WhatsTheBuzzAbout.com

Is Passive Participation on Social Networks Acceptable?

When you decide to join a social network or a particular group on a social network, do you consciously decide to be stealth– i.e., just read the postings and not provide any comments or postings of your own?  It appears that the normal expectation of a member of a social network or group is that he or she fully completes whatever the profile requirements are of that entity and at least reads the postings. Sometimes, the nature of the social network or particular group is something that you want to follow, however membership might imply an unwanted meaning.

The term “Fan” on Facebook has that double meaning. Sometimes you might not want to be a fan but still want to watch and learn from a particular group. Perhaps one of the interesting terms that Twitter uses is “Follow.” You can follow someone and never agree with a thing that he or she posts. No one expects that you are a “fan” or that by following you agree to connect people together through in-mails such as connecting on LinkedIn™ implies.  Twitter permits passive participation and no one thinks the less of you if you elect to be passive.

Moderators of social networks and groups, as well as many bloggers welcome and encourage pro-active participation. The 80/20 rule does not seem to apply to social network groups. The majority of joiners and readers never contribute a written posting or comment. Often, those who do post frequently may appear to be monopolizing the group or forum just because there are so few other participants.

Many moderators carry the load for their network or group and, therefore, those groups have grown to expect that from the moderator. The moderators continue to post new topics in an effort to retain interest, spur conversations, provide information, or encourage the newest members to become involved. Moderators have taken on the role of provider as well as moderator.

Some individuals have chosen to conduct their business on a social network and rarely go off-line, depending upon that social network to maintain the history.  Entire transactions have occurred on Skype, Ecademy, etc., with no “off-line” communication. You can completely ignore groups to which you belong on certain platforms and have a thriving off-line or on-line platform connection with individuals as a result of shared groups. If someone goes to groups which you may have joined, there may be no record of active postings by you.

If we each made a commitment to contribute one posting or one comment to each of our groups at least once a year, can you imagine what the impact? Groups that have one hundred people would at least have one hundred different postings/comments to consider and groups of thousands would be greatly enriched.

Make a commitment to follow each of your groups or forums and to post at least once a year if you have something of value to contribute and being passive is not a condition in your mind of participation.  You will be surprised at the positive fall-out that you will receive by that small effort. Buzz about encouraging others to do the same and watch the proverbial snowball effect.

What is your buzz about?

What Makes a Good Blog?

Speaking about what interests you, what concerns you, or what you believe should be something for others to think about on a blog is personal. Bloggers give a glimpse into their thinking when they choose a topic, develop the content, and then post. It permits us to stop for a moment, read a blurb about something that we might not have thought about before in any depth and, perhaps, even contemplate the topic or share it with others.

Bloggers are learning all the time. We learn how to market and promote our blog if we want to promote it. We learn how to drive traffic to our blog, if that is what we want to accomplish. We learn how to let our blog self-feed into other aggregating web sites.  We also learn that the blogging community is not politic-free and not always the best in communicating. 

Wending our way through blog-land, we realize that not every blogger or blogging aggregator web site is willing to permit the freedom of thought and creative prose to exist. Some bloggers will actually take negative steps to push down other bloggers with something as simple as a negative comment, a negative vote on a blogging site, or a refusal to permit an RSS feed on an aggregating web site and failing to or choosing not to respond to queries.

In a perfect blogging world, individuals would strive to support one another. Blogging is a commitment to free speech, the free exchange of ideas, and the right of self-expression. Assuming that the content of a blog is not considered generally “offensive,” why not support each other and learn from one another? Even the “offensive sites,” most likely have a following which finds them inoffensive.

It seems that blogging is another part of the world that is also subject to gamesmanship, true or false rankings, and politics, which may come as a surprise to a new blogger.

So, what makes a good blog? Is it when your blog is ranked number five out of all the blogs on x,y,z, subject? Is it when people comment on your blog routinely? Is it when aggregating web sites permit your blog to appear on your page of that web site or its front page? Is it when someone “Digg’s” it? Is it when it is recognized as an authority on a particular subject?  

Your blog is successful if by writing it, you grow personally and you stretch your mind and open an internal discussion. If it is something that you can stand behind, then it should be something from which others with open minds and receptive hearts can appreciate.

You need no external validation about the success of your blog. You are a success if you have created a blog and are willing to continue to contribute to it. Plant the flowers and the bees will come. In the interim, you have pollen and you will be the stronger for it.

What is your buzz about?

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Perhaps you are already a blogger, perhaps not.  If you blog, your blog may be one of the most read blogs on the web or perhaps it is just for you or for your family. In any case, blogging is a commitment.  Someone or many may follow your blog with expectations that you may not even know about or understand.

Therefore, how do you approach starting a blog or what the content should be in a blog? There are a series of fundamental questions to ask yourself.

The first question should be whether you are willing to make a commitment to blogging? Blogging is not like a personal diary or journal. When you have a diary or a journal you can just stop and you disappoint no one. While you may have the option not to post or to disband a blog, there is always someone on the web who may be disappointed to not find a post or your blog.

The second question you should ask yourself is why are you starting a blog or writing on a topic? Are you starting it because you want to have the opportunity to explore a particular topic and receive feedback? Perhaps your rationale is simply that almost everyone you respect has a blog. Perhaps, you believe that it is necessary to raise your credibility from a professional viewpoint. Perhaps you think that it will drive traffic to your company. Perhaps you are frustrated with a company or a product, and want to discuss that publicly. Perhaps you have a deep interest in a subject or a philosophy, etc.  If you know what the driver is, then you can set your personal expectations about how often to blog accordingly.

Assuming you are committed to blogging and understand what is driving you to blog, the next step is to determine is the mechanics. Perhaps you want to post on someone else’s blog. Perhaps you want to start your own blog or a second blog, etc. If you start your own blog, you need to determine what you want the feel of your blog to be. You can decide the host, layout, colors, crispness, images in your blog, etc. There are a myriad of choices and they are all yours.

Another step is to determine what the content will be of each blog. You may want it to be all original thought. You may want to post a scholarly blog, replete with references, attributions, etc. You may want a combination. You may want to develop the content so that it can translate into a book or a personal or family historical record, or an adjunct to your business. You may decide that each blog you write does not have to have any relevance to any other blog in that site.  Again, the choice is all yours.

Blogging is an interesting exercise in free expression. It permits the public exploration of ideas and thoughts and provides a brief glimpse into you as a person-what is important to you about that particular topic. Blogging gives you the opportunity to start a buzz and to be heard. If your heart is in it, you will be successful and it will not be a burden. Jump into it thoughtfully and enjoy the freedom that blogging affords.

What is your buzz about?

Do You Understand How to Use Your Social Network Platforms?

If you are reading this blog you must be among the many people who subscribe to or are members of more than one virtual social network and, therefore, have the ability to use all the bells and whistles of the platform on which that social network resides. Have you ever explored all the features of each platform?

Most of us join a social network because someone we know or want to know belongs to that platform or has recommended it to us. If you are like most of us, you do a cursory review of the platform, fill in the data about ourselves that is required, and voila become members.  We explore the obvious applications available on the site, such as – can we post, can we send in-mail to other members, etc.?  Then we move onto to the next thing on our to do list.

The rush to join various networks can be invigorating. Joining multiple networks can be beneficial. Being able to quickly communicate with individuals whom you may or may not know in those networks is phenomenal.  However, we may be not fully taking advantage of everything a particular network has to offer or aware of its restrictions, if we do not step back and learn more about the actual mechanics of that network.

Does the lack of taking time to fully understand these mechanics cause a problem? Perhaps. We chose to simplify our participation, and by doing so, may not access the technology which could help us connect, develop stronger business relationships, or ease our workload.  Using only the basic social network technology is like having a cell phone and never using text messaging, or a great camera and never changing the settings for light or distance. You can enjoy and use the technology, but you may be missing out on something that you might really appreciate and is beneficial to you. 

Think about taking the time and singling out one social network to which you belong. Fully explore it, the settings, etc.  Then take another one and do the same. You may be surprised at some of the features which might be there and are not readily apparent.  You also might find some restrictions which don’t work for you. Post discussion threads and let others help you learn, answer questions, etc. Make suggestions for improvement on the platform. Platform operators and moderators need to know what you need or want to have to make the platform stronger and work for you.

Let people know what you have discovered that works in a platform in order that others can benefit from your experience. Don’t buzz about writing negative things about the platform or deleting your membership if you are disappointed for any reason before you give the moderators and platform owners a chance to respond. Buzz about being a change agent and take the positive route.

What is your buzz about?

Do Discussion Boards Extend Conversations Unnecessarily?

Most of us subscribe to discussion boards, whether they are called groups, forums, wikis, or social media networks.  We may be active on those boards or we could be stealth, also known as lurkers.  Lurking simply means that we rarely, if ever, participate on the boards. Some lurkers consistently read what is posted or sent to them from the boards via e-mail or RSS feeds.

Often, individuals will discuss the board content off-line, meaning not publicly on the board but through chats, private e-mail, or voice conversation. There is no way to capture the number of lurkers who actually read the messages unless they sign onto the web site to read them.  There is no way to capture lurkers or others who have discussions off-line. We can only follow the threads of conversations on the boards to determine who has chosen to be heard in writing.

Perhaps it is the fact that the posters are comfortable in having their postings read in a public forum often becoming part of a search engine’s history, or being read for comments as simple as a “thank you” or long diatribes which appear to simply be attempts to “be right.” Two things come to mind as contributing to stealing of readers’ time–etiquette and rehashing.

The first is the yet-to-be-established board etiquette. For example, is it really necessary for six or seven people perhaps to simply post comments, such as “thank-you” or “will check the site out you suggested.” Why do some people feel it necessary to send a comment to a board to potentially thousands of people who subscribe through an RSS feed or choose to read each message?  Cannot we just agree that each person who posts a substantive message will recognize that we appreciate that posting, whether we agree or disagree with the content of that posting? If someone wants to check out a recommended site, just check it out. If we wanted to know what he or she was doing every minute, we could sign up for Twitter. If you want the poster to know that you will check it out, write to them off-line. If we do not post such trivial comments it does not mean that the rest of us are unappreciative, etc.  

The second is the apparent need for some individuals to have the final word or to keep posting the same comment using different wording in an attempt to be right. The boards sometimes deteriorate into positional bargaining or outright arguments instead of simply permitting variances in opinions to co-exist. Most have us have seen examples where all etiquette is tossed out and it seems that we are watching a grown-up version of a school yard fight between a couple of bullies, including name calling, with a few soft hearted “ can’t we all just get along” people on the sidelines chirping in on occasion.

Sometimes I just want to leave a board for these time-sapping reasons but I rarely do. Instead, I just wait it out until they take their verbal toys and go home. It is a good thing that humans need sleep. It seems that only that need sometimes stops the barrage or the trivia. Do you find your mind buzzing unnecessarily also?

What is your buzz about?

When Platforms Usurp Your Power

Most people stand quietly by when the platforms they use change the game or restrict how they use the platforms.  Don’t these platform administrators get it? Do you understand that you are losing your power when they make unilateral changes which restrict your abilities? We are the consumers, we are the swarms, we determine which survive and which do not, and we determine if their death or growth is slow or rapid. It seems to me that some platform management do not understand that simple fact. Therefore, those respective platforms may not survive long term or continue to grow.

We, the users of social networks, are restricted in so many ways on different platforms, and we simply acquiesce:

·         We are limited in the number of invitations we can send–either in total or at one time.

·         We are limited in the number of connections we can have.

·         We are limited in the number of groups in which we can participate.

·         We are limited in the number of messages we can send.

·         We are limited in what we are permitted to post on the site.

·         We are limited in the number of people we can follow.

·         We are limited in whether we can publish our email publicly if we want to do so.

·         We are limited in the number of people we can sync with contact information.

·         We are limited in whether we can post a video that is not our personal video but from another source, even if we document the source.

·         We are limited in the manner in which we can invite, decline, or respond to individuals.

·         We are limited in the format of our email address.

·         We are limited in the image we choose to use for ourselves.

·         We are limited…

Why do we accept these restrictions? Are we waiting for those with more courage to stand up and take the gauntlet? Do we assume that new platforms will emerge?

I know of only one platform which holds none of these restrictions. I suspect that as it becomes better known, it will emerge as one of the recommended front runners. We administer many networks on that platform and as we need enhancements, we find a receptive provider.

In the interim, what do we do with the platforms which have hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers to which we have become dependent? It seems that we continue to participate until they quietly go away and receptive social media platforms develop according to consumer input. Aren’t you buzzing about – trying the latest recommended social network platforms while discouraged by the lack to attention to you –the user– by the others?

What is your buzz about?

Is Your Contact Information Your Own?

I was astounded when I received an email from one of my contacts asking if I wanted to bid to buy his “Group” that he, as an executive recruiter, had established on a particular social network platform. As the CEO of a company which does executive search, I had not been permitted to join that group. Now, I was informed that the group would be offered to the highest bidder and asked to bid. The platform management soon advised my contact that the highest bid concept was not permitted and that the group could not be “sold.” I wonder if this practice goes on elsewhere and this is the first time I have seen it in action.

What is troublesome to me was that it was not the social media platform which was up for sale or changed ownership. In that case, it which would seem realistic that data would become the “property” of the new owners who ran the platform. In fact, it was only a small group of several hundred on a particular platform in which the individuals joined based on their relationship to the manager of the group. I would be surprised if anyone joined that group expecting that if the manager no longer was in executive search that their “relationship” and “contact” information would be on the auction block and potentially be sold to the highest bidder.

Are there ethical questions behind this? If so, what are they? Do the group participants have the right to not be auctioned? If it had gone through, should each have received compensation too? Who owns your data when you join a group?

There are social media web sites which pay for individuals to submit referral leads—those leads could include your data. There are social media web sites which publish your profile information and which do not permit you to “cloak” or “deny” access to some or all of the information from other members. Many sites populate your profile, etc. from other sites, and this is a good thing. Of course, what is written on public platforms, such as this blog, becomes public.

Can you control access to your contact information if you participate in social media platforms being accessed by a large population or even one person?  Perhaps, but it will take a conscious effort on your part, the cooperation of your employer, if applicable, and a practically non-participatory effort in the major social media sites or sites that capture contact information of members and keep it up-to-date.

Think about your data? What are your expectations when you provide it to a social media site or to an individual?  With more portability of information, you can expect your data to become available.

Think about this issue if you manage the data of others. What is your fiduciary responsibility to those individuals? Does the public have the right to access the information of your swarm?

What is your buzz about?