To this car obsessed, scooter-driving, ABC reciting, candle blowing kid:
birthday boy
In September he starts school. And, it seems like I will close my eyes and he will be going off to college. He will move away from home, and if he is anything like my husband he will never call his parents. I digress…
Yesterday, we held his fourth birthday celebration. Every year we host a party for him at our house. It is becoming more difficult to do at home as the kids need more direction, more entertainment, and more friends attending. But, we decided one last time until we are forced to spend a small fortune renting swimming pools, indoor playgrounds or space at a local farm equipped with pony rides. When we asked Bear what he would like to do for his birthday he said he wanted his friends to come over to play, to eat cake and to get presents (of course). Reasonable requests. Not once did he ask to play video games at Chucky Cheese or go go-carting or ice skating with a birthday hat on.
Still, his list of friends was long (and we couldn’t invite 8 of 10 boys in his class - we had to invite them all, which is why we limited the invites to boys and only invited one girl from next door) and these boys need games and entertainment or they become unruly and chaotic. So, we couldn’t just have a party at the house and throw the kids and some toys into the backyard. Last year the birthday theme was Construction as at the time Bear was into Bob the Builder. We had a few games planned but the kids were more interested in the cardboard boxes we had put out as giant building blocks. What works at age 3, doesn’t work for age 4.
This year we hosted a Race Day.
Here is what we did:
Every kid arrived and received a lanyard with their Pit Pass.
We took their picture as a racecar driver using our Mac and video camera and then e-mailed the photo to their parents. Here is our son in this picture:
All the kids received a little wooden race car to decorate with stickers, crayons and markers.
While some kids finished decorating their cars, other kids played with the die-cast cars and ride-ons we had out in the yard.
Games: Red Light, Green Light and a Parachute with a plastic ball
When all the kids were finished their race cars we held a race using a ramp (seen above) that my husband built- complete with launcher.
Food: Typical BBQ - hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, fruit salad popcorn and potato chips
Decorations: Race flags, black and white balloons, red and white checkered table cloths, orange pylons.
We think it was a hit.
Before I know it…it will be time to plan his 13th birthday.
I have been away from this blog for a little while now (as you may have noticed). Apparently, I don’t adjust well to change!
Two months ago I started a new job as a Community Manager, ending my maternity leave early by nearly five months. I started initially part-time, but went to full-time this week. In reality, Community Management is NOT a part-time gig, but the opportunity for this position was a perfect fit and going back to work early was not in the plans, this was the compromise!
So, what is a “Community Manager”? It is a tough job to give you an elevator definition. But I will give it a whirl:
My job as Community Manager is to engage, build and listen to the community. It is kind of like being a hostess for a party I have to make sure everyone is getting what they want, that they aren’t ruining the party for anyone else, and that if there is a question about where the coats should go - there is someone to answer it.
Of course that is a bit silly. But, the essentials are there.
Engage the Community
Motivate members of the community to get involved, connect with other members and actively participate in activities whether that is a discussion on a Forum, an offline event, comments on a blog, or a twitter chat.
Build the Community
Extend the community beyond the existing members, market and maximize communication to community, potential members at large and internal employees.
Listen to the Community
Monitor conversations within community and other online conversations to make sure needs are being met, identify trends and new ways to activitate two-way conversations.
Tactically, I do the following:
Write blog posts
Listen and post on our community forum
Monitor the web for brand and community mentions
Find new ways to promote, engage and build the community (adding features to the community, spreading WOM, finding ways to increase SEO or link build)
Evangelize social media
Work with internal teams to promote community, get support or resources as well as providing trends and metrics from community to other groups who can use that information.
You can visit my community here (make sure you check out the community blog as well since this is where I have been doing the blogging for the past two months!)
I get a kick out of people who put down Twitter as ridiculous (Who cares that you are eating your cereal) or that it is all about ego (Why wouldn’t they care what I was having for breakfast!) According to Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail; ” If you thought Facebook was banal, try Twitter. It makes people who write their thoughts on Facebook sound like Shakespeare.” Ian Brown of the same newspaper suggested in a CoverItLive discussion that it was our fear of dying that made us gravitate to Twitter.
At least Ian Brown gave it a chance, tested it out by using it for a DISCUSSION. He ENGAGED by CONVERSING with his followers. Check out his Twitter stream - he has 80 updates, and the majority are @replies. Wente, on the other hand gave it 4 updates over the course of a week. She followed 5 people. 82 people followed her banal tweets about trying to figure out this Twitter business. Considering she had 5 updates, and only 82 followers - and Twitter is in real-time - she likely didn’t get too many replies.
The first few times I used Twitter I wasn’t immediately sure about microblogging. However, now I watch it for news, go there to ask questions (sometimes before Google), chat with friends, and sometimes I just listen. My suggestion is - if you are going to try out Twitter, or become a Twitter tourist - give it a few weeks. Follow people, and not just celebrities because they won’t likely reply to your tweets. Tweet frequently. Reply more. Put up a picture, and stay awhile!
So, you are obsessed with your blog Analytics after reading my Google Analytics for Bloggers Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 - and now you want to see what others are saying about your brand or blog when they aren’t visiting your blog or directly communicating with your company. Monitoring can give you access to more feedback, and immediate and real-world conversations. Not to mention that today your customers and community expect you to be listening and participating in social media!
If you don’t think you need to track brand mentions online, or you believe that what your customers are saying on social networks isn’t important - read this post by Brian Solis about how social media is upping the ante on CRM. He says, “While Twitter is the shiny catalyst for corporate introspection, the social web is one big stream that requires listening, empathy, and also engagement and response.” Solis has also shared a great visualization of the social web in the form of a Conversation Prism:
“The conversation map is a living, breathing representation of Social Media and will evolve as services and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.”
Without further ado here are some great (and free) ways to monitor the online space:
Google Alerts: Set-up words such as your name, your blog name, your brand name (and any variations), your competitors, or product/industry terms. You can choose to include News pages, Blogs, or comprehensive search. I have found in the past if you set up the alert for brand or product names using comprehensive search it will fill your inbox with product mentions on e-commerce sites and sales promotions. Instead I set up two alerts for each word- one for blogs and one for news. Google Alerts allows you to have the alerts set up to be delivered to your Inbox or your Feed Reader.
Delicious: Once you have set up your Del.ic.ious account you can create “Subscriptions” to “tags”. When users bookmark sites they use ‘tags’ to identify the sites (please refer to Social Bookmarking 101) and a subscription will pull all sites with the term you have subscribed to as a tag. For example if you are interested in websites about “Audi” - subscribe to this term, click on the subscription to view related sites, or click the RSS icon (beside URL) to subscribe in your Feed Reader.
Technorati: If you have blog Alerts set-up through Google this may be a duplication. Technorati does give you additional information with the “authority” ranking for each site. Authority is based on “trackbacks” to the blog, or reactions to the authors work. You can set up “Watchlists” or simply search using the “Search the Blogosphere” field, and find the RSS icon (above the results) and subscribe using your Feed Reader.
BackType: BackType is a great site to find, follow and share comments in the blogosphere. Visit the Backtype Alerts page to set up your search terms and Backtype will locate where the terms are mentioned in blog comments. Type in the term you want to search, and once again you can subscribe using your browsers RSS icon.
backtweets: Want to see if anyone is “tweeting” your blog or website? Type in the URL and Backtweets will find the tweets - even if the individual used a URL shortening tool. And, of course you can subscribe via RSS.
BackType Connect: Connect allows you to follow the online conversations for a particular post or article. It connects the “conversational graph,” including: tweets, comments, links on FriendFeed, Digg, Reddit and other social media. You can’t subscribe to this one as it shows you the conversation around the post at that particular moment, however there is a a toolbar add-on which is great if you want to check engagement for an article or post on the fly.
StumbleUpon: This is another great bookmarking site. It is a great place to see what sites people are sharing, and tagging using your search terms. You can use the search bar to find sites manually, or subscribe to your chosen “tags”. On the bottom right hand side of your page choose view all tags, then pick the tag you would like to subscribe to via RSS - click on tag link and it will take you to a page showing all your pages that have been tagged with that term. Above the images of the URLS you will see the message: “Meet stumblers who like YOUR_TERM and the pages they recommend” - follow the link and hit subscribe. This is just one way to accomplish this, anytime you see a tag you like you can click and subscribe.
Twitter Search: Type in your search word into the search box, and then subscribe (right hand side you will see the RSS icon). Simple. For real-time search I use TweetDeck.
YouTube: Once again this one is simple and easy- type the search terms in the search box, click and subscribe using the RSS icon in your browser. If you like any of the videos you can always favorite them for later.
Finally, set some time every week to review your feeds. If you forget this final step you will find yourself pressing the “Mark All as Read” button on a regular basis!
Monitoring your blog or brand online gives you access to more feedback from your community members or customers as well as the opportunity to steer conversations and manage your online brand reputation. By listening and engaging you can strengthen relationships and build loyalty to your brand (or blog!).
Do you have any other tools you like to use to monitor the web?
[Note: If you have some money to spend on your monitoring efforts there are a few paid services that give you great tools to make the job easy, allow you to create quick graphs, sort results quickly and manipulate the informatin with ease. I have tested Radian6 and would highly recommend it. ]
While Obama is pushing net neutrality and reversing Bush’s stem cell research restrictions in Canada the CRTC is spending months analyzing the New Media and net neutrality issues and it turns out our Science Minister might not believe in evolution.
Are we soon going to want to move South?
Also check out what Strombo says in this video, around 2:50.
After my last post about social networks in the workplace I did a little Twitter survey to find out what sites are blocked at work beyond the obvious (Facebook, MySpace)
When I joined the workforce e-mail was pretty standard as a method for communication and the Internet was commonly used for research purposes. But, in the early days of email many business owners and managers did not allow e-mail in the offices for fear that their employees would not get any work done, they were concerned over how to manage, store and capture e-mailed information, and of course they grappled with security issues surrounding e-mail. Today, business owners and managers have realized that e-mail has increased the speed of business communication, and concerns over data capture and management as well as security have largely been overcome.
Social Networks Stats and Facts
There is a new tool that has caused much consternation and hand-wringing for IT Managers and business owners - social networks and social media. A new report by Nielson puts social networks ahead of e-mail in online activities according to a recent article in the Globe and Mail. Neilson found that 1 in 11 minutes online is spent on a social network or blog site, bringing social networks and blogs to the fourth most popular activity following search, general interest portals and software manufacturers. More telling is the growth seen by social networks during the period of the study (Dec 2007-Dec 2008) which saw between 1.4 and 1.9% growth for the top three activities versus an incredible 5.4% for social networking.
There are 150 Million active Facebook users and a recent research study from Pew Inernet shows that 11% of online adults say they have used the social network Twitter. A Netpop report shows that 7 Million people in the U.S. are contributing to content online and that social networking sites have grown a whopping 93% since 2006!
Despite the growth in the use of social media and social networks specifically, many corporations have decided to bury their head in the sand and hope it goes away, much like they did when e-mail came on the scene. Instead of facing the issues these companies have decided to simply block employees access.
Blocking Access
The concerns for social media are similar to those in the 1990s when e-mail entered the workplace: productivity, data capture, privacy and security. The approach the same - block, refuse access, refer employees to old technology (oddly in the case of social media it is often e-mail!). But this is short-sighted, unrealistic and a passive approach that will eventually (if not already!) be seen as anti-productive.
Let’s look at the concerns companies have regarding social media:
Productivity: This has to be the most ridiculous of the reasons. 1) If employees want to be slack off all they need to do is go stand by someone else’s desk, go for a smoke break, chat at the water cooler, close their eyes and have a snooze. Let’s face it if you can’t trust your employees are doing their job…then you didn’t hire the right people or they are bored, unchallenged or unempowered. 2) If employees are allowed to use social media they can actually become more productive! (More on this in next post)
Data Capture/Management: Many social networks are easily followed, stored and saved. People have clearly moved beyond this issue with e-mail - and this can be accomplished with Social Networks. Ownership can be overcome by businesses as well by contracting space on sites for block of space that would be under control of the company as suggested by Salesforce.com precedent. Another alternative is to set up internal IM systems, social networks and Wikis for use with Internal Communication. While this does not help customer and vendor communication it can allow employees some use of tools that will help productivity while maintaining data security and capture.
Privacy and Security: This is a biggie, and closely related to data capture and management. Panic has ensued amongst business owners with regards to data privacy and corporate secrets. And, of course it can be an issue as more and more employees spend time on social networks discussing their lives (which includes work) with Facebook status changes, LinkedIn profiles, and of course the tweets on Twitter. Companies obviously want to limit and retain close control over sensitive company information, at the same time they also must find ways to engage and communicate directly with their customers (or risk losing them). As social media becomes increasingly interconnected and more customers EXPECT companies to be active on social networks it will become inadequate to simply block social media sites and use URL filtering. Instead companies can help alleviate the privacy and security (and avoid potential lawsuits) issues by creating policies and educating employees on safe data handling. (Note: There are also IT tools available on the market to help monitor, examine historic patterns of leaks and discover and eliminate malware that have in the past been issues with some Web 2.0 sites). Privacy and security is an issue whether your employees are using social media or not - but a easy to understand policy, and a central contact for questions related to privacy and security can help companies avoid future issues.
Net Generation at Work
Companies that decide to limit or block use of social media are not only unnecessarily limiting their communication with their customers through online methods, they are also forfeiting the chance to discover new tools for collaboration within the organization. By closing the company off from social media they are also driving away younger employees who are looking to work for companies whose culture fits their life and ideals. Don Tapscott in his book Grown Up Digital says the “Net gener [age 18-32] arrives at work, eager to use his social networking tools to collaborate and create and contribute to the company. For starters he’s shocked to find that the company’s technological tools are more primitive than the ones he used in high school…And they are surprised, perhaps naively, to learn that corporations have antiquated ways of working.” These same Net Generation workers can, if given a chance, show companies how to collaborate in new ways more effectively and efficiently. But, these workers don’t stick around long according to Tapscott - they usually only last two years before moving on. Which is too bad since Tapscott’s research shows that those companies that embrace the Net Gen norms perform better than those that don’t..
This generation, of which I am a part of (well I missed it by a month…), view life and work different from other generations according to Tapscott - and that view is defined by 8 characteristics or norms: Freedom, Customization, Scrutiny, Openness, Fun/Entertainment in life and work, Collaboration, Speed, Innovation.
Tapscott definies these characteristics as they relate to work (summary):
Freedom: Net Geners expect to mix work and their personal lives, and this includes choosing when and where they work. They want flexible hours, the ability to telecommute, and other services that make their lives easier.
Customization: They want employers to treat them as individuals and this means giving them learning and development opportunities that are right for them. They want an adaptable work environment, job descriptions that are project based and customized, flexible benefits, and more frequent discussions on their contribution to the organization.
Scrutiny: How we search for jobs has changed and how we research the company before we make a change has as well. According to Grown Up Digital 60% of Net Geners check out a company before accepting a job offer. They want to work for companies that are transparent, share information, and have integrity. Tapscott says: “Young people respond well to management integrity…there is greater loyalty and lower turnover, and employees are more likely to do the right thing.” (For example more likely to get their job done even if they take a break to check Facebook, and more likely to hold company secrets sacred and follow company privacy policy).
Collaboration: Net Geners want to work with other people and collaboration is how they get stuff done. To them the workplace should be less about hierarchies and departmental silos and more about connecting with others to solve a problem. Using social networks, social bookmarking, Wikis, aps like LinkedIn Huddle Workpaces or Virtual worlds (Second Life) to meet, collaborate, plan, and execute.
Fun/Entertainment: Fun and work go hand in hand for this generation - they don’t need to be separate. Cultures that allow employees to have a little fun at work end up with more productive staff. We all need a break before diving back into another round of work - and if surfing on a social network is that little bit of fun - why block it?
Speed: This generation is used to speed and instant responses. Why not? We no longer have to wait for dial-up or snail mail! For Net Geners red tape is frustrating, feedback should be in real-time and bureaucracy can mean doom in the market. They use social media tools such as Wikis and IM to speed up communication within the workplace.
Innovation: This is a fascinating point Tapscott makes: “If video games taught this Net Generation anything, it’s that every problem has seemingly endless solutions” and so this generation is looking for new ways to their jobs, to be innovative in their workplace, to challenge status quo. Many of these young workers bring their knowledge of social media to the work place creating new communication channels, building collaborative work systems, and finding new ways to solve a business problem.
In the End
Social media such as instant messaging, blogging and social networks have gained ground as communication tools outside the workplace by leaps and bounds, and it is only a matter of time before they, like e-mail before them, become necessary and an acceptable part of the work place. The concerns for productivity, data management, and security and privacy are valid - however they can be overcome by education, corporate policy and new IT tools. Ultimately, if a company hires good people they will need less process and bureaucracy to police the space - as the employees in an open and empowered culture will be more likely to use social media tools wisely. Through using social media in the workplace employees will find new ways to harness collective knowledge, collaborate, and create ways to communication effectively internally and externally.
As always - connect on Twitter and Google Friend Connet (right hand side). And, if you enjoyed this content - subscribe!
Images from Stocl.xchng (bigevil600, brokenarts, glennpeb)
I recall a friend telling me before I had my first child that with your first child you sanitize everything, that nothing gets put in babies mouth without a deep wash, and that bottles are boiled after each use. With the second child she said you stick everything in the dishwasher, and toys that fall on the floor are wiped clean with a pant leg or a wet wipe if you have one handy. By the third you rinse things in the sink, make sure there are no grimy bits and toys are handed back to baby after a stint on the floor.
I have never been a big proponent of “sanitize everything”. We had a bottle sanitizer that we used for about three weeks, and after that bottles went into the dishwasher, or they were washed by hand if I was short on dishes. Toys, get laundered somewhat frequently when I think about it, or when baby goobers on them with peas - but I admit to picking up toys from the floor wiping them on my pants and handing them back to them (and this was with my first child and second- no discrimination!). I always felt that a little dirt couldn’t hurt them. The fact is - it is easy to monitor a baby but what happens when they are two? three? four? I know my nearly four year old often touches some pretty gross things, and puts gross stuff in his mouth when I am not looking (I have caught him chewing the side of those grocery carts shaped like Cars) - so if his immune system broke down at every germ - he would be sick all the time! When I was growing up my parents didn’t Purel their hands every step of the way, or disinfect my toys every 24 hours in case of a stray germ. Guess what, I am a healthy 30-something (seriously, I have to do math to figure my age out - every time!) and growing up I wasn’t sick any more than any other kid. I also don’t have any currently known allergies.
Today I see mom’s carry around hand sanitizer in their diaper bags and purses. Whipping them out at every cough, sneeze or breath. Anti-bacterial wipes are swiped across every surface their baby might dare touch, and then there are the blankets or cart draps that parents sit their kid in at the grocery store. They wash their floors, tables, toys, and even fabrics with anti-bacterial cleaners (yes- Febreeze now has Anti-bacterial spray); and they ensure that NO ONE touches their baby without a scrub down first. I may be slightly exhaggerating the situation, but I find some people are absolutely paranoid - and I kept thinking that all his “clean” can not be good for a growing child’s immune system.
Playing in Dirt
It seems that I may be right, an article in the Ottawa Citizen - Honey, Eat Your Dirt points to new research that proves that cleanliness CAN lead to illness. Everything in moderation people! Even too much hygiene is a problem. According to the article, which references a new book titled Why Dirt is Good by Mary Ruebush, a baby’s immune system is “like a computer that is hasn’t been programmed. It needs to practise responding to bacteria and viruses and other things found in dirt to learn what it should fight and what it should ignore.” Further to this a New York Times article states recent studies and epidemiological observations “seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.” So essentially kids raised in an ultraclean environment are not being given the chance to develop appropriate immune systems and will suffer later in life because of it. Dr. Ruebush says that the current fetish for the many (well-marketed) antibacterial products may just be a false sense of security and could “actually foster the development of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria.” (NYTimes)
So if you are a Hand Sanitizer-toting, germaphobic, anti-bacterial obsessed parent - what should you do? According to these articles just use less anti-bacterial products. Soap and water is all you need, and a little dirt . So, go - eat dirt. I dare ya.
I am a Community Manager for a company in the Greater Toronto Area. I spend my limited free time (away from work and kids!) attached to my computer, BlackBerry and iPod. Find out more about me by visiting: www.michellekostya.com
Contact:
michelle.kostya at gmail dot com
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What is blocked at your workplace? v
Social Networks Stats and Facts
The concerns for social media are similar to those in the 1990s when e-mail entered the workplace: productivity, data capture, privacy and security. The approach the same - block, refuse access, refer employees to old technology (oddly in the case of social media it is often e-mail!). But this is short-sighted, unrealistic and a passive approach that will eventually (if not already!) be seen as anti-productive.
Companies that decide to limit or block use of social media are not only unnecessarily limiting their communication with their customers through online methods, they are also forfeiting the chance to discover new tools for collaboration within the organization. By closing the company off from social media they are also driving away younger employees who are looking to work for companies whose culture fits their life and ideals. Don Tapscott in his book 
Fun/Entertainment: Fun and work go hand in hand for this generation - they don’t need to be separate. Cultures that allow employees to have a little fun at work end up with more productive staff. We all need a break before diving back into another round of work - and if surfing on a social network is that little bit of fun - why block it?![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=81ce4aa2-9dd7-4723-a628-f494700f2f3f)
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