Archive for March, 2009

I’m sure you’ve played the telephone game before…one person tells another person something and then it goes through several people, one-by-one, until you get to the end to find out the story has changed. That’s a good game to introduce you to social media.

If you tell one person a story and then try to control every word they pass along to a friend then you’re doing the exact opposite of what social media is built to do. Companies struggle to let go of control, but sometimes that’s where the success lies. Just out of reach from your press release.

I spend hours upon hours on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, blogs, and other social media sites each week, sometimes for work and sometimes for fun, but almost always to plug into the telephone game.

If you’re unwilling to a) share your story or b) have that story altered, social media is (more…)

Disclaimer: I’m a part of the Wikipedia/Facebook/Twitter generation, and I don’t understand why more companies aren’t using social media strategies as internal community-building tools.

These tools are a part of my daily life. They provide a real way to stay connected to people, issues and ideas I care about. They’re how I gather information, find answers to questions, brainstorm ideas and commiserate. They are a real part of how I exist in the larger world, and I’m not alone. But perhaps more importantly, to people like me, they aren’t something to be feared.

Now, I bet you’re wondering why you should care when you’ve got an ongoing financial Armageddon to worry about. Well, people like me, without impressive titles and decades of experience, are worried. We’re worried about our jobs and our bills … and our companies. And like everyone, we look for reassurance and strength in our communities. Only for us, communities don’t exist exclusively in three dimensions. So why aren’t more companies taking advantage of the realities of social media pervasiveness and building employee communities online? (more…)