Social Media

Social Nation: A great overview of the philosophy behind social media

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Barry Libert's Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow your Business is not your typical social media book. In fact, it read more like a philosophy book. And no, not an Immanuel Kant or Friedrich Nietzsche sleeper, but more of a general A.C. Grayling piece of work. That means the book deals with complex ideas in simplistic terms that every-day people can understand. In comparison with many of the other social media books and articles I've laboured through, the book is mush easier to get through.

The book is a short one in comparison with most business books, but that doe snot mean it suffers for it with a lack of depth. The books comes across as a well-thought-out series of ideas brought together in a loose narrative. The voice of the author is alive and well in the book, which is something most business books don't usually offer. That being said, this book should not be approached as a one-stop-shop for how to move your business into social media, or an expert's guide to social media. The book should be read as a good entry level work about social media, a good touch-up for social media advocates/experts, or to understand the philosophy and some of the bigger ideas with social media as a whole.

The book also has a few unique features worth mentioning. The book, and the online accompanying website, have a social media test to help you gauge your understanding of social media. This is a good test for beginners right through to experts to make sure your social media ego matches the reality of your skills. The book also discusses 10 major pitfalls companies and people fall into when trying to create their own “social nation.” The more important pitfalls mentioned include: Running a social nation like a traditional business, under-investing in social initiatives and giving up on them too soon, neglecting inspiring and motivating your followers, underestimating the power of your social nation, not relying on partners, and trying to develop your own social software and analytics when there are easy-to-use ones already developed to suit your needs.

The book relies on some quotes taken from some famous, and no so famous, individuals. In truth, one quote, by Thomas Watson, sums up the main message of the book: “To be successful, have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.”

Open letter to my friends

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Hi everyone,

Friends come and go throughout the years, and one's friend circle is always changing. If you're reading this right now, you're involved in my life to some degree. Maybe you're one of my childhood friends, a close friends, an acquaintance, a fellow poet, a twitter friend, family, a mentor, a client, or even a teammate. Either way, this post is meant for you.

The last couple of years for me have been rather interesting. I've loved, and lost, hard. I've grown, and learned a lot in the process. I've launched myself into new business, and gained new skills. I've played the highest level of sports that I ever will, and beat out many people's expectations of me. I've lost some important people through break-ups, falling-outs, and even death. I've gained a lot of new important people as well.

I'm 23 years old, a month from being 24. I'm in good health with the exception of my broken leg, but it's healing well and relatively painless now. I'm at an interesting crossroads in my life at the moment, and I wanted to take the time to discuss it with all of you. First of all, I should discuss the meaning of this post.

I wanted to write this post for a couple of reasons. First,  I wanted to reconnect, to an extent. I feel like there's a great disconnect in communication amongst people. I think the prevalence of social media has increased this divide in some ways. Social media has made it easier to get in touch, but more difficult to get close. It brings with it a lot of distraction, and an automatic distance in communication. Social media lets us extend the amount of people who we can keep in touch with to an extent that is impossible to manage.  I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about you, even if we don't talk often.

Second, I wanted to let everybody know that I'll be making some major changes to my life in the next couple of years. Next year is a question mark. Will I start a master's degree? Will I move away for part of it if I do? Will I start my business before my master's degree? Will I juggle both, if so? Will I even start my business? What if one of the careers I applied for hire me? You get the point. The next couple of years will be a time of dramatic change in my life, and I hope you will follow along with me and offer advice.

Most importantly, I wanted to say thank-you. Sincerely, thank you. If you're reading this, you're here for a reason. Life is fragile. It can leave us unexpectedly and suddenly. I never see people take the time to thank their social net, despite how important it has been. I would not be where I am now without all of the wonderful people that have pushed me, and picked me up when I fell. You're great, and I've been fortunate to be surrounded by such positive influences in my life. Thank you all, I look forward to being in your corner and encouraging you all to accomplish the wonderful things many of you will be doing. Never give up.

Burnout, productivity, and risk: Leading the life you truly desire

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I read two interesting articles today that got me thinking. I came across the first article, In a World of Online News, Burnout Starts Younger, when it was retweeted by my friend Vadim Lavrusik (of Mashable). The second article that really got me thinking was from the Advanced Riskology blog, created and ran by Tyler Tervooren, and it is called One Productivity Myth You Can Ignore. First I want to discuss a bit about the two above mentioned people, and finally, the articles I came across because of them.

I'll keep this brief. I stumbled across Vadim through twitter over a year ago, and have been following him ever since. He is an excellent source of information, particularly focusing on journalism and social media. I highly recommend his twitter feed (which I linked above) to anyone looking to stay up-to-date on journalism and social media. Period. I have just recently begun to follow Tyler, but his blog is an incredibly fresh perspective on business and life in general. He constantly pushes one to think creatively, and challenge one's self, which are both sorely needed in our modern society. They are both brilliant, and interestingly enough, have taken surprisingly different routes to get where they are today.They are two sides on the coin of brilliance, though I won't get into a semantic argument about who gets to be 'heads,' and who gets to be 'tails.' 

The first article, concerning the burnout of young professionals in the online news world, was quite eye-opening. I think anybody who is heavily involved in the world of online news has been feeling some degree of 'burn-out' for awhile now. Even though I am not as involved as someone like Vadim (who is quite a workhorse), I too feel the effects of this burn-out occasionally. A lot of people still believe the work day is typically 9-5, but anyone involved in online news, and even social media, understands the opposite is true. Journalism, according to my J-School profs of old, and pretty much any journalist who is worth their salt, has never been a 9 to 5 job. You can't just shut off your journalizing. The same can be said of one's social media presence.

At this stage of social media, and online journalism, maintaining that connection to the social world is one's bread and butter. If breaking news happens, many people EXPECT it instantly. And maybe they should, because after all, that's our job as journalists. It would be ridiculous to blame the burn-out on the news, or our jobs, in and of themselves. We are the ones who are not disconnecting, or unplugging from the Matrix when the shift is over.

There is a movement to reduce our dependency on being connected AT ALL TIMES to the social media/e-mail machine. I read an interesting article on Advanced Riskology that discussed exactly that. It linked to Everett Bogue's Minimalist Business, which argues for a much simpler, and less materialistic, conformist lifestyle in order to achieve happiness. I think he's on to something.

This brings me to the second article that I mentioned above. Tyler's article discusses the common myth that the 'early bird gets the worm.' (Sorry for the cliché Tyler, you'll have to forgive me). He argues that rising early is often a successful strategy, employed by successful people. But, it isn't for everybody. He argues that a person should listen to their body, and adopt a more natural sleep cycle according to one's own needs and feelings. There's absolutely no reason to always wake up early if it is out of tune with the way your body wants to be ran. Tyler, to his credit, is an early riser, which means he isn't some lazy 20something who feels everyone should stay up late and sleep in late, and never be productive with their day. In fact, he is quite successful (refer to his website, which is linked above, for more.)

What I want everyone to take out of this blog is simple. It is important to disconnect from the social media world. It is also important to make your own rules, more or less, in terms of how you live your life. If you're not happy, something needs to change, or you risk burning yourself out. Life is meant to be enjoyed; it isn't a race.

The Influence Project

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Fastcompany has launched a project titled The Influence Project. The goal of it is to see how influential individuals can be. I'm curious to see who will win it. My front-runners are Pete Cashmore, Brian Solis, and Guy Kawasaki. I personally hope that I can win, but that would be nothing short of a miracle hah. In the end, I just want to have fun with it, and see what sort of influence I can have. You can support me by clicking on this link. Thanks everyone, try it out, and have a blast! Also, leave a comment here and I'll support you. Who do you think will win?