Reuters gets constrictive

News giant Reuters has released a Social Media Policy and has even made it available online – you can read it here. Reuters is instructing it’s journalists on how to manage Social Media interactions. There’s a part of me that has empathy for them. The Social Media landscape can be scary for corporations which have had dominance for many years. I understand that. That’s the reason that “Small is the new big” as the title of Seth Godin’s book suggests.

For the most part I think the policy is fine, but what I think is going to hurt Reuters in the long term is the seemingly tight-fisted stance and mindset that the powers that be have developed regarding Social Media. My concern is that which is in between the lines of their policy, not that which is on the lines of it. Things have changed, and embracing Social Media with more openness would be much more in their interest.
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The Amazing Race, Facebook, and Twitter

I’m a student of the world. Everywhere I go, I try to learn, and I try to think about what is really happening. Psychology is a subject that fascinates me, and I’m very fortunate that many of the successes and principles behind Web 2.0 and Social Media are grounded upon human behaviour patterns.

I’ve watched The Amazing Race a few times, and one of the reasons I like that show is because it exposes you to cities across the world. I think this is what is referred to as armchair traveling. As you know, the teams always comprise of varied relationships – best friends, married couples, engaged couples, parent and sibling, siblings, and so on. I think this is a smart move by the producers because it brings an interesting dynamic. The last show I watched (which was a few months ago, and I’ve had this post lurking in my brain since then) made me aware of something. I thought about the fact that certain teams, especially when they were behind in the race or in difficult circumstances, started to argue and be really nasty. They had a camera right in front of them, would that not deter them from showing their “true colours” and behaving just slightly more civil? Surely they knew that this was going to be aired to millions of viewers, including their own close friends and family.

I watched this and pondered about it. The camera didn’t matter. The millions of viewers didn’t matter. They wanted to win the million dollar prize – that is all that mattered.

I’ve been researching and monitoring behaviour patterns and trends on Facebook and Twitter for a very long time now. In fact, I capture most of these conversations using a neat application called Evernote. [You'd do yourself a huge favour by checking it out.] I have a few thousand clippings, and I intend to use them in 2 eBooks I’m planning to write. What is very clear to me is that when people are tested, and go through a bad time, they tend to say all sorts of things. They don’t seem to care who is watching or listening. I’m not talking about the moaners (I wrote about them here) – those who complain all the time – that’s a different group of people. I’m talking about people who are seemingly moderate and polite, but change when faced with even the slightest challenge or discomfort.

Stephen Covey refers to these behaviour changes as the Personality Ethic and the Character Ethic. You Personality Ethic is what the world sees at first glance. The Character Ethic is who you really are, but not all people see this – sometimes it’s hidden, but in tough circumstances hiding it becomes close to impossible.

He says:

In most one-shot or short-lived human interactions, you can use the Personality Ethic to get by and to make favorable impressions through charm and skill and pretending to be interested in other people’s hobbies. You can pick up quick, easy techniques that may work in short-term situations. But secondary traits alone have no permanent worth in long-term relationships. Eventually, if there isn’t deep integrity and fundamental character strength, the challenges of life will cause true motives to surface and human relationship failure will replace short-term success.

Furthermore…

Many people with secondary greatness – that is, social recognition for their talents – lack primary greatness or goodness in their character. Sooner or later, you’ll see this is every long term relationship they have, whether it is with a business associate, a spouse, a friend, or a teenage child going through an identity crisis. It is character that communicates most eloquently. As Emerson once put it, “What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.”

Of course, if we’re people with true integrity, our Character Ethic will show that in tough circumstances, and this will validate our Personality Ethic. This is why customers now have a choice of who to work with. Customers can now monitor the ethics of an individual or company and then choose whether or not to enter into a business relationship. The same is true for personal relationships. The Internet has exposed us, so to speak.

I think it’s time we need to work on our Character Ethic.

Photo credit: place_light

Press the flesh

I wasn’t going to write about this today, but Khalil Aleker’s comment on Facebook (see image to the left) has spurred me on. Many people ask these type of questions, and they’re valid. Are business cards still necessary? Are meetings still necessary? Are board rooms still necessary? Are books still necessary?

The answer is “yes” to all of these questions. I believe that moderation is crucial in all aspects of life. Yes, Web 2.0 and Social Media have changed industries and many business and communication fundamentals, but we need not – and should not – discard everything that worked well before.

Press the flesh is a term I picked up in a book called The Rules of Entrepreneurship by Rob Yeung. [I incorrectly referred to it as "Touch the flesh" in a recent seminar - apologies.] It refers to meeting people and shaking their hands. I believe this is vital. I try to have a few meetings every week. One per day would be great, but currently that’s just not possible with all the desk work I have to do. Meetings are great, they reveal a lot about the people that we’re doing business with (partners, associates, clients) – but even more importantly, they help build the relationship like no online activity can. It’s all about relationships, isn’t it? It’s all about people, isn’t it? I also have a policy to not have my MacBook out at a first meeting. I am surprise how rushed people are to get out their laptops and do some screen-dazzling. Nope. I want to get to know the person first. Let’s talk.

A few months ago someone who does similar work to what I do posted something on Facebook. He said that we should do away with all boardrooms and meeting rooms, and all meetings should take place online. I think that’s absurd. I’ll even go as far as to say it’ll never happen.

Throwing the baby out with the bath water is almost never a good idea. Adapt, yes. Change, yes. Grow, yes. Innovate, yes. Have blinkers on, no!

I still use business cards, even though I know that if you Google my name you will find so much information about me. Business cards still help when meeting people, and they also help in giving contact information to people who are not online all day like we are (yes, there still are many of those types of people). Meetings are irreplaceable. However, I must say this. I meet when I feel it’s a good thing to meet. I’m fully aware that many people and organisations are stuck in having-meetings-about-other-meetings syndrome, and they waste hours each month in unproductive activity. This is not a good thing. I have many online meetings (using tools such a Skype and Dimdim), and I even do coaching and seminars online – but I balance those with personal meetings and events. Boardrooms? Like books, I think they’re going to be around for a VERY long time. There’s too much value in these things for them to be replaced overnight. Maybe in 50 years things will be different, I don’t know. But we’re talking about our current situation, and perhaps the near future.

Rob Yeung says:

“Touch trumps tech every time…A single meeting a day may win you more business than hours of phone calls, letter writing, and emails combined…Secure that contact and press the flesh.”

It all about balance, I guess.

Apponomics

Yesterday I tweeted the news of the newly opened Google Apps Marketplace, but I feel that I need to blog about this. This, I feel, is important for us all to understand, because the future of business and technology is being defined – and redefined – in and by online advancements.

One of the many things I love about the Web 2.0 world is it’s direct and natural resemblance to the real world. Web 2.0 – like the real world is all about sharing, honesty, transparency, and all those feel-good things. In the real world, no man can live alone. No man is an island, as they say. We need to connect, collaborate, and help each other to build a society. Everyone is important. The famous NASA story comes to mind. One of the cleaning ladies at NASA was asked what she does, she said: “I send people to space.” Now that is a profound understanding of common purpose and vision.

In the Web 2.0 world collaboration is fundamental. There is no surviving without it. If you want to “go it alone” in this space, you’re going to go nowhere slowly. Successful online companies (like Google, Facebook, and Twitter) have realised this. They’ve realised that they have to allow collaboration into and of their products, in order to provide more value to end users. This is not an easy thing to do – it is to some level a relinquishing of control.

If you’ve ever been on Facebook (who hasn’t!), you’ve at one time or another used an Application, an App as it is commonly known. There are Apps for everything, obviously the gaming Apps – like Farmville (reporting 83, 755, 953 monthly active users) – are very famous. There are Apps in all sorts of categories – Business, Education, Entertainment, etc. You can find a full directory of Facebooks Apps here.

Facebook wouldn’t be Facebook without the Apps. So picture Facebook as a big company in a big building. The company is theirs. The building is theirs. But they’ve opened up little side doors all around the building, to allow other companies (the App developers) to have access to their users. It’s a Win-Win-Win situation. Facebook wins because their users have a more enriched experience. The App developers win because they have access to millions of people. And the end user wins because we have a better experience on Facebook.

These little side doors are called APIs. An API is an Application Programming Inteface.

Apple has done the same with the iPhone. Apps really make the iPhone. And there’s an App for virtually anything. See the official Apple directory here. Some Apps are free, and some carry a price tag. Prices are very affordable though. Ranging from $0.99 to just a few dollars. App developers have already made a fortune selling millions of Apps in the Apple App Store. The Apple iPad is going to be released in a few months, and already there are Apps being created for it.

There are so many Twitter Apps available. TweetDeck, Tweetie, and Twhirl allow you to monitor and send tweets. Apps like Twitpic allow you to send photos on Twitter. It’s very interesting that the Twitpic founder was interview by Andrew Warner on Mixergy.com recently, and he said that last year he was offered over $10 million for his company. He didn’t sell, of course. What’s more interesting is that Twitpic doesn’t have offices. The founder works from home, and his parents also work for him – from their home, and he has also employed another developer – which he hasn’t even met yet, and who also works remotely. Yep, that’s how drastically the business world is changing.

If you look at the homepage of this website, you’ll see our Flickr photos displayed. This is an example of WordPress using the Flickr API.

The examples of API usage are endless, and it’s going to grow. To understand this dynamic of mass collaboration, I really recommend the book Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams.

It says:

Even ardent competitors are collaborating on path-breaking scientific initiatives that accelerate discovery in their industries

and…

McEwen saw things differently. He realized the uniquely qualified minds to make new discoveries were probably outside the boundaries of his organization, and by sharing some intellectual property he could harness the power of collective genius and capability. In doing so he stumbled successfully into the future of innovation, business, and how wealth and just about everything else with be created.

I suggest you buy this book. It’s well worth the read if this sort of thing is of interest to you.

The latest spark in the App world is the opening of the Google Apps Marketplace.

Google says:

More than 2 million businesses have adopted Google Apps over the last three years, eliminating the hassles associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining hardware and software themselves.

We’ve found that when businesses begin to experience the benefits of cloud computing, they want more. We’re often asked when we’ll offer a wider variety of business applications — from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management. But we certainly can’t and won’t do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise.

In recent years, many talented software providers have embraced the cloud and delivered a diverse set of features capable of powering almost any business. But too often, customers who adopt applications from multiple vendors end up with a fractured experience, where each particular application exists in its own silo. Users are often forced to create and remember multiple passwords, cut and paste data between applications, and jump between multiple interfaces just to complete a simple task.

Today, we’re making it easier for these users and software providers to do business in the cloud with a new online store for integrated business applications. The Google Apps Marketplace allows Google Apps customers to easily discover, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps. More than 50 companies are now selling applications across a range of businesses…

Watch this interesting video to see how easy it is to use the Google Apps Marketplace:

Photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg

P/PC Balance in Social Media

It’s impossible to be on Twitter or Facebook for 5 minutes without learning something new. People across the world are talking about all sorts of things, and providing useful links to pretty fantastic websites. This is occurring literally all day and all night, without exception. It’s quite fascinating actually.

General browsing will bring “random value” – value on all sorts of subjects. You can also be specific and dig into topic areas and really get exactly the information you want. Tools like TweetDeck work like a dream when trying to do this. It’s no wonder that Sky News rolled it out to its staff recently.

Executive producer of Sky News Online, Julian March, said this about the TweetDeck rollout:

“The big change for us in 2010 is evolving how social media plays a role in our journalism. We no longer ghettoise it to one person, but are in the process of embedding throughout the whole team.”

With all of this information, it’s extremely easy to get sucked in. It’s easy to spend all day reading, collecting information, bookmarking, and filing. But doing only this will get one nowhere. There has to be a balance between collection data, and using data.

Stephen Covey explains this principle very accurately in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He calls it the P/PC Balance. P is Production, and PC is Production Capability.

You have to keep Production (using data to produce workshops, products, etc) and Production Capability (research, crafting your skills, etc) in balance – otherwise you won’t be effective.

His words:

Effectiveness lies in the balance. Excessive focus on P results in ruined health, worn-out machines, depleted bank accounts, and broken relationships. Too much focus on PC is like a person who runs three or four hours a day, bragging about the extra ten years of life it creates, unaware he’s spending them running. Or a person endlessly going to school, never producing, living on other people’s golden eggs – the eternal student syndrome.

In the Social Media space, it’s very easy to be a victim of the eternal student syndrome. Our industry literally changes daily. New developments at Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc shift the way we do things every so often. Company buy-outs and mergers are pretty common and no longer surprising. It’s easy for us to consume all of this information disproportionally to our actual use of the information.

I have learnt, from Covey’s teachings, to adapt this principle to every area of life. And I would recommend that you consider the same.

Covey:

The P/PC Balance is the very essence of effectiveness. It’s validated in every arena of life. We can work with it, or against it, but it’s there. It’s a lighthouse.

Social Media is very powerful. But a low-information diet will help us keep the P and PC balanced.

Photo credit: johnjoh

Get your head out of the clouds – no, don’t!

“Get your head out of the clouds” is a famous saying that I’m sure we all know all too we ll. Having your head in the clouds was seen as a bad thing, when someone was daydreaming, etc. But, it’s 2010. And I say: don’t only get your head right up there in the clouds, but get your entire business up there too!

The 2 terms used to describe what I’m referring to are: “Cloud Computing” and “The Web as a platform.”

Let’s look at the evolution of computing (in a very over-simplified manner). First there were none. Then there were very big computers, mainframes, which were in the hands of a select few. Then the desktop computer was born. Then networks were born – a bunch of computers connected to each other. First you could only connect to the network’s server by physically being in the building. Then you could connect from any location by dialing in. Then national and global networks emerged. Then the Internet was born.

The Internet is, metaphorically, the cloud. More and more, all our information resides online. Less and less are we dependent on servers, desktop computers, or laptops. We are dependent – more and more – on the Internet though. But that’s okay, because access to the Internet is becoming more easy, and less costly.

If you’re a Facebook user (and I’ll bet you are), you’d have experienced the power of the cloud. Logging into your Facebook account from any computer or mobile phone provides all your Facebook information – contacts, messages, news feed, etc. The same with Twitter.

I think Internet banking was the first significant cloud service. Firstly, being able to bank online revolutionised business, in my opinion. Being able to access your bank account, and make payments, without going into a bank – changed the game forever. And if you had a bad experience as I did of having being arm robbed after leaving a bank, it tends to be one of your least favourite places to visit. Secondly, you could bank from absolutely anywhere – as long as you had an Internet connection. Phenomenal!

Today there are so many cloud services which make our lives much more productive, much more fun, and much easier. Google Apps (used by 2 million businesses worldwide, including ours) is a communication suite from Google – providing email, online documents, calendar, and more. Freshbooks is an online invoicing system – also providing time tracking, expense tracking, and quotations. Evernote, Basecamp, and many other online applications now make us more mobile. We are no longer dependent on computers or locations, we’re only dependent on the Internet – and that’s not too hard to come by these days.

It’s not easy to give up control of your data, and move it to online locations – but it’s a move we must make. And once we’ve made that move, we never want to go back!

Photo credit: kables

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Are you a Mona, or a moaner?

March 10, 2010

I firmly believe that there is more – MUCH more – good in the world than there is evil. If we want to, we will find goodness and pleasantness all around us, wherever we go. And the bad that we discover will not affect us in any major way.

Yes, the world is not perfect, and we are frequently faced with unpleasant experiences. These may take the form of unfriendly people, bad service, etc. I believe that what happens to us is irrelevant, but how we respond to it is the matter which is important. I’m not implying that I don’t care if bad things happen to myself or other people, but I’m saying that bad things are going to happen. The trick is to handle them effectively.

Social Media has given everyone a voice, a loud hailer if you will. This is powerful, because it has changed communication and marketing – and business as a whole – from what we once knew. People are talking all the time, about everything. Twitter is active 24/7 – literally – so is Facebook. People are talking about everything.

What are you talking about? Are you adding value, providing good information, sharing valuable insights? Or are you whining about every bad thing?

This is really an important choice to make prior to – and during – Social Media engagement. So many people are creating value and being positive “online citizens” – we value them. Others complain all day. For example, there is someone that complains about Social Media all the time – saying that it doesn’t work and that it’s useless. But where does he complain? On Twitter. The hub of Social Media. It doesn’t make sense.

In both the online world and the offline world there are positive people, and negative people. Monas, and moaners. The thing is, in the online world everything is amplified, made larger, expanded, extended. So if you’re a positive person – many more people will know about your positivity due to the vastness of the Internet, and the rapidness of information flow. If you’re a negative person, more people will know too. And you’re doomed. No one wants to work – or associate – with negative people.

So you choose. But choose wisely.

Photo credit: click here

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Google’s Buzzing, again

February 10, 2010

In case you missed Google’s Press Conference last night, Google launched a new social platform called Google Buzz. The Web has shifted to becoming extremely social and interactive in recent years, and this is going to continue without a doubt. Twitter and Facebook have been dominating the “conversations” on the Web, and now Google Buzz appears that it might change things – perhaps totally, but definitely in some or other way.

According to Google, Google Buzz is “a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more. Buzz is built right into Gmail, so there’s nothing to set up — you’re automatically following the people you email and chat with the most.”

Before I continue, I want to say this: In my talks and writings over the past 2 years I have been emphasizing the importance of principles, not technical intricacies. The technologies are ever-changing – these websites that we know now were not around a few years ago, and they will be drastically improved and changed, or even replaced, in the coming years. My focus is on the underlying principles and fundamentals about why Web 2.0 and Social Media is so powerful. Once you have a grasp of them, the technology changes will not affect your ability to harness the full potentials of the online tools available.

Back to Google Buzz…

We’re not sure about the affect that this new platform will have on Twitter and Facebook. Firstly, it allows for status updates, commenting, liking, and also integrates with blogs, Flickr, and YouTube. It has a “Friendfeed” feeling to it as well. The only thing that stumps me at present is that it sits within Gmail, and on a “Google Profile” page. Personally, I use my Gmail account very rarely – my business emails are all in Google Apps accounts. Buzz will be integrated, but only in a few months time. There has been no talk of an API – but I don’t see Buzz surviving without it. Due to the API of the other social networks, I manage Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn via TweetDeck. This simplifies my life a whole lot, and makes my social interaction much more valuable.

I agree with Augie Ray from Forrester Research:

“While bringing relevance filtering to the noisy social media world could prove a significant advantage, this doesn’t (yet) seem to be enough to pull people away from the networks they’ve already created elsewhere. Buzz doesn’t update user’s Twitter or Facebook feeds, so I expect experimentation but not wholesale switching in the foreseeable future. Buzz could end up supplementing rather than replacing users’ other social networks for now.”

What does get me excited about Buzz is the mobile access – available at buzz.google.com – and the extremely advanced integration with Google Maps.

Google says:

With Buzz for mobile, we hope you can start interesting conversations about places and be more spontaneous when you are out and about. How many times have you missed a fun event, even though it was nearby? Or a better choice of dessert, just because you didn’t know about it? How often have you wondered “Where are you?” when reading a text message from a friend? Now, you can use Buzz to learn that there is going to be a movie night at your favorite park, share with the world that there is an awesome ice cream place right around the corner, or tell your friends about that delicious homemade lasagna.

The Google Buzz for mobile video explains it all:

The mobile component of Google Buzz is believed to impact Foursquare, and I think that will prove true, at least to some extent.

Mashable’s article “Google Goes Social with Google Buzz” gives a very nice overview of Google Buzz – read it here.

Also, read these very useful Mashable articles (all posted only hours after the release of Google Buzz):

What Google Buzz Means for Mobile
The Location Implications of Google Buzz
target=”_blank”Google Buzz: What It Means for Twitter and Facebook
Google Buzz: Competitors and Experts React
Google Buzz: Will You Use It? [POLL]

I was surprised to receive access to Google Buzz immediately, I assumed US users would be linked up first. You can connect to me at http://www.google.com/profiles/jamaal786. I’ve been following the conversations on Twitter, and many folks can connect to Buzz via their mobiles, but not yet via their Gmail accounts on the Web.

Of course, if you want to avoid the Buzz altogether, this article might be of use to you: Banish Google Buzz Updates from Your Gmail Inbox.

At the time of writing this post, about 7 hours after the Google announcement, the topic is still very hot online, with blog posts being written, podcasts been produced, and thousands of tweets flooding Twitter. I’ve estimated about 2, 500 new tweets with the words “Google Buzz” every 3 minutes. You do the math.

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Social Media ROI

February 7, 2010

The traditional business mind has been trained to ascertain what the ROI (the Return On Investment) is before seriously considering any injection of time or finances.

Social Media, being new and a current hype, is commonly the target of the “What’s the ROI?” question. Actually, I don’t believe it’s all hype. I believe Social Media is truly valuable. Yes, there is a lot of “noise” in these spaces, which I know will emerge into clearer patterns of communication, but even this “noise” is important, because it’s shaping Social Media.

A few months ago Scott Stratten (@unmarketing on Twitter) shared something with us. A friend asked him what the ROI was on Twitter. In answering, Scott asked his friend, “What is the ROI on our friendship?” This story is profound, and I’ve related it thus far in 2 public seminars. It’s profound because the ROI of Twitter, and Social Media as a whole, is intangible – just as in relationships.

Is it all about business? Is it all about numbers? Or is it all about people?

I highly recommend this book: “It’s not about the coffee” by Howard Behar. Visit the official website here. Howard is a Former President of Starbucks International. When we think Starbucks, we think coffee, right? Well, Howard goes at length in this book to illustrate that it’s really about the people, not the coffee.

He says:

At Starbucks, the coffee has to be excellent, from the sourcing and growing to the roasting and brewing. The vision has to be inspiring and meaningful. Our finances have to be in order. But without people, we have nothing. With people, we have something even bigger than coffee.”

“Opportunities lie within people” – something I learnt from Mignon Lotz-Keyzer, the owner of a company called PEERPOWER. I sat in her coaching sessions as part of a business programme in 2007. Mignon is a people’s person, and she did an excellent job in helping us understand the value of the human factor. We also covered Covey’s 21-year old masterpiece, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, with her.

Yesterday I came across an interesting article titled There Is No ROI From Social Media! I’d like to share with you the video at the bottom of the article, which sums up the Social Media ROI question quite nicely:

Photo credit: intersectionconsulting

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What is a Webinar?

November 10, 2009

We’re presenting three webinars next week, and we realised that some people may not know what a webinar is, hence this post. Simply put, a webinar is an online seminar – and there are typically two types. You can have a presentation-type webinar, where a presenter delivers to a viewing audience. Then you can have a collaboration-type webinar where there’s a high level of interaction – this is good for team meetings, etc. Webinars are being used all over the world, on a daily basis, for countless different purposes.

We use an online tool called Dimdim, and it’s completely online. You do not need a telephone. All you need is a computer with an online connection. Our upcoming webinars are of the presentation-type – so you don’t even need a webcam or headset. I will be presenting, you will be able to see me, and you will also be able to see slides on your screen, and you’ll be able to hear me of course. You will be able to participate by text, if you have any questions. Our next round of webinars will be of the collaboration-type, that’ll happen early 2010.

We’re currently hosting a series of seminars and workshops, you can view the complete list here. The reason we’re doing webinars as well is that there are many people outside of Cape Town – and even outside of South Africa – who would like to attend our events. Cape Town people are always welcome though, of course!

If you have any questions, please complete our contact form. And if you haven’t signed up yet, these are the upcoming webinars (and they’re absolutely free):

Understanding Web 2.0 and Social Media (Mon, 16 Nov 2009)
Making sense of Twitter (Tues, 17 Nov 2009)
How to find a job (or freelance work) using Social Media (Wed, 18 Nov 2009)

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