the first preso was fantastic

but the second one, with new perspective and learning, is just great. key point here - not about tools. about behaviors, patterns, psychology… all that good stuff.

I, like many others, get sick of hearing the (at this point) age-old quip “but I don’t care what you had for breakfast” specifically in reference to Twitter, but also to the use of social tools and social web behaviors in general.

So, for all of you naysayers, let me paint a picture for you…

Tehran, Iran - circa June 2009

Let me explain.

There are many questions to be asked regarding the “election”, not the least of which may be whether or not it matters who is president in a supreme-power theocracy. However, it is the events surrounding the recent happenings which are intriguing - a convergence of global social behaviors, technology, now-web and modern web application development practices and theory. In short, the techy geeky “stuff” which you presume to be a fad, isn’t. It is communication now; it is communication of the future. The results are profound.

Ingredients:

Global Social Behaviors - We live in a global economy and society. If you don’t believe that, please crawl back under your rock. It’s not just about multi-hemisphere conglomerates and international relations anymore, though. As is the common theme these days, it’s about the individual. Social technologies have connected the Common Joes of the world and they are genuinely interested in listening, talking, sharing, teaching, helping and learning from each other. From Bengal to New Hampshire they are participating in each others’ daily lives and having trivial(?) conversations.

Technology - It’s cheaper, more powerful, more accessible and better mastered than ever in history. We all know a computer as powerful as my iPhone used to be the size of an entire room… blah…blah…blah. The amazing capabilities of technology today, IMHO, are not so much computational, but connective combined with the ease by which they can be applied. You can connect almost anywhere. You can connect with almost anything… and that’s the point… YOU can do it.

The mobility of technology is also a key component. Mobile phones and smart-phones are of the utmost importance.

Modern Web Application Development Practices and Theory - Non-technicals stick with me here… there are a few crucial aspects of how people and companies develop web applications these days. Namely, the primary focus is on the engine - the core functionality. Many developers build and release Software Development Kits (SDKs), most commonly Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), for their applications. These tools, libraries, protocols and services allow other developers to leverage the engine in unique ways - pulling, pushing and mashing up data and interfaces. If you’ve ever seen a Google Map with unique data or elements in it, you’re seeing the result of an API. Users and developers find new uses for applications and engines all the time. Google is releasing it’s APIs for it’s new project - WAVE - to developers around the world long before the application will be accessible to the public. The idea is that thousands of progressive and diverse minds will help to finish the product, find new uses and  make it better. So, applications are being released “unfinished” and “wide open”. *Note -Ownership and monetization are another story!

Still shrugging and saying ’so what?’, huh? -

Tehran - People are trying to mobilize, trying to tell the world what is happening, but communications are being shut down. Traditional media are being banned. Sites are being blocked. But remember - people around the world are watching, people around the world want to help, people around the world care. Technology is accessible, connective and collaborative and our good friends at Twitter are aligned with the API-empowered web community.

What does this mean?

This means that because Twitter has an API, Twitter.com is not the only access point to the engine. It means that there exist 1000s of 3rd party applications through which people can read and publish tweets. Tehran can’t block them all, they don’t even know about them all. Fantastic! The masses with their mobile phones can be anywhere, communicate with each other, organize, assemble, and keep the rest of the world up-to-date while foreign journalists are being “controlled” and mass media is dropping the ball (have a look here too).

Well, what about connectivity? Internet access? If you can’t connect, you can’t tweet. Tehran certainly has control over access, right? Yes and no. Enter software engineer in Oklahoma who is interested in the situation and wants to contribute. He configures his laptop as a proxy and whala - people in Tehran can connect to TwitterFall through his computer and communications resume. That is, until Tehran finds him, and blocks his proxy. But then, another pops up in the UK, in Florida, in Singapore… you get the picture.

So let’s summarize that. People in Iran can communicate with each other and with the rest of the world while their government is scrambling to block things as quickly as they can because they have mobile technology, the global community cares, is interested, can facilitate connectivity, and because modern web applications focus on the what, not the how/when/where.

Does it matter? I sure think so. A major geopolitical occurence was consumable in real-time and not only that… but it was MADE POSSIBLE in real time because of this convergence. Still not convinced it matters? Well, the State Department decided it did too… they contacted the crew over at Twitter - a small group in a loft in SOMA - and asked them not to go offline for scheduled maintenance because… well… Twitter was contributing to democracy.

How da ya like DEM apples?

I was thinking the other day - what’s going to happen to my social media personas/profiles/accounts when I die? I’m hoping that this doesn’t become a real issue for quite some time, but just the idea of it caused me to question - I wonder how long it will be until people begin to make specifc (and legal) stipulations about their social media presences in their last wills.

Seriously though, when are we going to read a news story that says: Mr. So-and-So has indicated that he would like his Facebook status to read: blah blah blah, that he’d like his grandson to update this status every month with the following list of quotes. Additionally, he would like his Twitter Account to respond with the following DM: blah blah blah to any new followers.

Or how about this - when is there going to be an app written that you can pre-populate/stipulate/dictate your SM behavior once you’ve left us and have gone on to that better place? [interested? ive already got user-cases and wireframes]

I’m pretty sure Facebook might have a policy on this, but I didn’t care enough to look it up.

I’m interested - what do you want your social media presences to do once you die songs of love hate download mp3 ? How will you take care of it? What is your list of requests? Let me know.

On December 18th I spoke at Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) with Brian Link (former Digg Exec and now BE Interactive Consulting) and Angela Siefer (Shiny Door) about coprorate myths and fears having to do with social media. A PDF of our preso can be found here.

We started off with a brief intro and then had the 60 attendees break into small groups to come up with fears/reservations that they personally or their companies/organizations had with regard to social media. The list was pretty telling of corporate attitude toward social media, so I thought I’d share. Great material here for anyone looking to engage a corporate entity in SM consulting. A few of the companies in attendance were: AAA, Nationwide, Children’s Hospital, Resource Interactive, People To My Site, COSI, TechColumbus, Queen City Angels and more.

Afraid of broadcasting private company information and losing control of messages.

Worried about proving ROI -what is the result and cost?

Time waste for employees - loss of productivity

Bad/wrong info being distributed

Keeping up with the pace and the pure volume of etiquette, dos and donts, new technology, etc

Big stories (dell, comcast, zappos) don’t translate to my organization

Sabotage/negative efforts by competitors

Ability to make it 2 way vs 1 way. what if people dont talk back?

Support and sustainability of a campaign/initiative

Targeting/audience - are the people I want to talk to using social media?

Capacity to handle it in terms of personnel? Who owns it in the organization?

Getting internal (specifically upward) adoption

Generational - is this a FAD? Invest now, flavor of the day?

Compliance and legal!

Difficulty integrating with existing campaigns and efforts

Brands in social media are not authentic (perception)

Loss of face-to-face communication skills

I think many of these are consistent per what I’ve encountered. Some are legitimate and need to be addressed strategically and some are simply the misconceptions and/or resistence to change in engagement realities.

Are these consistent with what you’ve heard?

[Originally Posted on the dynamIt Blog 3, October, 2008]

Is there a Social Media Dress Code? Should there be? Is it situational? Does it matter? Should it?

I say no. If I’m heading down to a big law firm, a big company or walking into a half-century-old PR firm who buttons up, ya, I pull on the suit and rope on the tie. While I do dress according to my day, I can’t wait to stop. I understand that traditional business is suited up, dressed to the 9s and perhaps a bit more conservative and structured. However, Social Media is about channels of connection, it’s about brand championing, it’s about reaction-engagement-participation. Social Media is about common language communication and time and space shift*.

I contend that dressing Social Media in a suit actually inhibits it. Think about it like this - are you more apt to give a real answer in a focus group observation room with 1 way mirrors and a camera or in a cafe, at your home or somewhere you feel comfortable? Is your conversation and thought process more natural when you’ve ironed your shirt and lint-brushed your trousers or when you’ve pulled on the sweats and are sitting in a more ergonomic chair not worrying about wrinkles and dog hair? The point is, for Social Media to be effective [read: gain valuable insight, true connection, trust and reliance] it needs to be second nature, unobtrusive and comfortable.

To that end, were I heading a large company/department looking to at least explore and hopefully implement a Social Media campaign, I would actually feel more comfortable talking with someone “dressed down”. 1. Social Media is trendy - I expect domain experts and thought leaders to reflect this 2. Successful Social Media implementation is not a toe in the water, it is commitment. As described above, someone consulting on this and coaching my people toward a positive result and experience should fully embrace the realm and “personality”. I’m pretty sure clients/customers would rather be talking to someone “like them” horizontally than a suit from above. As Cone points out, 93% of Americans expect companies to have a Social Media presence. 93% of Americans (all of us consumers of something and clients of someone) do not wear suits.

Again to the time and space shift* - Social Media pieces aren’t used in a conference room or in a board meeting (well, some are getting tweeted out!) but on breaks, on the run, on the road, after hours. Social Media is used/produced around life. If that life happens to be a business professional meeting, then by all means rock the double-breasted. However, just because you’re used to seeing a suit doesn’t mean that your clients and customers want to talk to you in it = your SM campaign doesn’t need to wear one = the thought leaders, domain experts consultants and participants in the field probably won’t be wearing them… at least not all the time.

*(time and space shift is Dave Berkus language)

What do you think? Should big corporate get used to seeing backwards hats, jeans and sneaks when they’re learning about the world of Social Media and how it can and will connect them more intimately with their clients, industry and (the way things are heading) the world?

You’re a brand and you want to interact with me digitally (namely via some social media piece)? Good, great, I’m all for it. Become the Stain on the Ceiling in my Shower.

I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen the billboards, I’ve seen the commercials. I’ve had the popups (and blocked them), walked by motion triggers in Walmart, even been served something similar to what my mom just wrote me in an email. Truthfully - I don’t even see/hear/feel anything anymore (jeez, that sounds horrible doesn’t it?)

You want to be affective? Become the Stain on the Ceiling in my Shower. Show up and I’ll notice you. Don’t get worse, or else I’ll paint over you. Be there; be something I can deal with; become part of my every day. Most days I won’t pay attention to you. Some days I’ll look at you and subconsciously think that you look an awful lot like what’s-that-country-called-in-Africa. Believe it or not, this adds value to my day. Get me used to seeing you, but don’t drip on my recently-shampood head.

What you want to do is get to the point where, were you gone, I’d miss you. Remember, you’re not an aggressive stain. You’re not growing, peeling or molding. You’re just there. You actually add value to my life by making me think, by adding color to my sometimes-all-to-white-shower-ceiling and by sharing with me things only a stain could know. When you’re at this point, you can affect me and call me to action, subtly, but remember, I have tolerance for you now.

Had you done this on day one, I’d have had the spackle out and we wouldn’t have shared those intimate steamy moments together. You wouldn’t have been able to gain the insight that you have (wink) and I wouldn’t have looked to you for inspiration and (don’t tell my creative or purchasing managers this) answers.

Get it? Now go Become the Stain on the Ceiling in Someone’s Shower and develop that relationship that you might not be used to, but that allows you into a world of a steamed up glass door, not the one-way mirror of the focus group room.

Of note: “No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant” - Warren Buffett

@NickSeguin