Showing posts sorted by relevance for query twitter. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query twitter. Sort by date Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Teaching, Learning and Twitter

A couple of days ago I was asked by an educator in the course Facilitating Online (that I am facilitating) about how Twitter can be used in education. Herve asked

"Could you please enlight me about the use of Twitter in education? I am not a user as I am failing to see the point of it."

Here’s a few ideas about how Twitter can be used for both personal learning and as a teaching tool.

Making sense of Twitter
Suffice to say, you need to make sense of Twitter before you can understand how to use it as a teaching and learning resource.

Twitter is a synchronous communication tool. It allows you to send instant messages to more than one person, using no more than 140 characters in a message. Following Twitter via the Twitter web page is clunky and give you no real appreciation what you can achieve. The best way to receive and send message is through one of the numerous tools that allows you to read messages as soon as they are posted. This gives an immediacy to interactions – you get instant help, advice and information.

How to follow Twitter
I use TwitterFox (now Echofon) which is an add-on that is embedded into Firefox, which is an Internet browser. Every time a message is posted, I see it as a pop-up. The other popular tool for monitoring Twitter is Tweetdeck. This is a tool that is downloaded onto your computer. Not only can you read tweets as they are posted, you can also group and categorize them so that you follow a particular topic. Here's information about the numerous Twitter tools that are available. The best thing I can suggest is to have a play and experiment to see what suits you and your students best, keeping in mind that educational institutions will block access to some tools.

Twitter and cell phones
One of the advantages Twitter has over other instant messaging services is that it can be used on your cell phone. This is a particular advantage when you are working with students who do not have regular access to the Internet. I'm not the person to ask about this because I do not use Twitter via cell phone but if you have a look on the Internet you will see plenty of people talking about how to do it.

How you can use Twitter for personal learning
Twitter is an incredibly powerful tool for making connections with people who then become part of your personal learning network. Thus, Twitter can used for:
  • sharing information and resources
  • mentoring, advice and support
  • brainstorming and feedback
  • immediate help
Using Twitter as a teaching tool
I have to admit I haven't used Twitter very much in my role as teacher but here are a few ideas I have seen other people play with.
  • Twitter allows you to connect with people of consequence in an immediate and more personal way, compared to asynchronous media such blogs and newspapers. Imagine the power of following the prime ministers of New Zealand or Australia if you are teaching students about modern day politics.
  • Organise synchronous events.
  • Provides opportunities for back chat at face-to-face events such as lectures and conferences.
  • Disseminate information about your class, course or institution.
  • Facilitates immediate help and support.
  • Allows you to keep up to date with national and international news.
    For an example, have a look at the effect Twitter had on the last Iran elections.
  • Follow what people are saying about a particular topic or event.
  • Become involved with online campaigns such as the Blackout Campaign which protested about the Internet copyright laws that the New Zealand government enacted earlier in 2009.
Some more ideas
Here are a few places to go for more information about Twitter and how to use it in education.
How do you use Twitter for personal learning and teaching? What tips would you pass on to teachers who are trying to get their head around Twitter?


Image: Twitter icon for a fluid app mfilej
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfilej/2397881577/
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Friday, April 25, 2008

Starting to feel the Twitter love

I think I am starting to feel the Twitter love.

For those of you who do not know what Twitter is, here is a post 'Getting my head around Twitter' that explains what it is and here are a few thoughts about how I see Twitter working for midwives.

Party time
I have lurking on Twitter for a few months now, but didn't really find it of any value until recently. I thought it was useful to have a Twitter presence in the same way that I have in Facebook - available to anyone that uses that media, but I do not participate - I tried to post an 'informative' message once a day. But other than that, I didn't engage with Twitter.

Twitter has been described by Nina Simon as being at a cocktail party, where people meet and spontaneously and synchronously interact. The snag with going to parties is that sometimes you do not know anyone, or you are not part of the 'in' crowd which makes you feel very uncomfortable. This has been discussed in length by people such as Vicki Davis in relation to blogging and social networking.

Whilst I did not feel excluded because people like Sue Waters introduced me around, I have felt like I have been on the edges of the party. The parties I have been going to are those of educators who are interested in web 2.0 where I feel I have little to contribute because I am at the stage of of learning about web 2.0. There does not appear to be a midwifery twitter party. If there was, I am sure I would feel I have more to contribute because midwifery is my primary field of expertise and knowledge.

Rules to using Twitter
The main reason for this lurking was that I didn't want to open my mouth and offend anyone, or waste people's time with trivialities. I needed to find out what the Twitter 'rules' were. Martin Weller opened a discussion about Twitter etiquette which was related to the ins and outs of following people on Twitter, but the sense I got from the comments to this post was that there are no rules to using Twitter - you do what suits you and your learning needs. Nevertheless, I try to minimize my personal and social comments and keep my messages to professional topics.

At the same time, I am loving the personal glimpses into people's lives that Twitter is giving me that I would not see in other mediums like blogs. For example, I laughed when Howard Rheingold (the midwifery equivalent of Ina May Gaskin) tweeted that he'd nearly choked to death on a bite of a banana. Now I know that is not a laughing matter, but it is the equivalent of hearing from 'The Queen' about her shopping trip to Tesco - how cool is that?!

Stage of Twitter cycle
So what stage am I in the Twitter cycle? Well, it was a couple of weekends ago that I started to move from the 'I still don't get it' stage to the 'Wow, just found a great link from Vicki' stage - check out CogDog's wiki for more information about the Twitter Cycle.

What happened was I spent the whole weekend interacting with people in a very concentrated way ie I put my party frock on and partied on down. One thing led to another as it often does at parties, and I ended up in several live seminars and meetings, and even got as far as Second Life listening to Leigh Blackall talk about his latest Second Life teaching/learning project.

As a result I have seen an increase in the visits to this blog and my Twitter network has grown. Whilst this has not led to offers of 'all expenses paid' speaking tours or such like, I do know that there is a support/learning network available to me that wasn't there before I joined Twitter.

A passionate affair?
Now I have started to feel the Twitter love, is it likely to blossom into a passionate affair?

No, I do not think so. Like Michele Martin I see the advantages of being able to connect with people and get instant responses. I love the spontaneity of Twitter but I rarely use it to follow asynchronous links ie I do not use it to follow blog posts - I prefer to use Google Reader so that I can read blogs in my own time. I am mainly using Twitter for synchronous activities such as giving and receiving feedback and advice, and spontaneously attending online events. And of course, how much I get involved with depends on my other time commitments.

But I do agree with Darren Draper that you get out of Twitter what you put into it but then...doesn't that apply to everything you do?

How are you using Twitter? What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages?

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Twitter workshop for health professionals


Some resources to support the workshop about the use of Twitter by health professionals at the Breathing New Life conference in Melbourne, May 2012. 


Aim of the workshop
This workshop will explore:
  • how to set up a Twitter account and ‘follow’ people;
  • how to use it effectively to engage with other health professionals and consumers;
  • how to pass on information;
  • how to use Twitter effectively for professional development 
  • how to use it to facilitate professional development events
Program for workshop

1.  Set the scene
  • Find out what people already know, and how they use Twitter, if at all.
  • Find out what people want to know specifically
2. Presentation
3. Basic "How to" 
4. Group work
Setting up Twitter accounts and communicating with each other using butchers paper and pens.
 
5. Advanced "How to"
6. Thinking about the professional use of Twitter 
Group discussion about 'dos' and 'donts'.
7. Conclusion
  • Recap of main points
  • Check that all questions have been answered
  • If time, one-to-one consultations
Resources
Image: 'iPhone 4'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30139965@N05/4734788670

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Thursday, October 1, 2009

How do you know who to follow on Twitter?

I was talking the other day to someone who was trying to get her head around Twitter. She asked me how you know who to follow on Twitter. Here are a few tips from my experience.

Twitter introduction
The first thing I would do is to find someone you know and trust on Twitter or a key person in their field, and have a look at the people they are following. It is highly likely that they will be following people who are enjoyable and worth following.

Another strategy is to ask a Twitter user to introduce you to their network. Hopefully, some people will follow you and you can start to build your Twitter network from there.

Lists
You can also start by looking at the many articles on the Internet about this topic such as this one: "Deciding who to follow" on Twitter by Wesley Fryer.

And there are many lists of top people to follow like these made up by Mashable. There's the top 100 educators.........top 100 health experts........ top 100 best Twitter feeds for nurses (I'm on that list...yey!) and so on. These lists are subjective to the author but they are a good place to start.

Follow Friday
Follow Friday is an activity whereby people make recommendations about who to follow every Friday. To find out more and see people's recommendations, either follow 'Follow Friday' or search Twitter for the Follow Friday tweets (#followfriday).

Meeting people in other environments
Another way I find people is through other online environments or platforms like Facebook or blogs. For example if I enjoy reading a blog, I will follow the blogger on Twitter. Keep an eye out for a 'follow me' sign that many bloggers have on the side of their blog, such as the one I have on the right of this post.

Finding people using search tools
There are a number of search tools you can use to find people on Twitter. It's becoming easier and easier to find people using Google, and of course Twitter has it's own 'find people' facility but I have found that to be temperamental at times. I prefer to use a Google custom Twitter search. Here's a list of 10 tools you can use to search for people on Twitter.

Following conversations
I often find people to follow through conversations on Twitter. It's like a ripple effect. You can follow conversations in real time using tools like Twitterfox or Tweetdeck. When people follow a thread, they usually add a hash tag (#) to their tweet. So if you are interested in following people who talk about knitting, put #knitting into a Twitter search engine or Google, and you'll find heaps of people who have the same interest as you.

I don't think I've done a very good job of explaining what a hash tag is, so if you're still unclear have a look at this explanation at Mashable.

Why people are tweeting
One thing to think about is why people are tweeting. If you want to build up a network of people who like to share information, then you shouldn't follow people who just use Twitter to market a product. If you want to connect with people who will talk to you, then you would be advised not to follow people who have huge followings and never have personal conversations on an individual level. I refuse to follow anyone who says they are a coach, mentor or inspirational speaker. The 'how to be a happy, kind person' tweets they are always posting make me want to put my fingers down my throat and be sick.

There are exceptions to the rule. I follow Stephen Fry (@stephenfry). He follows thousands and thousands of people so I know when I tweet him, he'll never reply to me. However, I continue to follow him because I love his humour and comments. A commercial account I follow is Air New Zealand grabaseat (@grabaseat) in the vain hope I'll pick up a cheap flight one day.

What people tweet about
If you're not sure whether to follow someone or not, have a look at their profile page and see what they talk about. Have a look to see if they respond to people and share information you will be interested in. I never follow people who are always re-tweeting....in other words, pass on other people's words/tweets. To me, this indicates a lack of originality and personal interaction.

People I do NOT follow on Twitter
I do not follow:
  • people with dodgy or ridiculous names like @fairypixiedust or @I'vegotbigbreasts (apologies if you have that particular Twitter name). Having said that, I have been caught out once or twice and realised that although a person had a silly and irrelevant name, they were a person worth following;
  • people who do not give any information about themselves in their profile - I need to know who a person is before I follow them;
  • people who have thousands of followers - I cannot see how they can usefully interact with that number of followers. The exception to the rule are people/companies who tweet valuable information that I am interested in such as Pete Cashmore aka @mashable;
  • people who have no followers, because they are most likely to marketers or spammers;
  • people who do not tweet - again, likely to be marketer or spammers;
  • people who ask me to follow them but lock their accounts - pl...eee...sss...eee! What is the point of asking me to follow you if you make it impossible for me to see who you are and what you talk about!
There's a few ideas...do you have any other ideas or tips about finding people to follow on Twitter?


Image: Follow me on Twitter! badge szlea
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzlea/2384656420
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Sunday, February 7, 2010

How to get a conversation going on Twitter?

I have just had an email asking me this question about Twitter:

How do I attract the people that I want to communicate with – even those who are presently unknown to me? I know that I have followers but how do I tweet to them?

Here are a few suggestions from my own experience of using Twitter.

1. Send regular messages, otherwise known as 'tweets'
You can't expect people to talk to you if you do not talk to them. It's like being at a party - if you want to be part of the fun, you have to go up to people and start a conversation. You don't want to overwhelm people with hundreds of tweets every day, but I would suggest you aim for at least a couple of tweets per day. I am less likely to follow someone if I see they interact infrequently.

2. Be friendly and open
Always reply to people when they send you a message, especially when you are building up your network.

3. Don't be shy
Be prepared to introduce yourself to people and explain who you are, why you are following them and start up a conversation. Some people will not respond, so don't be put off by that.

4. Think about carefully about your Twitter name
Whatever name you use, make sure it fits with your 'brand'...in other words how you want to be known online. If you want to build a professional network, it's probably not a good idea to call yourself "sexykittonkisses" or similar. Think about how you hook people into your Twitter stream when they first hear from you - if you use a really obscure name, you may put people off following you because they don't understand who you are.

5. Make sure your profile explains who you are
This is especially important if you wish to develop a professional network. People need to know why they should follow you. They will also want to make sure you are a legitimate person, not a spammer or marketing company.

6. Follow people who have an established following on Twitter
By doing this, you will get more of a sense of how to develop a network and see who are useful and interesting people to interact with.

Having said that, be mindful that some people have huge numbers of followers because of who they are as opposed to what they say on Twitter. For example, I used to follow Willam Shatner who has over 150,000 followers because I wanted to keep up with what he was doing and thinking (I just LOVE him!). But I stopped following him when I realized he doesn't send out tweets very often - I didn't feel connected to him.... (I'll just have to figure out another way to stalk him!!)

7. Share information and messages that will be of interest to people
Post about websites, resources and events. Re-tweet (pass on) messages you have seen that may be of interest to your followers.

8. Be helpful
If I have time and am able to help, I always respond to calls for advice and support. I find that what goes round, comes round on Twitter - in other words, if I help people, they are willing to help me.

9. Tailor your message to your network
If you are trying to build a network, have a think about who you want to attract. It's no good expecting to engage with educators if all you do is tweet about gardening.

10. Use key words
People search and follow themes and key words. So if you want followers who have an interest in gardening, use 'gardening' words in your messages that can be found in search engines. I happened to mention once that I was learning how to play Poker, and within minutes was being followed by people who obviously had an interest in Poker.

11. Don't be afraid to add personal touches to your messages
You don't want to bore everyone with details of your mundane life. At the same time, I think it is useful to tweet about your personal life at times - it gives your followers the chance to get to know you better and connect with you on another level.

12. Be prepared to put in time and effort to build your network and community
I am a firm believer that you get out of Twitter what you put in.

Resources
If you are interested in knowing more, have a look at these resources:
Do you have any other advice to pass on about how to build a network or community on Twitter? Do you have any resources you can pass on to Twitter newbies?


Image: Twitter bird logo icon illustration Matt Hamm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73532212@N00/3383916444
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Getting my head around Twitter


One of my goals for this year was to find out more about Twitter, because I had heard it mentioned a number of times especially by people like Sue Waters and it seemed like the 'in' thing to join. But despite reading a number of blog posts, I still didn't really understand what it was - is it an asynchronous or synchronous tool? Is it a 'chat' program that is designed for cell phones? Oh well, whateva, I thought - I've got enough to do without worrying about Twitter.

However, two posts confirmed that I really must look into this more closely. The first post was by Michele Martin who wrote 'Six reasons people aren't commenting on your blog'. To cut a long story short, this post was extremely successful for both Michele and I because it led to a lot of comments and discussion that spilled into my blog, which in turn increased my readership. The point of this story was that this all came about because of Twitter - someone read Michele's post, passed on the word and... the rest is history.

The second post was written by Clare Thompson - 'Tools and Sites I use List'. In her post Clare articulated exactly the same feelings that I had - she said "not sure I get it, worried that it will suck me into the abyss". So I got in touch with Clare, and after some discussion and support from Sue, we both joined. I loved the idea of having a mate to hold hands with - it made me feel a lot more confident. I also felt that if I did not join Twitter, I was not hip or groovy, and there was a danger I would be left out in the cold!

So I have discovered that Twitter is actually a synchronous instant messaging program that allows you to post very short posts (140 characters) to an online community of people who you 'follow' and who 'follow' you. Getting started was greatly helped by two blogs posts: Caroline Middlebrook has written a Twitter guide called 'The big juicy Twitter guide' in which she talks about the technological and social aspects of using Twitter. The other post I found really useful was 'Early morning Twitter education' by Kate Olson in which she talked about how to manage your 'tweets' or messages.

There appears to be a difference of opinion about Twitter. On the one hand, there are those such as Chris Lott who see Twitter as playing a valuable part in a community of practice, whilst others including George Siemens who cannot find any reason to join.

My initial impression is that the effectiveness of it very much depends on the community you belong to. If I want to idly 'chat' to an individual, I am more likely to use Skype or gmail. With Twitter, I have an instantaneous connection with a community of people who are able to pass on information there and then. I am still left with the question: why is that any better than asynchronous connection and I guess the answer is 'it isn't' - just different. I like the comment that Chris Lott made that Twitter is another "piece of the puzzle" - it becomes another part of my personal learning environment. The major question for me now is how much attention I will be able to pay Twitter when I return to work at the end of my summer holiday.

So I would be really interested to hear how people are using Twitter and what their experiences are. In particular, I would be extremely interested in hearing from midwives or midwifery students who use Twitter, or would be interested in knowing more about it.

Image: 'Let9s Talk About Sex' René González
www.flickr.com/photos/66357777@N00/388020
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Friday, January 15, 2010

Six things Twitter has done for me in the last year

I am giving a talk about the joys of Twitter in three weeks time as part of a professional development day for the staff of Otago Polytechnic. As part of my preparation, I thought I'd reflect on how I have been using Twitter, and the benefits I have found over the last twelve month. So here's six (random) examples of how I have used Twitter.

1. Personal and social support whilst living in Australia
I received a tremendous amount of personal, social support when I was living in Brisbane for six months away from my family in New Zealand. I felt very alone and homesick at time, but the conversation, advice and good humor provided by my Twitter friends kept me going. An added bonus was that I was able to meet a number of these wonderful people face-to-face during my time in Australia.

2. Development and facilitation of the Virtual International Day of the Midwife
One of my ongoing projects is the Virtual International Day of the Midwife which I facilitated last year and have just started the planning for this year. Twitter allowed (is allowing) me to get instant feedback and advice while I was planning details, and disseminate information about the activities. The other thing it allowed me to do was instantly access people with the ability to help me solve technical problems. In particular, I had some problems with the virtual classroom we were using, and was unable to access the support staff at the weekend. Via Twitter, I was able to get instant hold of Jo and Phil Hart who worked virtually with me to solve my technical problems....at a drop of a hat. I would have been very hard pushed to have found that sort of instant help, at the weekend, in other environments.

3. Invitations to speak at workshops and carry out research
I use Twitter to tell people about my academic work. As a result of my conversations, I have been asked to speak at several workshops and study days including the Edna workshop in Brisbane last year, where I talked to teachers about using social media in education. I have also be invited to join a collaborative, international research project which I am currently working on.

4. Development of a social and professional network in Dunedin, the place where I live
You wouldn't think I would need help to make friends in the place where I live, would you? The irony is that I developed a social network of friends and contacts in Dunedin while I was living in Brisbane last year. This social networking on Twitter has led to a number of face-to-face meetings and social gatherings in Dunedin since I came home. I have a far stronger feeling of belonging to Dunedin than I ever had before Twitter. This local networking has also opened doors to professional contacts that will be useful to me in my new job at the Otago Polytechnic Educational Development Centre.

5. Help with the Second Life virtual birthing unit
My other big project last year was the development of the Second Life virtual birthing unit. Twitter allowed me to connect with people who were Second Life experts; network with people who were doing similar work; disseminate information about the project, and ask for advice and feedback as we went along. For example, I used Twitter to get people's thoughts on what was important about environment when giving birth - the answers were then incorporated into the design of the virtual birth unit.

6. Gardening advice
My current hobby is developing my little urban garden. Most of the web sites I have found have been about gardening in the northern hemisphere. So it has been really helpful to be able to get information and advice about gardening that is specific to New Zealand and Dunedin. In particular, I have been able to get consolation from my gardening network about the effect of the terrible summer weather we have been having on my veggies :(

Do you have a Twitter account and use it regularly? How do you use Twitter? What do you feel are the benefits?
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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

ACM workshop (January 15 2014): Use social media tools for collaboration and engagement


Plan and resources for the ACM workshop on Wednesday, 15th January 2014.

Welcome
Animoto is a web-based tool that you can use to make videos, which can then be shared on Facebook, YouTube etc. It's really easy to use, and free to make a 30 sec video - there is a charge to make longer videos. Need to think about copyright of the images you use.

What do you know about social media and how do you currently use it?
Google Docs is a web-based collaborative tool that allows collaborators to edit in real time. May be restricted to invited only, or completely open access. Ideal for work that requires collaboration on one document- saves multiple versions and monitoring track changes. Some people have problems accessing without a Google account.

Social Media Revolution 2013
Introductory video explaining the impact of social media using YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCfFcchw1w
YouTube is third most commonly used social networking site. Not only excellent for finding out information, but also for publishing your own messages. 

Characteristics of social media 
PowerPoint presentation delivered via Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/sarahs/using-social-media-for-collaboration-and-engagement-in-associations-and-organisations
Slideshare continues to be one of social media's best kept secrets. A place to find information and get ideas about how to make great presentations (or not, as the case can sometimes be).  You can add audio to make a screencast. Need to watch copyright.

Example of a profession conversation:

https://www.facebook.com/sarahmstewart/posts/10152124937136306?stream_ref=10

Different types of social-media tools and applications
Blogs - http://midwifethinking.com 
Wiki - Virtual International Day of the Midwife 
Web-based applications - eg Screenr, MindMeister
Video-sharing websites -  Vimeo 
Hosted services - eg Skype, Google Drive and Google +
Bookmarking - Delicious  
Social networking - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat

One example of how social networking can be used for gathering information and promoting discussion
Issues to consider when using social media - curated using Storify:
http://storify.com/SarahStewart/issues-associated-with-the-use-of-social-media-too

Most popular social networking tools and applications
Facebook - Eligible Midwives Group (closed)
                - Example of professional discussion using Facebook
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=midwife
LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmargaretstewart
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/pin/479633429036800280/
Twitter

Closer look at Twitter
Common Craft - What is Twitter : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Activity
In this activity, I would like to ask you to go back to your computers and explore Twitter.
  • Set up a Twitter account: https://twitter.com
  • Post your Twitter name on the Google Doc
  • Develop your profile 
  • Decide on your avatar 
  • Post a message/tweet
  • Find the other workshop participants on Twitter  and follow - see names on Google Doc
  • Send a message to the other participants 
  • Reply to message 
  • Include the hashtag in one message - #midwives 
  • Follow hashtag conversation and respond
  • Follow someone other than a participant to follow
Evaluation activity
While you are interacting with Twitter, have a think about these questions - we will discuss them later as a group.
  1. How easy is it to use?
  2. How reliable is it?
  3. How can the ACM use it?
  4. Is it fit for ACM purpose?
  5. What are the potential constraints/problems?
  6. How would the use of Twitter by the ACM compare with other social media tools and resources that you know about?

 Workshop evaluation
Thank you for attending this workshop. I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this evaluation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B7B2CRM

Additional resources
Mashable.com is the first place to go to for all things "social media", including its Facebook and Twitter guides. 

I have written a lot about social media on this blog - some key posts are:
If you want to know "how to"...with any social media tools, go straight to Google or YouTube.

Heaps about social media and non-profits by Beth Kanter: http://www.bethkanter.org 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/93212162@N08/8539048913





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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Businesses and social media - a few tips from the customer

I have been noticing lately an increase in local Dunedin businesses starting to use social media, in particular Twitter and Facebook. I don't usually follow businesses on social media but I have been taking notice of what's going on because of the development work I am currently doing in the 'Facilitating Online' course which will be aimed at people in businesses and non-profit organizations as well as education later this year.

Selling me your business
I have been observing good and 'bad' practice over the last few weeks which has got me thinking about social media practice in business. There is heaps of information on the Internet about social media for businesses, including this short article from Sam Schuurman on how to use a Facebook fan page. The question is: does any of the advice work in terms of building a brand and increasing your customer base?

So if you are a business or 'personality' who wants to get into social media, here are a few tips from my point of view as a customer or potential customer.

1. Do your homework first
The other day I sent several messages to a business via Twitter. When I heard nothing back, I got on my high-horse and told them I didn't appreciate being ignored. The answer back to me was that the person at the other end didn't realise they had to reply to me. This did not really make sense to me because I assume that a business would not ignore a person in a face-to-face content...

Anyway, this was poor practice in my mind, and as the old adage goes...there's one thing worse than having no Twitter account...and that is having a poorly managed Twitter account.

2. Social media or social networking is all about being SOCIAL!!!
This means you talk to your customers and engage in conversations - you do not ignore them, and you do NOT use your Twitter account or Facebook page for doing nothing more than sending out adverts about your product or service. This will be perceived as spam and you will be completely ignored by customers.

3. Don't confuse social media with a website
This really relates back to the previous point. If all I want is information, I will go to your website. The reason I follow you on Facebook or Twitter is because I want a more personal connection, and two way conversation with you.

4. Put a personal 'face' to your online presence
I like to know a little about the person or people behind the brand. That doesn't mean I want to know the nitty gritty of everything you do. But a human touch means a lot to me, and helps me to feel I have a connection with you...which means I am more likely to buy your service or product.

5. Be inclusive
I have been following @durablegraphics on Twitter - this is Michael McQueen who is a strategic branding & signage company. Micheal has made me feel part of his network. He always talks to me, gives me personal replies and has gone out of his way to develop a online community around his product which I feel a part of. I don't think he's going to make his fortune out of me, but he is the first person I think of when I am recommending a service in his field.

6. Do you have the appropriate equipment to match the online communication tool?
I started following a New Zealand personality on Twitter a few weeks ago. I went to see his live show, and spoke to him face-to-face afterwards. I went home and sent quite a few messages praising his work - free publicity for him. He didn't reply...and I felt ignored...and unfollowed him. Eventually, he replied to say he lost track of what was happening on Twitter because he only had his phone so could only send out messages, not receive them.

You might say that this story is a poor reflection on me...that I am turning into a grumpy old cow...and you may well be right. My comment about this story is that if you want to use Twitter to build a following for professional or economic 'gain', you must make sure you have the right equipment to keep up with what's going on.

7. Are you using the relevant communication tool?
I tend to think of Twitter as being a synchronous tool and Facebook as more of an asynchronous communication channel. I do not think there is any point using Twitter if you cannot monitor your account at least once a day and reply to comments. If you can only get on the Internet once or twice a week, you may be better off having a Facebook account to communicate with customers. When I use Twitter, I expect an almost instant reaction (or reaction within 24 hours) to messages I send to people- when I don't get it, I 'unfollow' that person.

8. Integration with 'real life'
In my mind, another successful user of social media is James Hacon, the manager of the St Clair Resort in Dunedin. James always comments and replies to people on Twitter and Facebook. The other thing he does really well is integrates social media with real life - he uses social media to connect with people and then follows that up with real life, face-to-face interactions. He has done this with me, and now I am feeling loyal to his 'brand' - and in practice this means I always go to his restaurant for my morning coffee, instead of the cafe down the road.

9. Making the time and effort
All this interaction, connecting and community-development takes times and effort. If you do not have the commitment or ability to do this, then I suggest you find another way of building your customer base. I do not owe you anything...indeed, I can very easily go somewhere else for the product or service. But if you make that effort to connect with me, I will become loyal to you...talk about you...advertise your products/services...recommend you to my own networks and communities. It is up to you to decide what this is worth to you and your business.

What do you think about these tips? Am I being a grumpy old woman or is there some truth in what I say. What tips would you give about using social media for business purposes? If you are a business, what have you found works well?


Image: 'crawfordmarketcarrotman' Rigmarole
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16863501@N00/126438084
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Reaching the "I cannot stop" Stage


Today I glanced at the number of Twitter posts or tweets I have made and I saw I have passed the 1000 mark. How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday that I started to use Twitter.

"That's the dumbest thing"
At the beginning in January I wasn't too impressed and saw Twitter as a rather frivolous and time-wasting application. I certainly didn't see myself using it on a regular basis. Having said that, I did recognise the potential for midwives who are always on the move. Whilst they may be reluctant to engage with online technologies, most midwives have cell phones. So Twitter could be used to keep in touch with a wider midwifery community.

"Wow, just found a great link from Vicki"
By the end of April I was starting to find that my Twitter network was growing and I was starting to use the network to find information and seek support. But I continued to be skeptical and was only using it for professional interactions eg giving out information about my latest blog posting. I was still reluctant to use Twitter in a personal way because I was very concerned that I would offend people if I posted 'trivialities'.

"I cannot stop"
It was the other week when I realised that Twitter is now a very important part of my personal learning environment. I attended the International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (ICCMSN 2008) where Twitter was introduced to the conference participants. I saw that I was one of only a few people who used it on a very regular basis.

Now, it has got to the stage where I can hardly bear to do without Twitter for fear of what I will miss. I am totally confident with how I use it to post both professional and personal messages - if people get fed up with hearing from me, they can always stop following me.

I use my network to ask seek advice, gain information and extend my circle of colleagues and friends. I particularly like the spontaneous nature of it, eg last night I found myself at a meeting in Second Life as a result of an invitation via Twitter courtesy of @kerryank. And I have found some fellow rugby fans so I now have someone to discuss the latest matches with.

The rewards of perseverance
I am thrilled that I persevered with Twitter because it has become one of the main stays of my personal learning and development. What technology were you skeptical about at first and now find to be a vital part of your day?

Twitter Life Cycle by CogDog
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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Organising and facilitating an online event with social media

In my previous post I gave a brief report on the online conference for midwives that I organised and facilitated this week : The Virtual International Day of the Midwife. Within a few minutes it became obvious that the conference was going to be a great success, especially compared to last year's conference - last year we had an average of 6 participants per session...this year we had an average of 50 participants per session. So what made the difference to the success of this event...this year?

Email
Last year my main method of organising and advertising the VIDM was by using email discussion groups. But as I have already indicated, this method of advertising wasn't particularly successful.

This year I focused on social media to market, plan and facilitate the VIDM, in particular Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook
There are a number of concerns about Facebook, including the attitude of the owner to people's personal information, and the difficulty in deleting an account. Whilst I understood these concerns, I cannot ignore the fact that an increasing number of midwives are using Facebook to connect and share information - at the time of writing this post the Virtual International Day of the Midwife page had 2,486 fans.

Connecting with people
What I found was that Facebook gave me an immediacy of access to people, especially during the event itself. I was able to post information about events, answer questions and queries, and keep a record of people's comments and feedback. Whilst you can do that on email groups, I always feel that I have to be very careful what I say and how often I send emails for fear of overloading people. I don't have the same concern with Facebook.

The provisional results of the event evaluation survey show that Facebook was the most effective in marketing VIDM - 69% people heard about VIDM through Facebook compared to 13% of people who heard via an email group.

Twitter
I also set up a dedicated VIDM Twitter account as well as a hashtag #IDM2010. My impression is that midwives are only just getting their heads around Twitter. What I have noticed is that Twitter is used extensively by pregnant women and mothers, especially mums who are campaigning for better maternity conditions.

At the time of writing this post, the Twitter account had 161 followers - 9% of the online survey participants had heard of the VIDM via Twitter. At this time, Twitter is not an effective communication tool for midwives, but I still think it is worth engaging with Twitter. I used it very effectively for seeking synchronous help from my non-midwifery network , especially when I had urgent technology problems that needed solving. I also used that network for psychological support as during the event.

Blog and Wiki
Whilst I used Facebook and Twitter for connecting with people, and passing on the latest news about the VIDM, I used this blog and the VIDM wiki for processing ideas, making plans, gathering feedback and consulting with the wider community. This is a great way of engaging and including the community you are serving, as well as making use of collective brains and resources.

In my next blog post, I'll pass on some practical tips I learned about facilitating an online event using social media.

Further reading:

How to organise an event on Facebook - http://mashable.com/2009/10/14/facebook-events-guide

The Mashable Facebook guidebook - http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook

The Mashable Twitter guidebook - http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter
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