Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
It's all About Luv, lol
UR DA COOLEST AUNTY EVER...!!!! XOXOXOX LUV TONIX." Can you feel the love in that comment? If Richard Curtis had wanted the prime minister character from his film Love Actually to feel that love was all around, he could have visited MySpace rather than think of Heathrow Airport's arrivals lounge.
Read at Guardian
Books That You Can't Ignore!
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Become a Specialist
Seth Godin says, "there may be no bigger opportunity online for bootstrappers than finding people who would benefit from being connected and then connecting them." He is so right. Join the extensive group of corporate trainers and public speakers for free and discover what Godin says is available for you - new opportunities. Submit your profile (as per the format available on the site along with your picture) and consider it shared at many social networks, search engines, blog directories, and online groups and forums. You can also include your Email, Blog link, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles. Expose your self to plenty of opportunities that are out there.
Logical Comments
This article appeared in the daily Nation April 18, 2010 issue
One feature that distinguishes blogs from static websites, making them more interactive, is that blogs offer readers an option to participate through comments. Allowing comments is a matter of choice for bloggers, though. Bloggers can disallow other visitors to comment on weblogs, single entries or can authorize comments for all internet users, for members only, or make their blogs as read-only. Generally speaking, blog comments are what most keep most bloggers (including me) going.
One feature that distinguishes blogs from static websites, making them more interactive, is that blogs offer readers an option to participate through comments. Allowing comments is a matter of choice for bloggers, though. Bloggers can disallow other visitors to comment on weblogs, single entries or can authorize comments for all internet users, for members only, or make their blogs as read-only. Generally speaking, blog comments are what most keep most bloggers (including me) going.
Which is why, walking around the blogspshere reveals that most blogs have their comments option turned on, which permits users to interact with the bloggers and each other at their own pace. Some go a long way to engage others and solicit comments. I have seen permanent banners on many blogs that read, "would it kill ya to comment" or don’t "de-lurk" (meaning you must comment and not just visit the blog). In fact, a few famous bloggers celebrate De-lurking Days and Weeks to urge readers to comment.
In order to get more comments, some bloggers play games like asking leading questions and urging others to respond or offering different incentives like creating blog buttons or even promising gadgets like iPods to the winning respondents. Once I won a book on being first to comment on a blog entry. One blogger announced she would give one dollar for each comment on a particular post on a particular day to a charity. To date, she has received 171 comments and the number continues to grow.
The fact is that the thoughtful and witty comments, follow-up questions and extra information all add a lot to any blog and make it more meaningful. Comments by informed readers can add so many interesting and important components to any discussion. And given the blogosphere's potential to raise the level of intellectual discussions, the ideas are valued not only by who says them, but by their merits. The author of the blog more or less creates a topic and everyone else who visits there gives input.
Comment on issues of real importance may also turn into a global conversation and readers can draw inferences from it. The main value of blogs, as compared to other forms of media, is that readers can immediately see contrasting views. Moreover, for bloggers, counting flow of comments is an ego booster too.
In order to determine different views on blog comments, I discussed this issue on my own blog, in addition to blogspshere scouting and email discussions. I posted a series of questions on my blog, where I got a modest queue of comments, counter comments and some emails.
Ayub Khan, another techie and a Pakistani (ex) blogger says, "Blogging and then seeing people contribute via comments is a fun and add new perspectives to the subject under discussion." How should visitors comment? Anyone who wants to comment should read the post first and then offer clued-up opinion or join in any ongoing discussion instead of just saying, "nice blog," "well done," "I was here," "you visit me there and so on."
Sarah, who is another blogger, however lives by her own rule for commenting. She says, "I visit the blog of the person who leave a comment on my blog (interesting or not) and leave a comment on his/her site too. You never know what you might find there. You might even meet a new friend there."
On the other hand, some bloggers do not want or encourage comment on their blog entries. For one thing, policing and sifting comments can be time consuming and an extra burden on the bloggers. If you do not want certain types of material or observations present on a site, then one has to constantly monitor comments. This can become tedious in case of blogs that attract a lot of attention and response. Open comment options also cause spam where people (or machines) keep offering Viagra, leave irresponsible comments or just mark their presence by leaving their own URLs in an effort to increase the page ranking of their sites. Some new bloggers may not know how to turn the comment option on (and off) in the first place, or are afraid that they will not be able to remove offensive comments or deal with them.
Famous gadget blog Engadget has recently closed down option. “It’s a temporary measure,” it says, “the closed the option because the tone in comments has really gotten out of hand.” Tom Johansmeyer, writer and a senior content director at enter marketing says, “I’m among the few who believe that comments add little value (at best) on a B2B corporate blog. It’s counter-intuitive and likely to get me beheaded by an angry mob of social media gurus. But, if you think through the dynamic, you’ll start to see the risk of leaving blog comments on? If comments require approval, you don’t need to worry about spam or criticism showing up. The problem is subtle. Allow comments, and you’ll have post after post with “No Comments” tattooed at the bottom of each. It looks like nobody is taking an interest. Or, you could wind up with the occasional run of “great post!” blather that doesn’t contribute to community enrichment at all. At best, there’s no benefit; a worst, it looks awkward.
As I confessed earlier, in this attention age, I live by comments. My comments logic is simple, “I comment on other blogs and want every one to comment on mine.” When I started blogging, the comments option had not been invented yet for the software I was using (it was back in 1999). I had a visible "mail to" link at my blog - if anyone wanted to comment, they could email me. That was somewhat tedious and only a few people reached out. Things have changed and in addition to every blog platform offering comment feature, there are so many software (like DISQUS) available that can bring discussions to your blogs. Now, I have enabled comments on my blogs and more people hit the comment button. The inputs from far and beyond sometimes clear my thoughts and help me see things from a different perspective.
My recommendation: Next time you browse through someone's blog, remember to leave meaningful and relevant comment, because for bloggers who post religiously, your logical comments might be the high point of their day in addition to adding your unique voice to ongoing discussion there.
Don't Cheat in the Digital Age
“It was kind of a joke,” when a French online journalist tweeted the gossip that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was cheating on his wife, Carla Bruni, and she was cheating on him. She had no idea if it was true, but the “news” spread internationally as it was repeated by reporters and gossip sites, and Sarkozy had to issue an angry denial during a press conference in London. Twitter users treat the service as a social networking site, but legally, it’s considered a platform just like a newspaper or TV show and therefore subject to libel laws. By repeating the rumors, journalists—even if they were tweeting in a personal, not professional capacity—gave more credibility to the story. The fake-scandal scandal provoked much debate in France over Twitter’s legal status, with some users saying the site should be considered personal so people can say anything on it without repercussions. Legal experts, however, say that’s not the case.
Read it at Times Online
E-Attention
This article appeared in monthly Techno Biz Magazine Jan-Feb 2010 double issue
Use of social media applications is being debated across the World Wide Web. Fans support the usage of tools like Blog, tweet, Facebook to break down barriers between businesses, public servants and ordinary people to discuss ideas and gather feedback. Trend watchers and analysts still see the social media tools as time wasting diversions. It is in this milieu that in the attention age, we need to look at the fast growing social media usage in our own, still low tech, corporate and public sectors.
Social Media in the Attention Age
This article appeared in the Daily Nation, Feb 14, 2010 issue
Use of social media applications is being debated across the World Wide Web. Fans support the usage of tools like Blog, tweet, Facebook to break down barriers between businesses, public servants and ordinary people to discuss ideas and gather feedback. Trend watches and analysts still see the social media tools as time wasting diversions. It is in this milieu that we need to look at the fast growing social media usage in our own, still low tech, corporate and public sectors.
What is a social media? In the modern age that is being characterized as attention age, new technologies have brought about different media technologies which have became the ground for mass participation. There is no single agreed definition of the terms social media also known as Web 2.0 and citizen media but there is widespread consensus that social media applies to a category of websites that is based on users’ participation and users generated content. It includes content sites like blogger, wordpress, social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, social book marking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit and other sites that are centered on users’ interaction and participation. These all are formed mainly by the users as a group, in a social way. Generally speaking, social media refers to the ways in which audiences can also become participants in the media using the different resources offered. At its simplest, social media is the combination of channels, platforms, communities, content and tools that make peer to peer communication or word of mouth possible.
So how does set of tools called social media work? Social networking sites allow users to create free online profiles where they can display biographical information, photos, hobbies, interests, swap information and much more. After completing an online profile, users can connect or network with other users’ profiles. As they connect with more and more people, their network keeps expanding. By adding just a few friends to their network, users can end up being connected to thousands of ‘likeminded people’ across different cultures and societies. These networks can then be used for meaningful engagement between policy makers, business concerns and ever growing Internet users’ base – the ordinary citizens, for bringing together focused groups and arranging activities, and also for fun and frolic.
What are the reasons to flock on social media sites, besides massaging one’s ego and reaching out to kindred spirits? Peter Kollock looked into the motivations for participating in online communities and interactive sites. In his research paper titled “The economies of online cooperation: gifts and public goods in cyberspace”, he outlined three motivations: “Anticipated reciprocity — the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return. Indeed, there is evidence that active participants in online communities get more responses. Increased reputation — in general, individuals want recognition for their contributions. Sense of efficacy — individuals may contribute valuable information because the act results in a sense of efficacy... a sense that they have had some effect on this environment.”
I primarily use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn, in addition to my blogging, but I like many others, have been paying close attention to social media for some time now. I have answered more ‘follow me’ and to ‘be a fan’ requests than I ever did in the past. I have been looking at other people’s followers, fans and friends to see if I knew anyone there. I have also asked a few to follow me and or become a fan (of couple of pages that I have online). Who does not need more followers and friends? In addition to this activity, I have been reading about other people’s experiences.
Here in Pakistan, we are just beginning to get ready to jump on social media bandwagon. Facebook is extremely popular among Pakistani users’ base where as blogging still is seen as an erudite activity. One can find local twitter users as well. Users’ interest in social media websites is growing with a visible increase in members — a great online beat that seems to be taking every one in. Are you there yet?
Social media provides unprecedented opportunities to open up government decision making to the people. But Pakistan public sector is yet not ready to adapt to social media. Personal scouting and empirical observations indicate that the greatest impediments to its broader use are the culture of government and lack of tech culture that tends towards secrecy and which is protective of the copyright on policy.
Access to work tools like web-based email, collaborative websites and those 140 words in Twitter can create powerful new possibilities for collaboration particularly where parties are physically apart. “Public agencies should meaningfully use Web 2.0 applications like Facebook, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and video-sharing sites like YouTube to offer general information to the public,” says Muhammad Yaqoob of University of Gujrat, “but that has not started happening yet mainly because majority of the public servants are not computer savvy and there is visible lack of high tech environment in public sector.”
Comparatively, the situation is more promising in Pakistan corporate sector. One can already see Facebook pages of high end brands selling things from shoes to shawls, corporate blogs of organizations providing access to information and allowing conversations. Yet not enough businesses have online presence. “There should be some sort of law that should require online presence for every large or small business,” says Amna Mubarak, a house wife. Corporate sector should engage in robust discussions online with common discussion forms. Also, corporate sector should play a positive role in engaging general public to use the social media tools.
Social media has transformed the ways people consume information, and that will continue to happen. Information spread faster, trends gather pace, people connect and information is available to all who want it on an unprecedented level.
Human beings like to share things, talk together and technology lets them do it easily. A wide range of social software has become readily available to young generation. There is increasing interest in possibilities of using social software for students. “Today students, trainers and scholars are exposed to the wide range of social web tools and software that provide gateways to a multiplicity of interactive resources for information, entertainment and communication. This phenomenon can help more is education sector,” says Muhammad Yaqoob who is working on a paper to promote use of social media tools in higher education, “denying access to Facebook in school libraries and computer labs is not going to help anyone. Good thing is that higher education providers are now seriously thinking to adapt social media and blend it with learning system,” he adds.
“The social networking phenomenon is taking over the world country by country,” reads a report published in the Independent. “Facebook is the most popular social networking site in 100 out of 127 countries, reaching over 350 million users across the planet, it says. On the other hand, ITVoir Network survey carried out recently finds out, “Indian IT employees are losing productivity due to the time they spend on social networks.” The survey further indicated that each employee is barging its long one working hour on the social media that includes sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google’s Orkut.”
That said, every academic, technology guru and manager I spoke with for this piece agreed that government agencies, corporate entities and educational institutions should look at options to exploit social media technologies to best.
How we use new founded social media is totally up to us. No?
Website Magazine’s Top 50 Social Media Resources
What you might find most interesting in Website Magazine’s Top 50 list of social media outlets is the variety of resources. While Facebook tops the list and Twitter secures a respectable fourth spot in the rankings, there are many other notable resources (e.g. LinkedIn at #7 or FriendFeed at #32) that might offer your Internet-based enterprise an advantage in gaining greater brand exposure and website traffic. The tools that help Web professionals facilitate this socializing have also generated some attention. Ping.fm (#41), Tweet- Deck (#48) and even ClipMarks.com (#33) might fly under the radar, but remain an essential part of many professionals’ day-to-day use on the Web.
Website Magazine’s Top 50 rankings are a measure of a website’s popularity. Ranks are calculating using a proprietary method that focuses on average daily unique visitors and page views over a specified period of time as reported by multiple data sources. The website with the highest combination of factors is ranked in the first position. Conducting research, making formal comparisons, and talking to existing clients and users before making purchasing decisions is always recommended.
Year of Tangential Learning
I am reading some terrific blogs (there are so many good blogs in the blogsphere and I need to read them all) and books these days. Most of the bloggers are looking forward to 2010 and putting up their personal resolutions, professional aims and objectives, and, naturally, it got me thinking. Reflecting on what I’ve been trying in the past (measuring things in numbers - the number of conversions, number of followers, number of page views, number of minutes someone spends on my blogs, number of click throughs, number of repeat visitors, number of new visitors and the list goes on and on). Instead, I will focus on learning; and I don’t have to measure them in the end.
I will start this year 2010 with resolve to start tangential learning - process by which people can self-educate if a topic is exposed to them in something that they already enjoy such, blogging in this case. So let us learn about different aspects of the blog phenomenon; blog ecosystems, communities and how they work and how the phenomenon is changing the outlook to life and work
Avatar Fame
Most of the people living online are recognized by the avatar they use. Like nicks, avatars have become a very creative genre. There are many different ways; one of the best that I use id Gravatar. Set your avatart there and it will automatically surface when you use a particular email while putting your comments on any blog.
Now on, when you leave a blog comment, your avatar image will automatically follow you there and post a picture next to your comment. It is recommended to use the same avatar that you use on Twitter and your other social media sites since your blog comments are an extension of your personal brand (though I am still using different).
Social Media Workshop by HomeXpress
Where was I when Shah Jehan was setting up social media agency HomeXpress earlier in Karachi and later when they are creating waves in Lahore? I am familiar with HomeXpress - a leading direct mail magazine that reaches 42,000 homes in Karachi and 21,000 homes in Lahore – but was not aware of its Social Media arm nor I knew about their myoffstreet.com - a community-based local shopping website that promotes small businesses. Now I know better. And I am glad.
Last evening, Social Media Workshop by HomeXpress (Lahore office in Cavalry Ground – very nearly and efficiently laid out) offered a chance to know better. As a student of Social media and how it is changing marketing mix, I joined a vibrant group of Social Media enthusiasts at the workshop. It is good to good that so many people are interested to harness the power of Social media. Shah Jehan picked up facebook and explained how to grow business with Facebook pages, how to advertise online, how to find new customers, how to build community and a lot more. I am on facebook since it used to for those who had .edu email ID, but my use of facebook has always been limited to publishing some of my blog feeds there.
Badar Khushnood of Google also had joined and was at hand to answers some of the questions.
Later there was a talk on blog marketing and how blogs can make online presence powerful.
I was thinking that HomeXpress should also offer series of workshops on Blog Marketing. Market is ripe for this.
Would You Hide Your Gender to Blog?
World is familiar with males using females pseudonyms and female using males. The reasons they have varied. Today while blog walking, I was pleasantly surprised to read about Blogger James Chartrand who came out as a woman — and her experiences reveal that the blogosphere, and the job market in general, aren't as equal opportunity as some people believe.
Read the story below and may be answers some questions; If you had the chance to be someone else, would you do it? Would you take on a role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality? More importantly… who would you be?
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James — she's still going by the pseudonym, hasn't revealed her real name, and that's not her in the picture — says she started blogging to help support her kids during a tough financial time. She began using a male pen name one day simply to distance a project from her still-struggling business, and, she writes, "jobs became easier to get." She continues, “taking a man's name opened up a new world. It helped me earn double and triple the income of my true name, with the same work and service. No hassles. Higher acceptance. And gratifying respect for my talents and round-the-clock work ethic. Business opportunities fell into my lap. People asked for my advice, and they thanked me for it, too.
Did I quit promoting my own name? Hell yeah.” Under her male name, James made enough money to buy a small house and give her kids a comfortable life. She's only coming out now because "someone I trusted got mad and decided to out me" (a motivation with echoes of Belle de Jour). Interestingly, the copywriting and web design blog she owns (whose About Us section reads, "Owner James Chartrand is the pen name of a female thirty-something copywriter, problogger and online entrepreneur from Quebec, Canada) has a very stereotypically male aesthetic, with a bullet ripping through its title, Men with Pens. The About Us section even describes another female blogger as "the team's rogue woman who wowed us until our desire for her talents exceeded our desire for a good ol' boys club." Chartrand's disguise was, it seems, rather thick.
The success of BlogHer and the mommy blogger movement have led some to hail the blogosphere as a place of gender equality. While some mommy bloggers snag Wal-Mart endorsements, the world of business blogging — Men with Pensadvertises its "business sense, branding expertise, and savvy sales and marketing smarts" may still be more of a Mad Men type of place. It's impossible to tell whether the bullets-and-bricks aesthetic of Men with Pens was a calculated decision, but it's possible that a male name and a stereotypically male persona are favored in the web marketing industry. Are mom-bloggers seen as fundamentally amateur, even if they shill for big companies, while men get the real professional gigs (even if those "men" are actually moms themselves)?
At this point, James seems to have built a brand, and it's unlikely that she'll suffer too much from her outing. But a post she wrote last year now seems eerily apt. In "Would You Become Someone Else To Achieve Your Dreams?," James writes, "Think about how you would react if someone told you that who you are is holding you back – and you knew they were right. This person tells you that if you were someone else, you could live your dream." She adds, If you had the chance to be someone else, would you do it? Would you take on a role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality? More importantly… who would you be?
For James, it appears the answer was yes — and it's easy to understand why. Still, it's pretty sad that the "role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality" still has to be that of a man.
Blog, Tweet, Update Facebook at Work
Blog, tweet, update Facebook -- that's the message the Australian government is sending its bureaucrats as part of a push to break down barriers between public servants and ordinary people. Instead of seeing the social networking tools as time-wasting diversions, a government-commissioned draft report on new media wants them used to discuss ideas and gather feedback.
The report says public agencies should engage "more energetically" with Web 2.0 applications, examples of which include Facebook, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and video-sharing site YouTube.
The report said interactive media provided "unprecedented opportunities to open up government decision-making to the community". But it acknowledged the greatest impediment to its broader use was the culture of government, which can tend towards secrecy and which was protective of the copyright on policy.
"Access to work tools like web-based email, collaborative work spaces and instant messaging create powerful new possibilities for collaboration particularly where collaborators are physically apart," it said.
"Likewise Twitter, Facebook and blogs provide access to professional information and conversation. Yet not enough public servants have work access to these building blocks of Government 2.0."
Indeed, none of the public servants on the taskforce preparing the 'Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0' report had access to instant messaging despite the fact that it was an important tool for other task force members, it said.
The report also noted that one public servant responded to a call for colleagues to engage in robust work discussion online with: "Ha -- we can't get to FaceBook, YouTube, Flickr, or most common discussion forums where I work."
Ashfaq Ahmed
Remember Ashfaq Ahmed (August 22, 1925 –September 7, 2004) – a great writer, playwright, broadcaster, intellectual, spiritualist and above all a nice fellow human.He has been a source of inspiration for everyone not only here in Pakistan but also where ever he could reach. His message has traveled much beyond borders and cultures. He has been able to bring change in many people’s lives.
How did Ashfaq Ahmed reach out? What method he selected to reach out and send his message?
In addition to written words in print, he selected electronic media (Television). TV was more accessible to general public rather reading a book then. It still is!
If it was today, Ashfaq Ahmed would have surely used Social media. No?
Digitally Social
Social media has provided us with an amazing way to market ourselves and interact with each other and if you don’t consider your “social identity” as you grow your social network, you’re leaving a lot in this din; if I may use this expression. Social networking websites are the clear examples that help you see connections next to you that are hidden in the real world. Users are now these websites to make those connections visible and to interact.
Muhammad Yaqoob is a Social Media enthusiast and a corporate blogger and above all a consultant, He speak and write about the value of using social media to build communities and to make an impact and while dispelling some o the myths around this phenomenon. Yes, he has a day job; he has been serving in higher education institution for over a decade now.
I find him inspiringly active when it comes to social media and its growing trends. He was among the original thought leaders working to defend and define “Social Media” as a definitive media category in Pakistan.
What is a Twitter
This article appeared in monthly Techno Biz, Aug 2009 issue
What is a Twitter? Well, it depends on whom the question is asked. For millions of ordinary people with access to a computer and an Internet connection, Twitter is an easy way to self publish their thoughts, concerns, and feelings or a means of talking to each other and sharing whatever they want to. To some Twitter still is a place to answer simple question; What are you doing? Some others say it is a voice that is being heard in this din. Twitter is an outlet on so many levels for so many people and a real time media (it is not about something that happened yesterday rather it is about what is happening now). Dubbed as microblogging or moblogging, Twitter may be vanity site and a short cut to fame for many as Tweets are ego gratifying sometime. For e-marketers Twitter is a quick tool for building businesses and brands.
Today's Web Users
In this attention age, the web users are feeling so overwhelmed and ‘digitally-social'
Traditional Websites Have Evolved
Numerous websites have evolved their technologies into platforms that organize content and communications among individuals for the purpose of Social Networking. Sites like Facebook, Myspace, Xing, Plaxo, Linkedin, and YouTube have demonstrated the power of empowering the user with tools that allow people to collaborate, interact, share, rate, and personalize verses the traditional “browsing” experience.
As a result, the creative process of developing successful online programs has transformed. The previous generations of building dynamic pages loaded with hyperlinks are now increasingly replaced with purposefully developed, engaging applications that the user identifies with.
As a result, the creative process of developing successful online programs has transformed. The previous generations of building dynamic pages loaded with hyperlinks are now increasingly replaced with purposefully developed, engaging applications that the user identifies with.