Archives for July 2011

Are you a fan of Arrested Development? I sure am. If you aren’t familiar, Arrested Development lasted 3 seasons on Fox. It is about a super rich family that’s totally dysfunctional and becomes even more dysfunctional when the dad is arrested by the SEC for illegal doings at the family-owned company. There are a lot of delicious moments in the series that could really be used to illustrate things about the world of social media, but I’m just going to talk about one today.

The two oldest brothers, GOB (stands for George Oscar Bluth, played by Will Arnett) and Michael (played by the still cute Justin Bateman) had had a huge argument. Michael came to realize he needed his brother’s help with something. He runs into GOB and says, “Oh, I’m so sorry about our argument. You’re a really great brother and you deserve more respect.” Michael then pauses for about 5 seconds. Then he says, “I need a favor.”

GOB responds, “Well, that was subtle.”

This interaction, unfortunately, captures almost precisely (minus the “brother” stuff) some experiences I’ve had online lately.

[Read more…] about Well that was subtle

A lot of people are saying that whether or not Google Plus opens up in a strong way for business use, the fact that they can interact with people on Google Plus is going to help their business. In part, I can see that. Statistically speaking, the more people you meet, the better chance you have at meeting people you like or people who would buy from you.

But (because as Pee Wee Herman once said, we all have big buts), just talking to people and sharing kitty videos is not going to help *most* businesses. It will help you as a person, perhaps, or if you run a brand that is all about engaging online, you’ll be golden. If you’re an accountant, you may not be so lucky.

This is not a new conversation. People are equating followers on Twitter with business prospects. The logic goes that the more people you engage with the better chance you have of finding your buyers. Same for Facebook fans and blog subscribers. Again, for some folks, this may be 100% true. For a lot of people, it won’t be true at all.

Did I just douse you with icy cold water?

[Read more…] about It’s the People, Not the Platform

As I was frothing and foaming about how frustrating Google Plus was, I was thinking how nice it would be if I could bring that sense of community I enjoy so much on Twitter over to the new platform. Then it hit me…I could!

Over the last week, many people, along with me, have been working to build an extension of the Tweetdiner community over on Google Plus. There are a lot of advantages to this. First, out of the millions of people joining the network now, it’s nice to see people whom you know are (for the most part…hahah) credible and trustworthy. It’s also nice to know that you can easily converse with these folks because, well, you’ve done it  before!

As of now, here is how it is working. I have created a TweetDinerPLUS circle. If you find me over there, just say, “Please let me into the diner” so I know you’re not a bot, and I will include you and then announce that you’re in – that way the other folks in the circle will see your name. Once in, you can create your own Tweetdiner circle and start adding all of the people you see. I’ll do  roll-call tomorrow listing everyone I have so that everyone can be on the same page.

It’s not as smooth as groups on Facebook or hashtags on Twitter, but I think for now, sharing the same people in similarly named circles is as good as we can get.

The Chat

David McGraw has already begun mastering the art of running chats on Google Plus, and after some requests from the TweetdinerPLUS crowd, we’re going to try to do a chat next Thursday (7/28) at 9 PM EST.

I’m going to keep the topic pretty simple – what do you think of Google Plus so far? The complexity of trying out the chat should be enough to keep our minds engaged, right?

Here’s how I’m *thinking* the chat will work.

I will post a question to the #tweetdinerPLUS circle (noting it as such) at 9, 9:15, 9:30, and 9:45. Each question will be a new thread so that conversations can continue on the previous threads. Hopefully David will be there to offer me moral support in case I lose control 🙂

Our main chats will continue on Twitter on Saturday nights at 9 PM EST. We are wrapping up some conversation about Twitter tonight, and next week we’ll be kicking off a few weeks of Facebook conversation with Tommy Walker.

I hope to see you all here, there, and everywhere. If you have any questions or concerns, hey, let me know. As my man Lincoln said, “We are all green alike.”

A lot of people in the online world talk about time. Some people talk about how much time they invest in, well, social media. Others talk about how much time it may take to build a community online or how much time it takes to get to 1,000 blog subscribers. A fair amount of time is spent talking about how to balance work time with family time, too.

With all of this talk about time floating about, it’s easy to make people feel like they’re forgotten, overlooked, or maybe not as important to you as they really are. You mean to spend time with them or on their questions, but time just seems to slip away at the worst times.

I have been struggling a lot lately with the thought that I don’t express my appreciation to some people as often as I should be. It’s not that I don’t think about them every day and thank my lucky stars that I know them. It’s just they give me so much time and support that I always feel like I’m falling short in showing them my gratitude.

Maybe you have people like that in your online reality too.

Well, I thought maybe I could convince you to do a little exercise with me (because let’s face it, the online world needs some positive vibes!). I’m doing this on Friday as a kind of elaborate take-off on “Follow Friday,” but you can do it whenever. The goal? List five people that you feel you don’t show your appreciation to enough – and do it!

Here are my five folks. They are wonderful people and I want to make sure they know I see everything they do for me and for others.

[Read more…] about Time to appreciate the people you take for granted

There was a time there when I thought the Shrek movies were just the most innovative movies around. I thought that until they did about two sequels too many, in fact. The movies are sort of geared at children, but they are highly amusing for us grown-up types, plus they’re charming and they offer positive messages. What more can you ask for from a movie these days?

There are a lot of lessons one can learn from Shrek, and a lot of the lessons are big, over-arching life lessons like “Don’t judge people.” But there’s one particular lesson I’m thinking about that relates particularly well to Social Media. Are you ready?

In the second Shrek movie (if you haven’t seen it), Shrek the Ogre and his little talking donkey friend take a magical formula and become, in a word, stud-muffins. Donkey becomes a gorgeous white stallion and Shrek gains a “cute button nose and a tight, round buttocks.” Shrek’s wife, Fiona, who is also an ogre most of the time, is also affected, and goes back to being a beautiful, red-headed princess. At the end of the movie, Fiona can decide if she and Shrek will stay in their human forms forever or whether they will go back to their ogre selves. Donky is not part of the conversation, but he is ultimately deeply affected by what the loving couple decide.

When you engage with people in the online world, you are often in the same position as Donkey. If you really come out and support a person, you are staking your credibility on how they will act. If they decide to do a total goofball thing, your credibility, along with theirs, will be affected. If they get into really hot water because they do something wrong, you are also going to receive raised eyebrows because, after all, you suggested to a ton of people that this person is a great find, a great blogger, a great…whatever.

Of course, there’s another side to this coin. For everyone with whom you engage, you’re in the position of Shrek, and everything you do can impact how the members of your community will be received elsewhere in the online world.

At its heart, Social Media engagement is about taking a leap of faith. It’s saying, “I hope, if given the choice, you’ll let me stay a stallion instead of making me turn into a donkey.” In a big way, your online fate is in my hands, and mine is in yours.

Does that, or should that, influence how you act? How you speak? What do you think?

This is post #92 in the Engagement Series. If you are worried about missing posts, please feel free to hit the subscribe button. Thank you!

Image by Damián Martinez. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/amilcarxl

As we wind down on the Engagement Series, I have to admit that I’m filled with a solid mixture of nostalgia and gratitude. I mean, let’s face facts here. Did I know you when I wrote post #1? Statistically speaking, the chances are good I did not!

I’ve learned a lot and (I think) I’ve grown a lot this year and over the duration of this series, so I thought I would use this time to tell you about the experiences and people who helped me get here. I share this information in the hopes that you will be able to enjoy the same benefits as I have!

[Read more…] about Twenty of my favorite ways to engage online