When I was growing up on a tiny island on the west coast of Canada, we didn’t have a lot of the things that city kids did – no movie theatres, no McDonalds, no cable TV. So we had to find other things to do – and that often involved being gently pushed out the door first thing in the morning by my Mom. We spent our days riding bikes, playing in the woods behind our house, exploring the world around us. That exploration led to a curiosity that has stayed with me my entire life.

People sometimes ask me how I have learned everything I know about digital storytelling and social media. Back in 2006 when I was first introduced to this world, I entered it with that same sense of curiosity that I had traipsing around in the woods when I was 9.

I firmly believe that curiosity is the key to learning anything new and learning it well. In order to be curious, you have to give up a lot of your inhibitions about technology, communication and putting yourself out there. That’s hard for a lot of people. Here are a couple of tips that might help.

Stop being afraid.
Stop being afraid you’re going to break things. Stop being afraid of “doing it wrong” (and stop listening to the self-righteous “gurus” who pontificate on Twitter about how everyone else is doing it wrong but them). Stop being afraid of what other people will think.

Fear is the thing that freezes most people in their tracks when it comes to communicating online. Many people I know who are just delving into the social media world consider themselves “lurkers”. Sure, you can learn a lot by listening to the conversation, but that will only take you so far. Where it gets really interesting is when you start contributing. Maybe you @reply to someone on Twitter. Maybe you ask a question on Facebook. Perhaps you write a post on your blog.

There is nothing to be afraid of. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the online community are very welcoming, and accepting. Join in the conversation, you’ll see. And if you’re shy to meet people, let me know. I’m always happy to introduce people.

Oh, and by the way, you’re not going to break the Internet, I promise. So point, click, and explore. It won’t hurt one bit.

Try things.
Being curious is about trying new things. It’s like lifting the lid on a box to see what’s inside. Sometimes you’re surprised. Sometimes you’re shocked. But if you’re curious, you’ll always learn something new. Don’t be afraid to click (on links you trust, not spammy messages!), read, sign up for things, and try them out. I try just about every tool I find, at least once. Some I like and keep using, and for some I end up deleting my account. By trying things, I learn what works for me and what doesn’t. I learn why it might be useful (or why it’s not). I read reviews, and I ask peoples’ opinions of things. All of the information that I gather by being curious about things goes into forming the thoughts and ideas and opinions and expertise I have.

And perhaps most importantly, I tell others about what I’m learning…through this blog, our podcast, and by giving courses and public speaking. The act of explaining things to other people helps me to understand things better.

Curiosity is, I think, one of the single most important characteristics you have have if you’re going to truly master something. So get out there, start asking questions, start clicking, and trying and exploring and experimenting. You’ll soon find your entire experience in this crazy online world will reach a whole new level.

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Remember how I occasionally will get on your case a bit about what it takes to overcome your fears and just get out there and start telling your stories? Well, I’ve been away from this blog for a bit, working on publishing some other things, so I haven’t been bugging you about it. But I’m back, so consider yourself warned.

As some of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may be aware, my husband Greg and our friend Tom are making a horror/thriller web series called “Scream All You Want“. Right now we are in the middle of shooting, and it’s consuming many of the weekends and evenings of our cast and crew right now. Things are going well, and while it’s tremendously exhausting, it’s been a lot of fun too. As we’ve been going through the production process, I’ve been making some observations about the process of creating something and putting it out there online for the world to see (what I like to call ‘publishing‘). Here are a few things I’ve discovered.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

While both Tom and Greg do have considerable script writing and video production experience between them, neither of them has ever made a web series before. For better or worse, they dove head first into the project without really having a sense of what it would actually take to accomplish. First they had an idea. Over time, that idea evolved into a script. Then suddenly we were auditioning actors. Then before we knew it, we were shooting. Each step in the process, nobody was really sure how things were going to pan out. But since we didn’t know, we had nothing to lose.

Some people might call that naiveté, some might call it blind faith. Some might even say we are crazy. We’re probably pieces of all of those things. But when you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s actually a bit of a buffer. Because you don’t have to make assumptions about what might or might not happen. You just basically point the ship in the general direction of the shore, and go from there.

You don’t have to do it alone. 

Back about a year ago when Tom and Greg came up with this idea, it was just the two of them, sitting around at a pub, having a pint and thinking about the idea. But as time went on and they moved forward, they did something really smart – they started to bring other people in on it. By association and sheer proximity, Tom’s wife Tracey, as well as myself, were happy to be brought into the mix early on. But it was when we put the call out for auditions that we realized that this process of creating something no longer rested squarely on the shoulders of the guys with the idea. Our casting call generated 55 inquiries, of which about 40 actors came out to audition (of which 8 now make up our main cast). We have a crew of anywhere from 12 to 16 people depending on the shooting day. We have had local businesses, friends and family members allow us to use their restaurants and pubs and antique shops and homes as our locations for shooting. And every single one of these people is a volunteer.

Guess what? You don’t have to create alone if you don’t want to. You just have to ask, and you will find in front of you an amazing support network. Find the people who are willing to help. Say an enthusiastic “YES!” when they ask what they can do to support you. Welcome their ideas and creativity, and treat them well, and what you create will be that much better.

So what are you going to do now? 

There’s something to be said for stepping into the unknown, for jumping out on that ledge and just creating something new, then showing it off to the world. Yes, it’s still scary – really scary. It’s really, really hard work, and it’s exhausting. It will make you laugh your head off, and you’ll probably want to cry your head off sometimes too.

But you know what? I’ve learned that if it doesn’t make you scared and exhausted and exhilarated and want to cry and laugh at the same time, it’s not really worth doing.

So what are you waiting for? Go create something of your own. Share it with the world. Because it’s worth it.

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A few weeks ago I was privileged to be invited to Woodroffe High School to talk to the students there about using social media responsibly. I spend a good deal of time talking to people of all ages about social media, and for me, the opportunity to spend a few hours with high school students was at once exciting and terrifying. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been in a high school auditorium, particularly standing at the front of it. As the principal introduced me and I took the stage, I flashed back to my days playing alto sax in Jazz Band – only this time my solo was of a slightly different nature.

As grownups, we are often quite fearful of letting younger people use social media. Heck, we’re often fearful of it ourselves! We are still trying to figure out why that person is “following” us on Twitter while the average teenager Facebooks circles around us. Our fear often leads us to spend more time telling young people what not to do, and blocking their access to things, rather than teaching them how to communicate safely online.

We talked about the ideal privacy settings for Facebook, and what kinds of things are good to share (like fun things happening in your life, links to cool stuff, photos of your pets) and what aren’t so great (airing grievances, talking bad about others, your questionable behaviour at last weekend’s party). We even touched on cyber bullying (what to do if you’re being bullied or witness someone else being bullied).

But much as I wanted to make the students aware of the potential risks of sharing anything and everything on Facebook though, I also wanted to give them some ideas. So we talked about how much fun it is to share cool stuff online. We also discussed ways that they can use the web as a creative outlet, to show the world their writing, photos, music, or videos. And we also looked at how social media can be used for studying, research, and to scope out colleges and universities.

I had a great time, and based on some of the students who came up to me afterwards, the message got through to at least some of them! I even got this little write up in the Ottawa West EMC paper.

But I really want to hear from you. Do you know any remarkable teens who are making the most of social media? I’d love to hear their stories in the comments.
Photo by gumdropgas

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If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll be aware of the tremendous impact social media has had on my life and career in the past 6 years or so. It’s brought about incredible opportunities for my business, allowed me to meet and become close friends with many wonderful people, and it’s changed the course of my teaching career.

So many people are clamoring to figure this space out right now. What does it really mean, this fundamental shift in the way we communicate? Why should we care? How do we do it? Where do we start? These are all questions I hear on an almost daily basis. It’s why I am doing what I can to help teach people, point them in the right direction. And I do feel like I’m helping. I’m seeing former students and current clients have success with using social media and it is extremely satisfying to know that, in some small way, I’ve been able to help.

But a lot of people are still scared. They are hesitating because, although they have read all the books, taken some courses, and subscribed to the blogs of smart people, they still don’t feel ready to start. They are afraid of messing up, going down the wrong path, of not getting the results they want. So they hold out, waiting until the right moment, when they have enough information and enough knowledge and enough comfort.

The problem is, that moment will never come. Why? Because social media, the online world in general, is always changing. One minute, Facebook looks a certain way, then they change it all. Then Pinterest comes along. Then some other tool goes away (or goes out of fashion). More people start using mobile devices. Design trends change.

The online world is ever changing, ever evolving. And the truth is, you’re never going to catch up. You’ll never know it all. None of us will.

So how can you really even start to figure it out? There’s one secret.

You have to be willing to put in the time.

And the reality is, it takes a LOT of time. People ask me often how I learned all this stuff. I did it over hours, days, weeks, months, of sitting at the computer, day in and day out, reading and learning and being curious and then actually trying things. I broke stuff. I put it back together. I tried something. I tried something else when it didn’t work. I found efficiencies as I went, and implemented them. And yes, while I was doing it I had a full time job, family commitments, side projects and friends. I simply had to find the time, because I knew it was important. So I sacrificed a bit of sleep, and some favourite TV shows, and I did it.

There’s this weird stigma about spending time with social media. Some people look down their noses at me when they see I have tweeted over 60,000 times. I used to defend this, say things like “oh, well, most of those are @replies!”. Now I don’t make excuses for it anymore. I’m proud of my 60,000 tweets. Yes, it took me a long time and many hours. But as a result, I deeply “get” Twitter. I have invested a significant amount of time and I now understand so much more about interaction, human behaviour, group dynamics and how to use the tool to effectively promote and tell great stories.

So, what’s the secret to getting a handle on all this stuff? You must be willing to put in the time. And you need to stop thinking that you have no time. I started this post at 6:30am this morning. I could have slept in, but I know that practicing this craft of blogging is important. Today I will spend less time with my nose in my email inbox, less time doing busy work and more time exploring how people are conversing. I’ll be looking closely at the audiences I need to connect with right now. I’ll be learning everything I can, and it will probably take hours and hours.

But then, and only then, will I begin to understand this crazy online world for a moment. Then tomorrow, it will change. And I will need to do it over again.

You have the secret. Now go spend the time.

Photo by Val.pearl

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Yesterday I did something totally out of my comfort zone. I went to a recording studio and laid down a few tracks. The studio, in case you’re curious, is in my friend Dennis’ basement. He’s got quite the set up.

Dennis asked me to come by after he heard this recording that I did using my iPad and Soundcloud. That was my first step out of my comfort zone a few weeks ago. I have been learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time for about 25 years (yeah, I know), and I figured that I’d gotten this song to the point that I’d just record it. I had no intention of publishing it. That would be insane. What would people think? What if I suck? What if people think that I am showing off? What if I suck and people say I don’t just to be nice?

All of those ridiculous things went through my head. Then I just hit Publish.

You know what? The world didn’t end. I didn’t suck. A few friends thought it actually sounded pretty good. I started to feel comfortable with the idea of publishing songs I’d recorded. And then Dennis emailed me and said “come over, and we’ll record the song in my studio.”

And then I was out of my comfort zone all over again.

For those of you who have never recorded in a studio before, it’s a fairly unnerving experience. First, I had to lay down the guitar track. Yep, just me, playing guitar, singing along in my head, trying to make sure I got the chords right (did I play that G for 4 bars or 6 bars?). I am not a confident guitar player so that took a lot of concentration. Then it was time to record the vocals. We set up and the second I heard my voice coming back at me in the headphones I started to feel a bit nauseous. What was I doing here? Am I nuts? Whose voice is that? Is that the right note? Forget it. I can’t do this.

But I took a breath. And I sang.

What’s With the Hangups?

I believe that the primary reason people don’t do things is because they are too worried about what other people will think. So that novel never gets written. That course never gets developed. That song never gets composed. That blog never gets started. That startup company never starts up. Think of all the creative ventures that have gone by the wayside because people were too afraid to try. Think of the dreams that haven’t come true because people were so afraid to look silly.

You know who taught me not to be afraid to just sing? Bob LeDrew. I didn’t even know Bob when I saw this article back in 2008. In fact, that article is how Bob and I met. Now we’re great friends, and he’s a source of inspiration to me in so many ways. He taught me that it’s okay to get up on a stage (or into a recording studio) and not be perfect. It’s okay to stumble a bit at first, as long as you learn from it and keep going.

He taught me that it’s okay to believe in yourself. And that it’s essential to get over yourself.

Comfort Zone, Shmomfort Zone

I’m convinced we use that comfort zone thing as an excuse. (Oh no, I can’t do that. I’m not comfortable. It makes me nervous. I’m too shy.)

Pardon my French, but screw that.

We really do need to get over ourselves. As my good friend and business partner says, we need to “outshout the voices” in our heads that tell us we can’t do stuff. We need to fight through the nervousness and the nausea, and just start doing what we want to do, in spite of it. Because you know what? I sang my guts out yesterday. I fought through the knot in my stomach and I did it. And it sounded good. And I had fun.

As for the results of my efforts, you’ll have to wait while Dennis works his magic on the mixing board. But rest assured I’ll be showing the world when it’s done. Because I’m so over myself. And I know now that living a creative life requires that.

So you? What are you going to do to get over yourself and just do that thing you’ve always wanted to do?

[photo: Greg McMullen]

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