Teblog

Dealing with social media addiction

The internet is silting up with ego-driven dross. It's little wonder that the anti-network-neutrality brigade would like to turn it into freeways and side streets, depending on willingness to pay. And, equally, it's no wonder that the network neutrality supporters want everything to stay the same and for the pipes to be fattened ad infinitum.

With limitless capacity and fixed price access, anyone who can afford a few dollars a month is able to promulgate whatever they want out to an unsuspecting world. They could do it with blogs, podcasts, videocasts, social networking sites, Second Life or Twitter.

It doesn't matter that most of the utterances are ignored by most of the world. For most people the joy lies, I suspect, in the uttering. It's like vanity publishing. Everyone has a story and this is a way to get it out.

Most people like making connections and 'friendships'. By participating in a social site like Twitter, they can delude themselves about their connectedness. Enough of the digital glitterati hang out there to make it worth dropping by and picking up what these A-listers are up to. Even if it is as boring as 'stuck in traffic on 101', or whatever.

If we were able to really restrict our appetite for social media consumption to our genuine friends and work colleagues, for example, then we'd probably derive a lot of value from it. I wouldn't mind knowing what my four analyst colleagues at Freeform Dynamics were up to at any time although I really wouldn't welcome a continous stream of the stuff.

And this is the issue really. If you get involved in any big way with blogs, podcasts, videocasts and social sites, it can be like a drug. But this drug doesn't so much mess with your head as mess with your time. "I'll just see what [name your own guru] is up to at the moment" and that's another chunk of your life thrown away, never to be recovered. It's even worse with videos, which are becoming all the rage in Twitterati circles. A bit of puff and a tiny URL and, if you're not careful, you end up watching some nonentity on an ego trip.

I think we ought to start accounting for our time in the same way that lawyers do. And then measure the value extracted from each social media engagement. Did it entertain? Did it educate? Did it inform? Choose your own criteria and monitor your online activity. If you're dissatisfied with the outcome, ask yourself what else you would have spent that time doing. If the answer to that is 'something better' then you have a problem. Only by recognising the consequences of the addiction can you form your strategy for beating it.

PS For social accounting purposes, that probably took you 135 seconds to read.

Social media at a glance (well 57 readable pages anyway)

Lee Hopkins and Trevor Cook have written the second edition of their Social Media eBook. If you feel uncertain about the SM (no, not that one!) world, then this will help. It's a 57-page pdf but it's an easy and informative read.

Don't be put off by its Australianness or its datedness in the early parts, it probably needs a slight update when it comes to mentions of things like Writely, which was renamed last October. The value of this .pdf eBook is that it's running you through the principles of the new web world.

The wiki bit is the least insightful by these two excellent writers, but they compensate by examining real projects so you should get an idea of their relevance to you.

Nothing is beyond reach: Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Second Life ... Offhand, I couldn't think of anything significant that they left out. (The providers of the services that weren't mentioned will probably disagree. They can chuck in their comments on this blog if they like.)

Take a look. It costs nothing apart from half an hour or so of your time.

Social Computing in more than 22 seconds

After the earlier discussion about whether to put my presentation online, I've done a half-way house thing.

Rather than having to listen to me speaking over the slides, I thought I'd put my slides and notes on Flickr.

Unlike this snail (taken from the presentation), you can zip through at whatever speed you like or pick out the pages of most interest.

If you're unused to Flickr, move your mouse pointer to the top or bottom of the image to access the controls.

Feedback is very welcome. You know where to find me.

P.S. Before anyone says anything, my apologies for not hiding the cursor on some of the pix.

Social computing in 22 seconds

Here's a 22-second run through of a recent presentation I created on 'New Technologies' - ie social software/web services etc.

I used images and everyday activities in order to build rapid bridges between the audience and the technologies. (The presentation slot was 35 minutes.) It also meant that the content and audience engagement could be flexible. I'm guessing here, but I suspect that most new developments could be slotted into the structure fairly easily.

It took a long while to prepare and it seems a shame to have given it only one outing. A friend suggested making it into a YouTube movie, but it would be fossilised in time. Not sure whether it's a good idea or not.

Any thoughts?

Getting to grips with new technologies

Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County has created a 23-step induction programme into new technologies: Blogs, Photos & Images, Mashups, RSS, Newsreaders, LibraryThing, Search, Tagging, Folksonomies, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Wikis, Web Applications & Tools, Podcasts, Video, Downloadable audio, including eBooks.

I've blogged about it at IWR. If you're unsure of any of this stuff, dive to the appropriate lesson and enjoy!

SME/SMB blogs and podcasts

A little while ago, one-time PR man and general good egg, Alex Bellinger, approached me with a view to starting a blog which specifically served small to medium businesses. We both agreed that the SME/SMB segment is ill served, yet it has millions of participants. We talked at great length before he decided to take the plunge with a 'Small Business Blog' adjunct to his popular SmallBizPod podcasting site.

According to the official blurb, the blog sets out to offer "practical advice, news and insight for start-ups, small business owners and entrepreneurs".

We thought it best to get a few blogs under our belts before letting people know about it. Well, we're on the verge of our fifth week and we all seem to be settling down together. So here goes: I write about technology stuff; Guy Clapperton writes about franchising; Sara Scott writes about marketing; and Alex Bellinger seems to write about whatever catches his eye. (We all have to be on our toes to make sure he hasn't nicked one of our ideas.)

If you like what you see please tell others. If  you don't, then please tell us.

Thanks. We look forward to seeing you over there.

Trevor Cook and Lee Hopkins explain social media

Trevor Cook (Australia-based PR man with common sense) has teamed up with online communications whizz, Lee Hopkins to write an eBook (free) on social media.

Since I trust Trevor, through his blogging, I recommend the book. I have scanned it and it runs through blogging, podcasting, RSS from the communications (not surprisingly) perspective. If you are in any doubt about what this is all about, then do read it. It explains everything clearly, provides masses of useful links, provides good advice and illustrates with case studies.

Keith Collins: big company insight + marketing + strategic social media

Keith Collins is a relative newcomer to active blogging but he has a lot of big-company marketing experience. (Dell, Xerox...)

To keep things simple, let's call him a strategic blogging evangelist. That's not to say that he thinks a blog is the answer to every company's communication prayers. It's not. But if he thinks it is, he will explain the whys and wherefores in business terms.

Since we both live slightly to the west of London, we met for a chat yesterday morning. Turns out we had lots of business acquaintances in common and, having met online anyway, our get-together got off to a fast start. The meeting made me think hard about my own role in life. As we left each other, I said "we're complementary. My interest is in the use of social software inside the firewall and yours is in its use outside."

Driving home I realised that, while true, that only related to my journalistic focus. My training/mentoring focus is entirely about companies communicating effectively with the outside world - whether that's the press, venture capitalists, the blogosphere or anyone else. In that sense, Keith and I are a lot closer. The big difference is that I'm coming principally from a media perspective and he's coming from a big company/marketing perspective. Instead of being back-to-back at the edge of the enterprise, we find ourselves face-to-face.

I've met loads of social media evangelists but this is the first one I've met who also has an intimate practical understanding from the marketing and business perspective. (I hope the many PR and marcomms people I know will understand why I've excluded them from that statement.)

I have no idea whether Keith and I will meet again, or work together. Anything is possible. But I thought I'd tip you off about his existence.

Dragon's latest speech recognition

Ever wanted a podcast transcription? Or maybe a transcription of a conference call? Well, speech recognition software is getting really good. Take a look at this post for the low-down on Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.

It worked better before I trained it than after. This suggests that the latest line from Nuance: "No training required" is true.

The blog post also talks about Voice Perfect, an Australian company which has a system which will transcribe and colour-code and time-stamp speakers' contributions during a meeting. Even if they're speaking at the same time. (Clue: a recording channel per speaker.)

12 months on, Tebbutt and Hobson catch up on social media

Had lunch with Neville Hobson a couple of weeks ago. We see each other from time to time, but rarely get the chance for a good chinwag. Oddly, the previous session had been in the same restaurant about a year earlier. Since we both spend most of our time in the social computing space, we thought we'd examine how our thinking has changed/refined over this time.

Neville had just read my blog post about how Robert Angel uses BrainStorm to prepare for podcasts, so he thought it would be a good idea to interview me on the subject.

Since I'd already planned to interview him about his podcasting and new media life, we decided to make a single recording of  (some of our) post-lunch conversation.

Neville has blogged about it and provides professional links to the podcast. Please go there, especially if you want to listen to the podcast online.

If you download the MP3, this playlist will help you jump to the bits of interest. Assuming, of course, there are any.

00:00 Scene setting
00:37 A lot's changed in a year
01:04 Death of fanaticism
01:40 Ethics/Journalism
02:24 Guardian blogger - for free
02:58 Podcasting - noise cancelling headphones
04.29 BrainStorm for podcasting
09:36 Perspective on what's valuable in social computing
12:18 Screencasts starts (interrupted)
12:48 Low cost video, daughter records Alan Shearer, recording industry issues
15:33 Screencasts continued - Camtasia & BB FlashBack
16:17 Neville's life changes - how to exploit new tools for organisational benefit
17:23 Life/Work threaded - attention to family etc needed
18:43 New life: opportunities from FIR & conf
19:27 Level of engagement high, met people couldn't have before
21:31 Closing remarks and plug for the Sipson Tandoori