It’s up, it’s live, and it’s waiting for you! Come on over to the new SMB-TC social network hosted on Ning:
I’ve got a few forum topics I’d love feedback on, things like location ideas, topic ideas, and a shout-out for someone to create a logo for the site.
This’ll be the official site for news, schedules, ideas, and topics for SMB-TC – head on over and share your thoughts!
Twitter is one of those tools that you either "get it" or not. It’s really that simple. With that in mind there are ways for you to learn how Twitter can be a tool for success for you, you & your peers, or your organization.
While I dislike the "why Twitter is bad" articles that pop up around the net, this post by Michael Krigsman over at ZDNet does bring up a good point. Like all social networking and media tools, it can be used for improper uses as well as productive ones. Had to get that out of the way before we continue – I do recommend you read Michael’s post though.
So, how do you get value from Twitter? Easy: participate.
Ok, it’s more than that. You’ll not only need to participate, but have people on Twitter that you want or need to participate with. The key to Twitter is to recognize that it is an unfiltered conversation stream. Having people to converse with, whether that’s special interest groups, friends, coworkers, project teams, departmental groups, or an entire enterprise – it’s having the people there that brings the value.
Imagine having geographically diverse project team in a live conversation outside of a conference room during the entire business day. Set aside the "time waster" argument for a minute (it is valid) and look at the communication and thought-sharing aspects.
Additional features of Twitter, help enhance communication and build community. Here are a few;
Overall, if you find the reason to give Twitter a try, you will likely find value in the tool. If you just want to see what the hype is all about, you may not. However, if you do jump in – use the search tool to look for people you know – that helps the learning curve a bit. Also, look for your favorite bloggers – they may already be there! There is also some great search tools as well.
Finally, you can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rickmahn – I’m on every day and am happy to answer any questions or help find people on Twitter if you like.
I want to thank Jeremiah Owyang for his Some Conversations have shifted to Twitter blog post earlier today. It gave literally hundreds of people the opportunity to find new people to interact with.
The post went up sometime before 10am (Central Time), and Jeremiah Tweeted about the post on Twitter shortly thereafter. Within just a few minutes, there were over 20 comments on this post with people giving feedback and sharing their Twitter profile links, inviting others to follow them and join in their conversation.
Within three hours the comment count had climbed to over 160 with more streaming in constantly. This desire to interact, to connect, share ideas, and communicate is nothing new, but what followed on Twitter is the bigger story.
We can talk numbers, and its at least someplace to start. For example I found nearly 100 new people to follow, and about 80 people have chosen to follow my Twitter postings. Fellow Twitters had similar experiences today and in some cases doubled their follower counts.
However, what’s at the root of this enormous expansion in Twitter following is the desire to build community. To interact with more people, from different places and expand our peer networks. The numbers are simply a statistic to track, but the real important part is that I was able to find 100 or more interesting, intelligent, fun people that I wanted to add to my daily or weekly conversations. I’m also flattered to have so many people interested in what I bring to the table as well.
The net result for the next few days will be learning how to deal with a fire hose of Twitters, a constant barrage of information. Currently I’m trying to read as much as possible as it passes by, but I’m quickly learning to skim and watch for the topics I should read and not absorb it all.
The post itself is a great piece about why Twitter is a useful tool, and should be read simply on it’s own. But I bet if you go read the post, the comments will pull you in and soon you too will be a part of the community-building exercise that has morphed out of a good blog post.
By the way, at the time of this writing, there were in excess of 300 commenter’s, sharing and building their communities. Are you?
An online community is no different than the one you live in. It’s built on the same principles and it’s citizens require the same kinds of social interaction. As human beings we’re naturally social creatures, and so require some kind of interaction.
While online communities are different in the physical aspect, they connect us in ways that our physical communities can’t. This, of course, has been talked about for a long time. However, as social networks mature you see new uses of them, and the adoption by the (gulp!) mainstream. This is inevitable.
So to get the most out of a social network, you have to put a lot into it. Look at the people who are gaining the greatest value today. Are they just lurkers? No – they actively update their status, post pictures, trade pokes, and engage in conversations. They don’t hold back and treat their online persona and friends in the same way they act and interact in real life.
If there is a negative perception of social networks, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Mostly I suspect it’s because many are afraid of participating. Either because of their own perception, their unsure of how to start, or what their friends peers would say.
😢
“We are not enemies but friends.”
Live your life.
Completely.
Without fear.
Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy.
Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
Out riding this rainy, wet spring. Got 1,000 miles on the clock with more to come this season. #IMRG #IndianMotorcycle
Watching early seasons of #GoldRush. Fun seeing @GoldrushRick in season 3! Hope his new season is off to a good start!
Oh yes I did! https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRDO9ogSO0/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1kha5yzhjq3ot
