In July NAWBO held a social
networking workshop that was geared for getting your feet wet in the
cial
networking arena. NAWBO-NYC is the National Association of Women Business Owners-NYC Chapter an
organization that has been helpful to me in New York meeting and learning from
other women business owners. Squidoo, real space, power diggers, twitpic...we had
to create a wiki to keep up! I have since received notifications of fan pages, linked-in networks and twitter feeds from quite a few of the participants
using these tools to promote their business. We are hosting a continuation on Oct. 8, 2009, Storytelling and Social Media for Business Owners:
How To Create Compelling Content and Market Your Business, Blogging, which I hope you can attend.
While, we plunged into a fast paced river at the workshop, I was encouraged by the panelists suggestion that the best way to venture forward is to join some of these networks as a participant, a follower, a reader, an audience. Basically, you don't have to create your own following and group, but you can just go and social network.
Passing out business cards at
a cocktail reception might get a few referrals, but blog, website, social
networks + a google search opens your reach exponentially. And, vice versa. Now
I am subscribed to more blogs, twitter accounts, newsletters, and groups than I
care to disclose at the moment. I add all my forays and online encounters to my
google home page feed, which has become a bizarre hodgepodge of technology,
news, media, marketing, mommy blogger posts, client blog posts, latest
historical novel updates, and astrology feeds. Does Google share home page
feeds--what strange profile would I fall into for advertisers? What solicitations would I start receiving if I joined the Hannah Montana fan club....
Marshal McLuhan's Laws of Media are often foreboding, but his adages still hold true on the web: "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us."
Currently, we are at a technology
crossroad and it is our job to shape these tools for our best interests. First
we must define public and private space and second all this data mining and
information should evolve to suit the growth of business.
Michael Netzley, from Singapore University explains: "All technology innovations go through an adoption cycle. There are four steps in this process.
First,
there's a trigger which compels somebody to invent and release the technology,
followed by an enthusiastic early adoption phase. After that there's a trough
of disillusionment as early adopters tire of the new technology, and finally, a
plateau of productivity where the tool is widely adopted and used by average
citizens working and living in life's mainstream.
Indeed, the tools have been around for a while and have been hyped, but the reality is that we are just now seeing mainstream adoption." (2009/9/2)
As users of new technology it is up to us to tell the programmers how we want to use these new tools. Did not the use of the car for family lead to the creation of the min van? Truly, no auto engineer would have conceived of the mini van without consumer demand.
Programmers are digital
engineers. They can make the internet run, but what a programmer does online is
not likely how you and I want to navigate and use the web. When I asked a
client once what kind of reporting they need for their database, the response
was you figure out what we need. Well, it does not exactly work this way. If it were up to programmers to
determine efficiency of web use, we would be using Terminal and c prompt
commands, rather than a web browser. (Actually, given all the problems with
browsers these days, maybe this is not a bad idea.)
First, adaptation:
Defining Public and Private Space--the ethical use of the web
It must be understood that
all social networking sites-facebook, linked-in, myspace, blogger, youtube, etc
own your data and can use it however they want. Of late, Facebook has received
the most controversy. In August Canada's Privacy Commissioner called
Facebook to task demanding changes to its privacy policy.(2009/08/08) Some argue, there is no more privacy, get over it.
The "get over it argument"
dismisses important ethical concerns that must be acknowledged by anyone that
uses these platforms. And, no we don't need to get over it. These sites have
created platforms whose profit is earned by our content. And, just like a
building contractor must make sure a building will not collapse, management of
social networking sites should make sure their users are safe. If the
management is not giving away user data, than hackers are. A compromised social
networking site has the potential to infect and glean user data information
through hackers and viruses that can impact millions of people and cripple a
business.
In a February CIO conference social networking dangers were exposed in the most prominent social networking sites. As the security agent Moyer explained, the climate is a perfect storm of social engineering and bad programming: "Social networking sites are meant to get as many users in one place as possible on one platform, and for attackers there's a lot of return-on-investment in going after them," (2009/07/02)
And, Twitter has lots of work to be done on the security front from phishing attacks to denial of service attacks , poor authentication systems . I don't mean to pick on Twitter, I love Twitter's potential, but even Forbes Magazine has pointed out, for goodness sake, at least get a security officer! (2009/07/15)
As adaptees of these technologies, we have the right to make demands on these companies for security and privacy. Bad programming and security are clearly personal issues for me--it only takes a few bad apples who ignore good programming and security procedures to cause enormous harm globally. Going back to the mini van metaphor--would you put your family in a mini van if it put your child at risk just because it was free?
As users, we also need to be aware of our online identity is very public---both from a business perspective as well as for personal safety. When you tell folks that you on vacation or out walking the dog, while your facebook profile may not show your address, it takes only a few google keystrokes to find your address through your school affiliation, location, name or business.
It is the public nature of
the web that makes it so exciting. The business and communication potential
cannot be ignored and we absolutely have a say in its direction.
Second, adaptation: Better
business tools on the web
At the NAWBO workshop in
July, many questions centered around how does this apply to my business--you are
an architect, an event planner, a tour guide, a marketing consultant...how should
client interactions online be conducted? Are there better ways to track and
target my communication with customers? How do I integrate services and sales
with shared information?
This is where it is so
exciting. Remember when the fax machine was a big deal? My grandparents could
not get enough of faxing letters back and forth when this came out.
And, the information? I found
most of the information for this article while I was waiting at the airport. If you
have read this far, how many have clicked through to Forbes, CIO magazine, the
Chicago sun times? Maybe you are interested in media and have twittered Michael
Netley, who teaches in Singapore. My greatest hope is that you have gone to NAWBO
NYC and registered for an event (we have two coming up in social media) or to become a member. Perhaps you need a website, a database management system or a place to host your site with my company Intracommunities, Inc. It is possible
that you got side tracked by all those links and never made it this far....but think positive!
So now what? All this information, a global database, how do we use it to grow our business? How do you reach the 22 million user universe as many of these groups have grown to be? With solid company policies and online procedures, we have an opportunity to be Julia Child in the kitchen, crafting business masterpieces, learning new recipes, and creating a new culture for our businesses.
It is actually really important that we get engaged now rather than later. This new media in not yet rated, we have an opportunity to put our stamp on the direction of these tools now and morph it into something effective, safe and fun.
