Archive for Social Media
I Was Booted Out of a LinkedIn Group (Don’t Worry, I’m Back)
Posted by: | CommentsI didn’t even realize it until I went to post a discussion and I received the startling message that I had been “banned” from Linked: HR, the largest HR group on LinkedIn.
Yikes. What did I do wrong? I wrote to one of the Group’s administrator to ask why and beg forgiveness. He was very nice and wrote back that it had happened a couple of months ago and no one knew why, so he was readmitting me.
Be Careful What You Post
I don’t know why either, but I lately I have received several detailed emails from administrators sent to all Group members. They are clamping down on spam, inappropriate discussions or Promotions that are mistakenly placed in Discussions and vice versa.
LinkedIn has expanded tremendously in the past couple of years and there are growing complaints about the amount of spam that people are posting. I’ve seen discussions where people have posted comments that had nothing to do with the topic – like how to make a quick buck with their get-rich-scheme. These are deleted immediately but it angers members and creates more work for the group administrators.
Building Relationships
While many of us are using social networks to build our brands and business, it’s important to remember that first we need to build relationships. Read More→
New York Times Editor Says Let Employees Use Social Media
Posted by: | CommentsAdding to my argument in last week’s post 6 Steps to Empower Your Employees as Brand Ambassadors, David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, explains the importance of allowing your employees access to social media while at work.
He is interviewed in this Ragan.com video entitled “Half of U.S. businesses block social media. What’s the point?”
You Want My Social Media Password? Uh, Uh. I Don’t Think So
Posted by: | CommentsI thought that local, state and federal agencies in the U.S. wanted to help put people back to work. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to gain employment, RedTape Chronicles of msnbc.com reported that government agencies and even colleges are now asking job seekers to provide a user name and password for facebook accounts.
The ACLU of Maryland has called on the Maryland Division of Corrections to rescind a blanket policy demanding personal social media passwords from corrections officers and applicants as part of the employment certification process.
If a password isn’t the request, it’s the requirement that you “friend” or “follow” a coach or some other authority.
I’m not a lawyer but I think it’s safe to say this is another egregious trampling of our constitutional rights. What is happening in our country when now we can’t even have freedom to assemble in social communities without intrusion? Read More→
The Secret to Telling a Story
Posted by: | CommentsI was just browsing through the McKinsey Quarterly, and stumbled upon an interview with the authors of The Dragonfly Effect, Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, in which they discuss the secret to telling a successful story.
Create Tension
Jennifer Aaker
As a blogger, I am always telling stories. It’s at the heart of what bloggers do. So, let me lift a quote from Jennifer Aaker:
Good stories have three components: a strong beginning, a strong end, and a point of tension. Most people confuse stories with situations. They’ll tell about a situation: X happened, Y happened, Z happened. But a good story takes Y, the middle part of the story, and creates tension or conflict where the reader or the audience is drawn into the story, what’s going to happen next.
A Compelling Story
In their book, they describe a case study of 28-year-old Scott Harrison, a nightclub and fashion promoter, earning lots of money. But he felt spiritually bankrupt and gave it all up to volunteer on a floating hospital while he figured out what to do with the rest of his life.
He came back with a renewed sense of passion, and formed a foundation charity: water to help bring clean water to millions of underserved populations around the world who don’t have any.
In the McKinsey piece, they describe his story – about asking friends to donate $31 to his charity instead of buying him a gift for his 31st birthday. To date, the charity has raised $20 million and provided clean water to more than 1.4 million people spanning 17 countries.
Read the Middle
I just gave you the beginning and end of the story. If you want to find out the point of tension in the middle, go to the interview on the McKinsey Quarterly
