Channing joined us in April as a Social Media Strategist, and she has rocked our world with her terrific online instincts, brilliant writing and client diplomacy. You can use social media to hire team members who wow you just as much as Channing's wowed us, whether you're hiring for a social media gig or something entirely analog.

My top tips and tools for finding, screening and validating applicants are in the Harvard post. This is the story of how we applied these techniques to hiring Channing, with links to some of the key documents we used in the process.

Planning a hire

As with a lot of small organizations, each member of our team needs to wear several hats. In our early days, we took a laundry list approach to creating job postings, compiling a daunting collection of every kind of skill or experience we'd want a new hire to bring to our business. Over time, we've become more realistic about what kinds of talents are likely (or unlikely) to be found in the same person, and with each hire, we prioritize the core competencies we must have in our hire, and then keep an additional list of nice-to-haves.

To consult with Rob and the rest of our team on the competencies we wanted to look for -- and the role we wanted to create -- I set up a Google spreadsheet with the following columns:

• Offering: The service this new hire would help us to deliver.
• Activity: The phase or element of this service offering that the new hire would be expected to own or help deliver.
• Role: The notional job title this activity might correspond to -- we considered "social media strategist", "project manager", and "client services".
• Competency: The specific skills needed to fulfill this activity/role: e.g. "writing", "strategic thinking", "powerpoint".

By grouping the activities and competencies by role, we were able to identify "social media strategist" as the role for which we had the greatest need.

Reaching potential applicants

We put a long version of our posting on our own web site, and a shorter version on Craigslist. When we posted our gig to the Social Signal blog (along with a similar posting from one of our clients) and twittered the link, we got a huge volume of retweets, link love and site visits. One of the people who saw -- and forwarded -- our job posting was Channing's brother, Sean; Sean and Channing co-author the Social Ch@nge blog, so he knew exactly how much our position would interest her.

Channing wasn't the only terrific social media geek we met through our online recruitment process. There were several other bloggers, strategists and project managers who we are looking forward to working with on future projects as contractors or even as clients: our own job postings serve as a great source of referrals for clients who are looking for online community managers or project leads.

Screening applicants

Channing sent us a very compelling cover letter that -- combined with her Wufoo application -- demonstrated both her qualifications and passion for the social media role. There was just one wrinkle: she was living in Poland. That meant we had to think very carefully about whether and how to interview someone who'd be moving half-way across the world for this position. I started with a brief phone call that confirmed that yes, she sounded like a serious candidate; as with all my screening calls, I put my notes in an Evernote notebook so they'd be accessible from any computer.

For our first interview, I relied on a series of questions we'd developed as a team using a Google spreadsheet. The questions covered each of the skills, experiences or traits we were looking for and included a mix of open-ended questions ("Tell us about a success you've had in engaging or managing an online community") and specific scenarios ("How would you advise a small non-profit with a narrow audience to spend $50k on social media?") We kept the spreadsheet open during the interview so that Rob and I could collaboratively take notes.

The interview itself took place via Skype video: while this was the first time we'd interviewed a candidate via Skype, we've done enough video meetings with clients to have a good sense of how someone's on-screen presence corresponds to their real-life personality. Channing was warm, polished, and very effective in answering our questions; she even had the guts to challenge us on one scenario we'd throw in to gauge candidate's comfort levels working with questionable clients.

Validating your choice

After our full-length Skype interview with Channing we were quite confident she was a fit, but the fact that we hadn't met in-person made us concerned to double- and triple-check our instincts. We set up additional Skype meetings for her with two other members of our team, and with our long-time business coach, Jeff Balin; we asked each of them to treat the content of the meetings as confidential but to provide general feedback on whether they thought it was a fit. (They did.)

Next, we gave Channing a test assignment: to recommend an interim Facebook strategy for a client who had engaged us for a major Facebook campaign. She delivered a polished, well-written document that not only delivered immediate answers but also highlighted a couple of bigger-picture strategic issues. To ensure she'd have adequate time to complete the assignment, and that her work was subject to appropriate confidentiality provisions, we set up a formal short-term contract to pay her for her work.

When that assignment was completed, we decided to assess her technical learning curve by asking her to set up a page on our Drupal web site; since Channing hadn't worked on Drupal before we figured this would be a good chance to see how quickly she could get comfortable on a new platform. At our request, she created the first version of our presentations and workshops page -- which included compiling a Google Doc full of all the nice things people had said about our past presentations. Not only did we see how quickly she took to new software: all those third-party testimonials intensified her interest in working for us.

We did a final round of due diligence by talking to several of her (glowing) references by phone, and having a couple more Skype video calls along the way. We recognized the long distance wasn't just a challenge for us; the time it took for us to double- and triple-check our instincts made for a long (and anxiety-producing) hiring process for Channing. Regular video check-ins kept her engaged in the process and helped us build a relationship.

On Channing's seventh Skype call with our team -- her fourth with me -- I formally offered her the position. Even on a teeny tiny Skype window, her delight was evident; we were equally delighted that she accepted right away.

Results

How has Channing worked out? Our clients love working with her; so do our development partners and staff. Her social media instincts, creativity and solid project management skills have all exceeded our admittedly high expectations.

But I personally knew just what a smart hire we'd made on the day that Channing sent me an e-mail she'd drafted for me to send to a client. "Can you copy me on the changes so I can learn from your writing style?" she wrote in her covering message to me. "I think you nailed it," I responded. "Did you deliberately try to write like me, or do we just have the same voice? Fantastic news either way."

When I recounted this good news to Rob, he was surprised I didn't know the answer: "She's been reading through our blog archives for weeks," he told me. "She's been figuring out how to capture our voice."

That moment crystalized exactly what Channing brings to Social Signal: the ability to identify what's needed for social media success, the willingness to go the extra mile, and of course, extraordinary writing skills.

Have you used social media to find your Channing --- the great hire who takes your organization to the next level? I'd love to hear your experiences.

You've settled into your new lifestyle; you're moving from Mac newbie to Macompetent. But when you hit the wifi café for an Americano and a little surfing Safari, you feel like all those other Macbook-wielding hipsters can tell you're not quite one of them yet.

That's because there's more to being a Mac user than your choice of computer. Going Mac is an attitude, an aesthetic, possibly even a philosophical position. Here's how to shift your mindset so that you and your operating system become one:

1. We're back, we're Mac, don't give us flack. This ain't 1998 (and thank god for that). Today's Macs are able to deal with just about any standard PC file format: Word files, Excel files, video files, etc. (Though if you're using Office 2008 on the mac, you may need to retro-format your files so that friends with older version of Office can read your files; just save as .doc or .xls instead of .docx or .xlsx). Don't apologize for your Mac: if they're sending you files you can't read, the overwhelming odds are that they are doing something weird on their end. Unless you're in a field that's using specialty, PC-only software (e.g. for health records), expect equal treatment as a Mac user. Let your colleagues, vendors and employers know it's not acceptable to insist on web sites or services that are Windows- or Explorer-only.
2. Don't be a Masshole. The flip side of expecting reasonable accommodation is to restrain your own sense of superiority as a Mac user. It's very tempting to look down your nose at Windows users: their ugly machines, their painful crashes, their sad efforts at imitating the Mac interface. Thinking of a Windows user as a Mac user who hasn't yet seen the light may reduce your sense of hostility, but it will only heighten theirs. So try to remember: as much as the Apple lifestyle works for you, there are many people who are genuinely more comfortable and effective as Windows users. (I'm far less convinced by BlackBerry users who insist that a physical keyboard is more important than the downright joyful experience of using an iPhone.)
3. Explore strange new worlds. If you've been a Windows user, and you have an even moderate level of risk aversion, you've probably been very cautious about downloading and installing new software. As a Mac user, you can be more adventurous: particularly if you've installed anti-virus software (though Mac viruses are rare), you can download software with a high degree of confidence in its safety and easy un-installability. (Uninstalling is almost always a matter of just dragging a file or two to the trash). So try stuff out! You may find new tools to recommend to me (that's what the comments are for.)
4. Reach out and iTouch someone. Mac users are rabid evangelists -- well, a lot of us are. We love sharing our advice, tips, favorite apps, and beloved Mac sites. Don't be shy about chatting with the Mac user next to you in the café, especially if they've got lots of stickers on their MacBook (a pretty strong geek indicator) or they're cute (it's always fun to talk to cute-looking people in cafés).
5. Love your computer. The best thing about being a Mac user is that you can stop thinking of your computer as that machine that you do your work on, and actually enjoy spending time online. My own switch back came ten years ago: I woke up one morning, and reflected that while I'd gotten into Internet reseach because I just loved messing around on my computer, I wasn't enjoying my computer time anymore. I went out that very day and bought a G4 Mac, and as soon as I left Windows behind, I loved being on the computer again.

Now that you've Mac-ified your soul as well as your computer, it's time to discover and share your own Mac secrets. Share your favourite tips here or send them to us on Twitter, and let us know if you have any Mac questions we haven't answered.

1. Marry hardware and software. One of Canada's great success stories, RIM (of Blackberry fame) is here today. Another great success -- Flickr -- is absent. But Flickr shows what Canadians can do when they take the infrastructure of the web (mobile, wireles or wired) and marry it with our traditional strengths in community and content creation. Twinning hardware innovators with software innovators would be a great way to inspire software innovators to develop tools and business models that make the most of next-generation hardware, and vice versa.
2. Use Crown Corps as poster children. The Canadian government owns a number of corporations that could be used as models for business innovation. While no one could argue that Canada Post, Via Rail or the Atomic Energy Corporation are typical businesses, they face many of the same challenges as the rest of us. Challenging these companies to push the edge of the envelope in the effective and innovative use of ICTs -- and to transparently share their experience -- would make our investment in those companies do double duty.
3. Focus our attention. One commenter noted that policy efforts should focus on areas with greatest potential policy leverage. I'd note that many traditional areas of effective government intervention -- notably, content and culture -- are now subject to massive policy circumvention. While we can't abandon the culture sector, protecting conventional content production is a tough nut to crack. Tackling IT access and infrastructure - while expensive -- is at least amenable to effective government action.
4. Expand our definition of innovation. The feds' SRED program came up in the course of today's discussion; it's a great example of how our model (and support for) innovation are based on a relatively orthodox interpretation of tech innovation. Many of the most crucial tech investments involve trying new business models or forms of social interaction, rather than new technologies per se. Providing incentives for businesses to try crowdsourcing, online collaboration and customer engagement will help offset the risk aversion of organizations facing a new set of communications challenges and opportunities.
5. Tie tech innovation to environmental goals. Online collaboration and telework can help address two of our most pressing economic challenges: the coming skills shortage, and climate change. Incentivizing alternative work arrangements -- and supporting the development of technologies that make them possible -- will help reduce the carbon footprint of business while creating jobs that appeal to a new generation of workers.

Recommendations for future policy discussions:

1. Balance the question of what government needs to do with a discussion of where businesses can effect change. Many of the issues discussed today are more readily (or at least more likely to be) addressed by IT-savvy businesses taking the initiative to model best practices. Businesses that are innovating -- for example with the use of online collaboration, the investment in IT infrastructure, or the embrace of telework -- need to share their experiences (positive and negative) so that others can learn.
2. Run a DigitalEconomyCamp. Today's conference included 150 business leaders; 8 hours of their knowledge, brain power and resources would go a long way if invested in a policy sprint and action plan rather than passive listening.
3. Get digital to do digital. We had a thriving backchannel on Twitter; audience members who participated online were able to engage conversationally as well as benefit from the live presentations. Incorporating online conversation and wiki-based collaboration would facilitate real-time outcomes and broader engagement.
4. Reach outside the sector. The background paper for today's workshop wisely noted that ICT is a driver of innovation for all Canadian business, not just tech companies. Including non-IT companies -- particularly those who make innovative use of ICTs, including content producers -- would be crucial to uncovering the key success factors for effective IT use.
5. Reach outside the ministry. When I worked with many Canadian government ministries on the Governance Digital Economy program, there was much hang-wringing over government silos. Ten years later, it's notable that Industry Canada is still tackling the digital economy (at least in this context) on its own; digital economy issues are just as salient to Environment, Revenue and Heritage (to name just three); it would be great to hear what those departments are doing in this space.

What are your thoughts on today's conversation? Leave them in text below, or dive into a wiki version of the Industry Canada background paper.

There's already a lively Twitter backchannel that seems to include a good number of people in the room as well as folks watching online, and I'll be live tweeting the conference myself. Since the conference seems to consist largely of folks from the "traditional" tech world, I'm curious to see how the panelists and audience engage with the question of how social media changes the challenges and opportunities for Canadian IT.

In its background paper, Industry Canada asked a few social media-related questions, including:

• How does Canada address its current skill shortages and spur the development of nw skills, business models, innnovation in global suply chains and other entrepreneurial activities based on the further integration of ICTs, including emerging areas such as Web 2.0?
• Should we move traditional broadcasting regulation towards the more open Internet model?
• How should we adapt our intellectual property legislation to the Internet?
• How can Canada address emerging technologies that may be ill-suited to the conventional consent model for privacy protection?

In addition to these questions -- which I'd love to see both industry and government tackle seriously -- I'd pose a few of my own:

• How can the Canadian government adopt social media and online community tools in order to drive innovation and service improvement, and model the adapations that social media demands from traditionally hierarchical and siloed organizations?
• If Canada has fallen behind in the first wave of the info. economy (as speakers have suggested so far), can we leapfrog into leadership of the social media economy? What would that entail?
• How can user-generated content support the growth of Canadian media and culture, rather than intensifying the pressures on its survival?
• How can Canadian business be encouraged and supported in embracing social intelligence -- i.e. using online collaboration and online customer engagement -- to drive business innovation?
• What regulatory changes or government programs could support community-based businesses to tap the new generation of ICTs, and especially social media, in order to foster the kind of locally-based economic development that will make our economy and communiteis sustainable in the long run?
• How can the government catalyze changes in the rates and structure of the mobile phone industry so that Canadian citizens and businesses don't get left behind in the shift to mobile?
• Which ministries, sectors and NGOs need to be at the digital economy table in order to ensure convergence of our economic, cultural and environmental policies -- as needed if we are to use social media and ICT to develop a resilient and sustainable economy?

I hope you'll jump in with comments on this post below, or in the Twitter backchannel.

You've fallen in love; you never knew it could be like this. When you compare the object of your affection to your ex, you can't believe what you once settled for.

But like any lover, you can't help but noticing one or two things that could be just a tiny bit better. Maybe your beloved even has a couple of quirks that are downright annoying. And isn't it your job -- the job of any admirer -- to bring out the best in your darling?

Happily, it's easier to tweak your Mac than to upgrade your boyfriend or girlfriend. Here are some adjustments that any new Mac user should undertake, or at least consider, until your computer is exactly right for you.

1. Customize your dock. That row of icons at the bottom (or if you've gotten fancy, at the side) needn't contain the apps that Apple, in its infinite wisdom, stuck there. If there are apps you're not using, drag them out and poof! they're gone. Not gone gone -- they're still in your Applications folder. But the dock shortcut is outta there; now you can add the applications that you really use without ending up with an insanely cluttered dock. (A dock full of Apple's default icons is a sure sign of a Mac newbie.) Just drag an app's icon in there, or ctrl-click on the icon of any active application (all active apps show up in the dock) and select "keep in dock".  You can also resize your dock by hovering over the dotted line that divides your apps from your folders. Speaking of folders, here's a neat trick: putting your applications folder in the dock (just drag and drop); clicking that folder pops up a spring-loaded list of applications you can launch from there. And if you want to find new apps to try out, try looking over the shoulder of any Mac user; if you see unfamiliar icons in their dock, ask them what the app is and what they use it for.

   

2. Go Places. Your Finder windows and open or save dialogue boxes will show you a left-hand column with all the drives currently mounted on your computer, plus your favorite places (typically, your home directory, documents folder, pictures folder, etc). Just like the dock, this list of Places can be customized. If there are folders you don't use often, drag their folders out of this list; they'll disappear from the list but stay on your computer. Then drag any folder you use frequently onto the list of places (taking care not to drag it directly onto another icon; if you do that, the folder will be placed inside the folder you've just dragged it onto). Your frequently-used folder will now appear in your list of places, and be readily accessible from any open or save dialog or from any Finder window.
3. Be controlling. If you're missing your right mouse button, let me introduce you to the control key. Holding ctrl while clicking your mouse button acts just like a right-click on a Windows machine; it gives you a menu with lots of additional options for whatever you're clicking on.
4. Take the shortcut. Learning keyboard shortcuts will make you a much more efficent Mac-er. One of my favorites: holding the Command key (the one with the apple on it) while clicking a link in Firefox or Safari, to open that link in a new tab.  If you want to get really hardcore, or you just really hate your mouse, try Quicksilver, an application that lets you do just about anything you can imagine via keyboard, and then some.
5. Get smart. You can create smart folders or groups in the Finder, Mail, Address Book and iTunes, which essentially create virtual folders based on rules. For example, I've got a smart folder I created in the Finder, called "presentations"; it contains all the files on my computer that are either PowerPoint or Keynote files. The original files stay with the projects they're related to, but I've got a single place to look for all presentation files whenever I need to create a new presentation that draws on my previous work.
6. Just say no. There are some really hot-looking Apple doodads you may want to live without. I leave my screen saver turned off, because it annoys me to have my windows disappear; I only rarely use my Dashboard (which provides access to a range of small utility applications), and I personally find Exposé (which lets you get a bird's-eye view of all your open windows) to be dizzying, probably because I have so many open windows that it looks like this:

Make your Mac yours, and you'll find that your passion for the platform will deepen into lasting commitment.

Which Finder and system tweaks have made you love your Mac more than ever?

We can either follow our instinct
Or take advice from every joker
We can either be distinct, or wind up merely mediocre
I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing
Than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing.

For the past year, those words have been a mantra at Social Signal. When we tackle a new social media project, we're always balancing the size of the audience we'd like to reach (you know, a few hundred million or so) with the desire to engage meaningful participation. And meaningful engagement is most likely when you focus on becoming nine people's favorite thing.

The line comes from [title of show], up for Best Book at tonight's Tony Awards. We were lucky to catch [title of show] a couple of weeks after it opened on Broadway last August. The show had us in stitches, but as we listened to the cast album repeatedly over subsequent months, it was the show's deeper insights into the nature and experience of creativity that stuck with us.

[title of show] has reached me in a way that only a handful of shows, novels or movies ever have: it's wormed its way into my mind and heart and become part of who I am and how I see the world. If the show succeeded in making itself my favorite thing, it's no coincidence that its creative voice comes from a team with a deep appreciation and talent for my own creative medium: social media.

TOS co-creator Jeff Bowen had a successful Internet marketing business long before TOS hit Broadway, and the TOS site, YouTube presence and MySpace and Facebook pages show what social media can do for both a brand and a creative voice. Drawing on both the show's lyrics and its skilled use of social media, I'll show how you can tap the power of social media for both expressive and marketing power.

You are not your blog

I’m standing here, just left of center and something ain’t clear:
When did I sign on the line of this decree?
Stuck in a show where I am playing me.

[title of show] is a musical about two guys writing a musical; composer-lyricist Jeff is played by real-life TOS composer-lyricist Jeff Bowen, librettist Hunter is played by librettist Hunter Bell, and actress-buddies Heidi and Susan are played by actress-buddies Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell. The TOS cast share more than names with their characters; the line between person and persona is blurred. And yet there is a distinction, just as there is a distinction between the persona of a blogger and the person who blogs. As reported in the New York Times last year,

Berresse...keeps the lines between his actors and the characters from blurring by using a simple device. Hunter Bell the actor is simply Hunter. Hunter Bell the character is Bunny Hunter — the profile of a bunny being what you get when you take two fingers from each hand, representing quotation marks, and put them on top of your head. It has been helpful. “Sometimes I’d say, ‘I would not necessarily make that choice, but I understand that for the 90-minute structure, Bunny Heidi is going to make that choice,’ ” Ms. Blickenstaff said.

Remembering that people who attack -- or praise -- your blog posts are attacking your blogging persona, and not you personally, will go a long way to preserving your sanity online.

You are your audience

Nothing guarantees it will stand out, and its future is unknown...
But we can’t do it all alone.
- Untitled Opening Number

If you want your brand, product or campaign to stand out, don't try to do it alone: invite your customers or audience to be part of what you're creating. [title of show] baked audience participation into its marketing with a blog inviting audience comments and highlighting fan videos; fans responded in droves. It created badges and buttons for fans to put on their own sites, extending the TOS marketing reach. The day the Tony nominations came out, I was far from the first commenter on the New York Times' site to decry the single nomination TOS received -- build loyal and engaged fans, and they'll let the world know how many awards you really deserve. And TOS created a dynamite widget for the likes of me to spread across the web.

You can't take attention for granted

HUNTER: I don’t want this to be just sketches and novelty songs linked together. I want there to be substance, not just fluff, not that there’s anything wrong with fluff. But I wanna strive for something that makes people really pay attention, you know what I mean?
SUSAN: Huh… I totally stopped listening.

No matter how much you pour into your blogging, twittering, flickring or other social media efforts, and no matter how great its value, you're doing a dance with an audience that -- like Susan -- may or may not be paying attention. The art of social media lies in finding ways to get and keep attention, and the TOS use of social media is a great case study in how valuable that attention can be. When the show lay dormant after a couple of years of working the off-Broadway circuit, the creators launched a "[title of show] show" on YouTube, with episodes imagining the show's longed-for move to Broadway. The episodes caught producers' attention, and the show did indeed get its Broadway run.

Your heart is at least as important as your brain

I aimed for the sky, a nine-year-old can see so far
I'll conquer the world and be a star, I'll do it all by the time I'm ten.
I would know that confidence, if I knew a way back to then.

Social media is at its most compelling when it's playful and authentic: when you're speaking from your nine-year heart, with the benefit of your thirtysomething (or twentysomething, or fiftysomething) brain. There's a lot of online chatter about social media smarts, but at least as many social media successes have emerged from passionate expression; from people who've found their way back to then. The TOS site is a great example of what happens when brains and heart meet: the site has a polished design with an easy-to-navigate interface, and both the site and blog overflow with the playfulness, irreverence, profanity and humor of the show itself:

Do you guys know that when we were dreaming of the dreamiest place for [title of show], we all had the Vineyard at the top of all our dream lists? We never thought we would actually get to do our play there... And then we squeezed our little golden pony, and it pooped out our dreamiest wish. That golden pony is awesome. You have to get one.
- Heidi, on the TOS blog

Your voice is worth sharing

You have a story to tell, a novel you keep in a drawer.
You have a painting to paint, but you're lazy like an old French whore
You have a movie to make, Shrinky Dinks you can bake, but you best grab a stake, because
In sweep the vampires, in creep the vampires, knee deep in vampires,
Filling you with doubt, insecurity, ‘bout what your art should be
In sweep the vampires
Die vampire die!

At its best, social media provides a channel for self-expression in all its forms: text, image, audio, video, image. But the advent of the Internet doesn't make the challenges of artistic expression go away; online authors can be as scared, as blocked, and as neurotic as any offline artist. Killing the vampires that keep you from expressing online -- the vampires that say, as the show puts it, "you cannot sing good enough to be in a musical. Or they might say: Ooh, your song’s derivative, to keep that song from you."

Don't let fears about the quality or originality of your work keep you from finding your voice online, whether its expressed through a Flickr photo collection, a real-time blogging memoir, or a group of Sims singing someone else's song:

We'll be rooting for Hunter and the rest of the TOS team during tonight's Tony webcast (sadly, the Best Book award has been cut from the CBS broadcast). Whether or not [title of show] wins, the mere fact of its nomination speaks volumes not only about the brilliance of the show, but the power of its web-enabled audience engagement. Meanwhile, we're unilaterally awarding TOS one more well-deserved Tony: for social media that reminds us what creativity is all about.

• Samuel cites the cases of several companies...[who] wound up having to retire from the social media playing field. [T]hat it is because the companies went in with the wrong attitude. They weren't really looking for a dialogue. They thought they could control the conversation. It doesn't always work that way. 
  - Les Blatt
• As social media is enjoying the spoils of a bubble, more people are focused on the promise than the reality. Perhaps this is why many organizations choose to build online communities where the communication is more collaborative.
  - Vanessa DiMauro
• [When companies get negative comments, they need to:] 1) learn from them: what is the collective voice telling us and how can we use it to further the customer experience and 2) answer the comments right away, offer respect to the writers and think from THEIR perspective when addressing the issue. Result? Happy Greeks, happy Trojans, and a Trojan Horse that can win the Kentucky Derby!
  - Loraine Antrim
• [T]his all does have to do with company culture and marketing directors who only think about advertising and not more holistically about the company brand. This trend is not going away. Social media will look different years from now as traditional media and marketing theory morph to meet the desires of the consumer.
  - Rick Hardy
• It is arrogant to think that social media is either a gift or a threat to your agenda. It is neither. It is a mirror. And it sometimes reflects things that you don't want to see. So rather than blaming the mirror for revealing ugly things, let's look at the truth of what it reveals.
  - Melanie McBride

Social media is a powerful catalyst for reflection and change within organizations. But the Trojan Horse goes anywhere social media goes: your home, your favorite bar, your state legislature.

Conversation is the engine of change; online conversation simply makes that change possible on a scale the world’s never known – or needed more.  It's not just marketing sites or business intranets that build relationships of trust; it's the fan sites that foster cross-cultural connections, the photo-sharing sites that unlock the creativity and innovation of closet photographers, and yes, it's the big picture, Save The World commmunities.

Whether a conversation is built around world or work, relationships or individuals, its success depends on three kinds of participation. Someone has to conceive of the conversation: to define the purpose (however vague) of this new conversational arena, and the audiences (however varied) that will be engaged. Someone has to convene the conversation: to invite people to participate, and to help build momentum as the conversation unfolds. Most crucially, someone has to contribute: to write the blog posts, post the photos, ask the questions, upload the video, or whatever the content is that will make up the substance of the conversation.

Conceiving, convening, contributing: fulfilling any of these roles effectively involves connecting tangibly and meaningfully with other people. We suspect that the key to harnessing the power of online conversation lies in playing each role, in every conversation, with careful attention to the work of connecting with the other person (or people) involved. But the surest path to that connection depends on what role you’re playing, and what kind of conversation you’re having. The moderator of an environmental campaign site has a very different job from an employee posting a note on a corporate intranet.

My post about businesses encountering the Trojan Horse of social media focused on one particular domain (work) and one particular kind of role: that of online convenor. When companies jump into social media, they're typically asking one particular kind of question: What conversations do we need to have with our team, customers or supporters?

We've mapped out the questions that encompass the broader impact of social media in catalyzing change -- not just at work, but at the individual, family and even global level. And we've broken these into the questions that should be asked by people who play different roles in the conversation:

• Leaders and marketers and communciators conceive online conversations. They do the work of envisioning, designing and building a conversation venue, group or space.
• Community managers convene online conversations by animating, facilitating, moderating or gardening.
• Community members participate in an online conversation by posting text, images, video or audio.

I've added links to blog posts on our site that speak to the questions for each domain, and each role.

Twelve questions for meaningful online conversations

Download this table as a much prettier PDF.

How have you been challenged by the Trojan Horse of social media -- at work, in the world, at home or personally? How are you managing the changes it brings? Leave your comments here, or back on the Harvard site.

Switching platforms is disorienting, at least until you get up and running with the core software that gives you all the tools you had on your old machine. But you didn't switch to a Mac just so you could do the same old stuff. You switched because you wanted to rock the house, set the world on fire, and bravely go where no Windows machine has gone before. Here are four Mac-only apps that should fill your heart with joy at your newfound powers.

1. Find your files. Default Folder X ensures you're never more than a click or two away from the folder you want to save a file to, or find a file in -- even folders that aren't in your list of Places.. It adds contextual menus to any "Save" or "Open" dialogue boxes, in any program, so that you can immediately access any folders that you've recently used, or are currently open in the Finder. I find that 95% of the time, the folder I want to save a document to is in one of those two lists. You can see Default Folder X's additional icons in the right-hand side of this screenshot:
2. Type less. TextExpander lets you create text shortcuts -- or "snippets" --  for any text you type frequently, like your address or the date, or for images you use frequently, like your logo or headshot. I use the key combination "ddt" to enter the date; anytime I save a file, I start by typing "ddt", which inserts the date in the form 2009-05-23 at the beginning of every file name. That means I can sort files by name in order to see them in chronological order by date of creation, (you can do the same thing by adding "View by date created" to your Finder's default columns -- under View/Show Options in your Finder's menu bar -- but I like to see date last modified, too, and that gets to be a lot of columns in the Finder.) Enter "%Y-%m-%d" as a snippet in TextExpander, and choose your own keystroke combo (like "ddt") to get automatic dates in the form year-month-day.
3. Say click. If you're enjoying the helpful illustrations in this post, you can thank Skitch: a really kick-ass screen capture utility with an online component. Install Skitch on your machine to do quick screenshots that you can crop, resize or annotate; then use the "save" button to add that screenshot to a permanent archive, or "webpost" to put it on a website -- so that you can easily embed images in your blog posts.
4. Collaborate in Mac time. If you like Google Docs or wikis as a way of collaborating with your colleagues to write documents, try doing it in real time. SubEthaEdit is a plain text editor that runs on your Mac -- and lets you collaboratively write and edit in real time if you have a colleague who's running SubEthaEdit too. Rob and I use SubEthaEdit to take notes together during meetings, or to live blog conference events (I transcribe, Rob cleans up as we go so it's ready to post right away.) If you're away from the wifi cloud (and still breathing), you can create your own computer-to-computer network by clicking on the Airport status icon in your menu bar; invite your fellow SubEthaEditors to join the private network you've created. Like this:
   
   Keep your SubEthaEdit disk image on your computer so that you can get your colleagues up and running with SubEthaEdit if you want to take notes together; you can transfer it to them using a keychain drive, or by dragging-and-dropping into their public dropbox once you're connected to the same network. (Just use shift-apple-K in the Finder to bring up a list of computers in your local network).

Which apps make you happy to be a Mac user?

Do you need a blog?

Four years ago, blogging was the premiere way to publish content or engage in online conversation. Today, there are many easy and lightweight ways to express yourself online and converse with old or new friends. While a blog is still a terrific way to have a more informal organizational voice, or to create your own niche site on the web, you may find it easier or more rewarding to engage through some other established channel. Here are some options to consider:

1. Facebook Post frequent status updates and notes on Facebook, and voilá, you have something not-un-bloglike. It's free, it takes no configuration or setup work, and your friends are much more likely to stop by and see what you've written. The downside: Facebook makes some pretty interesting claims on your posts, and you can't do much to customize how it works.
2. Twitter If you're primarily interested in sharing news or engaging in online conversation, Twitter may be easier, more effective and more fun than blogging. You can post really quickly and frequently (how long does it take to write a 140-character message?) and you can reach specific people (via mentions or direct messages). The downside: You can't write the next New Yorker-worthy essay in 140 characters, and even if you do, your friends may or may not see it given how quickly Twitter conversation unfolds.
3. Niche communities Instead of posting all your thoughts in one place, why not post them in the context where they're most relevant? Join a handful of online communities or social networks that correspond to your various professional and personal interests, and you can enjoy all the benefits of personal expression -- in exactly the context where they'll find interested readers. You might blog about your family life on CafeMom, share your political rants on DailyKos, and write about your business adventures on the Intuit business community site. The downside: Your online relationships will be very role-based; people will likely know you with your mom hat on, or your activist hat on, but not both. If you want to write about topics that cross over your various roles -- or don't fit into any of them -- you don't have a home for it. My solution to these problems is to treat alexandrasamuel.com as an aggregator for my posts on a variety of sites; that way I have both niche conversations and a one-stop, anything-goes presence.
4. LinkedIn Answering questions on LinkedIn isn't the same as blogging, but it is a great way of establishing your topic-specific expertise in front of a large and relevant audience. I monitor LinkedIn questions in my fields of expertise using iGoogle (see below) so that I can answer questions while they're fresh -- which means my answers are higher up and get seen by more people. Then I post my LinkedIn answers back to the Social Signal blog using old-fashioned cut and paste.
5. Flickr, YouTube, 12seconds et al. Not everyone expresses themselves best in words. Maybe you're more of a talker, or a photographer, or a video person. Create an account on a multimedia site, and post your outpourings there.

So, you still want to blog: platforms

6. Tumblr Four years ago I recommended Blogger as my newbie option and WordPress as my choice for more advanced bloggers. Today, I recommend Tumblr as a great blog for folks who want something easy-to-use, especially if they plan on uploading lots of photo or images (Tumblr has great upload tools, and is very user-friendly). I used Tumblr to set up a simple personal blog for family posts.
7. WordPress is still my choice for higher-end blogs, but now even a newbie can use it: WordPress.com offers turn-key blogs and make it easy to get up and running and do a decent amount of customization, even if your tech skills are very basic. Better yet, if you think your blog could grow over time, you have the option of moving your hosted WordPress.com blog to another webhost where you'll have more control over your configuration. From there, WordPress can support you in expanding from a basic blog to something a little more nuanced, or even let you grow into a fairly complex and elaborate website by using WordPress as a content management system. I use WordPress, hosted on DreamHost, for alexandrasamuel.com.
8. Drupal My 2005 post pre-dated our immersion into Drupal, a content-management system that includes a powerful blogging platform and many interesting ways of aggregating and republishing RSS feeds. Within a year, we created several Drupal sites: telecentre.org (now on Ning), NetSquared and our own Social Signal site. Today, many of the blogs I contribute to are on Drupal -- not only ours, but those of ChangeEverything, NetSquared, and happyfrog. I wouldn't recommend Drupal as a platform if all you want to do is set up a blog (though there are many pure-blog sites that run on Drupal), but if you're creating a more extensive presence in which blogging is a key part -- or if you want to create a blog with multiple contributors -- Drupal is a great choice.

Tools for bloggers

9. Amazon associates program If your blog includes references, reviews or recommendations for books, music, electronics or just about any other kind of product, Amazon's associates program gives you a potential revenue stream. Set up an associate ID and use it to generate links to the items you discuss in your blog; if people click through and buy them, you get a small kick-back. I've yet to make a penny off the program -- after years of linking, I've only had a few click-throughs -- but I like the option of creating links that show the products I'm referring to in my blog.
10. iStockphoto Many of the images you see on Social Signal began life on iStockphoto, a low-cost source of online images. Sure, you could snag images for free on Google Image seach, but when you do, you stand a good chance of infringing on somebody's copyright. Buy your snaps on iStockphoto, where $1 gets you a good-enough-for-the-web photo, and you know that your photo is cleared for online use.
11. Skitch If you blog, you likely include images or screenshots in your posts on a semi-regular basis. Skitch is my tool of choice for getting those online; it lets you do quick screen grabs (including grabs of images you've downloaded or created) and then upload them to a web server that makes it easy to drop them into a blog post. Mac users only, I'm afraid.
12. Zemanta Another friend to the frequent blogger is Zemanta, which you can install on your blog or run as a Firefox extension. It uses your draft post to generate suggested links, automatically hyperlink relevant keywords (if you choose) and insert links to related material into the bottom of your post. If you hook it up to your Amazon associates account it will also turn relevant product mentions into Amazon links with your associate ID.
13. Evernote Writing for multiple blogs or networks means keeping a running list of potential blog posts, notes, and drafts. For a long time my prospective posts lived in VoodooPad; now I keep them in Evernote, where they're accessible via web and on my iPhone.

Blog reading and aggregation

Many of the tools I recommended in 2005 were focused on tracking the fast-growing world of blogs. Today, less of my attention is focused on reading individual blogs, and more of it goes to specific social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

14. RSS I'm still a huge fan of RSS, but I hardly ever use it to read blogs. Now that so many web sites publish RSS feeds -- everything from blogs to news sites to task managers -- RSS has become less about news and more about getting the information I want, where I want it. And where do I want it?....
15. iGoogle My personalized Google homepage -- a.k.a. iGoogle -- has replaced Bloglines and Google Reader in my affections. Yes, I still maintain a Google Reader account (I imported my Bloglines feeds into Google eons ago) but once I subscribed to a few hundred feeds, I found the mountain of unread posts of Google Reader to be so daunting that I stopped visiting. Instead, I set up an iGoogle homepage that is my browser's default page -- that means that whenever I launch a new browser window, I see the latest posts on my iGoogle page. It's titles only, but it's enough to keep me up-to-date on top news stories, and about anything that gets posted online about me, Rob, or Social Signal. I'll post a more detailed look at my iGoogle setup soon.
16. Google Blog Search Until recently, Technorati was still my tool of choice for searching blogs and social networks, and subscribing to search-based RSS feeds. But Technorati has missed a lot of what I'm looking for, so I've switched to Google's Blog Search instead. I also recommend the RSS feeds in Google news for tracking mentions in print or broadcast media.
17. Twitter These days, at least 75% of my blog-reading is driven by links I stumble across on Twitter. The people I follow offer a consistently interesting and relevant selection of links -- far more than I have time to read. Twitter is also a great source of inspiration for blog posts I write myself, whether it's a matter of responding to an interesting Twitter thread, or expanding on one of my own Tweets. You can find more tips on specific Twitter tools here.
18. delicious Even in the era of Twitter, delicious remains a key part of my online experience. It's still my tool of choice for storing anything I might want to refer to again, and with its now-large user base, it's often my next stop when a Google search yields a sea of meaningless results. Search the words "social media marketing" in Google, and you get a mix of Wikipedia entries and SEO-engineered hits; look up social+media+marketing on delicious, and you see only the links that someone actually found worthwhile.

Then and now

It's not a coincidence that my 2005 post was tool-focused. Them were the early days of social media -- in fact the phrase had yet to be coined! -- and finding useful, user-friendly tools was key to engaging in the still-new world of online conversation.

I still love testing and reviewing social media tools, and I'm not above the occasional impassioned debate over the relative merits of different blogging platforms. But 2009 offers many more tools, most of them far more user-friendly than what was around four years ago. It's no longer about finding tools that let you engage online; it's about making choices that let you engage meaningfully.

And meaningful engagement gets harder -- and easier -- all the time. Harder in that the volume of conversation, and increasing expectations of connectivity, places more and more demand on our time and attention. Harder in that a world of 500+ buddy lists muddies our thinking about what friendship means, and which relationships are important. Harder because as we post more and more often, our posts contribute less and less -- unless we take the time to think about what we're saying, who we're saying it to, and why we're saying it.

That's the part that tools can make easier, if we use them thoughtfully and with care. No wonder this post refers to almost twice as many tools as I recommended four years ago; it takes a more powerful toolbox to keep my time and attention focused and organized. But each and every one of the tools I've mentioned has helped me spend my time online in a more deliberate and effective way, for the purpose that matters most to me: connecting with real people.

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• What Do You Need to Know About Social Media? (chris.pirillo.com)
• Managing Social Media (slideshare.net)
• My online life: facebook, myspace, mobileme, blogger, twitter, wordpress, iweb, googlemail, yahoo, flickr, picasa, ......what to choose? (gusneil.blogspot.com)

Like any passionate affair, your romance with a new Mac can fizzle when you discover the limitations of your beloved. Your new Mac is much less likely to drive you crazy than that old machine running Windows Vista, but it's not without the occasional quirk. Here are five highly recommended investments that will help protect you from software frustrations or hardware failures:<!--break-->

1. Buy the extended AppleCare. It'll cost you a couple of hundred dollars to extend your AppleCare from 1 year to 3 years. Do it now! You can wait until your first year is almost up, but there's little financial advantage to doing so, and you run the risk of forgetting. And I'm almost tempted to tell you that if you don't need that AppleCare over the course of those two additional years, I'll refund your purchase. Because the sad truth is, your computer is likely to have the occasional problem; I'm on my seventh Mac, and I can't think of one that hasn't needed at least one major hardware repair. (This is especially true of laptops.) AppleCare is a fantastic warranty program: you can take your computer into any authorized Apple repair shop, and they'll fix it up free of charge. If you have persistent problems, you can talk to Apple itself, and I've found them to be exceptionally helpful. Please, get the AppleCare now.
2. Cultivate outer beauty. Your new computer isn't just pretty on the inside: it's pretty on the outside too. So keep it that way, with one of the sexy cases that are available for Macs (thanks to the fact that, unlike PCs, there are only so many Mac shapes you need to make cases for.) We like the Speck cases, available in a range of sizes and colours (though some have reported scratches from the case itself); the Marware Silicone Protection Pack for Macbook Pro 15-inch Aluminum Unibody - Silver; and the Pimp My Laptop customized stickers to cover the front of your screen. Get your protective gear as soon as you get your Mac so you can keep it in virgin condition.
3. Buy the Missing Manual. David Pogue is not only a musical theater composer, he's a technology columnist; his New York Times articles often have great Mac tips, and his Missing Manual series for the Macs are the best books for Apple users. Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition walks you through the process of starting your life anew after the bad dream that was Windows. Once you're ensconced, it's worth investing in Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual(and consider upgrading to the latest version of both OS and book whenever the next one comes out). Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual is a good purchase, too.
4. Subscribe to MacFixIt. If you're trying to figure out whether you're the only person who gets that weird error when you run the Installer, MacFixIt will likely have the answer. Pay for the premium version so you can search Forums according to the type of issue and/or hardware you have.
5. Add more RAM and get a new battery. If you're having trouble with your Mac, these are good places to start. More RAM is almost always a good thing. And if your MacBook is more than six months old and has crappy battery life, get a new battery; it's not cheap, but it will make you much happier. You'll likely need to replace your battery every 12-18 months but don't wait if it's driving you nuts.

Mac newbies, what other forms of protection are you considering? Mac veterans, what other forms of protection would you recommend?

That's a common question from nonprofits who are diving into social media. Whether you're looking for your online visitors to contribute photos, forward your issue alerts, make a donation, or contact policy-makers, social media can be a powerful way of engaging your audience and driving them towards action.

But it's often hard for nonprofits to figure out how they can engage people effectively online. It's hard enough to get visitors to your site or social media presence, let alone drive them effectively towards action. In our session at NetSquared today, we used Social Actions as a case study in engaging online community participation, and shared two strategy tools that can help you make your nonprofit site more engaging. Today, we're releasing those tools to the nonprofit community under a Creative Commons attribution/noncommercial license.

1. User profiles

   "Nonprofits", "seniors" or "businesses" don't visit your web site, log into your online community or post photos; individual people do. Sarah, the communications director of that nonprofit across town, logs into your web site. Kim, a grandmother living in Oregon, posts photos of the pothole in front of her house. Luisa, who owns a small deli, leaves a comment on your blog post. When you're trying to reach or engage an audience, you need to think in terms of the individual users who will be using your site, and look at your online presence from their perspective.

   Our user profile worksheet helps you get to know your target users. Download the worksheet, and complete at least one worksheet for each type of user you want to engage in your site. We find that getting inside the head of a typical user can help you identify the best ways of bringing them to your social media presence, and the content, tools or relationships you can offer to get them engaged.

2. Engagement planning worksheet

   Engagement is a process, not a destination. It's helpful to think of a ladder of engagement that begins with your target audience finding your organization or site, and then moves them to a higher level of interest until they are ready to act.

   Our engagement planning worksheet helps you identify the steps that move your target audience from casual site visit to active participation. Complete a worksheet for each of the users you've profiled in the user profile worksheets. Each "rung" on the ladder should specify 1-3 content features, tools or activities that will appeal to the user you're targeting.

Together, the user profile exercise and engagement planning worksheet help you see your social media presence from your users' perspective. By offering the content, tools or relationships that your audience members care about, you can move them towards the actions and results you need.

Need help? Let us help you find your engagement opportunities.

The Social Signal team can help you identify the social media approach or features that will engage your users and move them up the ladder of engagement. Complete a user profile worksheet and an engagement planning worksheet for up to three different user types, and send them to us for review. We will:

• review your web site or social media presence to assess your online message and focus
• analyze your worksheets to understand your audiences and target actions
• schedule a call or video meeting to review your engagement planning worksheets and discuss the steps you have envisioned for moving your users to action
• deliver a memo summarizing the 3-5 social media promotions, tools or content features that will be most effective at moving your target audiences from interest to action

For NetSquared community members only, our engagement opportunity finder package is $500 when you book online (value: $1,000). Contact us to schedule a call to review your completed worksheets.

As you embark on your new Mac lifestyle, you'll be faced with choices that challenge you to think about who you really are, and what's really important to you. Are you an iconoclast, a design freak, a fashionista who does everything with style and flair? Or are you a conciliator, a mediator, the kind to bring people together and bridge between worlds?

Choosing the right applications for your Mac often feels like a choice between these two different identities: the choice between a shiny, stylin' Mac-specific app, and an often less-shiny, cross-platform-compatible alternative.

But you don't have to choose between personal style and social substance. You can the coolest kid on the block and play well with others, as long as you've got your Mac kitted out with the right tools for every job. Here are my recommendations on the key software choices for every Mac user:

1. Safari or Firefox? Both. Use Firefox for any browsing you might to want to organize, track, or enter data into: there are more add-ons for Firefox, so things like adding bookmarks to delicious are much easier in Firefox. But with all those add-ons (and frankly, without 'em) Firefox is a memory-hogging beast: if your Mac slows down, or craps out, try quitting Firefox, and you'll often find that your problems will clear right up. So Safari is my choice for any quick Google searches or browsing that I don't plan on tracking, and in fact, if you specifically don't want to track your surfing (for example, while enjoying the latest clothing-free video offerings) you can turn on "private browsing" and Safari will keep your session off-the-record. And do use delicious to store bookmarks, rather than storing them in your browser: that way they'll be accessible from Safari, Firefox, and even from a PC if you need to use one.
2. iWork or Microsoft Office? Ideally, both. iWork's apps are great for specific things: Keynote makes super sexy presentations, Pages is great as a lightweight layout/desktop publishing app, and Numbers...well, I can't imagine why I'd use this over Excel but I'm sure that someone will now tell me. But for day-to-day document creation, and especially, document sharing, you might as well stick with Word and Excel. You're going to have lots of new stuff to learn on your Mac, so you might as well stick with these old workhorses and have your word processor and spreadsheet editor feel familiar. Plus, if you are doing any kind of collaboration with your friends from Before The Switch, those PC users are going to send you Office files that you'll find easiest to work with in Office. Just to be sure to go with Office 2008 as opposed to an earlier version -- it was a nice upgrade.
3. MobileMe or Google Calendar? Both. MobileMe isn't cheap -- $109 per year -- and lots of techies will point out that you can do just about everything it offers for free by using other services. Sure you can. But for $109, spare yourself the headache, and ensure your calendar, address book etc. are backed up and accessible via web browser (useful if you're on another computer). If you're an iPhone user, this is a must: MobileMe does an amazing, seamless, effortless job of keeping your iPhone and Mac synced in real-time, without any cables or manual backups. But MobileMe is very much a single-user tool: it doesn't offer much in the way of collaboration for teams. So if you need to share calendars with your colleagues, use Google Apps, and use BusySync and MobileMe to keep your Google Calendar perpetually synced to your computer and your iPhone.
4. Apple apps or Entourage? Apple apps. If you've been an Outlook user, it'll seem natural to go with Entourage, Microsoft's Outlook knockoff for Mac users. RESIST! There are some things to like about Entourage, like the one-stop-shopping for calendar, contact and mail info, but that's also what you need to be wary of: Entourage stores them all in one big database, so if one part goes down or gets corrupted (typically, your mail) then the whole thing is wrecked. That's the stick....but there's also a big carrot: the glory of Apple's own free, built-in Mail, Address Book and iCal applications. These are so core to the Mac system that you'll find benefits cropping up all over the place once you start using the native applications. Names typed in Address Book-enabled apps turn into easy links to that person's contact info; your iPhone and your computer can stay constantly and effortlessly in sync thanks to MobileMe;  e-mailed invitations convert to calendar events (I know, just like Entourage), and there is full, seamless integration between contact info, emails and calendars.

   If you really really want that all-in-one feel for your mail, address book and calendar, you can use a wrap-'em-up application like CRM4Mac; and if you've already made the (wrong) decision, you can get help switching away from Entourage. A final tip: if you ever need more help or tips for the Apple personal info management apps, you'll find that googling "Address Book" gets you exactly nowhere....or rather, everywhere, since you'll be swamped with results. Google for "mail.app", "AddressBook.app" and "mail.app" to find resources specific to the Apple applications.

5. Preview or Acrobat? Preview is all you need to view a PDF, and it also provides all the support you need to create PDFs of most documents (by choosing "Print" and then working from the PDF drop-down in the bottom left of your print dialog box). The only reason to use Adobe Acrobat is to create complex or advanced PDFs like forms that people can fill out within the PDF itself.
6. Nambu or TweetDeck? If you're a Twitter user, you'll want a client to use on your Mac. People with multiple Twitter accounts will want to use Nambu, or possibly Seesmic Desktop (Nambu is prettier, but more crashy.) People with a single Twitter account can use TweetDeck, which is pretty and not crashy. Both Nambu and TweetDeck can be even more life-changingly awesome if you follow my recommendations for grouping your Twitter follows.
7. VooDooPad or EverNote? Right now, you probably take notes in a variety of applications: Word, TextEdit, even -- god forbid -- paper. As a result, it's a pain to find your notes, let alone have them all open when and where you need them. Please, please, please: switch to a dedicated note-taking program that keeps all your notes in one place and lets you organize them by keywords or categories. It will rock your world and change your life; just see my blog posts on VoodooPad and EverNote. Which brings me to my painful recommendation. VoodooPad represents everything I love about Mac applications and Mac developers: it's pretty, it runs fast, it's intuitive, it integrates with all the native Apple apps, and it has the most wonderfully responsive and helpful developer (I taxed Gus with many questions and suggestions, all addressed quickly and effectively). But VoodooPad is very much a local, single-user app; about a year ago, I switched to the cross-platform, web-enabled Evernote, which lets me access and edit my notes via web browser, too. Read my ecstatic reviews of both EverNote and VoodooPad to see which one is right for you.
8. Backup or Dropbox? Definitely, absolutely, positively both. Backup is MobileMe's service for backing up key files; it's not big or fast enough to replace regular backups to a local drive (using Apple's awesome Time Machine), but it's the easiest way to automate regular backups of key files (like your Documents folder). Dropbox is your answer for sharing files with a team, or keeping your files accessible across computers; just install Dropbox on your Mac, and any file or folder you put there will be backed up to a web server. You can choose to share some or all of your Dropbox folders with colleagues, and you'll probably want to spend the $99/year to get the large-scale capacity that allows you to store virtually all your files online. In fact, I'd recommend putting your Dropbox folder at the top level of your user directory (the folder that holds your documents, pictures, music folders etc.) and then stick all those folders inside DropBox so they stay synced and backed up.
9. iChat or Skype? Again, both. I use iChat as my primary chat tool for working with our team (we connect via AIM accounts, but iChat also works with your MobileMe ID); it's fast, it's got a lovely interface, and it uses Bonjour, Apple's local networking protocol, so I can stay connected to people in my office without being online with the whole world. But Skype is now the virtually universal platform for connecting via audio or video with clients and colleagues; I'm far more likely to schedule a Skype call than an iChat session, and when I'm on Skype for a call or meeting, I often use its chat function to share files or URLs while we talk.

I know, I know: I've promised to help you choose between software tools, but I'm mostly recommending that you choose "all of the above". But that's what's beautiful about the Mac: the consistency of the user experience across applications makes it relatively easy and intuitive to use a new tool, so you might as well use the best tool for every job. In many cases, that means using one software tool when you're flying solo (MobileMe, Keynote, Safari, Backup) and another tool when you want to tap the power of cross-platform collaboration through the social web (Google calendar, DropBox, Firefox, Skype).

What other software choices are you struggling with as a new Mac user? What software choices would experienced Mac users recommend? Let me know in comments below.

We've spent many hours helping friends through the personal and professional implications of crossing over to the other side, and we've learned about how to make the switch a bit easier. In fact, we've found that for those who embrace their new identity, the switch is a process of discovery and celebration.

No, this isn't the post about our new logo: it's my guide to switching to the Mac. Over the next week, I'll walk you through the five steps to becoming a happy and fulfilled Mac user after years in the PC closet. Here's what I'll cover:

1. Have it both ways: Yes, you're a now a Mac user, but you want to hedge your bets: maybe you wonder about switching back, or maybe you're not yet ready to let your PC friends know about your new lifestyle. Welcome to the wonderful world of cross-platform apps: applications you can use on your Mac, but let you keep your choice of platform as open -- or private -- as you want. For each of the key applications you'll need as a Mac user, I'll help you choose between the Mac-native option and the cross-platform alternative. Read it now >>
2. Use protection: Among consenting adults, there's nothing more beautiful than the embrace of a Macintosh. But like any major choice, it carries risks. I'll cover the ins- and outs of responsible Mac use, from the importance of keeping your hardware under wraps to the best sources of knowledge about safe play. Read it now >>
3. Enjoy the perks: Don't settle for equality: embrace the ways in which Mac users have it better than their PC-loving friends. I'll tell you about four Mac-only apps that will make you more effective than ever. Read it now >>
4. Be yourself: While Mac users are a loving community, no two Mac users are alike. Going Mac isn't about running the same OS your friends use, and there's no playbook that tells you the right way to be a Mac user. You need to put your own stamp on that Mac; I'll walk you through options for customizing your system and using the Finder in your own special way. Read it now >>
5. Celebrate Mac pride: Being a Mac user is about much more than the computer you use. You'll know your switch is complete when Mac attitude pervades not only your files, but your heart. I'll share my tips for getting in a Mac state of mind. Read it now >>

Work your way through these stages, and I hope you'll find plenty of joy in your new Mac lifestyle. To Rob Mickey, Sandi Millman, and all the other recent switchers in our life: welcome to the team.

Don't e-mail what you can blog. Don't blog what you can tweet. Don't tweet what you can DM. Don't DM what you wouldn't publish.

Or so I twittered this afternoon. It turns out that the flip side of this social media hierarchy (which I hereby dub "smierarchy") is, "don't tweet what you need a blog post to explain". And as it turns out, it does take a blog post to explain this one. So here's the explanatory blog post:

Don't e-mail what you can blog. E-mail is a closed medium. When you send an e-mail, you're only sending it to a handful of people (we'll leave the discussion of accidental mass-e-mails for another day). If you're e-mailing something that's useful or amusing, and not confidential or sensitive, then why not blog it? Several of my favourite blog posts began life as e-mails. When I find that I'm e-mailing multiple people with the same tips (for example, on getting into grad school, setting up personal information management on the Mac, or dining out in Vancouver), I turn it into a blog post. If someone asks me for thoughts on a particular topic or issue, that can turn into a blog post, too -- for example, on the thoughtful use of Twitter.

Don't blog what you can tweet. Twitter is a fantastic outlet for information, insights and reflections that are small enough -- or better, yet, concise enough -- to fit in 140 characters. So if you can fit into a tweet (or two), skip the long, meandering blog post and just tweet it.

Don't tweet what you can DM. There's a reason Twitter changed "replies" to "mentions". If you want to convey info that has no interest, or even amusement value, to anyone other than the recipient, then send it as a private IM or direct message on Twitter.

Don't DM what you wouldn't publish. This isn't part of the smierarchy; it's just good sense. If you're not -- on some level -- prepared to see something disseminated publicly, don't put it in any electronic form. When you send a message to someone, it's not in your control. You can't preclude the possibility of misunderstanding, accidental forwarding, or deliberate recirculation. So while there are lots of circumstances in which it's useful to conduct private business electronically -- via chat or e-mail -- you should distinguish between what's private and what's confidential. Anything that would be really compromising or disastrous to see disclosed shouldn't travel electronically.

That explains the don'ts -- but I'm sick of don'ts. So let me also take this opportunity to offer a couple of positive alternatives, inspired by the Zimbabwean proverb: "If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk you can dance".

On the smierarchy:

If you can e-mail you can blog. If you can blog you can tweet.

On public versus private communications:

If it's personal, say it personally. If it's private, say it privately.

1. "Don't forget to back up!"

The single most useful thing I learned from my dissertation research was from a hacker who said, "if you don't have your data in two places, you don't have your data." Amen! But screw backups. Yes, you heard me right. Backups are like...oh, gosh, I'd name something I'm supposed to do everyday and don't, but it would gross some of you out and make others of you ask, "am I really supposed to do that every day?"

Welcome to the 23rd-century internet (it's arrived a few years ahead of schedule). If you're using the web apps that you should be using to work in a smart, socially-enabled kinda way, the data you care about is already backed up. Between my Gmail archive (which contains all the attachments of anything I've ever thought useful enough to send someone), DropBox (which contains all the files useful enough to share with my team), MobileMe (all the contact and calendar data relevant enough to need on my iPhone), delicious (bookmarks), Flickr (photos) and Harvest (timesheets and invoices), Evernote (personal notes), I'd be hard-pressed to think of five files I care about but don't have somewhere on the cloud.

Do spend the time and money you'd use for backups to get set up with cloud-based web services that will not only save (yeah, I mean back up) your data, but make it more useful in the process.

2. "Don't buy the extended warranty!"

No, there's no extended warranty on the Internet. (But wouldn't it be great if there were? Just imagine: "Twitter's having problems right now. But thanks to your extended warranty, our passenger pigeons will deliver that message for you!")

But you can buy the extended warranty for all the hardware doo-dads you use to access the Internet: your computer, your router, your phone, that not-yet-FDA-approved neural implant. Any web site will tell you that you're a sap for buying the warranty -- don't you know that's how the big box electronics stores make all their money? -- but sometimes being a sap is the path of least resistance. Yes, you could send your router to the manufacturer when it craps out after its first month, but it's so much easier to drop back into Gigantic Electronics, hand them your dead router, and walk out with a new one.

Do spend your time researching your purchases before hand, in the hopes that your extended warranty will prove unnecessary.

3. "Don't use the same password on multiple sites!"

OMG!! I must be crazy!! Well, how crazy do you get when you're trying to remember which g**d*** username and password you used on the site you're trying to log into?

The twin angels of Internet security and privacy will tell you to use a different password on every site, generated by a random algorithm, and whatever you do, don't ever write your password down. There's a name for those who can successfully implement that approach: supercomputers.

For those mortals who can barely remember our own phone numbers, let alone our passwords, something simpler is in order. I am awsamuel everywhere: this not only helps me remember my username when I visit a site, but it gives me a consistent identity online. (If you'd rather have anonymity in some circumstances, you may want a second username that you use for off-the-record sites.) Then I have four passwords: my I-so-don't-care-about-this password (I'm almost prepared to include it in this post), my all-purpose password (for sites with no associated payment mechanisms, but where I post content and don't want others to abuse my name), my high-security password (for servers, sites where I've given credit card info, and my own blogs), and my bank password. I change my all-purpose password about once a year.

Do write down hints about which passwords you've used on which sites. If I'm not sure whether I'll remember whether I've used my all-purpose password or my high-security password, I create a contact record in my address book and note which password I've used for that site. I don't write the password down, just a prompt that tells me which type of password I've used -- enough to remind me, but not enough for anyone else to understand.

4. "Don't store your main credit card number on e-commerce sites!"

This is a twofer: not only are you violating the law that Thou Shalt Have A Separate Low-limit Credit Card For Thy Online Purchases, but you are also violating the law that Thou Shalt Never Store Your Credit Card Number Online. 

Storing your number will actually save you money. If you're like me, you'll otherwise get around the inconvenience of having to get out your credit card for each online purchase by memorizing your credit card number. If you've done this, you may want to consider getting a new credit card (really). Knowing your credit card number by heart is a dangerous thing: it makes you prep to every ginzu knife commercial, every "let's just order our dinner while we're on the way home" --- every opportunity to buy something now, today, this minute, before you even have to spend forty-five seconds getting your wallet and credit card out of your purse or jacket.

Using your real credit card saves you money too. If you use a credit card that earns points or rewards, you'll get those points for your online purchases (a benefit you're unlikely to get if you're using a low-limit card as a secondary account for online purchases). And you're unlikely to forget about that second credit card, racking up interest charges when you miss a payment.

This tip doesn't apply to every site: if this is your first purchase at Andy's Widgets 'n Things, you might want to use PayPal, or another disposable payment mechanism (like a pre-paid Visa gift card) But there are some sites you use regularly, and advisedly -- in my case, Amazon, TicketMaster and iTunes. (OK, maybe not advisedly...but regularly.). It's a pain to dig out my credit info each time....and I use them frequently enough that digging out the credit card is recipe for credit card memorization. So for sites like these -- sites with a huge number of customers and a reputation that assures you that your credit card statement is unlikely to include a surprise charge of $892 for porn and sex toys -- go ahead and store your number. It'll make your life easier, you'll earn points on purchases, and you're less likely to experience credit card theft on a mainstream online site than in some restaurant where a waiter can write down your number for later use.

Do worry about that waiter with the $10,000 Rolex.

5. "Don't pay for stuff you can get for free!"

The web is full of fantastic free content, available both legally and illegally. Bittorrent will get you the music and video you want, a decent google search will find you great tech support, and almost any kind of software you need is available in an open source, install-your-own version. And since you have a limitless amount of time and a finite amount of money, it's a great idea to get everything you need for free.

What's that you say? Your time is finite too? Possibly even more limited than your money? Great news: let me introduce you to a little something we call the credit card. Yes, those bastards at [insert name of video site here] are selling you what you could get for free, those idiots at [insert name of tech help site here] are selling you info you could find yourself, and those schmucks at [insert name of on-demand software company here] are charging you money for software that isn't even half as good as what you could put together yourself. But one day you will be dead, and meanwhile there are only so many hours you want to spend searching for that video file or how-to tip, or installing and configuring your own software.

Spend the money: iTunes or Amazon will get you that video or song right now, MacFixit will give you that tech answer in two minutes, and software services like Harvest, ManyMoon and Batchbook (love you guys!)

I know you know how to do it yourself. So what?

Do spend your time and tech smarts in more useful ways to have more impact -- and make more cash to cover those online content bills.

* * *

I realize I'm taking my online life in my hands with these recommendations; that there are those who will see this as a giant "hack me" sign. But I also see too many people who are daunted by all the rules -- all the endless don'ts -- that make life online harder than it needs to be. Best practices need to presented as just that: best practices, recommendations, words from the wise.

When we load Internet users with iron laws -- with don'ts -- they all-too-often hear just one: don't trust the Internet.

And I'm more interested in conveying a do: do embrace the potential of life online.

What online don'ts have you disregarded? What online do's have you embraced? Let us know in comments below, or via Twitter.