Evolving Technologies

Learning Via Web?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:23:00 +0000

In the past year I have been providing training sessions using WebEx to offices located throughout the United States. Although I get great feedback from my smile sheets one of the most common requests is "more hands on training" or "live in person training please". The world wide web has provided us an opportunity to reach a great number of people in multiple timezones, but at what cost?

With e-learning and distance learning becoming the way of the world, nothing beats having a live instructor that you can look in the eye and ask that question that has been bothering you. In a live web meeting our anxieties keep us from asking questions since we cannot get a sense of the capabilities of the participants and you get the feeling like you are being judged by the silent, hidden students on the other end of the net.

I have been attending a distance learning graduate program for a year and a half now. It is frustrating during a live session when the instructor justs asks questions to the group. Usually there is silience because no one wants to go first or is afraid of speaking over someone. By the time the first person speaks up, someone else has also built up the courage and then you get two people accidentally talking over each other and telling each other to "go ahead".

Live online training can be conducted in a interactive and engagaing way but it takes preparation and understanding of these dynamics. You need to ask specific people questions that are attending or use the tools that are available such as chat rooms or polling tools to get real time feedback.

Using videos or activities that get the audience involved is also another way of creating a memorable and enagaging session. You need to be creative when preparing for a live web teaching lesson. Just showing up with the knowledge in hand and telling people about it does not fly.

Culture and Social Learning in the Workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:14:00 +0000

I have been hearing a lot about "Social Learning" in the workplace but have yet to hear of a good plan. People are still wrapping their minds around the idea of social media and in more conservative work environments this tool may be a few years off. I think understanding the culture of your organization is a first place to start. The culture will tell you if this will be accepted or rejected. If I just introduce Yammer to my company and expect them to just start using it, it may just sit there. Why? It's a great tool for communication and knowledge management. It is great for people to keep in touch instantly. If it has all these great features why will it fail? The culture at my organization is inundated with software. They have to log in to attendance software, performance management software, a learning management system, etc. These are a few of the many applications that our users access each and everyday. They are overwhelmed with email that is next to impossible to manage and yet, I want to add another piece of software to the list that no one is asking for. Although I want them to interact more and use these great tools in order to capture knowledge and make it easier for them to find information, it is not something THEY want. Once the culture wants change then it can be a success.

Analyzing your learning culture and defining it, is a good place to start. People join Facebook because it adds value to them in some way. If you find what the culture values in learning then this might be a way to begin marketing social media to them. Find a group of individuals to be testing the program on. Just creating a SM platform and turning it on will turn into a big flop. Get the pilot group to begin using it. Find out how they are using it and coach them into more useful ways. This should continue for several months. Get feedback from them and if it seems like it is going well, use the testimonials or the users to help pass the word and teach others.

Ultimately, social learning is not a new concept. It has been going on for a long time, but this new media allows us to get that small piece of information from the small cubicle to an office across the world. It allows us to identify experts and collaborate with more people than we could a decade ago. This repository of information now creates a legacy in the organization and allows information to be available for ever.

The Romans had mastered the art of cement and built great aqueducts that brought water to the cities of the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome, during the middle ages the technology of cement was lost for nearly a thousand years. It was rediscovered in the late 18th century. The Romans did not have a solid knowledge management program that allowed them to pass information on to future generations. Do you want to be Rome?

iPhone 4: Bad Rap or What?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:52:00 +0000

I ordered my iPhone 4 a day after it released and received it by mail on July 12th. In those weeks the infamous antennae issue appeared all over twitterverse, blogosphere and media outlets. If you haven't heard...and I can't believe you haven't, when holding the iPhone in the left hand it loses reception and reportedly drops calls. Apple and Steve Jobs initially dismissed it and this only served to flame the fire. Consumer reports came out with a video displaying the defect and deciding not to recommend the iPhone 4.

This really made a splash. Even my Mom heard about it then. Since I have been using my iPhone 4, I have been very happy and have notice very little signal loss and no more than the normal dropped calls that I associate with drop zones. I did notice that when I use the WiFi feature it loses a bar or two but I have not noticed any performance issues.

Today Steve Jobs and Apple held an honest press conference where he admitted the defect but also displayed other smart phones with the similar issues. He also stated that every iPhone 4 user would receive a numper or case. You can also turn it in for a full refund. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiifsX0iv0Q

I personally love the phone. It's fast, responsive and works just fine. To tell you the truth. I hardly use it for a phone.

So did Apple get a bad rap? I believe so. When you are on top and people expect perfection, everything you do is watched with a magnifying glass. When you fail, everyone is looking to cash in on it and get consumers to look at their devices. Most recently we saw the same happen to Toyota. Toyota has become know as the "safe" and "quality" automobile. People just believed this. Then when reports that a defect had caused several deaths, this myth was instantly proved wrong. The media pounced on this story as well as their competitors. This was an opportunity to take back part of the market share and finally change those assumptions about the brand.

I am happy Steve Jobs admitted this and offered returns, but he also stood by his product and his company. A good leader should be able to admit failure and be honest with his constituents. I am sure Apple will survive to iPhone 5 and beyond.

The Twitter Letterman Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +0000

Since I have been using Twitter I have noticed a phenomenon I call the "Letterman Effect". This is a technique to get people to click on the link in their tweet which usually takes you to their blog. It seems to compel me to actually click the link. These are top 10's or top 5's. It reminds me of Letterman's Top 10 segment that he does each night and has always been popular. Another version is the 5 C's or 10 C's of this or that.

I started to think about why this is effective and if it has any true value. When I am scanning through thousands of tweets a day, which one's do I select? These Letterman lists form a structured list for us to read. I think we like these simplified yet most often arbitrary and unsupported lists or rankings. Most of them are based on the opinion of the blogger and have no research to back them up. Yet I read them. Why?

I'm not saying it's all bad information or inaccurate. What are your thoughts?

Is the Future of Learning Technology?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:18:00 +0000

I will be the first to admit that I am a technology enthusiast and enjoy deploying technology in my personal life and professional life. I love teaching someone how to use technology and fix processes. But if you ask me if technology is the future of learning I hesitate. Learning is a function of the brain and the individual. Technology is generally created to cater to the masses. How can we create a sophisticated learning tool that can adjust to each person's learning agility and expect it to be successful? We may not be there yet. I have been working with e-learning for 4 years now and I have found it extremely difficult to create a sophisticated tutorial that can adjust to each person.

The new question is: "How can we integrate web 2.0 into learning?" I think web 2.0 is amazing and is a great way to find and share information. I struggle like most to see the current practical use in a true learning environment. I believe it will be achieved and can be done. Web 2.0 is evolving by the second and people have not become generally comfortable with it yet and now we are trying to use it in a professional learning environment. It will take time for this to naturally occur.

True learning takes place in a person's mind. The content must have relevance and the person must connect it to something else. It needs to get past the short term memory and into the long term memory. I think that is where social learning will actually make a difference. If I want to solve a problem, the first place I go is Google. I usually come across some message boards, Wikipedia, Twitter feeds or blog posts. These are all user driven web 2.0. I am tapping the universe to find an answer. The learning occurs because I actually sought after the answer. The process of research and reading other people's thoughts tends to make the information get past the short term memory because I have to analyze and put into practice what I have just learned to see if it is correct. In classroom training, I follow standard training procedures. I go over the objectives, then I cover the content with some hands on practice and sometimes a "try it on your own" approach. When class ends, I have no control anymore on the learner. Unless the learner goes back and applies the skills they just learned, most of it is lost.

Implementing a web 2.0 learning strategy will only work if the learning culture is modified as well. The learners need to gain a natural curiosity and the will to seek answers on their own. The help desk and trainer help has hindered people's ability to learn. This is where creating an effective knowledge sharing portal or corporate social network can help solve this. This is where ingenuity will be needed to create a sophisticated knowledge center that has all the content in one large pool that is easily searched and updated. It could be videos, e-learning, text, discussions, questions and answers etc. I have heard that Sharepoint 2010 has some of these capabilities built in already but I will not hold my breath.

No matter what the technology that we deploy, it is really the way we seek knowledge that really matters. It is a human problem, not a hardware problem.

Using Social Media for Recruiting

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:33:00 +0000

If you are looking at revamping your recruiting strategy for the next several years, be sure to include Social Media as a part of the overall strategy. Social Media is a perfect fit for recruiting. As a recruiter you can actively seek passive candidates, have informal conversations with them, control your brand while lowering your recruiting costs.

By implementing a social media strategy you are increasing your reach. Facebook has over 400 million users, Twitter 75 million, Linkedin 60 million and so on. This is a large group to tap into...with minimal cost. The big question is how do you do it? And how do you do it effectively and minimize cost?

According to case study by Bersin and Associates of Hyatt hotels, they decreased their recruiting costs by 80%. That's a large amount of cost reduction. They used a multi-pronged approach but used the big four social networking sites to accomplish their goal. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube

Think about what you ultimately want to do when you are recruiting.

Find quality talent
Sell your brand to the best talent
Hire the best talent

With a solid social media strategy you can do this, especially on a budget.

Hyatt, like most companies has their own careers site. Most of these are simple applicant tracking systems where your resume gets lost in a automated database. This is a way to handle large amount of applicants quickly but the computer eliminates candidates based on a predetermined algorithm and makes no decisions based on behaviors.

You still most likely need a career site where you can post job openings and give applicants a place to create an account and upload their resume. My advice is to not make this mundane and lengthy.

The goal of social media is to funnel candidates to your career site, interact with potential candidates and get to know their personality and interests before you ever see a resume. This allows you to go where the talent is. If you are looking for quality computer engineers, you might want to find a twitter group who chats using a specific hashtag such as #computer and start engaging with people who talk about computers. Join a Facebook or Linkedin group about computers and listen to the conversation and see who is helping people the most and is most knowledgeable.

It make take some time to find the right group but it can be done and this is where you need to consider allocating the right amount of resources to social media recruiting. Either you have your recruiters start using it as a primary tool, or you hire someone to run the social media. To be truly effective and bring value, someone needs to be dedicated to it.

This brings up another point. First you must learn and understand the various social networking site and not break any of the unwritten rules or you take a chance of being tagged as a poser and lose any trust. A great book to learn about this is "Trust Agents" by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. This book speaks to culture and some rules and guidelines of how to behave in the social networks.

Once you are learn the tools and are accepted in the social media realm, this will make your efforts more effective.

Some last thoughts:

Learn about the platforms thoroughly and understand the culture of the media
Allocate appropriate resources
Respond to community effectively
Update content
Get metrics (SEO, Twitter Stats, etc)
Stay in tune with the community

Social Media...Are You Taking or Giving?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:56:00 +0000

I admit, I am part of the trend and I am truly fascinated with Social Media and apparently so is society and especially business. I am lucky enough to be on both sides of the fence. I have started getting involved with the social media sub-culture and have attended a "Tweetup". If you do not know what a "tweetup" is, then you are on the outside of this culture and probably dabble in Facebook and share items on Farmville. In Detroit alone, there is a Social Media Club, I-Detroit, Tweetea and many more. Tweetup's allow people to get together and share ideas and basically conduct B2B or social network live. The people I have met at some of these events were refreshing and it makes it more personal and real when you read their tweets or blog posts. It starts a conversation that you can continue on-line. There are many large organized events by the same community. I volunteered and attended one called Future Midwest in Royal Oak Michigan. Just recently there was the 140 conference in New York. These are just a few of the many that are popping up. These are a great way to learn the industry and meet the early adopters and entrepreneurs that are taking it to the next level.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are webinars, seminars, whitepapers, e-books and real books popping up all over the place. Not all of them are created with an intent to help you. How do you know which book to buy or which webinar to listen to? Who should I listen too? People are making money right now off of people who are so far outside of the loop than that they are afraid of Social Media and are willing to pay someone to show them the basics. These Social Media Scavengers are out there and will continue to offer $300 1 hour seminars on social media basics. The kicker is, people will pay for them because they are clueless and think that a one hour session will bridge that gap.

Chris Brogan

How do you get to know the culture then? I found the who's who of Social Media by joining the conversation and listening first. Chris Brogan is one of the "messiah's" of Social Media. Chris and Julien Smith wrote a book called "Trust Agents" that really outlines the way you should conduct yourself in Social Media. Many people not only quote Chris, but they practice his principles noticeably every day in the SM arena. I listened to the itunes version of the book not too long after I listened to "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Chris references his book often and I could really hear a lot of the influence in the book. Some of the ideas that I took and started practicing is the idea of helping other people for free. Weird concept huh?



I began sharing my thoughts and my research of social media freely and giving people advice. It's amazing how people gravitate to you and reciprocate when this occurs. Covey refers to this as 1+1=3 where people help each other for more than a simple exchange of services. He explains it a lot better than me. Another concept that I put into motion is the idea of just getting out there and meeting people live. After I established myself on-line, I found some opportunities to go network and this has been explosive for my professional network. I also used a concept I learned from Brian Uzzi, Distinguished chair in leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, about finding "brokers", people who are conduit to the a larger diverse network that allows you leave your "echo chamber". I have made connections with Brandon Chesnutt here in Detroit who is quickly becoming a well known face of social media and Dave Murr who runs the Social Media Club of Detroit. They are brokers that have allowed my to connect with more people that are outside of my network. I haven't "cashed" in so to speak on these networks, but they have led to some opportunities and opened a lot of new doors and allowed me to meet some great people, hear some great ideas and share my own both live and in the social web.

So I'll leave you with this video and let you make up your mind...Social Media is here. Learn it...and live it.

Social Media Policy: What Are you Waiting For?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:11:00 +0000

According to a recent study by a leading E-mail security firm Proofpoint, examining how companies are managing their employees’ social media behavior:

· 17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies. Nearly 9 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation (both increases from 2008, 11 percent and six percent, respectively).

· 15 percent have disciplined an employee for violating multimedia sharing/posting policies in the past 12 months, while 8 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation.

· US companies are experiencing an increase in “exposure incidents” involving sites like Facebook and LinkedIn as compared to 2008 (17 percent versus 12 percent). US companies are now taking a much more forceful approach with offending employees – 8 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation as compared to only four percent in 2008.

· Short message services like SMS texts and Twitter also pose a risk. 13 percent of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services in the past 12 months.

Did you know that for over seven years, your employees have been using some of the social networking sites? (LinkedIn 2004, Facebook 2006, MySpace 2003, Twitter 2006) Have you created a social media policy yet? If not, is it that you do not understand them? Are you unsure of any new risks that need to be addressed? Do you think it is a fad that will fade away? Social media is not going away, it is only getting stronger. For example, Facebook has over 400 million active users, which would make Facebook the 3rd largest country in the world.

Discussions surrounding social media policies have intensified as social media has become widely accepted and integrated into business. What makes creating a policy so difficult is sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn blur the line between business and personal life. Before you begin forming a policy or blocking these services, you should really begin to understand them first.

“I don’t understand this MyFriend stuff!”

Would you buy a car before test driving it? Most would answer “No”. How can you begin forming a policy or set of guidelines for something you know little about? Social media has its own culture and you need to understand the culture and technology before you create a policy. Try opening a Facebook or Twitter account. Get your feet wet first. You do not have to add content right away. You can sit back and listen to other people and try to understand the culture. This may only get you so far and you may not have the time.

An alternative is to hire a social media consultant to work with you in forming a policy. They know the nuances of the culture, the technology and can discuss ways that you can utilize social media strategically for your company. Once you start to understand the environment more thoroughly, you can then begin to look at potential risks and include logical, realistic guidelines in your policy.

“Why am I creating this policy?”

Now that you understand social media, it might be helpful to step back and decide what you are trying to accomplish by creating a new policy. If you want to use the policy to reduce “slack-off” time, this may not be effective. People have been slacking off before the advent of computers and will continue to no matter how hard you try to stop them. People are very creative and will find ways to waste time. You need to decide what the purpose of the policy is before setting forth guidelines.

“What should I include?”

I would encourage responsible use of social media. This should include a discussion of the value that can be created as well as a list of guidelines that can be put in place. These guidelines should be based on common sense and should be general enough to cover new technologies that will inevitably appear on the web. Consider behavior, appropriate content and representation of the company. If you currently have an internet and/or e-mail policy, it may only need to be enhanced. Some questions to consider when deciding what to include should be:

· Is it okay to use social media to conduct a background check on potential hires?

· Is it acceptable for a manager to ask a subordinate to be a “friend” on Facebook?

· If you receive information about an employee directly or from someone else that is using Facebook or MySpace, can you use this against the employee?

· Should I ban all sites? According to Scott Patterson, a Labor and Employment Attorney at Butzel Long, absolute bans on social media are hard to manage because you may face a discrimination suit if you do not enforce the policy equally.

Consider all aspects that may have a potential impact on your business and not just how your employees use social media.

“What now?”

After you have created a social media policy, make sure it is consistent with other policies in place at your company. The policy should be reviewed consistent with your current policies before being implemented. This will ensure your policy does not break any laws and cannot be used to harm your company. You might want to run the policy by a social media consultant just in case a loophole exists that you are not aware of.

“I created the policy, I’m done right?”

When you finish the policy, you should to train people how to use social media responsibly and what the new policy/guidelines contain. If you thought you knew little about social media before you set out to create a policy, the employees may know even less. “So why train them if they are not using it?” This is an opportune time to teach people how to use social media properly and responsibly. I predict at the current rate of increased usage, everyone will eventually be using one of the hundreds of social media platforms that exist. You can use this also as a way to discuss the guidelines and have your employees sign an acknowledgment form for the updated policy.

Don’t wait to create a policy until it’s too late. Start looking at your current policies and see if they are still relevant. Since social media is relatively new and changing the way we do business, you should keep apprised of the industry and see how it can have an impact on your company. Look for lawsuits and cases based on social media that will be precedent for future cases. It’s never too soon to get a policy in place that can protect your company from future litigation. With social media being new and integrated into business and pleasure, the potential exists for plenty of good and bad.

FutureMidwest

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:42:00 +0000

I volunteered at the recent Future Midwest conference in Royal Oak, Michigan. I was able to attend the events as well as work. The event was well put together and had a great lineup of speakers. All of the speakers ended up having a common theme tied in: "How can we change Detroit?" Check out the opening video:

This is a common topic of discussion all over the region and was not a surprise as I attended a Social Media Club of Detroit event at the Detroit Public Library Wednesday and the same topic was on the table. The speakers were all thought leaders in social media and had shown tangible results of how they have taken the social web and used it to help grow their individual businesses.

It was great to hear how Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) had helped Ford use social media to interact with their customers and let customers drive their designs and new technology. Chris Barger from GM gave a less commercialized and humble speech, I felt was less corporate especially coming from the MOST corporate of corporations but they too have a great social media plan that involves the customers.

In the end, technology ended up being a side note to all of the speeches. Most of them discussed innovation, thinking outside the box and have confidence about changing the paradigm of business and how we interact with the customer.

I really enjoyed the conference and was able to meet some great people. My one problem was the inability to access a Wi-Fi connection with my iPhone and the AT&T signal was not strong enough in the area to penetrate the theatre.

Google Wave Adds E-Mail notifications

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:53:00 +0000

It's amazing that this even needs to be a story at all. Google create Wave as a collaborative tool for no specific purpose and I think they wanted people to figure out how to use it in order for them to "sell it" to more users. From day one it was destined to lose traction. Very few people were given an initial invite and each of us were allowed to invite a handful of people. So it's very nature of being collaborative was nullified by the Beta tag and limited users. If none of your friends got an invite or none of your friends was using Wave, it became a useless tool immediately. It has potential but it just lacked certain features right out of the bag. One of them being a notification system. This brings us to the subject of this post.

This is how it's supposed to work. You decide to create a Wave, which is a stream of information in chronological order. This could be used to plan an event, create a document, as a discussion, etc. By default you can edit other peoples posts, reply to them publicly or privately. I'm sure there are many other things you can do with it. The biggest problem was there was no way to know when someone added something to a Wave. This was like going back to Web 1.0 where you had to keep revisiting a website or message board to see if there is any new items or posts.

So now Google adds e-mail notifications. I turned mine on and I had to send out an e-mail to my friends whom I am try to collaborate with so they can turn theirs on too. I guarantee I will use it now if this feature proves reliable and my friends begin to use it too. It may be too late for other early adopters of Wave and they may have moved on. I'll give it some more time and see who it goes.

My First Tweet Up

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:36:00 +0000

I reluctantly and excitedly attended my first Tweetup. If you are unaware, a Tweetup is a "live" social gathering at a public location which allows Twitter communities to meet live and share ideas about their shared interests or business. I cannot really convey what my expectations were, but they were not very high. I of course was proven wrong.

    I walked through a bitter cold, quiet downtown Detroit along Jefferson Avenue from 150 West Jefferson Avenue and the Financial district of Detroit to the looming and ominous General Motors headquarters building, the Renaissance Center Building on the Detroit River. Along the way I passed Hart Plaza where I watched the Red Wings raise the Stanley Cup a few years ago. I also passed the statue of Joe Louis' arm and fist, which is an icon of Detroit.
    After making my way through the maze of the Renaissance Building, I found the Volt Lounge in the Detroit Marriott. At first nothing looked out of control and people were not holding cellphones and "tweeting" instead of talking. I looked a little closer and I recognized some people from their Twitter photo and introduced myself. I was a little early and only a table of attendees was present. I filled out my name tag with my twitter id and slapped it on my shirt.

    The conversation started with the usual "what do you do?" questions and answers and it moved towards the state of social media. A group of strangers soon began talking openly about their careers, passions and ideas. I began walking around to some people who I recognized and started similar conversations. It was great to meet people who had discovered a passion for something they love and had an outlet and support system of the network created by Twitter.

    I learned about someone who had lost his passion for writing and began a blog to help get him going and now he has people really interested in his blog about food. I discovered two guys who went to high school together and had created several successful web-based businesses only to see them fail, but they did not fail. They now run a successful Apple iPhone application company where they are doing very well.

    What I truly learned is that all of these people were very creative, honest, smart and forward thinking people that will lead the next generation of businesses. The question is, "How do we harness all of that creative energy into something great?"

Why you shouldn't use Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:01:00 +0000

Three Reasons You Shouldn’t Use Twitter

1. If you want to be left in the dust

You really shouldn’t use Twitter if you want to network with likeminded people, use a very large free marketing database to help create relationships and learn the new age of social networking. Although new technologies seem out of place and seem to have no real value to you, sometimes it is good to look at the mass and see how they are using it. By the time you start using Twitter because you realize it really is valuable and can help you, a new platform will be in in thing and you will be even further behind. Regardless if we are talking about social media, technology or business in general it is important to keep an open mind and try out new practices that you may not feel comfortable with or did not learn in college in order to keep ahead of the game and have a competitive advantage.

2. You’re not a people person

This seems counterintuitive. Most people that do not use social media sites like Twitter or Facebook see these as a pastime for geeks, nerds, recluses and anti-social people. On the contrary, the very nature of social media is “social”. Many people who “tweet” meet up at local “Tweetups” and get to know each other in a live social setting. The media allows us to quickly find and establish quick connections with people with similar interests or business needs. Then we can connect live and create a deeper relationship which may lead to a business lead, favor or a lasting friendship. According to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith this is acting like a “Trust Agent”. Tweeters are people too. Social media has created a sort of cult following. Just this week in Detroit an event occurred called Ignite Detroit which brought together social media leaders in the area and gave them a forum to discuss anything. So if you don’t want to meet people and create relationships, then don’t join Twitter.

3. You don’t want to grow your business

Many people see Twitter and social media as a fad or something only the young people are using. I see it as an investment into the future for everyone that is using it. The reality is, the “tweeters” are the business owners or professionals of the future. They will have an added advantage of a very large network to draw from as they find their niche in the near future. The old guard did this as well but was very limited and costly. You had to join a fraternity in college, a club, a professional organization with yearly dues or pay to go to conferences and pass out business cards like crazy. Twitter and other social media make it easy to make connections and search and sort through the millions of users out there to find your niche or market.

Twitter is not for everyone…but it really is. You need to just create an account, find people with similar interests as you and just begin listening. This might make you a believer.

Buzz...Tweet...Wave...Update...

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:25:00 +0000

Google Buzz created some...well..Buzz this week. It peaked my interest and it took me over a day after until I was able to use Buzz. I have been an early adopter to most of the Google products and I generally use them all. Gmail is now my default e-mail, I use Google Voice and I use the Google calendar a lot. Other Social media I use are Facebook and Twitter. I update Facebook and comment on my Friends posts nearly everyday via PC or my iPhone. I have recently started sending Tweets more frequently on Twitter. Prior to that I was more of a reader than a feeder. I Waved...once. Wave is like the tree in the woods question. If you Wave and no one is there...does it make a sound? And then there came along Google Buzz.

I didn't realize Google borrowed the already used name from Yahoo. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ With the really smart people at Google, it seems like they would have tried a name that distinguishes them from other services rather than confuse. I did start my Buzz. I connected my Twitter account to it along with my Blog and YouTube. They only allow you to connect Google products or products they have partnered with so far, which seems like something Microsoft would do. So far I have one follower that I can't tell anything about and I am following some of my contacts but I don't get any Buzz from them. So far I am talking to myself.

So why do new social media products flop? It is an age old problem that can be traced back to the boom of consumer products in America. Human nature. We are creatures of habit. We all know that smart cars and small cars are more reasonable and better for the environment, but we are used to cars that go really fast, are big and safe and fit 15 people in them. Unless our motivation changes, like the price of a car becomes unaffordable, we refuse to change. There is no motivation to stop using Facebook and start using Buzz. Not yet.

What if Facebook starts charging for accounts? How many people would leave? I bet a lot. Not sure where they would go, but since the motivation changes, then the behavior changes. As of right now, the fact that it is free allows people to use Facebook with reckless abandon and post to their heart's desire.

Why would I defect to Buzz when I am used to Facebook? All my friends and the world is in Facebook and not in Buzz. Another motivation is the fact that so many people use Facebook and actually update it. That is actually one of the reasons I "defected" from MySpace. The interaction was gone. You had to "surf" profiles and leave messages on people's walls. When they changes their profile design no one was notified. It seemed like people just stopped using it and so I did as well. When I got on Facebook, the conversation was going full bore and when I posted something, I got a reaction. That is why until this day, I post on Facebook everyday. I know someone is listening and will respond.

The jury is out on Buzz, but if I had to make a prediction, it will become one of Google's many experimented apps that sit dormant in the "more" category that are only used by a small percentage of people.

Google is great for what it is meant to do, search. Facebook is great for what it is meant to do, connect. I understand they these companies continue to seek new ways to generate revenue, but that will be their undoing in the end. I predict that Facebook will eventually be one of Google or Microsoft's products and Buzz will just fade away into retirement.

What the Heck is Twitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:08:00 +0000

Sound familiar? I hear people all the time mention that they have heard of Twitter but don’t understand it and want nothing to do with it.The same was said of e-mail in the 90’s, and now it’s a standard mode of communication. So just what IS Twitter?

Twitter is a newsfeed of sorts that includes personal updates and links to Web sites and news stories.You can create a Twitter account for free and begin posting messages about what you are doing—but you’re limited to 140 characters.You can post (or "Tweet") by sending a text message to a number provided by Twitter right from your cell phone.You can also receive Twitter updates as SMS text messages or by using the Internet directly.The Twitter "feed" is by default public and searchable, which makes it different from Facebook, which is private unless you make it public.People on Twitter can choose to "follow" you and in turn you can begin to "follow" other people.

Why do I care what people are doing all day?

This is a popular misconception of Twitter.Most feeds that I follow are from people who post about what is going on in the news or in their particular industry—not about what they’re doing all day.This is where Twitter becomes invaluable.You can follow people in your field as they will post new ideas and links to industry related news.If you find that someone is not posting something that is valuable, you simply stop following them.
You can also follow organizations that provide news, such as CNN or The New York Times.Most media organizations and many celebrities and sports stars have Twitter accounts that you can follow.Many of these entities will attempt to follow you once you follow them.While you can choose to block people from following you it defeats the purpose of expanding your "listener" base.
How can Twitter add value to me or my business?

Although Twitter is a very "social" product, it has quickly been adapted into the corporate world.Companies are beginning to use Twitter to market their brand and new products.According to the leading social media blog, Mashable.com, "Fifty-four percent of the FORTUNE 100 have a Twitter presence, 32 percent have a blog, and 29 percent have an active Facebook page." Twitter is, essentially, another media outlet allowing companies to "push" news out to selected audiences.

So how do I learn how to use Twitter?

Just like any new product, you need to begin using it.Twitter does have a help feature that explains some basic features such as Direct Messages and hashtags.Visit www.Twitter.com and click on Help for a video that will walk you through the basics of getting started.A few words of advice:

Begin using Twitter as a reader not a feeder
Start following people that are in similar industries as your own.

If you want to follow people in the Human Resources industry, type Human Resources in the "Find People" search and thousands of HR professionals will appear.You can go to a profile and read their most recent Tweets.If they are talking about what they had for breakfast or what movie they just watched, then you might want to pass on following them.If they consistently post valuable HR-related stories and links to new HR articles, then you might want to follow them.There are "phonebook" style Web sites that categorize Tweeters by industry such as Wefollow.com.You can find people in your industry or join the list and people can find you.Twitter directories are also helpful in getting people to follow you once you have something to say or good information to pass along.

Be sure to choose a Twitter name appropriate to the type of account you are creating.If you are a benefits expert, for example, you might want to create a name like Benefits_Guru or HR_Professional.This will identify you with an industry automatically and give followers an idea who you are.In conjunction with creating a good user name, make sure you write a brief description of yourself on the main Twitter page and identify what you’re interested in reading and learning about.Since this is part of the search feature, this will help people seeking to follow you.You can also add graphics and make your Twitter page unique and match your Web site or blog site.

In a few years, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will be as common as e-mail is now and I’m sure by then there will be a newer way to communicate and connect.Like anything new, you will just have to try it in order to understand it. Twitter is a growing community and the sooner you join the sooner you can take advantage of this free communication service.

Originally published in HRAGD December 2009 Newsletter

Who cares about Privacy?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Privacy. It seems to be a popular topic in the last few months. Social media blog Mashable editor Pete Cashmore decided to feature privacy as his first topic for his CNN weekly column, Privacy is dead, and social media hold smoking gun. Almost the same day, NPR does a piece on a similar topic, The End Of Privacy. Both speak of similar technologies that exist that are putting our lives into the public arena. Twitter is by default a public stream of information that can be searched and read by anyone. So when you update what costume you are wearing to a Halloween party, someone four states over will know exactly what your wearing. Although Facebook is relatively private, when you have over a hundred friends getting your updates about your daily life, this no longer seems private. Another technology that both articles talked about was Google Latitude. This program allows you to track your friends and family via cellphone GPS on Google Maps. Many of my iPhone applications ask if I want to "allow" them to access my location. I usually answer yes. Why? Who cares about privacy?

The world is changing and so is technology. What we considered private and most dear to withhold from the public eye, we now post on social media sites daily, some without a filter. I hear some people say, "I don't want to post pictures of my kids on Facebook. What if a predator sees them?". What if the predator sees your child at the mall? Or at a public playground? Although a valid concern, it is more about putting things into perspective and using common sense. I take about one million digital pictures yearly via cell phone or digital camera. What am I ever going to do with all of these? Print them and put them into an album? I don't have enough time or money. I can upload them to Flikr or Facebook and share them with people around the world in real time.

Privacy has not changed with all of this. We still do not post "everything" on these sites. We still keep information to ourselves. I still send a lot of e-mail and direct messages via Facebook that I want to keep to a one on one conversation. You know what you should post and what you should not. There are narcissistic people who take advantage of these sites and want you to "hear" all of their problems and successes. Remember, you can always stop listening and "de-friend" them or filter them out.

Also remember to read the policy and terms of the social media site your are joining and see who "owns" the content. Just because you remove an account or disable an account, that the information you posted just doesn't disappears. Google indexes everything on the web and although you remove it, it may remain forever.

The moral of the story? Know that whatever you post of the web, it can be read by someone.

Is Social Networking a "New" Technology?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:55:00 +0000

We as a society have been social networking for millions of years. Social networking is a function of society to find affinity groups and find people who might have value for you or your business. Examples inlude conferences and groups that meet live to share current trends and services that you offer. There is an art to meeting people in a social event which includes having a personality.

The definition of social networking has changed by the advent of Facebook and Linkedin. These do not require you to have an open personaility, you need to only have an online profile that displays your skills.

Remember Not having a cell phone?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:03:00 +0000

"I remember when we didn't have cell phones?"

Sound familiar. I not only hear this all the time but find myself saying it as well when my 11 year old niece mentions that she "needs" one. I sound like the old geezer talking about going up hill both ways to school or eating sawdust in their oatmeal, but the reality is: I really didn't have a cell phone when I was little. I am part of Generation X that has lived entirely through the Computer Revolution. My first memory with any technology was our Atari 2800 or even just arcades. We were early adopters of Cable TV and bought our first VCR in 1985. The first time we had a PC was around 1990 and my first cell phone was in the year 2000 after returning from a tour in Okinawa Japan. It is really funny because as kids we used to play a game called "The Year 2000" where it was the future and we had laser guns and light sabers.

My point is, with the speed of technology over the last 30 years, we have seen a major cultural shift as well. We are a "need it now" society. We have these great devices for communication but have lost the art of small talk, coordination and interpersonal skills. Texting is just a shrunkin down version of email which is just passive communication. Fire and forget. I do use Texting to my advantage. I may text someone if I don't have the time to go through the formalities of introducing myself, building up to the question and telling them I need to let them go to take the dog out.

Some people look down on texting and the shortened phrases such as OMG, LMAO but I see it as creative and just a new way of expressing yourself. A whole industry is growing from the text phenomenon. Twitter is based on text limited characters. Even though you can access Twitter on a PC you can send your Tweet via text message from wherever you are without some expensive Smart Phone.

We are a society with a need of information and the need to share it. The Internet has provided a forum and media which allows us to do this for virtually free. You do have to pay for your Internet usage or phone usage. We also are inundated by ads and pop ups on most of the free sites. Blogging went from an underground society which news agencies hated into recognized news outlets that are now linked to from CNN and other various sites.

So, do you remember not having a cell phone? Nintendo Wii? Laptop? I do and I am not sure how I survived.

Is Social Media Really Safe?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:48:00 +0000

My friend @Greendetour mentioned in a comment about the security, privacy and risks of Web 2.0 and Social Media. When MySpace first came about, you could not have a private page unless you were under the age of 14 and soon this changed. Well, if it says it's private, how private is it? Many of these sites are not created in a sophisticated encrypted manner. The social media sites were created by guys and gals with a great idea and minimal programming. Security has been added on top of the original platform. This is similar in how the Internet was created and computer operating systems. This allowed hackers to get the original code and hack into these sites. We have seen the first worms introduced into Twitter and I know many people who have had MySpace sites hacked and had to either change their password or close their profile.

So you post all of your information on Facebook and pictures of you and your family. You get a request to be friends with someone from Elementary School or High School. You haven't seen or heard from them in 20 years. What do you do? Not to be mean or because you are trying to beef up your friend count, you accept the invite. You do not know anything except what they want you to know via their profile. They could be a sex offender, stalker, criminal, identity thief or any other lurking danger. By following your thread they can get information where you go, who you and your family are and use this information to hurt you in some way.

How can you avoid this? It is okay to Ignore people when they request your friendship. You should really only accept friendship for people you know and associate with. If you post pictures of your family, Facebook and MySpace allows you to decide who can see what pictures. Take time to look at your privacy options and customize them. Don't worry about hurting people's feelings, you need to look out for yourself.

Read the Privacy Policies and Terms of Service of social networking sites. Some of them "own" the content and have the right to reproduce it for marketing reasons. Some of the policies are extreme and are there to protect the site you are on. There is not much to protect you, so be proactive.

By impersonating another persona you can be prosecuted for Internet Fraud. By conducting a search on Google under the age of 18 you are committing internet fraud. These are never followed up on, but are there to protect the site.

I am not saying to avoid social networking sites, I actually encourage them, especially marketing for businesses and consultants. I think it is great to keep in touch with your friends and family using these sites but you need to be smart and take time to look at the security, privacy and terms of service on the sites you use. Who is reading YOUR posts? Go check!

What is Web 2.0?

noreply@blogger.com (Curt Montague) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:42:00 +0000

There are many definitions of Web 2.o so I will try to give my version of it. Web 2.o is more a way to describe the evolution of the Internet. The Internet started out as a one way experience between a website and a user. A user needed to continually visit a site in order to view new content. There was no mechanism to bring that user back. To help bridge this gap and to help users remember what sites they visited, the creation of Bookmarks, Favorites and History was added to web browsers. This was a temporary fix to bring users back to the websites, but as the number of websites increased on the web, a users bookmark list increased to the point where they no longer could manage them. Web 2.o technology has solved this issue so far. What is so dramatically different about Web 2.o is that new technology uses a subscription system to allow a user to receive updates on specific content that is personalized and can be accessed from a single interface. There are many Web 2.o programs out there that may or may not sound familiar. I will take some time over the next several posts to describe these technologies. Twitter, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, MySpace, RSS feeds, Blogs, Podcasts and more.