New Facebook Group Feature

Jason Markow posted a great article last week on Social Media Today about the new Facebook group feature. This contains a short video explanation and (not 9, not 11, but) 10 tips on using the feature effectively. I am going to give this a shot.

http://socialmediatoday.com/jasonmarkow/200267/10-tips-managing-new-facebook-groups?utm_source=smt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

Social Media Relics From a Bygone Era

This is a really clever post.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

http://socialmediatoday.com/drewhawkins/157548/what-if-facebook-youtube-and-skype-advertised-1960s

LinkedIn is OnBoard with PeerReview

One more flashback to earlier post The Metrics Can Change the Message, Too. Looking at the new features rolled out by LinkedIn, they get it, too: peer reviews make great metrics.

http://learn.linkedin.com/groups/

Check it out at http://learn.linkedin.com/groups/.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

Corrections and Extensions: Metrics Part Deaux *and* Extra Medium

A couple of follow ups:

1. As to The Metrics Can Change the Message, Too on 7/10/2010– I missed a great resource to link to. Check out The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor at the Social Times site. Some great lesson and observations on measuring the effectiveness of social media initiatives.
2. As to The Medium Can Change the Message on 6/25/2010 – Apologies to my large and small friends who took offense to being excluded in the title. I will get right to work on a follow up piece, "The Large and Small Can Change It, Too." And in anticipation of their protests, as well, I will begin research on behalf of my extra medium friends. There, anyone not happy now?

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

The Metrics Can Change the Message, Too

Somebody once said (I'm thinkin' it was Zig Ziglar):

"You don't get what you expect; you get what you inspect."

I had the opportunity to meet a corporate social media manager recently and it was really enlightening to hear him speak. He is one who understands the ethos of the social citizen as well as the goals of his employer and he moved from conversation concerning one of those to that of the other seamlessly. This guy really seemed to be cut out for this type of work and is loving it. But he said one thing in particular that struck me and later, it occurred to me that he was rephrasing Zig's (alleged) comment and applying it to his trade. He was speaking of his corporate online community's top contributors as people who churn out a lot of volume (recipes, for example ... and he didn't work for Betty Crocker) just to maintain their top status. He said he realized that he was getting just what he was "asking" for (or "inspecting") because in evaluating the coveted top contributor spot, he solely inspected volume of posts, giving no regard to quality. So he decided to approach his social media vendor and ask for a new feature that would allow the community to evaluate how helpful a post was (see Facebook's "like" and Amazon's "stars"). Then the top contributor would instead reflect the top peer review rating.

You change your metric, you change your content. And suddenly "top contributor" status organically aligns with the business. Sure, people will still "like" a good recipe for banana puddin' (note to Wes: "It's got bananas an vanilla wafers an' puddin' ..."), but those turning to the community for job support will be registering their "likes" as well. Smart move.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

The Medium Can Change the Message

When this technology first came out, I used to drive down the interstate and wonder:

"Who in his right mind would ever go to the expense of an LED billboard when a good old-fashioned paper-based one get the message across?"

I immediately understood the upsides – reduced labor costs for changing ads and ... um, well, it's real bright – but I also immediately understood the downside of the expense of one of these units. Not only that, but every time I would drive by one, I could hear my mother's voice: "Chris, don't leave the TV out in the rain." (the guy who developed this must have been an orphan)

Then recently, I began to notice that the nature of billboard advertising has changed. Local concert venues are paying for ads on LEDs for upcoming events in the near term. Companies I had never seen advertise on traditional BBs are utilizing this medium. Why? For near term events, it is now possible to structure a contract based on your time constraints: I'll take out an LED ad 2 weeks prior to an event IF ticket sales are sluggish (and I will be able to stop the ad the day after the event). Why #2? For smaller clients, it is now possible to structure a contract based on your budget constraints. I may not be able to afford ad space on I-75 24/7 for a month, but I can figure out a way to afford a 10 second spot 6 times an hour from midnight to 5:00 a.m. (especially if my target audience is out cruising at that hour).

In short, the medium has changed the message. When faced with a new medium, it often takes a while to get one's head around the WIIFM*. But eventually, I may catch up with the new medium, I'll "get it," and then I'll get on (bill)board. And THEN, I'll "get it" again and I'll adapt my message to the medium and THEN I'll really be humming. That is what has happened in the billboard industry and I predict that the brain trust of America – the advertising community – will continue to think outside the billboard and come up with increasingly innovative and affordable messaging ideas for this truly remarkable medium.

It's kind of like having a series of well-worn footpaths – dirt lanes parting the grasses to allow passage for the masses ... man, I should have been in advertising – then discovering this incredible breakthrough called concrete and going to the task of paving all of your existing footpaths. This can definitely be a good thing: fewer muddy sneakers upon arrival, for one. But if I just continue to pave footpaths, I will miss the real upside to the innovation of concrete, which is building pedsetrian structures that were never before possible: bridges, overpasses, wheelchair ramps. When I begin to innovate, then the medium will truly begin to change the message.

Oh gee, look! The blog title sez this is supposed to be about learning communities! So here is the twist (drama) and the tie (advertising): The platform of a learning community can just be a new place to move our learning messages. OR, if I really begin to innovate within the new medium, I can change the message. Learning can be impacted and catapulted forward ("Run away! Run away!") in a way never before possible with traditional ILT and WBT delivery methods. I am just beginning to get my head around this, but I think it bodes well for the future of learning.

By the way, here is an interesting read on the history of the billboard and the emergence of LED.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

_____________________________

* What's In It For Me

Reposted Interview: The Future of “21st-Century” Training & Development

This links to a Bloomfire interview with Dr. Allen Partridge, eLearning Evangelist at Adobe (man, now that would be a cool business card to hand out, wouldn't it?). He had some interesting things to say about the road ahead with learning communities. In particular, his questions about how to assess learning 2.0 skills are thought-provoking. If communities of practice are to become more central to workers' job requirements, then how will we identify the contributions of the individual in order to assess, reward, correct, etc.?

The nature of free enterprise is that we reach tomorrow's achievements by posing and discussing really good questions today. So for now, Partridge is doing the right thing by asking the right questions.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

Article Link: 25 Ways to Engage Contacts in Social Media

I read this article today and I have to admit that my expectations of my own performance on the 25 points was pretty low. I was tickled to see that I am in very good shape (discliamer: self-assessment!) on

11 of them!

If I had much interest in {yawn} Twitter, I would have racked up another 3 or 4. Take a look and see how you are doing and ask yourself how you can do more to engage learners through effective social media.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

p.s. OK, who's humming Paul Simon while reading that post?

Liberty and Learning

"What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable than that of
Liberty and Learning,
each leaning on the other for their natural and surest support."
- James Madison

From this, it would seem that the fourth POTUS, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and my best friend's namesake was an early social networking learner.

Last week, while visiting Washington, DC – the city Madison took back from the Brits in the War of 1812 – I saw social learning in action. The required learning: All students and chaperones needed to change meeting places following the Smithsonian tour. The problem: They were scattered all throughout 2 massive museum buildings. Their solution was their network: Texting. While aging chaperones like myself, more worthy of museum curio status than that of museum visitor, were thinking of how we would get the word out, the student TXT network kicked in and all were present and accounted for at the new location.

Simple model, but it worked.
Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

p.s. I don't want to post without pausing to honor our war dead on this Memorial Day. I appreciate the freedoms with which I have been entrusted – purchased and preserved by those who gave their last full measure.

"The tree of liberty must be refeshed from time to time with the blood of patriots."
- Thomas Jefferson

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. ... For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
- Paul (Galatians 5:1, 13-14)

But Wait! That's Not All!

Before you pass up the offer on the RoncoMatic Splicing, Dicing blog entry, ... Here are a few more posts I missed last week:

Learning Communities = New Skill Set for Training Professionals
June 8, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1055

Review of "The Business of Social Media" Workshop
March 27, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1051

Another Community to Cruise - Great Info on E-learning
January 9, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1042

This Ain't Your Daughter's Internet
December 7, 2008
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1040

And also, my current blog is back up at http://tinyurl.com/learningcommunity.

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.

Getting Caught Up - Relocation Expenses Not Included

Funny thing happened to my blog the other day: it went belly up. Not sure why, but in a flash of can-do spirit, I decided to relocate it. For the time being, please accept this post that links out to individual posts on that former site. Soon, I will have all content moved over to my Blogger platform.

Here goes. Not sure I got them all, said the cat herder.


New Location; Same Great Mission Statement
We are a learning community about learning communities. We are here to learn about better ways for groups to learn and collaborate together using the power tools of social media.


Informal Learning Inseparable From Learning 2.0
August 23, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1068

Social Media on the Ins and Outs
August 14, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1064

Notes From TAG Panel on "The Wild, Wild West of Social Media"
June 19, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1058

Update to "All Communities Are Not Created Equal" Post
June 8, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1057

Traditional Training is Still King
April 28, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1053

ASTD Study on Web 2.0 Applications in the Learning Space
March 26, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1048

All Communities Are Not Created Equal
February 16, 2009
www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1045

tinyurl.com to the Rescue!
January 30, 2009
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1044

The Case for a Community Organizer Revisited (a.k.a. Blog as Camera)
November 17, 2008
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1038

Cure for the Common Blogger's Block©
June 25, 2008
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1032

Success Factors in Building Virtual Communities
June 17, 2008
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1030

People Are Hungry to Connect
June 11, 2008
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=1024

Update to "Communicating Visually" Post
December 12, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=976&ccid=513&gid=513&date=2009-09-01

Online Assignments – A Break From Click-to-Advance
November 27, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=974&gid=513&date=2009-08-01

Communicating Visually
November 21, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=971

"Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations" Conference is in the Books (or Online, as it were)
November 21, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=969

Rabble Rousers of the World, UNITE!
November 8, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=921&ccid=513&gid=513&date=2009-12-01

Free Online Conference - Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations
November 8, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=918

University 2.0 - Article Link
November 8, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=850

Launching Into the Unknown
October 16, 2007
http://www.corespeed.com/community/content.php?cid=837


Just for grins, the blog is supposed to come up when you click the magic link http://www.corespeed.com/community/group.php?gid=513/. Ugly, ain't it?

Come get me, Mother. I'm through.