Burlington College (Photo credit: gahlord)

I just returned from an event hosted by Amanda Levinson titled “#BTVMayor: How Social Media is Redefining Politics” and as can be expected when you get a bunch of smart people in a room and give them a topic in which they are directly involved, many great insights and thoughts were shared.

I made a quick mind map of the discussion. So if you see the broadcast and it looks like I’m checking Twitter through the whole thing, now you know that I wasn’t–I was making this mind map.

Missing from this mindmap is when I got on my high horse about lack of data access in government and refused to accept “lack of resources” as a reason this isn’t actively happening (it’s lack of policy–the technical challenges are relatively easy). I was too buy being on my high horse to mindmap that part, sorry.

All of the panelists had direct experience in the intersection of politics, civic life and social media either as strategists, being a politician or being part of a media organization:

• Tyler Machado, deputy web editor of our local alt-weekly, SevenDays
• Ed Adrian, Burlington, VT city councilor and currently running for Vermont state senate
• Nicco Mele, ran Dean’s 2004 website and now runs strategy consultancy EchoDitto
• Sean Hurley, ran Miro Weinberger’s social media campaign during Miro’s successful 2011 mayoral campaign with Hearforward
• Michael Wood-Lewis, founder of the popular place-based digital community Front Porch Forum

There’s something for everyone in here, people. Even if you aren’t into politics.

If there’s interest I’ll clean up this mind map to highlight some of the particular insights and conversation that came out of it that may be hard to pull out of this more outliney draft version.

Enjoy!

Here’s what Liz Muroski, apprentice in event planning and public relations had to say about her time as a Thoughtfaucet apprentice:

Reflections of Thoughtfaucet Apprentice, Liz Muroski

Well first off, I can start by saying that apprenticing at Thoughtfaucet for seven months was one of the greatest experiences I had as a college student. When I was first hired as an apprentice I wasn’t exactly sure what direction I wanted to go in with my field of study and I have to say that this worked in my favor. During my time at Thoughtfaucet, I learned and experienced more than I ever expected and it wasn’t just about my field of study (public relations). It involved much more, such as how to build and maintain a strong network in my community, hosting events, improving communication skills, working with real-life clients, and even getting a handle on search engine optimization.

At Thoughtfaucet, my most valuable experience has been learning how to integrate various SEO methods and techniques with those in public relations. This is something that, no matter what your major is, you will learn when you’re a Thoughtfaucet apprentice. The second major experience you will have is how to build your own personal network. In the first couple of months alone I co-presented a Thoughtfaucet event, co-hosted a webinar about LinkedIn, became an event planner, and created my own website.

If there’s anything I can’t stress enough about having this apprenticeship, it was that Gahlord was more of a mentor to me than a boss. He presented me with many work opportunities while simultaneously using that time to train me and make sure that I both knew what I was doing and that I was comfortable with what I was doing. We were able to work together as a team and it was nice to know that what I was contributing was helping him and his company.

When I was working at Thoughtfaucet the possibilities really seemed endless. Gahlord went out of his way to make sure that I was learning as much as possible both relevant to my major and then some. It’s really amazing how much I learned and grew during my apprenticeship. Working at Thoughtfaucet not only helped me to grow as an individual but it also helped me to improve and maintain solid work ethics. By the end of my time with Thoughtfaucet, my confidence had improved and I really felt as if I had become a valuable asset to Gahlord and Thoughtfaucet [ed note: she really had, it wasn't just her feeling.]

Being mentored, and relied on weekly to complete tasks, provided me with all sorts of opportunities and is definitely reason for these positive outcomes. I’m so thankful that I became such an integral part to such an efficient, creative and helpful team. If it weren’t for this apprenticeship and having the opportunity to experience all that I had then I definitely wouldn’t feel nearly as ready to step out into the real world as I do now. From the beginning, Gahlord warned me that I was going to learn a ton and that in doing so I was going to become “more awesome.” Today, because of those seven months of experience, I can honestly say that I not only feel “more awesome” but more confident, motivated and dedicated in all that I do, and it’s all thanks to my apprenticeship at Thoughtfaucet.

Ten best secret mobile killer what?

You know, you don’t have to read articles like this. They aren’t about you or your device or what you should really be doing right now.

Moreover, they won’t guarantee your content will go viral either. Also, so what if your content “goes viral?” Lots of people will see it and maybe that’s good. Or maybe it isn’t good.

Or maybe it doesn’t even matter. Think of the last cool “viral” thing you did or saw? Did it influence you to do something? Did it influence anyone you know to do something? And “do something” I mean more than “share” it or “like” it. I mean, “did it have a meaningful impact on your life?”

Stop reading articles like this. Instead, read things that are helpful for you. Or better yet, stop reading stuff like this and instead go out and meet with people or talk with people. That way you’ll have a better foundation for making content that is good. Content that helps your business and helps your readers.

And it won’t matter whether it goes viral or not.

I encourage you to read Matthew’s post “On Reading.”

@respres @gahlord 'Ten secret killer apps to download now that are guaranteed to make your sources go viral'

12:14:11 8:03 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@Corcoran_Group

Matthew Shadbolt

Image via Wikipedia

Strategy is one of those words that gets abused. People use it all the time when they mean something else, usually a plan or tactic. This edition of “three views of a secret” presents some different takes on what strategy is or isn’t.

Social isn’t a Strategy

A post spurred on by an online conversation between myself, Jeff Turner and Derek Overbey. In it, I include a definition of strategy and an example of how it works.

Strategy And Conflict: In re Gahlord

Rob Hahn, one of my favorite people with whom to argue about discuss these kinds of things, takes issue with the fact that my definition of strategy doesn’t rely on the existence of conflict or competition. Rob lays out a modification of my definition to create a competition-focused definition of strategy. His addendum is especially useful to review. His discussion of social capital is also useful but I think the result me not clarifying what “social” is in my original post.

Say WHAT? A Five Star Yelp Review for a Competitor?

Phoenix real estate broker Jay Thompson describes his thought process in taking a specific action using online social tool Yelp. My guess is that if we were to ask Jay whether he had a particular strategic motivation he’d say “not really.” However the thinking and actions are very relevant to the concepts of strategy, competition and social tool use.

As the shine of social media dulls ever so slightly and we begin to examine it just a little more closely, there are ways of considering and using the tools that go deeper than “10 tips for Facebook” or “Best practices of Twitter.”

There are strategic considerations, sociological considerations, marketing considerations. Here are three articles that examine aspects and approaches to social media that I think you’ll find relevant, thoughtful and useful.

Your Facebook Friends are not Really Listening

In Jeff Turner’s request that the hype nozzle be squelched a bit, he applies some fancy math and some common sense to  some of the social metrics and measures that are getting tossed around.

On Colony Collapse

Matthew Shadbolt challenges the concept of the “strength of weak ties” in this essay that covers social tools, biology and the nature and meaning of human connection.

Stop Trying to Engage Your Audience

Included not only because I want to list my own work alongside the previous excellent works, but because it outlines a method for action and behavior in the social space.

Everything that can be measured, will be.

I was introduced to the concept that “everything that can be digital, will be” in  Nicholas Negroponte‘s 1995 book Being Digital.

While a read of that book today will be humorous for the pantheon of companies that self-immolated in the big dot com blowout of the early naughts, the concepts introduced have pretty much all held.

Lately, I’ve been mulling over a corollary to “everything that can be digital, will be” that is making itself apparent: Everything that can be measured, will be. As human interactions become increasingly digital, there are–by default–data points being generated on all of our interactions.

Social technologies are accelerating the availability of data and the kinds of data available to measure.

Measured: physical presence

Mobile technologies make it fairly simple to measure where someone is using GPS and WiFi. As people are typically more guarded about their location, the incentives required to get people to volunteer that data are trickier.

However, arbitrary social incentives (such as Foursquare’s badges and “mayor” status) and real social incentives (knowing where your friends are so you can join them) break down the barrier to volunteering location.

In addition, commercial endeavors like deal services provide a “rational” reason to volunteer physical location for measurement.

Measured: relationships

Facebook, Twitter and any other social networks out there combine these data points to measure our “social graph.” Our relationships are being measured. There’s even a metric: “friends” or “followers.”

(As an aside, the above video is from 2006–any changes in social media since then?)

Measured: sentiment

As we volunteer information on sites like Twitter, our sentiment about a variety of topics can be measured. Since people tend to like to have their tastes and preferences about some things known, voluntary expressions of sentiment are not especially difficult to gather.

Existing methods of sentiment analysis are certainly rough around the edges. But an entire field, text analysis, is embracing this problem. I would expect our ability to measure sentiment in a meaningful fashion will increase significantly in the coming years.

Efforts are under way in medium to large organizations to quantify and qualify sentiment analysis into meaningful metrics.

The disruption of being digital

There were a variety of responses in the late 90s, as industries began to realize the disruption potential of statements like “everything that can be digital, will be.”

Some organizations stuck their head in the sand and waited for the fad to blow over. Some organizations blindly thrashed about with digital technologies until they either learned new skills or expired. Some began to make use of legal power while others worked to innovate around legal power.

That first wave of the web, getting everything that could be digital to actually be digital, was disruptive. It left more than one large, well-established industries in disarray.

As organizations and industries have adapted to being digital, new skills have been learned. New language, technology and strategies have been added to the skillsets of employees and business leaders.

However, this “digital revolution” was primarily a workflow and distribution disruption. Learning how to create things for a digital world and how to distribute things for a digital world.

The disruption of measure

I suspect that, like being digital, there will be disruption associated with being measured. There will be new skillsets that will allow organizations to prosper or continue long enough to adapt to changing competitive pressures. These skillsets will not be limited to departmental silos, specific layers of corporate hierarchy, or outside vendors.

Just as all people engaged in business today need at least a foundational level of internet understanding, we’ll see the requirement of a foundational level of measurement understanding.

The nature of the disruption posed by a “measurement revolution” requires more than simply learning new processes and manipulating new toys and infrastructure. Learning to understand data and derive meaning from it is a more involved task that requires a different level of cognition.

It will also require different human skills for living in an environment of constant change and overwhelming specific data.

Image by Marion Doss via Flickr

I was recently asked for some simple practical tips that business owners could take to “strike an effective balance between print and digital.” I think that’s the wrong question.

The real issue is how will organizations thrive in a changing environment. Here’s is how I responded:

Examine all marketing, whether print or digital, from a perspective of viability and importance.

It will be difficult to gauge importance without doing some diligent research into which media and specific pieces actually drive sales. For many businesses, learning to do this will be enough to work on as a starting point.

Determining viability is much easier: do you have the in-house skills to create and evaluate good digital work? How about good print work? What evidence exists to support your conclusions? Here again it is likely that new skills will need to be acquired (through learning, hiring or successful partnerships).

This issue of the need to acquire new skills (either to evaluate importance or to determine viability) is not limited to small organizations. It is prevalent across all sizes of companies I encounter. In addition, it isn’t a problem that is confined to entry-level workers or job seekers–in many cases it is company leadership which needs this sort of honest learning the most.

We’re in the midst of an economic shift that is much like the shift from agrarian economies to industrial economies. It isn’t about whether something is digital or print. It’s about how the data flows and how an organization is going to thrive in an environment of increasing change.

Image via Wikipedia

Aba and Jonathan from Dealer are going to be presenting at this month’s Web Analytics Wednesday. The topic is: “Up and to [the Right SEO Tactics]”

• 6:30 hangout begins
• 7:00 Aba and Jonathan present
• Followed by more geeking out

Hosted here at Thoughtfaucet located in the Howard Space Center at 4 Howard Street Studio i3 Burlington VT. See you there!