Social media: the sixth C

Over a year ago I coined the term The 5 C’s of Social Media as a way of describing how, at it’s core, social media afforded us 5 base opportunities:

• the opportunity to contribute – easy sharing of information
• the opportunity to comment – your chance to have your say
• the opportunity to collaborate – work with anyone, anywhere to achieve a common goal
• the opportunity of conversation – getting involved in discussions with others
• the opportunity of community – building relationships online

I expanded on how each of the C’s formed a part of the online social experience at the time and the ideas were well received, this post can now be found here.

Whilst being a good base form which to start describing the ideas behind social media the phrase was primarily a headline, an attention bringer so – in that regard – was a throw away; useful at the time but not retained or revisited.

It, therefore, makes it more interesting to find that the phrase appears to have taken on a life of it’s own. The phrase has been adopted, repeated, altered and adapted but, regardless of how it is wrapped up, as one blog post put it:

“amongst the social media circles it is nearly universally agreed, the elements of a good social media strategy consist of the 5 C’s: conversation, community, collaboration, contribution and commenting.”

The Sixth C

Back in June 2008 social media was still primarily reserved for the geeks and the early adopters; the holy grail for any social media service was to achieve ubiquity, to enter the mainstream. Then, around 6 months ago, things changed. In one month Twitter saw over 1300% growth with celebrities and the mainstream media trying to claim social media as their own. Whether you are listening to local radio or national sports coverage or watching TV everyone is now talking about Twitter. It has truly entered the public consciousness in a way that not even Facebook with it’s millions of users has managed to do.

People are now using short status updates as a matter of course, supplementing and even, in some cases, bypassing other forms of communication. I believe we have reached the point where social media can honestly be described as an extension of our normal behaviour and it is still growing.

The importance of the social network in our society is finally starting to fulfil it’s potential and, with more and more companies interacting with their customers in this setting, it is rapidly becoming just another way to do business.

My original suggestion for The Sixth C can, therefore, finally be adopted: culture.

Rumours and potenial: facebook lite

The interwebs are abuzz with the news that Facebook is testing a new, streamlined version of its service called “Facebook Lite”. From a first glance at the leaked screenshots it appears to be far more Twitter like having just status updates but with Comments and Likes enabled. Some might say that it looks more like Friendfeed from a while back when the service was still quite new.

The emergence of Facebook Lite shortly after the aquisition of Friendfeed seems more than a coincidence but, according to TechCrunch it is designed for use in areas where download speeds are slow so we should not get over excited at present.

Potential

Whether or not Facebook Lite develops beyond a low bandwidth version of the site or becomes the frameowrk for something else remains to be seen. If it is kept free from all the clutter that plagues the normal version, then it could be the perfect vehicle for Friendfeed integration. If you add in additional import functionality then Lite has the potential to essentially become a Friendfeed clone – Facebook as it used to be: just for sharing info.

We don’t need to be told who has achieved what on Farmville, or poked, or invited to play Mafia Wars – this was the joy of the Friendfeed service and what really caught the imagination: a place to share, connect and discuss without the limitations of 140 characters.

Regardless of any change in functionality or version, however, a primary sticking point between the methods of operation of Facebook and Friendfeed is the actual friending behaviour. Facebook requires mutual friending but on Friendfeed (just like Twitter and other services) friending can be unilateral or not even required at all in order to interact with another user.

If Facebook could release a version without the need for mutual friending that includes full, real time search then we could be on to a winner.

Some thoughts on Facebook and Friendfeed

A lot has already been said about Facebook’s acquisition of Friendfeed even though we don’t know the full details of how it will all pan out. The doom mongers are working overtime, almost revelling in the fact that they have an excuse for another pop at Facebook whilst others feel that this could be the best thing that could have happened (imagine what it would be like if Google or MS bought them instead).

The facts are that Facebook and Friendfeed are aimed at two disparate audiences for two disparate purposes with two completely distinct operating models. Facebook may have been “borrowing” some of the best ideas that Friendfeed had to offer and Friendfeed, in turn, may have been redesigned their interface to make it more familiar to users of other services but they (currently) remain at almost opposite ends of the social media spectrum.

Do we read between the lines from the announcement on the Friendfeed blog when it says that “Friendfeed will continue to operate normally for the time being” – does this mean that it will eventually be devoured by the Facebook monster and no longer exist as we know it? Most likely, but at present it is all speculation.

Cross-breeding functionality may well enhance both but the acquisition must be handled extremely carefully or the same cross breed could ruin both services and alienate both sets of users.

Community

Unfortunately, social media is a living paradox. It strives for openness and flexibility with accessibility from as many platforms as possible but, despite this surface flexibility, we are tied to the same back end. The constant battle between technological freedom and system dependence. We may be able to connect from anywhere but we are always connecting to the same thing.

But that is what social media is about. We have a choice of networks but a service is only as good as the people who use it, your friends and your community. I may use Twitter, you may use Plurk but without interaction they are meaningless. The choice exists but unless we get all of our friends, our community, to choose the same way we are talking to ourselves.

For all of the flexibility we crave we are governed, out of necessity, by the herd mentality and this is what has a lot of people running scared about the Friendfeed acquisition. If Friendfeed does get absorbed and cease to function as a separate entity what will the resulting offspring be like? Which features will come from either parent? Will we get a genetically perfect super child or end up with a Frankenstein’s monster and, ultimately, will we be able to persuade our community to migrate with us.

Fear of change

As a rule we fear change – at least BIG change – but change can be an extremely effective catalyst prompting new ideas and ways of achieving our goals. Whilst this fear may sometimes be justified it is, at the base level, often unfounded as the likes of Friendfeed are subject to constant change as the service evolves and grows over time. Perhaps the acquisition by Facebook is required for the next evolutionary jump to occur or, just as equally, it may cause an evolutionary dead end – the social media Neanderthal.

All we know is that the winds of change are blowing, their direction remains to be seen so we should all reserve judgement until the storm hits.

Sometimes we need to leave our comfort zones.

Social Media ‘On The Go’ – A Mobile Office Made Easy (And Cheap!)

As you know I am currently on holiday (and having a lovely time thank you!) but this does not mean that I have to take a whole week off work, nor does it mean that all our clients have to go on hold whilst I am away.  By the wonders of technology I am able to work wherever I am, whether that be in the car, on a beach, walking around a museum or like yesterday, up the top of Blackpool Tower.

I am passionate about what I do and I like to be able to keep the lines of communition between myself and my clients open at all times.  It is important not only from an enquiries point of view for new and potential clients but also for good customer service for my existing clients.  Luckily I am able to do this wherever, whenever because I work away from home using my ‘portable office’.

There are many ‘mobile office’ solutions that allow you to ‘remotely access’ your home PC or allow you to ‘create a mobile desktop’ on the web, but these normally cost a monthly or annual fee.

I do not use any of these but I am still able to work efficiently and easily from my hotel room or from the car.

Luckily I have a wonderful mobile, it does pretty much everything apart from make the breakfast in the morning, and guess what it’s NOT an iPhone  I have the Nokia 5800 which does pretty much everything the iPhone (but at half the price) can do which means that I can use it like a PDA.  Yesterday whilst 412ft up the top of Blackpool Tower, I emailed various people, tweeted and edited a web page.  Yes I got some very odd looks, but I was able to keep up with events within my work life as they happened.  I have various applications installed that allow me to run my very own portable office ‘on the go’ including probably my most used application Gravity.

Gravity is an amazing little application that makes the view of Twitter better than Twitter itself.  The layout is great and very easy to read, the colours are calm and all the information you need is separated into windows which you can scroll across.  If you use TweetDeck or HootSuite it is very similar to this but on your phone.  The application running is very smooth and also helps to keep your bandwidth down if you are using mobile internet access.

I also use mobile versions of Facebook, LinkedIn, Email and more, not to mention podcasting applications and the ability to post a new blog post here through my phone.

My poor laptop (affectionately known as ‘Lappy’) is old.  It’s quite a basic model and has been bashed about, not to mention well used! But it does everything I need it too.  I am able to use all the software I need such as email, design and graphics software, laptops these days do not have to be expensive, if you can get on to the internet then most of the applications or software you need can be found by using ‘web versions.  I use my laptop in my hotel room in the evenings.  We always try to stay in a hotel that has WiFi access, this makes working in the evenings quicker than running the laptop web access through my mobile, which I admit I have done a few times in a tent!

That’s it, 2 things.  That’s all I need.  People are always amazed that I work on my holidays and when I say I’m taking everything I need, I normally joke that I am taking more office equipment than clothes, but in reality I can run my entire company with 2 pieces of hardware, both of which are portable.    I purposely streamlined the way I worked a few years ago, so that everything could  be run if needed on just a laptop and a mobile.  Just in case we had a power cut or couldn’t get home for whatever reason I knew that I could still keep my business running with these two options.  So I started using ‘web versions’ of applications on a regular basis and used my mobile’s applications on a day to day basis. Now, when I go on holiday, everything I need is already set up, ready and waiting for me.  My very own personal portable office, very cheaply put together, all the social media I need, anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

New Look – New Services – New Ideas

We have a new look, what do you think? We have gone for the sleek and sophisticated look (with a touch more pink – hear the groans of the men?!? ).  So why the new look?  Simply because we are expanding (and not just our waistlines either!) and we wanted to celebrate with a shiny new wardrobe.

We are now very proud to be able to offer more in the way of both graphic and web design.  More options in our branding and social media management department, even our ‘about’ page has got bigger, and now all with the added extra of being able to provide you and/or your business with web hosting.  Yes you have heard me correctly, SBM is now a web host!

As we continue to grow we hope that you will follow us on our journey, why not follow us on Twitter @SquashBoxMedia for all the latest gossip (and ramblings).

Also, mark your diary for 10th August 2009 – Our Summer Bonanza!  We will be having a whole week dedicated to offers, freebies and special deals, we will be getting into the summer spirit with some games too, of course, all of our games will have prizes!

So keep watching this space, SBM welcomes YOU!

Twitter Account Hacked – The Positives!

So the ongoing saga of our poor Twitter account continues, well it did.  Today is D Day, the day it stops, because today is the day I deleted our old account.  That’s it, all over and done with.

I can hear some of you gasping already.  Why would I want to keep a new account with 600 less followers than my old account?  It really is as simple as this, new start!

Both our old ‘followers’ and ‘following’ list was out of date.  There were users on their that I had not either spoken to in ages or I had never spoken too.  Now, by starting again, I can hand pick who I want to follow and am delighted that my fave ‘tweeps’ are following me back.  Not to mention all the new people I have met so far this week (and it’s only Tuesday!)

So If your Twitter account becomes compromised in some way and you have to start again, do not be too despondent.  Here are the ‘positives’ that you can draw out of the situation.

Fresh Start
Seeing your follower account go back  to zero is very disheartening, but now you can see very clearly who is following you and why as your followers base starts to build again.

Spring Clean
Now you have your new account, why not spring clean your ‘followed’ list?  Do you really need to follow all of them? Surely not

New Contacts
I have been lucky to have found some new contacts that I hadn’t found before since the having my new account.

Support
The followers that follow you over to your new account are the ones you know will support you.  These are your ‘true followers’ and it is great to sometimes be able to see the diamonds from the coal.

No Spammers
The spammer follower has now dramatically decreased, this, can only be a good thing.

So although it may be daunting starting again with a new account, there are many positives to be taken out of it.  Make the most of this new start!

Twitter Hijack/Hacked Account – What To Do If It Happens To YOU!

As social media managers we use Twitter 24/7.  We use it on behalf of clients and we use it for our own company.  We have damage limitation procedures in place just in case anything untoward were to happen to any of our clients accounts, but imagine our surprise (and anger) when our own company Twitter account was hacked at 4pm (UK time) this afternoon.

Luckily, being in the job we are, we knew exactly what to do and how to limit the impact.  We already had procedures in place so that within just 2 hours we had a new account running and had kept in contact with our followers, informed twitter and started the ball rolling back into the Twitterverse.

Here is how you can help yourself if your Twitter account is compromised in some way.

1 – DON’T PANIC!  I know this is an easy thing to say and believe me it is hard not to panic, but don’t, just follow our steps to get your Twitter account up and running again (and to reclaim your sanity!)

2 – Announce on Twitter through your status update that you have been hacked/hijacked/impersonated/compromised and ask everyone on your list to retweet (RT) the message for you.

3 – Inform @twitter (Twitter support) and @ev (CEO of Twitter) of the situation.

4 – Go to http://twitter.zendesk.com/requests/new and submit a help request.  Use as much detail as you can about what has happened and press ‘Submit’.

5 – Start a new Twitter account as a temporary account that you can use (all will become clear on why you need this in a mo!) and follow everyone on your old account ‘following’ list.  Make sure you choose a very obscure password!

6 – Wait for the barrage of emails that you will receive from Twitter, most of these will be automated, however one will be asking you for more information so make sure you keep that one and reply to it as soon as possible.

7 – Ask your followers to retweet your new account name.

8 – Wait for the final reply from Twitter (final, at the moment that is) that will tell you that they may close your account whilst they investigate your situation.  Now you see why we say open a second account!

9 – Keep tweeting about what has happened so that all your followers know what has happened to you and so that they are aware that you have moved account.

10 – Keep track your old account, watch what happens your old accounts timeline,  keep an eye on your inbox and make sure you use all available channels to you to spread the word of what has happened.

Whatever happens to your old account and however long it takes Twitter to get it sorted, you know you have done everything you can to keep your profile up and running.  All your followers know what has happened, Twitter knows and more importantly you have regained control.  Don’t let the spammers and the hackers get away with it!

To keep in contact with us while our old account is being investigated after we became hacked, please follow @SallyWalker – see you on the flip side!

The Social Media Economy

Social media and the global economy – the parallels are striking and significant.

Now that the global economy appears to be on the upward curve of a major economic “downturn” it is obvious why things have failed. Hindsight is a marvellous thing but too often we don’t learn from what hindsight has shown us.

Perhaps, more importantly, we also don’t learn from those with the foresight to realise when things are about to go south. There were those who had been forecasting a major financial crash and there are those that have been forecasting problems ahead with the social media “industry”.

Social media has seen the expansion of the biggest online bubble since the whole dotcom boom and it was not hard to see that this level of growth was unsustainable.

Just like our economies, social media services have their own “interest rates”. The more compelling a service (just like a savings account) the more we invest our time in it and, consequently, the more “interest” is paid. If a service becomes less interesting we invest less and, as it can no longer support the same levels of excitement, the “interest rate” falls.

The relative rates between services and the cross over of features/interoperability can be seen as the social media equivalent of the exchange rate between currencies. The exchange rates between services will be in a constant state of flux depending on what facilities they offer and the perception the users have based on comparisons with similar offerings.

As far as ‘mainstream’ usage is concerned, Facebook is the equivalent of the US dollar against which all other services are judged. While those in other markets may not feel that the Facebook dollar is the most relevant currency, the market needs a point of reference and that falls to the service with which ‘Joe Public’ is most familiar.

Just as “real world” companies had been surviving on debt the social media sphere has existed on “borrowing” ideas from somewhere else, mimicking the functionality of other services. As there are only a finite number of ways you can communicate with someone else over the internet we obviously can’t go on with this borrowing. The credit (ideas) either runs out or no-one wants to lend to you. This is when we get the creation of walled gardens – businesses doing their own thing in isolation: a retreat from the global sense of openness that social media tried to instil in all of us.

Aggregators and other services quickly became a repository for rehashes of information held in other places – trading (and potentially profiting) on the returns made elsewhere – money for (essentially) nothing and, perhaps, can be seen as the social media equivalent of the fat cat bankers although, at present, there doesn’t appear to be the financial reward.

In the past 6 months it has been interesting to see that – like a number of banks – various social media services have ‘folded’; social media became too disjointed. The mistakes have been recognised in hindsight and measures taken before the whole industry collapsed like the proverbial house of cards.

So You Want To Be A LinkedIn RockStar?

LinkedIn is one of my personal favourite networking sites simply because it does ‘what it says on the tin’ and it keeps you ‘Linked In’ with friends, clients, customers, colleagues, managers and more.  It is a superb way to show the world who you are and what you are doing at the moment in your professional life.  It can also be used to show potential employees or business partners what you could do, and that is the key.  LinkedIn strengthens and extends your existing network of trusted contacts whilst also being a networking tool that helps you discover inside connections to global businesses who might just be looking for someone like you!

To use LinkedIn effectively you need to follow some basic principles and here is my guide to using LinkedIn to it’s full potential (whilst still using the free version) and becoming a LinkedIn Rockstar.

Remember The Old Saying ‘It’s Quality NOT Quantity!

Showing you have 5423458 connections on LinkedIn does not make you any more professional than someone that has only 30 connections, because those 30 connections could be all people who are personally willing to ‘recommend’ you because you have worked with them in the past.  It is far better to invite people you actually know (or at least are known to you within your own network) than add strangers, this builds a stronger base for your network so that in time you can have more than 30 followers, but your core followers will become your tool for searching for new contacts.

Complete Your Profile

On your ‘edit your profile page’ there will be a small gizmo on the right hand side that tells you how complete your profile is, make sure you fill in all the required boxes on your profile and ask for as many recommendations as you can.  LinkedIn will tell you what you can do to make your profile 100% complete by showing you ‘Profile Tips’ which are also on the right hand side of your ‘edit profile’ page.

Profile Photo

It is far better to show a photo of yourself that shows your true personality than a logo or a ‘corporate’ image.  A face can say a million words, show your potential connections who you are and what you are like easily by choosing a photo that ’speaks’ to them and tells them what you are like as a person.

Use Your Profile Status

Many people forget how important this is!  Your LinkedIn status is just as important as your Twitter or Facebook statuses.  Add your latest blog post, show the world your latest feature, share your new products, whatever you want to shout about, use your LinkedIn status!

Keeping Your Profile Current

Check your profile content weekly.  This may sound quite bizarre as you would not write a CV or resume every week, but it surprising how your work life and your job role can change within a few days.  If you have achieved a goal or started a new role, tell people about it by editing your profile and keeping it up to date.

Strange Requests Or Dodgy Dealings – Just Leave Them Alone!

If you receive a strange request from someone or you receive a message in your LinkedIn inbox that does not sit right with you and your principles, do not pass it on.  Do not get involved and certainly do not encourage these people, which are probably scammers or even worse.  If you pass these ‘dodgy dealings’ on to your network it really does not bode well for your professional profile because if you think that in some way these requests are ‘not right’ than imagine what your network will think when you pass them on, it will look like you advocate them.

Connection Spring Cleaning

Sometimes, as with all walks of life, you find a bad contact within your network.  Someone who may be offering a service that you do not agree with or has proved themselves to be a spammer.  Disconnection is the only way, remove them from your connections and keep your network clean and tidy!

Join LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are like mini communities found with in LinkedIn that each have an ‘interest’.  This could be ‘Twitter’ or ‘Designers’ or ‘WAHM’s’ or whatever.  Join these groups and get involved! Post discussions, answer questions and of course, connect!

Answers Section

Answering peoples questions in the ‘Answers Section’ will not only ‘hopefully’ raise your ‘expert’ level on LinkedIn but also it proves to potential clients and emloyers that you are able to share information to the masses, that you know what you are talking about and are willing to help others.

Out & About?  Use LinkedIn Mobile!

LinkedIn has it’s own mobile site that you can use whilst on the move, making it even easier to update your status or connect with new people.  Just point your mobile phone browser to:  http://m.linkedin.com – easy as that!

Use Your Profile Link

If you want to be seen, show people where you are!  Use your LinkedIn profile link on your website, emails, forums, social media sites, business cards, on your blog, in fact, link it everywhere!

——————————————————-
Author:  Sally Walker
Website:  http://www.squashboxmedia.com
Email:  sally@squashboxmedia.com
Twitter:  @SquashBoxMedia
LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/MrsSallyWalker

Common Sense Tips For Twitter Users

Twitter has become a worldwide social media and networking tool since it started 2006, if you have been living in a cave for the past 3 years have a peek here.  The problem is, that with so many ‘tweets’ (OK cave dwellers, tweets are short messages that you send via Twitter in 140 characters or less) and so many users it is often hard to see the great messages that pop up around all the strange tosh that is spouted (and I include myself in that!).

So here are my top ‘common sense’ tips for networking using the wonderful world of Twitter.

Firstly, let’s get the bad bits out of the way!

The Don’ts!

1) Celebrity Tweeters - Don’t go following every celebrity you see and tweet them when they come online just to say ‘hello’ and reply to every one of their tweets with ‘random’ replys. Not only does it make you look like a bit of a stalker it also unnecessary.  Celebs are real twitter users too, some are even human

2) Hashtags - Many people use hashtags (#tags) in their tweets to hopefully get their message seen by people searching on various topics (trends) that are in the current news.  However, this can cause serious problems, which Habitat UK found out only too well a couple of weeks ago. They were using hashtags relating to current topics such as the Iranian Election, iPhones, Masterchef competition and more, all completely unrelated to their products and services (more information on this story can be found here).  If you want/need to use hashtags, make sure that they relate to you and your business or profile in some way, or to conversation you are having.  There is no point having random trendy hashtags in your posts just to get in the searches, this just makes you a spammer.

3) Spam – While we are on the subject of spam (no not this kind of Spam ),  don’t do it, just don’t.  It’s annoying, people will block you and you will be a ‘Billy no mates’.  Spammers are the people whose stats look like this ‘178937 following – 3 followers – 0 updates’. You know the sort, we all have them follow us and we all block them because we know that at some point we are going to be told that their latest ‘innovation’ that costs ‘just £49.99′ will be the next best thing since sliced bread, however, we all know that these spammers are scammers!

4) Gain Followers Applications – Every now and again you will see a message pop up in your Twitter stream saying something like “I joined ‘add twitter app name here’ and now I have 40000 followers, you could too, sign up now!” – The problem with these applications is that not only do they spam your account (yes they actually use your account to spam from!) but you have to follow people in order to get followers and the people you are following/followers are probably not the people who care what you have to say or vice versa, not because of bad quality users but merely because of varying interests in topics.

5) Constantly Retweeting The Same Post – It’s not the best idea in the world to retweet the same message over and over (and over!) again. It does make you look like not only a bit of a spammer but also a bit of a plonker.  It is perfectly justifiable if you for example, you are in the UK and you are tweeting about a new blog post in the morning, then you retweet it again in the afternoon so the US users see your tweet and then perhaps once in the evening so the rest of the world users can see it, but retweeting 30 times about your cat falling off a chair, is not great!

So now that is all done and dusted, let’s get on to the good bits!

The Do’s!

1) Networking – Woohoo! Twitter is a great way to network, using tools like Twellow you can easily find people within your industry, people with the same interests and/or people geographically close to you.  Follow them and introduce yourself, build up a relationship by chatting with them, reading their website/blog and perhaps even offering to help out with projects.

2) Twitter Profile – Make sure you add a bio about yourself in your Twitter profile, it makes looking for contacts so much easier. People want to know all about you when they follow you, it is human nature, so give them an insight on what you do and where you are, makes networking quicker and easier.

3) Profile Background – You have this massive space on your profile background, make the most of it! Why not get yourself a custom Twitter background that has your information, links and contact details down the side.  It’s like having your own business card on your Twitter page.  We offer custom Twitter backgrounds here at SBM should you want one (Just thought I would crowbar that in!)

4) Global Chat - Many projects and collaborations have started by one Twitter user in one country chatting to another Twitter user half way across the world, it is instant, real time and FREE global chat.

5) Promote Yourself/Business – What better (and cheaper!) way for you to promote yourself, your products and services, your blog and your business than by using Twitter.  Go ahead, tell your followers your latest news, share your passion, let them know that you are great at what you do.

6) Ask for Help/Advice -Need a hand with something or have a question? Ask the world via Twitter, there is always someone who knows the answer!

7) Offer Help/Advice – Does someone want help with a project or need a question answered?  Then why not offer to help, this could also be the start of a great networking relationship too.

Make Someone Smile – OK I admit it, I have said in the past that random posts on Twitter are annoying, but sometimes, it’s good to send a message to someone with ‘giggle factor’  just to make them smile and brighten their day!

9) Finding Old Friends – Not heard from someone in a while? Are they on Twitter? Yes? Well there you go then, instant ‘friends reunited!’

10) Being Polite – Telling someone they are an &*@!%£^ @&%£!% is really not going to score you any brownie points with that person or the thousands of other users who have just seen your message on the main Twitter timeline!  Politeness and a warm friendly attitude is the best way to attract new followers and to join in with new networks and of course a great way to get you seen on the main Timeline too

There you go, these may be all ‘obvious’ tips but it is amazing how some people forget about common sense on Twitter

Happy Tweeting!