Category: 5 Must-Read Posts

Last week’s Facebook developer conference unveiled a series of upcoming changes to the Facebook platform. But the social web is not just about Facebook – there’s lots more out there and I suspect, there always will be. This week’s five must-read posts largely skirt around the Facebook avalanche which you can read elsewhere – except for #1. Enjoy!

1. Interesting angle on the Facebook announcements from Noah Horton, CTO and Co-Founder of social media publishing platform, Involver. In this post he looks at The Semantic Social Web and ponders the question of value.
2. Starting a new blog can be daunting – and Michael Brenner explains why with his post Content Strategy Visualized. But, as he explains, content can help you drive an inbound marketing approach – so long as you understand the connections between blogs, marketing, PR and social media. Good luck!
3. Great post from Amber Naslund on the personal challenge of social media. It’s not just about creating and sharing knowledge and content – it goes deeper. It’s about being a wayfinder. And I couldn’t agree more.
4. Short but sweet, John Haydon shares How to Get Heard.
5. Julian Cole explains just how easy it is for digital strategists to learn Photoshop in 8 hours (note, I didn’t say “master”). Great stuff. After all, a bit of coding and some graphic design will take you a long, long way – and most don’t even know the basics. Get to it!

Last week was a busy week for me – with travel, conferences and back-to-back meetings for what felt like a whole week. And while it was exhilarating and energising, it also left precious little time for much else.

These posts popped out of my RSS feeds as I was travelling between destinations. Be prepared, there is some great and challenging thinking ahead of you.

1. What does the future of work look like? Will we continue to walk the work-life balance tightrope, or will global trends force us to change our thinking, disrupt our career plans and transform our futures? Bryce Roberts takes a 1000ft view of the job market and ponders the idea of continuous partial employment.
2. Speaking of the future – or at least the near future, this week Facebook is likely to make a whole series of announcements at the F8 developer conference. Lauren Fisher previews the changes.
3. While Facebook continues to innovate, so too does Klout – finding new ways to measure the slippery notion of online influence. Now, I am yet to be convinced – but Mark Schaefer mounts a strong case explaining Why Klout Matters. A Lot.
4. Is social media right for your business? Drew McLellan says it is – but only if it makes you money or saves you money. He even gives you 20 questions to help judge for yourself.
5. Has anyone ever offered to give you 110%? Have they ever delivered? Valeria Maltoni suggests that we need to be realistic. That we need to be clever. And that we need to listen to our clients, customers and bosses. Maybe they don’t want 110% – maybe they just want us to deliver on our promises.

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. I have delivered keynote presentations, workshops and been part of panel discussions. I participated in podcasts and even spoke at Social Media Club Adelaide. Now, I am just catching my breath and catching up on some reading – and what a collection I have for you this week. Check it out.

1. The first post is really two – read Anne Zelenka’s Big Ideas Require Social Connection and then take a look at Mark Pollard’s the big idea versus small idea debate is dumb. Here’s why. I love finding these types of connection.
2. Have you sponsored blog posts or tweets? Do they work? Mitch Joel explains why more and more marketers are paying for blog posts and tweets – and begs us not to make this new medium feel so old.
3. We hear a lot about “influence” – who has it, how you measure it and why it’s all so hard. Rebecca Denison shares five reasons why measuring influence is elusive.
4. Danny Brown has a fine rant on Klout, Facebook and other social network platforms and tools. He says, Enough with the opt-out bullshit, Klout.
5. In social media – and in marketing – we talk a lot about optimising, about refining and balancing. We are looking for the optimum outcome. But are we looking for the wrong thing? Valeria Maltoni thinks so. She says we need more visionaries. What do you think?

It has been a full-on week. In fact, I totally expect the whole of August to be “full-on”. I have a raft of presentations to give – at PR3.0, ADMA Forum and at Marketing Week and I am busily squirreling away on the Premier Customer Network for SAP (turning the ideas of social media into action). And just when I thought that it could not get any busier, #londonriots knocks us for six and changes the game in terms of social unrest, social media and community activism in all its true chaotic forms. Maybe the revolution really will be tweeted!

1. In the wake of riots in London, Umair Haque connects the dots – explaining that this is not an isolated incident – but a Great Splintering that has been coming for some time. Wish I’d read it before writing this.
2. One of the knee-jerk reactions to the riots has been to suggest turning off social media sites. While China proves that this is technically possible (and is certainly easy here in Australia thanks to the Internet filter), is this an attack on democracy or civil rights? Tiphereth Gloria digs into some of these questions.
3. I have always been concerned with our society’s focus on metrics – on the numbers more than the people behind them – especially as it relates to education and the creativity of our children. Now, Rachel Rettner over at LiveScience reports that kids are more narrow-minded and “just not as creative” as they were in the 70s. Strong endorsement for Waldorf/Steiner schools in my opinion (HT Tim Longhurst).
4. Storytelling for Search and Social Media? Well, you know I’m going to fall for a title like that. The good thing? Jye Smith delivers with some sharp insight and a nice presentation that I’d love to hear.
5. Joanna Beltowska shares John Maeda’s Principles for Creative Leaders. Read it and weep because you didn’t write it yourself 😉

“May you live in interesting times” is known as the Chinese curse. And while the origins of this phrase are unclear – there is no doubt that our current times certainly are “interesting”. Our social connectivity has exposed the realities of globalisation in its triumphant and tragic dimensions and sometimes it is difficult to comprehend the human impact of this. These five must-read posts from last week are great articles that are trying to grapple with the challenges that we are all facing – as individuals, as well as global citizens.

1. Shel Israel steps away from his usual commentary and analysis and gets a little personal, describing what it means to be lost in the middle.
2. As a marketer, I know people are inconsistent. That they will do one thing and say another. But I am always surprised when when we act recklessly or without care for others. Chris Guillebeau reminds us how to do the right thing.
3. At a time when London is burning, Mark Earls reminds us that we need to look at the social world – the places and spaces in which we live and help to create – to understand the behaviour of individuals. Don’t look to the trees. Pay attention to the forest.
4. Mike Arauz talks about the Millennium Villages Project which is an ambitious program that aims to show the way that people can lift themselves and their communities out of poverty. Brilliant and inspiring.
5. An ecosystem also needs its institutions. And Umair Haque suggests that its time we built institutions which embrace our individuality and our humanity.

As usual there was plenty of good reading last week. I hope that as you read each of these posts that you take the time to bookmark the blogs and subscribe to their feeds. Most of the people who are featured in this weekly wrap up consistently deliver quality thinking and content – and I would encourage you to connect, comment and subscribe to their blogs. It’s the social thing to do!

1. Rachel Happe seeks to provide some clarity in amongst the chaos of our news and information rich world, sharing some tips for making decisions in a networked world.
2. If every blog, every Facebook page and every tagged or location based check-in on FourSquare or Instagram can count as a branded impression – how do we value (and cost out) our marketing programs? Shiv Singh wonders the same thing – when a trillion impressions aren’t enough.
3. Many of us are “professionally creative” – that is we use our creativity as part of everyday work. And while we can often fall victim to “writer’s block” or other creative deadzones, most of the time, we need to be creative on purpose. Drew McLellan explains some of the things that keep him at the top of his game.
4. I love this post and the image from Mark Hancock. He claims this post is For Planners Only, but it is – in truth – for all of us.
5. In case you missed it, birthday boy David Armano shares six thoughts on where Google+ is going. Some clarity in a sea of speculation.

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend on a meta level. The unthinkable made real events in Norway, the sports-mad enthusiasm over Cadel Evans’ win at the Tour de France and the not-so-surprising-yet-tragic death of Amy Winehouse. And while these events send shockwaves that affect us all, there were other events, smaller, but also full of insight and impact. These five posts may provide a welcome distraction:

1. Jinal Shah shares her experience at JWT, suggesting that the Role of the Digital Strategist Needs to Evolve
2. John Haydon explains that in the rush for traffic we always think about many blog readers. He suggests we need to Create Content that feels Direct and Personal
3. Jeff Jarvis talks about how #fuckyouwashington moved from a sense of outrage to a trending topic on twitter – all within hours
4. There has been plenty of noise about Google+, but one of the things that has been simmering away is the issue with brand pages/accounts. Thus far, Google has been trying to get brands to wait – even though many have jumped in creating the equivalent to Facebook’s Fan page. Mathew Ingram explains why Google’s Screwup on Google+ Brand Pages is a Big Deal
5. On the tragic death of Amy Winehouse, Russell Brand calls on us to rethink the way that we treat and deal with addiction – not for Amy for whom it is too late, but for those who we know need help.

I am often surprised by what ends up on this list!

As I find useful articles during the week, I jot them into a draft post using Microsoft’s excellent LiveWriter. If inspired I will write a couple of notes for later, otherwise I only write the explanation in preparation for publishing.

1. Sarah Evans cherry picks her best social media statistics especially for your next presentation. My favourite – “AOLs newsroom is now bigger than the New York Times”
2. During the week, Edelman released its new tweetlevel and bloglevel tools for ranking influence. R Ray Wang has a good overview of the tool and provides a couple of suggestions for improvement
3. And on the topic of “influence”, Valeria Maltoni says everyone is wrong about influence – except your customers
4. By now you’ve probably checked out Google+ – I’m sure the Facebook product development team have. But should they have seen this coming? Did you? Ben Kunz thinks so
5. Having worked at IBM years ago, it’s no surprise to read there was some “spirited debate” on the shift towards social business. This interview by Rick Liebling with IBM’s Ethan McCarty provides some interesting perspectives on what it takes to shift the needle on social.

This week is a grab bag of great posts from across the web. Consider it a lucky dip of quality social media goodness.

1. Jeff Livingston explains Why the A-List Conversation Hurts Us in a guest post over on Danny Brown’s blog
2. Amber Naslund laments that social media isn’t necessarily “personal” and seeks to redress the balance by sharing What I Wish More People Knew About Me
3. Tony Zambito kicked off a series on buyer personas. There’s some great insight here in part 1 – The Future of Buyer Personas is Social
4. Michael Brenner steps out from behind the blog to reveal his own personal and professional trajectory – in 5 Questions on Social Media with Michael Brenner
5. Mandi Bateson asks do agencies need to tweet to prove they “get” social media?

With the launch of Google+ last week I could easily devote this week’s five must-reads to posts demonstrating the more interesting aspects. But it’s still early days – and marketers would be well served to follow the 3Ps of innovation discovery –> peruse-play-participate (that is, check it out by watching what others are doing, try a few things by signing up and dip your toe in the water by participating with selected groups). In the meantime, here are five posts from last weeks that you can share on your new Google+ stream:

1. While we are all immersed in technology and connectivity, Ross Dawson reminds us that there is real value in physical space and distance – especially when it comes to team building retreats
2. I’m fascinated by the concept that social media is a cultural resistance to what Umair Haque calls the Great Stagnation. In this cracking post, he asks us to reconsider what we invest our resources in – claiming the “best investment you can make … is in living a life that matters”
3. What would it take to reinvent your city? What could or should be possible? Craig Wilson puts forward his plan for creating an innovative city – focusing on reinventing Newcastle in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley. A SXSW for the Hunter anyone?
4. Can you promote your community via crowdsourcing? Drew McLellan shows how you can apply the Age of Conversation principles to your own business activities
5. Chris Brogan puts in the hard work of discovery and analysis and shares his thoughts on Google+. He reminds us that in social media – it’s never a lock-in – people migrate and change. Remember Friendster? Remember MySpace? Think it can’t happen to Facebook? Chris gives it a GooglePlus50.