Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Riding The Social Media Wave


In the few minutes I pondered how to start this entry I received six new tweets. Hey, there’s another one.

Information overload. If you sit too long it will wash over you and drag you into an ocean of content. I’ve been talking about information overload a lot lately with many colleagues.

“How do you keep up with all of the content that is generated on Twitter and in blogs?” asked an old friend in the PR business the other day over coffee. (Two more tweets just came in.)

She, like many others, longs for the old days. Before Social Media. Before Web 2.0. Before you received new content via a Twitter account every 30 seconds.

I reminded her that before Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, we had countless newspapers and magazines churning out more content than we could ever hope to keep up. Now, there’s just more of it at an even faster pace. (Five new tweets.)

“So what can we do? How do we control it?” she asked.

First off, don’t try. You’ll never be able to absorb it all.

You just need to find a way to climb on top of the content and ride the wave. I depend on Twitter to be my surfboard – and I’m talking the business side of Twitter where companies and individuals share links to interesting articles they’ve found. These Social Media mavens and gurus want to appear like they got it going on so they only share useful content. They avoid the other side of Twitter – the I-just-got-back-from-the-gym side – like the plague. (Three more tweets.)

That’s why I split my Twitter use into two distinct camps. I have a business-oriented Twitter account in which I follow agencies, business leaders, high tech magazines and forward-thinking companies. And, I have a non-business-oriented Twitter account where I follow friends, comedians, celebrities, sport stars, etc. They provide me with mindless entertainment.

So, I told my friend, create a Twitter account for business acumen and one for fun. It has helped me avoid that overwhelming feeling of information overload. I can’t keep up with it but I am able to ride on top of the wave so that I don’t get all wet or eaten by sharks. (Seven new tweets.)

Here’s a solid base for your business-specific Twitter account: @mashable, @Time, @FastCompany, @nytimesbusiness, @Forbes. Build off this and you’ll be on your way.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative


I learned something new today. It’s called Appreciative Inquiry. Heard of it? Until today, I had not.

According to Wikipedia: “Appreciative Inquiry is an organizational development method that seeks to engage all levels of an organization (and often its customers and suppliers) in its renewal, change and improved performance. It may be particularly applicable to organizations facing rapid change or growth.

“The method is based on the fact that questions tend to focus attention. Excessive focus on dysfunctions can actually cause them to multiply or become intractable. By contrast, when all members of an organization are motivated to understand and value the most favorable features of its culture, it can make surprisingly rapid improvements.”

If I am interpreting this properly, it’s the act of focusing on the positive and purging the negative. Rather than dwell on problem-solving or what’s wrong with an organization, it zeroes in on what is going right and thus will teach the organization to build on the successes.

I love the idea. It reminds me of something my grandfather used to say: “Good things happen to those who expect good things to happen.” I’m not sure whether he was a Norman Vincent Peale fan (the “Power of Positive Thinking” guy) but it wouldn’t surprise me given the sentiment.

I wish the business world (and the world in general) could focus solely on the positive but, and I’m not following Appreciative Inquiry theory here, I doubt it’s very practical. For it to work, all levels of the organization need to embrace it – from presidents to administrative assistants. However, if any link in the chain goes negative and eschews the method, it will fail. That requires a lot of faith, too much faith in my opinion.

It’s similar to Stephen M. R. Covey’s book, “The Speed of Trust,” which says that business would be a lot better off (and much more efficient) if we could simply trust others to do their jobs. If everyone trusted more, the world of work would be a better place. I completely agree, but again all levels must be included. Everyone needs to trust and be trusted or it won’t work. Again, how practical is this?

Business is tough, filled with political maneuvering, negativity and, often times, deceit. It would be nice to think that we could give positivity and trust a bigger seat at the table.

I’m trying to be more positive in all aspects of my life because being negative is just too easy. Do you care to join me? Let’s do it together: be more positive and trust more and then report back here in a few months…

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Slow down when you text, tweet and e-mail

The other day I sent a tweet that included a misspelled word. Should I be embarrassed considering that texting and tweeting are the breeding grounds for poor spelling and grammar? After all, butchering the English language is suitable and accepted behavior in the Twittersphere, right?

Wrong! I’m extremely embarrassed. I don’t care that just about everyone on Twitter figures it’s OK to create new words like “thx” and “k.” It’s not OK, especially if you are sending a tweet or a text for business. That’s just unconscionable. The business world never has room for purposely misspelling words.

We are all brands. The way we act, the way we comport ourselves means something – leaves others with an impression. Do you want to be known for being lazy or ignorant? Of course not. Yet, that’s exactly what you are doing when you write a text or tweet so fast that words are misspelled or shortened on purpose. You only have 140 characters with which to work. Is it that hard to make sure you are communicating properly?

I know someone who is notorious for sending nearly unintelligible texts. When I call this person out on a message, this person retorts with either “I was in a hurry” or “I’m not good at typing.”

Seriously?

Let’s take a look at the first answer. In a hurry? When you rush a message, it often obscures the meaning. So if you send a “quick” test, what are the odds that the receiver will read the message and then send a text back asking for clarification? Then the original sender will have to follow up the first text with another one. Not saving much time, is it?

Second, the “not good at typing” excuse? Are you not good at reading? You should review everything carefully before sending it. Text. E-mail. Tweet. When you don’t, it leaves the recipient with the impression that you don’t really care about their time. It says I have so little time that I’m just going to send this off without caring whether you can understand it or not.

Come on, people, do everyone a favor and slow down. Yes, we live in “fast times” in which technology allows us to be more efficient and complete several tasks at once. But, when it comes to communicating, you are only as efficient as your ability to clearly get your message across and received properly by the target audience.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Say no to verbitating!


Every writer is taught to avoid clichés. I would implore that we do the same in our business communications. We should not only avoid the tired language of clichés but deep-six the use of buzzwords and catchphrases that creep into everyday conversations around the water cooler, in the conference room and, in and around our cubicles.

You know what I’m talking about. Phrases such as “at the end of the day,” “add value” and “win-win scenario,” and buzzwords such as “socialize” and “transparency.” When you utter these over-used phrases you are saying one of two things – I can’t come up with my own words to express my thoughts (read: lazy) or I’m trying to sound smart (read: not so smart).

English is a beautiful language filled with hundreds of under-utilized words. Let’s start using them. We’ll all be, and sound, smarter for the effort.

Today, I heard a new one – efforting. Effort is a perfectly good noun. Let’s keep it that way. It does not need to be a verb as well. Unfortunately, in recent months, I’ve seen a lot of this verbitating (yes, I made that one up. Shame on me!). “Let’s calendar a meeting sometime next week, Phyllis.” Argghhh. “Let’s dialogue about that new product roll-out, Bobby.” Blech.

Come on, people. There are perfectly good words to use instead of “calendar” and “dialogue” that are indeed verbs. How about “schedule” and “discuss.” What’s wrong with them? Unfortunately, one person hears someone slyly work “calendar” into conversation as a verb and they then turn around and repeat it. It’s an epidemic!

So, please, let’s go back to using nouns as nouns and verbs as verbs. That way, we’ll all do a better job of communicating. Oh, and lay off the clichés, too.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The art of brevity

I started reading another business book the other day. I finished reading it two days later. I think I was on about page 83. There were some 210 pages to go.

Why did I stop? It's not that it was boring. Actually, I was fully engaged in the book...for the first 50 or 60 pages. And it's not that I have some kind of attention deficit disorder. I've finished 1,000-page novels with no problem. It's just that with this best-selling book, like many I've tried before, the author slumps into such repetition that I can't plow through. Aren't these books targeted toward CEOs, presidents and entrepreneurs? I know these are smart people. Very smart. So, why the need to take an idea, go great guns for 50 to 60 pages and then start repeating everything ad nauseum?

I know a thicker book looks better on the shelf and on your resume but, really, why not say what you have to say and leave it at that? Would you sell fewer books if you kept it to 100 pages? Not if it was engaging and filled with great wisdom.

The shortest business book I've ever read "Who Moved My Cheese?" was hugely popular (though I'm not sure why. It treated the reader like a child and not a business contemporary).

Remember one of the most important objectives of any communications effort? Always keep your target audience in mind. These business executives you are writing for are busy people. So, keep it relevant but keep it concise.

And to follow my own advice, I will sign off.