How To Improve Social Engagement
Curated from: 12 Top Community Managers Share Their Tips for Better Engagement by Lauren Drell
Engagement is one of the most talked about metrics for ROI.
Mashable gathered tips from top community managers to help you boost activity on your social platforms —they’re grouped into various engagement-inducing “actions” below. The individuals we spoke with have built up engaged audiences for brands, such as Gap, JetBlue, Instagram and Jetsetter, so they know a thing or two about community building. Continue Reading
Why are we embedded in social networks?
In my quest to better understand 'social' I revisited this TED talk this evening. One of the key take away points was about the network interconnections: it is the ties between people that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The architecture of the ties we have around us has more influence than we may think. Our quality of life could be said to depend on the architecture around us. Collective intelligence forms super organisms – which ties in with my post a couple of days ago… http://simbeckhampson.com/2012/02/10/the-power-of-collective-intelligence/
The benefits of a connected life out-weight the costs. With the inherit intent to spread good, social networks have the power to transform in ways unimaginable without them. Inspiring TED talk, worth 20 minutes of your time.
#learning #community #collaboration #collectiveintelligence
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Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks
We're all embedded in vast social networks of friends, family, co-workers and more. Nicholas Christakis tracks how a wide variety of traits — from happiness to obesity — can spread from person to pe…
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Common Purpose
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~ Margaret Mead.
#learning #quote #change #community
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How to Reward Community Members
"A good reward scheme identifies a desired outcome and creates a reward, based upon human motivation, which changes an individual’s behaviour over the long-term."
"A common mistake is rewarding the top community participants with free gear and opportunities without trying to identify the behaviour you wish to change."
"Rewards schemes are a precision tool designed to change behaviour from a specific segment of users."
"Identify the segment you need to reach, understand their behaviour and motivations, then create a scheme tailored to changing their behaviour."
#community #rewards #badges #gamification
cc/ +Daniel Durrant +Alex Gagnon
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The Ultimate Guide To Rewarding Community Members – The Online Community Guide
What’s the purpose of the reward? What will be different after you issue the reward? A good reward scheme identifies a desired outcome and creates a reward, based upon human motivation, which changes …
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Educational Change Starts Locally
This post has been inspired by a week full of educational emotions. On Monday I tweeted out about my pain seeing my young daughter struggling to cope with the overwhelming amount of homework. I must add that the small school she attends has a fantastic reputation and they really do care and work hard with the children, but they of course have their targets and performance criteria and grade sheets etc etc… Continue Reading
Livefyre: Next Generation Commenting
The evening had been exciting enough without discovering via @hackmanj, a new and wonderful commenting system. As many of you know I do go off the deep end somewhat when it comes to tech simplicity wrapped around ingenuity, but that is indeed what @Livefyre is. Continue Reading
Keep your community around you… via @NancyMoonPR post on #Amplify
Love that…
you need to keep your community around you. They are the ones who help to light the way and to remind you when your practice needs practice.Read more at nancymoon.amplify.com
Social networking can change the world
This comment by Eric Goldstein stood out. Social Networking for #learning is without a doubt an extraordinary tool. Learning to manage it’s many facets is today’s and tomorrow’s challenge. Thank’s Eric for this excellent insight.
Social networking can change the world by giving people the opportunity to connect with and learn from others from all over the world who they never would have had the chance to meet. The value and impact of these online relationships is extraordinary.Read more at pamelawella.amplify.com
Describe Amplify in less then 6 words.
I wrote a post recently ‘Amplify rising the charts‘ in relation to Jane Hart’s The Emerging List of Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 - Today I revisited the site to see how Amplify was fairing in the list and was a little diappointed to see that it had dropped down to place number 64. While looking at the list I realised that the description “Conversartions around news etc‘ didn’t really do Amplify full justice. Continue Reading
Social = Service. Community. Value. Substance. Talk by David @Armano (Ted Video – ht @scottgould)
Reinventing Social Media… Interesting take on what social media is and what it’s not, his slides are great too… And, it’s also the only TED video I’ve seen where the presenter openly says, yes I was an a***hole… 
What @ScottGould Learned from @ChrisBrogan… Love People.
When I’d finished reading this article I felt genuinely inspired, not just to clip the post or comment on it, but to think hard about the key messages Scott learned from Chris. I quickly realized how many times I’d broken those simple rules, especially with loved ones, and I’d have to say, I felt somewhat ashamed – too often, without contemplation = habit 
Scott quite clearly states that this post is not just about how many RT’s or mentions, it’s beyond some kind of personal ego trip, he posted it because it actually contains some real gems of wisdom, some-of-which I’d inadvertently forgotten with all the tech hype and the hussle and bussle of daily life.
As a result of reading this, I’m also turning over a new leaf as of this moment. I’ve written the five points down on a small piece of paper and attached them to the fridge via a magnetic clay model of Düsseldorf. Thanks Scott for sharing this publicly, I’m sure others will benefit from it too.
What I Learned From Chris Brogan
Now I’m good with connecting people, but Chris did it at a level that I’ve never seen before. People who he met once on Friday morning, he remembered the names and details of and called them by name Friday evening.
When I asked Chris how he did this, he looked at me and just said “I genuinely just love people.”
In two words, Chris Brogan taught and modeled for me this: love people.
valuing the person in front of you
closing your laptop when someone walks in the room
remembering their names and life details without fail.
giving them your attention – all of it
valuing people equallingRead more at scottgould.me
Community as Curriculum and Open Learning – HT @hjarche
Reading…
Social Media Measurement Should Focus on Outcomes, Not Output < HT @scottgoud, @chrisbrogan (via Google Reader)
Click through to see the video… “Social Media ROI: Socialnomics, it has some great case examples of brands and individuals who’ve experienced a wide range of success with social media marketing.”
“It’s not about simply looking for opportunities to drop messaging into ordinary conversation, but about finding shared interests, shared benefits and shared rewards for others in the communities where your brand interacts.”
Social Media Measurement Should Focus on Outcomes, Not Output
Social media marketing relies more on listening than broadcasting for good reason: Broadcasting doesn’t have the same impact as traditional media channels, and listening helps us measure and adapt to become more relevant to consumers.
“You can’t just say it, you have to get the people to say it to each other.” [Emphasis added]
This video, Social Media ROI: Socialnomics, has some great case examples of brands and individuals who’ve experienced a wide range of success with social media marketing.
The new way to shape public opinion doesn’t rest on our ability to broadcast in these new channels, but on how we use new channels to connect and build relevance.
A Brief History of the Power of Pull (HT @jclarey)
Leading on from my earlier post today about serendipity (http://bit.ly/cDbeln) – I was guided to this post by Janet Clarey. I’m pretty sure that all of this is a real-time example of serendipity in motion. An earlier comment from Eric about his belief that serendipitous collaboration was at the heart of Amplify’s development confirms that social computing and the creation of communities of practice is indeed the most effective way for creativity and innovation to flourish in the 21st century.
A Brief History of the Power of Pull
a foundational insight: that digital technology was setting in motion a shift in market power from the makers of goods and services to the people that buy them, and to talented employees from the institutions that employ them
Pull allows each of us to find and access people and resources when we need them, while attracting to us the people and resources that are relevant and valuable, even if we were not even aware before that they existed. Finally, in a world of mounting pressure and unforeseen opportunities, pull gives us the ability to draw from within ourselves the insight and performance required to more effectively achieve our potential.
The power of pull puts each of us, individually and together, in a position to collaborate in a complete re-imagination of our biggest private-and public-sector institutions, one that may eventually remake society as a whole.
the only sustainable edge in the future will come from accelerated capability building — creating the conditions to enable people to learn faster by working together.
So how to structure these learning environments?
communities of practice to drive learning and performance improvement.
deep personal relationships were a key to driving capability building. In addition to those essential relationships, it’s key that members of this community represent diverse backgrounds–critical for the creative tension that often arises from confronting different points of view. We’ve found through our years of research and writing that this mix greatly increases the potential for innovation.Read more at blogs.hbr.org
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains ~ Nicholas Carr (inspired by @socratoad via #amplify)
Just spent a good hour following links, listening to audio and watching videos from Nicholas Carr and I have to say, he’s nailing it! He was asked by ABC – ‘So, is there a solution?’ He replied,
“Each of us is responsible for the choices we make and how we use or don’t use our minds… each of us has to ask hard questions… is the balance of thinking conducive to getting the most creative… the most introspective thought we can… and I think we’re losing this right now.”
I also read that the book is not aimed at one particular generation, but more for everyone using the Internet. I guess my question has to be: How are we going to communicate this message to a younger audience? Will they listen or are they too engrossed in the medium to care?
Link to the book > http://bit.ly/aDfMyY
And the goal of a lifetime is…
I’ve been working on my website today, preparing a new service, ‘Software Tours’. The front page has also been changed to reflect a key message… If you get a chance, let me know what you think, your opinions, good, bad or indifferent would be greatly appreciated.
“And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. Recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.” ~ Rene DubosRead more at sites.google.com
One day a monk fell down in the snow…
“One day a monk fell down in the snow and cried out for help. Another monk came along and lay down beside him. The first monk got up and walked away.” – Zen Koan
I laughed out loud when I read this quote. This is recovery in action–perfectly expressing the essence of twelve step work. One addict helping another through identification. If you see a newcomer in recovery, you can share your story and explain that you were in their shoes. They gain hope in seeing that you are happy and content with your life in spite of your addiction. That is how we pass hope to the newcomer–through identification. That is why we must tell our stories of addiction before we explain how we achieved sobriety–so that the newcomer knows that we are true addicts and alcoholics just like they are.
http://www.spiritualriver.com/spiritual-recovery-from-addiction-zen-buddhism/
When Social Gets Too Much
Hunky Dorey
You’re twenty eight years old, recently married, first child on the way, a successful community manager for a leading retailer, and part of your daily bread and butter is updating the feed on Facebook or Twitter. You’ll spend an hour a day looking through your well researched RSS feeds for one or two relevant articles to post, and perhaps another hour commenting on posts and enganging with your community. Your sorted, your cool, no worries there. Continue Reading
New Blog: A Positive Look at Facebook – In reply to @meryn (via Amplify)
This post was inspired by a recent comment on Amplify…(image below is linked)
Hang on a minute… I’m not sure I follow this conversation; let’s look at this logically and rationally. What do users actually get from Facebook (for free)?
1) Ability to connect with existing friends, family and colleagues from around the world and have the ability to chat live.
2) Meet new people who share the same interests and develop friendships and possibly even develop business connections.
3) Share virtually anything with those above.
4) Promote your business, group or association to millions of users using one of the easiest & cheapest advertising systems ever!
5) Play games & add applications, such as video conferencing (Zorap); millions think is fun and even useful.
6) Interact with all the above via mobile.
And now to the negative issues…
…well you can read those yourselves there are enough articles bombarding the net on a daily basis. My view, Facebook is alive and kicking and provides value for it’s users -’naturally there is a price to pay and I think that price, is for some, too high’.
PS. Thanks to Meryn Stol for inspiring this post.
5 Ways to Simplify Social Media
Interesting article. It follows on from my thoughts earlier this evening regarding ‘Business Media’ as opposed to Social Media. Charles goes one step further and begins to consider the concept of sorting media into specific areas, I like this idea.
“We’d likely be in a much better position if many of us stopped lumping everything under “social media” and started labelling things in specific areas that social media integration could produce.”
5 ways to simplify the entire process of social media…
Posted by Charles Heflin as Social Media
Social Outreach –
Social Media Marketing and Apps –
Content Marketing –
The Brand Community –
Customer Relationship Management –
So what does that mean in terms of your business? That means that when two people are talking about “social media” they might not be talking about the same thing. When a business wants to “do” social media, it’s as vague as saying “im bored, I want to do something fun”.
Associate at
For business connections
