a true source of education and inspiration for me on an almost daily basis. Awaken Your Superhero is part social media, part personal productivity and part spiritual enlightenment. It’s a winning combination and I guarantee every trip you make to Chris’ blog will result in you knowing a bit more about not only social media, but life, too. Those are my must-read blogs, I highly recommend subscribing to them, consuming them, and getting involved in the great conversations happening there. You’ll learn a tonne and your eyes will be opened to many new things. What’s on your social media reading list?
My Three Words for 2012
A few years ago, my friend Chris Brogan inspired me for the first time to create three words at the beginning of a new year. I’m not one for new year’s resolutions, but “three words” is a practice that has developed into somewhat of a tradition for me. My three words get posted in a prominent place in my office (usually my whiteboard) and stay there for the year. They are words I use to guide my work, life and spirit, and they serve as simple reminders, especially on those days when I am struggling and questioning my ways (and sometimes my sanity). For 2011, my words were Intersections, Freedom, and Curiosity. Intersections was about positioning – putting myself at the centre of things, instead of the sidelines, where I tend to be more comfortable. It was about finding opportunities and inserting myself in them when it felt right to do so. As a result I was able to do more professional speaking, increase my role in important education and technology projects at Algonquin College, and get involved in wonderful non profit events like Cracking Up the Capital. Freedom was about continuing to develop projects that I cared about, in my business, my teaching and personal worlds. I learned that by focusing on the things my business partner and I cared about, we were able to attract and build relationships with the kinds of clients to which we can provide real value. We have the freedom to choose our projects and we have structured our company so we both also have the freedom to follow our other passions as well. Curiosity was about not being afraid to ask more questions. I learned this year to speak up more when I don’t understand and to be less afraid to ask about things. As a result I found myself involved in more interesting conversations and projects. Curiosity didn’t kill the cat…it made her smarter. So that brings us to 2012. My three words took some time to develop this year, but I’m excited about them. They are: Simplify, Embrace, and Teach. Simplify is about deciding for myself what is most important and getting rid of anything that doesn’t serve a purpose. That includes clutter, tasks, projects, and in some cases relationships. (don’t freak out- when I say relationships I’m not talking about close friendships or my marriage! 🙂 ) rather, relationships that just don’t serve me anymore…that could be a relationship with a vendor, or a service provider, etc). The objective is to scale back to only the essentials, which I think will save me time, stress and money in the end. Embrace is about embracing everything life throws at me, warts and all. This is something I’ve typically been pretty terrible at in the past. As my Mom, my husband and my business partner will attest to, I am a chronic worrywart. I worry about not having enough to worry about. So for me, embracing is all about accepting everything that is thrown at me, and dealing with what comes without it throwing me into a tailspin of worry and stress. Stress and me do not get along in the long term, and usually it eventually takes me out in some physical way (like how I’ve spent the past three days flat out in bed with the stomach virus from hell). So for 2012, I’ll be learning to embrace and appreciate everything that comes my way. Bring on the good, the bad and the ugly! Teach is about continuing to do something that I love in the biggest, boldest and best way I can. I’ve learned that for me, teaching is one of the most satisfying things I do. I have confidence now that I am capable of opening whole new worlds to people, and that makes me very excited. I love showing people new things, and most of all I love helping people realize their own talent and potential. I want to extend this ability I have to teach in 2012…to my clients and my students. I want to continue to open doors for people and find new ways to use technology to make learning more fun and engaging. So there you have it…three words. I’m excited for all the possibilities the coming year holds. Happy new year and may you have abundant peace, love, joy and success in 2012! And your three words are….
Why I Won’t Be “Disconnecting” for the Holidays
For many of us, this is the final week of work before the Christmas holidays. We are winding down, tying up loose ends and looking forward to taking a break from our daily grind. It’s also the time of year when many posts start to appear on social networks and blogs talking about “shutting off” and “going dark” for the holidays. People are talking about the merits of “disconnecting” from the web altogether – shutting off Twitter and Facebook, turning off their cell phones, all in an effort to get away from the horrible distraction of the Internet, to get a break from the apparent mayhem that is the online world. Some people even act as if the Web itself is a bad thing – “Oh, I simply HAVE to shut down over the holidays, and focus on what’s REALLY important.”. I’m having nothing of it. Work vs. Play in the Online World I have every intention of not working over the holidays. I will set my out of office email notification, wish a happy holiday to my colleagues, and not think about work till the new year. It’s been an insane 6 months, so I really do need the break. The downtime from the day to day busyness of running a business and teaching will do me a lot of good. I’ll be able to do the things I enjoy, like hanging out with my family and friends, doing some writing and hopefully a pile of reading too. Taking a break over the holidays is vitally important, and we all need to do it. Absolutely. But while I may not be a slave to my email for the next couple of weeks, I will not be “disconnecting”. Not by a long shot. Why? Because for me, there’s a big difference between using the Web for work and using it for fun. And if my holidays are about relaxing and having fun, why would I deny myself this great source of a good time? I’ve separated my work life and play life online to the point now where I can happily exist in either world (or in both at once). Family and Friends First I believe that family and friends are the most important thing. In the past I’ve made the mistake of putting my work before my family and friends, and over time I have learned the error of my ways. This was made even more apparent this past week when an old friend of mine passed away suddenly at the age of 42. I went to the visitation on Thursday night and it was an overwhelming experience. The room was packed full of his family and friends, everyone there to honour him and remember what a great guy he was. We shared memories of the good old days and there were a lot of smiles and good thoughts. We remembered what a great friend, husband, son and Dad he was, and we shed tears for the people he’s left behind. We do get too wrapped up in our day to day grind. We spend all of our time focused on making the next buck, on climbing up and up and up the ladder of success. The holidays hit, and we take advantage of having a few days of no email and voicemails, and instead of spending time with our family, we spend the time setting goals for the coming year. Instead of stopping, taking a look around and appreciating the people in our lives, and sharing some time with them, we spend most of our time distracted about what’s coming our way after the holidays. We forget the people that are right in front of us. And we also forget that nowadays, they not only exist in the physical world, but they are online too. My husband’s family is in Manitoba, and we can’t make it out there for the holidays this year. So we’ll eagerly check Facebook on Christmas morning to see the photos of our new niece’s first Christmas. We’ll look forward to a Skype video call with the family later on in the day. I’ll look forward to waking up on Christmas morning and sending a cheery “Merry Christmas” text to Jon and Nancy. I’ll be thrilled when I get my annual “Merry Christmas” greeting from Diane on Twitter. I’ll follow along on Facebook as Marc and Emily’s kids open their gifts while Greg and I and welcome my parents over for our annual Christmas breakfast. As we open our own gifts, and head out for Christmas dinner at Mom and Dad’s, I’ll check in periodically to see how everyone else’s day is going. I’ll send texts to friends wishing them a happy day and maybe I’ll indulge in an old-fashioned phone call or two as well. I’ll spend my day firmly planted in both the online and offline world. I don’t see how it’s necessary or fair to “disconnect” my online family and friends. Of course, I won’t be head-down in my iPhone all day long. I will be focused on the people and things around me. But it’s different now. I live offline and I live online. It’s all my real life. And the people I love are in both places – in the room in front of me and out here, on the Web. It doesn’t make sense for me to leave a whole group of my loved ones out just because they happen to be part of my online world. It Comes Down to This We each get to decide how we spend our time, especially our downtime. While it’s important to take a break and not be all “work work work”, it’s also important to remember that the holidays are a time to connect with the people who are important to you. Tell them how special they are, and how important they are to your life. Savour every minute of the time you get to spend with the people
The Road Gets Wider: Reflections at 41
I don’t often write really personal posts (unless I do), but I turn 41 on Sunday, and I’m feeling more than a little reflective this week. I have also been inspired by my friend C.C. Chapman who wrote this beautiful post this morning about being thankful. Now, this isn’t going to be a woe-be-gotten post about the perils of middle age, or anything like that. In fact, it’s probably going to be quite the opposite. You see, being 40 has been pretty great for me. I’ve learned a lot this year, and all the things my (only slightly older) and wiser friends like Jon Swanson and Scarborough Dude say are, well, becoming truer and truer by the day. We always hear analogies of long roads, long journeys, especially when talking about life. But I’ve learned at 40 that the road isn’t long – in fact it’s pretty short. But as we age, if we choose, our road doesn’t have to seem shorter, if we figure out how to make it wider. I used to worry about biting off more than I could chew. I would hesitate to get involved in new things, for fear that I’d fail. Then I recall my parents at my age. They were always on the go – full time jobs, and numerous community activities. They weren’t just going to PTA meetings. They were starting community TV stations, and raising money for disabled kids, and making their world a better place, all while raising two great kids (if I do say so myself). Their road was very wide, and it encompassed many things. But most importantly, they were finding ways to be helpful, and to contribute to their work and their community. I have learned for myself this year, that the road is indeed wider than it is long. For the past several years, I have been solely focused on my business and making money. But at 40, I have learned that there’s more to it than that. I realized that the first thing you need to do is find ways to help people. I have more than 20 years of experience in the field of media and communications. I have been involved in music performance for more than 30 years. There’s something in that. I have realized that at 40, I have the ability, experience and confidence now to use what I’ve learned over the years to help others. So I looked around and I discovered places where I could be helpful. Then I simply offered my help. At almost 41, I’m no longer just going day by day, working away endlessly for clients, students and my community, hoping to reap the rewards of a big paycheque and a pat on the back. I am now entirely focused on helping my clients tell their stories better. I am helping my students be more successful. And I’m being helpful to causes in my community that are important to me. This one simple shift in my attitude, from getting to giving, has changed everything. My road isn’t long. None of our roads are. But boy oh boy is my road wide. I am having so many rich experiences now because I’m able to be helpful in so many places. And the curious thing is, the minute I took my focus off making buckets of cold hard cash and put my focus on widening my road so I could be more helpful to more people, the money part started to sort itself out. At 41, I am finally starting to feel like I’m hitting my stride. When I turned 40 last year, a switch went off in my head and suddenly, I cared a lot less about what other people think, and I’ve just set out to find my own path on my road. Others have told me they’ve had the same experience at this age. What it comes down to is, none of us knows how long our road is. But we can control how wide we make it. Widen your road, be as helpful as you can, and the rest will fall into place. [photo by Pensiero]
Most of Us Aren’t Ready for Google +
Google + is all the rage. Or is it? These days, I’m spending the majority of my time helping people learn about social media. I’m not teaching them how to tweet (they pretty much figure that out for themselves), but I’m teaching them how to more effectively use social media as a part of their overall marketing and communications strategy. I’m talking to individuals, small business owners, comms teams in corporations and public servants. Most of the people I’m teaching are coming in with many years of previous experience at marketing and communications. They are taking courses because their jobs are changing, and they need to learn about this fundamental shift in how people connect, communicate and share information and how it impacts the way they work. It’s not about the tools. Until it is. Many of the people I am working with are NOT early adopters. They certainly aren’t super duper early adopters like me, and many of my colleagues and friends (whom I affectionately refer to as “Social Media Geeks”.) Non-early adopters are the vast majority of people. Social Media Geeks are not. And because of this, the vast majority are coming to my classes because they want to learn the more mainstream tools…blogging, podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, and video. Google + has barely entered their lexicon at this point. Yes, the early adopters and “experts” will tell us that Google + already has 50 million users. Yes, they tell us that it handles privacy and filtering and search SO much better than Facebook. They will tell us we’d better hurry up and get on board because we don’t want to miss the steam train that is Google +. I call shenanigans. The truth is, there are 750 million more people on Facebook than Google +. There are 150 million more people on Twitter than Google +. It’s true, some of my students’ audiences may be hanging out on Google +. But MOST of their audiences are still on those other tools, and they are there in a big, big way. And even with all the features and benefits and potential of Google + as a platform, it’s not there yet. It’s not mainstream. It’s not where the vast majority of the non-early adopter community are focused. You want my advice? Spend your time with the platforms and tools that already have some best practices. Spend your time where people have already run some successful campaigns. Build a body of amazing content on your home base (your web site or blog) and then find your audience on the outpost tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and find ways to link those two. Don’t forget about Google + though, because it does have potential to be a contender in time. Do take the time now to explore the platform. Set up a profile, and do a bunch of searches, and find people having interesting conversations and get involved. At this point, it’s a great listening and learning tool. It’s just not quite yet the business communication powerhouse some would have you believe. What it comes down to is this – if you shift gears away from the platforms that the VAST MAJORITY of people are still using to focus your efforts on the new shiny thing that is Google +, then you run the risk of missing out on the opportunities that the tried, tested and true platforms still offer. Discuss.
Progress Report on My Flipped Classroom
We are a couple of months into the term now, and I thought it would be a good idea to catch you up on how things are going with my flipped classroom. If you want to know more about why I decided to do this, you can check out my three previous posts on the subject – part 1, part 2 and part 3. For those of you who may not be familiar with the concept, the “flipped classroom” is a teaching method made popular by the Khan Academy. Traditional classrooms are a combination of long lectures and demonstrations by the teacher, with application of learned concepts done through homework assignments, tests, exams and projects. The flipped classroom turns this model on its head; lecture materials are provided via video and other multimedia, and assigned as homework. Students complete the video lessons on their own time, at their own pace. Then, classroom time is devoted to assignments and projects, and applying the concepts learned in an open, creative environment. The teacher’s role is flipped as well, from instructor and lecturer to facilitator and coach. When I decided earlier this year to flip my classroom, I admit it was a bit of an experiment. I’d never taught this way before, and I really didn’t know how it was going to work. But I had researched many case studies that showed the flipped classroom as an extremely effective method for retention of concepts and ultimately, that students were ultimately more successful when they were allowed to learn this way. Here are a few thoughts on how it’s going so far. A relaxed class means relaxed students. One of the things I teach in my video production class is Adobe Premiere Pro, a professional video editing software. For the uninitiated, it can be a daunting and complicated tool to learn. There are lots of steps and plenty of room for error if you’re new at it. It can be a frustrating learning curve. I used to teach the software by standing at the front of the class, pointing and clicking at things, while students tried to follow along. The result was usually three groups – the ones who were bored because I was moving too slowly, the ones who were lost because I was moving too fast, and the ones in the middle (usually by far the smallest group) who got it on the first try. Then I’d set them off on their own to do their homework assignment on their own time, and I’d end up with an email inbox full of questions, students running up to me at the start of class or catching me in the hallways, worried that they were going to fall behind because they were struggling to understand what we’d covered in class. Now, I provide all of the software instruction in the form of a series of YouTube videos. Each one is between 3-7 minutes in length. I assign the tutorial videos as homework, and students can work through them at their own pace. They can play them on their iPod Touch, computer or smart phone, and then follow along in the software. Then they come to class armed with the skills they need to produce their creative projects. The result is, I have a nice, happy, relaxed class of students who are achieving more than they ever thought possible after only 5 weeks of training. They understand the software because they have been able to learn it at their own pace. Things like learning disabilities and language barriers are less of an issue, because everyone is working within the parameters of their own personal comfort level. My students are confident and most importantly they are having fun learning new things. Attendance in class is at an all-time high, in fact many of them are in class and already working when I show up! Perhaps the best result happened to me today, when a student came up to me and said that he really appreciated this “flipped classroom”, that it’s allowing him to be more relaxed, confident and creative. Kinda makes it all worthwhile, eh? [photo credit Hani Amir]
Why I Stopped Reading the News
A lot of people ask me how I find the time to keep up on social media, technology news and all the rest. It would seem, for many people, that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all. I agree, it’s a challenge. We’ve got so much information bombarding us on a daily basis, that there’s barely enough time to process it all, let alone actually absorb it. The reality is, these days we are truly living in the Information Age. Gone are the days when information arrived on our doorstep with the morning or evening paper. Now, information is all around us, and it can be pretty overwhelming. A few years ago, I did one thing that helped me immensely. I gave up reading the news. Now, before you go getting yourself all out of sorts, (I can hear people saying, “But you NEED to know what’s going on in the world!”) let me explain. I used to read the newspaper every single morning. Like many of you, it would arrive on my doorstep. I’d collect it, and sit down with my breakfast, as the latest headlines glared at me from the front page. And what was it, mostly? Murder. Economic woes. Poverty. War. I would grow tired of the negative headlines in the newspaper and turn on the TV news instead. That was often worse! Not exactly the most positive way to start off the day, eh? Then the social web came along, and with it, the ability for me to subscribe to things I wanted to read about. This was a life-altering moment for me, when I realized that no longer did I have to just consume the headlines that were forced upon me. I could consume the information I wanted to consume, in a customized, relevant way. Now, this doesn’t mean I am sticking my head in the sand when it comes to the events of the day. Quite the contrary. I’m still well versed on the economy. I follow politics, and the situtation in the Middle East. But I only consume this type of information when I want to consume it, and on the schedule I choose. I go to sources that are not sensationalist, but provide only the facts. Nowadays, my morning coffee is made up of insightful blog posts and news articles, and conversations with friends via things like Twitter and Facebook. I am not bombarded by negative, sensationalized stories of doom and gloom, because the Web allows me to choose and filter, so I can have the experience I want to have. Want to re-shape your experience of news? Have a more positive start and end to the day, and have more time to keep up on what is happening in your industry or the areas you are passionate about? Stop consuming what is thrown at you. Start consuming what you want to consume. photo credit: Kevin Dooley
How To Be Riveting on Twitter
I don’t write social media How-To posts very often, but I’m in the middle of developing a three-day course on writing compelling online content, and, well, I guess I was inspired. I also had a head-shaking experience yesterday on Twitter. I was contacted by a blogger, with the announcement that I had been specially selected this week, to be included in their list of “Top 50 Mom Blogs You Should Read”. Hmm. Anyone who knows me (either in person or online) knows that I am not actually a Mom. Not to humans, anyway – and that’s the kind of Mom blogger that this blogger was looking for. I quickly checked the blogger’s tweet stream (as I’d never heard of them before) and saw that they were sending the exact same message over and over to each person they had specially “selected” for their list. Oh dear. Tweet-spamming. Anyway, to make a long story short, I replied to the offending Twitterer and said something to the effect that I thought it was curious that they’d selected me, since I’m not actually a parent (to humans). The Tweeter replied to me to say, “Oh, I mis-read your Twitter profile, sorry.” To which I replied, “So, you don’t actually read the blogs, just the Twitter profiles, to select the list?” To which Tweeter replied, “Blame the intern! I’ll remove the name from your list.” Now, not only is tweet spamming bad, not doing one’s research into creating a good list of blogs to follow is equally bad. If you’re going to compile a list of 50 or 10 or 5 anything, make sure you’ve researched and can stand behind the items you’ve selected. And for the love of Tweets, make sure the people on your list meet your basic criteria! The other huge issue I have with this is that this Tweeter “blamed the intern”. I’m a teacher, so I take particular offense to this statement. If you’re going to hire a new grad or a student as an intern, that’s great. I love that students are given opportunities this way. I hire them too. But if you’re not going to train them, and then just throw them into the deep end of the pool, then you’re doing it wrong. It turns out that this Tweeter actually IS the intern, which is double bad, because this poor girl or guy has obviously been handed the keys to the Twitter account and the blog with little or no direction or guidance. And now everyone looks bad. So, with all that said (so much for being concise), I am compelled to write my own, well vetted, talking from experience top 5 list, about how to be more riveting on Twitter. 1) If it can’t fit in 140 characters, don’t write it. Some people find the 140 character limit of Twitter limiting. I look at it as a challenge. Learn to be concise in tweets, and it will get you far. Short sentences can communicate a tremendous amount. Save the essays for your blog. Oh, and “Ths wknd m gng 2 c U2 in cncrt OMG LOL m so xcted r u gng 2?” is not a tweet. It’s jibberish. 2) Reply more than you post. If you don’t know what to say on Twitter, then talk to other people. Read through your stream and see if there’s something you want to say, a comment or opinion you want to share, or a question you can answer. Twitter starts and ends with conversation. Get in there and talk to us! 3) Share other stuff more than you share your own. When you find interesting articles online, share them on Twitter. Try to add your own short comment at the beginning of the share, too, to give it context and get people interested in reading it. Retweet (RT) people in your stream who are sharing interesting things. And support your local bloggers by sharing their good stuff too. For instance I share stuff by @FoodiePrints all the time, because they do great work for my community, are knowledgeable and are two of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. 4) Get to know me. Don’t be the guy or gal at the party walking around throwing business cards at people. Introduce yourself. Get to know me. Comment on my posts. Ask me (non business related, at first) questions. If you’re a life coach, don’t start talking to me about how you can fix my stage fright, because you saw me chatting with a friend about it. Rather, wish me luck on my presentation, or comment on the photo of the ravioli I made for my pre-presentation dinner. Get to know me before you make any sort of ask. I promise it will make you more likeable. 5) Be Yourself. It sounds too cliché and simple, doesn’t it? Be yourself. But it’s what makes or breaks people in the online world, I’m convinced. You are great, interesting, fun to be around, and knowledgeable. You come across this way in person, and with a little practice, you can extend this to online too. Want some examples of people who are just being themselves? Follow @jasonfalls, @bobledrew, @bobgoyetche, @dianebrogan, and @HerrlesMarket. All great people, who are EXACTLY the same way in person as they are on Twitter. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Now go forth and Tweet well! [photo credit: Lida Rose]