Behind The Firewall – Rogue Agents
We’ve talked about this before. Employees taking steps on their own to induce change into an organization, to better serve the customers they interact with. We’ve talked about this before, though probably from a corporate perspective rather than a personal one. Let’s make it personal. Most agents of change have historically bent the rules. These people found new, simpler, or better ways of doing things. They didn’t hesitate to take on the leadership role (taking initiative) to make things happen, often without asking for permission or direction ahead of time. Taking risks and...
Read MoreThe More You Share
One of the most amazing things I’ve experienced in the past decade of social media is the aspect of sharing. From the first time I read Cluetrain to the current place it takes in the multiple buzz word lexicon of social media – sharing is a central pillar of social engagement. For many of us today, sharing is an easy exercise. Cut & paste a link, click a share button for a photo or embed a video in a post. We take it for granted… it’s easy! For those getting started, or for businesses both large and small, sharing is not as clear as one would think it is. Businesses may worry...
Read MoreThe Power of Communities
Interesting thing, communities. We live in them our entire lives. Multiple ones actually, and usually are participating in more than one at any given time. Today we think of communities more as online constructs, usually referring to a social network as a community. Of course, a community isn’t a tool, but rather a collection of people with similar interest. The reality is that we participate in multiple communities because of the varied interests we have and the need to connect. We are social creatures and connecting with like-minded peers brings a certain satisfaction to our lives. This...
Read MoreIndependence Behind The Firewall
Have I mentioned recently that I do consulting and implementation work in social media strategy, community development and training? Probably not as much as I should, but I wanted to include that at the top in this post because I don’t bring it up often. It’s also relevant to what many people are doing in their role to help their businesses understand how they can use social media. You see, sometimes you need to induce change and one of many ways is to think like an outsider. Taking the perspective of someone new to the organization, but with a focus on your task at hand...
Read MoreBehind The Firewall: Challenges
I’d like to take a minute and tell you a bit about the concept of Behind The Firewall and what this project is about. Behind The Firewall is an ongoing project of Arik Hanson and myself to explore the uses of social media inside companies. Our goal is to uncover the ideas, recommendations, solutions, and experiences of internal communicators, marketers, collaboration experts, team & project leads, and really anyone who is working to empower their organization through the use of social media. There are always challenges in doing something new. Inside a large corporation, we run...
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About Me
Rick Mahn is the Founder of SMBMSP, Principal of Rick Mahn & Associates, and a Sr. Information Technologies Architect with Experis. With over two decades in Information Technologies Architecture and Social Media, Rick connects people & organizations by embracing new technologies and open standards.Learn more about Rick.
