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 I had been waiting in anticipation for the show since I booked it a month ago. Silly pun and unintended there, as the booked show I'm referring to was an event "The future of the Book" held as part of the Melbourne writers festival this week. Straight off the bat I'll let you know that I'm mildly dyslexic and even though I have always had a massive respect for books I'm not the type to plunder my way through a glorious stack of books in a weekend. My mother used to take me by the hand around the library with a basket which she piled high with her weeks reading so it wasn't for lack of being shown the way that I didn't do the same. I am an Audio book person and Audible.com is my friend. Friend in the way it points out what other books I would probably like if I enjoyed the one I just listened to and friend in the way that it takes me to reviews by other people who share my interests. I know you're all probably laughing, yes at me and not with me, thinking you probably have no real friends. We'll get to that in another Blog post when we discuss what a friend really means to us but here's a little insight by Cameron Marlow about Online Social Media and friends in Facebook http://tinyurl.com/aapjq2


06 Aug, 2009

Brain Fry Online

I am forever fascinated by the medium of Online Social Media and the conversations that result because of the way we communicate Online.  I like to sit back and watch what happens over mediums such as Twitter and Facebook.  This may make me sound like a stalker or a perve but as I’m not the most technically minded person (thankfully we don’t have a video player so one less thing to program!) my motivation is simple.  I want to find out if there is a common thread emerging.  And yes, I think there is.

This common thread appears in the language we use.  It is interesting to note that words such as; authenticity, transparency, honesty, trust, genuineness, safety, respect, security, integrity, congruency, all seem to come up when speaking about Social Media. These are Values and I want to have a chat about Values and what that means when communicating Online.


Great question I found on Discussion Forum which I just had to share with you all 

I began my Twitter account while working for the Local Government Association last December. I wished to connect up with communication professionals across the public and private sectors, and with people in local government, central government and journalism.

My Twitter account - @EdwardWelsh - went well. I have around 365 followers. I was tipped a number of times as one of the people in local government to follow on Twitter. I made some important new contacts. I have begun seeing Twitter as a news feed.

But I am now changing employer and sector. In a fortnight, I start at the Association of Train Operating Companies.

How will my Twitter profile change? Will I keep the followers I have? Will some drift away as I gain new followers? Will I stop following a lot of people? Has anyone any tips about changing jobs and the impact on one Twitter account?

My Reply:

Great question Ed and one I am sure we will all come into contact with over time. The key to all you have put forward here is Identity and Personality. Can I just say off the mark that using your own name as your Twitter name is key to all this as you have branded your profile as you. You will always maintain your personal identity no matter what job you move to.  Everyone who uses Social Media needs a purpose and objective for it to deliver value back to them. I am going to assume your purpose and objective wont change, you still want it to deliver news to you related to your field of work and interest. The news you may want to get though may start to change. You will need to update your BIO with your new position on Twitter to reflect the new direction to gain more relevant news. Actually Ed I just looked and you don't have a BIO in twitter. I tend to Block anyone who doesn't have a Twitter BIO (don't mean to sound harsh) as I don't feel they are sharing their interests or Personality with me so why should I do the same with them - Its social remember.






02 Aug, 2009

Feel the love on-line

I recently came across an interesting tweet where the 'tweeter' had used language that was familiar to them, possibly not realising that the same language could have a different meaning to others in different industries.  Without going into the specifics it was obvious that this caused some language competitiveness and resulted in a barrier to developing relationships on-line. I honestly don't think they were aware of the effect!

Its an old example but still works.  Repeat the following sentence seven time aloud and emphasise the highlighted word:

I never said I would do it.
never said I would do it.
I never said I would do it.
I never said would do it.
I never said I would do it.
I never said I would do it.
I never said I would do it.

Seven words, one sentence, seven different meanings!

This is interesting to consider when we think about our language usage in online Social Media and what happens when we create a story about what someone else is thinking.  When we use tools such as Twitter we should realise that our communities are a collection of people with human feeling, needs and aspiration and not a set of football cards (the one with the most wins) and we need to consider the makeup of our audience. The important question being, have you taken the time to get to know them and are you trying to build a relationship.

Ultimately we are never going to know 100% what is going on in someone else's mind.  We can't possibly because we don't know what experiences they've had, values they hold, or beliefs they have that may shape and influence the way they communicate.  A particular type of person with a less developed level of Emotional Intelligence would make up stories that will help keep them in their comfort zone. They do so by blaming other people resulting in them thinking that they know 100% as to what is going on in the other person's mind. We have to develop the skills of Emotional Intelligence in order to take others into account. It must be acknowledged that sometimes people already perceive themselves as demonstrating these skills frequently.  However, it may be that others do not have the same perception and this is where other people will make erroneous assumptions about what they think you are thinking or feeling.  So again, you may rate yourself high in certain skills but, in actual fact, you may not be demonstrating these skills transparently to others.

 
So what we're talking about here really is about blame versus responsibility.  It's about you being responsible for the way you connect with your on-line community.  Next time you Tweet think about how that message may be perceived by others - are you really getting across what you mean? Spend a moment sitting with your audience before sending!


 
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