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Thoughts and things I care to shareIs Plain Text The Best?
Some say that plain text is best. Who am I to complain? When something as simple as 140 characters is enough on Twitter to convey a message, or 160 characters for a mobile text message? We can communicate a lot with very little – and a very simple medium: plain text.
So why are there so many contrasting opinions about using rich text in communications? Especially email?
Email has become one of those communications tools that seem to raise the ire of the “plain text is best†crowd. Some folks just don’t appreciate the HTML emails or fancy formatting others put into their signatures. I’ve seen some folks get downright angry towards these emails, and you can always tell who these folks are as their replies always come back in plain text.
While I won’t pretend to understand the controversy, I do think the plain text crowd is more “no nonsense†and just likes to get about their business. Whereas the rich text crowd probably tends to be heavier on the creative side, and likes to communicate with a bit of aesthetic value.
As we move further into the future, of course, rich text becomes easier to integrate into more communications mediums. The utility of plain text will remain though, as the lowest common denominator for any publishing platform as their job is to simply distribute information – and all that really needs is text.
Good Enough IV
It struck me today while using my netbook that economy computers have reached that baseline of being good enough at more than the minimum set of tasks. With their very portable size and impressively growing battery life these minimally powered laptops can meet the needs of many folks.
The interesting thing to me is how we continuously discover how we really only need the basics. In the age when we’ve pushed computing hardware to levels that we never imagined, the utility of a basic computing platform is quite impressive. Because we’ve pushed the upper end so aggressively, the side affect is the low end has benefited in reductions in power requirements and size.
Making these low end systems so useful is the way they’ve been packaged into great “mini†laptops. Whether they’re a 9â€, 10†or even the larger 12†models that stretch the definition of “netbookâ€, the ultra portability of a 2 to 3 lbs. laptop is a game changer. It’s just another case of less being more.
Of course, they can’t do everything. In fact, they really are only good for the basics as I mentioned. Anything more than web browsing, email, reading, and some light office apps like spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations. If you need much more than that, you’ll quickly find the limits of these systems.
However, therein lies the catch, the majority of the work done is in this basic range of computing tasks. Writing ideas out, answering email, reading news and information, keeping in touch… the bulk of what we do can be done with a netbook. Especially if you’re a web worker since most everything one does is web-based anyway.
While I’m not suggesting that netbooks will be the main computer for the majority of folks, I know some will be tempted to try.
Good enough. This is where good design and reasonable feature sets reign. The benefit of a simple, cohesive design with a feature set that meets the expectations of the user can be quite successful.
Where Do Social Media Pros Come From
So where do social media professionals come from? Where does any real professional that really knows there stuff come from? Is there some school that generates these professional people that have experience in so many things, been challenged in multiple ways allowing them to really get the big picture and think about things that most won’t consider? What creates a professional in any industry? How does this come about?
Well to be sure, folks who you find in social media are coming from all sorts of backgrounds. While “traditionally†you’ll find folks from marketing as the most prevalent practitioners. However, I’ve found that folks from any profession are surfacing as real social media professionals. Many never thought about a career transition from what they were doing into marketing, PR, or communications. Many never thought of themselves as writers, broadcasters, teachers, or leaders.
This is what happens in the early phases of any new field. Where did the early “computer geeks†that built out the early I.T. departments made up of micro-computers? They came from accounting, shipping, or it may have even been the boss’s secretary.
The reality is that as many disciplines developed, they were started by folks who really were professionals in another field, but had an interest or passion in something new. Perhaps it was the “new†factor, to be challenged in a new and unexpected direction, learning things that they never thought they’d need to know. To be out on the leading edge and be looked up to because of solving a problem, that could be it too. Sometimes it’s the least expected things that attract people to a job.
Another interesting thing about social media pros is that they have an extensive background. That is, they have multiple skills, developed over time from this job or that opportunity that they’ve followed up on. Whether these skills were intentionally pursued, or unintentionally picked up in some maintenance job, all these skills are what you’re going to look for in a social media professional.
These folks will come with communications skills, writing skills, technical skills, project management skills, and more. They work well under stress, they understand the concerns of the c-suite and legal, yet are able to demonstrate the opportunities for an organization as well as the challenges. They can walk from a technical project status meeting in IT to a creative marketing meeting, and be able to understand and participate with both on equal footing.
Finding these people is a challenge in itself, and you may have to look long and hard to find the right mix of skills for your business. The important part is to not be afraid to look inside, as many hidden gems are laying, waiting to be discovered in your backyard. For social media practitioners are in all corners of every business. Sometimes it’s just being able to recognize raw talent, providing time and experimentation, and letting them lead the way.
Photo Credit: photoholic1
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Campfire Computing Part 2
As always its the simple things that make the difference, and so it was this weekend. Ok, it’s not a campfire, but one of those fire-pit thingies that you can set up on the patio. It’s been an incredible month since we’ve moved to our place just out of town, and we’re beginning to settle into a relaxing routine.
Amy, Brianna and I are enjoying the stars in the sky, and the crickets in the yard. Watching the fire flickering away and playing “20 questions†to pass some time. Its been awhile since we’ve had some quite time like this, and its nice to have it right in the backyard instead of several hours drive away.
There’s a lot of writing I do that never makes it anywhere. Sometimes I think make a mistake in not publishing more posts when the muse strikes. Like tonight. There’s a lot of things that come to mind and, for once, I’m not going to talk business, or strategy or ideas around any of it.
Instead, it’s really about the simple things in life. Family, quite time, a flickering fire, and getting a chance to listen to it all.
Oh, and an the occasional shooting star doesn’t hurt too much either.
So, for all of us rushing through our days and weeks. Please don’t forget to take a day, an afternoon, or an evening, and sit down with family or friends. Or simply take time for yourself and relax. A few hours can make all the difference and is the recharge we all can make use of in our busy lives.
What Is An Expert?
What is an expert? Is it a guru? Is it someone who has thought deeply on the subject? Or is it someone who has actually performed work and generated results? So many people today are scrambling to become a social media experts, then it’s quite confusing to businesses looking for talented help.
The reality in social media, as with any burgeoning industry or trade, there are none. Or at least, there are only a handful who truly have the skills, but will never call themselves experts. I’ve really enjoyed Christopher S. Penn’s explanation of experts in social media. Relating the rise or growth of individuals who have explored the space before many others got there.
In two of his posts from June 2008, Who is a social media expert? and How to Become a Social Media Expert, he recaps the analogy of Japanese martial arts to social media and (ironically 😉 expertly describes why it’s difficult in the world of social media to identify a true expert.
There simply isn’t a better description of what it takes to start down the right path to be a viable social media professional than those two posts. There’s a lot of great content on the Internet to help folks figure it out, and experimentation is a great leaning tool. But as a professional practice, there are many pitfalls to claiming expert status.
As with project management methodologies, there are just too many ways to do the same thing. What works for one client, for one project, for one product, isn’t necessarily what will work for the next. Even if it’s an update to the previously successful product that enjoyed a thrilling viral marketing campaign.
There are talented folks out there though, and these are the one’s that you want to seek out. Whether it be for a contract job, hiring for training purposes, helping change the culture in your company, or running that stunning viral campaign.
They’re not hard to find, but they are hard to get scheduled as they’re often in high demand. So don’t hesitate to ask consultants who inspires them, who they learn from, or what resources they use to learn new things. Their answers are indicative of professionals who know their stuff. For true experts realize that they don’t have all the answers, they are aware that surprises await in every endeavor, and they have the resources to deal with everything that is thrown at them.
So while you should be cautious of those who claim (scream?) expert status from their online profiles, you’ll also find a growing group of real professionals in social media that come from all backgrounds… and that’s for another post.
It depends…
Funny how many questions have answer that start with those two words. This tends to be exceptionally true of the coporatization of social media.
- What if I call my boss a jerk on Twitter? It depends…
- What if we find bloggers defacing our product images? It depends…
- What if my company finds me posting on Facebook when I’m home sick? It depends…
- How do we monitor the blogosphere for our multiple brands? It depends…
The complexities of the requirements for big business and their employees is not as clear cut as it is for small, aggressive start-ups. In the end, the reality is that discretion is required on both sides; by the people who post or create media, and the people who read or consume media.
Gaining Consensus – Why?
A challenging part of employing social media concepts within an organization or large company is getting everyone to agree. With so many parties with differing interests, one wonders how things ever get done.
I’d like to posit the idea that consensus is not required to explore the opportunities that social media present. Sure, you may (or should) gain approval from the group you’re working with, getting the every executive, or department, or business unit’s buy in just won’t happen. At least not in the timeframe you’ll need to reap some of the rewards of joining your community.
Consensus is one of the problems that social media may be able to solve as well. As large companies continue to consolidate resources internally, they also create more silos for information, and push the decision making to a select few at the top.
Sure, these fine folks have years (decades in many cases) of business experience that allows them to plot the course for large companies. However, these same folks are now spreading themselves quite thin and it requires more time to make decisions for each business. This translates into slow moving companies that can’t adapt fast enough to changing market conditions.
In this, social media allows faster interaction across the organization. By leveraging both the business experience of executive staff along with the day-to-day mid-level management that is tracking the trends of each business, large companies have the potential to move almost as fast as a much smaller organization.
The need for an open, transparent culture still exists though. Without it, the company won’t have the ability to try new things and learn from them quickly.
Social media is more about cultural and conceptual changes than technological. And you don’t need consensus to understand that either. Good luck.
Undiscovered Opportunities of the C-Suite
Sometimes you don’t know what you have in front of you. The opportunity to change.
That’s what lies before today’s C-Suite executives if they choose to explore it. What I’m talking about here, of course, is really about relationships. With the advent of social computing in the second half of this decade, the power has shifted from producers and marketers to people.
The challenge, of course, is for today’s executives to leap into the deep end of the pool and embrace these new relationships. To build new loyalty into their customer base, by demonstrating the ability to listen, learn, share and improve.
This is a great opportunity that current executives and VPs have that their predecessors didn’t have. The ability to change the relationship and make it one built on the trust and respect of quality products and honest interactivity. This goes equally for internal communications. The opportunity to use these same open and trust building methods within an organization is huge. Especially with organizations that are struggling with employee engagement and moral in these trouble economic times.
It goes beyond displaying good will, however. Any effort in using social computing for building new relationships requires a commitment to open dialog, acceptance of public feedback (both good and bad), and the willingness to discuss this in a public venue.
The point here, is that our current executives have this powerful new option that their ancestors did not. The question is, how many are of strong enough to take that bold step?
Image credit: Envios
Personal Branding Mag – Issue 8
Personal Branding Magazine - Issue 8
The latest issue of Personal Branding Magazine is available now at www.personalbrandingmag.com! One of the most informative resources for building the brand of you, this month it focuses on female brands. From publisher Dan Schawbel:
Volume 2, Issue 4 is dedicated to female brands and their impact
on business and our culture. Women have had massive opportunities through the internet to come together and share ideas. In this issue, we’ve
interviewed some of the brightest and most talented female brands on the
planet, including Sarah Austin, Laura Ries and Natalie Gulbis, to explore
what women are doing to make this world a better place. There are many tips and strategies for women who want to control their careers and command their futures, as well as for men who are looking to learn from these talented women.
Features:
- 28 articles total covering female branding
- General personal branding related topics
- Interviews with: Sarah Austin, Natalie Gulbis, Laura Ries, Toby Bloomberg, Valeria Maltoni, and Anita Campbell
- How to define yourself
- The importance of personal brand consistency in social networking
- Visit our new Facebook page
Dan Schawbel announces the new issue:
You can get get a year’s subscription to the magazine here. If you’re not sure you want a full subscription, please check out the sample issue today!
Disclosure, I author the Social Media Explorer column for Personal Branding Magazine.
The ‘Un’ Sell
There’s a perspective that we take in social media that has many qualities and discussions around it and I’ve been starting to use a name or label for it: the unsell.
The idea behind the unsell is that you really aren’t selling at all, but rather letting the product or service speak for itself. Past the initial “hey, I’ve got this product/service, what do you think of it†pitch, the idea that quality sells itself is key.
Through organic word of mouth, the quality or potential of what you have is what sells it. This is the classic unsell.
What we need to strive for today and in the future is that whatever we’re doing for our customers or employers speaks for itself. If it needs a bunch of fancy charts and graphs to describe why it’ll save money, trim expenses or save the planet, then it really doesn’t cut it.
So I’d like to learn from you, because you’re the smartest folks I know, what are you ‘unselling’? How have you applied ‘the unsell’ in your work? What kinds of things are companies doing right in social media that they aren’t talking about?
Photo credit: Stewf
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.
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