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social media your rights - can your boss ban use

In my last post I covered “it’s not about the tools it is still about the content”. Now here’s your rights laid out. There are bosses that ban the use of  social media tools like Twitter and Facebook during working hours, but this is almost impossible to enforce. A nifty pdf file that is downloadable  on socialmedian and also mentioned on mashable.com written by Peter Bradwell and  Richard Reeves, in 2008
lays it all out. www.demos.co.uk/publications/networkcitizens.

This is sure to get corporates discussing this. As many big companies like Hewlett Packard  and IBM decide to use social media like Twitter and socialmedian to keep their staff talking to each other across the globe.

The Somesso conference on today 31st Nov in Zurich is addressing all these issues and is being attended by industry insiders.

Speakers include David Terrar on building communities, who gave his views here  on wisequeen.com on the wi fi post

Jon Mell Web 2.0 evangelist and  Senior Consultant at Headshift and

Thomas Power director of ecademy  is talking on creating an online presence.

That’s the Brits. who rocked

Then  Daniel Joerg a  Bio Digital Strategist at  Crossmedia Agency

Follow online.

Have something to say? send a comment.

Donna Jackson.

Social Communications Specialist.

Wisequeen

It’s not about the tools it’s still about content

There are now legions of social media evangelists marching all over the globe preaching the message and sending out link after link on Twitter daily. Some of these links are valuable and through them I have found services and things I needed without having to dig. But, and it’s a big but, with all this chatter on twitter, facebook, and the myriad other ways being invented every other day of communicating quickly on line, are we really communicating?

If I go on twitter and say “Hey ho I’m depressed today I lost a contract” for example, that’s a thought and  I’ve put it out there into the twittisphere.

Who is likely to respond to this? The people I want to care? or someone on-line in amongst my followers who feels they must offer some kind of abbreviated response in 140 characters like: “chin up chum and get slaughtered”. Now I could get this  type of vegetative comment from any number of barmen or pizza flippers on any street, in any town.

So what do I want when I go on twitter, like minded souls who might tell me of a contract that I could pitch for? Maybe, but unlikely. I’m more likely to get some rabid political zealots who once again hammer home who I should vote for in the election. Or someone telling me in strings of jargon what applications I simply must use, or an incoherent group of blog links most of which have nothing to do with me, my work, or my lifetime ambitions.

Social media is a great way to get your message out to a wide audience quickly. A new blogpost, an amazing find,  a thought for the day, an event, but it should never replace the deep human need to to communicate with others in a way that satisfies that deep human need to listen and be listened to. So don’t sprout tech jargon, that’s what computers specialise in.

It is only a tool, just as your cell phone and laptop are and can never replace face to face and the contact of a handshake. It is but a prelude to this, or an information source and virtual network.

My last thought? Put something edifying into the twittersphere.

The Somesso conference begins 31st October, follow it to see what industry insiders are saying.

Donna Jackson

Social Communications Specialist

www.wisequeen.com

Wi Fi flying low

I always feel very smug when I go to a conference or event to blog on it. Well, at least I do when I’m in Switzerland,  where many of the media conferences are being held at the moment, for example: Somesso.

Why? Because I have my own portable Swisscom wi fi on a pen that can make my laptop into my moving office.

While others are running to find a wifi spot I’m home and dry.

But outside of the Helvetian paradise I have to wonder why companies promoting conferences and gatherings on Tech., Web 2.0 and media aren’t more geared.

I read a recent post by David Terrar about the recent  Berlin conference here

and I have to agree.

If wi fi is so normal now and part of the landscape, why must we scramble for it so in the Euro Union?

Donna Jackson

Social Communications Specialist

Wisequeen

Social media - Is e mail dead or dying?

O.K. we seem to be on a roll here, so who am I to stop it? First I wrote on social lending, social etiquette, and twitter social media, now let’s introduce Dopplr yet another way to keep in touch for frequent travelers with cool applications for bloggers and anyone who just wants to keep track.

I was skeptical when Facebook mania first took hold. Did I really want to know what everyone had for breakfast. Well, not everyone… but those special somebodies, yes!

I also wanted to know what my colleagues and peers were up to. So, facebook, linked n, twitter, plurk, and before you knew it a whole quiver full of unpronounceable names where in there.

Then I blogged live at a tech start-ups in Zurich and discovered Sandbox, Doodle, Wua la, Poken, Yes.com and so many other ways to keep up and transport your contacts wherever you need them. I will in the next few posts, give you the features of each of these.

But what does the corporate world think of this?  Here’s HP in action The big boys like IBM who need communication to flow between thousands of staff members on different continents. Is e mailing dead or dying? Do they use social media?

Somesso The corporate social media conference seeks to answer this question, kicking off in Zurich on 31st October and with dates in London and Barcelona to follow. They hope to captivate the attention of corporate communications experts in this niche market and plan to ignite passion where others have failed in more generic Web2.0 conferences.

Their website lists an impressive array of speakers. CEO’s and top managers are being encouraged to adopt social media as the medium of choice in communicating internally with their teams.

For those who would like to attend, tickets are available on the website up to the day and for those who can’t, pod casts and tweets will have to suffice.

Have something to say? send a comment.

Yours tweetly

Wisequeen

Donna Jackson

Social Communications Specialist