Accidentally on Purpose Blog

Dan Greenfield, VP. Communications at Earthlink tagged me over the weekend for the 8 Random Things About Me meme.  Truth be told, I’m not one for this tagging thing but, what the hell.  I met Dan at a Social Media Club workshop in Palo Alto back in June.  The workshop was about starting the conversation — Dan and I did just that. 

Here are  8 random things about me:

1. I’m just recently getting back into baseball.  Having walked away from MLB after the 1994 strike when I vowed to never again return as a fan.  I wouldn’t be back now except for my seven year old son is a baseball fanatic.  Go Phillies!
2. Two of my favorite reads: The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas P.M. Barnett & An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths by Glenn Reynolds
3. The last time I went to a movie (excluding taking my kids) was in 1998 (Saving Private Ryan.)  If its not in rotation on USAirways – I haven’t seen it.
4. I want a boat so bad! 
5. In 1984/85 I drove limousines for the casinos in Atlantic City. 
6. If I had to do it all over again, I’d become a meteorologist — My dream job is on-air-talent at the Weather Channel.
7. My favorite restaurant in the world is in South Philadelphia’s Italian Market — Villa di Roma — cash only, no reservations, no ambiance; BUT, the best Italian food in the world!  And yes, I have been to Italy!
8. I’m a music junkie.   My iPod is with me at all times and I’m always on the lookout for new music.

Jeremiah Owyang said,

This is by far the most important report I’ve seen this year for the IT industry.

In a post entitled IT Decision makers find Social Media valuable , Jeremiah looks at a report from Research IT Toolbox.   These numbers paint a picture of the changes occurring in the marketplace.  

The social media contingent is still rather new, especially in the business world – what makes this report so interesting to me is the time in which social media concepts have come to such prominence in the business to business space. 

This report is certainly not a ”silver bullet” but, to echo what Jeremiah said; it is an important piece of evidence that will help you call the necessary attention to the need to begin developing a social media strategy for the future — the immediate future!

While the changes that have occurred thus far have come about rather quickly, its important to note that further changes are only likely to accelerate from here.

The Facebook phenomenon continues to get tons of coverage.  This article in the Journal really made me smile.  It’s about how uncomfortable things can get when your boss or other folks you are “close to” ask to be your “friend.”  

I’ve been on Facebook for about a month now.  I don’t have any potentially career limiting images posted, not yet anyway.  But, as the article describes it seems that a lot of people do.   I haven’t been asked by my boss to become his “friend” — yet —  but, I do have a number of colleagues that have asked. 

the lighter side:

–utilities like Facebook can enable you to quickly connect and communicate with a broad spectrum of people in a more intimate and perhaps efficient way

–various networks and groups can help you organize information in a more fun and perhaps more useful way

–increasingly, FB is becoming a standard for commercial interaction, easing the way for people to invite others into their networks

the darker side:

–do you really want your boss looking at that photo of you from that New Years Eve party?

–do you really want to see that photo of your boss on the beach?

–sticky networks can be an incredible drain on your time

Technorati Tags: Facebook

By now all the commentary (here, here and elsewhere) has died down on Google blogger Lauren Turner’s post.   This incident underscores the importance of social-media training for people in your organization.   I’d like to use this as an opportunity to discuss how you may want – rather need — to help your business with some social-media training.  Much as you would train anyone speaking on behalf of your company, two of the more overarching lessons would be:

• if you are writing on a corporate blog, people will naturally assume you are writing on behalf of the company.
• if you are writing on a personal blog, people may still make the assumption that you are writing on behalf of the company. 

Whether or not you like it, people may see you as a spokesperson for the company, and you need to weigh the responsibilities and outcomes of what you post before you publish.

One of the issues facing the corporate adoption of Social Media is the “what to do” factor.   I’m asked all the time; what should I do about this or that?  So, now I’m developing a social-media “training” curriculum.  Basically, it’s about preparing those who are unaware of how to engage. 

This “training” isn’t about how to blog, it is about helping people understand the likes of: 

• what to do when the New York Times calls you for comment about what you just posted on your blog?
• someone just commented about your product and they got it all wrong — how do I respond? 
• what are the potential risks of engagement?
• someone just wrote a highly critical post about my product, and it’s all true — how do I respond?
• what are the potential rewards of engagement?
• what’s the difference between the print media, online, blogs and social networks?
• etc.

This is a work in progress.  I’d very much like to hear your thoughts/experiences/recommendations.  Remember, the goal here is to educate those that don’t yet understand the nuances so that they too can participate effectively.

Well the project is moving along and already proving valuable with the insight Shel is receiving.  I’m amazed at the reach this project is achieving.   I was in facebook (specifically the “facebook for business” group and saw Shel’s post being discussed, I’ve received my first request for a media interview on the effort and the quality of the posts and conversation on the questions being asked is FANTASTIC!  So, I guess its appropriate for me to weigh in and discuss why this project is even underway. 

First, a little background. 

I use Word Press for this blog, I’m on facebook and Linked in, I’m a member of SDN and BPX (two of the SAP communities) and I run Blogger Relations at SAP.   I’m a Social Media evangelist and responsible, to some degree (not all), of where we take our use of Social Media, at least in the Communications realm.

I’m also a member of the Social Media Collective.   As such, I am privy to the discussions that go on in our Google group.  There are a lot of smart people in that group and I learn a lot from them every day.  The best part is I’m gaining such insights from a group of highly experienced practitioners who’ve been doing this for longer than I have.  Now, to be fair, the worst part is that a lot of the discussion happens to center around the tools of Social Media.  That’s not a knock; its very interesting and incredibly enlightening.  Its just that it doesn’t provide me with all that I’m looking for when I’m trying to understand how social media is developing across various parts of the world.

In order to make the necessary recommendations for what to do next and why: I need more information!  What is the difference between facebook and Linked in?   What’s important – today, tomorrow, three years from now?   What trends in social media are developing in Asia vs. Europe vs. Latin America vs. North America?  What’s the best way to engage – now and in the future.  Moreover, these learnings will be shared elsewhere in SAP, so that others who are also considering what’s next will have the information they too need to continue to innovate.

Simply put, we’re trying to skate to where the puck will be!

Now, why is this project happening in such a public fashion? 

Three words – WHEN IN ROME… When Giovanni and I discussed the project (prior to speaking with Shel) I thought of it as a typical research project.  The research would be conducted and the results would be sent to me in a report.  I really didn’t think of whether or not the research should be conducted in public or private.  But, Shel was right when he said:

I suggested to Mike that we conduct and report on this project, transparently, online on this site in the same way Robert and I wrote Naked Conversations. If the book had magic, had not come from the research or the actual writing.  It came from the collaboration we had shared with the blogosphere.  Bloggers gave us leads. They corrected the facts.  They let us know when we were making valid points and when we had gone over the top.

I proposed that we do the SAP Global Social Media Research on this blog, in collaboration with the blogosphere, that we do it transparently and that what we find we share on this blog. This, as far as I know, would differentiate it from any market research and the process in itself would become an example of thought leadership.

And as Shel wrote; I did love the idea!  The only way to do this right was to conduct the research in the open for all to see on his (and now other’s blogs).  This way everyone can participate.  Its the nature of the social media topic so why should the research be any different.

So, that’s the high level view.  For those that have contributed — THANK YOU.  For those of you yet to participate — THANK YOU in advance for what you will contribute!

I truly hope that the conversations that happen as a result of this project continue to evolve and that everyone benefits from the discussion.

Pattern #3: Peer Communication

This is a pattern that should get lots of excitement in the world of “PR” & communications. Yet, very few organizations beyond some early innovators have begun to exploit its potential.

If your organization has many experts who can connect with many audiences – audiences, by the way being internal and external – why limit your ”PR” team to only a few corporate spokespeople?

Some may see some of the obvious “risks” but, what I see are the obvious “rewards”.  A future where PR types see their role as mainly building communities of communicators.  Only, these communicators are different than what you might expect.  

They’re storytellers, conversationalists and genuinely interesting people. They come from all walks of life and represent every department, they come from both inside and outside of your organization.  They have a lot to offer; they’re customers, partners, employees and interested third parties. Some of them blog, some create video, others ”twitter” about anything and everything.

While many of you may feel this may be a bit to utopian (or worse yet, a nightmare), its actually kind of already happening, you just need to know where to look for it.  William Gibson, the acclaimed author who coined the term cyberspace, noted: “The future exists today. It’s just unevenly distributed.”

Hat tip to James Governor on that William Gibson bit!