I was thinking back to the first time I was in college, back in 1988 (ooh. I’m really dating myself now). There were no computers in the classroom. We lugged around armloads of textbooks and binders with foolscap clicked into them. There were no text messages coming in on our mobile phones to distract us from what was happening in class (although we did pass notes). Times sure were different back then.

Ironically, I was in a technical school, taking a technical program (TV Broadcasting). So, I was surrounded by technology every day, in the form of TV cameras, video switchers, lights, editing controllers, and the like. To add insight to irony, we were using these tools to communicate messages to audiences. Our great instructors used the technology to help us learn to communicate. I guess I was lucky that way.

What the Tech? Flash forward 20 years or so, and technology isn’t just something you learn about in trade school. It’s incorporated into everything we do. Kids are growing up not knowing life without mobile devices and the Internet, and any of us who are Gen X or earlier are being forced to catch up to a world in which technology is at once ubiquitous and elusive.

As teachers, this can put us in a hairy predicament. We’re just trying to figure out how our new dumbphone* works, and our students are toting iPads and Androids in their backpacks. Yet, we’re supposed to be the experts in the classroom that have it all figured out. We’re supposed to be using the technology as proficiently and seamlessly as they are. It’s enough to make some teachers want to bury their heads in a heavy textbook and never come out.

Rocket Surgery 101. It doesn’t have to be this way. Bridging the gap between what we know as instructors and how our students are learning isn’t as scary as it seems. The problem is, there are SO many choices as to how we’re going to leverage technology in the classroom, that it’s hard to know where to begin. So, I thought it might be useful to provide a couple of tips that you can try out with your students starting right away. I want you to give it a whirl, and report back on how it works. Remember, it’s all an experiment!

Keep in mind, that these tips don’t just have to apply to education in a formal classroom environment. If you’re holding any kind of workshops or training on any level, these techniques can apply.

Virtual Office Hours
Most Learning Management Systems (LMS) have some sort of capacity for holding live chats. Some instructors use this to hold Virtual Office Hours – a set time every week where they are available online to answer questions or concerns, or discuss various topics. It works well and students like the interaction, particularly in a Distance Learning environment. I suggest taking Office Hours to a new level. Why not start off the discussion by posting a video on YouTube and sharing it with the class? You can record straight into YouTube, so you don’t need any fancy editing gear – just a microphone and a web cam. I use this to discuss current events and give reminders of assignment deadlines mostly. But we’ve all been in the situation where we get 20 emails from students asking the same question. Why not use the video to respond to everyone at once?

Once you’ve posted the video, send out the link to the class with the announcement of when your Virtual Office Hours will be taking place. They can view the video, and then show up to the chat already having some discussion points and also having any potential issues cleared up.

Then, if you want to get really fancy, you can take your chat outside of the LMS, and move to something like Skype (live audio chat, good for small groups), or Oovoo (multi-way video chat). Other tools worth looking at include TalkShoe, where you could do a live broadcast and have students “call in”, then share the show with anyone who couldn’t make it to the discussion, or even share it with other classes!

Facebook Groups
If you haven’t already created a group for your class on Facebook, do it. Let’s face it…the majority of your students are spending all their time on Facebook anyway, so why not be where the action is?

Think of a Facebook Group as an opportunity to create a living, breathing environment where the class can share links, have discussions, and comment on things. You can post photos, videos, links, and events – so there are tons of possibilities. Perhaps you want to post your Office Hours video there, instead of on YouTube? Easy peasy, and again, you can record straight from your web cam. Maybe you want to share links to recent news, or post industry events like tradeshows and conferences to the calendar.

What’s cool is, anything you post will show up in group members’ Facebook stream, so as they go about their day, they will see bits and pieces of things relevant to what they are learning. It’s a way to keep them learning even when you’re not in the classroom. And once encouraged, people love to share, so suddenly, your class is helping to create the content for your course!

The great thing about Facebook Groups, is you can make them secret. That means, the class group won’t show up in public searches, and it’s by invitation only, so you can carry on in a private manner without worrying about a bunch of non-students getting in there and cluttering things up. And if you’re worried about becoming Facebook friends with your students just so you can have them in the group, don’t. You can set individual preferences inside of Facebook so particular friends only see what you want them to see.

So there you have it. Two quick ideas that you can start to experiment with today. Try it out…and get back to me with your thoughts. I’m eager to hear your experiences! And also, if you have any of your own tips to share, please do so in the comments. Happy teaching!

*Hat tip to Jon Swanson

[photo credit: katiew on Flickr]

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Wow.

Suddenly all anyone seems to be talking about in the social media world is influence. Tools like Klout, a system that uses some sort of complex calculation to say how influential you are on Twitter, are rising to popularity. Now, social media dashboard app HootSuite has jumped on the bandwagon too, posting Twitter users’ Klout score when you click on a profile. The @oldspice guy is even in there, posting personalized videos to “influential” Twitterers (and others too, admittedly, but c’mon…who do you think they were really targeting with those videos?).

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Sure. I looked at my Klout score. It’s 53. I have no idea what that means. I don’t really care, either. But I can assure you, there are people, right now, breezing around their HootSuite dashboard, clicking on everyone’s names, and filtering anyone with a score of 60 or higher into a special list called “influencers”.

Then, once they have their precious list of Twitter Super Powers, they’ll begin to spend their days trying to figure out how to get those peoples’ attention. Because wow – if only I could get @kevinrose to retweet my article about the iPhone 4 antenna….then, I will have arrived!

You’ve got to be kidding me some more.

All the cool kids are doing it. You see, the problem is, people are confusing “influence” with “popularity”. Sure, if Kevin Rose retweets your link, you’ll probably get an awful lot of hits on your post. You wrote a great tech post, he’s a tech guy, and lots of people that follow Kevin trust him when he recommends something. Does that mean he’s influential? Sure it does. But that’s about where it stops. It’s wonderful that you got so many people hitting your blog. It’s great that you earned a few new followers. But once the initial spike happens, it will just settle out. Just because you got 500 reads on your post doesn’t mean you’re going to get 500 reads every day from here on in. Trust me, it simply doesn’t work like that.

People who consistently have high traffic and a dedicated audience have built that over time – by providing consistently stellar content, but more importantly, by taking the time to be an active part of the community which they serve. They have nurtured their readership. They aren’t relying on the popular kids to get the word out. They are working really, really hard to show people the value in their content – all by themselves.

Return on Eyeballs is more important than Return on Influence. Last year, I posted on this blog about a concept that I think is, unfortunately, going by the wayside. It’s called “Return on Eyeballs”. The idea is, it’s not about targeting your stuff to people who are influential. It’s about targeting your stuff to people who are interested. It’s not about how many people see what you’ve done – it’s about WHO sees it.

In that post, I used an example of someone who makes custom baseball bats. Sure, they can get a bit of attention by promoting to so-called “influencers”, if their idea is clever and good, but again, that’s fleeting. They will have far more long-term success by focusing on building a dedicated community of interest than trying to get the attention of the popular set. With some hard work in the right areas, the right opportunity may serendipitously (or intentionally) come along. In my hypothetical example, I suggested that maybe baseball bat guy gets noticed by the equipment manager of a major league baseball team. They sign a contract and bat guy’s business booms. Does the equipment manager, in this case, have influence? Sure he does. He influenced his boss to contract the bat maker.

But the equipment manager’s Klout score is only 16! He doesn’t have any influence!

See how silly this is?

How about we forget about all these ridiculous numbering schemes? How about we stop confusing influence with being one of the popular kids?

How about we focus on building up our own communities, with our own people, and our own set of influencers who are actually influential, instead of just being the ones with the biggest following, or the loudest voice? Yes, it will take time. Yes, it will take work. But ultimately, everyone will be better off, don’t you think?

(Oh, and as for Old Spice guy? I think the campaign is brilliant. But keep in mind, their strategy of targeting popular (or in their words, “influential”) Twitter people only works because they are a well known brand. I have a feeling Allysa Milano wouldn’t have given a rat’s butt if Mr. No Name made a video about her.)

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I had lunch yesterday with a friend I hadn’t seen in 13 years. It’s amazing how, with some people, you can just pick up where you left off. I am glad we’ve reconnected and look forward to getting to know her again.

We talked and shared what we’d been up to the past several years. She told me about her new business, and the musical pursuits she’d been working on. I told her about getting married, starting a business, and my own musical pursuits. As I was weaving in and out of various storylines, I suddenly had an amazing realization – that one simple action I’d taken 11 years ago literally changed the course of my life. I’ll explain.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d come through some struggles in the mid 1990′s with my health. Flash forward to about 1998, and my life had changed dramatically. I’d now graduated from my 2nd run at college, and was working in the high tech industry as a content developer and teacher. I lived in my own apartment now and was exceptionally happy with both my work and my new circle of friends. With my life back on track, I started to seek out new creative pursuits. I knew I wanted to get back into singing, but wasn’t sure how. Quickly enough, life got busy again and I put that dream on the back burner.

Then one day, I was casually perusing our local arts and entertainment newspaper, and I came across a tiny little ad in the classified section. “Womens’ Choir auditions – phone xxx-xxxx to sign up”. Having never done a singing audition in my life, I quickly pushed the thought aside, thinking they were probably looking for more experienced singers. However, over the next few days, the thought of that ad kept nagging at me for some reason. With nothing to lose, I finally sucked it up and picked up the phone. My audition was set for the following Thursday.

Skip forward, I was fortunate to get into the choir, a womens’ choir about 40 strong called “Vox Femina”. I proceeded to spend the next 4 years forging some amazing friendships with some terrific women, performing all over the place, including down in the U.S.

One day, I was approached by one of my choir mates. She was thinking of forming an a capella quartet and they were looking for someone to fill the baritone part. I was flattered to be asked and decided it was a great new challenge for me. I joined that group, called Solera, and we proceeded to have another amazing 4 years, performing all over town and even singing the national anthem at a few baseball games too. The four of us became close friends, and we had a blast.

The quartet disbanded when one of the gals moved away to Toronto and another moved to Newfoundland. A few months later, I was set to head down to Toronto for a weekend visit with my friend, and I came across another ad, this time online, for an event called ‘Podcamp Toronto‘. I asked my friend if she’d like to join me to check it out that weekend, and since it was free, we had nothing to lose.

I walked into that event, was warmly greeted by many amazing people, and had my eyes opened wide to a whole new world. What I learned about new media that weekend and what I’ve been able to learn since has literally changed the direction of my business and the way that opportunities have flowed to it. I owe much of my success to the people in that room that weekend.

So you see, if it wasn’t for having a reason to go to Toronto that particular weekend (to see my friend), I wouldn’t have gone to Podcamp and probably wouldn’t have been inspired to start blogging or engaging on social platforms. If it wasn’t for the quartet, I’d have never become good friends with the person I was visiting that weekend. If it wasn’t for the choir, I’d have never been in the quartet. If it wasn’t for me happening upon that tiny newspaper ad that day, I’d have never known about the choir.

That tiny ad changed my life.

But most importantly – my intention (wanting to get more into music) and my action (picking up the phone, practicing hard for my audition) brought the rest of it into reality.

Kinda neat how that works, eh?

Express your intention. Ask for what you want. Take action. And pay close, close attention to the little, seemingly insignificant events in your life, because often, they are the ones that have the biggest impact.

Do you have a story about one event that changed the course of your life? Please share in the comments!

[photo credit: GiantsFanatic on Flickr]

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I’m sitting here this morning, going through my usual morning routine. Check email, reply to a few. Log onto Twitter, say good morning to people, see what’s going on. Check Facebook, reply to messages, comment on a few posts. Move over to my Google Reader, read a few of my faves, make note of some things to read later. This process leaves me energized and feeling connected with others, gives me some new information to take forward into my day, and also has the practical benefit of catching me up on my correspondence.

But what if all of this ended tomorrow? As unlikely as it is, imagine for a few minutes that you wake up tomorrow and there’s no Internet. No email, no blogs, no Twitter, no Facebook. No Google Chat, cloud computing or podcasts. It’s all gone.

Let’s pretend that this isn’t a catastrophe, that nobody is panicked about it. Let’s pretend that life goes on (because it does).

What would we take away from the online experience we’ve had?

We’d be better listeners. You know that experience when you’re at a loud party, and there’s so much noise in the background that it’s hard carry on a conversation? Social media is like that. We are bombarded with information on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute basis. 90% of it is noise. Other people having conversations that you’re not involved in. Links to stuff that you don’t really care about (but that others are passionate about).

Have you noticed at the noisy party, that the conversations you do have require a great deal of concentration and focus? You listen more intently. You work to filter out the background noise.

The social Web has taught us how to filter, how to zero in on those conversations that mean something to us. It’s taught us how to study what people are talking about so we can understand our customers better, and create better, more human-focused businesses. The social Web has made many of us much, much better listeners.

How do you think our newfound filtering abilities would work in a world without the Web? Well, I think we’d all be paying more attention to the things we care about. We’d stop focusing on things that weren’t our concern (like gossip, and negative people). Our noise filters are finely honed instruments now. Try listening outside the Web with the same filter in place. You’ll start to hear the conversations you need to hear, and find the opportunities you need to find.

We’d appreciate each other more. I’ve had many a conversation with non-Web inclined people about having online friends. There are plenty of people around who don’t believe that you can have a “true” friendship with someone you’ve never met in person, or have only met a few times.

Jon Swanson and I were friends for a year before we ever met in person. About 15 minutes before we met for the first time, I called him on the phone to get directions. Up until that moment, when he picked up the phone and said “hello”, our friendship had been entirely based in text on a screen. A few minutes later, we found ourselves sitting across from each other at lunch, and it was like we’d been having lunch together for years. The in-person conversation picked up right where it left off on the screen. And after meeting that day, the conversation moved seamlessly back to the computer screen. Online friendship is a funny thing – it makes no difference how you connect. It’s only important that you connect.

If the Web ended tomorrow, I think it’s safe to say that certain connections would fade away. But that happens anyway – people move in and out of our view all the time. Sometimes you have friends that you talk to all the time, and sometimes you drift apart. That ebb and flow exists whether we’re online or not.

But in a Web-less world, the real relationships would endure. I think the Web has taught us how to be better friends with people. It’s widened the scope of our world. We have now had the opportunity to see life through so many others’ eyes. Jon and I have quite different lives. It’s highly unlikely we’d have ever met if it wasn’t for the Web and connecting through a mutual friend. Even at that, we met on Twitter, so it was sort of left up to chance.

I think the Web has made us more curious about other people, and less afraid to reach out. Seeing what’s going on in other peoples’ lives makes us more caring, compassionate, and helpful.

If it ended tomorrow, I have no doubt that the relationships would endure. Maybe we’d go back to using the phone more. Maybe we’d write letters and post cards again. Maybe we’d have more reason to go visiting. But somehow, we’d find ways to keep the meaningful connections alive.

We’d promote our businesses better. I was having a conversation the other day with a client about promoting their business. Of course, we were talking about online tools, and the potential to use the Web to make real, human connections with their customers. There was excitement in the air as my client realized the possibilities that exist for really connecting with people in this way.

Marketing is no longer about shouting at people about your business. It’s not only about ads in the newspaper or press releases or billboards on the side of the highway. The two-way Web has caused a massive culture shift. Businesses are regularly talking with people now, and vice versa. It’s a magnificent thing. It’s a process that I think a lot of businesses, once they get into it, find very comfortable. Smart businesses have learned that conversation marketing works, and works well.

If the Web ended tomorrow, would this new way of conversing with our customers persist? Or would we fall back into our old habits?

I suspect that we’d find ways to keep the conversation going, don’t you?

If it all ended tomorrow….

The tools will be gone, but the shift will have already taken place.

The conversation lives on.

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I’ve spoken before about the social media “bubble”. You know, this warm and cozy place where all us Twitter-loving, high tech super early adopting thirty and forty somethings spend a good chunk of our lives. We have our own gurus, our special buzzwords, and our own geek-a-paloooza assortment of Dungeons and Dragons inside jokes and bad 80′s references written on t-shirts. Even though we pride ourselves on “openness” and “transparency”, you have to admit, it’s kind of a secret club. Oh sure, anyone can join, but they have to know the secret password (it’s “social media d-bag”).

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

You see, the whole POINT of social media is to create online communities of people with common interests. It just so happens that the common interest many of us have happens to be social media.

We sit inside the bubble, but it’s only one of thousands of bubbles. It just so happens that what goes on inside our bubble isn’t dog breeding, or photography, or banjo playing..it’s social media. And ironically, we’re using the very tools and strategies we love, to talk about the tools and strategies we love.

To an outsider, that must look pretty weird, eh?

There are a lot of people outside the bubble looking at us sort of cock-eyed, I think. They wonder why we yammer on all day about ROI, community building, and measuring sentiment. They visit our blogs to try to understand more, but the backstory isn’t there. It’s on 15 other web sites we’ve linked to, and if they haven’t been head-down reading Mashable and Gizmodo for the past three days, then the point is lost on them. Back to dog breeding, then.

The thing is, do the people outside the bubble care? Not as much as we think (and maybe hope) they do.

While we sit around discussing the merits of having a Fan Page on Facebook, they are probably opening up their flower shop for the day. While we have blogchats and webinars, they are building a house. While we debate iPads and Androids, they are creating policies for health care reform. See what I mean?

We live this stuff, because for many of us, it’s part of our job. My clients come to me because I know a lot about video, web design, and online marketing/social media/whatever you call it. They pay me to help them understand this stuff, just like I’d pay a contractor to build me a new fence when I need one.

There is one problem I have with the bubble, though. Some people are treating it like Fort Knox. They are doing this because they think that by keeping the walls high and inaccessible and staying inside of them, they get to have easier access to the money. And they figure, if they can keep their clients in the dark long enough, about “mysterious” things like Search Engine Optimization, RSS and WordPress, then they can milk more cash out of the wallets of the unsuspecting neophytes. It’s shameful behaviour and it needs to stop.

As my friend Kneale would say, social media ain’t rocket surgery. Yes, it’s a new way of communicating. Indeed, there’s a sea of information to wade through. There are myriad tools and new things to learn. But ultimately, the whole point of social media tools is that the tools are supposed to be easy to use. And they are. Just ask my Mom. She teaches me stuff about Facebook.

If you want to really help your clients, don’t try to convince them that this stuff is complicated. It’s not. Your clients shouldn’t be hiring you to teach them how to use LinkedIN. Nobody needs a $1000 weekend retreat to learn how to tweet. Social media consultants are a passing fancy. Your clients need your expertise in how to use all media to more effectively tell their stories. That’s it.

As for us bubble-dwellers, the best way for us to understand more what our clients need is to step out of the bubble once in a while. There are a lot of cool people doing a lot of neat stuff online, and many of them don’t even know that what they are doing is “social media”. They are just doing it. Social Media isn’t an industry. Social media are a way of communicating.

The bubble is a valuable place for us. It’s where we hone our craft, learn from each other, and geek out. That’s a good thing, my friends. But remember, there’s a whole other world out there. We should try to be part of that one once in a while, too.

[photo credit: Jeff Kubina on Flickr]

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Back in TV school, I was taught that when framing up a shot, it’s really important to look at the background. Even if the framing of a shot is perfect, if something weird is going on in the background, it can ruin everything. It could be a cable from a light running across the floor. It could be a person goofing off at their desk, or a strange looking shadow. It could also be a case of bad juxtaposition – when a stair rail, or a picture frame “cuts” through the back of someone’s head. If you don’t focus on the background, then the perception of what’s in the foreground can be completely lost.

I think a big part of the problem with the reluctance of many people to adopt social media is that many people are not spending enough time focusing on the background.

How’s your DOF? There’s an expression used in film, video and photography known as Depth of Field. Specifically, it refers to the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects in the frame that appear in sharp focus in an image. So, if you have a shallow Depth of Field, it means that you’ll see one object clearly in focus, while all other objects in the background appear out of focus. On the other hand, having a deep depth of field means that everything in the picture appears to be relatively in focus, whether it’s up close to the foreground or far in the background.

Shallow depth of field is often used for dramatic effect. It’s a very attractive style, because it allows the eye to focus on one thing, blurring everything else in the background. Deep depth of field can be very attractive when shooting landscapes – it’s a wide-angle shot where everything is crystal clear.

Part of what freaks people out about social media is that by nature, it is exposing. There’s no shallow DOF in social media. It’s all quite deep, in fact. Successful social media is not about companies interacting, it’s about humans interacting. And that means there’s going to be an endless mix of dimensions, tastes, activities, comments, questions, and information. Some of it may be junk to you. Some may be of incredible value to you. But the fact is, social media is vast, and deep, like a photograph where you can see for miles and miles and miles. And that scares a lot of people.

Consider your online interactions for a moment. Who are the people you relate to best? Are they the ones who only show you a little bit of themselves, and keep the rest a closely guarded secret? Or are they the people who present a clear picture of who they are, from all angles, flattering and not-so-flattering?

Social media has deep, deep Depth of Field. The people and companies that are most successful in the medium are those who accept that. Their lens is not focused on one one object. It’s focused on the vast expanse and potential of each interaction they have.

Juxtapose this! I remember one of my profs in TV school equating juxtaposition to that classic gag that comedian Steve Martin made famous. He always said “You don’t want to be the guy with the arrow through your head”. When framing up a shot, you need to be totally conscious of what’s happening behind your subject. If there’s a picture frame, or stair rail, or any object, appearing to stick out of, or cut through the back of someone’s head, it makes them look silly. And nobody wants to look silly.

If social media is all about genuine relationships and real conversations and actual human beings, then it stands to reason that occasionally, even the best intentioned people are going to look silly. It doesn’t matter whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, the owner of a flower shop in rural Iowa, or a PR flack trying to build your professional network and generate leads, when you choose to engage on social media platforms, you need to be prepared to open yourself up to the possibility that someday, what you say in the foreground, and what’s going on in the background won’t match.

But that does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. Some of the most fascinating and dynamic people I know online are that way because they accept that the image everyone sees in the foreground is completely subject to what’s happening in the background. That means, if someone is having a bad day in the background, and that surfaces, so be it. If someone is super busy and just trying to keep up in the background, it might mean they have to reframe things. All of this is real life, and all of it’s more than okay. We need to be accepting of everyone’s juxtaposition.

What I think is at once amazing and frightening about social media is that it’s totally raw. The people who use the medium most successfully are completely in focus at all dimensions, and they are not worried that sometimes things are just going to line up in funny ways. They deal with it, and move on.

I am hopeful that as more people begin to understand this new medium, they will be more inclined to present the wide angle view of themselves. For often, what’s in the background is far more compelling than a shallow little dot of focus.

What say you?

[photo credit ohector on Flickr]

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One of the things I love best about social media is that it allows people to be infinitely helpful. People’s genuine desire to be helpful helped us raise over $100,000 for 12for12k.org last year. Helpful people, many whom I have never met in person, have gotten me through complex technical challenges without giving a second thought. I’ve learned to be a better businessperson, a better marketer, and a better producer from those who so generously bring their wisdom, for free, on their own time, through their blogs, podcasts and other efforts. And, I have had tremendous opportunities to return the favour, too.

As I’ve expressed in my last couple of posts, there’s some disconcerting behaviour happening. I had to air my concerns, because I really think that some people are taking advantage of this culture of openness, helpfulness, and freeness, and we are running the risk of losing the community of trust and authenticity that we’ve worked so hard to build over the past few years.

The first step is admitting we have a problem. Look, it’s not in my nature to complain, and I feel as if my last couple of posts have been kind of ‘bitchy’. I’m a solutions oriented person. I focus on the positive. That means I’m thinking about ways we can continue to scale our efforts without drowning in a sea of demands, be helpful without giving everything away, and still run businesses that are fulfilling and profitable. But in order to do this, we need to identify that there is an issue. That what’s happening out here is really happening. That the media makers, like you and me, are growing tired and frustrated by the culture of entitlement we’re seeing and experiencing. That if we don’t watch out, we’re going to reach a breaking point soon, and the end result will be faith lost in the medium that we know so well and love so much.

So what’s a blogger to do? I think it’s time to go back to basics, honestly. I had a realization the other day. I was sitting here, fuming, frustrated by the constant poking and prodding coming at me through the pipe. I felt out of control. And then it dawned on me…it wasn’t the stream that was out of control…it was me. I had let the noise threshold rise and rise and forgot to cap it. It was akin to how my office desk sometimes gets (well, sort of how it is now, actually). Full of papers and junk and cameras and books and pencils and cats. Closing me in, leaning on me, even. But I realized that I HAVE CONTROL OF MY STREAM. At all times. I can set filters on my email. I can purge my Google Reader. I can unfollow people on Twitter, or manage lists more wisely. I can hit that little “x” and turn it all off for a while, too. And you know what? We all have those options. The world is not going to end if you have less information coming at you. Trust me.

Open door policies revisited. When I worked in the corporate world, all of my managers had “open-door” policies. Most of them never abided by it. They wanted you to “think” they were accessible, but really, they couldn’t be bothered to keep their door open, or to be helpful if you needed it. So after a while, you’d just stop trying. However, one of my former bosses, Andrew, had it right. Andrew was not your typical boss. He worked very hard, and he always seemed to know more than the other managers what was going on. It was his job to make the right decisions for the department. And the only way he could do this was by talking to us. Because we were in the trenches. We were doing the day to day tasks to move the projects forward. If he wasn’t checking in with us, then he couldn’t make decisions, he couldn’t identify and mitigate risks, and he couldn’t celebrate achievements. So, to facilitate this, his door was actually always open. He was always having conversations with the staff, and anyone could pop in and join the discussion. He was open, accessible, and most of all, helpful. But it was for a reason – there was a payoff on both sides. I could go about my business knowing I was being listened to, and he was getting the information he needed to do his job better.

Perhaps we can take a page from Andrew’s book on this one. Open doors in social media are a very good thing. Being helpful is what makes this space tick. But many of us are being blindly helpful, keeping our door open 24/7, inviting everyone in, and extending a hand to whoever knocks. It’s not scaleable, and ultimately, it’s not useful. Why? Because if you’re not getting some sort of payoff, then you’re going to get frustrated. If you’re helping people for the sake of helping, you’re going to be bombarded by people who are just taking advantage of your generosity, and then you’ll be forced, like so many of my managers from days gone by, to retreat to your corner and close the door and never come out. And that’s not helpful to anyone.

Honestly, I’m just thinking out loud here. Social media is still in its infancy. It’s barely walking yet. The rest of the world has still not really caught on. So, if we are having trouble scaling now, when only a small percentage of the people have come to the party, what’s going to happen when everyone shows up?

We’ve got to figure it out.

Your turn.

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When I was growing up, it was sometimes dark all day.

Because of my Dad’s job, we lived in small, isolated communities, including the Canadian Arctic. When you’re an active kid, it’s 50 below, pitch dark at 1pm, and there’s one channel of television, you have no choice but to find resourceful ways to fill your time. In spite of the perceived lack of stuff to do, being “bored” was not allowed in our house. We had tons of books and crafting supplies, and if I still couldn’t find something to do, then a toilet brush and mop were always close by too. I was given choices, but ultimately, my parents mostly let me and my brother figure out stuff on our own. It’s one of the best lessons they ever taught me, because today, I’m very independent. I have a “figure it out” attitude, and it’s driven me directly to the successes I’ve had to this point.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

The past 10-15 years has seen a social transformation like at no other time in history. Even the printing press and the telephone, both inventions that revolutionized the way we communicate, were unable to connect people the way the Internet has. The phone and the press are two-way interactions. The web is multi-way. And that’s the difference.

I’m astounded on a daily basis at the way we’re all able to connect out here. I am blessed to have so many strong friendships and to be able to do business with so many remarkable people. I think we are all aware of what a brilliant space this is, and how fortunate we all are to be here together.

For all the wonderful things the Web has brought us, there have also been some unfortunate side effects of this always-on dialogue we’re having. The other day I discussed the Culture of Free. Chris has been talking about the problems with Anywhen. Frustrations are growing at a rapid rate in the Twittersphere with noise ratios and spam on the rise. There’s one other unfortunate trend I’m seeing, and it may be the one that concerns me the most.

Hold my hand, I’m too scared. Yep, the Web can be a scary place sometimes. I’m not just talking about trolls and malicious web sites; we have thousands and millions of gigabytes of information thrust at us on a daily basis. The stream is active 24 hours a day,  7 days a week, and there’s pressure (mostly self-imposed) to keep up with the flow (and the Joneses). People get stressed because they might miss something, or might not understand the next new thing when it crosses their path. They are afraid they’re not going to be with the “in-crowd”. And unfortunately, what happens is, they start to lean heavily on others to calm their fears. They send emails at all hours of the day and night (and then re-send them if you don’t respond right away), asking what happened here or what to do about this or for advice on that. They tell you they are “not tech savvy enough” and expect, because you might be, that you can just tell them all the answers and solve their problems.

Oh sure, it seems innocent enough at the beginning. A little free advice never hurt anyone. But if you’re the resourceful type, you probably spend a good whack of time out here on the Web, reading voraciously, experimenting with new tools, refining your use and knowledge of the existing ones, and taking your knowledge and experience to the next level all the time. You have a day job too, so most of this hunting and poking and learning occurs when most sane humans are sleeping. So when someone grabs onto your hand and won’t let go, it gets to where it slows you down. After all, if YOU can get out there and put in the hours to figure it out, why can’t the hand holder do the same? Before you know it, resentment sets in, and suddenly, in our social world that is so much about being helpful, you don’t want to help so much anymore.

It’s time to take down the pedestal. The great irony here is that the Web contains all of the answers, but unfortunately there is a culture of pre-occupation and laziness afoot that makes people not want to bother to find things out for themselves. After all, that’s what all these people are for, right? You know, the social media experts, the gurus that give away all this info for free but also write books and things. But heck, I am too busy to read. I’m too busy to put in the time to go and research and just install the stupid thing and play around with it and break it until I get it right. I might as well just go to the source, and get the answer from the horse’s mouth, right? That’s easier, and way faster.

You might be thinking “No way, that doesn’t happen. People aren’t that rude.” In normal social circles (i.e., in person), you’re absolutely right. People aren’t typically so rude when it’s face to face. But you see, people like to hide behind their computer screens. They’re more ballsy when they’re not walking right up to you. Social graces are pretty much the first thing to go when you throw the anonymity of the Web in the middle.

Not only that, but we continue to put people up in some sort of social throne, and then fully expect their wisdom to be handed out on demand. We don’t consider where that wisdom came from (hard work and independent study and experimentation). We just want to know it, and we want to know it now. After all, we’ve got our own success to consider, our own bestsellers to write. Hurry, hurry hard. Get to the end of that tunnel using the fastest means possible, which for some reason, we’ve decided, is by picking brains, instead of picking up a book.

So, what’s the solution? I don’t know yet. I do know that a significant culture shift is going to have to happen. The social media bubble is about to burst. People are reaching their breaking point of free, of personal time, and of noise. I know I am. But what I do know is it rests firmly on our shoulders to figure out what to do next. Each one of us needs to evaluate what we are getting out of this space. We have to go back to the basics, of balancing our level of effort versus our individual payoff. Instead of doing the ROI on your social media campaigns, do the ROI on yourself. Remember why you got in here in the first place. Throw out the stuff that isn’t working for you anymore. Streamline the stuff that does.

Let’s discuss.

[photo credit: 40 below in Inuvik, by Eclectic Blogs on Flickr)

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Most of the links in this post are to the people I have learned the most from over the past three years. Please click on their links and check them out. They offer a great deal to this space, and I am forever indebted to them, for they have taught me so much and made such a huge contribution to my success. There are others too, of course – far too many to mention here. You all mean a great deal to me. From the bottom of my heart, friends….thank you.

The weekend of February 19th marks my 3rd anniversary being involved in social media.

Three years since I wandered in off the street to Podcamp Toronto, was warmly greeted by Two Guys Named Chris, and the first thing I asked them was “What the heck are all you people doing here, anyway?”

The rest is, as they say, history.

Three years later, and I am sitting here, like I do most mornings, connecting, laughing, sharing, and learning. I have achieved much – amazing friendships, a rapidly growing business, and a much more global perspective on helping other people and truly making a difference.

Several times a week I am asked how I know what I know about all this new media stuff. Do I ever step away from the computer? (Yes.) Do I have a life? (Of course.) How do I find the time to stay on top of everything? (I make time.) Do I ever get any real work done? (This is real work.)

There are no quick fixes in social media (or in anything considered real work, for that matter). No $300 “Learn to Twitter in a Weekend” workshop is going to teach you everything you need to know about social media. Books are great, read them all…especially these ones. But books are like the measuring tape and laser level in your tool box. They just give you information.
So, are we ready to begin?

Be curious. I didn’t end up at that first Podcamp because I had researched it for weeks, tried to figure out who was going to be there, what their credentials were, if they had criminal background checks done, if they were in the country legally. In fact, I didn’t know a single person there. I saw “Free” and “Unconference”. And I was planning on being in Toronto that weekend anyway. What did I have to lose? I was curious.

Being curious is probably the most important thing you can do to get on the road to understanding this new medium. Don’t know where to start? How about Google? Do some searches on Twitter. Find some friends on Facebook. Pretend you’re 8 years old again and you are exploring the woods at the back of your house. Look in all the little crevasses and nooks. Peek under rocks. Climb a tree and survey the scene from above. Fall out of the tree once in a while too. Before you know it, you’ll start to find the adventure you came for.

Read and listen and watch voraciously. Once I started to realize how many smart people there were out here in this world, I started to consume everything I could. I subscribed to blog after blog in Google Reader. I watched videos. I listened to wonderful podcasts.

All of these people are out there, every day, working hard, giving you FREE content and advice that, if you listen and do the things they say, will get you up and running in social media in no time. Trust what these people say. They learned the same way you are….by consuming the information that is available to anyone. Don’t tell me you don’t have time. Don’t watch that rerun of Friends every night, and there you go…you’ve found 30 minutes a day that you can be filling your brain with smart stuff.

Experiment. All of these smart social media types got to where they are because they are not afraid to experiment. If you’re looking for best practices drawn from years of experience and comprehensive research, you’re not going to find them. The medium is not old enough to have tried, tested and true. There’s a certain level of experimentation going on all the time. Some of us experiment on our blogs (I know I do). Others are the super early adopters (I’m here too), trying out things like Google Wave and buying the latest gadget and then proceeding to play around with it, figure out how it fits (or if it fits).

But I’m afraid I’m doing it wrong! Here’s a news flash. You’re not going to break the Internet, no matter how hard you try. So if you see a link to something that looks interesting, click it. Sign up for an account (you can always cancel it later). Try a new plugin, or a new method of communicating. Find friends to try along with you. Play. You’ll see pretty soon that the rewards you reap are far more significant than the failed attempts.

Curiosity, consumption and experimentation. Those are the three steps I used to get where I am. (And no, it didn’t happen overnight.) Yep, I learned most of this stuff for free, from reading blogs, watching talks, and participating in free webinars. I paid a little money to buy books by smart people (see above), and I paid a little more to travel to Montreal and Toronto to see people speak live (at free conferences) and connect with others.

What I didn’t do was bombard the smart people with questions. I Googled, I absorbed, I understood, and then I contributed to the space. Feedback came in from the smart folks in my communities (blog comments, @replies, and emails) and I learned some more. Then I contributed more. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But, aren’t you a teacher? Now, a word on education. I’m a college teacher, for Pete’s sake, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least spend a paragraph or two talking about the merits of formal education. If you are seeking to be immersed in a subject, to be able to really focus all your time and energy studying so you can apply, then yes, formal training is very valuable. I am not talking about the snake-oil, Twitter in a Weekend “workshops” here. I’m talking about training given by qualified instructors in reputable environments that cover techniques over tools. I’m talking about courses that can not only teach you important technical skills, but can allow you to connect and learn with and from your peers.

There is great value in formal education, however it’s not always financially feasible or easy to manage going to school full time with work and family. That’s why doing things on your own can be a great supplement, or even a replacement sometimes (depending on your goals and personal situation.)

The final word. A smart friend told me once, at the beginning of all this, when I was struggling to find answers… “you have a whole network available to you now. Use it.” Those words have stuck with me. We really do have all the information and knowledge we could ever want at our fingertips. But most importantly, we also have the ability to share what we know. The most important thing about social media is not learning what tools to use. Just dive in. Write a blog, record and post a video. Talk to people. Make a contribution. Start today.

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I disagreed with David Henderson the first time I met him.

Back in 2008 he wrote a post on his blog that in my opinion, discounted some fundamental truths about social media as I knew it at the time, and both myself and Danny Brown posted comments that expressed our side of the debate.

I confess having been a bit nervous about posting my comment. David’s an Emmy Award winning former CBS news correspondent. He’s appeared on nearly every major news outlet in the world. He’s also one of the top strategic communications consultants around – his client list is extensive and high profile. This guy knows a thing or two about media and strategic communications. Perhaps he was right in his 2008 estimation about social media having “…yet to make a meaningful connection with the real world of business or organizations.” Perhaps I was barking up the wrong tree on this. But I sucked it up and wrote my comment anyway.

David was kind enough to respond right away to our comments, and a lively discussion ensued between the three of us. David even asked myself and Danny to write follow-up post that highlighted some of the ways we had seen that businesses and organizations were using social media effectively. From that point forward, I’ve considered David not only to be someone who I have a great deal of respect and admiration for, but someone I consider a friend.

So, with that said, I’m not making any apologies for giving a glowing review of his new book, “Making News in the Digital Era”. Am I biased? You’re darn right I am. But regardless…this is a great book, and if you are communicating online, it’s a must-read.

Put simply, this is, in my opinion, the definitive book on how to be a more effective communicator in this age of convergence of traditional and new media.

There are many people out here who are quick to discount people coming out of traditional, “old” media as being out of touch, utilizing old fashioned, ineffective methods, and that this behaviour is directly contributing to the demise of traditional media as we know it. For that reason, people may consider glossing over a book written by someone with such a long history in traditional media.

Well, I can assure you, David Henderson is not your typical “old” media guy. He is firmly planted at the intersection between old and new media and has a level of understanding of traditional and modern approaches to communicating that I’ve not seen elsewhere.

In this book he not only describes the important role that traditional media is still playing for communicators and CEOs, but how success in the digital era requires understanding what’s worked in the past, what’s still working, what to throw away and what we still need to learn.

“Making News in the Digital Era” doesn’t muse about old and new media approaches – it provides real, concrete, strategic and tactical methods that you can actually use. David is handing out strategic communications advice here that is absolutely invaluable, whether you’re a PR pro, a CEO or anyone looking to tell better stories and attract the media’s attention. He has a wealth of experience and has generously embedded it in the pages of this book for us to take away and apply to our own projects. He makes it simple and clear.

As mass media and new media come ever closer together, it’s critical for anyone who makes media, online or off, understand how to be heard above the noise. Pick up a copy of this book, and you’ll be well on your way to better understanding not only how, but WHY you need to be a more effective communicator.

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