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Social Media is… storytelling.

by admin on November 14, 2011 in Health, Relationships, Social Media, The Internet with No comments

For those who have read my blog for a while, you may be aware that, despite working in the social media field as a strategist, and being a fan of Brian Solis and all the others who talk about “Engagement”… and often use those as part of my own work, to try and get corporations to take Social Media seriously…

You want to know what Social Media is for me?

Stories.

Sharing those stories, hearing those stories, living.

This video caught my attention over the weekend.

Try and watch that video without completely losing your shit. I dare you.

Furthermore, this is just one video. Of millions. Of people putting themselves out there, sharing their stories with the hope of maybe, saving just one other person from not having to live through the pain that they have.

That is truly revolutionary.

We often joke about Facebook and Twitter overshare. Lamebook is one of the funniest showcases of humanity at its… um… finest.

But you know? How cool is it?

I remember back in 2009, when I posted the letter I had written to my doctor detailing all of my symptoms and requesting action. At the time, I thought I might have had Cushing’s… turned out to be boring old Lupus.

But that letter? It inspired someone else to write one to THEIR Doctor and they got their diagnosis and treatment.

When I write about my struggles with various things like Lupus, the death of a loved one and the grief afterwards… or my divorce… the feedback I get is tremendous. I get emails saying how me writing about the end of my marriage has given someone else the courage to leave. I have had emails from other people who have told me that my blogging through palliative care and death has helped them cope a little better. Or how talking about my “invisible” illness has made them feel less alone.

And it’s all just one post. One story. And one video, like the one above.

So yes, by all means talk about marketing. Talk about engagement. Talk about ways to capitalise on social media. But don’t forget that the personal stories are what make this time truly revolutionary.

The Klouts and the Doodles – in bed?

by admin on October 30, 2011 in Random Observations, Social Media, the googletubes, The Internet with No comments

I am a little suspicious about changes to Klout's assessment of influence. Maybe I just think like a strategist/politician, and it may even be a little cynical/conspiracy theorist… but…

Let's say you are a Social Network. Not naming names, let's call it Doodle.

Let's say, there is a cool (albeit not terribly transparent or predictable) measure of social media influence that everyone in the industry monitors. Yes, any clever person uses a number of metrics, and there are plenty of tools that measure varying degrees of social media 'success'… but yours seems to be the one that people watch more than others.

Let's say your Doodle is a new player, with the weight of a global corporation behind it. With very clever strategists, excellent UI, and a loyal following/early adopter uptake, but is struggling to carve it's niche in a highly competitive market for hearts, minds, and advertising eyes.

It would be in your Doodle's interests to make sure that everyone who considers said influence tool, feels that, despite their reservations about your Doodle, are not fully on board.

What do you do?

You lobby.

You take them out to lunch. You woo. You, as the strategist, want to make uptake of your Doodle unavoidable in order to maintain said influence on that network.

Let's also say that you have a business social network. Let's say that there are people on there who have direct access to a lot of C-Levels within Corporations. It would be in your interest to have influence weighted based on the "level" of contacts as well as the number.

Now, I am not going to go so far as to accuse anyone of uneven weighting or collusions… but I have observed a marked disparity, across networks, and across locations in how Klout measure "influence".

It could be as simple as opening it up and being transparent, and trying to emulate real world networks rather than just volume, replies, and shares.

But, it's not a giant leap to think that there may be lots of "wooing" going on behind the scenes either, in the social media platform wars, to use Klout as a means of deciding where to post your content for maximum effect… possibly at the exclusion of other massive, popular networks.

Anyone in our game who would ask for advice on how to get greater penetration in the social media game… would advise them to take Klout out to lunch. Or possibly even do deals that, effectively weight the "influence" algorithms in favour of your network.

Thoughts? #wp

Stop putting numbers on it.

by admin on September 3, 2011 in People are Stupid, Random Observations, Social Media, Tech, the googletubes, The Internet with No comments

Last week, I was witness to a semantic discussion about the next wave of social media technologies and community. I have started seeing “Social Media 2.0″, “Web 3.0″, etc cropping up and I want to say something.

Stop it.

Please.

Because Social Media is NOT about computers. It is not a piece of software that someone can just buy a new version of and join. And it perpetuates a ridiculous misunderstanding that it is at all related to computers, platforms and tools.

It is not.

Social Media is a concept. It is a multidisciplinary revolution of technology, community, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, politics… and the list goes on.

It is a movement. It is hard to define. It transcends versions, and platforms, and technologies.

It is a concept in its own right, and by putting those ridiculous numbers after it, we are lumping it into IT. It needs to stop.

Please stop it. My clients are getting confused. Thank you.

Pissing off the right people. For the right reasons.

by admin on July 28, 2011 in Big Picture Stuff, Social Media, The Internet, Uncategorized with No comments

This week, I had a realisation.

Some people don’t like me. In fact, there are some people out there that hate my guts.

That wasn’t the realisation part… I mean… I have been blogging since before the word ‘blog’ was a word. I have been a ‘figure’ on the internet for longer than that. And I have always attracted my fair share of detractors. I polarise. That’s no mystery. I do it on purpose.

The realisation for me, is that there are people who don’t like me… and I am OK with it.

My friend sent me a link to this little tidbit and it affirmed what I had suspected: attracting hate is as much a part of having a profile online as attracting praise. It simply goes with the territory. I don’t attract any more or any less hatred than anyone else who puts themselves out there. In fact, as worried as I was about the iPad stunt drawing lots of negative attention… it didn’t. The response was overwhelmingly positive. The only real trolling I got was from people who… follow me around to troll me.

I have always been interested in the psychology of bullying. There are a lot of people I don’t respect. There are a lot of people I have no time for, because, let’s be honest… there are people who are a waste of space and oxygen. But they are also a waste of my energy, so I don’t bother. And I certainly don’t have time to be following them online just to harass them!

To be that motivated by hate has to come from somewhere. Good ol’ Wikipedia summarises it best. Their behaviour is not about me. It’s about what I bring out in others. They hate my caricature. They hate my persona.

They can’t possibly hate me, the person, because they don’t know me.

It’s a liberating thought.

I have always set out to piss people off a little. The Perth Business “networking” scene is very conservative. Say the word “cunt” and they’re all of a dither. I once presented at a Social Media Panel for these people… and all they could fixate on was the language. I was asked how I “get away with swearing online”. Yeah. I was asked that and I am still gobsmacked by it.

The conformists struggle to get that one can be clever and also swear. And one can also use those words deliberately. And the fact that they are so focused on the words, rather than the intent, just goes to show how they really… just don’t get it. Much like those who thought the iPad thing was about me wanting a husband. Let’s be honest… they’re not bright people.

I say the things I do primarily to get a response. It is a predictable and measured response. The number of times I have been told, condescendingly, to “behave”… that’s just not what I do. I am happy to alienate those who are that superficial, or conformist, or even that dumb. I am happy not fitting into the Perth Business clique. I believe that these ideas about “behaving” or “shutting up” or “not making waves”… have strong sexist overtones. And, as a feminist and a philosopher… “behaving” is just not compatible with those core views.

I love Germaine Greer. And Gloria Steinhem. And Nellie McKay. And George Carlin. And Doug Stanhope. And Ricky Gervais. They push the right buttons and all have their haters as a result. If I can produce something that is even 1% of the influence these people have had on me, pissing a few people off is worth it. Because, like them, I enjoy the rise I get out of those I deliberately poke. Because their attitudes are oppressive.

Carlin, Stanhope, Greer… all have people who LOVE them. And people who HATE them. Very few people are indifferent about them. And they have all caused, in some way, revolutionary change despite having vast number of people who hate them.

There are people who hate Oprah Winfrey. There are people who hated Mother Teresa, for fuck’s sake.

I am not likening myself to Oprah or Mother Teresa. Because that’s just retarded. But, I am highlighting the fact that anyone who has ever stood up for anything, attracts hatred from the status quo. Even on a small scale.

So, my realisation is that my number of detractors is as much a reflection of my success as are those who say nice things.I can’t remember if it was Greer or Steinhem who said that receiving death threats is a sign you are a threat to the establishment… but on some level this applies. I consciously piss off the right people. And they are most welcome to sit around, slagging me off at Media140 Perth (ironically, while I am all over the media for proving the strength of social media). Because it comes back to me. And I laugh at the small mindedness. And I know that there are people there who know me, get me and laugh at it.

Because, the fact that people are talking about me at all, positively or negatively, is a sign that I am making an impact. And ultimately, reflects badly on those whose time in power is running out. Technology is killing the top-down control of people. A big portion of corporate board time is mistakenly asking the question “HOW CAN WE CONTROL PEOPLE”. It’s dying.

I like to think that eventually there will be a world where ridiculous notions of “behaving” to fit in will die. PR spin will die. People’s humanity, and honesty will be taken as something to be celebrated rather than suppressed. We all poo. We all fart. Stop treating humanity as a character flaw. And then maybe, we can actually stop with the bullshit. Stop firing someone for having a few drinks and tweeting when they are off the clock. Stop being so goddamn afraid of your boss. That’s truly revolutionary.

If I can contribute just a little to breaking down these ridiculous structures, and remind people that it is OK to express yourself… then I am OK with being hated.

All the fun people have haters, and it’s more about accepting that as a part of having an opinion.

5 easy steps to go "viral"…

by admin on July 17, 2011 in iPadofLove, Social Media, The Internet with No comments

… and generate hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising.

1. Right gimmick.
2. Right audience.
3. Right network.
4. Right timing.
5. Run with it.

Also, in case you missed it:

Téa Smith appearing on 92.9 Breakfast radio Perth by Téa Smith

If I'd known, I'd have got my hair did!

by admin on July 14, 2011 in iPadofLove, Social Media, The Internet with No comments

These simple principles for getting attention on social media…? They work. Even I had underestimated how well, it seems.

On Monday morning, a combination of jadedness, procrastination, insomnia and poor impulse control collided in something that… I knew would work. The right “gimmick”, and a use of both social media and traditional networks… it was bound to get some traffic.

I invested ZERO dollars. 30 minutes to write up the blog post. A mutual follower on Twitter suggested the article to my friend Louise Burke at The West Australian (I am known to them, having appeared before as the so-called “Twitterati”, so… we ran with it). But, only one paper was approached by me, and that was them. No press release.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, I went to bed, tired, happy at having achieved some local buzz for the “#iPadofLove” concept. I had applied some very simple strategies that I advise my clients to do, and was happy that I have driven 500 visitors to this website.

Done and dusted. Or so I thought…

I woke up 6 hours later, to triple the traffic, and a bunch of enquiries from local media, wanting to talk to me about the concept, including an email from a Sunrise producer saying they wanted me on.

I had my children, so… didn’t really get to digest it. Stumbled out, said “who wants breakfast?”, changed a pooey nappy (an extra special one for mothers who might let their own hype get away from them… that other parents will know, and I call “lake poo”)… and then… the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

I did Perth ABC radio. I stammered, and stumbled my way through, as it hit me what was happening and I could not stop laughing. Then 6PR. Little easier. Then, the Big Couch on 94.5 wanted to speak to me. Then… Seven News got in touch. Then… breakfast radio… and some afternoon radio booked as well. What a crazy whirlwind.

Then I found out that CultMac had posted an article. Then, MacLife in Germany… (and for any Apple geek, it’s very much a “squee!” moment :D) then… I lost track. I had some last-minute photos done by my friend @annarosephoto (see thumbnails!) I have to keep looking at the top right of my screen to know what day it is… and I am now on a blackout between calls, sitting down to deal with my actual client work… you know… the stuff that pays :)

Insanity. There have been several occasions where I have messaged friends “WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?” – and then they laugh at me and mock me and support me in that way only your closest people can. And because I have chosen to not watch or listen to myself, or read comments on the articles (because if I did the temptation would be to pull the pin… it’s a normal reaction!), but I am trying to express my thanks to those that have been… so nice :)

The result? Well… so far I think the spectacle has superseded the intent, and it can only be assessed from the outside later on. But, I have been approached a fair bit. Insanity! I don’t have any real sense of what is going on beyond the site traffic… because as an introvert/keyboard hero… well… you know… and, the traffic is holding steady. 27% bounce rate, and about 60% of people who click on the blog link are also clicking on my portfolio (which is incomplete and completely unready for this sort of exposure!)… it’s just… fun.

Men? Yes. :)

I fully expect it to end soon. I know how things like this work and it won’t be long till I fade back into obscurity. But, it’s fun. And I have been writing a book about social media and, well… looks like I need to add a chapter. LOL (anyone want to pay me to finish it? ;)). But, I will enjoy picking this experiment apart afterwards.

To those who are sick of hearing about me on the news, I apologise. I made a decision to not actively seek media, but accept all that asked… it is important that you are prepared to follow through with a promotion and I need to walk the talk. So yeah, I’ve kind of been all over the place today. LOL.

Thanks again, I am going to do a video at some point but I am so wrecked I am slurring and stuttering even more than my first radio interview! Thank you to all the media people, who really get what I am doing here, and I owe all my supporters a drink when it all dies down. Thank you :)

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