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Teaching Social Media

by Daria Steigman on May 20, 2013

Upside Down Sign: Do Not EnterWe’re teaching social media all wrong.

We focus on how to use these platforms for business. We teach employees how to upload and tag pictures on Google+ from their association’s annual meeting or how to post a status update on Facebook about all the cool places customers have been spotted with the company’s latest gadget. We provide tips on how to write engaging blog posts. We discuss video best practices.

Now you’re probably thinking: Isn’t this what we’re supposed to do? Of course it is. You can’t be a social brand if you’re not using social media for business purposes. And you certainly can’t evolve into a social business if you’re not social brand savvy.

This is the endgame.

I was speaking recently about social media at a meeting of Washington Union Women and the question arose about how to get members to be more active social media users. That’s when it hit me.

Forget the business case. First we need to make people comfortable using social media.

A lot of people are using some form of social media, but it’s all about the degree of use and their perceptions of their own proficiency and the size of the audience they are reaching.

It took me two days to push the switch on my first Web site. I had read it and reread it, and had my favorite editors (aka, my parents) read it and reread it. I had friends proof it. I was so aware that once it went live everyone, everywhere could see the site that I thought it had to be perfect before I could make a move.

A lot of people (most?) have this reaction. So why are we surprised that there’s a barrier when it comes to social media?

We need to put social media in a context where people feel comfortable. Teach seniors how to post pictures of their grandchildren on Facebook. Teach parents how to text with their teenage kids. Teach people to use medical apps or nutrition apps or parking meter apps.

Once people are comfortable using these tools for themselves, then they won’t be so afraid of “making a mistake” in the business setting. Because who hasn’t uploaded a photo upside down or been grateful for an “edit text” feature?

Photo by Nick Farr (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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What Does Free Speech Mean to Google?

by Daria Steigman on May 14, 2013

Blue BubblesWhen I read The Filter Bubble, it wasn’t the “search bubble” piece that caught my attention.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the book, author Eli Pariser‘s premise is that digital technologies are changing the way we get and interact with information–and that this has profound implications for democracy. The first part is pretty obvious: If you typically click on coffeehouse sites, Google is not going to recommend a tea shop. If you’re looking for Mexican restaurants, you’re not going to get Thai restaurant listings mixed into your search results. Run the same “Mexican restaurants” search a few more times, and then a broader search for “ethnic restaurants,” and what do you suppose will pop up first?

We can have a conversation about whether all this personalization is a good thing, but the reality is that most of us like having “relevant” search results. In the political context, this means that people who regularly click on Fox News stories aren’t likely to see a lot of search results for The Nation. So increasingly we hear what we want to hear; aka, we live in our own filter bubbles.

The new gatekeepers are anonymous.

Here’s what grabbed my attention: we might think we’ve done away with the middlemen (e.g., newspapers informing and interpreting events), but we’ve really just substituted one middleman for another. Pariser writes:

“While enthrallment to the gatekeepers is a real problem, disintermediation is as much mythology as fact. Its effect is to make the new mediators–the new gatekeepers–invisible…

“Most people who are renting and leasing apartments don’t “go direct”–they use the intermediary of craigslist. Readers use Amazon.com. Searchers use Google. Friends use Facebook. And these platforms hold an immense amount of power… But while we’ve raked the editors of the New York Times and the producers of CNN over the coals for the stories they’ve missed and the interests they’ve served, we’ve given very little scrutiny to the interests behind the new curators.”

Pariser is correct. I trust Google more than I trust Facebook, but that’s mostly in relationship to how my data is accounted for. It’s not based on corporate policies, or community investments, or labor practices, or any of the myriad of things that can impact where I spend my dollars. (I’m a Google apps user, so this isn’t about free versus paid.)

Maybe we should pay more attention to how these businesses operate.

The gatekeepers are regulating free speech. 

This isn’t a First Amendment issue, because these are private companies. (In contrast, this is, because it’s about the U.S. government’s actions.) But it is about free speech.

I’m pretty close to a constitutional absolutist on this topic, and I use that principle to guide my thinking. But a lot of people, and a lot of governments, have different concepts of what “free speech” means.

What does free speech mean to Google?

A fascinating article in The New Republic looks at how Silicon Valley’s content policy folks (self-dubbed “the Deciders”) are grappling with company guidelines over what can and cannot be posted online:

“As online communication proliferates—and the ethical and financial costs of misjudgments rise—the Internet giants are grappling with the challenge of enforcing their community guidelines for free speech. Some Deciders see a solution in limiting the nuance involved in their protocols, so that only truly dangerous content is removed from circulation. But other parties have very different ideas about what’s best for the Web.”

This isn’t easy stuff, but it’s profoundly important that we get it right–whatever that means.

What’s your takeaway?

Hat tip to Geoff Livingston for alerting me to the New Republic article.

Photo by Patrick Hoesly (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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Is Location-based Recruiting Creepy?

by Daria Steigman on April 15, 2013

Red HerringThe Wall Street Journal’s At Work blog has an interesting post on recruiters who use location-based apps to find prospects. The author points to a recruiter who drives around New York in a cab looking for Highlight users, and she asks:

What’s your take on location-based recruiting? Creepy or cool?

My take: if you’re going to broadcast your location, then you are fair game. That said,  it’s a red herring.

Using a digital yardstick to screen for job candidates is like looking for low-hanging fruit. 

In the early 21st century, knowing how to tweet, post to Facebook, or use a location-based app to keep track of your friends and look for a lunch date is pretty much a given. It’s a low bar. It’s akin to requiring a working knowledge of Microsoft Office. Or, once upon a time, asking job candidates how many words per minute they could type.

Companies could learn a lot from Cupcake Wars.

I was watching an episode of the show that featured four fan favorites. All of them could make a good cupcake. One baker didn’t stop there; she transformed a cupcake into a jalapeno popover–complete with an edible wrapping.

I’m sure the team that created the Oreo’s “dunk in the dark” ad knew how to tweet.

What skills do you look for in employees and partners?

Photo by Tim Parkinson (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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Goodbye Reader, Hello Feedly

by Daria Steigman on April 2, 2013

Feedly home pageApparently no one uses Google Reader.

No one, except me (and a whole bunch of other people too). As a voracious consumer of online content (I subscribe to over 100 blogs), nothing beats the opportunity to aggregate it all, on demand, in one place.

You might have heard that Google is shuttering its RSS aggregator on July 1. The collective angst on Google +, Twitter, and Facebook lasted maybe 10 minutes.

The cool thing about a groundswell, even a groundswell of hand-wringing, is that it’s really about what comes next. In this case, Feedly.

Feedly is Google Reader after a makeover.

Feedly offers both a traditional “print style” view and more visual ways to arrange, sort, and read posts. Right now, you can pull in your feeds directly from Reader–folders and tags intact. The company has also beefed up capacity to handle the increase in traffic and posted information for new users coming from Google. They’re also working on a way to import everyone’s RSS feeds permanently when Reader shuts down.

If you read this blog and others via RSS instead of e-mail, you might want to give Feedly a try.

How do you read blogs? On the site, via e-mail, or via RSS?

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Finding Your Community Engagement Sweet Spot

by Daria Steigman on February 4, 2013

LEGO Vikings on a Sea JourneyOne colleague is frustrated because the forums on her membership site are getting little traction. She’s set up “pull” options for people to get e-mail alerts to new conversations. She’s posted notices to her LinkedIn group. She’s reminded people at in-person meetings. But there’s little activity.

Another colleague is frustrated because the discussions for another membership site have migrated from the online forums (where they got little traction) to a members-only Facebook group. The problem is she’s not on Facebook.

There’s no secret sauce for success.

Finding your engagement sweet spot requires a lot of trial and error.

In the first example, people aren’t joining this network for access to online forums. They’re joining to connect, in person, with other like-minded entrepreneurs. There’s no critical mass of members and no compelling reason to post questions to a discussion thread. In fact, I can think of three groups I’d go to first for the same kinds of conversations that she hopes will happen on her site. And that’s just me.

Before you send out notices, you have to give me a reason to log in. And to log in the next time too.

In the second example, the community initially formed online. It’s made up of people who are social network savvy. They’re already using Twitter, and Facebook, and probably at least one or two other social networks as well. So it makes sense that members want to have conversations where they’re already hanging out.

You can’t make everyone happy, and you could go crazy trying.

I’m sorry for the woman who’s not on Facebook. Yes, she’s being left out of conversations happening there. But that’s her choice. It doesn’t mean setting up a way for people to connect on Facebook was a mistake. In fact, judging from the robust discussions, it’s been quite successful.

Most networks don’t strike lightening in a bottle. Google+ has millions of members, but it wasn’t until Google enabled groups that I found any real value in spending time there. Whether your online community is made up of a handful of Nationals fans or half a million brand enthusiasts, your engagement sweet spot is going to depend on where your audience is and what they’re looking for from you.

Photo by pasukaru76 (Flickr)

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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