Successful Blog

May 1st at the Summit! An Out of the World Space!

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See Where It Happens

Join social media and business mavens, pr and interactive agencies, big brands and ecommerce specialists working together on building the business of the Interwebs.

Speakers speak for 40 minutes. Then you work with your team applying what they said to your business.

Calum MacLean, of the Summit Executive Center, has made a videocast of the space where we meet. Click through to see what makes the working environment of SOBCon so special and enticing.

Click through and check it out!

Storytelling Hits Home – Part 2

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In January I wrote a post about the subject of a documentary I am making. I talked about her community and how they had let her down and a little bit about our relationship. She has been in a women’s correctional facility, a jail, since then and we have maintained close contact. Well, as close as you can over a scant few phone calls that are monitored and letters someone else reads after she has written them. There is a chance that in a few weeks she may be released and has expressed the desire to enter a drug rehab program. I applauded her decision and was amazed when she told me there was no one to help her make this happen. I listened thinking this was the addict talking, making excuses, and offered encouragement but didn’t respond. After describing the lack of counseling in the facility she finally asked me to help.
  
And so it begins. Phone call after phone call, department after department: “No, we can’t refer. ” “She needs a counselor.” “I can’t talk to you about that.” Round and round I went. 

I am passionate about helping others. I am passionate about being an advocate for those who, for whatever reason, may not have a voice. But today, as I began advocating for someone close to me I kept hitting a wall. Today I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. Today I felt powerless, silent and ineffective. I have good intentions; I volunteer, serve on committees and volunteer boards. I promote non-profit online and wherever and whenever I can. 

What do we do when the systems we have in place to advocate and care for those disadvantaged in any and every way don’t work? How do we accept the fact that those processes put in place are not being managed in a manner that benefit those who need them? 

Again the community has let her down, and again tomorrow I will pick up the phone. 

photo credit: Amy Stark flickr
from: Kathryn Jennex aka @northernchick

Listening, Big Brothers, Logic, and Believing What You Hear

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What Did He Say?

Loan me ten dollars, but only give me five. That way you’ll owe me five. I’ll owe you five, and we’ll be even.

My younger, older brother is a clever guy — always has been. He could talk a fish out of water. He could get the neighborhood to wash the car for him. Everything he did seemed to be a game or a show of some kind.

“I can read your mind.”
“No, you can’t.
“Sure I can. You’re thinking I can’t read your mind.”

He’d send a whistle through his teeth and I’d be there. He had a junk drawer filled with exciting objects and a mind of exciting ideas.

“Kid, let me tell you about that picture. See, the princess — that’s you — She has two kings beside her and she has to do everything they tell her except on St. Patrick’s Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, she gets to be the queen.”

I’m his younger sister by more than 8 years. If he wanted company, I was there. I saw magic in him. He saw an eager audience in me.

“Want to split a coke?”
A few minutes later, I’d get an empty bottle.
“Sorry, kid, my half was on the bottom. I had to drink your half to get to it.”

He wasn’t a teacher in any traditional form, but I learned a lot by growing up with him.

“How does that work?”
“If you don’t know, I can’t tell you. If you do, then I don’t need to.”

I learned to listen for the meaning under the words.

Most folks don’t play quick and clever like my younger, older brother used to play with me. Still we all get caught using convoluted and circular logic — even when we talk to ourselves. Be on the lookout for it, especially today.

Happy April 1 … “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”

Ever bump into someone like my younger, older brother?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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Invest, Learn, Grow!

What Is a Social Media Friend?

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The LANGUAGE of SOCIAL MEDIA

Words have a deep effect on
how we interpret and interact with the world.
The words we use and how we define them
reveal our interests, concerns, and values.
This series explores the words of social media.

social media friend

Traditionally friend denotes a co-operative relationship that includes supportive action usually based in knowledge, respect, loyalty, and some availability in times of stress or crisis. Friendship can grow from participating in common activities, spending time in common work or study spaces, and usually involves discovering common values. A friend protects and looks out for a friend. Honesty and some degree of intimacy are hallmarks of friendship.

In any situation, the quality of “friend” depends on the reason for connecting, the situation, the longevity of the existing relationship, and the sophistication of the people in the relationship.

Linking up on a social networking site is is often called “friending,” as in Liz wants to be your friend. Those we connect with instantly become our “friends” in that network database. These can be non-personal friends, such as when two countries enter into an agreement for political purposes and international relations. Connections made to extend a network’s reach might be seen in this light.

Relationships online also rise to the level of personal friendship. The values of the social web — authenticity, honesty, transparency of purpose, and trust — make it natural for like-minded people to become friends in a real sense. Many people in social media overlook the term and hold friend to a higher meaning than a non-personal connection.

A growing number of meetings in person has added to this complex situation. In a simple, nonscientific social survey Twitter users answered this question this way. We seem to be drawn to meeting those we friend online.

What percent of all your friends are online friends only
— you’ve never met in person?

less than 20% 28 responses(43.75%)
20-40% 7 responses (10.94%)
40-60% 11 responses (17.19%)
60-80% 9 responses (14.06%)
more than 80% 9 responses (14.06%)

A totally equal distribution would be 20% in each response section.
In this 64 person group, it seems that once we cross the middle we quickly continue converting online friends into people we know in person.

Here’s how some folks define their online social media friends.

@deeped: “that X-factor in conversations – that makes you feels comfortable and interested”
@johnprew: “Perhaps its’ one who you’ve never met face to face but share your souls in what you share online and enjoy the mutual exchange.”
@sra_nelson: “I’ll usually just say they are my real friends I haven’t met in person yet.”
@debrasnider “Just as IRL, someone interesting who tells you the truth, listens to you, supports you & for whom you gladly do the same.”
@miraclady: “I have not met 90% of my commentors on my blog -less on Twitter. Still, there is such a connection. We know each other.”
@timbursch ” I think the tough part is trust. Trust that this person is who they say they are…”
@workhappynow: ” I define a friend in social media as someone who will offer help when I struggle. If he is a fair weather friend then he is cut.”

For more information see:
Princeton WorNet
Wiktionary
Friend / Friendship
Non-personal friendships
Etymology and definition of the term “community”
Friendship Network
Non-personal friendships

SEE ALSO:
What Is Social Media?
What Is Social Networking?
What IS a Social Community?

Got more to add? C’mon let’s talk.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Mic Is On: We're Talking About April Fools

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Who’s Fooling Who?

It’s the one day of the year that you can’t be sure what’s true. People get a chance to tell the most outrageous tales of events, how things work, and personal experiences.

  • What April Fools’ stories do you know?
  • Have you been caught by an April Fools’ trick? What’s the story on that?
  • Are you planning an April Fools’ joke yourself?
  • Have you ever pulled off an April Fools stunt? What was it? How much planning did it take? Whom did you catch?

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring example links.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
image: sxc.hu
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What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Who's Worth Listening to?

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Listening

Listening is the critical start of an effective social media plan.

Whether you’re a big brand or a solo blogger gathering up the conversation about your work helps develop perspective, adjust perceptions, and make plans to serve the people who love what you do. Listening has been called the new marketing. We’re learning to sort through the chatter for:

  • people who are talking
  • volume and location of conversations
  • tone and sentiment — content and context
  • advice, complaints, ideas
  • direction, timing, and growth

We’re learning to sort to the relevant:

Congratulations. People are talking about you and your industry so much that you need a more robust tool for making sense of it all. Several good monitoring services can help, including Radian6 and Nielson’s BuzzMetrics. –NTEN, Got Your Ears On? How to Listen to Your Audience Using Social Media

We’re even beginning sort the signal from the noise to see:

  • the positive and negative
  • the patterns and trends
  • the random and the regular

The information we gather can be overwhelming and contradictory. How we decide when it should move us to change what we do?

Who’s Worth Listening to?

People online are talking all of the time. Sometimes what we say is influenced by the moment or by the group. Sometimes our opinions are uninformed, missing bits of the big picture, bits that would change what we thought or what we would suggest someone might do.

Beyond all that it’s important to remember that we’re a self-sorted group. Everyone online has access to a computer and is literate. Not everyone who has an opinion offers it. Some who offer their opinion have agendas other than helping us improve. And those opinions and the wisdom we offer can fall woefully short of the depth of our feelings. Those opinions and that wisdom also can be far from what we’d actually do.

Even when we listen in the best of faith, we’re still we’re likely to be confused by whom to listen to.

How do you know when a complaint is worth changing a feature or strategy?
Do you listen to the critics?
Do you listen to the fans?
Do you listen to the people who don’t care all that much about you?
Do you try to get the folks who usually don’t talk to weigh in with an opinion?

Seth was brilliant on just this point this weekend.

… the critics won’t be placated. Changing your act to make them happy is a fool’s game.

Here’s a surprising thought, though. You should ignore your fans as well.

Seth suggests that the most important feedback comes from the folks who thrive on sharing what you do. Those “sneezers” are the people who will help you grow.

How do you recognize your “sneezers.” How do you listen for the folks who thrive when you do?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!