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Browsing tag: technology

  • June 18, 2012

    When social media is part and parcel of the job

    It’s pretty rad.

    I remember many years ago (possibly the 2008 Oscars?) explaining to my boss at the time what a URL shortener was and how we could use one in our Twitter coverage of the ceremony.

    Today, my current bosses are on Twitter and, I believe, actually have more followers than I do.

    But for all the awesomeness that is spending part of the workday on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and G+, it also has downsides.

    Social media is an insatiable beast

    Unlike my personal accounts, I can’t simply take a break if I’m overwhelmed with other tasks or just don’t feel like being social. You still need to be putting content out there and responding to feedback.

    All about the numbers

    twitter logo map 09

    (Photo credit: The Next Web)

    Social media is hard to quantify. So follower and likes numbers are easy to latch on to as something concrete, and the higherups tend to look at those numbers as a measure of success. It’s certainly something that should be factored in, and we shouldn’t be living or dying by that alone, but the more old-school types may take some convincing.

    Negative feedback

    Being social opens you up to, well, everyone. And they can say anything they want. Learning to deal with criticism in such an open forum is something all brands have to struggle with at some point.

    No feedback at all

    Posting something that garners no reaction or interaction at all sucks. Doing that multiple times in a row is an even bigger bummer. But this is reality for many of us at some point; we’re not all huge media organisations or consumer brands that can push out anything and instantly see clicks, comments and shares (been there; it’s quite gratifying).

  • May 8, 2012

    Tuesday Three: The social media edition

    • LinkedIn

      LinkedIn (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

      One of my pet peeves is strictly professional contacts adding me on Facebook. This is not appropriate! Subscribe to my page updates if you must, but there’s no need to befriend me. We are not friends. Connect with me on LinkedIn – and if we already have, let’s leave it there (that’s happened too).

    • I have a policy of accepting most LinkedIn requests – often they’re not people I’ve actually dealt with before, but by virtue of the industry, could well do in the future (and usually I’ll be familiar with their name or at least the company). Potentially useful contacts are always good to have on hand. Lately I’ve had a couple – one from a total stranger with no personal message included, though we both went to the same university – and one who indicates she’s had dealings with me at her company (she hasn’t). I’ve left these sitting untended in my inbox for weeks and probably need to deal to them.
    • People who do not exist online freak me the hell out. (As Lorna Borenstein said at a conference I recently attended, for many Gen Yers, if we’re not pushing out updates on our social profiles, it’s as if we don’t exist.) You NEED to be Google-able. You’re doing yourself a disservice otherwise. I want to be found by people who might have story ideas for me or want to collaborate. You might want to be found by headhunters or potential business clients, and the social web gives you access to them. Maybe you don’t need to be constantly cultivating your social identities, but at least set up a LinkedIn profile or an about.me page.
  • April 30, 2012

    A week in the life: sans smartphone

    Recently, I spent a week without my iPhone. Or any phone at all. It was kind of like losing a small body part. Perhaps a finger. I coped, but it was annoying.

    After five days, I went out to the mall and bought myself a $39 cheapie, an LG that weighed practically nothing with chunky buttons and did nothing, basically, apart from text, call, play radio and do calculations. I didn’t know quite what to do with it. So I didn’t do anything at all.  It was an epic chore just to figure out how to turn off the keypad tones. I resorted to the occasional text speak because typing was so tedious. Everything about it was hideous and horrendous. But at least I was contactable.

    (I believe a cellphone is a necessity for most people today. I use mine to contact T when I don’t know where he is; when I need a ride in a relative emergency; for work; to keep in touch with friends who aren’t big on social media, and of course, all the other things that web access on a phone enables.)

    Here’s what I use my iPhone for in a normal day:

    • The alarm wakes me up
    • I sneak it under the covers and read the day’s news
    • I check my social networks, including work accounts if feeling diligent
    • I receive news alerts direct to my phone
    • I do a spot of social networking while waiting for my computer to unfreeze
    • I receive Twitter alerts – monitoring my work account and my two personal accounts
    • I read blogs over lunch
    • I make myself notes in the Reminders app
    • I use Google Maps and remote email if I’m leaving the office during the day
    • I make notes in Evernote if, while walking to and from home, I come up with ideas for either my blog or work (which is often)
    • I add items to our grocery shopping list in my Pak n Save app
    • I occasionally listen to music or podcasts (rarely – I’m terrible at focusing when it’s solely audio. My mind wanders like crazy)

    Hence why I would never make it on Survivor or those dreadful reality shows where families live like they’re back in the 1800s.

    Are you a smartphone addict? What do you rely on your phone for?

  • March 6, 2012

    Tuesday Three: Twitter tripups

    Oh, I know posts on social media sins are so overdone. But today I just felt like tackling my top three pet peeves on Twitter.

    Incorrect use of @usernames. Example: Niche sports site runs a post on Jeremy Lin’s top five moments. It might tweet: @JLin7 is basketball’s new wonderboy. Check out his best scores: bit.ly/whatever. If you’re starting off a tweet with an @name, it will only be visible to you, the person @named and anyone who happens to follow BOTH of you. The fix: place a full stop, quote mark, RT or something else ahead of the @name so it’s public. (I see this all the time at work, particularly by smaller businesses RTing our content, and I just don’t have time to point it out to every single one – but I think I may have to find the time!). 

    Asking for retweets. Common among newbs and people who don’t get that social media is not just for pushing marketing messages. I’ve seen it too many times. “Check out my latest post on how to make money online. Please RT!” Don’t beg. It’s not pretty. Yeah, I’m calling you out.

    Overuse of hashtags. “Why @Pinterest is the hottest thing ever! #tech #socialmedia #marketing #digital #pinterest” It’s ugly. It looks amateur. It makes many of us a lot less likely to even look at your tweet. One or two appropriate hashtags at a time will suffice.

  • January 25, 2012

    Tech tools I heart

    If it wasn’t for the interwebs, I wouldn’t have a job.

    And while slow, bad tech makes my life (both work and personal) hard, good tech makes it exponentially easier.

    Some of my go-tos are:

    Evernote

    Syncs “notes” across all your devices. Radtastic. I use it for running lists and blog scribblings, mainly.

    Dropbox

    File storage in the cloud, accessible from anywhere. A godsend. Also much preferred over YouSendIt for sending/sharing items.

    Buffer

    Enables you to tweet links right from the webpage, and “buffer” links to go out at scheduled times throughout the day. Also integrates with link-shortening analytics services like bit.ly. Has totally changed my social media flow at work.

    Flipboard

    A seriously awesome way to keep up with the stories of the day.

    Summify

    Compiles the big stories shared by your peeps on Twitter and sends a digest to you. Need I say more? (ETA: Since I first drafted this post, Twitter has acquired Summify, the bastards, and its lifespan looks very limited. Alternatives I’ve found are news.me and Percolator).

    Hootsuite

    I despair if you’ve not heard of this. Hootsuite is much like a web-based version of Tweetdeck  – a simple way to manage multiple social media accounts (including integration with Facebook, LinkedIn, etc), track links, lists and schedule tweets. I use Hootsuite exclusively for my own various profiles, and other various apps for work purposes, to avoid mixups.

    Goodreads

    I have a terrible memory for books I’ve read, movies I’ve watched, etc. Goodreads deals to the first problem, letting me list and rate what I’ve read, keep a “bookcase” of titles to read in the future, and suggest others. Plus there’s social networking fun to be had!

    What apps can you not live without?

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