charlie interacts with the kids

will the adults please leave the playground? let the kids play.

i get it. people want a professional image and to be adult. they say, we should have the right profile image, say the right things, be diplomatic. agreed. but i do think sometimes we can let the guard down and just have some fun. read “fun”. and isn’t that what FaceBook is all about? a bit of mucking about and sharing some stuff?

i read this post earlier from Scobleizer [link] who said "It’s no business “utility” if I can’t make infinitely large friend lists and use those lists in the same way I use email (which Facebook also bans)." and thought… well yes, FaceBook isn’t for building big business anyway – its to play and network. what Scobleizer recommends is using FriendFeed - which i do. here's mine: http://friendfeed.com/charlierobinson

as I have said in an earlier post – FaceBook is the “after party”. so, leave the serious stuff to your blog, FriendFeed, LinkedIn and Twitter interactions and throw all the sheep at me from FaceBook that you want… but please do treat me as your friend. even if i'm a new friend. i don’t like playground bullies, so no, im also not into all the spam abuse through groups, applications and others. remember the rule – if you cant do it to the face, don’t do it at all. even kids get that.

see you on the feed xc

charlie interacts with government - one day

I’m starting to read comments from professional bloggers asking (or complaining) that government offices and corporate bodies haven’t taken up the social media capabilities fast enough. It’s true, I’ve written on many occasion the dilemmas I personally face as a corporate communication consultant introducing web services and technologies in to our day to day operations. I have had many a conversation internally about security issues, privacy issues, just plain old waste of time staff issues and all the rest that management throw at me. It’s a little like a cracked record. But I don’t like sitting back and waiting for the day that it will all be better and we “can now do it”. I like to do.

So, perhaps if we reflect on the “what will happen to make the change”. Hmmm… just like 10 years ago when email was introduced. And probably 10 years before that when the phone system came on. It’s really just a typical human trait that makes us resistant to the change. So, let’s work the room on that one.

Us humans need success stories.

So, why don’t we create some? Together. Us corporates.

I am winning @ work on the recruitment front (with the use of several tools). In particular networking to find potential candidates is the perfect excuse to demonstrate the power of services such as LinkedIn and even FaceBook in this space. So that’s what I’m doing. All good there. For me. What else would be a quick win? I was reading about onboarding tonight through the use of wiki induction packages. I could go there and try that. We have a project open @ the moment to review induction. So, there’s a few toe in water examples. Anyone got any others?

But, as far as that working for government, well it’s just not a reality. Yet. I’ve worked in the departments who personally managed services around attraction campaigns into state government. HOWEVER, what will work is the corporate demonstrating to government how to do it. The they won’t want to be missing out on the action.

So, I guess it’s back to me.

charlie's reading suggestions

some great articles i've been reading and mucking around with that i thought you also might like to read:

Blogging
how-to-start-a-blog-who-the-hell-cares-about-your-opinion-anyways/

FaceBook Turns One
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/24/facebook-platform-one-year-later/

Little Guys Online
http://www.weblin.com/

Password Managers
http://www.tucows.com/Windows/IS-IT/Security/PasswordManagers/

Resource Wiki's - excellent!!
http://www.ikiw.org/
in particular: http://www.ikiw.org/wikipatterns/

Stop using FaceBook? Are they mad... not really - read on:
http://www.afterthelaunch.com/2008/05/08/stop-using-facebook/

and finally... WebMonkey returns
http://www.webmonkey.com/

Enjoy! xc

charlie has a voice

well there it is. the hardest day of my life (aside from a couple of others). charlie has a voice. but how seriously weird do i look on camera!! i must practice... baby steps though. like i mentioned in the video, wise orange are producing 5 testimonial video's and reconfiguring the corporate video for my full time job (yes - i do have one). this is all part of major communication campaigns hitting the marketplace in July for recruitment of those hard to find (power) engineers.

as i've mentioned before i do like to teach myself new tricks.

so - aside from the bad lighting and the un-madeup face / hair, anyone got any feedback they'd like to share to help make my journey a little less painful? be gentle though xxc

charlie interacts with twitter

twitter is a funny little beast. seems so strange when you first start it up. basically you're watching conversation threads. bit weird. but in the main, the are public comments (= publicity). things that make others take action. comments placed at the start, like "reading" or "posted" tend to make me (and obviously others) think "i had better go check that out". especially when i admire the person and respect their views. it works - i've seen twitter come up in website stats more than once or twice already (as a referrer). far more than facebook even.

so using twitter for publicity is becoming an art... it needs all the attention, interaction, and a following you can muster. hey - but that's what social media is, isn't it? it feels like it's one of those "won't happen over night but it will happen" moments. you certainly have to work the room harder to get the results.

personally, i use twitter to send links etc to articles i'm reading, to promote when I update my blog and to highlight some work that friends have done. but i've also discovered a very simple trick (for myself). that is, just prior to log-off, make your final comment something you want to promote. then, when people search and check your profile, the first thing (and typically only thing they check) is that comment. if they like - they'll follow.

the thing i have to now get right - is remembering to do that. is there an application to help me remember please?

xc