Social Media Milieu

How Intrusive Will the Next Generation of Learning Be?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:19:00 +0000

^{What intrigued me about the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative
Annual Meeting 2013 was the theme:
"Advancing the Next Generation of Learning." The description goes on to say:}

^{The next
generation of learning involves the orchestration of a broad range of
innovations and campus resources. It focuses on the rapid evolution of
learning technology, charting its migration from the desktop to the cloud and
highly mobile devices. It explores the ecosystem of the learning environment,
looking to provide a personalized experience that contributes to greater
student success. It entails seeking evidence of impact, recognizing the need to
evaluate and share what works. In short, the move towards the next generation
of learning is higher education re-inventing itself.}

The original context of this blog was social media which resulted in the tagline "Shaping your online identity to balance community with privacy". I'm moving into the realm of learning in higher education so I'm debating whether to change the tagline, keep the tagline but go off topic, or start a new blog. I highlighted "provide a personalized experience" which suggests adaptive learning (see my master-based learning board on Learni.st). That means we (educators) need to know what you know. As a consequence (to be on topic), you may not be able to shape your online identity - it may follow you.

My own work with case-based exam progressive Bloom questions suggests that I need even more information about my students to really understand who they are before I can engage them in a way that suits their state of cognitive development.

I'm looking forward to the questions the conference hopes to address:

^{What are the frameworks for the next generation of
learning?}
^{Which course models advance new models of learning that
maximize student engagement and persistence?}
^{What does teaching and learning research say about
emerging technologies and practices?}
^{What rubrics and methods do we need to evaluate our
efforts?}

Perhaps I should change the tagline to "Shaping your ~~online~~ cognitive identity to balance ~~community~~ learning with privacy". Let me know what you think about the proposed tagline.

Monetization or Greed – Why Not Share the Wealth?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:56:00 +0000

Several years ago my father excitedly showed me his first check for the banner ad impressions of his likeness on a regional airline website. The celebration of his good fortune and good looks well exceeded the payment he received. Yet it was a highlight for him knowing that the ad agency had kept their part of the bargain that any use of his likeness would be compensated.

Social media was abuzz today (December 17) of Instagram’s fine print (i.e., terms of use) that any of your photographs posted after January 16, 2013 could be sold by Instagram without notification and you would be liable for any legal claims that arose from Instagram using your photos without your prior knowledge.

The terms of use (retrieved December 18, 2012) states:

"2. Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."

“4. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the Service or otherwise have the right to grant the rights and licenses set forth in these Terms of Use; (ii) the posting and use of your Content on or through the Service does not violate, misappropriate or infringe on the rights of any third party, including, without limitation, privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, trademark and/or other intellectual property rights; (iii) you agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owed by reason of Content you post on or through the Service; and (iv) you have the legal right and capacity to enter into these Terms of Use in your jurisdiction.”

CNET had the sensational headline Instagram says it now has the right to sell your photos that was tweeted over 35K times in less than a day. The comments from photographers (beautiful pictures I might add) from Time.com Toolbox Unfiltered: Photographers React to Instagram’s New Terms were more reasoned. I can’t tell if it is an overreaction or just poorly worded terms of use [update Dec 18: Instagram founder clarified they aren’t going to sell your photos to others without compensation]. However, one has to wonder whether greed is taking over. Why not pay me at least a little if you want to use my photo. For the camera phone crowd who don’t do it for a living (see Is Instagram the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Photography?), would it not encourage them to experiment with even more photos knowing that they might get a check to brag about just like my dad?

Your artistic merit displayed through filtered photos is also part of your “online identity”. We are seeing the terms of service creep so user beware. Some day these free services may actually get greedy when sharing might be better for business.

What is my Facebook profile worth? Doubletree's Social Loyalty offer

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:25:00 +0000

I received an offer for a social way to earn bonus points from Doubletree Hotels today. The email message stated:

Getting to know our guests is at the heart of all the little things we do at DoubleTree by Hilton™. That's why we are bringing HHonors members a unique way to connect with us on Facebook. You'll receive unique offers related to your personal interests and earn 500 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points.

I thought - sure - for a Facebook like (see the Hampton Inn offer) I'll click through on the FB Connect button. As you can see in the screen capture (and text) they want a little more than a "Like". Thankfully I didn't click "Go to App" before reading the information that the DoubleTree Social Loyalty app will receive - essentially everything.

Wait a second! I don't let anyone but my closest friends have access to my entire profile. This raises the question, the tagline of this blog "Shaping your online identity to balance community with privacy", how much is my privacy worth? Do I trust Doubletree, or any business, to use my profile in a manner consistent with my own Facebook settings?

ABOUT THIS APP

You are logging into DoubleTree Social Loyalty as

Who can see posts this app makes for you on your Facebook timeline:

THIS APP WILL RECEIVE:

Your basic info

Your email address (nk50@aub.edu.lb)

Your profile info: description, activities, birthday, education history, groups, hometown, interests, likes, location, questions, relationship status, relationship details and religious and political views

Your stories: events, notes, photos and status updates

I teach the core course on information systems in our BBA program. One of our case studies by David Kroenke, Singing Valley, speaks to the dangers of email marketing based on incomplete information. The example was a wheelchair-bound former guest who received a special offer for extreme skiing and the wife who found out that her husband had been ... you get the picture.

Does a Facebook profile provide enough context to target a particular market segment? To what degree of access will Facebook privacy become a concern? Do we need a marketers setting on our Facebook profile to reveal what we want them to know?

Readers - chime in - would you accept this offer? Should I?

A Case of Mistaken Identity - Saved by Delta Assist

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:37:00 +0000

Dear Social Media @ Delta,

I teach social media at Olayan School of Business - American University of Beirut. Earlier this year, I taught the module on Social CRM noting with some skepticism that most companies haven't figured out that social media channels have to be integrated into the other apps in their call centers. I'm not a fan of service provided by (US) domestic airlines but your engagement this morning (1AM your time) with @k2kaloha (me) deserves mention.

I'm telling my students that I probably got help faster by Twitter than by calling (even if I was able to which is very difficult for me internationally). What impressed me was the integration of apps (or at least availability to information) so that Twitter was used like chat while I emailed crucial information to your dedicated email channel which the rep saw come in very quickly.

Perhaps it was time of day (1am your time) so there wasn't much SM traffic. Nevertheless that Delta had someone monitoring the channel at 1am (in US) and empowered its employees to get things done at that hour was impressive. I got a response within minutes of sending my initial email.

I'm not sure if the situation (reservation booked in my name by phone without my knowledge) has been resolved but I'm praising Delta and the rep for getting it to the right department so quickly. I shudder to think how I would have been bounced around if I had called especially since I'm overseas at the moment. Your taking Twitter seriously for an international traveler made a huge difference on my stress levels when I saw the email this morning.

We (at business schools) talk about United's guitar fiasco but "taking care of business" in the trenches is rarely talked about. Please let the rep know the service was appreciated. Please let the SM strategy folks that they "get it".

Update: On the other hand ... given that by catching Delta's mistake and saving Delta from a very unhappy customer doubly inconvenienced (using a voucher for being overbooked) - you'd think I'd be praised by the Fraud Department or Customer Service or someone at Delta. Just think if I had happened to live in the same city of the mistaken identity (thankfully not stolen identity) customer,

So the social media experience would have been much better if the non-social media experience had been just as positive. We teach that social media requires a transformation of the company and its processes to respond at the speed of a Tweet. Sorry Delta - you aren't there yet ... but Delta Assist is worthy of a blog post.

Does anyone care about LinkedIn password breach?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 06:49:00 +0000

The tagline of this blog is "shaping your online identity to balance community with privacy". The report that 6.5 million SHA-1 unsalted password hashes claimed to be from LinkedIn hasn't "lit up the phone lines" so far. Yes there are hundreds of Tweets reposting the news with some cynicism. It is too early to tell why the reaction of the community has been so limited. But with over 160 million LinkedIn members (end of Q1 2012), everyone should be aware how your online identity could be altered where it matters most - your business network. You could be one of the 1 in 25 members whose password has been exposed. We should be on the lookout for unexpected invitations.

A social media network thrives upon a community knowing that the host protects them from unwanted relationships. I am a bit surprised that a social media company has had a decidedly unsocial response. Here are the four (yes only four tweets) in the first 17 hours from @LinkedIn since the news broke.

It is late at night as I write this so one probably doesn't expect much. However, I would like to believe that the company is working hard at the problem. Perhaps there hasn't been much outcry from LinkedIn members yet. This is partly because the LinkedIn website has no mention of a problem.

Interestingly, security researchers seem to be ahead of the game. @SophosLabs suggested changing your password four hours ahead of LinkedIn.

Why the low key response? cnbc.com suggests LinkedIn stock is teflon so despite 1 in 25 of its customers at potential risk, such a security problem isn't being taken seriously. Sophos Labs has a blog post explaining what LinkedIn meant by "passwords that are reset will now be stored in salted hashed format". LinkedIn closes its blog post announcing the breach with "We take the security of our members very seriously" but apparently not enough to salt its hash until being breached.
What about us? It seems we need our social communities these days so one either protects oneself as much as you can (you did change your LinkedIn password?) within the network or pay the opportunity cost of loss connections by leaving the network. Either way there is a price to pay.

Social Technologies One of Drivers of Workplace Skills Shift

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:50:00 +0000

My previous post addressed the role of social media architect. The Future Work Skills 2020 report identifies five drivers that will change the workplace: extreme longevity, computational world, rise of smart machines and systems, new media ecology, globally connected world and superstructed organization. The latter represents "social technologies drive new forms of production and value creation".

The graphic shows how these drivers are inter-twined with each other for a particular skill. For those involved in social media, even four of these drivers are making it a challenge to process all that is available: computational world, new media ecology, globally connected world and superstructed organization. The color coded skills (circles) show what drivers are driving the demand for skills.

Photo Credit: IFTF Future Work Skills 2020

I use several teaching approaches to help embody some of these future (actually now) skills in my undergraduate social media classroom: comparative case exam and a data-intensive social media management strategy final project. These help in several skills: social intelligence, new media literacy, and cognitive load management - probably others as well. The course is co-taught by a marketing instructor and myself (information systems) so trans-disciplinarity is embedded as well.

The report is thought provoking especially in regards to the classroom experience. Thanks to my colleague Imad ElHajj for pointing it out.

Myth of a Social Media Architect (or Not)

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:50:00 +0000

A recent Tweet exclaimed Ridiculous job title of the week: "Social Media Architect". I don't even think .... Let's dig into that statement.

Infoworld.com (14Jun11) says that Hot IT Job #3 is "Social Media Architect". The first sentence says:

Social Web tools and services are now entering business at every level, from back-office IT communications to top-floor business collaboration, partner-connected workflow, and public-facing customer support. As the complexity of social business grows, companies need specialists to make it all work.

Here are some recent job posts (shortened for brevity):

Lead Technical Architect-Social Media Integration via Ivyexec/Simply Hired
Global Financial Transactions Company | Phoenix, AZ

Lead Technical Architect-Social Media Integration-1115184
American Express

This position is responsible for the technical and architectural direction of the set of applications within the Global Merchant Services Sales and Marketing portfolio, integrating social media, mobile and distributed applications. Will also provide consulting expertise, leveraging business and technical knowledge to support business strategies and deliver business value.

The successful candidate will:

Play an integral role in defining and enhancing the infrastructure required to support the applications in terms of robustness, scalability, availability and efficiency.
Work with Technical and Business Architects and partners, to ensure developments support the business and IT strategic plan. .....

Social Media Architect via StartUpLy
RealtyCloud Network

Are you a talented Social Media expert who understands, and can demonstrate, how social media is revolutionizing the business landscape? ....

... We are looking for the seasoned LEADER, a social architect, who knows how to connect with the customer of the future… the customer who has become the influential stakeholder.

This role will complement an experienced team that we have assembled for the implementation of the Interactive Media Platform. ....

Additional non-technical advantages would be:

• Experience in the Digital Media/Broadcast Industries
• Interactive Advertising Knowledge
• The Ability to Network and bring in Additional Funding
• Social Media Marketing Experience
• Interested in being Successful

Digital Architect / Project Manager (Web / Social Media)
Sogeti USA

Sogeti USA is growing in Web and Social Media and in need of experienced Digital Architect / Project Managers that have the following experience:

Development and maintenance of digital strategy as technologist.

Solution architecture and oversight of web development for businesses through coordination with Enterprise sales & Marketing. Proactively make data led recommendations for successful implementation of changes.

Understanding of digital advertising and search efforts. Coordinate online research related to website usage and online guest surveys. Conduct customer research to identify behaviors and trends as it pertains to the digital space. Conduct analysis on results to optimize customer interaction and business impact.

Advise Marketing of paid media and search keywords needed for web related projects; SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Aggregator Adverting, SOE (Search Engine Optimization) and other Digital Marketing aspects.

Work with client marketing team members and information architects, creative directors and technical architects to drive the creation of strategies and development of IT solutions

.....

Some distinctions are coalescing on terms. Consider the social media architect versus social media developer by Mike Manuel back in 2008. Some words of wisdom from SEOe.com blog on the role of a social media architect. For those less tech-savvy, a social media management strategy has been overlooked (in my opinion - that's I teach a course on it).

What is the future of a social media architect? Looks pretty good if you ask me.

Social Media Mined for Individual Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:09:00 +0000

The good news is that the technology and corporate attitudes is a few years off where individual identities in social media can be matched to a customer profile. But it is coming. The notion of privacy (or expectations thereof) are changing rapidly with technology. One must presume that your social media space is public with few safeguards except for fuzzy filters like circles (Google+) and networks (Facebook) that one can't be entirely sure are free of leakage (either technology or user error).

The article Datamining Social Media Profiles for Actionable Intelligence gives you some idea of what is possible in identifying the individual in the future. With respect to banks (datamining example), they are lagging in social media - see the post Survey Reveals Mix of Feelings, Approaches Towards Social Media in Banking. The intriguing part of this banking survey is the feeling that little is being said about banks - well that was true until the Bank of America $5 debit card fee.

Social Media is Channel Specific - Trust Your Neighbor?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:18:00 +0000

Check out an interesting infographic on influences of social consumers. Search channels dominate social media channels for personal finance, restaurants, and travel. In contrast, social media channels dominate baby, beauty, electronics, and music product buying behavior. The underlying message seems to be that you trust your neighbor's opinion in some areas of buying but not others. Also interesting is the high involvement of social consumers to interact with a brand via Facebook and write an online post about a product or brand.

I can see search for personal finance as you want reputable sources providing that advice. I'm surprised about restaurants and travel - perhaps you are also looking for more reliable sources of information. Maybe that's why Starwood Hotels has introduced a comments section on their website. I would have thought electronics would rely more on expert opinion as well.

Why "The Social Media Management Handbook"?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:01:00 +0000

No textbooks currently exist for a course in social media. Textbook publishers (and their authors) are wary of the rapid changes in technology and the challenges of updating. That leaves professional books which don't have the study aids and course materials.

Here are relevant professional books for social media:

· The Social Media Management Handbook: Everything You Need To Know To Get Social Media Working In Your Business by Robert Wollan, Nick Smith, Catherine Zhou, Wiley, 2011.

· The Social Factor by Maria Azua, IBM Press, 2010.

· Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans, Que, 2010.

· Manager's Guide to Social Media by Scott Klossosky, McGraw Hill, 2011.

· The Social Media Business Equation by Eve Mayer Orsburn, Cengage 2012.

The only textbook I know about is:

By Michael Solomon, Pearson, forthcoming 2012 (textbook)

"The Social Media Management Handbook" was selected because of a greater focus on principles rather than current examples which will be outdated very quickly. The downside is the need to provide current examples although there are many: Missoni for Target is one example. The management orientation is well-suited for a business school rather than the practitioner who implements a social media campaign.

For an undergraduate course we don't explicitly cover many of the chapters (see strikeouts) as the material is quite dense. Here is the table of contents:

Introduction: What Is Social Media?
I Social Media Strategy for Organizations.
1 The Power and Business Risks of Social Media (Nick Smith and Robert Wollan).
2 How to Develop a Social Media Strategy (Chris Boudreaux).
3 Social Media ROI: New Metrics for Customer Health (Kevin Quiring).
4 Selling Social Media within the Organization (Robert Wollan). (but be familiar with basics)

II Marketing and Sales in Social Media.
5 Social Media and the Voice of the Customer (Chris Zinner and Catherine Zhou).
6 Integrating Social CRM Insights into the Customer Analytics Function (Rayid Ghani and Sarah Bentley).
7 Using Social Media to Drive Product Development and Find New Services to Sell (Adi Alon and A.J. Gupta).
8 Social Community Marketing and Selling (Robert Wollan and Andre Trochymiuk).
III Customer Service and Support with Social Media.
9 Using Social Media in Customer Service and Support (Stephanie Sadowski).
10 Social Media: Responding to Customer Complaints (Todd R. Wagner).

11 Staying Out of Trouble: Complying with FTC Disclosures (Chris Boudreaux).

IV Beyond the "Pilot" Phase: The Core Components of the Agile Digital Enterprise.
12 Creating and Implementing a Social Media Technology Platform (Anatoly Roytman and Joseph Hughes).

13 Social CRM on the Move: Mobility Implications for Social Media Programs (Greg Jenko, Lars Kamp, and Saj Usman).

14 New Rules for Tools: IT Infrastructure Implications and Options for Supporting Enterprise Social Media (Robert Wollan and Kelly Dempski).

V Empowering Employees for Social Media Success.

15 Culture Traits, Employee Incentives, and Training (Christine Eberle).

16 New Roles and Responsibilities (Chris Zinner and Vanessa Godshalk).

17 Social Media Policies (Chris Bourdreaux).

18 Social Media, Collaboration, and Value Creation in Organizations (Robert J. Thomas).

URL Shorteners are Tracking You

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:14:00 +0000

URL shorteners like bit.ly or goo.gl serve a useful purpose on tracking links in micro-blogs (and hyperlinks on web pages). As you can see from the first figure for bit.ly, there is useful data like a histogram of clicks, source (referrers) of traffic, and location details (countries).

Just be aware that a history of the Twitter conversations with that link is also available (bottom of second figure). Such a record of conversations would be useful for identifying those in your community (e.g., bloggers who consistently link to content you do). But it also works the other way - others can see your interests.

Half Life of a Social Media Link

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:48:00 +0000

Some interesting data from Search Engine land on the half life of a social media link. The half life is a little less than three hours.

How do you keep tweets in front of your audience? I'm not sure tweeting again in a few hours makes sense except of course for important ones. I wonder if time of day made a difference (e.g., regional or international interest)?

In any event, one needs to balance your message with intrusion into your neighbor's digital community.

Update 27Oct11
StumbleUpon has a new infographic on the half-life of StumbleUpon content (400 hours). It makes sense given these links are human curated. But a company can't really self-post its content.

Update 08Nov11
Klout's study of the half life of retweets show that higher Klout scores have a longer half-life of retweets except for those on the low-end (presumably followers actually follow).

Why Social Media Milieu?

noreply@blogger.com (k2k) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:23:00 +0000

I'm comfortable with my digital identity. I have a CV website for anyone who wants to know what I do professionally. The website Healthcare IT Academic Resources speaks for itself. I have a blog for my courses to post helpful resources. You can follow me on Twitter. What do I need another blog for?

Okay to be honest - I need to try out Blogger and see if I can use it in my classes. The title came about because many of the account names beginning with "social" are taken. After trying out numerous names that are available (ask), I settled on "milieu" as it speaks to the social media environment that encompasses our lives. We choose to varying degrees the depth of digital penetration into our lives but it is always about finding your comfort level. Each one of us must balance the social community that we surround ourselves with and personal privacy.