A Facelift For The Social Web, A Shift In Sharing

Change is rarely well received. As true creatures of habit, we rely on familiarity and strive for consistency. This is especially true of our online habits. We read the same blogs, check the same profiles and message the same people. Enter Zuckerberg.

At last week’s f8, Facebook’s Developer Conference, the social giant’s CEO announced a series of changes, culminating in what is likely to be the site’s most significant overhaul. With the introduction of new features, such as Ticker and Timeline, Facebook intends to rethink the way we socialize online by creating a more semantically aware web. (For a quick visual recap of the new Facebook Timeline, check out David Hall’s latest blog entry.)

With the help of strategic partners, Zuckerberg aims to piece together the millions of information pockets scattered throughout the interwebs and create a single, open graph. Our online experiences will become inherently more social and undeniably more personal. Much more personal. And while I am a proponent of a personalized web experience, I’m not sure where to draw the line.

At what point does security trump personalization?

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I am relatively cautious about what I share online, particularly in open fora like Twitter. But Facebook is for friends. My musings tend to be shared more liberally, and I willfully accept any and all risks. What I do take issue with is the sharing of information without my active knowledge. With the addition of Ticker and the soon to be released social apps “with friends”, our every move most of what we do online will be tracked and shared. 

Yes, we have to initially provide consent. Yes, sharing is an inherent part of the social web. And yes, we are all quickly becoming accustomed to this reality. But should we accept every feature Facebook throws our way?

While I appreciate that seamless sharing feeds into Zuckerberg’s vision of a frictionless experience, I’m not convinced it fits into mine.

I like to be able to control what I post on social networks, which is why auto-sharing through Facebook-connected apps makes me slightly uneasy.

As alluded to in a recent Mashable article, auto-sharing can get people into rather embarrassing precarious predicaments. So, heed this warning: be cautious with your online activities, the Facebook’s Ticker is ever watchful.

How do you feel about this new level of social connectedness? Am I overreacting or is this just part and parcel of the next step in online engagement? 

Sometimes Social Media Gets Creepy

Twitter is an open, very public, forum. And it’s easy to lose sight of this reality.

As most of us pound away on our smartphone of choice, tweeting to our heart’s content, we often forget that our micro-messages can be viewed by anyone ―literally, anyone. And if you are one of the select few who have decided you’re better off protecting your tweets, I encourage implore you to revisit the issue because you’re missing out on a whole lot of tweeting goodness. Moving on…

While I have always approached social media in a relatively cautious manner, I sometimes forget how readily we share information online. Last week, for example, while taking cover in a bus stop during a flash storm, I fired off a quick tweet:

I tucked my phone away and ran out from under the bus station to brave the storm. It wasn’t until the next day, when a friend was reading the newspaper during her morning commute, that I was told my tweet had gone viral! Well, not really… but it had been printed in the Metro News in plain black and white.

My tweet in the paper? You’ve got to admit that it’s really cool‑well, somewhat, remotely cool. Once over the initial excitement, I realized how creepy it was that my seemingly run-of-the-mill tweet had not only been read, but picked up by a local newspaper and printed for all to see.

While I recognize the irony in my discomfort, given the open nature of social networks like Twitter and my blatant willingness to publicly divulge copious amounts of information online, it felt weird. Not in a violated kind of way. Just weird. Maybe it was because I felt Ottawa should have more important things to report on that my commentary on the weather. Maybe it was the transition from virtual to print media that threw me off. Either way, it was a sharp reminder that anything I blog, tweet, post, share, stumble upon or tag is fair game and very much in the public domain.

While I could easily list off a number of ways to protect your information and stay safe on Twitter, Google can provide you with a much more extensive list. Rather, I leave you with a few unheeded words of caution shared by Scott Stratten in UnMarketing:

Never say anything in social media that you don’t want to see on a billboard with your name, logo, face, and phone number attached, with your client/boss/mother driving by.

Have you ever been surprised to see tweets pop up in unexpected places? Or do you think this trend becoming commonplace? Let me know in the comments!

Customer Service à la Social Media

Twitter is a tricky beast. While social media often evokes notions of marketing and public relations, few seem to think of customer service. Web 2.0 platforms lend themselves incredibly well to this field. After all, both customer service and social media are about building and maintaining relationships. By now, most organizations have jumped on the social media bandwagon, but those that have mastered social engagement are few and far between. TELUS is, however, one of these brands.

Last week, in an abrupt 140-character spurt, I expressed my extreme frustration with TELUS and its lack of competitive rate plans, which may have been followed by a threat to cancel… just maybe. (Let’s be honest, though, who can’t relate to wildly over-priced cell phone service?) Within two minutes, I received a direct message from @TELUSSupport asking if they could help. I’d bite…

After explaining the situation, I actually felt a bit better. But could TELUS really be taking the time to reach out and listen to me vent?

What they did next really surprised me…

Let’s recap here, they’re not only listening to my issue, but they may even do something about it? #shocking.

Sure enough, an hour later, TELUS gave me a call. The rep said she was sorry to hear I was unhappy with my service and would do what she could to remedy the situation. She continued on to explain that she had reviewed the Rogers plan, but that she wouldn’t be able to meet exactly what they were offering. (Seriously? You called to tell me that?) Here’s the kicker though… before I could even begin to express my discontent, she said that she could actually do better. Now I was stunned.

If I were willing to pay $3 more to match the price of the Rogers plan, she would not only give me all of the features Rogers was offering, but would include 200 free long distance minutes, a larger voice mail box and more data! (For anyone that is not a cell phone geek like me, that’s insane!)

She quickly made the changes, asked if I had any other concerns and wished me a wonderful weekend.

Not only did TELUS manage to address my issue and, ultimately, prevent me from canceling my service, but they created a new brand ambassador. Since last week, I think I have told roughly 10 people about my experience, posted it on Facebook and fired out a number of appreciative tweets. Now THAT’S the power of social media. Kudos TELUS. The future truly is friendly.

Have you ever been wowed by a company or had an outstanding experience on social media? Share in the comments!

5 Reasons Protected Tweets Are The Anti-Twitter

Twitter is about community-building. Period.

Its greatest strength resides in its innate ability to foster asynchronous, cross-cultural and unbounded collaboration. It is one of the world’s largest playgrounds where people gather, converse, share and grow together. The operative word here being together. Twitter fundamentally relies on the collective’s ability to interact―at will.

It is for this very reason that protected tweets don’t work. They go against everything for which Twitter stands. This is not, however, to say that I don’t value or understand privacy. Because I do. I am all for protecting my personal information from permanently leaking onto the interwebs (or at least attempting to convince and reassure myself I’ve effectively done so, but I digress…). The problem, as I see it, is that Twitter is simply not the right medium for this. If security is your top concern, I suggest you abandon the little blue bird and stick to Facebook, a company who truly understands the importance of safeguarding your personal information (ha!).

If you do decide to make a serious go at Twitter, though, I ask implore you to consider these 5 reasons why I think you should unprotect your tweets:

1. Twitter is not Facebook. Facebook is for your friends and family, people you already know. Twitter is for the people that you want to know. Use it as a tool to make connections. Stop preventing them from ever developing.
2. Endless Engagement. I often jump into conversations with tweeps I don’t follow because I am interested in what they’re saying. If I have something to add or a comment to make, I want to be able to do so. This is not an option with protected tweets because they just won’t be seen.
3. Retweets. Being retweeted is one of the most effective ways of gaining new followers. But by protecting your tweets, you are necessarily stifling your growth and restricting your reach to mutual followers.
4. Google. Tweets can help build your social authority and Google ranking, but Google doesn’t index protected tweets. If you are using Twitter to grow your online presence, this will most certainly not help your cause.
5. Work Overload. We are all busy people. Do you really need one more reason to up your workload and make networking more time-consuming? With protected tweets comes the obligation of having to manually approve every, single follower request… that is assuming people are prepared to make the extra effort to follow you. Then again, how would they even know you’re out there?

Please, don’t continue to treat Twitter like other platforms. It’s not Facebook. It’s not e‑mail. And it’s most definitely not online banking.

So unprotect your tweets and stop reducing them to nothing more than glorified text messages.

/End rant.

Mind Your SMmanners

If my mother instilled anything in me, it was to always be polite. The importance of saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ could not have been overstressed as a child. And much like in my everyday life, I have found these social graces to go a long way on the social web. In fact, thanking for retweets and crediting sources with @mentions is not only commonplace on Twitter, but a fundamental part of its culture.

Gratitude, however, is only part of the etiquette equation. The other, and arguably more character–defining—albeit unpleasant—part involves admitting your faults. This holds particularly true for organizations that engage online. As Dave Kerpen explains in his book, Likeable Social Media,

“Being able to say ‘I’m sorry’ is the most important ability in a relationship”.

And that’s really what it comes down to: making or breaking your online, and potentially real world, relationship. No one is infallible. Mistakes most certainly happen. It’s the corrective actions we take in response to these situations, however, that truly define who we are and what we value. Dave gets this. So much so, in fact, that he dedicated his entire book to mapping out the fine art of being likeable. This past Tuesday, he had the opportunity to publicly demonstrate just how likeable he really is.

In what was nothing more than a clever marketing maneuver intended to garner additional exposure for his bakery client, Entenmann’s, Dave’s social media agency leveraged the then trending #notguilty hashtag.

What his company regretfully neglected to realize was that this hashtag was directly linked to the shocking verdict of the controversial Casey Anthony court case. Upon recognizing the mistake, the message was promptly deleted and quickly followed up by three remorseful tweets. Dave then took to his company blog and publicly apologized to his client for their social media gaffe.

While I believe the entire situation was unnecessarily blown out of proportion, I truly admire Dave and his company for their swift action, sincere mea culpa and refreshing transparency.

So what do you think? Should this situation have been handled differently? Was this as serious an offense as some would have you believe? Sound off in the comments!

Take home message: Be polite, right your wrongs and always remember your social media manners.

Want to brush up on yours? Check out Dabney Porte’s social media manners Twitter chat on Tuesdays at 10 pm EST and don’t forget to use the #SMmanners hashtag.

Social Butterfly Effect: HR 2.0

Human resource professionals are not the quickest adopters of emerging technology. They tend to stick to more traditional practices. But the ever‑growing popularity of social media has peaked the curiosity of more than one HR pro.

Much more than adolescent-centric sites used for checking into restaurants and posting about weekend activities, social media represents an innovative, power house set of tools to which an increasing number of top organizations are turning. For small and large companies alike, Web 2.0 technologies are enabling HR professionals to recruit new employees, increase staff engagement and facilitate collaboration more easily than ever before. We are at a turning point where, as one magazine puts it, HR must decide to:

                      Leave behind its conventional cocoon and spread its social media wings

For organizations to be successful, HR practitioners need to develop broader skill sets, working not only as HR subject matter experts, but also as tech-savvy professionals. Ergo, the birth of social recruitment.

Many organizations, however, fail to make use of this medium’s full communicative potential. Social media is a dialogue and so too must be the digital recruitment process. The idea is to engage potential employees and establish an online relationship with them.

This type of report will enable digital recruiters to better match talent with open positions, as a continuous relationship will help determine a candidate’s suitability for a job. Essentially, the job will find the talent, and not vice versa.

For social media to continue to grow as an effective talent acquisition platform, both recruiters and social media users need to learn to sell themselves.

Much like companies brand themselves through online marketing campaigns, they need to do the same when it comes to social recruiting. This ongoing relationship fosters a two‑way interview of sorts: companies assess potential employees just as much as candidates assess potential employers.

Rogers Communications is one organization that seems to get social media. Its digital recruiters not only advertise open positions on the @RogersCareer Twitter page, they also let candidates know when applications are being reviewed, if interviews are being held and at what point positions are filled.

While core operational departments were among the first to jump on the social media bandwagon, HR is no longer immune to this phenomenon. It’s time to embrace these digital tools and bring the humanizing factor back to HR.

Breaskfast of Champions

I was in Toronto this past weekend to visit a few friends I hadn’t seen in quite some time. While casually catching up at this quaint tequila bar in Queen West, social media came up in our conversation.

But I don’t care what my friends are eating for breakfast, quipped one of them.

I hear this all the time. In fact, I would argue that this is the single most commonly used excuse to justify one’s social media ignorance resistance. While I could easily sit here and refute this gross misconception, I will leave it to the pros.

I simply encourage all you naysayers to dedicate 2 minutes and 35 seconds of your lives to watching Erik Qualman‘s refreshed  “Social Media Revolution” video. I guarantee that it will open your eyes and make you realize that social media is not about breakfast, but rather about the breakfast of champions.

A Game of Numbers: Evolution meets Resolution

Numbers. It always comes down to numbers – How many? How much? How fast? How long? In every facet of our lives, we seem to be wholly consumed by them.

Granted, this obsession is undoubtedly a learned behaviour. Throughout our lives, we are taught to quantify everything: school grades, election results, annual salaries. Heck, even Farmville measures success in neighbours!

Not unlike those around me, I find it easy to become fixated on numbers. And this numerical obsession has recently bled over into Twitter. I find myself constantly checking my inbox for new follower notifications, scrupulously monitoring Hootsuite for @mentions and carefully drafting content in the hopes of being retweeted. Twitter Counter and Social Mention have rapidly surged to the top of my browser’s most visited sites. The funny thing is… I’ve been tweeting for more than two years, and yet it wasn’t until the past few months that my ‘twaddiction’ truly took root. The reason why, however, remained unclear. That is, until I stumbled upon one of Jason Hiner’s blog posts that described my experience to a T. So, in the spirit of numbers, I present to you four more – the four stages of a Twitter user, which Jason defines as follows:

1. Confusion and indignation;    
2. The first ‘Aha!’ moment;
3. Remembering to tweet; and
4. Thinking in 140 characters.

The stages are fairly self-explanatory. Generally speaking, users progress from an initial state of bewilderment and understandable frustration to a certain degree of fluency. At this stage, they begin to show a basic understanding of the rudiments of Twitter and recognize the inherent benefits it has to offer. Users gradually post more frequently and develop an extended network of interesting tweeps. It is not, however, until the final stage of one’s Twitter evolution that users experience a true metamorphosis, blossoming from simple content-consumers to bona fide content-producers.

This fourth and final stage is undoubtedly the one in which I currently reside. I live, breathe and sleep in 140 character-long spurts. I am constantly on the lookout for tweet-worthy material and have an insatiable desire to increase my Twitter reach.

The problem is that I’m not a numbers man, I’m a words man.

I studied translation and work in communications because I love beautiful prose, clever slogans and well-crafted double entendres. So, it’s time for me to forget about the numbers and simply focus on the content and, more importantly, the context. 

I am therefore going cold turkey on tweeting. As of today, I resolve to disable Twitter e-mail notifications, to unsubscribe from follower monitoring services and to tweet solely for the purpose of tweeting. If I gain followers, great. If I lose some, that’s okay. After all, Twitter is about sharing information, engaging others and building networks of quality, not quantity.

Follow me as I attempt to make good on this resolution. I just ask that you tweet me a little ‘hello’, otherwise I’ll have no other way of knowing you’re following me. Happy tweeting!