ConverStations

A Blog is a Book in Beta

I often ask folks to think of their blog like a book in beta. Your categories are the future Table of Contents. Keep posting on a regular basis (and get comfortable with the garbage stuff -- you'll write plenty of it, I know I do).

At the end of a year or two, you'll have the potential contents of a book. Whether you end up publishing one is secondary to the big picture. Because at the end of a year or two of posting, you'll also be very findable on Google.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

What's Your Twitter Thin-Slice?

Just like blogs, we can "thin-slice" a Twitter profile with decent accuracy of determining authenticity and engagement levels (if that's part of our purpose for using Twitter).

When looking at a profile, keep a simultaneous, three-pronged question in mind (we call this "What the H's?"):

• What are they Hiding? - Are we seeing their real name, real face, web site info?
• What are they Hoarding? - Are their sharing info, engaging with others? Look for links and "@" replies
• What are they Hawking? - If there are links, are they all pointing to their own stuff? If there are no links, are they not engaged (and therefore not listening/reading what others are "tweeting?"

This thin-slice takes a matter of seconds, shaving and saving time in the long run. Let's take a respectful look at two sales professional, both of whom I follow and respect:

Jeff Garrison - @JCGarrison is pretty new to Twitter, but he's sharing resources, inspiring quotes, questions, event dates - and not always his own. He has a smattering of "@" replies to show he's engaged.

Jeff Gitomer - @Gitomer has been on Twitter for awhile. And he adds value with his statements (which is why we buy his books, yes?). Rarely engages or shares resources not his own.

As I said, I follow and respect both JGs Twitter presence. But if didn't know either (and I do coach Garrison, so add bias and the advantage), Because of the thin slice shows more knowledge/resource sharing and engagement, I'd follow Garrison before Gitomer.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

Sansone's Way: The First 20 Days (Pt. 1)

A lot of folks ask me if I have a schedule or lesson plan for clients. Below is a guideline of the beginning half of our First 20 days (adapted from Fountas & Pinnell's Guiding Readers & Writers)

Day Mini-Lesson Goal/Purpose Learning Outcome Task/Tool Benchmark .1 Purpose Driven Social Media Determine the purpose of engagement and the categories of messages Decide who the core audience is, which categories can be written about at least three times each month Pen and Paper; Storyboarding w/ Post-its Define between 6-8 categories, the core audience of engagement; three fringe fields .2 Blogging: Easy as Email Get used to the blogware by crafting practice posts Learn how to Talk Write and create a compelling Title Blogware (Typepad or WordPress) 5 practice posts in the next five days (not all five at once) 3 Listening to the Blogosphere Get in the habit of reading RSS feeds relevant to their interest/field Learn how to thin-slice a blog, decide whether to subscribe. Learn how to Skim, Scan and Save important posts Google Reader Subscribe to 10 blogs over next 5 days 4 Commenting on posts To extend our voice, engage in the conversation and create interest; tracking our conversation What makes a relevant comment; why one should comment elsewhere, how long should a comment be BackType, Disqus Comment on min. 5 posts per week (at least 5 different sites) 5 Blog Posting Mantra To craft a post that includes at least one link out and plenty of eye rests Learn how to find relevant posts to link to and images that punctuate the post; Creative Commons Google Blog Search; Flickr; Compfight At least one link out every post; at least two eye rests 6 Embedding Use of third party tools to use in blog posts Learn how to embed videos, slideshows, and documents within a post YouTube, SlideShare, Scribd Successfully embed a video or presentation into a post 7 Bookstore To catch a glimpse of why there's always room for another good voice; notice trends; look at which headlines sell; recognize value in different genres An open mind to new possibilities; think of your blog as a book rather than a journal Barnes & Noble or Borders Pick up a copy of either Purple Cow, Greater Than Yourself, Who's Got Your Back or Think Big Manifesto 8 Search Once & Subscribe Using search phrases, especially with a personal pronoun, to find relevant posts and bloggers. RSS=More knowledge in less time. Always know when someone talks about you and what's important to you. Google Blog Search (with a hint at other social networks for future use) Subscribe to searches on your name, brand and product or service and at least two relevant queries 9 Twitter Basics Guidelines of engagement using 70-20-10 as a compass; use of RT, @, and # syntax; Following other "tweeps" Being a resource to the Twitter conversation. Not about "What are you doing?" but rather "What are you adding to the mix?" Twitter; Twellow Min. 20 tweets in the next 5 days with 70-20-10 as guide. 10 Twitter Intermediate Finding relevant conversations on Twitter. Skim, Scan, Save & Share using Favorites Using the Search Once & Subscribe for Twitter; tracking conversations, merging RSS reading with Twitter conversations BackTweets, Twitter Search Starting to get your "tweets" RT'd

Notice that blogging, commenting, and reading feeds comes first. We don't start with Twitter, though many want to because of the presumed instant gratification. Blogging is the foundation of your social media footprint.

One over-arching theme is time management. We look at maximum 15-20 minutes with each tool use and need to build up (down?) to that time frame for each tool.

By the time the First 20 Days is done, we'll have Blogging, RSS Feeds, Commenting, Twitter, Slideshare, Social Network (Facebook, Ning, or LinkedIn), and Social Bookmarking in our quiver.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

One Post, One Point ... to Ponder

Believing that blogging (and microblogging) is an ongoing conversational platform, we should remember that our posting does not (and probably should not) have an end-all-be-all to every post.

A beginning? Sure.  A middle? Yum, the juiciest part. An end?  Well, yes, but not necessarily the kind of end-to-all-ends-with-nothing-more-to-discuss type of ending.  That would go against the spirit of conversation.

One Post, One Point is a member of our mantra roster, but sometimes the point is worth pondering as a community.  If you half-blog something and draft it ... and it just sits there for awhile ... try throwing it out to the community of conversationalists you commiserate with.  I'm sure they'd be glad to help polish and ponder some talking points.

Don't blow your wad in a single post, but don't let the idea die in the draft bin either.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

Get Your Ears On with Lava Row Workshops

My pals at Lava Row (and the NEIC) are kicking off Small Business Week next Monday and Tuesday with back-to-back lunchtime workshops on monitoring and engaging in the social media space. Here's the porch pitch:

"Your customers are talking about you online. This workshop teaches you and your team how to harness listening and monitoring technology (Google Reader, Technorati, Twitter Search, etc.) for the purpose of scanning conversations in blogs, social networks, user forums, message boards and online communities for mentions of your business, competitors and other relevant topics."

Reservations are only $25 per person and you can save your spot with a simple registration. Tell them at the door that you came to learn how to Search Once and Subscribe, and you'll learn more than the others.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

Horse & Buggy (Under) Development Still At-Large

A little over two years ago, I ranted about how some web (under) developers were holding on to their "horse and buggy" business (build static destination sites) even though "automobile" sites (blogging, RSS, Wikis) were a better option.

That was then. Now, they're coming around -- but they are making meatball sundaes. They don't want to give up the old, but they want to at least touch on the new.

They are trying to shove a V6 engine right up the horse's backside.

Seriously.

• Marketing departments are not following (and sometimes not allowed) RSS feeds. How do they know what their customers are saying? 
• Educational institutions are blocking sites and social (aka "personal learning") networks from students AND teachers. There's bad stuff out there!  Do these folks also ban books?
• Organizations are ignoring using social media to keep their constituents in touch because -- their members don't do that thing. How do they know this?

Turn your assumptions inside out. Find ways to improv and improve how others are using these tools.

P.S.  I have a box of carbon paper for those still using that stuff.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

Lunch n Learn with Louis Gray and Infosumption

After yesterday's Mark All as Read post (the gist: don't buy into overload), I noticed that Andy Brudtkuhl posted something along these lines the day before. I'm looking forward to Andy's future post on systems he uses to hack the heavy weight. (Follow Andy's infostream on FriendFeed).

Then, by comment, I find that Louis Gray gave a presentation on the myth of Information Overload just yesterday. Some great talking/thought points and practices here (slide No. 11 is the money page for me):

There Is No Information Overload (Inbound Marketing Summit)

View more presentations from louisgray.

(Follow LG's infostream on FriendFeed)

Just as a point of extension, I find myself using Mark All as Read once every ten days or so -- normally on those 14 hour days away from connectivity or filled with workshops and meetings. It's rare, but I think everyone's point here is this:  Suffer from Info Overload?  There is no Info Overload of you're a smart Infosumer.

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

A Single Click Cleans Up Your Feed Mess (Mass?)

Our schedules can get so busy,  sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the feed items in our RSS reader. Today, I woke up to over 1,000 items unread.

Some folks avoid this problem by not subscribing to any RSS feeds ('scuse me, but ignoring something over and over makes one ignorant, no?)

Here's how I handle an overload of RSS items on my plate:

1. First, I practice Skim, Scan, Save (and then Share) to avoid the infosumption overload
2. Once my feed items get over 300 unread, I'll do the S-plan above until I reach items more than 24 hours old - and click on Mark All as Read for the others.

So this morning, though the items unread were over 1,000 - no fretting here.  I just have a 24-hour period to read through (probably about 200 items)...and remember, I Skim, Scan & Save (and then Share)  and get rid of the older ones- so it should take me about 15-20 minutes.

If something is really, really poplular (you know...that thing you don't want to miss?), everybody will be writing/talking about it -- you'll catch up.

Photo on Flickr by RIPizzo

Related articles by Zemanta

• 10 Good Reasons to Use an RSS Reader (geeksugar.com)
• RSS Overload, Don't Comlain, Do Something About It (louisgray.com)
• Tools to Manage your Online Reputation (lookuppage.com)

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

On a Thin Slice: What are you Hiding? What are you Hoarding? What are you Hawking?

In this age of quick-attention span infosumption, it's important that we understand the art of thin-slicing; trusting our gut on-the-fly when landing on a web page for the first time.

 Much like having your contact email being the ever popular "info@", not having your face and name, not providing relevant outbound links, and having an overload of ads and pop-ups will be a sure way to keep readers from coming back. It screams, "I'm in this space for me first."

So from positions of both reader and writer, ask these questions on a thin slice:

• What are you Hiding?  - I want to see your name, face, AND contact info on the first page I land and preferrably "above the fold.' Some folks ask about an "about page" or a form to fill out for contact.  Put yourself in the user's mouse. Would you consider that practice convenient for the user? Didn't think so.  Don't hide. There are some great sites that still make it difficult to find face/name/contact.  I'm not calling them out - though what are you hiding for?
  
• What are you Hoarding? - If on the scroll, I see no outbound links, I'll go elsewhere.  Most sites that practice resource hoarding (lots of newspapers do this), are using the old example of the early web when we didn't know what the "back" button was -- and didn't want to lose eyeballs. Now, a quick way to lose eyeballs is to NOT share links and resources. Remember, Blog Posting Mantra No.4?
  
• What are you Hawking? -  Oh the pain in the eyeballs, those flashing ad banners; those pop-up "subscribe to me" floating crap game ads. Slowly I turn, step-by-step, hitting the back button. Subtle ads? Ok. Content relevant ads? That actually helps me. Overt, in-my-face, advertising that serves only the publisher. Adios!

As a reader - on a quick blink, more often than not, you can tell whether a site will provide solid information, has authority, and will engage in a conversation (and possibly act reciprocally).

As a writer - What will your readers thin-slice about your site?  Avoid them saying, "WTH?"

Related Elsewhere:
 - CopyBlogger: Do People Really Want Transparency & Authenticity?
 - The Blog Herald: Authenticity and Transparency in the Real World
 - Mashable: The Do's and Dont's of Sharing

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.

No Through Traffic? Don't Be a Roadblock!

Part of the conversational media "thin-slice" I teach others is to look for generous use of hyperlinks. Lazy is the writer who doesn't seek and find relevant pages to link out to, and woe to them when they want more "Google Juice."

Gone are the days when users didn't know what the back button did, because now it's one of the most used buttons on our browsers. You can no longer build walls to keep them in and on your site (unless you want to duplicate the mistakes of the old-AOL model).

No Thru Traffic?  Don't be a roadblock -- be the resource!

Use plenty of relevant hyperlinks to other resources. Extend the conversation outwards.It's the core of our Blog Posting Mantra. It also is part of the Give 'em Eye Rest practice.

Related Elsewhere:
 - 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to by a Blogger
 - 5 Reasons You Should Link Out to Others
 - How Linking to Others Can Get You Lots of Links in Return

That's My Take. What's Yours? Comment Here.