This is the type of lunch you will be getting if you come along to Social Media in Business.

DELEGATE BUFFET LUNCH MENU

Cream of tomato and basil soup

Fisherman’s pie with cheesy mash topping

Herbed Portobello mushroom lasagne

Roast leg of Southdown lamb with garlic and rosemary

Selection of seasonal vegetables

Herb roast new potatoes

Pilaf rice

Mixed charcuterie platter

Mixed salad leaves

Coleslaw

Greek salad

Potato and bacon salad

Waldorf salad

A selection of dressings and condiments

An assortment of desserts from our pastry kitchen

Assorted bread and rolls

Freshly brewed coffee or tea

Technorati Tags: business conference delegate social social media in business social media in business conference social business delegate

This is Brett Hurt Founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice whom I met today at Internet World.

Now the interesting thing I thought about Brett is that he knows how to make friends, engage with people, seemed to be open minded, and generally enjoys interaction with new people, he doesn't foolishly judge too quickly, which always gets my interest every time.

To give you an opposite example.

The first exhibitor I walked up to at IW today was an older gentlemen representing a company concerned with CRM, you know, management of customer relationships (cough cough), and as it happens I have had CRM on my mind for a project recently. So picture this, I had a Nikon around my neck, was wearing torn jeans, a t-shirt, slightly unshaven look, and my usual blue glasses, a normal day for me then, (as you can see here) nice eh?.

So, as I say hello to this grumpy old guy, first thing he does is starts to look me up and down and begins asking me questions to validate myself (no shit),

• HIM: "how many employees do you represent then"

• ME: "I'm a web strategist, one of my clients has global representation"
• HIM: "show me a card then"

blah blah (insert longer story here), really boring me already dude.

So it got to the stage where I couldn't give a fuck how good his software may have been, the mere fact he made a judgement call on my appearance along with his decision to try and assert me to validate myself to him (like that's going work), was enough for me to just politely fuck-off in the other direction.

Now, moving on to Brett.

Brett on the other hand, you see, took an interest in a potential conversation with me and found out that I might post some pictures of the IW event onto Flick, the fact that hey this might be a really good moment for a Blog post to come from it, a moment captured where people interact with good outcomes, a memorable exchange.

Brett pulls his shirt open revealing a green t-shirt and says "put Bazaarvoice loves osborne" on it. I have no idea what that means, but it is of little significance. It's a message, it's a reach, it's an enagagement to someone, a client, a prospect who knows?

Job done for me, I couldn't refuse this attitude, it's perfect, and goes to show that if you think you are above your station (the first guy) you might need a reality check. The internet is not all about suites and boots.

Go visit BazaarVoice.

Technorati Tags: bazaarvoice branding communication networking social t-shirt bazaarvoice t-shirt branding communication social networking

Tomorrow evening is the Social Media Mafia "sit down" dinner in NYC.

The event is taking place at the Trattoria Dopo Teatro at 7:30pm, tomorrow (April 24)

125 West 44th Street

Looking forward to seeing you for big eats and some drinks, and plenty of geekery.

Send me an SMS tomorrow if problems: +447824776785 send me one anyway :)

Technorati Tags: dinner friends mafia media sit-down social dinner sit-down social media mafia friends

I just read Will McInnes Blog concerning MeasurementCamp and my brief thoughts are as follows:

A superb idea indeed and more importantly the correct format IMHO, structure is needed, probably more so when overt hierarchy is missing (though it exists covertly).

Sadly I heard about this late, not sure how, I just did, so I couldn't attend. However, had I been there (and I do hope to come to the next one), or one of them, I'd have suggested a branch or "gravitating crowd" invest a significant amount of time in some thorough research of the psychological/sociological nature.

There exists decades of academic research into "social behaviours", numerous models for how "social influence processes" operate, and in my personally limited research these are widely varying models, suggesting that not ONE model is proven as "correct", I can think of at least four.

It just seems to me that until that "nut" of conceptualising "social influence" is understood, choosing ONE model, and the measurement of it, will always be aimed at a "moving target", if you will.

I'll attempt to disseminate my research on this as I go along because it does fascinate me how many people seem to dive head-first into it, as they want to believe it is true - influencing that it.

UPDATE 15.04.08: I asked a psychologist friend Jo Jordan what her thoughts were on this (she commented below). Jo also helped my thoughts greatly on this topic by drawing pictures of my thoughts, I have posted them below.

Figure 1.1 Pre Social Media

Figure 1.2 Adoption of social media by many advertising agencies

Figure 1.3 True representation of the complexity of social media processes. Note that the community nodes may start as being the same singular community though as they are organic and constantly changing they naturally morph into different communities (with different perceptions), with different processes with time.

Take some time to look at these diagrams, Figure 1.1 is the easiest to understand, most simple, and the method by which advertising has worked for a long time. Figure 1.2 is where I think a lot of agencies are currently operating, almost using social media as a "bolt-on" with no "feed-back" loop, and also the potential to derive a crude metric based on purchases, proving the source of influence is registered. Then Figure 1.3 clearly indicates a complex system of organic processes, each highly dynamic, and each two-way dynamic node contains multiple models of influential process, depending on ones school of thought (belief) for influence reception (there are many models as stated previously).

It is with these further thoughts we are heading towards a more "process" oriented metric which rather than looking at the outcome (as in traditional above the line metrics) we instead study (or measure) the relationships in the nodes.

This post is now a work in progress.

UPDATE 14.04.08: I'll be adding a resource list in this post as they are collated

Social Influence Measurement Resources

• Situating Social Influence - Winter A. Mason, Frederica R. Conrey and Eliot R. Smith, 2008

• Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming - Jane McGonigal, PhD
• Design Of Online Communities

Technorati Tags: blogs camp influence measurement measurementcamp social social influence measurement blogs camp measurementcamp

It’s been a while since I reflected on my education, but the conversation came up recently over lunch with friends.

I have a friend who is considering a career change (let’s call him Charlie). Charlie is an instructor, and an instructor in every sense of the word. He works in an environment where training or instruction takes place in a way one manner. It’s the classic “sage on the stage” approach, the “font of all knowledge” where the primary task is to transfer a package of knowledge to the audience. “I have this knowledge and I am an expert, and I will now transfer it to you”.

Excuse me while I stop smirking, due to understanding various other far more empowering methods.

Now Charlie is not necessarily an advocate of the instructor led approach, it just so happens that is the environment he works in, and in fact he would make a diamond educationalist in a more liberal, or open environment.

But what does “open” mean here?

Many years ago I used to “train” or “instruct” just like Charlie, that’s the system we grew up with, that’s what we thought “education” was suppose to equate to. When we go to a conference, that’s the experience many of us still expect, we expect to be talked to by an “expert”. Well guess what? That approach is so old school and educationally limiting it’s time we changed our values, or our beliefs on how education can be delivered, and general information.

I’m speaking as a convert mind, if you read my blog a bit you’ll know that I am primarily an educational technologist, ok so one who has had to learn online marketing, branding and SEO through running a successful online business, but at the heart my core is one of an educational technologist.

Sometimes we reach milestones in our lives, or crossroads where significant experiences change our direction forever, and one of those crossroads for me was completing my Masters of Open and Distance Education way back in 2000, abbreviated to MA ODE (Open).

I studied that programme with the IET over three years part time, and in an online mode. So back in 97 we were a buzzing virtual community located globally and sensing something big was coming, and of course it did. We studied concepts years ago concerning social networks and knowledge nodes, we read material which challenged the very notion of what education should be, we debated social interaction in cyberspace (as it was known then), we enthused about the transparency that technology can yield, and the changing dynamic of teacher and student, the power shifts in a learning relationship.

We did so much brain buzzing that it had a fundamental impact on me which changed my outlook forever, and more importantly enabled me to “give-up” the notion that I had to be an “expert” delivering knowledge. We invested brain energy and practise into words such as “constructivism”, and “heutogogy”, all beautiful words which place the learner at the centre of discovery and the teacher as a “guide on the side” a person who creates scaffolding for the learner, but never “spoon feeds”, never has a notion of having to transfer HER opinion, NO the learner must construct their own learning and assumptions.

It is with background that I enthused to Charlie, in the hope Charlie will also find great richness in “giving-up” the teacher power struggle. It is with this background I tell you that study is a good thing, providing you find an “open” approach.

Have you experienced the open approach, maybe you do it every day of your life but just never assumed it was open education?

Technorati Tags: brain constructivism education expert heutogogy learning networks nodes open social study teacher technology open education study constructivism heutogogy learning teacher technology social networks nodes brain expert

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk recently that some people think it is hard to meet people they chat with online, in the real world, or to use the correct term Face To face (f2f).

I disagree with this, providing you are yourself online and offline and make no disernable distinction between the two, if you do this may not work.

Here are some ways you can in fact get off your arse and meet people.

1. Join the Social Media Mafia, it has a presence in three places currently:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website (you can’t sign up yet)

2. Using a social network create an event, a local event close to you and invite a handful of your online friends, if they live an extra long way away make the effort and travel an hour or so on the train, it will be worth it.
3. If you do not have friends in your social network who are local, search for them, actively seek out people in your geo area and make them friends.
4. When creating your event give it a theme, give it something everyone can relate to, a commonality if you will.
5. Document your event with blogs and pictures turn it into a “club”

Ok, so not everyone is a doer or a leader to organise such things, but if you are not that way inclined have a look around at some of the online tools, Upcoming is a great one for starters.

Break your comfort zone, everyone is a little shy, but by being that little bit bolder you will reap dividends and make lots of new friends, I know I have.

I used to be so shy.

Technorati Tags: f2f facebook linked meeting social social media mafia upcoming meeting upcoming facebook linked social media mafia social f2f

As I see that title I am now wondering how I can now justify it, but let me give it a go.

Firstly, let’s rid your mind of the romanticised stereotypical view of the Mafia; so that means you have to forget about horses heads in beds and machine guns outside of illegal underground casinos. You also need to rid your mind of anything criminal in fact, for my argument to work. So forgot about baseball bats and Las Vegas sand and lime too.

No, what I am talking about here is a mentality that, and we’ve all experienced this first hand, of something bigger and better, something worth much more than money, where money may actually be the by-product of the system.

The system of favours

The movement (loosely organised, and part of Folksonomy) of social media works by providing services that people want, typically information, or a bloody Dig, or a comment here and there, or something much bigger such as brand loyalty! People naturally migrate to providers and connectors of information and when and IF profit is made it is born out of a good relationship of those services and word of mouth endorsements.

If I help you in some way we have started to build a relationship, I have provided for you, without charge, something you want or need. In return you also provide for me or someone else in the social media family. This generosity is what builds trust, it is the currency of the movement.

If you assume money is the driver in this, you do not get the point, money will taint and in fact cheapen the exchange, the relationship. As I said money is a by-product of the favours and money WILL come if you play the game and focus on the exchange and relationships.

As an experiment (well and a bit of fun) I have now started another Facebook Page, called the Social Media Mafia (*update). this is an invite only group (you are free to request entry), where the members will have to have a “sit down” to approve newbies. The Family also now has an associated Social Media Mafia Website which the members will “take care of” very soon.

I'm chuckling a lot here :))

So, do you understand what I am trying to connect? Please tell me your thoughts.

Update: 30.05.08 I changed the Facebook link to point to a Page rather than group.

Technorati Tags: family favours folksonomy mafia media social social media social media social media mafia folksonomy family favours

What is an open organisation and how can you achieve it?

You can take a variety of channels and mediums and become impressed to hear various voices bubbling with enthusiasm and knowledge for change. It is most impressive when these voices have an outlet, and channel for open dialogue.

Change is a good thing, change brings goodness and change brings challenges for everyone, not least the identity (or brand) of the organisation, in this connected world.

Large organisations the world over are struggling with traditional forms of advertising, it is no surprise to find the branding and marketing conversation rampant in the online world, where daily large institutions are having to employ, consult, embrace, the currency of trust, which is of course transparency.

Marketing is now a dialogue, marketing is now a conversation, the product has to be engaged with, with the client, there is now a NEED, an absolute requirement to have interaction with the prospects.

Web 2.0 is here to stay, and those who embrace it will win, those who ignore it will fall, without a shadow of doubt.

So what’s needed?

A few things…

1. SELL TO YOUR STAFF - senior management need to engage with their staff transparently, and lead the transparent and open dialogue, effectively leading by example and encouraging feeding (fuelling the conversation). Traditional management cascades are one way, very old school, the conversation stops, immediately!

2. ENCOURAGE STAFF TOO SELL FOR YOU – here this is where you actively support and promote the soldiers to champion and engage in representing the organisation in the online space.

3. TOOLS – you need tools in place which allow the above to take place, including, blogs, podcasts, videocasts, wikis, and not only.

4. COMMUNITY DEVELOPER - you need someone full-time working in and around the community (the staff), who not only brings people together with all of this technology, but more importantly documents, showcases, makes aware of all the wonderful activities going on and spreading that externally within the important spaces. You need this person popping in board meetings, nipping into lectures, filming activity and pumping it out on an organisational channel.

I have been community developing with my online businesses for some time and relish the environment of connecting people and extended the conversation, it's empowering for all.

The point is how to move mountains, how to mobilise a community to act and engage with the product.

Now tell me what you are doing in YOUR organisation to promote change, are you just hoping it will happen, or are you actively pushing for change, is that difficult to accomplish, if so why?

Technorati Tags: advertising change channels community developer dialogue media open organisations product sell social social-media tools transparency Web 2.0 social media social-media tools community transparency organisations developer sell product Web 2.0 advertising change c

I was again perusing my friends’ tweets on Twitter this fine Saturday morning and I became aware that a recent buzz word seems to be “Social Media Breakfast”. Social Media Breakfast I say, hmm … what does that mean to you?

I have an idea of the concept but I really want to know who coined the phrase, and why? Was it coined just randomly like “hey let’s have breakfast” by a few people who use social media, or was it more thought about than that?

Conceptually I don't think it is actually anything new, the premise being that you have a friends list in one of your social networks and you create an event, a social event where you all meet-up, in this case eat breakfast, if like me you are not a big breakfast eater, or like the Italians, stand up and have an expresso on the run, these sessions might not work for you.

However, these remind me an awful lot of the activity we at Audiocourses.com have been practising since 2000. So have we been having Social Media Meet-Ups unwittingly? And have we just not applied a buzz phrase to them? I think so, let me explain.

Running a distance learning school has meant that I have had to build a strong sense of virtual community around the members and within its operating structure. As no bricks and mortar exists for the school (no point considering all students are geographically dispersed) it really is paramount to use scaffolding that supports a strong sense of virtual identity, the school really must give a sense of institution, a sense of community and a sense of something big, something to feel a part of.

Over the years I have utilised various technologies to accomplish this sense of community ranging from ftp upload centres to internet radio, forums, blogs, telephone, email, synchronous chat, text messages and various other bits and bobs. Again all these help cement an organisational concept and mostly all are social technologies, social media.

In addition to those technologies we have since 2000 held weekly online synchronous chats, typically on Sundays. We have termed these Live Workshops. As a distance learning educationalist it is vital I can aid students move away from feelings of social isolation. Think about it, when you go to a traditional University or College you see your friends every day, you meet them in the pub after study and you are generally learning in a very social manner (which is vital in my mind). So the distance learning student needs, actually I would say it is essential, to have mechanisms in place which are for the “social” aspect of learning, and this is exactly what are Live Workshops are.

You can browse through passed Workshops from 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, (I’ve kept the dialogue) and if you do indeed read through these you will soon get the vibe of what is going on. Social friendly sessions, inclusion and openness, community building, cementing attachment, installing belonging.

Now back to my original point.

So we have this large virtual community, we have people who have never met each other personally, from all over the world, only digitally through our social media channels, so if we then have real-life get togethers I guess you could say we are having a Social Media Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Pint, whatever.

This is exactly what has happened over the years, we've had breakfasts, we've had lunches and we've had dinners, and meeting these people for the first time in the flesh (having built a deep relationship already online) has been awesome, really, a fantastic experience. But will I attached the buzz word to it, no probably not, should I do that? Would you, would you raise your hand and say “hang on a minute guys we’ve done this for years already, what’s so new”?

I’d love to have your views on it, should I care about new buzz-words for old concepts?

UPDATE: Bryper is said to be the guy who coined the phrase see here, thanks to @mdy

Technorati Tags: audiocourses breakfast buzz college dinner live lunch media meet-up social students twitter univeristy words workshops buzz words social media live workshops audiocourses twitter breakfast lunch dinner meet-up students college univeristy

Ok so I have had to “buy in” to Halloween this year, of course I did, I have a 14 month old daughter and a qualified school teacher for a partner, these type of activities are essential!

So we bought a pumpkin from the local Pumpkin Grotto (lovely sideline a local farm is laying on this year, rammed with the orange orbs and various other spooky delights), and whilst there I grabbed a set of pumpkin carving tools to go with it (great idea).

The carving kit came with a bunch of template which I strapped onto the said fruit ready for daddy to carve! As you can see the tools are comprehensive.

Carving was a piece of cake, well fruit actually, and surprising to me didn’t take that long at all. The conversation between me and Jo then went on to what to use for the candle, she wasn’t keen on a candle as there will be a group of babies, and a gaggle of mums, so she wanted it to be safe!

If you read my blog a fair amount you’ll probably know I like risk to an extent, I enjoy unpredictability and in this case I fancied a flickering candle inside the lovingly carved fruity.

However, pressure won over and cleverly Jo thought that my Google Light/Radio would be a great idea to use inside Peter Pumpkin.

Now this Google Light/Radio is actually my first gift from Google way back in the first year of entering their Adsense program, (yep they supply gifts if you earn well), and well, anyway I’ve always cherished my Google Clock Light Radio device which pulsates changing pastel shades.

In fact it's so neat it turns on off off depending on how you orient it through 90 degrees.

So there we have it, it turns out that we have a Peter Pumpkin of the Google Web2.0 variety, well the party will be social anyway, and of course have the web connection.

Made me chuckle so thought you might too.

Technorati Tags: adsense daughter farm google halloween mums pumpkin social tools web2.0 web2.0 halloween google social pumpkin farm mums daughter tools adsense