Glen Gilmore & Social Media

Use Twitter to Brush Up On a Second Language

2012-01-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago, I spent a wonderful semester in Sevilla, Spain studying Spanish...among other things. Since then, I have struggled to keep and expand my aptitude for the Spanish language. Very recently, it dawned on me that I should use Twitter to help me in my quest (like the tie to the photo!).

Here's how:

1. Identify accounts tweeting in your language of choice (search the language to find them).

2. Add a few of the accounts tweeting in your language of choice to your favorite Twitter list so that your Twitter stream is sprinkled with tweets in the language you hope to polish. Study those tweets when they appear: look up the words you don't know and look at how the words are phrased. Fácil. Eso es todo. (Easy. That's it.)

On the Subject of Twitter Lists

If you're not using Twitter lists, you should be. They are a major tool for zeroing in on the best content. I have a few public lists that should be revised or eliminated as I created them when Twitter lists first came out and I really didn't vet them as well as I should have.

I do, however, have a private Twitter list of my "content stars", tracking accounts that consistently share good content. Why is it 'private'? I am vigilant and ruthless in maintaining this list: if the content doesn't meet the mark, you're off the list. I'd rather not hurt feelings, if anyone were to care. This list is a column in TweetDeck (I've begun testing the waters with Hootsuite) that is always up and where I look in throughout the day. It brings me the best content and, now, it has started to help me brush up on my Spanish. So I just thought I should share this tip. Buena suerte! (Good luck!)

How to Create a Twitter List (or Shameless Promotion of One of My Niche Accounts)

Go to the account tweeting in the language you'd like to brush up on. See the profile, drop-down icon next to the blue "Following" box. Click the drop-down arrow so that it reveals the choice, third one down, "Add or remove from lists". If you haven't created lists, simply click on the bottom choice, "Create list". Give the list whatever name you'd like, and start brushing up!

Your tips on using Twitter to brush up on or learn a second language? Gracias!

Get Ready for State Regulation of Social Media

2012-01-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

Although the author of this post is an attorney, nothing contained in this post should be considered legal advice. For legal questions, please consult with an attorney from your jurisdiction.

In a bold move, the Securities Division for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced guidelines on the use of social media for state investment advisors who were previously permitted to market their services on social networks, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, without social media guidelines. Coming just two weeks after the SEC issued its own set of social media guidelines, the Division's actions have raised the bar for other states to take similar action for the protection of investors.

Though many investors think that all investment advisors are regulated by the SEC, the reality is that the SEC only regulates investment advisors who manage $25 million or more in client assets. For investment advisors managing less the $25 million in client assets, the responsibility of regulation is left to the securities regulator for the state where the adviser has its principal place of business.

In July of 2011, the Massachusetts Division conducted a survey of investment advisers registered and doing business within the Commonwealth to "to determine the scope of investment advisers' use of social media, and what, if any, record retention and supervisory procedures have been implemented or utilized by those advisers." Seven-nine percent of the 576 investment advisers registered with the Division responded to the survey.

Most State Investment Advisors Lack a Social Media Policy and Fail to Monitor Advisor Social Media Activity

A report of the Division's survey results revealed that sixty-eight percent of investment firms using social media failed to have written policies on employee use of social media and that fifty-seven percent failed to retain records of content shared on social networks.

Based on the survey's findings on the failings of self-regulation, namely, the absence of in-house guidelines, archiving and supervision, the Massachusetts Division decided that it needed to provide social media guidelines for investment advisors it is charged with regulating. Massachusetts' decision to issue social media guidelines raises the bar for other states that have yet to issue any guidelines.

Because of Massachusetts' leadership, another stretch of the "Wild West" of social media may be soon coming to a close as other states, invariably, come to recognize that the absence of social media guidelines for a large swath of investment advisors in the social media space potentially puts at risk scores of family life savings and retirement funds. Establishing social media guidelines should help the vast majority of ethical advisors who may have shied away from social media participation due to the lack of guidelines. They should also help trigger earlier detection of unscrupulous advisor activity in the social media space.

Massachusetts Securities Division Confronts the Realities and Detail of Social Media

One of the most intractable, regulatory issues in social media for highly-regulated industries has been "What to do about the sharing of links?" In the pharmacuetical space, the requirement of "fair balance" and other considerations have placed serious constraints on link sharing. For the Massachuesetts Securities Division, however, this issue is not so intractable. Simply, the Division has warned advisors that the sharing of a link, or "retweet" in Twitter, "without context", could well trigger impermissible "adoption" or "entanglement" -- but the key point to observe is that by providing "context", a violation might well be avoided. Though the message is still one of "proceed with caution", it also demonstrates a real understanding of how social media works and how it can be used in a compliant fashion.

Some Key Takeaways and Social Media Best Practices for Massachuesetts Investment Advisors

As a general rule, social media accounts created or maintained for business will be considered advertising, and subject to the same regulatory requirements as other forms of advertising.
Advisors are now required to retain records of their social media "advertising" and "correspondence".
An adviser may also be responsible for content it did not author, i.e., third-party content, if the adviser has some responsibility for its creation (entanglement) or has somehow endorsed it (adoption) after the content was created.
"Retweets" on Twitter or link-sharing, without "context", may trigger impermissible adoption or entanglement.
Selectively deleting third-party material unfavorable to the adviser but continuing to display favorable content, may be deemed to adopt the remaining content.
Advisers should develop policies and procedures that maintain a schedule for review of third party posted content and, if the adviser chooses to remove content, criteria for removal.
LinkedIn recommendations may constitute impermissible testimonials and advisers should consider a policy to restrict the public posting of client recommendations to their LinkedIn profile.
Facebook “Likes” by themselves are not likely to give rise to a violation of the prohibition of testimonials, though advisors are warning against entangling themselves in such "Likes". (The Division explained: An adviser that suggests on their webpage that the number of “Likes” received is evidence of their ability as an investment adviser may run afoul of securities laws.)
Certain social media websites, such as Twitter, may be an inappropriate medium for discussion of performance advertising because of challenges to full and fair disclosure of all material information.
An adviser should conduct a daily review its social media presence and ensure that any content that could be considered non-compliant is removed or hidden from view promptly.
To avoid impermissible "adoption" or "entanglement" with third party content, advisors not solicit third party content on their website nor link to third party content that they have not thoroughly reviewed.
Advisors should provide a disclosure statement on their social media sites.
On the subject of advisor supervision and compliance, the Division largely embraced and adopted the recently enunciated SEC guidelines, charging its advisors to adhere to those standards, calling upon investment firms to establish a social media compliance program that would specifically address several factors: 1) usage guidelines as to proper and improper use of social media by investment adviser representatives, 2) content standards, 3) the manner and frequency with which an adviser will monitor social media websites, 4) whether investment adviser representatives must have social media content approved prior to public posting, 5) criteria for determining which social media or networking websites may be used by the firm and its representatives, 6) whether to train investment adviser representatives on compliant use of social media, and 7) certification requirements.

Over regulation? A model for other states to follow? What are your thoughts?

For more information on social media best practices, please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore @SocialMediaLaw1 @FinancialSM
Related Reading: 10 Social Media Law and Governance Tips for 2012

10 Social Media Law & Governance Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

1. Create a Social Media Corporate Governance Team.

2012 should be the year in which business gets serious about social media governance, integrating social business into corporate culture.

Your social media governance team should reflect a cross section of your organization and it should become a center of excellence for your business.

Social media silos do not work.

A social media governance team should bring together diverse talent, including marketing, customer service, IT, legal, and human relations, to share in learning, establish best practices, and create benchmarks for excellence, while humanizing your brand and driving business results.

2. Establish/Update A Social Media Policy.

If your organization doesn’t have a social media policy, you are courting disaster as you are inviting even a single employee to have the power to redefine your brand in one inadvertent or ill-conceived post.

If, on the other hand, your organization was an early adopter of social media (or at least an early adopter of a social media policy!), it is likely time to update your social media policy. In the past year, the National Labor Relations Board has rendered over a hundred decisions touching on the topic of employee use of social media, with many of the Board's actions prompted by overly broad social media policies. The law is finally catching up to the implications and technologies of social media. Your social media policy should reflect those changes and clarifications.

An abundance of social media policies exists online. Be mindful that some of the policies you may find online may also be in need of updating or just plain wrong. You need to invest in getting your policy right and the proper policy for your organization may vary immensely depending on they type of organization you are and the degree of existing regulatory guidelines you must follow.

3. Create a Social Media Playbook

Unlike your social media policy, which establishes the rules and limits of social media engagement, a social media playbook should be more of "how-to" book for your employees, a reference that provides examples of what should and should not be done on social networks. Social network profile templates providing suggestions on how to best project a professional and consistent brand image should be included.

4. Establish a Social Media Communications Crisis Management Plan.

Along the way, your business will invariably have a crisis that will require it to muster its social media resources. Prepare for the crisis before it happens. This should include creating a response chart of who within your organization would be tasked with what and how they would be contacted, as most crises seem to happen after 5:00 p.m. or on a weekend. Have round-tables to identify the events most likely to trigger a communications crisis within your organization and then do some training exercises to run through how you charts and policies would work.

If you are a larger organizations, you likely already have crisis communications plans – they need to include social.

Knowing the mechanics of what to do if an employee has sent a mistweet from a corporate Twitter account (hint: don’t ignore it!) or what to do if your social network account has been hijacked by a spammer, are some of the scenarios you should review.

Be sure to cover this topic in both your social media playbook.

5. Take the Time to Learn the FTC’s Social Media Disclosure Guidelines.

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission, which characterizes itself as “the nation’s consumer protection agency”, updated its endorsement guidelines to include social media, addressing the disclosure requirement for sponsored bloggers and those that sponsor them, along with a series of . Most marketers have never read them. Put them on your reading list! (When the FTC's social media guidelines first came out in 2009, I blogged about about them: they haven't changed. New FTC Rules: Business and Bloggers Beware)

Succinctly, contrary to a large body of writing on the subject, disclosure “tabs”, “buttons”, “links”, and static profile disclosures do not suffice to satisfy the FTC’s social media disclosure requirements. (Disclosures are required within the context of the social conversation.)

6. Provide Your Employees with Social Media Training.

Most of your employees are using social media throughout the day, regardless of what your social media policy may say to the contrary. Get over it. Instead, give your employees the social media training they deserve so that when they are using social media their time spent there will become an asset to your business rather than a ticking bomb.

7. Create a Social Media Decision Tree.

Just as call center employees are often provided with a decision tree to help them to quickly answer a myriad of questions, a social media decision tree should also be established to help employees understand the dynamics of responding on behalf of a brand in social media. The U.S. Air Force even developed a social media decision tree that the pharmaceutical Pfizer later used as the basis for its own. Social media governance should aim to simplify social media participation for employees, while still relying on the good sense of employees to personalize the social conversation. A decision tree will also add to brand consistency.

8. Streamline Access to Compliance and Legal for Social Media.

Social media engagement is all about “real-time” conversation. It doesn’t mean a brand needs to give an instant response to every post or tweet, but it does mean that your company should strive to answer questions quickly -- you can get added time by letting your community know that you have heard a question or complaint and that are looking into it, but whatever procedures need to be followed to provide a response must be time efficient. Having a way to get answers from compliance or legal requires a new approach that dedicates a greater appreciation for the time sensitivity of responding to social network inquiries or comments. Work on a way to accomplish this.

9. Share Regular Updates on Social Media Best Practices.

As social media continues to evolve, so should your best practices and your sharing of information about those best practices. Being attentive to and sharing updated guidance from regulatory agencies should be part of your updates. (This is a task best assigned to your governance team with special input from legal.)

10. Monitor, Assess and Audit Your Social Media Activities.

Even with the best social media policies and training, your company’s social networking activities should be monitored and assessed for excellence. This doesn’t mean that every tweet has to be a masterpiece, but that online social networking engagement is consistent with the brand and contributing to the building of trust, transparency and brand advocates.

It is worth noting that many of the FTC’s social media-related settlements have included mandatory outside audits of social networking activities. Bringing an independent audit into the mix is good idea to help keep monitoring of social business activities as accurate as possible.

BONUS: Cleary Define Who Owns Company-Related Social Network Accounts.

One of the legal hot potatoes of 2011, the dastardly debate of who really owns your Twitter account or your LinkedIn contacts, etc., etc., is set to be formally answered in 2011.

Without taking away the suspense of any impending court decision, ownership of a social media account is subject of debate and litigation if it is not clearly defined and agreed upon between employers and employees or business partners. Dispel the ambiguity and legal uncertainty: make a written agreement that covers the issue.

A written agreement outlining what is to happen with a social media account opened or operated for a business purpose by an employee or business partner on behalf of a business is something that should be expressly defined. Why? Because most now recognize that social media accounts have a business value and, left undefined, issues of ownership are likely to arise when business partners or employees part ways.

What social media compliance issues do you find most challenging?

Please join me on Twitter at: @GlenGilmore and @SocialMediaLaw1

Related Post:
Don't Let Legal Keep You Out of Social

3 Lessons From Lady Gaga's $9 Billion Twitter Hack

2011-12-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

"Gaga, oh la la..." Offering an iPad2 to each of her Twitter followers -- ah, sorry, "monsters" (her term of endearment for her adoring fans)...Let's see (pulling up the calculator app), that's a tidy sum exceeding $9 billion dollars to keep a hacker's promise of an iPad2 to each of Lady Gaga's 17,113,943 Twitter followers. (No similar offer/hack was made on her Facebook page where she boasts 45,775,157 "monsters"!)

Joining the ranks of U.S. President Barrack Obama and Britney Spears, Lady Gaga found her Twitter account hacked, repeatedly offering an iPad 2 to her followers. Even a bit much for a super-rich social media superstar who was the first to hit one billion YouTube views.

I spotted the story when TechCrunch first tweeted about it, less than an hour into the hack. I immediately started tracking Lady Gaga's Twitter account to see how the communications crisis would unfold. There was a running battle of the iPad offer appearing, being deleted, and reappearing.

With no message interjected from her Twitter account during the pitch of battle explaining what was happening, viewers were left to puzzle over what was really going on, though some math would have made it more likely than not that it was a hack, given the $9 billion dollar pricetag. (No, I didn't click on the tempting link as I feared my own adoring Twitter fans...ok, friends...would soon be receiving a promise of a free iPad2.)

After about two hours, the running battle ended with Lady Gaga emerging victorious:

The tweets from her account that followed this announcement were her typical tweets.

3 Lessons In Crisis Communications

From Lady Gaga

1. Plan for Your Social Media Account To Be Hacked

"Wait, I'm not a superstar. I'm just running a small business and trying to be social." It doesn't matter. Scores of social media accounts are hacked every day. Some hacks happen because someone trustingly taps a malicious link. Others happen because someone knows how to do it and you're their unfortunate victim. Others happen because one of the apps you use is "leaky". Plan on being hacked and what you'll do when it happens. (Having a secondary account already set up is a good way to start correcting the facts while you struggle with the task of wrestling back your account.)

2. Pay Attention to Your Social Media Accounts

Social media is 24/7, viral and real-time. If someone has hacked your account, you need to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, as NBC News learned when its Twitter account was hacked and the account messaged a false report of a new attack on Ground Zero. In the case of NBC, the account was taken down within ten minutes. In Lady Gaga's case, the battle raged for about two hours.

If you can, have more than one person monitoring your account. Know that social network monitoring needs to continue even after 5:00 p.m. and on the weekends and holidays. You owe it to your customers, "monsters", and to your brand. It's the price of social business.

3. Tell People What Happened, Where It Happened -- and Return to Business

For Lady Gaga, the return to business took place in a measured way, with a tweet announcing the hack was over, then two quick tweets about her normal routine and her appreciation for her fans...I mean, "monsters".

Don't ignore a social network hack or other communications crisis on your social network account. Let your customers know you ran into a problem, what the problem was, and that the problem's been fixed -- then return to your normal routine. (Yes, an apology is always good idea, too.)

If you can, communicate during the crisis what is taking place. Stay calm. Return to your routine after you've cleaned up any mess and offered the appropriate apologies or explanations.

What might you have done differently?

Related Posts

6 Lessons From Red Cross Beer Tweet

How NOT to Use Hashtags & RTs in a Crisis

And please feel free to join me and my "monsters" on Twitter! @GlenGilmore

A Social Media Reminder from the #NEearthquake #smem

2011-08-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

"[T]ime for the E Coast to realize a 5.8 isn't a real earthquake." I was lectured on Twitter. No doubt.

Everything is always a matter of perspective. I had nothing to judge it by, but to me it seemed impressive. I felt a deep sway. I thought I might have gotten dizzy for some reason. I stepped outside to see if a tree had fallen on my roof.

I then returned to my desk and checked Twitter: the north eastern U.S. had had an earthquake. It rattled nerves more than anything else.

Still, it is a moment to reflect. And I must confess, it impressed the heck out of me -- and I'm not easily impressed.

I naturally thought to call my family. For about a half hour, though, the phones shared a simple message: "All circuits are busy." "So just send a text," another person on Twitter lectured. Fine. But what if I needed to make a 9-1-1 call. "Ah, well...Welcome to our world!"

Let's begin planning for a "real" disaster - and optimizing social media

There are tales of police departments using social media to fight flash mobs and to track criminals. Yet, for some reason, there are far fewer examples of social media being used to listen for and respond to basic emergencies. "Well, that's what 9-`1-1 is for," I can already hear my detractors say. But what happens, as happened in the north eastern U.S., today, when an earthquake strikes and all the phones are overloaded and 9-1-1 can't be contacted? I know, I know, "it wasn't a real earthquake." But that's my point, what if had been - one accompanied by massive death, injuries, destruction - and "all circuits busy."

We should be thinking now, more, about how we might put social media to work. Connections already exist. Numerous police departments and other local responders have Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. It's time that they have training and policies to make social media emergency management as effective a tool as it possibly can be.

Don't get me wrong, I know how much is already being done in the field of social media emergency management. Just search #smem on Twitter and you'll find an abundance of innovators and innovation, including FEMA. All well and good, but we can and should do more. Training. Policies.

If I sound slightly alarmist, I hope that you will excuse me. We are products of our past.

Related readings:

"Twitter 911" - A Proposal

10 Reasons Social Media Is Important in a Real Crisis

Social Media & Emergency Response Lessons from a Pioneer

Please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore and @CrisisSocMedia

Please share your comments and ideas! Thank you!

10 Commandments of Social Media for Financial Services

2011-07-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

FINRA and the Existing Social Media Guidelines, 10-06

In January of 2010, the Financial Services National Regulatory Authority (FINRA), "the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States," issued Regulatory Notice 10-06, a set of ten social media guidelines for financial firms and their registered representatives, in Question and Answer form, recognizing that "Americans are increasingly using social media."

New Social Media Guidelines Coming,
But 10-06 to Remain Unchanged

More recently, on June 28, 2011, at the IRI Government, Legal and Regulatory Conference, in Washington, D.C., Richard G. Ketchum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FINRA, issued a statement that FINRA's "goal is to provide further guidance on these issues in a Notice to be published later this year."

Importantly, however, in all the statements addressing the forthcoming additional guidelines, FINRA representatives have emphasized that any new guidelines will supplement rather than change the social media guidelines presented in Regulatory Notice 10-06. This news, coupled with the the announcement of Morgan Stanley that its nearly 18,000 financial advisers will be tweeting on Twitter and posting on LinkedIn before the year is out, has awakened a new interest in the use of social media within the Financial Services sector.

The 10 Commandments of Social Media

for Financial Services Slideshare

To help financial services firms, broker-dealers and their registered representatives better understand the opportunities and obligations of Regulatory Notice 10-06, the 10 Commandments of Social Media for Financial Services Slideshare has been prepared to review the guidelines that are expressly to remain core principles for social media engagement by the financial services.

For more information relating to Social Media for Financial Services, please follow: @FinCMO

2 Big Lessons from Morgan Stanley's Social Media Announcement

How have the existing Rules worked and what new guidelines are needed to give the Financial Services the latitude it needs to engage in new media? Please share your comments.

Companies Using Social Media Get More Customers & Revenue #ROI

2011-06-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Still wondering if social media is a worthwhile venture for your business? According to a newly-released survey of over 17,000 businesses world-wide, conducted by Regus, figures confirm, with rare exception, that those businesses that invest in social media see a measurable return on their investment, both in terms of new customers and increased revenues.

According to the survey's analysts, the results show that "a good blog is now no longer a pleasant addition [to a business' marketing presence], but a core skill and savvy use of Twitter and Foursquare, for example, can be real differentiators for a business."

For more social media news, please join me on Twitter: GlenGilmore

Twitter & #FB Beat #LinkedIn In Daily Love

2011-06-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

The numbers are in: LinkedIn doesn't get much daily love compared to Facebook and Twitter. "52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform daily, while only 7% of MySpace users and 6% of LinkedIn users do the same," according to figures presented in a newly-released Pew study. These figures say much about some key differences in the triumvirate of social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Facebook and Twitter soundly trump LinkedIn for daily engagement. This should give pause to some who still persist in thinking that LinkedIn is the only social network they need to be on to stay abreast of trends and topics related to their fields. The most vibrant conversation is clearly taking place on Facebook and Twitter, as demonstrated by a much higher level of daily engagement than found on LinkedIn. (Yes, there's plenty of chatter on all social networks, but, by engaging, you'll learn how to sift for the conversation gold.)

Please feel free to join me on LinkedIn Facebook Twitter

Please comment below to let me know what you think about the stats and what they mean! Thanks!

Twitter Best Practices For Business

2011-06-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a great place to do business, if you follow some simple best practices. Twitter has done a nice job of outlining core advice on the subject in their welcome center:

For more great info on best practices for businesses on Twitter, be sure to visit Twitter's resource center for business! Before go, though, please join me on Twitter! @GlenGilmore

Women & 18-22 Year-Olds Most Likey to "Like" Facebook Content

2011-06-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

In its latest study on internet usage, Social Neworking Sites and Our Lives, the independent research organization, Pew, reports that women are significantly more likely than men to "like" content on Facebook.

In addition, the youngest group of Facebook users surveyed, eighteen to twenty-two year olds, were found to be the most likely to "like" and to "like" content most frequently throughout a day - which portends increasing social interactions for brands in the future.

Brands take note!

And you're welcome to join me on Twitter or Facebook!

Confirmed: Most of Your Facebook "Friends" Are From High School

2011-06-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Confirming what we've long suspected, the highly-regarded, independent research organization, PEW, has just released a new report, Social Networking Sites and our Lives, that tells us that most of our Facebook "friends" are, indeed, the very folks we knew from high school....

Now, if you'll forgive me for returning to Twitter, where I'll be checking in on a few new ideas and folks from around the world... @GlenGilmore

Ah, before I go, in case if you were still thinking that social networks are making us more socially isolated, think again:

2 Big Lessons from Morgan Stanley's Social Media Investment

2011-06-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Wall St. Bull photo - Wikipedia

1. Tell Your Story in Social Media or Someone Else Will

Wall Street brokerage powerhouse, Morgan Stanley, made a bold investment decision: within the year, all of its 17,800 financial advisors will be tweeting on Twitter and connecting on LinkedIn. Bullish on Social Media, its head of U.S. sales, Andy Saperstein, proclaimed:

MSSB is committed to continue leading our competition in innovation. This will be a significant competitive advantage.

So where did Morgan Stanley break this bold announcement? Well, ah, it didn't....That announcement came in an internal memo that was leaked to the press and whizzed through the corridors of social media until Morgan Stanley finally acknowledged that the memo was genuine. Social media moves in real time. Not having a presence in social media assures that you will be chasing the story rather than telling it.

2. Just Because You're the Biggest, Doesn't Mean You'll Be the Best

Morgan Stanley, the world's largest brokerage firm, with over 60,000 employees, in 600 offices, in thirty-six countries around the world, has mind-boggling resources at its disposal. What hope is there for medium-sized and small brokerage firms to compete in social media if such a giant is entering the arena? There is great hope and opportunity for smaller financial firms to join the social media conversation and leap frog the giants.

Spam from 18,000 Brokers?

Glossed over by many reports touting Morgan Stanley's decision to invest in social media are the details of the announcement. According to the internal annoucement memo, directed to an inaugural class of 600 of their most successful brokers who will be given the chance to begin using Twitter and LinkedIn by late June of this year, "You will have the ability, with a click of a button, to share pre-approved 'status updates' or 'tweets' with your social and professional networks."

Though the roll out will begin with 600 of its advisors in late June, it will include all of its nearly 18,000 financial advisor before year is out. What will be the effect of 18,000 brokers tweeting the same "pre-approved" content? Morgan Stanley could very quickly find its Twitter accounts suspended as Twitter has gotten much stricter about fighting spam and content farms.

Social media engagement that consists of scores of brokers sharing the same content from a library of pre-approved content is doomed to failure. Smaller and medium sized firms that decide to follow Morgan Stanley's entrance into social networking, but with real commitment to human, real-time engagement, will quickly surpass Morgan Stanley in building a community and connecting with consumers. Smart social media investors will manage their social media porfolio much more effectively if they follow not only the clear rules set by the financial industry's lead regulatory authority, FINRA, but the unwritten rules of effective social media participation: it's about listening, learning, sharing and connecting -- not about spamming "pre-approved" content.

Smaller, independent brokerage houses that can move with greater agility and less bureaucracy, will have an even greater opportunity for social media success than larger firms that just don't understand the human component and real-time nature of social media.

The link to LinkedIn for the head of Morgan Stanley's U.S. sales, Andy Saperstein, who made the earth-shattering announcement about the firm beginning to use LinkedIn and Twitter, appears to be genuine as it is the only account bearing his name. The effectively abandoned LinkedIn account, with no connections, biography or photo, underscores the slow-moving nature of very large organizations even when they are making a seemingly bold, planned-out move. It spells opportunity for the competition.

Your thoughts? Will Morgan Stanley get it right? Will smaller firms manage the investment better? Will it be a good investment?

Please join me on Twitter! @GlenGilmore

Related Reading:

Morgan Stanley to Tweet and Connect on LinkedIn

When Morgan Stanley Talks, People Listen

World's Largest Brokerage OKs Social Networking by Financial Advisors

2011-05-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Photo: Wikipedia

Memo heralds new media breakthrough

New York-based financial services powerhouse, Morgan Stanley, the world’s largest brokerage firm, announced, not in a tweet or a blog, but in an old-fashioned, internal memo, plans to “begin a staged, roll-out for Advisors to use Social Media.”

Mincing no words about the implications of the announcement, the memo’s author, Andy Saperstein, who heads the brokerage’s U.S. operations, observed:

"This will be a significant competitive advantage."

Morgan Stanley’s decision to invest in social media by allowing, initially, a select group of about 600 of its financial advisors to use social media, will undoubtedly leave others in the highly-regulated financial services sector scrambling to follow the leader.

Regulatory Authority Guidelines Met with Industry Social Media Paralysis

Although the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) had provided the financial services industry with social media guidelines in January of 2010, the highly-regulated financial services sector largely greeted the Authority's invitation to participate in social media with paralysis. Responding, nonetheless, to a keen, continued interest in social media by brokerages, FINRA even provided a session on social media compliance at its 2011 annual conference.

Technology Aids Compliance, Spurs Social Media Participation

A requirement of FINRA's guidelines is the archiving of social media communications, a particularly challenging compliance mandate. To this requirement, Saperstein noted in his memo that:

In the coming weeks, Morgan Stanley will implement a technology solution that will capture and retain all communications on approved social networking sites to comply with regulatory requirements.

Although various archiving vendors exist, Saperstein's memo suggests a "technological solution" that may well be proprietary in nature. Whatever it is, it will be closely scrutinized as an industry standard.

Limited Launch in Late June; Full Roll Out Within 6 Month

Announcing a tight timeline, Saperstein explained that the first 600 advisors would begin their social media participation in late June, "with access to LinkedIn and partial use of Twitter", with "the rest of the field" having access within six months. (It is worth noting that Morgan Stanley reportedly reaped huge fees from recently underwriting LinkedIn's IPO.)

Firm to Provide Content for Sharing; Participation Preceded by Training and Profile Approval

Saperstein informed employees in his memo that the firm would provide "a tool for Advisors to distribute Firm approved research and content, providing you with a powerful way to share our unique intellectual content with clients and prospects." Providing employees with content to share through social networks to clients and prospects could have a two-fold benefit: it could ensure that the content shared was branded as well as scrutinized for regulatory compliance.

The lucky 600, who will become Morgan Stanley's social media pioneers, were also told that they would receive an e-mail "with more details on training and how to get started by getting your profiles approved."

No Mention of Facebook and Only "partial use of Twitter"

Interestingly, the memo makes no mention of the largest social network, Facebook, while stating that the financial advisors "will have access to LinkedIn and partial use of Twitter."

The glaring absence of any mention of Facebook may suggest that that particular social may not be part of the brokerage's initial social media roll out. Like the risk-adverse pharmaceutical sector, another highly-regulated industry, wealth management may yet find too many unresolved compliance issues with Facebook.

Morgan Stanley An Early Student of "Significant Share Gains of Internet Traffic" by Social Networks

In 2008, Morgan Stanley noted the fast-growing role of social media in online communications, outlining "significant share gains of online traffic".

What are your thoughts? Is social media a smart investment for the financial services?

Please make one small investment in social media - join me on Twitter! GlenGilmore

For the text of the Morgan Stanley memo, see: Tweet on the Street

5 steps docs can take to avoid 'social media missteps' - HIPPA

2011-05-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2011 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

How To Use Facebook's Comment Moderation

2011-05-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Facebook's moderation tool helps page administrators keep the conversation clean

"Your first mission as our page administrator is to make sure that nothing on the page embarrasses us," clients often warn their community managers. That task is a bit easier thanks to Facebook's moderation tool which allows administrators to create a list of words that are automatically blocked from appearing in the comments of the page. This tool is particularly helpful to those in regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals, who may even wish to not have certain products mentioned to avoid having to respond to a myriad of regulatory obligations.

How does the moderation tool (blocking words) work?

Facebook explains:

You can enter blacklisted terms from the settings section of the comments box. The content of new comments is checked against the blacklist of terms to see if this comment should have limited visibility. The comment is checked via substring matching. This means if you blacklist the word 'at', if the comment contains the sequence 'a' 't' anywhere it will be marked with limited visibility; e.g. if the comment contained the words 'bat', 'hat', 'attend', etc it would be caught.

So how do you create your list of blocked words?

1. Once signed into your facebook page, click on the edit box you'll see on the right:

2. Enter words in the "Moderation Blocklist" block, separated by commas, that you would like to have automatically marked as spam and not permitted to appear in the comments or posts on your page.

3. To block the most commonly used profanities, select the level of blocking from the selections offered by the "Profanity Blocklist" tab.

4. Don't forget to click, "Save Changes".

Your comments? :)

Feds: Employee Facebook Discussions of Working Conditions = Protected Speech

2011-05-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

For employers who missed the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) action last year against the Connecticut ambulance company that fired an employee for remarks she posted on Facebook about her supervisor, the NLRB has initiated another complaint against another employer, Hispanics United of Buffalo, a nonprofit, for similar grounds.

In a press release about its latest complaint, the NLRB explained:

The complaint alleges that the Facebook discussion was protected concerted activity within the meaning of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, because it involved a conversation among coworkers about their terms and conditions of employment, including their job performance and staffing levels.

Five employees were fired by the company after posting comments on Facebook about work load and staffing issues. The company, in its defense, contends that the five employees were fired because their online comments constituted harassment of another employee who had also posted a Facebook comment.

Unless the case is settled, the NLRB, an independent federal agency vested by Congress with the authority to safeguard employees’ rights to organize, will hold a hearing on the matter on June 22, 2011. The case, however, is likely to settle and serve as another warning to employers that employees have a broad right to discuss conditions of their employment with coworkers on the social network of their choice: as the NLRB has made amply clear, it is protected speech.

The complaint the NLRB had filed against the Connecticut company rested on similar grounds: the company had fired an ambulance service worker after she had posted a series of negative comments about her supervisor on her personal Facebook page. Although the company contended that the firing was performance based, and there was also a dispute concerning the employee’s access to union representation during disciplinary proceedings, the NLRB focused on its determination that the employee was engaged in a protected activity when she posted the comments about her supervisor and responded to further comments from her coworkers. The NLRB also cited the company’s social media policy as being unduly restrictive and violative of the right of employees to discuss workplace conditions.

The case was settled in February of this year and the NLRB used the occasion to give employers some clear guidance concerning the rights of employees to use social networks:

Under the NLRA, an employer cannot unduly restrict its employees’ ability to discuss terms and conditions of employment, regardless of whether a union exists, for fear that such restriction will impede employees’ ability to fairly unionize. At the same time, the NLRA does not provide carte blanche for employees to criticize or disparage their employers.

Simply stated, “employees may discuss the terms and conditions of their employment with coworkers,” on social networks.

In settling the case, the company “agreed to revise its overly-broad rules to ensure that they do not improperly restrict employees from discussing their wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers and others while not at work, and that they would not discipline or discharge employees for engaging in such discussions.”

Employers who have not revised their social media policies to make it clear that any restrictions stated within their guidelines in no way limit an employee’s right to discuss “the terms and conditions of employment” with coworkers are putting themselves at risk of action by the NLRB or setting themselves up for failure in the event that a dispute arises with an employee concerning their social network comments. Even where other grounds for employee disciplinary action may exist, they are likely to be given little weight if a violation of an employee's right to "concerted activity" is found.

6 Things Pharma Can Do While Waiting For FDA Social Media Guidelines #socpharm

2011-05-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Although the FDA has its own Facebook page, Twitter account (actually, it maintains, at last count, nine Twitter accounts), a blog, a YouTube account, and Flickr account, it has once again disappointed the pharmaceutical industry by announcing another study that will further delay desperately-desired social media guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry. While many pharmaceuticals have already waded deeply into to the waters of social media, just as many are concerned about the implications of not having clear FDA guidance.

What can be done by pharmaceuticals as they await FDA social media guidelines?

1. Strengthen Your Social Media Team

Every pharmaceutical company needs to have an in-house social media marketing team, a group of individuals who are passionate about the digital and social space. In addition to marketing leaders, the team should include representatives from human relations, customer relations, IT, and legal. They should focus on further educating themselves in new media, its techniques, strategies, and tools, through ongoing training and conference participation. They should be setting goals, establishing policies, and eventually providing the in-house training that will help the larger organization understand the integration of digital and social marketing.

2. Know the Social Media Guidelines that Do Exist

Alhough pharma always thinks of the FDA when it considers social media guidelines, companies are also well advised to understand that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is charged by Congress with stopping “unfair and deceptive acts or practices.” The FTC wasted little time in updating, in 2009, its revised Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, found in 16 C.F.R. Part 255, to address marketing within social networks. Since revising its Guidelines, the Commission has been vigilant in pursuing perceived violations of the updated rules. Nonetheless, many marketers remain oblivious to the guidelines, risking sanctions that can cause serious damage to their brands.

In announcing the guidelines, the FTC offered a detailed summary of the provisions relating to social media:

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

3. Review and Update Your
Social Media Guidelines

Many companies, in the rush to restrict employee social media participation, adopted social media policies that prohibit virtually any discussion of workplace matters online. Such policies may run afoul of the National Relations Labor Board (NLRB), which has initiated actions against companies where their social media policies were deemed to be too restrictive of employee conversations relevant to workplace conditions. The NLRB objection to such restrictive social media policies transcends the issue of whether a workplace is unionized or not: the dispositive question is whether the social media policy prohibits workers from discussing their "terms and conditions of employment."

With over 640 million Facebook accounts, 300 million Twitter accounts, 100 million LinkedIn accounts, and over 7.4 million people on Foursquare, your employees need clear guidelines. Social media policies should be crafted to give real guidance to employees, without interfering with an employee's protected right of discussing working conditions.

4. Develop A Social Media Decision Tree

Where companies are engaging in social media, employees need clear guidance and a streamlined process on how to engage in social media. The U.S. Air Force wrestled with this issue and created a decision tree, which Pfizer Canada modified for its employees. It’s a model every company should strive to perfect.

     5. Make Sure Every Employee Understands
         “Adverse Events” Responsibilities

Pharma’s biggest fear. With employees listening on social media everyday, throughout the day, policies must be updated to ensure that all employees have a clear understanding of what they are to do should they become aware of such an event.

Listen, Respond, Share and Community Build

A. Use Social Media to Educate and Share Wellness Tips

B. Use Social Media to Let Brand Advocates Share Their Stories

C. Use Social Media to Share the Social Good You're Doing

For more suggestions, please join me on Twitter at @HealthcareSMM Your thoughts?

4 Tips for Social Media Community Managers

2011-04-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

1. Have fun.

You won't succeed in social media unless you learn to have fun with it. Social media community building and management is a lot of work. You need to consistently find great content to share. You need to pay attention to your community and engage your community. You need to grow your community. It is labor intensive. You will only succeed in doing these things well if you figure out to how to have fun while doing them. Only you can figure out how to do that, but do it.

2. Share what inspires you.

This relates to the first point. Follow and share what inspires you, what excites you. If you do, you will almost certainly inspire and excite others. The greatest teachers are always those who love their subjects. Even when you are creating content for others, find that element of the subject that excites you; it will likely be the best method of finding the best content.

3. Look for others to join in the fun.

Social media is all about community building. Consider those who would likely enjoy the content you are sharing. Find them by the content they share. Retweet their content. Comment on their content.

And keep in mind, as you work to build your community, that while content may be king, relevancy builds a kingdom.

4. When things get really hot, look for a hydrant to open up.

What? Not everyone has a pool. Figure out what folks are thirsting for and find a way to bring it to them.

Please let me know your thoughts!

And please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore

What You Should Know About the EU's New "Internet of Things" Privacy Framework

2011-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

A practicing attorney and social media strategist, Glen Gilmore is an adjunct professor at the Rutgers University Center for Management Development, where he teaches "Social Media and the Law" and "Privacy and Security in Digital Marketing".

EU "Privacy" Framework Heralds
the "Internet of Things"

To many, "The Internet of Things," a predicted, transformative moment in time when nearly all “things” in the physical world will be interconnected, wirelessly, with communication capabilities linking the physical and virtual worlds for a variety of cooperative applications, is a distant point in the future. To others, the internet of things is now.

RFID "Smart Tags" Connecting
Physical Things to Virtual Things

Radio-frequency identification technology (RFID), a technology that uses "smart tags", tags with microchips, to provide information to a virtual network, is considered to be a primary technology in advancing "the internet of things." In 2011, RFID revenue is expected to exceed $6 billion, with more than 750 million so-called "item-level" RFID tags used in global apparel markets alone. In Europe, about one billion "smart tags" are expected to be used in 2011, linking many "things" to the virtual world.

The European Union (EU), representing twenty-seven member states, has expressed grave concerns about the privacy implications of an unregulated internet and unchecked technology.

Responding to the privacy concerns it perceived as being presented by the "the Internet of Things", the EU, in 2009, adopted a fourteen-point strategic plan of action:

EU's 2009 Internet of Things:
14-point Strategic Action Plan

1. Governance. The Commission will work on the definition of a set of principles underlying the governance of the Internet of Things and the design of an architecture endowed with a sufficient level of decentralised management.

2. Privacy and data protection. The Commission will observe carefully the application of data protection legislation to the Internet of Things.

3. The right to the "silence of the chips". The Commission will launch a debate about whether individuals should be able to disconnect from their networked environment at any moment. Citizens should be able to read basic RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) tags – and destroy them too – to preserve their privacy. Such rights are likely to become more important as RFID and other wireless technologies become small enough to be invisible.

4. Emerging risks. The Commission will take effective action to enable the Internet of Things to meet challenges related to trust, acceptance and security.

5. Vital resource. In connection with its activities on the protection of critical information infrastructures, the Commission will closely follow the development of the Internet of Things into a vital resource for Europe.

6. Standardisation. The Commission will, if necessary, launch additional standardisation mandates related to the Internet of Things.

7. Research. The Commission will continue to finance collaborative research projects in the area of the Internet of Things through the 7 th Framework Programme.

8. Public Private Partnership. The Commission will integrate, as adequate, the Internet of Things in the four research and development public-private partnerships that are being prepared.

9. Innovation. The Commission will launch pilot projects to promote the readiness of EU organisations to effectively deploy marketable, interoperable, secure and privacy-aware Internet of Things applications.

10. Institutional awareness. The Commission will regularly inform the European Parliament and the Council about Internet of Things developments.

11. International dialogue. The Commission will intensify the dialogue on the Internet of Things with its international partners to share information and good practices and agree on relevant joint actions.

12. Environment. The Commission will assess the difficulties of recycling RFID tags as well as the benefits that the presence of these tags can have on the recycling of objects.

13. Statistics. Eurostat will start publishing statistics on the use of RFID technologies in December 2009

14. Evolution. The Commission will gather a representative set of European stakeholders to monitor the evolution of the Internet of Things.

The "Internet of Things" Privacy Framework

Completing the promise of their earlier action plan, the EU and private stakeholders, with a simple, two-page press release and signing ceremony in Brussels, on April 6, 2011, announced that they had established of a voluntary Privacy and Data Protection Impact Assessment Framework for RFID Applications", dubbed the "Internet of Things Privacy Framework" by the New York Times. Specifically, the framework establishes “guidelines for all companies in Europe to address the data protection implications of smart tags (Radio Frequency Identification Devices – RFID) prior to placing them on the market.”

At the signing ceremony, one industry representative observed, “Data protection authorities sometimes seem to be one-track minded and force compliance with data protection rules….Today, we have overcome this very unfruitful deadlock….” Despite the fanfare of many signatures, the framework is voluntary, with no express auditing mechanisms, though record-keeping procedures are outlined, and no defined penalties for non-compliance.

Coincidentally, the announcement of the EU’s voluntary framework came within one week of the release of a report by Carnegie Mellon University showing “lagging compliance” with U.S. industry self-regulation in online behavioral advertising.

Four-step Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)

Under the Commission’s framework, RFID operators would be required to complete a four-step Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) process prior to introducing a new RFID application into the market:

1. Describe the RFID Application;

2. Identify and list how the RFID Application under review could threaten privacy and estimate the magnitude and likelihood of those risks;

3. Document current and proposed technical and organisational controls to mitigate identified risks; and

4. Document the resolution (results of the analysis) regarding the Application.

Let the Internet of Things Begin!

So what is the most significant impact of the framework? Privacy? Perhaps not. Instead, the real significance of the framework may have been captured in an observation made in the official press release from the signing, namely, that the framework will give the business sector the “legal certainty that the use of their tags is compatible with European privacy legislation.” In other words, the framework gives private stakeholders the green light to continue full-steam ahead with their already massive investment in RFID technologies and the “internet of things” it heralds.

Why might industry leaders have been concerned about limitations on RFID technologies? The EU has also just reaffirmed its commitment to "Privacy by Default" as the core of its data protection laws. So Europeans are now given "the right to be forgotten" online and the right to be remembered in real life...

The Internet of Things?

The EU Commission website provides an example to illuminate the “internet of things”:

Take one example: a suitcase itself can indicate which plane it should be sent to. This is possible thanks to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). With RFID, more and more objects communicate with each other, slowly creating a network of information, a so-called ‘internet of things”.

This network could potentially make our lives much easier…No need to worry about your suitcase being sent to the wrong plane anymore! But we must also be careful how we use it, and avoid certain pitfalls.

Thanks! Your pants just told us where you are.

Worried that your smart phone is broadcasting your whereabouts?
Your pants may be doing the same.

What sort of privacy concerns are raised by RFID tags?

According to the commission, one concern the new Framework seeks to address is “the possibility of a third party accessing your personal data (e.g., concerning your location) without your permission.” How could that happen? Well, the pants you just bought might come with a small, RFID tag that has an “electronic memory that is readable and perhaps writable, and antennae.”

The U.S. Approach

Ever lagging behind the EU’s privacy initiatives, the U.S., in a staff report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concluded:

The FTC staff also agrees with the EC that there is a need to raise consumer awareness about RFID technology, in order to enhance consumer trust and to give consumers the tools to protect themselves from the risk of misuse of their information. Given the current stage of deployment of consumer-facing RFID applications, however, the FTC believes that mandating or encouraging specific technological tools for protecting consumer privacy is premature.

How Will the Internet of Things Be Social?

The New York Marathon provides a great example of how the "internet of things" will interact with the virtual world and integrate with social:

What are your thoughts? Please let me know!

And please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore and @SocialMediaLaw1

Stray from Your Niche to Build Better Connections

2011-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

There are some who consider it sacrilege to ever stray from a chosen niche. They are missing out on important, new connections. "I unfollow if I see people tweeting quotes or blipping music," some on Twitter warn. Why so harsh?

Without personality, social media is not social. In straying from the niche that may define us to some degree as a "thought leader", we open up our world to unexpected connections. Cast a wider net. Dare to show a personality and have some fun.

So what does the bizarre picture above have to do with all this? Earlier today, I tweeted the following:

Unreal: Aircraft Detection Before The Invention Of Radar http://bit.ly/fwHhNc #aviation #tech #photos

"Whoa", some of my social media purists no doubt exclaimed when they saw a tweet that bore no semblance of a relationship to the subject of social media. "Has he gone mad - again?!" "#aviation?"

What happened moments after I sent that wayward tweet? My screen was populated by some tweeps I had never connected with before, simply because I had dared to stray from my chosen niche. Social media should be about expanding our circle of social connections. Straying from your niche will help you achieve this.

Be forewarned, I sometimes share quotes I consider to be inspiring, videos I think are just fun, and even, occasionally, "blip" some music. (A word of warning, nothing seems to inspire a loss of followers as quickly as sharing some music does -- but chances are you'll also just a quickly discover you've added a few more connections.)

So, show your personality, have some fun -- and stray. Surprise us with wherever your wider interests may chose to take you. We'll be delighted to learn more about you and broaden our own horizons.

What about the losses? At the end of the day, I think you will find that you have had more gains and built a stronger, more interesting tribe.

Your thoughts?

Please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore

14 Ways Unions Are Using Twitter #Labor

2011-03-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

*The writer is an honorary member of the Mercer County Central Labor Council, NJ, AFL-CIO

1. Sharing Multi-media to Tell a Story

A picture may be worth a thousand words -- but a video is even better:

2. Updating Members on Contract Negotiations

3. Promoting Members

4. Reminding Members of Marches and Rallies

5. Getting Members to Sign Petitions

6. Encouraging workers to organize

7. Reaching Out To Other Locals And Connecting

8. Encouraging Elected Officials to Take Action

9. Encouraging Members to Contact Elected Officials

10. Thanking Elected Officials for Support

11. Calling for Boycotts

12. Whistle-blowing

13. Using Their Profiles to Bring Viewers to Their Blogs & Main Sites

14. Using Their Tweets to Promote Other Social Media Accounts

How Unions Could Do Better On Twitter

If anyone should be good at being "social", it should be unions. It's their lifeblood. Yet, it's here where some unions are falling short. How?

The biggest mistake some unions are making is to simply be absent from social media, creating a void that lets their opponents dominate the arena.

And some who are there would be better served by embracing some the medium's basic social gestures, like following back those who follow it, so a better bond can be created and communications fostered. (You might even get a hot tip or two when there's an ability for private conversation, which requires mutual following.)

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union boasts in its Twitter profile that it "represents 1.3 million workers in the U.S. and Canada." Yet, the UFCW only follows 357 accounts and only garnered a meager 1,970 followers. If it encouraged its members to participate in social media, it could magnify its voice within the medium in a major way, allowing it to carry its message more effectively.

There's also not much retweeting going on, which means that union accounts are missing out on one of the easiest ways of building new connections in social media, which is through sharing great content from others. When retweeting occurs, the favor is often returned, allowing messages to travel much farther than they would otherwise. One accounts that gets this right belongs to the @AFL-CIO

Others have created accounts, but have let them sit dormant -- for years.

Also, letting others take your primary territory is never a good idea. Name squatting occurs on Twitter. When it does, every effort should be made to regain the ground by filing a formal complaint so that a primary name is not simply wasted by someone who might or might not have a malicious intent.

Also, the first step in creating a strong social media presence is completing an account profile: uploading a profile picture, setting an eye-catching background design, filling out a biography that has keywords to aid in search and information that helps viewers understand what the account represents. Links in the profile also help viewers get to sites rich in detail and connections. Not taking these steps misses an important opportunity.

As with so many businesses, unions are creating a presence on Twitter and still finding their way. Once they do, the conversation of the forum will become even more vibrant.

Please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore

"Twitter 911" - A Proposal #smem

2011-03-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

The author of this post served for eight years as the Mayor and Public Safety Director of a community of nearly 100,000. During his tenure as mayor, his community was recognized by CNN as the "10th Safest City in America." He also served as Deputy-Chair of the NJ League of Municipalities Hometown Security Task Force. During America’s Anthrax Crisis, Gilmore was dubbed "a national hero" by The New York Times and a "man of action" by Time magazine for his leadership in responding to a deadly risk posed to over 1,000 postal workers at a contaminated, regional postal facility in his community. An adjunct with Texas A&M University, he has assisted in the creation and delivery of crisis leadership courses funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through @NERRTC.

Is it really such a crazy proposal? “Twitter 911.” A simple network of Twitter accounts with a town name, state and 911:

How would it work?

1. Open accounts. If a county or parish has seventeen towns, they open seventeen accounts:

@MyTownNJ911

@YourTownNJ911

@HisTownNJ911 etc.

2. Train. Train 911 call center employees.

3. Provide computers to call center. Dedicate a couple computers in the 911 call center (most towns have a few computers they can reshuffle at a moment’s notice without incurring any new cost).

4. Provide legal disclaimers. Consult with your legal department on how best to phrase all necessary disclaimers warning the public that using a Twitter account to convey an emergency message should only be used if someone finds that they cannot otherwise use a telephone to call 911; include warnings about possible “down”/”fail whale” times, and an alert time that may not match that of a telephone call to a 911 call center. – Whoa, wait, then why bother? Because it provides an easily accessible and integrated secondary means of communication.

5. Inform the community before launch. Inform the public. Go on local television, radio, print, Kiwanis and Rotary. (Yes, tell them to always try calling 911 first, but know that there is a secondary line of communication available if they cannot.)

6. Use the account for incoming emergency messages and “Reverse 911”. Reverse 911 is when a call system is used to send out emergency messages. The public could be informed that the account will also be used to send out emergency messages, while reminding the public that if it does so, questions concerning such messages should be referred to a non-emergency account or elsewhere, so that the incoming tweets remain emergency based only.

So what county or parish will be the first to harness the power of Twitter for emergency response?

Some communities are already experimenting with Twitter, gathering and sharing information. Fire companies are there. Police departments are there.

Will a county or parish seize this social media communication platform and put it to work, if even in a pilot initiative?

More likely, it will begin where so many emergency preparedness and response innovations begin: at the local level.

Ah, but you ask: What happens when Twitter goes down? The same thing that happens when you try and make a call, but can’t.

Your thoughts?

Please join me on Twitter: GlenGilmore and CrisisSocMedia

Related Posts:

Could Social Media Like 'Twitter' Be the Next 9-1-1? | Woodruff Health Sciences Center | Emory University

Disaster victims expect more than Facebook can deliver, FEMA director says

30 Reasons to Use Social Media in an Emergency
10 Reasons Social Media Is Important in a Real Crisis

Social Media and Emergency Response Lessons from a Pioneer

How NOT to Use Hashtags and RTs in a Crisis

30 Reasons to Use Social Media in an Emergency #smem

2011-03-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

1. It’s real time

2. It’s self correcting

3. It instantly connects you to millions of people around the globe.

4. It never sleeps.

5. It connects you to hundreds, if not thousands, of relief agencies.

6. It connects you to thousands of emergency response professionals.

7. It's almost always at the scene of an emergency when it happens – or it’s there moments afterwards.

8. It let's emergency responders monitor actual conversations at the scene of the emergency in real time

9. It provides numerous, real-time reports on the effects of the emergency.

10. It provides real-time photos of the effects of an emergency.

11. It provides real-time videos of the effects of an emergency.

12. It provides numerous, real-time reports on the success or failure of relief efforts.

13. It provides real-time photos of the success or failure of relief efforts.

14. It provides real-time videos of the success or failure of relief efforts.

15. It takes away much of the guesswork of emergency response.

16. On Twitter, hashtags let emergency responders, those in need of relief, relief workers and volunteers focus their listening and conversations to streamline the process of providing assistance when and where it is needed most.

17. It can provide real-time injury/casualty reports.

18. It can give real-time information on missing, separated or found emergency victims.

19. GPS capabilities can let rescuers know exactly where victims are.

20. GPS capabilities, as well as information from conversations shared, can help with crisis mapping.

21. Listening to social conversation can provide critical information on developing crises and permit the introduction of information within the same networks that may defuse a crisis.

22. Armies of volunteers stand at the ready to assist in the sifting of information.

23. You don't have to worry about matching or changing radio frequencies. (Not to worry, Twitter users know to turn to Facebook when the “fail whale” appears!)

24. The public already turns to social networks when an emergency occurs; they’re already there listening and communicating when emergency response professionals are ready to communicate.

25. It’s a powerful way of communicating emergency preparedness information to a vast audience of listeners from an incredibly diverse demographic spectrum.

26. Numerous, well-established accounts with scores of followers can be tapped to help curate critical information and pass it on to millions (Naysayers, please revisit point 2.)

27. The vastness of social network usage lets information be targeted as well.

28. You can tap into nearly any resource in a single tweet.

29. Twitter Lists can be used to identify particular sources or resources.

30. It's easy to use….

I’d love to see this list expanded so that I could provide an updated post and a more complete list. Please share in the comments additional reasons you many think of to use social media in an emergency.

(Also, if I write a updated post, I‘ll be sure to share who suggested any additional reasons!)

Thanks.

And please join me on Twitter:

@CrisisSocMedia and @GlenGilmore

Related Readings

"Twitter 911" - A Proposal

10 Reasons Social Media Is Important in a Real Crisis

How NOT to Use Hashtags & RTs in a Crisis

Social Media & Emergency Response Lessons from a Pioneer

Ode to "Social Media Climbers"

2011-03-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

"Social media climbers"....you know who they are...they are not blue bloods. They don't share our pedigree. They don't have OUR credentials.

Oh. Okay. Gottcha.

Excuse me, tell me again, just who are the "social media climbers"?

WHO?!!! ANYONE WHO IS NOT LIKE US, A SOCIAL MEDIA OZ, WHO IS, AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN....

At an earlier point in my Twitter experience, when I had garnered a following of about 50,000, when I was experimenting with Twitter, as I still am, I applied for a service that lets applicants decide if they would want to host an ad on their Twitter page. I got my first request, from NASCAR, for a chance to race a car...Heck, I'd retweet that if I wasn't paid, so I retweeted it and got paid - and I disclosed that I got paid.

Got my second request for an ad on my Twitter page, along with a request for a retweet: mention a new social media book and that if anyone follows and RT's, that person got a chance to get an autographed copy of his book. I thought that was fine, as my standard is simple: I will only accept a payment for an RT if I would have RT'd it without being paid. In this instance, my impresssion was the guy who wrote the book was down to earth and expert in social media: I'd be glad to promote his book. So I ran his ad on my page and retweeted the message about his book.

Curiously, he didn't reciprocate my follow, though, apparently, his press agents deemed me worthy enough to tweet about his book. That's fine. That was nothing but a business arrangement.

Ok, so what am I gettting at?

Not long after I ran his ad, thinking I was promoting a book for a guy who was on the level and social, I started to see him frothing about "social media climbers", you know, those people on Twitter who try and build a following...."Oh, sorry, you mean those of us who don't have publicists to pay others to run ads from 'social media climbers' asking that they follow you!?" Ah...yah.

Yes, I'm venting.

It galls me when I hear certain "Twitterati" wax poetic about the "organic growth" of their following, when I know they did the unspoken dance of the Twitterati to get their robust following.

One Twitter "god", who follows about 19,000 and has about 44,000 followers, and who is fawned over by so many otherwise astute social media professionals, will pontificate about the "organic growth" of a following on Twitter -- and so many will trip over themselves to say "Amen" - but, I remember when he was following about 50,000, not 19,000...

Hhmmm. I'm guessn I'm not going to be invited to any Mashable events.....

For the record, I am a social media "climber". Fortunately, my clients consistently believe I bring them value. Similarly, it seems that my friends on Twitter, as my friends always, generally forgive me for saying what I think....

Oh, and before you depart dear reader....as I've yet to get my publicist on board, might you be so kind as to follow yours truly? @GlenGilmore Thanks! :)

How NOT to Use Hashtags & RTs in a Crisis

2011-03-12T22:49:00.000-08:00

American fashion house Kenneth Cole, known for its socially conscious advertising, created a Twitter storm when, during the height of Cairo protests for democracy, on a day in which it was estimated that thirteen protestors were killed and hundreds more injured in Cairo, the erstwhile social media-savvy Kenneth Cole sent a message from its Twitter account that plainly aimed to use the Twitter trending topic to shamelessly promote its spring collection:

"Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [LINK] -KC"

Kenneth Cole tweeted an apology when a Twitter uproar ensued that blasted Kenneth Cole for its shameless self-promotion on the back of human suffering.

Despite this glaring example of how not to tweet in the mouth of human tragedy, Microsoft search engine Bing did its best to outdo the Kenneth Cole mistweet by attempting to ride another trending topic of human suffering, the terrible destruction and loss of human life from Japan's Sendai earthquake and tsunami:

A brand asking for a retweet of its name in return for a $1 donation to a relief fund, capped at $100,000, in the midst of a devastating loss of human life, is...let's try: shameless, despicable...

Once again, perfunctory apology tweeted.

3 Social Media Tips During a Crisis

1. Learn what Twitter hashtags are being used during a crisis.

Typically during a crisis, several hashtags appear, allowing the crisis to be followed with a high degree of precision, based on hashtags that identify given aspects of the crisis. Understand what the hashtag means. If you're trying to find out what a Twitter hashtag means, there is a site you can visit for some help: What the hashtag?

2. Never use a crisis hashtag for anything other than important information related to the crisis.

In many cases, those in the midst of a crisis are using the hashtags to relate real-time information to emergency responders and families and friends of victims. Emergency management professionals and a dedicated group of volunteers will also be using the hashtags to pass on critical information. Do not clutter important crisis hashtag streams with banter that does not advance a greater understanding of the crisis or in any way hampers the ability of victims, rescuers, relief organization, families and friends to convey critical information in the most streamlined manner. (You might consider including subject, without the hashtag.)

3. Keep advertising out of Twitter crisis hashtag streams.

Your thoughts?

By: @GlenGilmore @CrisisSocMedia

6 Reasons to Comment on Blogs

2011-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

1. It's easy to do. Ok, so I get that you really don't have time to blog. But you're reading blogs and when you're done, you could make a quick connection and gain a nice bit of exposure by jotting a quick comment. Doesn't have to be a dissertation. Just a line or two.

2. You will read more. Commenting on a blog will get you to read more, because it will engage you more in what you are reading. This, in turn, will get you more interested in seeking out additional content on the subject...It just will. You'll want to see how others have treated the issues and how other readers have reacted to the what was written. A natural, human response.

3. You will write more. Well, to begin with, even that line or two in a blog comment will be more than most write in a creative way. And once you've written your first line, it may inspire others. Before you know it, you'll be saying to yourself: "I should write something about this too." And you should.

4. You will think more. We know that if we're going to comment on something, even a line or two, we need to be sure of what we've just read. It forces us to ponder even a slight moment more on what we've just read. It has a wonderful effect.

5. You will connect more. You want to connect with a blogger? Write a comment, even a single line. You'll get noticed, even if you don't think you've been. And others commenting will take notice too. You'll find yourself connecting with bloggers and other communication leaders.

6. It will inspire you -- and others. What you think is important. Sharing your thoughts with others will inspire you to do more, see more, and share more -- encouraging others to do the same.

Now...don't be afraid to comment...just a line or two.

And please join me on Twitter!

8 Secrets To #Twitter Success #sm

2011-03-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

1. Work at it. The biggest secret to Twitter success (and everything else).

2. Give it time. You won't "get" Twitter for a while. Stay at it. Like riding a bike, you'll know when you've gotten it: it'll start to be fun.

3. Work at it. Hey, wasn't that your first secret? It was and is. But, like riding a bike, once you "get" Twitter, you need to practice even more so that you have the confidence to go farther, try a few tricks, go to new places.

4. Find mentors. The emphasis is on the plural: "mentorS".  My Twitter mentors are many. Who (why)?

Ok, so I'm partial to @Alyssa_Milano Wait! As in 'Hollywood actress' Alyssa Milano? Yep. It's true. Why? Follow her. Don't be stuffy. You'll see a real star who bares herself to her friends and strangers alike, sharing what she thinks and always showing great compassion and humor -- and connecting.  Really? Really.

@ChrisBrogan He wrote the book on social media - well, one of them:  Trust Agents

@mayhemstudios He's a social media hotshot, but he has a disarmingly relaxed approach to Twitter, sharing a mix of light-hearted stuff, with serious links.

@SteveRubel You're not going to get excited following his stream, but you can count on him sharing some solid social media news.

@AskAaronLee Student/marketer from Malaysia - "No average Joe"

@TweetSmarter Because if you do, you will.

@AnnTran_ A simple pleasure.

@markwschaefer  I love when a blogger puts meat into his posts -- real research. That's the only way Mark tweets and blogs.

@mySOdotcom We reconnected recently. Like his candor and friendly approach to Twitter.

@Flipbooks The energizer bunny of Twitter. He's all over the place by way of subject, but goes toe to toe with @GuyKawaski (another mentor) in pumping out interesting content.

@jeanlucr A French version of the energizer bunny. About half his tweets are in French, the rest in English. Constantly shares great social media content.

@buzzedition  @iconic88 @adamsconsulting @zaibatsu @LoriMoreno @webaddict  @DrJeffersnBoggs @joycecherrier ... We've all been together now for a while. Good people. And they're there especially when you need them.

@2morrowknight Get to know him. A great guy. His #TwitterPowerhouses series (of which I'm honored be an advisor to) has established him as Twitter's unofficial biographer.

@pramitjnathan and his alter ego @iampramit Always good content and very decent guy.

@SocialNetDaily @douglasi @jeffbullas Good, steady stream of social media content.

My mentor picks all over the place. There are MANY, MANY more....See who I retweet: you'll find the others.

5. Be yourself. Share what you find to be important. Follow your passion. If you do, you'll connect and inspire others. Don't forget: it'll take a little time.

6. Listen and learn. Keep evolving on Twitter. Listen to yourself and others and change as you learn.

7. When people ask for help, do your best to help them. Do this and you'll make some wonderful connections -- friends and business partners. (Yes, Amy and Anne, this is where I mention ya!)

8. Find a way to have fun. Have fun! Figure out what puts a smile on your face, then do it and share it on Twitter. You will assuredly offend some (it's just how it works), but, rest assured, you will connect with others. It's always those we connect with that really matter.

BONUS Tip: Connect with me on Twitter! :-)

POSTSCRIPT: My friends at @TweetSmarter wanted to underscore their adherence to "Secret No. 1" by quickly putting together a Twitter List of my mentors I've mentioned here! Please follow them. You'll be glad ya did! http://twitter.com/TweetSmarter/glengilmorementors/members

Say "I love you."

2011-02-21T21:23:00.000-08:00

I just saw a tweet from @DannyBrown: "The most personal blog article I'll ever write - would love to hear *your* story.

Danny shared a very personal story. How he nearly committed suicide. He invited his readers to share their story.

How do we not?

We all have a "story", an event or two extremely pivotal in our lives. You'll get an abbreviated version of one of mine.

Lt. Gilmore (on the right)

Two day before my graduation ceremony from Rutgers, I was at Ft. Drum, NY. I was an ROTC cadet and an Infantry lieutenant with the New Jersey Army National Guard. I wasn't required to go to this particular annual training event, but did so because our Battalion Commander said he needed lieutenants to help with the training (ok, if a colonel "asks" a lieutenant for anything, there is only one answer to be given; actually, didn't have to reach that point: the Battalion Commander was a great guy).

Suffice it to say that I was seriously injured during a so-called "war game" - "Defense of Europe": not so far-fetched during the cold war....My Platoon Sergeant died instantly at my side. He was a good man and a good soldier. Our APC driver had his teeth knocked in and a collapsed lung. I was hurt pretty badly. I was read my Last Rites. My parents, who were busy preparing my graduation ceremony, received a call informing them that they needed to travel to see me as the doctors did not think I would live.

At the moment I regained conciousness, or the point where I could understand what had happened, I suddenly thought of so many things, but one thing in particular: loved ones who I had never told that I loved them. I, of course, had and still have, a profound sense of loss for my dear Platoon Sergeant. I also have a searing understanding that we walk this world only once and that all can change in a blink, but emblazoned is my understanding that we should never be stingy with love. The more love we give the more love we have -- and what we don't share eats away at us.

I learned other things, too. Like when a driver insists on waving a person to cross a busy street, only to steam as he watches the seemingly healthy young man saunter at a slow and measured step crossing the street, he might consider if there isn't a reason other than inconsideration that causes the "punk" to saunter. How when on a bus an "old timer", no doubt a military vet himself, grumbles about the "punk" haircut on the kid seated in front of him, he might want to pause and consider whether there could be a chance that the "barber" might've been an Army surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center....

I suspect that I've shared enough, if not too much, and hope that I've shared enough: tell those you love that you love them. Don't honk your horn at the kid who moseys across the road after you've had the courtesy to stop and wave him on. And never make fun of anyone's hair cut...

Dan, how'd I do?...

And, yes, reader, it's your turn, what's your story...

6 Lessons From @RedCross Social Media Crisis

2011-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

A social media crisis can occur very innocently and quickly, as when a social media community manager "mistweets", sending a message intended for one Twitter account to another. The consequences can be humorous or disastrous: much depends on how the "crisis" is handled.

Such a mistweet occurred with the official Red Cross Twitter account. A message was sent to the account's more than a quarter of a million followers touting the discovery of "more beer" and boasting: "...when we drink we do it right. #gettingslizzerd"

A nightmare? For most, perhaps, but for the Red Cross, expert at handling a crisis, through candor, quickness, and humor, they turned it into a positive.

6 Lessons from the Red Cross Mistweet

1. When a crisis occurs, address it quickly.
2. Respond to the crisis in the same forum where it occurred, as well as putting to work other available social media networks.
3. Be honest about the mistake.
4. Apologize for the mistake.
5. Don't panic.
6. Use the moment to humanize your brand.

The Red Cross tells the story best in their blog.

Photo credit: JasonWatkins, Flickr

Social Media & Emergency Response Lessons from a Pioneer

2010-08-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

In Case of Emergency, Read Blog creator, John Solomon, recently conducted an interview with Los Angeles Fire Department Public Information Officer, Brian Humphrey . Humphrey is a pioneer in the integration of social media with emergency preparedness and response. His remarks underscore the power of social media to avert a disaster.

From practical experience, Officer Humphrey offers some important lessons for emergency response agencies:

1. Emergency response agencies need to get involved in social media. “Get in the pool…Listen. Absorb the information around you.”

Social media networks can act as critical listening posts for emergency response agencies. Joining such networks and monitoring them for key words during key events -- and providing timely information through social networks -- can help prevent a crisis.

2. Understand that social media is a force multiplier. “It allows you to hear over a broader area. It helps you filter the information. As an agency, it helps you expand your information beyond the physical borders of your domain.”

Identifying reliable social network sources and influencers can help an agency spot relevant information and communicate preparedness messaging quickly and well beyond an agency's traditional communication network.

3. Listen for the beginning of a crisis and respond vigorously the moment you hear one developing. Social network messaging can provide early warning of a crisis, whether it is the beginning of a sense of panic during a large public event, or news of any of variety facts where the sheer volume or breadth of such facts may suggest a crisis may soon be at hand. Providing swift, credible information addressing the potential crisis through social networks may help avert a crisis or lessen its magnitude.

4. Communicate in a manner that the public wants, i.e., through social networks. Social network messaging has become a primary means of communication, both as a place for communicating as well as looking for information. Providing information through social networks increases the likelihood the information will be heard and shared in a timely network. An added benefit is that social network users are quick to share important news to members of their own network.

5. Make your messaging “hyperlocal” and relevant to your audience. By participating in social media before a crisis arises, emergency agencies can identify social media "influencers" who can help target information so it is shared with those most likely to benefit from receiving the information.

6. Elected and appointed leaders need to understand the importance of social media. “One of the biggest challenges we have is with our elected leaders and appointed leaders in helping them understand as well.”

Social network participation requires a commitment of resources, from time, talent, and training. An understanding by elected and appointed leaders of the role social media can play in a crisis is central to achieving a commitment of resources to effectively participate in such networks and to provide the authority necessary to communicate critical information.

Asked what he might say to officials skeptical about social media, Humphrey offered a somber, real-world comparison that goes to the heart of the pivotal role social media can play in averting a crisis. Humphrey explained:

A brief while ago, 19 people died in a festival in Germany when there was a stampede at a rave or a music festival. We had a potential for such a situation in Los Angeles. More than 100,000 people gathered for a rave. We were monitoring social media and began to see panic-type situation ensuing. We immediately inserted messages into social media that were repeated time and again to many of the 100,000 people there Now, I can’t say for certain that those people there didn’t stampede or have a problem (as a result of the social media messaging they were receiving), but I know that there was no panic because they were getting official information from the source in the manner they wanted it.

The stark comparison offered by Officer Humphrey between two major events, one that ended in tradegy and the other that was completed safely, should not be missed by public safety officials: the vigorous use of social network monitoring and messaging in one prevented panic when public safety officials noted social networking messaging suggesting the beginning of panic, with public officials then inserting their own sustained messaging through social networks. As modes of communication change in fundamental ways, so must the manner in which emergency agencies communicate.

Offering a final thought on the integration of social media with emergency preparedness and response, Humphrey noted: “If it works in LA, it can work in your town too.”

For more on Crisis Social Media, please follow:

@CrisisSocMedia

Related posts:

LAFD - Social Media and Emergency - Twitter

10 Reasons Social Media Is Important in a Real Crisis

Many Emergency Officials Still Don't "Get" Twitter

2010-06-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

“Twitter's 140-character limit causes us some concern. Obviously, we can't give out highly detailed feeds…”

Unidentified Emergency Response Official

The only thing “obvious” from the statement above is that the person uttering it has never taken any time to understand how Twitter works.

Unfortunately, more than one emergency official has spouted a variation of this statement in public announcements touting the planned use of social media during this year's hurricane season.

This oft-repeated canard underscores a glaring lack of an understanding of one of the most basic features of the information exchange on Twitter: the sharing of rich resources through the sharing of links.

“Concerned” because you can’t share much information in 140 characters? How about sharing the complete resources of the Library of Congress with a link of 21 characters? http://bit.ly/agfJ4W Or sharing the wealth of information available from the World Health Organization? http://bit.ly/9VZ0jC Or perhaps simply using 15 characters to direct people to the full informational resources of FEMA: http://fema.gov/ Or the National Hurricane Center hurricane watch in 19 characters? http://bit.ly/RiV0l

Emergency professionals need to spend just a little bit of time trying to understand how Twitter works before dismissing it as being impractical for getting out substantial information. Twitter has already proven itself to be a powerful and constructive resource when a real crisis strikes, whether it’s a tornado, an earthquake, or a civil crisis. Emergency professionals have a duty to understand and tap into social networks, such as Twitter, that would help them in fulfilling their responsibility of reaching out to and connecting with the largest audience possible, with the greatest speed possible.

There’s nothing wrong with being a novice. A novice, however, is expected to study a subject before lecturing about it. Emergency officials who are charged with a primary responsibility of communicating critical information before, during, and after a crisis should invest some time in understanding a network that has consistently beaten every source in providing the first and continuing information during major crises.

For those emergency officials willing to take the next step, there are many link-shortening services to choose from.

Additionally, the most popular Twitter client for the most active Twitter users, TweetDeck, comes with its own link shortener.

Now that we've sorted this minor point out, as Lieutenant General Russel L. Honore, “the General Who Saved New Orleans,” would say:

“Don’t get stuck on stupid…Don’t confuse the people, please.”

,
Please follow me on Twitter at @TrendTracker and @CrisisSocMedia, a stream dedicated to social media best practices in crisis preparedness and response.

Related post: 10 Reasons Social Media is Important in a Real Crisis

*The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and may not reflect those held by any organization or entity with which I may be associated.

When Social Media Becomes a Battleground: 3 Rules #bp

2010-05-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Three major players have enlisted social media in the communications battle covering the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill: BP, grass-roots opponents to BP, and the U.S. government. Each is demonstrating, in its own way, the power and importance of social media in a crisis.

The U.S. Government is taking a staid, but open social media approach to the crisis

The video that appears above is one of many being created and shared by the U.S. federal government on a YouTube channel, DeepwaterHorizonJIC.

As to the purpose of the channel, a statement explains:

A United Command has been established to manage response operations to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident. A Unified Command links the organizations responding to an incident and provides a forum for those organizations to make consensus decisions. This site is maintained by the Unified Commands Joint Information Center (JIC), which provides the public with reliable, timely information about the response.

Addressing the site's comment/posting moderation policy, the site states:

We will not accept comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups; or contain vulgar language. We will also not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic, or that promote services or products.

A comment posted by the site's moderator, included an invitation to visitors with suggestions to follow a link where suggestions should be posted:

I've actually seen some pretty good ideas on here, but I'm only a layperson. If you have an idea on how to solve this problem, please visit the following page and follow instructions to submit your idea. Thanks! http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/546759/

YouTube is just one social media network being being used by the U.S. government to address the crisis. It has also enlisted: Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. Clearly there is an effort to show a government hard at work.

Explicitly, at least, for the U.S. government, its social media engagment aims at providing:

1. the public with "reliable, timely information about the response"

2. organizations tasked with the clean-up a forum "to make consensus decisions"

From the comment moderation, visitors are also being encouraged to share their ideas on how best to respond to the spill.

It's not surprising that an Administration ushered into office, in part, because of its social media savvy, in part, through its social media savvy, would understand both the importance and rules of proactively engaging social networks in times of crisis.

BP has brought its resources to bear in the social media front, but it doesn't quite seem to understand the rules of engagement

You will find BP on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

1. In a crisis, social media requires that key players share the latest information, good and bad; social media pages must be updated as major news develops: it is essential for credibility, authenticity, and transparency

Even after the much-anticipated and touted "top kill" response was deemed a failure, BP's YouTube page continued to feature a cheery message from the BP CEO announcing that he had "just left the control room....The operation is proceeding as we planned it." Huh?!

Another video on BP's YouTube channel shows a BP crew of workers and volunteers arriving at a beach clean-up site, with a voice over noting that BP has described its clean-up operation as a "military-style operation." On this day, BP sent its troops to one of the locations not feature in most of the news clips, as its deployment was to an area with only small "patches" of contamination "widely spread out." While the video is plainly professionally produced, its content, which unmistakably attempts to minimize the magnitude of the disaster, only widens BP's credibilty gap as it is so completely at odds with the images of environmental disaster streaming across all other media. It helps explain why the channel has only mustered twenty subscribers.

2. Social media participants must share a real picture of what is taking place during a crisis; their failure to do so on one front calls into question everything else that they do decide to share

Looking at the collection of photos uploaded at the bpAmerica Flickr stream, one might think that BP's work crews had been sent to the wrong beaches and waters, as the ones shown in their photographs have shining white sand and clear waters. Certainly one would expect BP to include in its Flickr stream shots showing its clean-up efforts, but in the world of social media, especially during a crisis, viewers expect to be given a candid picture of the crisis at hand, not simply a glossy best look. Not so with the the BP Flickr stream.

Nicely-polished productions and squeeky-clean images are precisely the sort of content that makes board members smile - and the rest of the public go elsewhere for their information.

3. When a key player in a crisis disregards the rules of transparency and timeliness, other players will dominate the field

A search of "BP" on Facebook does not bring one to the "official" BP Facebook page first, but, instead to BOYCOTTbp

Claiming to be a "grass roots" response to BP spill, the BOYCOTTbp Facebook page has a simple call to action: "Boycott BP stations until the spill is cleaned up!..."

While the BOYCOTTbp Facebook page includes only a handful of images posted by the site administrator, they, too, are powerful in their simplicity. Fans have posted over 1,000 images.

While the office BP Facebook page has 3,283 fans, the opposing page, BOYCOTTbp has 214,685.

A similar story is told on Twitter, where the "official" BP Twitter account has 8,331 followers, while one BP "spoof" account has attracted 90,050 followers.

The Twitter spoof account, complete with its own leaking version of the bp logo, has been masterful in its flow of scathing commentary.

Among its most recent tweets:

Feeling down? Why not take a long drive and blow off some steam? #bpcares

We are very upset that Operation: Top Kill has failed. We are running out of cool names for these things.

More than an expression of anger is at work in the disparity of the number of fans or followers separating the opposing social media camps: it reflects a gap in credibility.

Please follow me on Twitter:

@TrendTracker and @CrisisSocMedia

Photo Credits:

First three are from the DeepWaterHorizon Flickr photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889869@N07/
Second two are from the BPAmerica Flickr photo stream
The photo of the dolphin is from the BOYCOTTbp Facebook page.
*Recognizing the dynamic nature of social media, numbers of followers or fans, ect., cited in this post, were accurate as of the writing of the post but can be expected to change with time.

6 Tips for Finding Great Content to Share on Twitter #sm

2010-05-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

In the land of Twitter, you are known by what you tweet Finding and sharing great content is the key to establishing yourself as a thought leader in the arena of social media. Here are some Twitter tips on how to find and share great content:

1. Do a Twitter search of users to identify and follow thought leaders in your niche.

Once you've decided what field you would like to establish yourself as a leader in on Twitter, do a Twitter search of users and begin following those who are already sharing content in the space. Listen to what they are saying and how they are saying it and follow their lead. Check in on them regularly to keep abreast of the latest content and share what you consider to be best. Retweeting the latest content from thought leaders is a great way to develop your niche, as well as an easy way to get the attention of and connect with established thought leaders.

2. Create and save Twiter searches for your niche.

Twitter lets you set up and save searches. Create some permanent search topics and check them regularly for good content. Retweet the best of what you find.

3. Create a Twitter List of content stars

Twitter lists are an easy way of keeping track of great curators of information, i.e., people who consistently find and share great content. As you come across users who consistently share great content, add them to your content star list and regularly check in on what they're tweeting. You will learn much and have much to share as well! (OK, I must confess that this is the only list of mine that I keep private. Seems I've read that you shouldn't give away all your secrets...You will find that a good group of Twitter content curators will quickly best the content you may have found previously using Google alerts.)

4. Set up Google alerts

Creating several Google Alerts related to your field is a great way to identify and share original content. You can let the story items pile up and pick through them at your leisure - though keep in mind that the live-stream, real-time nature of news today gives added points to those who share great content first. Use terms in your search that will narrow the results and focus your niche.

5. Create an AllTop account

This one step should help you enormously in staying on top of the latest developments in your niche: go to AllTop and set up your own niche listening post; the site makes easy the process of tracking the best articles on the web. Look for AllTop pages set up by thought leaders in your field to see what they are reading on a regular basis. It's how I start my morning: http://AllTop.com/GlenDGilmore

6. StumbleUpon great content

I'm a fan of StumbleUpon, a site where users identify what they believe to be the best content on the web. The site let's you set up your account to focus you on your own areas of interest. Add a toolbar to your web page and when you need a break from your work, stumble. You'll find some really great content to share!

Now be sure to folllow me on Twitter at @TrendTracker and share in the Comments suggestions you may have for finding that great content! Thanks! Glen (aka, TrendTracker)

Photo Credits:

Twitter Bird: Flickr: Guy Kawasaki

Google Alert: Flickr: Ari Herzog

Travel Checklist #DigitalNomad

2010-05-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. ~ Oscar Wilde

Phuket, Thailand

It doesn't matter how often you've traveled, it's a good idea to run through a checklist before you go.

There are a ton of apps that make travel easier and more interesting. I'd simply recommend you search your destination in the app store to see what the latest and best recommended might be. (Do get a basic learn-the-language one: even the worst attempt at speaking the local language usually brings a smile and warmer welcome.) Do be sure to have a cloud service like DropBox or Evernote to access your documents wherever you go and Skype to call home. (Good idea to add a scan of your important documents: passport, any medical records, etc.)

Do also figure out where your nation's embassy is where you'll be visiting and even considering registering with them if your destination is a little dicey.

Hope my list helps and I hope you can add to it!

Travel Checklist:

__ Plane ticket (Just double check!)

__ Passport/visas

__ Driver's license (I've never been asked to show an "international" driver's license to rent a car overseas.)

__ Credit cards (Bring more than one in case one suddenly no longer works, which can happen when your travel itinerary is overseas and the fraud department gets nervous.)

__ Notify your credit card companies you are heading overseas so fraud protection doesn't close you down.

__ Carry separately a copy of your passport, credit card numbers and credit card company phone numbers. (When your wallet and passport go missing, you'll be glad you took this precaution.)

__ Read up on where you're going and where best to exchange currency.

__ Shots? Vaccines? Talk to your doctor.

__ Prescriptions for contacts, medications.

__ Medical evacuation insurance (You'll be glad you have it if you encounter a serious injury. I succeeded in fracturing my pelvis on a parachute jump in the Netherlands and the not-too-expensive insurance got me a flight back to the States with a private nurse at my side, with the final leg of the journey covering me as the sole passenger on a stretcher in a plane to my home state.)

__ Cell phone, charger and back-up battery (Add camera if you're not using your cell phone for photos) (Got a Kensington mini-battery for my iPhone for my last trip and loved it; unsponsored endorsement!)

__ Arrange overseas travel discount plan for your phone

__ Stop or have someone pick up mail and newspapers

__ Pet care

__ Plant care

__ ID destination wifi areas and Internet cafes before you go.

__ Weather reports for destination

__ Travel guide (ID your must-do sites, eateries, activities in advance: map em out and schedule them)

__ Do a Twitter search of your destination; ask questions

__ Accommodation reservations or options (check for wifi)

__ Compact language guide (sure you can download one into your smartphone, but I still prefer a small paperback)

__ Earplugs

__ Compact speaker to enjoy your music without your headphones

__ Know how you're getting to/from the airport (home and abroad)

__ First Aid kit

__ Toiletries (include toilet paper roll)

__ Sandals/flip-flops (essential if you're hosteling and using community showers)

__ Sunscreen

__ Bathing Suit (always look for a chance to swim!)

__ Sunglasses

__ Small towel

__ Undergarments and socks

__ Cotton pants and jeans

__ Cotton crew shirts and button downs

__ Wool sweater

__ Walking/hiking shoes

__ Business outfit: suit, dress shoes, dress socks, dress shirts, collar stays, cufflinks, ties; overcoat

__ Zip lock bags (great for keeping electronics dry if you're not carrying an umbrella)

__ Compact umbrella (ok, I skip this)

__ Lightweight hiking raincoat (a must)

__ Netbook, mouse, charger (Be sure to have GoogleDocs, DropBox, or Evernote and Skype.)

__ 3-outlet wall plug mount (Crucial in an airport where outlet space is in big demand: you can ask someone to unplug their device from the wall, then give them a outlet, keeping two for yourself!)

__ Daypack cushioned for netbook

__ Electric converters

__ Gym attire

__ Waterproof watch

__ Reading material (I always pack a few books, preferably paperbacks, so that when dependable delays occur, I'm still happy.)

__ Pen (yes, I'm digital, but a pen still comes in handy!), highlighters (I like to highlight what I read - prefer paperbacks when I travel; put em inside a ziplock bag)

__ E-mail yourself important documents and presentations (Primitive, I know, but it works!)

__ Business cards in a zip-lock bag

__ Gift for hosts, new friends

Oh, and if you forget something, not to worry, someone is bound to have what you forgot!

Bangkok, Thailand (Beer boats!)

Please comment and add to my list!

Please join me on Twitter! @GlenGilmore

Related Post: 10 Tools to Improve Business Travel By Chris Brogan

10 Reasons Social Media Is Important in a Real Crisis

2010-05-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the recent Tennessee floods, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) teamed up to put Facebook to the task of assisting in the disaster recovery, announcing, "an online hub for collaborative information-sharing through Facebook for the response and recovery to severe weather and flooding in Tennessee."

In a press release , FEMA explained:

http://www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo hosts an online community where those affected by the disaster and those active in the response can share information. FEMA and TEMA, as well as their federal, state, and local and voluntary agency partners are posting recovery tips and updates, including shelter locations and details on how to access disaster assistance. FEMA and TEMA will also upload videos and photos from the affected area.

1. "Official" social media accounts created by governmental agencies can become a leading hub for sharing critical information.

As was done by FEMA and TEMA following the Tennessee floods, social media can be harnessed by governmental agencies to create a hub for sharing critical information. Victims and those interested in helping them, are eager to find reliable sources of information, especially where they can share their own information or requests. Social networks have become the primary forum for sharing information. "Official" accounts give governmental agencies a chance to better participate in the online conversations taking place. Over 2,000 people became friends of the FEMA/TEMA Tennesseee Facebook site, with many more visiting.

2. Social media beats traditional media in reporting news first; people flock to social networks in time of crisis; social media provides information before traditional media or relief workers can get to the scene of a disaster

Everyone is familiar with the iconic photograph of the airliner downed in the Hudson. Few realize that the first and likely most-viewed photograph of the downed plane was not taken by Pulitzer prize-winning photographer from a major news network, but a guy on Twitter, @jkrums, who took the the photograph with his cell phone, then uploaded the picture to Twitter, where it quickly crossed the globe, shared by social network users eager to pass on viral content.

Twitter Earthquake Detection

More recently, following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, this year, the Nielson rating company reported that Twitter became the primary source for information and buzz about the Hait earthquake.

Back in 2007, Twitterati Robert Scoble pointed out that Twitters beat the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program by several minutes in reporting news of the earthquake in Mexico.

Today, the USGS is developing a system, "Twitter Earthquake Detection" (TED), to integrate Twitter's success in providing first reports of earthquakes.

Tornados and Hurricanes

In April of 2010, when a Tornado struck an Arkansas community, it was Twitter that once again outpaced traditional media in the flow of information.

Using Social Media to Weather the Storm during Hurricane Season

Citizen Journalists and Community Leaders

Very simply, any traditional news outlet or relief agency just can't compete with a worldwide army of citizen journalists who never sleep! These citizen journalists are everywhere and will be on the scene when a disaster strikes. They will have the best first-hand information and pass on critical information to those who know how to listen.

Community leaders who understand the prowess of social media can also be expected to play a role far greater than they ever have by their direct assess to social networks.

3. Social media networks are dynamic: the content can be updated in real-time, from diverse users, to share the latest information about real needs and progress

In the aftermath of Katrina, needs went unanswered for too long. While bottled water began to stockpile, baby food was in short supply. Disaster victims can use social media disaster-recovery sites to inform disaster responders to real needs, not imagined ones.

Relief agencies, for their part, can use social networks to keep updated victims on supply deliveries, information on when utilities or other essential services will be restored. Social networks are ideal for dynamic information sharing.

On the Tennessee Facebook set up in the aftermath of the most recent flooding, FEMA and TEMA also included videos showing the recovery efforts and showcasing the volunteers. Updates on the recovery efforts are important not only to the victims and their families, but to volunteers and relief workers who are asked to accomplish daunting tasks under the most trying conditions.

4. Social networks can be used to direct victims on where to go to file claims and seek assistance

Social network pages set up by official disaster response agencies can help eliminate the guesswork as to where victims should go to file claims. They can be used to include required forms that can downloaded and brought to the sites to quicken the processing of claims. Updating assistance center locations and hours is also helpful.

5. Social networks can be used to enlist, direct, inspire and thank volunteers

A constant in most disasters is the need for volunteers. Social media, by its sheers and viral nature, can be used to enlist volunteers for a variety of tasks. It can also provide the information voluteers need to safely and efficiently serve. Photos and videos of the work of volunteers can be used to inspire those volunteering their talents, as well as others who might be interested in helping too. It's also a great way to let volunteers know that their work is appreciated. On the Tennessee site, visitors to the Facebook page made it a point to share words of thanks to the workers.

6. Social Media covers the story when major media chooses not to or is unable to do so

Tennessee Flooding: Media Missing

Inexplicably, major media gave short shrift to news concerning the most recent, devastating floods in Tennessee, leaving many residents bewildered and without critical information when it was needed most. Many messages on Twitter reflected this gap in news coverage, with network users complaining that the only consistent and current news they were getting on the flooding was from Twitter. When the attention of major news outlets is elsewhere, social networks can fill the breach with real-time information.

Iranian Election Crisis: Media Banned

During the height of the Iran election protests, major media found itself banned by the Iranian government from going to the areas of the country where massive protests were taking place. Major media responded, at first, by largely ignoring the crisis, until the social network users created such a din about the lack of traditional media coverage that the networks ultimately responded by sharing the news pouring out of the forbidden zones through social networks, largely Twitter. It became next to impossible to watch either CNN or Fox news for more than a brief period without hearing "Twitter" updates being mentioned several times.

7. Social Networks are reliable mediums for conveying important information far, wide, and quickly

"Hah, gottcha! What about the Twitter 'fail whale' and all the spam accounts?!"

Ah, the dreaded "fail whale." Actually, the "fail whale" icon, used by Twitter to let its users know that the network is experiencing a problem, does appear more often than users would like to see it, but its appearance is generally pretty brief, usually a matter of seconds or minutes at most.

As to spam, most social networks have gotten much better at eliminating spam and regular users of social networks are also pretty adept at differentiating between genuine and spam accounts and messages

Additionally, regular users of social media also develop a base of trusted users. How trustworthy can user-generated content really be though? How trustworthy is Wikipedia? Ask Britannica.

"What about spreading news 'far, wide, and quickly?" If relief agencies take the time to really engage in social media, i.e., share information, follow others, comment, retweet links from other users, etc., they will develop a network that they will be able to trust and that will trust them in return. The benefit? If a disaster were to occur, they could target critical information around the world.

How? An example, if Twitter user @TrendTracker were to have information that was important to disseminate, he would know that he could turn to his network of Twitter users, send a message with a request that it be "retweeted" (shared by them to their own networks) and also DM them (direct message; a private message) power user (those with large networks of followers who are generally responsive) with an urgent message asking that they share a particular message. With a trusted network of Twitter friends, @TrendTracker knows that he can DM a core of social media influencers (users with high and responsive followings) and have an important message sent to over a million Twitter accounts within minutes.

An important message could even be targeted geographically. He could send it to a large base of power communicators in France via @JeanLucr, another base of users in California via Zaibatsu, another base in India via @ParmitJNathan, Malaysia via @AskAaronLee, etc. Now the is undoubtedly an overlap of users and where a social media communicator is geographically based may not fully reflect the breadth of the communicator's base, but one could reasonably conclude that a significant core of followers will have a geographic connection to the communicator. Geographic targeting could also be gauged by the sort of content regularly shared by the communicator. The end result of such targeted messaging is that a power communicator in the social media sphere can pretty confidently get a message delivered to over a million other accounts worldwide simply by asking the key communicators within his or her own trusted circle of users.

8. Social networks help in reaching those who are often difficult to reach

Blogging about his own conclusions after being on Twitter "a few months," Ontario Disaster Management Director of the Canadian Red Cross, in his post, "Twittering about Emergency Preparedness," offered:

"I can already see the benefits. The audience that I engage with there are the group hardest to get with the preparedness message. Upward mobile, professionals between ages 30 – 45 are busy with their career, dating, family, mortgages, etc. "

To the point, Saunders, aka, @CRCSaunders on Twitter, wrote: "social media tools, such as Twitter, are generally proving to be important tools for disaster preparedness and awareness." He explained: "If you get enough of the right kind of followers, then your preparedness message will get out there more than any fridge magnet could."

Agreeing on the importance of social media in disaster preparedness, Christopher Juckins, a meteorologist and technology programmer at the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County, noted in a recent Sun Sentinal article about the important role social media is likely to play in the upcoming hurricane season in Florida region, that, "Social media is a very important tool for getting our message to customers who might not otherwise look for our information."

Nonetheless, while it appears that the Center is planning to start a Facebook page by June, it is, according to the Sun, "steering clear of Twitter because the 140-character limit is not enough space to provide enough information." This is an odd decision given the common use of links by Twitter users to convey extensive information in the form of a single tweet.

Many major news sources have established Twitter accounts and, during times of crisis, whether it was during the last H1N1 scare or the devastation in Twitter, some of the more social media savvy users created Twitter lists and hash tags to keep other savvy social media users attuned to what was happening moment-to-moment, by identifying Twitter sources who were sharing current and credible information. (During the height of the Iran election crisis, I found myself listed on a few news media #IranElection lists as on-the-scene Twitter users began to dm me with the latest videos and reports from the streets where traditional media was banned from visiting.)

9. Curation: Twitter Lists and Hashtags are well-suited for identifying reliable sources of up-to-date information

Twitter hash tags are a method used by Twitterers to identify topics of interest. During a crisis, they are used as a way of letting the social media network quickly identify the latest news on the disaster.

Following the Chile earthquake, Twitter hash tags helped one person another who was missing.

To identify particularly reliable sources of information during a crisis, the traditional news networks have been quick to use Twitter Lists to identify their best sources of information.

When the earthquake struck Haiti, the two, major U.S. television news networks, Fox News and CNN, both turned to Twitter for information about what was taking place in Haiti in real-time after the earthquate.

Other traditional news networks turned to Twitter and created Twitter lists that identified the new media sources they were using to find real-time information:

NY Times, @nytimes/HaitiEarthquake

NPR News, @nprnews/HaitiEarthquake

LA Times, @latimes/haiti-quake

10. Geotagging by social network users provides important context to the information being shared

In November of 2009, Twitter announced the activation of geotagging, a service that allowed network users to share their location on the network, i.e., the location from where they are tweeting. Geotagging is an option users must enable to activate. The location-based information is available to third-party developers who are already putting the location-based information to use.

To date, only a small percentage of Twitter users have enabled the geotagging activation. Nonetheless, the ability to include geotagging in one's tweets is an option that user's could be encouraged to be activate were they to find themselves in a disaster zone. This would allow rescuers to pinpoint with precision the location of users sending out requests for help. This is also the very sort of scenario and option emergency responders should be considering as part of their responsibility to educate the public in advance of a disaster.

Sites like flickr also already allow shared content, in this case photos, to be geotagged. Social network giant Facebook is also expected to join the geotagging trend.

What next?

Those entrusted with emergency preparedness and response should begin to study and use this powerful medium of comunication that has already proven itself as a primary means of communicaiton during the worst crises of recent times. By investing now, emergency responders will have the understanding and network to put this powerful medium to work when it is needed most

Please share your own suggestions, stories, or links on using social media in crisis preparedness or response in Comments. Thank you!

Also, please follow me at my primary Twitter account, @GlenGilmore, and at my account secondary where I tweet about social media best practices in disaster preparedness and response: @CrisisSocMedia.

Suggested readings:

A Social Media Incident Commander's Perspective

Navy social media roadmap one year later

Related post:

The Incredible Rise of Twitter Visionary
(Tags: Haiti, Iran, Twitter, Social Media)

PHOTO CREDITS (In the order of appearance.)

1st, 4th and 5th photos http://www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo

Downed plane in Hudson @jkrums

Haiti "White House" posted on Twitpic by @lisandrosuero
Child shouting, flickr, Chris Spira
Flickr geotagging, flickr, bmooneyatwork

Want to be found? Blog and Tweet! #SEO

2010-05-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

"How do we get to the top of a Google search?!"

"How do we get to the top of Google search on a subject," is a question often asked by businesses hoping to be found on the web. There are plenty of search engine optimization (SEO) "gurus" who promise secret potions for accomplishing the task of being found more easily on the web. I simply don't know any secret potions.

Blog and tweet to found be found on web!

"Blog and tweet to be found the web" is not the sexy, sophisticated response that most businesses are hoping to hear when they are interested in soaring past their competition on the web. Instead, it seems that they would prefer that you lean close and whisper that you have somehow cracked a Google PageRank logarithm that will catapult them past the competition. Certainly, having cracked a Google code would seem more worthy of an SEO advisor, but the truth is often a bit more mundane.

Yesterday, near eleven in the evening, I posted a blog about a new YouTube sensation, Greyson Chance, whose sixth-grade talent show performance has gotten him over sixteen-million YouTube views, an appearance on The Ellen Show, and a recording contract. I then tweeted the post from my Twitter account. My tweet of the Greyson post was then retweeted by others. The result? About nine hours later my blog post appears as seventh item in a Google search of "Chance Greyson."

Sharing and creating content in social networks may seem a bit plebian, but it still works in SEO

Now I don't expect my name and post to remain in this ranking for very long, since others will no doubt soon be writing and sharing much about this new talent. However, for the moment, a simple blog post and few well-placed tweets have managed to wedge my name into the first page of a search about America's newest idol. Want to bump me out of my ranking? Blog and tweet a bit as well!

What A Sixth Grader, #GreysonChance, Teaches Us About Social Media

2010-05-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

FOLLOW UP: 6th grader's performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" beats Lady Gaga's [26,615,294 views vs. 24,758,200]

UPDATE: 6th grader's talent show performance of "Paparazzi" is on course to hit more views, over 21 million, on YouTube, than Lady Gaga's!

In a matter of days, a sixth grader from Oklahoma, twelve-year-old Greyson Chance, has become a YouTube sensation, garnering over 15 million views, an appearance on the Ellen show, and a recording contract. In the process, this kid from Oklahoma has given a few lessons for students of social media:

1. Find and learn from a model of success. Greyson chose for his inspiration Lady Gaga. Not a bad choice considering the fact that she is the first entertainer to achieve one billion views on YouTube.

2. Find your voice and sing. Greyson Chance has never had a voice lesson, yet he has a voice that has propelled him to stardom. What made all the difference in the world was his decision to sing.

3. Share your passion. Ah...just watch the video that follows.

4. Be authentic. Be yourself. Chance chose to sing an extremely popular song from an extremely popular singer. Yet, he made the song his own. His version of "Paparazzi" is not an imitation of the original: it is an original, new version of the original.

5. Don't give in to skeptics: convert them. As Greyson began his performance at his sixth-grade talent show, the expressions of his classmates seemed to convey disinterest at best: his performance visibly transformed skeptics into fans.

6. Content is still king. All the search engine optimization in the world still has a tough time trumping raw talent. Content, really good content, whether it's a song or story, is still the best way to be found.

7. With compelling content, video is a viral rocket. YouTube is celebrating its fifth-year anniversary with two billion daily views. Twelve-year old Greyson Chance is one if its users who decided to upload a video from his sixth-grade talent show. 15-million views later, the video shows no signs of slowing down in its viral trajectory.

8. Give your friends more than one forum to connect. Greyson first uploaded the video of his performance to his Facebook page, then to YouTube. He has since added a Twitter account.

Greyson Chance's 6th Grade Talent Show Performance

So what do you think? And please join me on Twitter: @GlenGilmore

Forget the bells and whistles: blog and connect!

2010-03-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying that I am not trying to make a case for mediocrity or sloppiness. Instead, I am trying to encourage sharing compelling content first and working out the kinks as you go along.

I’m a somewhat reluctant blogger. I have a passion to share some content, but I know that my blog does not have the bells and whistles a “real” blog should have. You know, the fancy retweet and connect-with-me-everywhere buttons, the links that are simply embedded in the text, the stand-alone domain….Yah, I’m a guy who tracks and devours social media and tech trends, but I simply haven’t made the time yet to figure out and do the neat tricks of proper blogging design – just not where my focus is at the moment. Consequently, I’ve been reluctant to blog as I know it only underscores my shortcomings in this regard.

Not long ago, however, I saw a tweet from my friend http://Twitter.com/Kim (See, if I really knew what I was doing, I simply would’ve had @Kim and it would’ve linked you to her Twitter account!), and she tweeted something about not letting a desire for perfection get in the way of getting things done. That was pretty much the gist of it. Don't let a desire for perfection stand in the way of getting things done. I took it to heart and decided I would go ahead and do another blog or two and not worry about the absence of bells and whistles. A pretty cool thing happened as a consequence.

Recently, I travelled to Hershey, Pennsylvania to attend a charity dinner honoring Ford CEO Alan Mulally. As expected, the Ford CEO wowed us all. I really wanted to share the great experience I had had, so I decided to put together a post. Again, I knew my blog design was not quite worthy of the subject matter, but I just felt I had to share my great experience:

Ford CEO: 14 Lessons in Leadership and Marketing http://is.gd/7YCFw

The day after I after I published my blog post, I received a call from my friend, http://Twitter.com/AnneDGallaher, who had organized the Ford event. She said that she had just gotten a call from Ford’s corporate office asking for my cell number and she urged me to keep my phone close at hand. I immediately switched my phone from vibrate to signal, not wanting to miss a call if it came.

Naturally, I missed the called when I stepped briefly into a local supermarket where a cone of silence seemingly incapacitates all phones. Cool thing is, as I left the store, I discovered that I actually had a phone message from Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Graciously complimenting my blog post, Alan said that he had answered phone calls and e-mails throughout the day from people who had read it, said nice things about it, and wished that they had been at the event. Imagine that.

Alan ended his very kind message with his phone number. I quickly called it, bracing myself to work my way past the palace guard. That was unnecessary. The phone was answered with a simple, “Hello, Alan Mulally.” “Hello, Glen Gilmore,” I answered. Wow. Or, as http://Twitter.com/ScottMonty, Ford’s social media go-to guy informed me Alan would say, “Way cool.” Way cool, indeed!

So, the moral of the story?
Compelling content overcomes design shortfalls.
Share your story and you'll connect.

A few easy tips for my would-be blogging colleagues:

1. Set up a blog and begin to share your passion.

2. Worry first about the content you are creating and sharing.

3. Write about something that really moves you and it’ll connect with others.

4. Don’t let a desire for perfection keep you from blogging and connecting!

5. Research about how to add the bells and whistles – and try and make the time to add them… =)

And a few good posts to help us move from blogging amateurs to blogging pros:

20 Analytics Tools For Blogs http://bit.ly/tR6qm RT @Flipbooks @phaoloo #Analytics #Blogs

10 Free Ways To Increase Blog Traffic http://bit.ly/3gnyVW RT @phaoloo #blogs

Tips to increase comments on your blog http://bt.io/LCh RT @Iconic88 @the_gman @virtuosoblogger

Online tools 4 more productive blogging http://bit.ly/4KYi7 RT @the_gman @BuzzEdition @The_Tech_Update #blogs

Combat Comment Spam: #WordPress: 12 Tips & Tools http://bit.ly/Pg86L RT @mayhemstudios @syedbalkhi @wpbeginner

7 must have #wordpress #plugins for bloggers http://bit.ly/3TNtZ6 RT @leGouter

10 Most Useful Free #Twitter Tools for Bloggers - http://bit.ly/9DOji #socialmedia RT @brett #blogs

Nine Things NOT Forget When Designing a Blog http://bit.ly/xJrLo (via @twittilicious) #blogs

26 Free eBooks For Bloggers http://su.pr/318Smv RT @virtuosoblogger @rahuljrark #blogs

100 Ways To Improve Your Blog http://is.gd/2YNSE RT @the_gman @Gloson #blogs

101 Steps to Becoming a Better Blogger http://su.pr/6PUvsL RT @the_gman

Photo credits: Ford CEO, Ford; Tricycle from Flickr Tyler Knott; Bicycle from Flickr Live4sports

On the Drawing Board (Upcoming Blog Posts)

* Lessons in Marketing & Customer Service from Memphis

* Trust Agents by Chris Brogran and Julien Smith – On becoming a “Trust Agent”

* Connection Generation by Iggy Pintado – How to really connect

HOW TO Start Tweeting for Business Success #smallbiz

2010-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you don't look like the average Twitter bird or Social Media guru...but you have a sense Twitter is a place to be for you and your business to be...and you're here....Now what? A few, quick suggestions:

ACCOUNT SET-UP ASSESSMENT

1. PROFILE PICTURE. Make sure you have one that is recognizable, professional and, preferably, in a picture, tells a little something about what your business does. Ask a few people to tell you what they think about the avatar (i.e., profile picture) you've chosen.

2. LOCATION. Let us know where you are located. Make it easy for us to find you.

3. BIO. You don't have much space, so make it count. Remember the use of keywords to help would-be customers and clients find you. Fine to include a phone number, your hours, whether you accept credit cards. We want the basics quick and easy.

4. WEB. Bring us to your website or to your Facebook page so we can learn more about you and your business -- and please make sure your website is current and has information on how to find you on Twitter!

SIGN UP AT TWITTER DIRECTORIES

There are several great sites that allow you to register your Twitter account in a way that is akin to a Yellow Book listing. (Sorry, kids, long ago, there was a non-digital directory of businesses that usually appeared each year on your front porch that was a pretty comprehensive listing of businesses.) Twitter directories will help you be found by those looking for your goods and services, as well as give you a good gauge of what your competition is up to. Sign up.

See: "14 Twitter directories to find new friends" - http://goo.gl/Jkmn)

TWEETING

So what to tweet about? Sure, you'll get to let us know a bit about your business or services, but you'll need to be patient and social. How? Network on Twitter the same way you would network anywhere: it's not about you, it's about your company (no, not "company" as in your business, but "company" as in your social community). Basic courtesy counsels you to be a good listener, invite conversation, learn about others in your setting, talk about film, current events, subjects beyond your business -- to engage them. Viola! That's it.

"Say that again...." Be a good listener. Invite conversation. Learn about others in your setting. Engage them. -- "'Engage' them?..." -- Good point: Talk to them. Tweet with them. Give and take.

DO STRIVE TO BE A LEADER IN YOUR NICHE. Focus your tweets on subjects related to your business so that people will turn to your as a thought leader in your field. But, mix it up. Throw in a YouTube link to an exciting clip about your business. (They're out there!) Take a twitpic of your hottest dish or newest dress. Think mixed media.

OBSERVE THE 80/20...90/10 RULE. The percentages are always a subject of debate. The Rule, however, is not. A business brand is expected to contribute to the Twitter community by sharing content that is not simply self-promotional. Strive for 80% of your tweets being about others, 20% letting us know about your goods and services. Some brands ignore the percentages and still thrive. How? They offer great Twitter promotionals and discounts. Find and follow the ones in your business or profession to see what they are doing.

HASHTAG IT. What? Use the symbol #, attached to your business, to let others target in on you. Hashtags are a way that experienced Twitter users locate subjects that are of interest to them. You're a pizzeria? Throw in a #pizza or #pizzeria ever now and then to your tweets. Add some geographic hashtagging as well, e.g.: #NJ But, please don't overdo it.

RETWEET. Finding and sharing great content from other Twitter users is a great way to "make friends and influence people" on Twitter. Retweeting tells people that you are listening and sharing. You'll also find that your content is shared more often as you retweet the content of others. It will also bill bonds with those whose content you retweet. (By the way, if you want to increase the likelihood of your content being retweeted, make it easier for others to do so: leave room for an RT and the senders name. Try not to use more than 120 of the 140 characters you have to tweet.)

FOLLOW AND FOLLOW BACK

Use Twitter search and directories to identify and follow good prospects, beginning, perhaps, with those who are geographically close to you if location is an important component of your business.

Follow back. If you want your following to grow, following back is important. As a "social" network, mutuality is important. Following back says that you are interested in a conversation. It also allows people to direct message you. "Why is that important?" If someone has a complaint about your business, best to give them a way of venting privately or they'll do it publically.

USE TWITTER APPS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR TWEETING

There are an abudance of Twitter applications that will help you to pace your tweeting, keep track of your new contacts, and see what others are saying about you or your profession. Use them.

See: "Business Twitter Applications " http://goo.gl/NY1G

KEEP AT IT

You're unlikely to build a big following overnight. Done right, establishing a strong Twitter presence takes time and a consistent effort. Share. Learn. Contribute. Along the way, you will build brand awareness and customer loyalty. You do, however, need to listen and respond to both the good and the bad.

WHAT ABOUT MISTAKES

You will make mistakes tweeting. When you do, fess up to them, apologize if appropriate, and move on. Despite popular lore, social media is usually a pretty forgiving place for honest mistakes.

*Photo credit: Pylon757 via Flickr.

22 Random Twitter Tips [NEW]

2010-02-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

Following are twenty-two random twitter tips. The earlier forty-seven may be found among my earlier posts. Please feel free to share your own! (Will be glad - maybe - to include them in a later post! Thanks.)

48. #TwitterTip NOTHING replaces P2P contact. Aim to #TweetUp, even if just with 1 or 2: it'll rocket-fuel your Tribe.

49. #TwitterTip Listing "Everywhere" as your profile location gets you nowhere: be specific and build a base.

50. #TwitterTip Deepen your Twitter contacts: connect on FB and LinkedIn. It'll create real opportunities.

51. #TwitterTip Focus on finding and following a core of good content providers: you'll never be at a loss for tweets.

52. #TwitterTip Why were you unfollowed?...Very simply: because of ur BLINKING avatar...(As in actually blinking!)

53. #TwitterTip Set specific tweeting goals: "I'm going to make one person smile today!"

54. #TwitterTip Be social. Be supportive. - And you will build a Tribe you can count on.

55. #TwitterTip TWEETDECK Create a column for ur content kings to make finding and sharing good content easy.

56. #TwitterTip Create multiple social network connections w ur closest, so WHEN Twitter goes down ur still connected.

57. #TwitterTip If u get a tweet asking, "Is this u," with a link, it's safe...to block it and report it as spam.

58. #TwitterTip: If you didn't see it on Twitter, it didn't happen. (And, just bc u saw it on Twitter, it doesn't mean it DID happen.)

59. #TwitterTip If you don't lose followers along the way...you're not tweeting right!

60. #TwitterTip It's not about how many followers you have - it's about how many tweeps you can count on.

61. #TwitterTip Take a stand and you will lose some followers - and build a stronger tribe.

62. #TwitterTip Don't forget your personal brand: create an account with your name before someone else does!

63. #TwitterTip You are what you Tweet. (Yes, too cute, but very true!)

64. #TwitterTip Want more followers? Follow, follow back and SHARE! (The benefit? More learning and contacts.)

65. #TwitterTip Concentrate on making people...angry, happy, enlightened, laugh - share content that makes a difference.

66. #TwitterTip When u see a #FridayFollow fr someone u respect, follow the listed tweeps and build a better tribe

67. #TwitterTip Even if u follow 80/20 rule, if u tweet about ur business u will lose some followers - get over it.

68. #TwitterTip If someone unfollows u bc u mention ur #biz - they were never part of ur tribe to begin with.

69. #TwitterTip When you share links, try to bring readers to the primary link: spare them the second click.

70. #TwitterTip Your avatar is a first impression - make it a good one.

71. #TwitterTip If u share something and someone notes a significant problem w/ it, share that too!

BONUS

"Your value in social media is determined by what you share." GDG #quote #socialmedia

What Love Teaches Us About Social Media: 15 Tips

2010-02-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

Social media, at its core, is about building relationships. The ultimate in relationships is love. Love offers some important lessons for social media proponents.

So What Does Love Teach Us About Social Media?

1. Follow your heart.

Where you go in social media, depends on you. What are your interests, your passions? You’ll find success in social media if you stick to those things you truly care about and enjoy. It’ll come through in your writing.

2. Begin by listening and observing.

Social media can be an intimidating and dizzying forum. Only by listening and observing will you detect the voices that connect with you.

3. Smile and say something nice.

Never underestimate the power of a smile and a kind word. They are quite often all that is needed to spark a relationship. Similarly, in social media, a kind word in answer to a question or concern can be the beginning of an incredible relationship.

4. Help one another.

It’s often easy to help another by doing something that doen't require much effort on our part, other than sharing something we already have. Do, and you'll not only help the other person, but likely help yourself in the process.

5. Be dependable.

Love requires dependability, a bond that can counted upon. Relationships in social media will only grow and deepen when there is a sustained voice and exchange.

6. Make time for it.

To succeed in social media requires a commitment of time. If you’re serious about succeeding in this forum, you must dedicate time to it.

7. Have fun.

If it’s going to work, it’s gotta be fun. This is why following your heart is so important.

8. Laugh.

Don’t be afraid to laugh with others and at yourself. Too serious and you’re going to lose the lightness that makes its magical.

9. Be honest.

Real relationships can handle just about anything, except a lack of honesty. The same is true in social media. Lose your credibility and you’ve lost everything.

10. Don’t forget to say “thank you.”

This is a phrase that never gets old and can't be used too much.

11. Remember that the little things are the big things.

See above.

12. Be creative.

Creativity is a great ingredient for making the old new.

13. Make allowances.

Everyone is entitled to a bad day or two. If you’ve succeeded with the other points, making some allowances along the way should be pretty easy and worthwhile.

14. Love. Be passionate.

Love requires love. In social media, if you’re a brand, you better love your product or service or no one else will. Want your customers to love you? They’re going to expect a little love first.

15. Work at it.

Work at it? Trust me, work at it! 

Have a wonderful

Valentine’s Day!

#Ford CEO: 14 Lessons in Leadership & #Marketing

2010-02-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

We are fighting for the soul of manufacturing. There is no reason we can’t compete with the best in the world. Ford Motor Company CEO, Alan Mulally

With these words, Alan Mulally, dubbed “Ford’s Comeback Kid” by Fortune magazine, summed up his passion for success and his confidence in the resilency of American ingenuity even in the worst of economic times.

Alan spoke these words during a charitable dinner in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The dinner was sponsored by a local Ford dealership, L.B. Smith, to benefit a local charity that offers a variety of services for at-risk children. About five-hundred people attended the event.

I had the privilege of attending the evening as a guest of the event organizer, fireball Anne Gallager, a dear friend and business colleague, in the company of the great connector, Amy Howell, another dear friend and business colleague - a story of Twitter friends networking in real life, a story deserving of its own blog post at a later time!

You don’t need to know Alan Mulally's bio to know that he is an icon of American industry. Unflappable. Charming. Extremely bright. A visionary. A leader in every right. What follows is a mix of lessons in leadership and marketing from a wonderful evening spent in the company of Alan Mulally.

Before we begin with the lessons, I should mention that through the course of this post, I’ll be referring to Mr. Mulally as “Alan.” Do I know him that well? Actually, I only met and chatted with him briefly during this event. Still, my sense is, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Lessons (And all by example!)

1. Smile…genuinely smile.

The first thing you notice about Alan Mulally is his great smile, a genuine smile. It is the smile of man who enjoys people.

A genuine smile conveys warmth, openness, and confidence, all important traits in a leader who seeks to build a team and inspire others. It is a simple gesture that works wonders when it is present and genuine.

2. Be interested in others

Alan agreed to participate in a photo line at this event, a marathon “meet and greet” where a public figure agrees to have his photograph taken with a long line of well wishers. Every person or group of people that made its way to Alan, found him energized, asking questions about where they were from and what they did. He was no longer the center of attention: he made everyone he met the center of attention and they (ok, I, too!) loved it!

3. Be passionate

In every conversation, Alan Mulally made it clear that he is passionate about the future of his company, the excellence of his workers, and the promise of the future for his industry. He conveyed a sense that we still do live in a world where hard work and talent pay off. He insisted that one must not compromise in any small detail on the mission of making sure that one is building the best product possible. He noted that while others were pulling back in their operations, Ford was accelerating development while constantly testing the inventory it produced.

4. Make sure your customers have fun

I guess since I’m writing about marketing, I could have said, “Make sure that the customer experience is enjoyable.” That would’ve sounded more professional and businesslike….But it would not have captured as accurately part of what Alan Mulally had to say to the many members of the Ford family who were present at dinner. Alan’s words were: “Make it fun…Make it a little like you’re walking into an Apple store.” (You know, the store that sells the iPhone, iPad and other cool gadgets!)

5. Be approachable

Alan Mulally arrived at the event with an entourage, an envelope of blue suits that bespoke the presence of a blue-chip CEO. There was no mistaking that an industry captain was in the house.

It is common for leaders of all stripes and sizes to be surrounded by an entourage; it is less common for a leader to move beyond the entourage and become approachable. Alan Mulally is approachable. He made time for the local reporter. He made time for the garrulous guest who strode over to say hello. He didn’t have his entourage block approaches.

“Approachability” is the sort of demeanor that encourages subordinates to share their concerns and ideas, always a good thing for business leaders interested in keeping abreast of the real pulse of their company and keeping it moving forward.

At the conclusion of his remarks at this dinner, he opened the floor to questions. There was no screening of the questions or of those asking the questions beforehand.

6. Never lose the common touch

So what did this iconic captain of industry do on his way to the charity dinner at which he was being honored? He stopped by a local Ford dealership, discovered that a customer was about to complete the purchase of a Ford, and asked if he could help complete the sale. Imagine the buyer’s reaction when Alan introduced himself and asked the buyer if he had any questions! Talk about customer service!

7. Always take the customer’s call and complete the sale

Nothing can infuriate a client or customer more than an unreturned or late-returned phone call. When a cell phone rang in the middle of Alan’s remarks, Alan was quick to quip: “That’s ok, take the call, complete the sale,” a response that went over well with the scores of Ford salespeople and dealers who had come to hear their beloved leader speak.

8. Never forget where you came from

Many marveled at the fact that Alan accepted an invitation from a local Ford dealer to be feted at a charity dinner in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Speaking on this point, Alan noted that in accepting the invitation, he had thought of the many who had helped him along the way.

As an aside, what was particularly impressive was Alan’s determination to keep the date despite warnings of a blizzard – which did arrive and force his stay overnight. Equally impressive was the turn-out of nearly five-hundred attendees who also braved dire warnings of an impending storm, a testament to the esteem so many have for Alan.

9. Make sure you have a great product and let people tell your story

“Make sure you have a great product and let people tell your story,” Alan said during his talk. The statement succinctly captures the key ingredients of business success, especially in the age of social media: you must first produce a great product and then encourage others to tell your story.

Ford, under Mulally's leadership, has concentrated both on building the best cars possible, while also inviting its customers to tell their story about their Ford vehicles in numerous forums, from their website, to Facebook, to Twitter. It exudes a confidence based on a confidence in the quality of their product and customer service.

10. Invest in Social Media

During his remarks, Alan declared, “Social media is the future.” (Some of us might add, “Social media is also the ‘now.’”) Expressing his sensitivity to the power of social media, he joked that he would be taking care in his remarks as he was aware that many in attendance would be twittering during his talk.

Ford’s prowess and investment in social media is legendary. Each automobile model get’s its own Twitter page. Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and blogs are all part of the Ford sales and customer service workforce.

11. If you’re not good at something that’s important to your business, find someone who is and let them run with it

Alan Mulally is clearly a man who gets the importance of social media….It might, however…ah…erhh…not be his strongest, personal suit. Though he is an advocate of social media, he has not entered the arena himself...Asked about it, he gave an "aw shucks" smile, shrug of the shoulders, accompanied by a pantomime of typing with two fingers….Alan, that’d work just fine!

Even in the absence of what would be a colorful and engaging presence on Twitter from the man himself, Alan has entrusted Ford’s social media to Scott Monty, a man who serves his company well in the fast-paced world of social media. He maintains a strong Twitter presence, engaging the many who turn to him for answers and insights. He also makes himself available for a never-ending cycle of interviews in the social media sphere, giving Ford the transparency and engagement that reap reward in brand awareness and consumer loyalty.

12. Be gracious to your competitors – but don’t let up on the gas!

Asked about Toyota’s woes, Alan was gracious. He made a few kind remarks about the company.

His advice to companies in such circumstances? “Find the problem, fix it and learn from it.”

He concluded his remarks on the topic, however, with a smile, observing, “Oh, by the way, we do have a lot of good cars to sell…Ford...Ford...Ford…You’d look good in a Ford!...”

13. Be authentic

A brief time in Alan’s company tells you that he’s the real deal: an incredibly talented guy who is just being himself and telling it like it is, though with a great sense of vision.

During his talk, he commented on the “ubiquity” of information on the web and the consequent necessity of authenticity where so much is known by so many. It is an evolution and a revolution in information exchange that make authenticity an imperative for businesses that hope to earn and keep the loyalty of customers.

14. Do good

Alan noted that it’s great to get up each morning and know that you’re working for a company that’s “doing good.” Now he didn’t say, “doing well” - he meant “doing good,” as in doing social good.

Alan spoke about the point of doing social good in the context of Ford investing in greener cars. It is great to hear a captain of industry speak of doing social good as in integral part of job satisfaction! (Not to mention a compelling reason for people like me to consider Ford when it comes time to buy my next car.)

Speaking of doing good....please feel free to join me on Twitter! @GlenGilmore