Oh, don’t give me that. Of course you want more fans. It’s only human to want acceptance. It makes us feel good when people project positivity towards us, pay attention to the work we do, and reward us for our accomplishments. We don’t NEED that acceptance. But we still WANT it. A lot of people spend time out here online trying to get noticed, and there’s nothing essentially wrong with that – but it’s all in the approach. Those that spend their time broadcasting about how great they are? They probably aren’t doing themselves any favours. But those who provide genuine value, who don’t try too hard to be popular, and who do good work? They deserve to be noticed, don’t you think? Let’s look at celebrity for a minute. No no, I mean REAL celebrity, not Internet-famous celebrity. Both Mel Gibson and Bono are very famous, there’s no question about that. But who has more fans? I’d say that, in light of recent events, that Bono definitely has more fans. Why? Because he IS a fan. From what I know about the man, he is about as real as it gets – humble, authentic, and really, just a regular guy – with an extraordinary life. I’ve heard stories from people I know who have had personal encounters with him – he is the kind of person who will take the time to actually sit, and talk with anyone, about whatever they care about. He raises other people up above himself. He does what he can to help the greater good. He is a fan of people, and of life. Gibson? Not so much, eh. That guy seems to spend more time ticking off his fans than raising them up. ‘Nuff said. Here’s Your Assignment Ok class, a couple of weeks back, you were tasked with looking up from your mobile devices for a while and instead, having conversations with the people standing in front of you. How did you do? It’s time to move to the next level. This week, I want you to find people who are doing cool things, and I want you to find a way to tell them how much you appreciate what they are doing. I want you to become one of their fans. And don’t just tell THEM what you appreciate, tell others too. Shout it from the rooftops if you have to – but be a genuine fan. Now, don’t go getting all kissy-face and “great post-y” on me, that’s not the point. The point is to spend more time focusing on the amazing things that others are doing, INSTEAD of the amazing things that you’re doing. Project your admiration and pride outwards. Bono wins countless awards and has people banging down his door telling him how great he is all the time. But instead of letting it go to his head, he takes that energy and points it to other people. He uses his influence to shine a light on the good things in the world, and it comes back to him, because he ultimately wins the admiration of people who may not even love his music. See how this works? I want you to do the same this week – focus your energy not on proving to the world how great YOU are, but on proving to the world how great other people are. Deal? [photo credit: spacelion on Flickr]
Why You Should Care About Who Shot J.R.
First things first. For those of you who weren’t old enough to watch prime time TV dramas in the 80s, go read up on “Who Shot J.R.”, then come back. For the rest of us, November 21st was the 30th anniversary of the airing of that now famous episode of Dallas. At that time, it was the highest rated series finale of all time, with an estimated 83,000,000 viewers. In other words, “everyone” watched it. The suspense was incredible, the speculation fierce. People bought T-Shirts by the thousands that said “Who Shot J.R?” and “I Shot J.R.”. People placed bets on who pulled the trigger. It was the water cooler conversation of the summer. It was the 1980’s equivalent of viral. The Who Shot J.R. record was smashed in 1983, by the season finale of M*A*S*H, which got an estimated 105.3 million viewers. That episode still remains the most watched TV episode of all time. Advertisers paid $450,000 for a 30 second television commercial during the M*A*S*H broadcast (close to $1 million in today’s prices.) (Source: Advertising Age). My husband and I were discussing the phenomena of huge TV ratings last night, and he brought up an excellent point. Mainstream TV will be hard pressed to ever achieve these numbers again. M*A*S*H may very well keep that record. Online media has diluted the viewership, and time-shifting, PVRs and digital downloads of TV shows have all made it more difficult to measure actual viewership. Let’s face it – by YouTube standards, M*A*S*H’s numbers are pretty low. Justin Bieber’s video “Baby”, at the time of this posting has 391,277,874 views. 105 million seems like chump change compared to that. I could get into a whole thing about advertising rates on YouTube in comparison to mainstream TV, but I will leave that to the marketing experts. Rather, I want to talk about the content and the viewers and what these kinds of trends mean to you as a content creator. There’s a point when it’s about the eyeballs. I’ve never watched the Justin Bieber video. In fact, I’ve never heard a Justin Bieber song, and I intend to keep it that way as long as possible. But, that hasn’t stopped 345 million other people from watching it. In this case, it’s not even about the content. I’m sure lots of non-Bieber fans have watched the video, just to see what all the fuss is about. Videos do not always go viral because of their content. Sure, Double Rainbow was kind of funny, and odd, but at a certain point, people just watched because they were curious. They heard about it from a friend who heard about it from a friend and so on. They almost HAD to watch it, just to make sure they were in the loop around the water cooler on Monday. Does this mean you should post fluff content in an effort to win over more eyeballs? Of course not. Substance always wins. Why? Because Justin Bieber and Double Rainbow Guy are flash in the pan. In 5 years, The Biebs’ voice will have changed and no one will care. Double Rainbow Guy, well, he’s already pretty much a has-been. You, on the other hand, if you’re still cranking out good stuff in 5 years? You’ll still be here, and probably doing better than ever. Viewers are a fickle bunch. I know, because I am one. One day, I’ll think Iron Chef is the best show on TV. Then I will proceed to not watch it for 6 months, because something else has grabbed my interest, and I only have so much time in my week to consume TV. Blog posts can be like that. Sometimes, I’ll slave away, carefully crafting a piece that I think is fantastic….and hardly anyone will read it, or comment. Other days, I’ll whiz something off in 10 minutes, post it, and be overwhelmed by the response. Am I accusing my readers of being fickle? Perhaps, but that’s okay – we are all pulled in 1000 different directions nowadays by content and information. Fickleness is about the only way one can really navigate out here. I’m not taking it personally, and neither should you. Just because you post things that nobody notices, doesn’t mean you should stop doing it. Plenty of TV shows and movies have been made that have flopped. In fact, more TV shows and movies DON’T succeed than do. It’s okay to have a floppy post. I have lots of flops that I am still terribly proud of. Don’t let others’ distracted ways hold you back from continuing to express yourself. Just keep doing it. Like “Who Shot J.R”, maybe you’ll end up on a T-Shirt someday, and maybe millions of people will know who you are. Or maybe you will only make your Dad, your Aunt Alice, your husband or your kids proud. Either way, keep loving the work that you do, and keep doing it to the best of your ability. You may not have all the eyeballs in the world seeing your stuff – but then again, is that really the most important thing? [Source for all TV rating numbers is Wikipedia] [Photo credit: stewf on Flickr]
How To Give a Fish Legs
Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe the reason there’s a social media fishbowl is because nobody ever thinks to look outside of it? I had an experience last week that made me think much differently about fishbowls (a.k.a. echo chambers) and the detrimental effects of spending too much time inside them. A few years ago, one of our work projects came up against a technical challenge that appeared to only have one solution. We went with that solution, and although it was expensive, it seemed to be the only way to do things. At the time, it had not occurred to us that there was another way, because all of the people involved in solving the problem had reached the same conclusion – that the expensive solution was the only way. A few days ago, the technical challenge was revisited, and someone else was brought into the mix for their opinion. They looked at the situation, and almost immediately said, “Well, you know, if you did X, it would work just as well.” This was a solution that was going to use far less manpower and did not carry even close to the same expense. It’s a solution that would have worked 3 years ago just as well as today, and it would have saved countless hours and a fair amount of cash as well. The mistake? The person who came up with the cheaper solution was around 3 years ago too, but nobody bothered to ask him. Even though he is an expert with a respected opinion on such matters, he existed outside of our fishbowl at that time. It’s not that we didn’t want to ask him, it’s that he wasn’t directly in front of us at that moment. Had we thought to seek out outside opinions, perhaps it would have occurred to us to simply ask him for his. But we didn’t, and it cost us. The problem with being trapped inside a fishbowl is that fish don’t have legs. They just swim round and round, seeing the same things over and over again – same fish, same plants, same pirate ship. Their world exists in this tiny environment and they can’t crawl out of it, because they have no legs (well yah, and they can’t breathe in air, but that’s another post. ; ) The fishbowl is one of the reasons I decided to take a step back from writing about social media. Ironically it’s also the reason I’ve hopped back in to the conversation. This social media love-in, guru-worshipping bullcrap has got to stop. It’s reached unhealthy levels. When I read the blog of an A-lister and 68 of the 72 comments on it are “Great post!” or “I love everything you write!”, that’s the fishbowl talking. It adds no value, and I would suspect, after a while, it makes some of the blog authors a bit tired too. Lucky for us, we’re not fish. We can climb out of the fishbowl whenever we want to, it’s just that many of us choose not to. It’s comfy in here, right? We can tell others inside the bowl how great their blog posts are, without having to spend any time figuring out if we actually share their opinion, or if we have a different perspective to offer. We can swim around in ignorant bliss, flitting from shiny object to shiny object but never taking the time to lend critical thought to the conversation. Without critical thought, we run the risk of the same thing happening that happened to my team during our technical challenge. We become unable to see that there might be a different way to do things. When we’re all busy patting each other on the back, we’re not looking around at others. We’re not asking the guy or gal who might just have a new way of looking at it all. Grow some legs. Climb out of the fishbowl. Look around at others who might be offering something different, and raise them up for a while. Or better yet, offer your perspective on what they’re saying – disagree, even. Critical thought moves conversations forward, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for this one to start taking a new direction. Who’s with me? Who’s against me? Oh, and new rule – no saying “great post” in comments, ok? : ) [photo credit: benson kua on Flickr]
Finding Your Voice
My Grade 12 music teacher, Mr. G., believed that everyone has the ability to sing, they just need to find their voice. And you know what? The same can be said about blogging, podcasting, tweeting, and, well, just about anything to do with communicating online. When we are first starting out around here, we feel silly, shy, and self conscious. We write or record a bunch of things we never post. We are fearful that people are going to make fun of us, disagree with our opinions, and that we’ll never get any better at it. Sometimes we just give up completely, when what we really need to do is just find our voice. Breathe. Mr. G. used to tell us that the reason most people can’t sing is because they don’t know how to breathe. I thought that was an odd statement – isn’t breathing a reflex? But it turns out that singing is all about breathing. Mr. G. would demonstrate this by bringing an unsuspecting soul up to the front of the class, then ask them to sing a note that he played on the piano. What often came out was a throaty squeak. Mr. G. would tell them to keep singing the note, then calmly walk over and push on the person’s diaphragm (located right under the ribcage). Suddenly, the squeak became a beautiful, loud, strong note. He’s right. We don’t know how to breathe. We drag ourselves out of bed in the morning and jump right into our busy schedules. Suddenly it’s noon and we’re working through lunch. By 5 or 6pm we’ve whizzed through it all, and are feeling guilty because we never got time to exercise or write or record our podcast. Days, weeks, months go by and we have achieved nothing – we’re still 20 pounds overweight, and we still aren’t having all those meaningful conversations we thought we could thanks to the Web. But the simple act of focusing on breathing – in, and out – gives us that moment, where we can stop, and be clear. Make space in your life to breathe. It only takes 10 minutes to write a short post – web videos can take even less time (I can record, edit and post a 2 minute video using my iPhone 4 in 5 minutes, I’ve timed it). Breathing will help take your voice from weak and quiet to strong and loud. Practice. Want to know why some bloggers and podcasters seem to be so popular? They practice. They do it really, really often. Some of my favourite bloggers post every single day – sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. I have a podcasting friend who, at one time, was producing 9 podcasts (and has a family, and a full time job). Of course it takes practice. It took me 4 days to write the first 1,000 words on my blog. Now I can crank out 1,000 words in about 20 minutes. Writing one blog post every 6 weeks is not going to make you any better at it, just like going for a 5 mile run every 6 weeks isn’t going to make you shed those extra pounds. Practice. Practice. Then practice some more. Write garbage. Record crap. Scrap it and try again. Don’t be perfectly happy with it, and post it anyway. Eventually, you’ll get your feet under you. Eventually, you’ll find your voice. Trust the wise words of Mr. G. Everyone has a voice. It’s Your Voice. Now, when Mr. G. wisely said that everyone has the ability to sing, he didn’t exactly mean that everyone is going to open their mouth and be Celine Dion. Everyone’s voice is unique. That’s what makes it their voice. And one’s voice is always subject to interpretation. It’s why some people think Bob Dylan can’t sing, but why others thing he has a brilliant and interesting sound. You’re never going to appeal to everyone, so stop trying to. The fact that you may come up against criticism is no reason to not keep breathing, and practicing, and using your voice. Plenty of people don’t care for Bob Dylan’s music. Heck, I don’t like Celine Dion! But that doesn’t stop either of them from using their voices. And fear of criticism should never stop you from using yours either. Embrace your uniqueness, and continue to use your voice. Make your voice loud, and strong. Sing from your heart, not your throat. Write and speak from the same place. Those who want to hear you will. [Photo credit: majicdolphin on Flickr]
Taking a Step Back from the Social Marketing Game
It was nearly 4 years ago when I took my first baby steps into the world of social media. Before that blustery February day in Toronto, I didn’t really even know any of this existed. Oh sure, I’d been around the Interwebz for several years – but it had been mostly work-related, in the high tech sector, working on internal web sites. I lived on the Web, but till then, the Web, for me, mostly existed inside a bubble. When I first started blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing and the like, I did it out of pure enjoyment. I was meeting some great people, making amazing friends. Blogging was exercise for me – I did it for the love of writing, the therapy of writing my thoughts down. I didn’t care if anyone read them. I was grateful when they did. I was surprised when they left a comment. I used Twitter for the purely social aspects – I was meeting new people this way, at a time in my life when it was needed. Several of my close friends had recently moved away, and other friendships had simply ended for one reason or another. With Twitter, I discovered this whole network of new people to get to know, and get to know them, I did. What was most surprising to me was how many people in my own city I was able to meet this way – people like Stacey, and Joe, and Tom and Tracey, and Bob – and how many of these people I now consider close friends. Facebook was a school reunion for me. People I never thought I’d hear from again were now poking me and sending me messages. I loved seeing what had become of my high school crush, or my best friend from 5th grade, or that girl I went to TV school with. Now that I’m reconnected with these people, my life goes on, and so does theirs – but it’s nice to know they are still here. As a video nerd, YouTube seemed to me like the Holy Grail. The fact that anyone with 5 minutes and a video camera could now tell stories this way astounded me. I loved seeing the creative things people would come up with. I would spend hours on YouTube scanning through videos looking for hidden gems. It became my TV time. I think if I asked you, you’d probably have some similar stories, especially if you came into this social media thing in the early days like I did. Creative expression, making new friends, and sharing stories was the driving force behind many peoples’ social media efforts back then. But somewhere along the way, it all changed. Once the world started to grab onto the fact that social media could be used to market and sell stuff, the focus shifted. We started blogging just to drive more traffic to our sites. We decided that tweeting about our stuff was more important than making friends. We set up Facebook pages to advertise our companies and products, and abandoned our high school buddies for more lucrative territory. We started to spend more time figuring out how to drive ROI and less time just saying “hi”. Social media has become social marketing, and I don’t think that is such a good thing. I know that this stuff works to build business – most of the new business in the doors of our company last year came from Twitter. That’s not a lie. But it wasn’t because I was tweeting up a storm telling the world to hire Jester Creative for their next web or video project. Nope. It was because I was blogging for fun, Twittering to make friends, and Facebooking to hang out with my school chums. Nowadays, I advise people on ways to improve their online presence. I help them create better content, and tell better stories, to help them build trust and relationships and integrity online. I don’t teach people how to Tweet. I don’t train them on how to set up Facebook pages. I teach people how to tell their stories. It’s not unlike what I’ve done all along out here myself, really. I am grateful to be able to teach others what I’ve learned, and I owe a lot to those of you who have taught me. We’re so caught up in click throughs and traffic and ROI nowadays. We go on and on about tactics and strategies that will get more people to come to our sites. If you’re in business, these are all good goals. But what if, for just a while, you took a step back. What if your next blog post (or your next three) were just written from the heart, because you want to express your thoughts, without worrying about who was going to read it or retweet it or comment? What if you just spent some time hanging out on Twitter being silly? What if you DID talk about what you’re having for lunch today? What if you sent your high school crush a note just to say hi or happy birthday? What if you forgot for a while that you were out here to market yourself or your business? I’m willing to bet that, not only will you have a better time, but you’ll have better results. [photo credit steven depolo on Flickr]
People Doing Cool Things On the Internet
There’s a lot of cool stuff on the Internet. In any given day, the things I see amaze, astound, fascinate, and blow my mind, often all at once. I laugh hysterically, cry uncontrollably, and have just about every emotion in between. Today, I want to share with you some of the people I’ve seen doing really cool things online. You know, we can read books, attend webinars, and consume blog after blog with people telling us how to tweet this or market that. But I learn the most from watching what others do. I’m hoping that by passing on some of these links you can learn from them too. With Glowing Hearts – The Movie I’m lucky being in the business I’m in, because I get to work with all kinds of smart and talented people. One of my favourite people to work with is Vancouver-based film director Andrew Lavigne. What’s Andy doing on the Internet that’s cool? He’s making a movie about it. This ain’t no “The Social Network“. Nope, it takes a look at social media in a whole new light. With Glowing Hearts is a documentary about social media creating social change. Here’s a snippet from the synopsis: History has shown that poor and marginalized communities stand to gain the most from leaps forward in the democratization of information, so the excitement in areas like Vancouver’s maligned Downtown Eastside about the possibilities of Web 2.0 and beyond is palpable. This is a story about putting technology in the hands of homeless, poor and marginalized people and letting them tell their story through their own eyes. They have given these people a new way of sharing with the world, by given them access to tools like cell phones, cameras, video streaming, and the Internet – things that many of us take f or granted. The result is compelling, and anyone who is involved in media or content creation needs to see it. The film is currently seeking a distributor, but it is available for screenings and you can pre-order DVD and Digital copies. You can also support the film with a small donation and actually get a producer credit! Go check out the web site at http://wghthemovie.ca for trailers and more information. OttawaTonite.com It was born out of frustration with the lack of arts and entertainment information in our community. It grew into a central hub where artists, performers, and those who are passionate about the arts could share informa tion and experiences. Ottawa Tonite, founded and lead by local arts passionista Cheryl Gain, is much more than a listings site – with over 30 contributors from all walks of the arts and entertainment world, it gives you a back stage pass to what really makes artists tick, and what compels people to enjoy their work. It’s a marvelous example of a thriving, hyper-local online community. And although the co ntent of the site really does focus on the Ottawa area, there’s something for anyone who is passionate about the arts. The Big Bang Theory It’s no secret that I am a HUGE fan of the TV sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. In a sea of badly written, corny, wastes of perfectly good video tape, this show stands out – it’s clever, witty, brilliantly written, and you can’t help but fall in love with the characters. What is even more interesting about the show is, some of its stars and behind-the-sc enes people have active Twitter accounts. And cooler than that, these celebrity tweeters actually appear to have fairly interesting lives! Cast members Simon Helberg (Howard), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), and Kunal Nayyar (Raj) all regularly tweet. Sometimes their tweets are just plain funny. Other times they are posting photos – often behind the scenes of the show or their press tours, and yes, sometimes what they had for lunch. They also talk about their table reads, rehearsals, and the taping of the show on Tuesday nights, interspersed with very un-annoying pitches to watch the show. Behind the scenes BBT tweeters include several writers, and Executive Producer Bill Prady. Bill is magnificent on Twitter. He talks about what’s happening with the show, and regularly answers questions from fans. One night a few weeks back he did one of the best 15 minute rapid-fire Q and A sessions I’ve ever seen on Twitter. He easily answered 200 questions (complete with RTs) and actually seemed to be having fun doing it. Take that, Kevin Smith. I co-produce a TV show, so I’m taking really good notes on what The Big Bang Theory is doing to promote itself using social media. First, the cast and crew are all interesting in their own right. Second, they all care about the show, and want to share with the audience what it’s like to be part of it. They do this in a very unobtrusive way. Their content is not in any way contrived, and they all seem to be doing it because they want to, not because it’s their job. They are proving to the world in no uncertain terms that you don’t have to be a theoretical physicist to understand how Twitter works. Here’s a list of all the cast and crew on Twitter if you want to give them a follow. There are people all around you doing cool stuff with this technology – you only have to open your eyes to it. These people have a tremendous amount to teach us – so watch, listen, and learn! Who do you learn from? Share their story and link below!
The Grand Experiment of Blogging
This morning, Mark Blevis wrote a free-form blog post, because he was encouraged by Chris Brogan to do so. My smart friends have motivated me to finally come out and do what I’ve needed to do for a while. It might be a clunker, it might be imperfect, but I need to say it, so I can keep going. Thanks, fellas! A few months back, I announced on here that I was shifting the focus of my blog to talking about education and technology. I thought it was great that, after 3 years of blogging, I’d finally be able to say I had a “focus”. After all, that’s what I’d been hearing more and more of from the blogging gurus – you should have a focus on your blog, certain topics that you exclusively talk about. The conversation needs to revolve around something, so you can build a community of interest. That’ll teach me to listen to gurus. Once I started in on my new spin, a couple of things started to happen. I started to struggle to find topics, so I wasn’t posting that often. Not that there isn’t a whole lot going on in the world of education and tech right now, because there is. I just haven’t yet found my voice in it. My conversations on the topic are taking place elsewhere right now. Across meeting room tables, in my classroom, and so on. That’s where I am with it, and I’m totally fine being there. But the biggest thing that happened is my community went away. Oh sure, a few stuck around (thank you!) but I realized that even though people were still reading, they weren’t commenting much anymore. I miss the conversation we were having. So that’s why I’m coming back. My personal blog started out being a dumping ground for all the stuff that swirls around in my head. It was an experiment. I have learned a lot, like that I love to write more than just about anything. I’ve gotten much better at it along the way, too. This space is my playground, where thoughts and ideas can come to sit, and where you can drop by, grab a coffee, and we can get to know each other. At some point, I started to get self conscious about it. I started to over-analyze what I was doing here and I decided to try and improve upon it. Well, it didn’t work for me. I miss you too much. The swirl in my head has started up again, and I don’t feel like I have any place to get it out. That sounds pretty silly, considering that this is MY space. I can do whatever I want with it. And that’s really the point of this blogging thing, isn’t it? To create a space where one can talk about the ideas, and concerns, and stories inside one’s head; where we can share those ideas, and concerns, and stories with one another. As of today, I’m stepping back in. I’m still going to write about education sometimes, because it’s a big part of who I am, and as I learn, I want to share that with you. But you’ll see me getting back to my old self a bit more too, writing about spirit, and productivity and social media, and video, and whatever I happen to be all riled up about at the moment. I hope you’ll open the door again, and join me as I continue my grand experiment. Thanks for being here. [photo credit: Runs with Scissors on Flickr]
We Don’t Talk Anymore
Last week was a quiet class for me. My students were out doing video shoots for their latest assignment, so there were just a few people hanging around, working on editing and so on. One of my students approached and sat down to ask a few questions. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few minutes later, he struck up an interesting conversation. He said, “Nobody talks here.” I asked what he meant. He explained that, since moving to Canada, he’s noticed that people don’t talk to each other. Standing at bus stops, waiting in line, it’s just a bunch of people, not talking. They might be fidgeting with their mobile device, plugged into their earbuds, or staring off into space, deep in their own thoughts, but they are not in any way connected to the people and things around them. He’s absolutely right. I’ve noticed this before too, especially since I’ve been a city dweller. Growing up in small towns, if you didn’t talk to everyone around you there was a problem. But in the city, it’s different. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. We don’t talk. We won’t talk. Hide and Seek. We won’t talk to the people right in front of our eyes. Therefore, does it strike you as a bit strange that we are so willing to extend our hand in the online world and talk to just about anyone? There’s some weird social disconnects at play here. If you’re the guy who wants to strike up a conversation with everyone at the bus stop, people often see that as odd behaviour. But if you’re the gal who wants to chat with everyone on Facebook, then you’re a social butterfly. We stand in line at the grocery store, afraid to talk to the stranger behind us, but we bury ourselves in our iPhones instead, talking up a storm with 5000 of our closest”friends” on Twitter. Step Away From the Device. We rave on and on about how social media has done so much to bring us together. It’s a worldwide conversation! It’s changed the way we communicate! I think in some ways, social media has merely given us tools to hide behind. For some people, especially the shyer ones, social media does make it easier to extend their hand and say hello. But, imagine, if we just took the time to look up from our BlackBerrys once in a while and say hello to the person standing next to us. Imagine how we might be brought together then. Here is my challenge to you. At least once this week, as you go about your day, take the time to strike up a conversation with a stranger, in person. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be real. Don’t worry if people think you’re weird. I learned from my student that, in other cultures, you’re weird if you don’t talk to people! The philosophy is, we’re all here, in this moment, sharing whatever experience, good or bad. We might as well say hi, right? There’s a lot of wisdom in those words. So stop. Put down your mobile device. Look around you. Smile. Say hello to whoever is there. You just never know what might happen.
The Web 2.0 Job Hunt – Preparing Students for Success
This is the time of year it starts for me. Several times a week, I receive email requests from students from all over the world who are graduating in the Spring. They are looking for work placements, internships and full time jobs. The emails take on all forms, and unfortunately, most of them are bound for the Trash file. It’s not because I’m mean. It’s not because I’m not supportive of students looking for work. My company has hired many new grads in the past and we actively promote up and coming talent. We firmly believe that giving opportunities to new grads is essential and beneficial not only to those looking to gain experience, but to our company, as our new grads always come with a fresh perspective and new ideas. Most of the mass-emailed resumes I get are poorly written, hard to read, and provide no motivation for me to contact the person. When my inbox fills up with a bunch of faceless bullet points, it is of little or no value to me. I’m sure that many other folks that hire people feel the same way. The approach of sending out resumes this way is out dated and the rate of success is very low (i.e. I have NEVER hired someone via a resume sent blindly to me in an email). What concerns me is, it seems that many post-secondary institutions are still not teaching students the basic skills required to get a job in our digitally connected world. The days of the email job application are fading fast, being replaced by what my pals Chris and Julien call the Trust Economy. Finding a job these days is not about firing off a resume to anyone who comes up in a Google Search for “Graphic Design companies”. It’s about seeking out the types of companies one wants to be involved with, and building a relationship with them. Somehow, even in the Facebook generation, our students are not getting this message. If they were, I’d have fewer people reaching blasting me with their resumes via email and more people starting conversations with me on Twitter. So what’s the solution? It begins with us teachers. The problem is, some of us haven’t had to look for a job in years. We remember the days when we would type our or CV and cover letter on a typewriter, then ask our Dad to make photocopies for us at his office, then put them in envelopes, address and mail them out, and hope for the best. Landing a job interview was like winning the lottery. We need to get with the times, and start teaching our students the right way to find a job in the 21st century. Is it really easier now? It sure is. Back in the old days, we used to mail our resumes to “Hiring Manager” or “HR Manager” – a nameless, faceless cubicle dweller who may or may not read past the first paragraph. Following up was futile, since “Only those candidates granted an interview will be contacted”. That was the process and you had to follow it, lest you be cast to the bottom of the application pile. These days, hiring managers have names. CEO’s and Presidents and Directors of Marketing have names. One only needs to do a bit of searching on Google BlogSearch or Twitter Search to find these people and start following them. Companies are run by human beings. And what better way to find out what makes a company tick than to follow the human beings that run it? Now, I’m not advocating that students start bombarding everyone with CEO in their Twitter profile with job applications. What I am suggesting is that job seekers start to follow the leaders of companies that they find appealing. Read their blogs. Follow the links they post on Twitter. Learn about their philosophies, work ethic, and goals. Find a way to get involved in the conversations they are having – be it a reply to or re-tweet of an interesting post, or a comment on their blog. Open the door. Don’t ask for a job right off the bat. See where the conversation goes. Inject value, and be solution oriented in the approach. The smart business owners and leaders are watching. They are scoping out the marketplace for new talent as much as they are scoping for new customers. Teach your students to hop onto the radar of company leaders, and in time, those leaders will be requesting your students’ portfolios. Speaking of portfolios…. So, let’s say I do receive a resume from a student or new grad that catches my attention. The first thing I do (before even reading the CV) is click on the link to their online portfolio, which turns out to be a mish-mash of static HTML pages with a bunch of barely illegible thumbnails, no contact information, and that looks like it hasn’t been updated since they graduated. And I promptly dump the whole thing into File 13. Many college programs now encourage the building of an online portfolio, as a tool for students to promote their work to prospective employers. It’s a great idea, but sadly, the implementation is, in many cases, very poor. We’re teaching our students to design static web pages in a Web 2.0 world – a world where anyone can post a nice looking web site in mere minutes, with little or no web design or development expertise. This is what a student portfolio web site should include: A blog that is updated on at least a weekly basis that discusses their work, or their analysis and opinion on industry news and trends Sidebar links to project work (updated every time a new project is added) A link to their LinkedIN page, and a LinkedIN page that includes recommendations from previous employers, clients (even for school project work) or teachers If the student has other interests, such as photography or video, a link to
How Do We Teach Digital Natives?
They’re here. Digital Natives – also known as Generation Z – are people born between 1990 and the late 2000’s. They have never known a time before computers and video games. Most have never known a time before the World Wide Web. They are sitting in your classroom. I teach technology, so it’s possible that I come at this from a slightly different perspective than say, a Math teacher (but maybe not). In the three years that I’ve been teaching in the regular full time curriculum, I’ve seen a dramatic shift – as the early Gen Z’ers graduate and the later ones – those kids who truly don’t know a time before words like “Internet”, “online”, and “cyberspace” – take their seats. The courses I taught 3 years ago are much different than what I am teaching now – it’s the same curriculum, but I have had to make some major adjustments to how I’m teaching. I see the blank stares in their eyes when I try to explain things like social media, engagement, and connectedness. I hear them snicker when I struggle to figure out why they changed the group function on Facebook again, or when I ask them if they’ve ever uploaded a video to YouTube. They are wondering why I’m telling them this stuff. Back in my day, sonny… Some days, I really do feel like an old lady. I am at the age now that, when I was 18, was by and large considered “ancient” by me and my friends. The average 40 year old in my day was so disconnected from my reality. They didn’t understand my music (Cyndi Lauper, Depeche Mode) or my favourite TV shows, (The Simpsons – well ok, maybe we have common ground with Gen Z there!). The point is, if I thought my 40 year old teachers were so “lame” when I was a kid, what are my Gen Z students thinking of me now? If some of my younger students were forced to read half of the blogs about social media that I wanted them to, they’d probably be bored silly. Engaging? Connecting? You want to teach me how to use Facebook? Twitter? a Blog? Lady, I’ve been doing that since I was 12 (rolls eyes). See where I’m going with this? Don’t be so irrelevant irreverent. Oh sure, there is still lots to learn. Applying online communication in a business or marketing context still involves skills that can be learned in school. But what I’m feeling is that as teachers, we are jumping into those lessons at a much more basic level than is required. Gen Z doesn’t need to be taught how to set up a blog, any more than our generation needed to be taught how to dial a telephone. We need to respect the fact that, in some cases, our students know more and are more comfortable with technology than we are. More importantly, we need to stop assuming that we have the only way and the right way to use technology. We need to accept that, in some cases, we’re now the students. They are the teachers. Generation Gap. As with most post-secondary situations, I have a tremendous range of ages in my class. Most students are just out of high school or 1 or 2 years removed from high school. There are a handful of early/mid career folks who are eager to upgrade their skills or move into a new career. And there are always a few who are my age or older. I can tell you with authority, that explaining social media to your average 45 year old is one thing – explaining it to your average 18 year old is another thing entirely. So, if we need to start shifting our focus from the “how-to’s” of technology to the “why-to’s” and “what-to’s”, how do we make sure that the Gen X, Gen Y, and young boomers in our classes don’t get left behind? In my experience, there isn’t a cut and dry solution. The majority of my students are digital natives. For the ones that aren’t, I’m aware and respect that it might take their digital immigrant minds a bit longer to wrap around the concepts I’m teaching. The good news is, their brains work like mine, so I totally get where they’re coming from. I try to provide those people with the extra information required to fill in that gap, whilst minimizing the eye-rolling from the younger crowd. That’s ironically where online tools come in handy…I can share bookmarks on Delicious, or links on Facebook to everyone – and my students get to choose what’s relevant to them and ignore what they already know. Down the road, I see that an interesting shift may happen again. Fast forward 10 more years, when my digital native students are now teaching the younger generation – Generation Alpha – born entirely in the new millennium. Those kids will be that much farther removed from us. What kinds of conversations will be happening in those classrooms? Who’s relevant now? [photo credit: cesarastudillo on Flickr]