Social Media – Page 2

July 29, 2008July 30, 2008 kenekaplan Social Media

Generosity Triumphs Over Mean-Spirited

This is something I want to explore and build upon.
Today, RichardatDELL left a great comment on Todd Defren’s PR-Squared blog.

Lots of great shared insights there sprouting from a central theme of how to engage with the good and even bad comments made about you or your company.

We have a general rule at Intel — acknowledge the good, bad and not the ugly. The notion is that the ugly, defined more by the mean-spirited intent of a comment, is something we need to read but not feed. But this discussion on Todd’s blog even brings this rule of thumb into question. Social media really is about a cultural shift to being more open, sharing and engaging with thoughtful, timely and valuable information. This is something we’re all learning, individuals and companies alike.

So even acknoledging the ugly might be a way to build the big picture good karma. After all, we’re in this for the long haul so every engagement counts. But it’s not a karma sum game, it’s a new era of connecting, collecting, sharing, collaborating, learning, growing, making mistakes and correcting them quickly. These all sound like jargon, but at the core is positive energy. And the collective use of this is making the world better. It’s not eliminating bad, ugly or evil, it’s helping us understand it better, quicker so we can recoil and spring to the next enriching shared/sharing experience.

Back to the PR Squared post and my favorite comment by RichardatDELL. There was a link in the comment to a post called Three Dirty Little Blogging Secrets. It’s a great read. Richard strikes a cord that is at the core of what gave birth to social media and why more people are turning to it to open their minds, hearts and new relationships with destiny. Here are the three secrets, but read the whole post.

clipped from richardatdell.blogspot.com

1. The blogger is Not a “citizen journalist” nor does a bloggers’ “power” authority or importance arise from that premise

2. “Lose Control” ? How about Participate. These are different Issues and have different ramifications.

3. The “blogging” world is not “fair” (see 1); Its a wild Mob. Wrong, It’s a Generous World

June 6, 2008June 8, 2008 kenekaplan Collaboration, Communications, Social Media

Collaborating and Sharing Bring Real Value

Chris Heuer shared a link to a great post by Christian Kreutz, who hits on my favorite topic that I hope becomes more valuable the more we understand how it. It’s the underlining meaning for why we work together and share our collective experiences, discoveries…and I’d say even our emotions…with our teammates. Information is free most of the time, but we can bump up the value every time we touch it, favorite it, bookmark it, tag it, collect and sort it then share it. That helps us more quickly find the right people and right information we we want. That’s the power within an organization, not the classical hierarchical, political structure most people are dealing with today.

Christian offers these “bottom-up approaches”:

Start a collaborative tagging experiment over del.icio.us with colleagues to see how easy the sharing of valuable information can be, or open up a room on friendfeed to discuss right away resources.
Use external tools for your team to make project management easier. One example could be a blog for your project’s history, milestones and other management tasks.
Connect with colleagues through existing social networks such as Xing, Linkedin or Facebook and use it for exchange.
Extend informal activities on the web and make other colleagues be aware of it: bulletin board, liftsharing etc.

Separately, but complimentary….Chris offers an example of how FriendFeed can replace email as a collaboration tool.

As Joitske commented on my first blog post, you can address a specific problem and use social media for an open transparent discussion.

April 12, 2008April 12, 2008 kenekaplan Books, Marketing, Photos, Research, Social Media, Web 2.0

Groundswell’s on My Bookstack

Groundswell Books, originally uploaded by Forrester Research, Inc..

This photo was taken at the Forrester Research Marketing summit this week — really wish I could’ve been there. But I did follow some of the action Jeremiah Owyang shared on his blog.

Forrester shared a copy with me — it arrived from Boston a few weeks ago. I gotta get into it. My Intel buddy Neil is approaching chapter three and he gave me the thumbs up.

I got to help Charlene Li connect with some Intel social media pioneers, including Josh Bancroft, who told how he created Intel’s first company Wiki called Intelpedia.

$Charlene Li at Forrester\'s Marketing Summit in APril 2008, about a month after the release of \$

March 27, 2008 kenekaplan Blogs, Intel, KenEKaplan, Social Media, video, Web 2.0

Hey, Mom…I’m on GlobalNeighbourhoods.TV!

I’ve spent most of my career behind the scenes helping others get in the the groove for appearing on TV and radio. When it makes sense…I’ll step in front of the camera and share things I know. So after helping Shel Israel get time for a video interview with Intel CEO Paul Otellini, my Intel pal Laura and I got to spend time with Shel showing him the Intel Museum and sharing some of our favorite stories about Intel…the 40 year old company that’s still a disrupter, still bustin’ out innovation from every core.

Shel wanted to learn from Paul if internal blogging was having any change agent impact inside Intel. He learned that it was, and we got to hear Paul share some personal stories — past and visionary — about the evolutionary impact of new technology on human communication. From the days before companies had computers, faxes, even phones…to the unleashing yet connected work-lifestyle brought on by laptop computers. What’s next? The 3-D virtual worlds where people and things can interact together from almost anywhere, anytime. Paul was really into the conversation, and inspiring!

What I wanted to do wanted that day? To get to know Shel better, and champion the grassroots social media activities of some great Intel pioneers like Josh Bancroft…and to share the groundswell momentum today we see as more employees are participating with social media and social networking. And we’re all — pioneers and newbies — still learning tons and sharing nuggets of knowledge with our growing social media posse every day (a recent post and some photos of my Social Media Posse).

Several years ago, when I first started hearing about blogging, someone pointed me to Shel Israel’s site. I immediately enjoyed the topics he covered with wit, insight and a conversational style. Then I had the pleasure of attending a social media session in 2007 hosted at SAP — that’s where I first got to meet Shel. I kept checking into his blog every once in a while and was curious when he started his SAP Global Survey about the use of social media around the world (see Shel on “Marketing Voices” with PodTech’s Jennifer Jones). Note to self: submit my answers to the survey!!

I was unable to embed the videos here, but click this link to Shel’s post where you can watch the first three videos he produced for the new FastCompany.TV.
Shel describes his Intel segment like this:

If you think of the universe of technology—and for that matter-social media, Intel seems to be constantly at the center of it. The devices we use, what we see on them, the companies that provide them, almost completely depend upon Intel for the processing power needed to make it work.

I spent some time with Paul Otellini, who became Intel CEO, after moving up the ranks for 30 years, and with Ken Kaplan, one of Intel’s most passionate social media enthusiasts.

This clip will give you some idea of how Intel is using social media internally and at least a hint of where Otellini thinks it will go during his daughter’s lifetime.

March 20, 2008 kenekaplan Marketing, PodTech, Social Media, Web 2.0

Brand Engagement = Social Media + Storytelling

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This is from Jennifer Jones of PodTech’s “Marketing Voices — an episode worth repeating…

The many online social media have become an important part of the marketing mix for many corporations and organizations. Whether it means listening to online conversations, participating in communities of enthusiasts, clients, consumers or social networks, or simply increasing transparency, understanding how social media can be made to work for you is key to building stronger brand engagement and loyalty. It’s also going to save you money. But how?

In this video podcast, Marketing Voices’ Jennifer Jones, and others, talk with industry insiders to find out how combining social media with the art of storytelling in blogs, wikis and podcasts will foster conversations, convert incremental audience, and ultimately increase audiences’ engagement with brands. How can you use social media to create a voice for your brand that resonates beyond your corporate Web site? How can syndication help move your brand’s voice to your audiences, and bring those audiences back to your brand?

January 24, 2008January 24, 2008 kenekaplan Marketing, Media, PodTech, Social Media, video

Traditional vs. New Media with CNET’s Rafe Needleman at CES BlogHaus 2008

Jennifer Jones’ “Marketing Voices” caught CNET’s Rafe Needleman at the PodTech BlogHaus at CES 2008. Needleman tells how CNET’s doin’ their thing and shares his views on “traditional” versus new media. Jones and Needleman discuss the frustration of journalists who wish many of the bloggers had more academic training and knowledge.

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November 16, 2007 kenekaplan IDF, Intel, Intel Developer Forum, KenEKaplan, Social Media, Web 2.0

Social Computing Comrads Connect & The Next Thing You Know…

I had the pleasure of meeting Douglas Pollei at Intel headquarters the second week in November, just days before taking my sabbatical. We had a great talk about the state of corporate social media (can you say that?) that ended when we looked around and saw the once-buzzing cafetteria empty.

Douglas keeps a cool blog by night and for his day job he’s the VP of Internet Strategy and Corporate Development for IKANO Communications Inc., a portfolio company of Insight Venture Partners in New York. In other words, he’s a social media brother of another mother singing that same song about opening up, connecting and creating new opportunities.

We met through Forrester Research’s Jeremiah Owyang, who personally invited Douglas to check out the September Social Media: Friend or Foe of IT panel at the Intel Developer Forum. We exchanged emails — he even politely kept in contact after a very late response I sent after IDF — then during a business trip to Silicon Valley he saved some time for us to meet. If he were a vendor, I’d have respectfully declined, but the chance to explore accomplishments and conflicts about social media? No way would I miss a chance! Here are some highlights from our talk, as Douglas posted on his blog:

* Intel is seeking to involve more employees in the conversations with outside world. These employees must be not only observers but active contributors in the conversations, otherwise they don’t fully understand and move with the current. The IDF is a great example of the beginnings of this reach out and I believe it will continue to be.

* The intersection of the control and openness mindset creates conflicts in organizations. The true goal is to find the human intersections and how to understand, internalize, and communicate these findings going forward.

* Enterprises can create boundaries of communication, like a walled garden. Some areas are open and others are closed. The key is to organically let those with a voice contribute and potentially elevate these individuals to a higher status of job authority with regard to new media tools (social media, video, audio, etc..). When employees don’t reach out, it is comparable to being at the party and not talking to anyone but expecting value from it. You must mingle to be inspired and know the true and unscripted pulse.

* There will be many who will oppose these types of movements in a large organization but as they join in and see the value, many C’s including CEOs will be endorsers of the openness to know where to take the company, and how to raise stockholder value through innovation.

* VCs, private equity firms, and serial entrepreneurs are continually developing new media solutions that enterprises can adopt to enhance the communications with all channels of their business. Knowing the tech scouts who can see these in advance and know which products will win (and work) will be key to enterprises. Jobs descriptions in these areas are not currently on the enterprise org chart and so it is hard for many to understand their value. It is like telling someone to see a house built when only a floor plan exists.

We agreed to keep our conversation moving ahead. In fact, one thing we talked about was how I believe Intel has some wonderful stories to tell. Stories that are still coming together but will help directly connect Intel technology and innovation with social computing — from personal to commercial to developers and beyond. Intel’s new processor technologies can help people and businesses really get the most from Web 2.0, which seems to be growing and becoming more meaningful to everyone. Well, on the day Intel introduced it’s new Penryn chips — those featuring re-engineered, smaller, energy efficient, faster 45nm transistors — Intel CEO did it! Speaking at Oracle Open World, Intel CEO Paul Otellini (from ZDNet blog by Dan Faber):

“The enterprise is not immune from consumer trends,” Otellini said. Connectivity 24×7 and the need to socialize networks, as in Facebook, are key demands inside and outside the workplace going forward. “As this happens you need to think about how to rearchitect the infrastructure inside your businesses,” he added.

Otellini concluded that the “future in this sense is not very far away. The highly collaborative, interactive global social network is nearly upon us.”

It’s not a prophetic vision, but Otellini wants to make sure the Oracle crowd divines that Intel should be a core part of the rearchitecting of their businesses.

This is something many other companies are doing, or can be doing to help show how they’re relevant in making Web 2.0 and social computing more amazing and useful everyday.

Until we meet again, here is another topic we explored: Corporation being more human and actively finding their way in places like Facebook. This weekend I came across the Harvard Business Review’s “Why your company needs to be on Facebook.” Its was posted on November 9, 2007 by Charlene Li is a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. Cluetrain Manifesto? There’s no turning back. There’s moving ahead, integrating, being smart, providing reason and value every step of the way…never without passion and zeal for helping and connecting with others.

November 8, 2007 kenekaplan Marketing, Social Media, video, Web 2.0

Seth Godin Says it Best: Anticipate Relevance

* Go to where the puck is going

* Marketing do not equal advertising

* Don’t worry about the tactics

* Social graphs of what people are doing online: open approach like Google vs. more walled garden of Facebook

* The mix of experts vs. wild west mentality on blogospher will settle down

* People want a voice and want to be treated with respect

* Anticipate how you’ll be relevant to people’s lives

Here’s a video interview with the great marketing guru Seth Godin sharing great insight as public relations, marketing and advertising find ways to team up more and more for online efforts. He mentions a forthcoming book “Meatball Sunday,” finding the best mix and match to meet relevance. He has a great collection of fun-to-read books and an edgy, thought leading blog.

Thanks to Polli.com for the inspiration.