weblog:posts

What is Social Media - watch and learn

Neighbo Team — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:48:00 GMT

Social media is NOT complex, its conversation, its interaction but just like any form of fruitful interaction it starts with one person with a little energy and the ability to bring just one more, into the party .... then it grows and something powerful, meaningful or simply fun can happen ... watch

Social Media Ignorance Not an Option for Business

Neighbo Team — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:40:00 GMT

A good post by DES WALSH on JUNE 27, 2009
Read the original post here

A blog post a few days ago by the very savvy “Community Guy” Jake McKee, Why is a lack of knowledge cool? struck a chord with me.

Jake was commenting on the fact that in an otherwise quite interesting set of comments about social media and specifically Twitter, US Secretary of State Clinton made a joke which was to the effect that she did not really know what Twitter is or does.

And Jake asked “Will there be a time when older people don’t think it’s cool to joke about their tech cluelessness?”. As a card-carrying “older person” I was not offended, although at least one commenter, younger than I, took umbrage at the generalization about age groups.

One reason I was not offended is that I do hear, especially from people over about 55, those jokes about not understanding the technology – usually, I believe, with a sub-text of “and I don’t want to know”.

Up till now I’ve tended to “go along with the joke”, as the saying goes, although I don’t actually find it funny. But now that I’ve read and reflected on what Jake is saying, I think I might emulate young Jake and start getting a tad peeved. Because however jokingly, however implicitly, being proud of ignorance is surely not a good look for anyone, at any age.

And ignorance of social media, at this point in time, is no longer an option for anyone who has a serious desire to be successful, or continue being successful, in business, government or other walks of life.

Speaking earlier this week at a conference on Government 2.0, on the theme that parliamentarians and public sector managers need to become active participants in social media, I mentioned that at at another event a couple of years ago, in the private sector, I’d been asked by a member of the baby boomer generation how people who did not become knowledgeable and skilled with the new media would get on, and I’d said “they will just become irrelevant”. I did not spell out, but left the thought hanging in the air, so to speak, that the same would apply to politicians and public sector managers.

Not that I want to preach to the choir here. I just wanted to share the “Ah ha!” moment I’d had in reading Jake’s post and participating in the comment discussion: ignorance about social media is no laughing matter.

More to the point, I am guessing there are many people besides me, who are active users of social media, participants in social networks, and are starting to find it frustrating in business to have to deal with people who are not participating. Minor irritants perhaps, in themselves – “you’re not on Skype and you don’t want to check it out?” “you’re not on Twitter and you think it’s a waste of time?” – but indicating a mindset of resistance to learning and adapting.

I believe some of those people are in for a shock, the day they find that their unwillingness to learn new skills, new ways of communicating and collaborating, has left them out in the cold. Some of us just won’t want to put in the effort to do business with them and will seek out people who are more tuned in to these modes of communication and collaboration.

It won’t be joke time any more.

In short, I can see a time, if it hasn’t already arrived, where being able to use social media effectively and, for the digital immigrants among us, as natively as possible, will become a requirement for doing business. And, for those who feel they are behind the game, putting in the time now to learn and be more skilful will surely pay off in providing an edge in a tough world.

The age discussion is just a distraction.

But as I was asked on Monday by conference convenor Senator Kate Lundy,wh ere can those people who want to learn go to get the information they need? One suggestion I made, which would work for people in business as well as those in government, is to join one of the Social Media Club groups, where the motto is “if you get it, share it”.

Other ideas or suggestions?

Your Boss Doesn’t Care About ‘The Conversation’

Neighbo Team — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:14:00 GMT

Great blog post here originally by by MACK COLLIER on JUNE 22, 2009
Read the original here

It’s finally happened. After months of prodding, your skeptical boss has agreed to listen to your pleas for how your company should be blogging. She calls you into her office, and when you sit down, she asks pointedly “So, tell me why we should start a blog.”

You smile with pride and explain that “Blogging is a conversation, and right now we aren’t a part of it. We need to start a blog so we can join the conversation.”

The sudden frown on your boss’ face tells you that you just watched your company’s blogging strategy die a premature death.

Every week I talk to mid-level managers that are trying to sell their boss on using blogging and social media. Almost all of them talk about the importance of the conversation, of interaction, of being social. Anyone that’s read The Viral Garden, or this blog knows that I am a champion of the ability of social media as a set of tools to build interaction and community.

But your skeptical boss isn’t. Your skeptical boss wants to know how blogging and social media is going to help them grow their business. They don’t care about ‘the conversation’ simply because they don’t understand how ‘the conversation’ is going to lead them to ‘the sale’.

And unfortunately, the office social media evangelist probably doesn’t understand that connection either. But if you want your boss to commit to using social media and/or launching a blog, you need to show them how their business will benefit from doing so.

Period.

Social media evangelists understand that a well-positioned blogging strategy can create interactions and community and a larger conversation around that company. But is that the end business goal of your blog? How does having more comments per post help you sell more stuff? How does more RTs from Twitter equal more widgets sold?

These are questions your boss will want to know, and IF you want the buy-in from them, you better have compelling answers. Often, we stop short in crafting our blog’s positioning. We think that we need more interaction, but once we have that increased interaction, we still need to build a bridge to the larger business goal for our blog.

Think of it this way; You have well-positioned/valuable blog, which leads to more interaction, which leads to X, which leads to more sales.

You need to determine what ‘X’ is. That is what your boss wants to hear about, not more interaction or more comments. If you can explain to your boss what ‘X’ is, and how more comments/interaction relates to and influences ‘X’ (which influences sales), then you’ll get your buy-in.

Then your boss will start to care about ‘the conversation’. But only if they understand how ‘the conversation’ relates to their larger business goals for their blog. Your boss probably understands ‘X’. So you need to sell your boss on ‘X’ as much if not moreso than ‘the conversation’.

So what the hell IS ‘X’? That’s the magic question, and it will be different for every business. And it will probably have more than one part. For example, I will soon be publishing an interview I did recently with a major company, and they explained how they evaluate their blogging efforts. In their case, they DO have their main blogging goal as being increasing interactions on their blog via more comments and more emails.

But they set that as their main goal because they have seen from years of research that when there is more interaction on their blog, and more POSITIVE interactions with their readers, that they are more likely to create POSITIVE content about the brand, and that positive content shows up in Google search results, which makes a POSITIVE impression on customers that do Google searches for the company and its products.

So this company is fine with having more interactions on their blog be their main blogging goal, because they understand how more interactions leads to more sales. But the key is they set that as their main blogging goal after studying their efforts and how their customers are buying. Which is why meticulously studying your blogging efforts and tracking stats is a must, but that’s a post for another day.

For your company, your ‘X’ could be more traffic, it could be more links, it could be more traffic from the blog to your website, etc. But the odds are your boss understands ‘X’ a lot more than they do the importance of ‘the conversation’. If you want your boss to launch a blog, you need to show her how the blog will help her business. You need to understand what needs to happen AFTER ‘the conversation’ happens on your blog, and how that ultimately helps your business reach its larger business goals.

PS: If you have questions about selling your boss on social media (or need help in launching a social media strategy) and would rather email me your questions, contact me at mackDOTcollierATgmailDOTcom

Interview with PHC Management Ltd

Neighbo Team — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:38:15 GMT

Thank you Mark for allowing us to stick a camera in your face. Mark runs PHC Management Ltd and believes that excellent communication is at the heart of good propoerty management. Mark has been using Neighbo Groups and Neighbo Manager. We hope he will soon be using Neighbo Surveys.

Neighbo spotted on Springwise

Katrina Lincoln — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:51:35 GMT

Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation.

To ensure true ‘glocal’ coverage, the central office is in close contact with more than 8,000 Springspotters in over 70 countries worldwide. Springwise's weekly newsletter, to which you can subscribe for free, is sent to more than 100,000 business professionals in more than 120 countries.

Springwise is the first company to compile and send out a newsletter like this on a global scale, making optimal use of an ever more networked world.

http://springwise.com/homes_housing/neighbo/

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours: Building a Social Community

Katrina Lincoln — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:52:00 GMT

New Media Knowledge is an e-zine covering all aspects of digital interactive media, including marketing and project management. It is aimed at professionals working in the digital media industries.

NMK is a not-for-profit body in receipt of public funding. NMK operates across economic boundaries, bringing together knowledge and expertise from commercial companies, professional bodies and higher education to provide objective, independent guidance and promote the success of the UKs digital economy.

The website has 100,000 unique users per month. This news has also been featured on the New Media Knowledge newsletter with 6,100 subscribers.

http://www.nmk.co.uk/article/2009/2/16/everybody-needs-good-neighbours-building-a-social-community

Is technology the answer, asks Gobstar in The Guardian

Neighbo Team — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:13:00 GMT

It's perverse that the very technology that is arguably significantly responsible for much of the atomisation and fragmentation that the same technology is then used to address.

Yes, social networking can bring communities together - but communities of online personalities. Simply put - we are different people online. We are different people when we're with our parents. Behind the anonymity of the computer screen we can say what we like, be whom we like.

When we read that society spends too much time watching tv we cry "we should turn off the television and spend more time together, or talking" - and yet when we turn off the television screens and sit in front of a computer screen instead, we think it's acceptable all of a sudden.

It's still anti-social to sit behind a computer. Yes social networking sites can bring people together, but so does knocking on a door, so does shovelling snow, so does doing favours for one another, so does visiting your relatives - and far more effectively.

I'm not saying social networking sites are evil - as the article points out, they bring disparate people together and can organise time and people very effectively and efficiently. But if the point is to bring people together, then surely it's working against its own aims...

Read the orignal comment here

Guardian Society - Friends and Neighbours

Katrina Lincoln — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:42:00 GMT

The society pages contain news and information on a wide range of social issues including health, local government and charities. It is read by public and voluntary sector staff and those with an interest in social issues.

The Guardian online has 14,514,091 unique users worldwide and 6,200,641 unique users in the UK every month.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/feb/03/communities-social-networking

PublicNet.co.uk

Neighbo Team — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:08:00 GMT

PublicNet.co.uk

PublicNet is an e-zine concerned with the modernisation of the entire public sector and provides news and features relating to the governance and management of public services.

http://www.publicnet.co.uk/news/2009/01/20/housing-logs-on-to-social-networking/

LocalGov.co.uk

Neighbo Team — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

LocalGov.co.uk

neighbo.com gets a mention on LocalGov.co.uk - The website covers news and features on the local government, with articles from high profile figures in the local authority sector and the latest products for the local government specifier.

http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&ID=74770&&keywords=Neighbo

adf online

Neighbo Team — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:10:00 GMT

adfonline.eu

Adfonline is a leading search engine for architectural products and news including council activity, building procedures and legislation.

http://www.adfonline.eu/pressrelease/pressrelease.aspx?companyname=Neighbo.com&title=Neighbo.com+Brings+Back+Community+Spirit+

Newswiretoday.com

Neighbo Team — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:14:00 GMT

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/45217/

Friends of neighbo.com

Neighbo Team — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:00:52 GMT

There are many good people out there using clever online services to help improving real life communities on the ground.

Here is a list of a few of our friends.

Property Calendar

Mark Postle-Hacon — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:34:11 GMT

It would be useful to have a property calendar where events (ie window cleaning, lift maintenance) can be posted in the residents group, AGMs, management meetings etc. It is useful for residents & owners to know when Committee/Mangement Meetings are taking place so that they can raise issues to be discussed ahead of the meeting.

Regards

Mark

RSS Feeds for Property Managers

Mark Postle-Hacon — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:02:20 GMT

Have you looked at creating RSS feeds for property managers from their dashboards, particulary recent posts and recent comments

Mark