#pokit open (at the Workshop)

Creative-block-buster Alex Cornell’s graphic guide to choosing the right seat in a multi-person setting.

(↬ Doobybrain)

Cartographer Charles E. Riddiford’s family of typefaces designed in the early 1930s for National Geographic in order to improve the photomechanical reproductive qualities of maps.

Also see this vintage illustrated guide to how we use maps, the history of modern cartography, and some striking visual examples.

(↬ Quipsologies)

Why it is important to monitor what is being said about your brand online, and some tools that might help you along the way to engagement.

Central to social media is the idea of engagement. Engagement can be thought of as two parties interacting with one another in a meaningful way. This engagement is fueled by people’s innate desire to be heard. The practice of speaking on the soapbox made famous in Hyde Park, London provides an example of people’s desire to be heard. People would stand on a soapbox (wooden crate) in the middle of the square, and make a speech (often concerning politics) to any passing “ears” that were interested in listening. They would often voice their dissatisfaction or opinions on a political matter in an attempt to make a difference at their local micro-level. It is this idea that, every person wishes to be heard that forms the basis of modern social media communications as we know them today. Social media has become metaphorically speaking, modern society’s soapbox – the place where the entire world coalesces to be heard by all those who wish to listen. What social media allows for is a mass of individuals to post content and start conversations about an infinite number of topics across a multitude of digital platforms. Monitoring these communications to identify the conversations that are of interest or relevance to your business provides the first step in engaging with your customer.

For businesses, the knowledge gained by monitoring social media is both insightful and enormously valuable. Social media provides a unique opportunity for businesses to connect with the elusive micro-segment. Each person who mentions a brand on a social media platform represents a unique voice of an individual consumer. Social media allows businesses to communicate directly with these micro-segments on a real-time meaningful basis. In order to communicate with these individuals, businesses must monitor online discussions that pertain to their company, industry or perhaps even competitors. There are various media and social media monitor tools available that allow you to track, and in some cases even engage in online communications that mention you, your brand, or a topic of interest.

First, we will examine Google Alerts, a free online service provided by Google. In a nutshell, Google registered users can setup up to 1,000 custom searches for different keywords or phrases. Google Alerts then will track and deliver your results to your inbox or RSS feed, as they are found across web pages, newspaper articles, books and/ or blogs. The major drawback of Google Alerts is that it does not track communications on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media websites excluding blogs. Also, Google Alerts only serves to inform you about mentions that match your search criteria. There is no two-way communication avenue built into the platform, therefore Google Alerts serves only as a monitoring tool. This option is a well suited for businesses that need to keep up-to-date on what is being said about their company or industry, but do not necessarily need to constantly communicate with them on a real-time basis.

Next, Mention (available at mention.net) is a social media monitoring applications. It is available as a stand-alone application, a mobile application, or a Google Chrome extension. The product has three levels of pricing: Free which includes 3 search alerts, 500 mentions, and 1 month history; A pro plan, $19.99/ month which includes unlimited search alerts, 50,000 mentions, unlimited history, access to statistics, and data-exporting tool; and a Team Plan starting at $99.99/ month which includes all the features of the pro plan but allows for 5 or more users to access the account. Here, users are given the ability to block a site, and select social media platforms that you wish to track. A major benefits of Mention, is the ability to share your alerts through social media such as Twitter or Facebook. This option is well suited for businesses that require real-time access to communications relevant to their business across media and social media sites. For example, a public relations (PR) firm may need to know the real-time status of their client’s brand, and monitor what is being said across the web. Similar to Google Alerts, there is no two-way communication avenue built into the platform.

Another available option is Social Mention. The online tool is free and can track mentions and sentiment surrounding these mentions across the internet and social media platforms. The application can be setup to deliver the relevant information via RSS feed, push email alerts (currently not available), and exported as a CSV file. Due to the lack of push email alerts, this tool is less suitable for users in need of real-time information.

Sprout Social is another content monitoring tool that enables users to monitor social media platforms in real-time for mentions that involve a brand, or search criteria. The application provides analytics, the ability to perform two-way communication with social media platforms, and push email notifications. There are three levels of pricing for the service. At $39/ month, brand monitoring is provided for up to 10 profiles. At $59/ month, tasking and assignments, Google analytics integration, and complete audience engagement are added for up to 20 profiles. At $99/ month, the ability to manage up to 50 profiles, dedicated support and training, ViralPost send time optimization, unlimited reporting, and collaboration between team is enabled. This platform is well suited to businesses that require both the ability to monitor their brand, and react and engage with consumers all within one platform.

Finally, Thismoment is similar to the aforementioned application in that it enables real-time monitoring of social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and online content. The application serves as a tool for creating a digital brand experience and monitoring the performance in real-time. It allows businesses to engage audiences across social media platforms, distribute consistent brand content across multiple platforms in multiple languages, and incorporates analytical reports to measure the success of digital brand initiatives. Pricing for the product is unavailable even after inquiry. However, this application is used by many fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, P&G, SONY, and Universal.

While each tool has its own inherent advantages, for large businesses, Thismoment appears to be the most suitable application. It incorporates almost all the features of the other tools mentioned, but enables its users to create a digital brand experience, monitor the performance of that initiative, and make changes in real-time. However, when selecting which tool is best for you or your business, care must be taken to understand how each tool can best serve you and your company’s needs. Personally, I recommend starting with the tools that are offered for free, or on a trial basis, to minimize the investment when trying to find out what works for you.

  Written From the Desk of Myles’ Mind…

Myles

References:

  http://www.google.ca/alerts

https://en.mention.net/

http://socialmention.com/

http://sproutsocial.com/

https://www.thismoment.com/

If You've got a picture like this on your social media, you might not land that job you've been dreaming about.

 Photo Source: www.hollywoodbackwash.com

The evolution of communication has given rise to new channels of information. People have increasingly turned to the internet to find the information that they seek. In today’s digitally connected world, managing one’s personal online reputation has become critical to competing in the job market. For students, reputation management may make the difference between landing and losing the job of their dreams. The lines that once clearly demarcated personal life and professional life have been blurred as access to personal information become increasingly easy to obtain. The phrase, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” has been replaced by, “What happens in Vegas stays on ‘Facebook’ forever.” Students attempting to break into the job market must maintain their online reputations, as employers are looking beyond the resumes to gain more knowledge about their candidates.

According to a 2010 survey conducted by Microsoft Research, 70% of recruiters admit to rejecting applicants due to information discovered online (Hill, par. 1). 91% of people in a hiring position state they use social media to screen candidates, which includes searching Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, MySpace, etc. (Hill, par. 2). From these statistics, you can see that online reputation management is a reality. Like it or not, the people hiring you are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to looking for a reason not to hire you. So, the question becomes, ‘why the sudden interest in what a potential employee does in their personal time?’ Simple, because companies are seeking employees who reflect the same values as the company both professionally, and personally.

If you think about your resume as a professional brand that represents your professional story, personality, and history. Employers reviewing your resume are concerned with who you present yourself as under a professional light. It is important to note that these employers are fully aware that you are “putting you best foot forward.” They are aware that in crafting your professional brand, you have been meticulous to exclude any potentially embarrassing moments in your professional life. They know that your accomplishments may be slightly emphasized for dramatic effect. However, they understand that an individual’s resume provides only a good basis from which they can determine the suitability of that person for any given company.

Conversely, you can think of your online social media reputation as a personal brand that serves to shed light on your personal story, past experiences, and personality. It is in this personal brand, that employers expect you to have your “guard” down. Employers are searching for a way to catch you “off balance” so that they can delve into what kind of person you are for the other 16 hours of the day. Therefore, it is important to manage your online reputation on social media websites. From a practical standpoint that means uploading the picture of you and your cronies in Las Vegas hanging topless from a chandelier as the police stretch to “assist” you down, might not be such a great idea. While the argument can be made for how relevant this picture of you is while enjoying your unpaid time to how well you perform at a job. That does not affect whether employers will still use your online personal brand to make a judgment about your suitability for that job you have long dreamt about. As a simple rule of thumb: DO NOT POST ANYTHING ONLINE THAT YOU WOULD BE EMBRASSED TO HAVE YOUR GRANDMOTHER/ MOTHER/ DAUGHTER/ SON SEE.

There is a large body of knowledge and advice available online concerning this topic. Lifehacker.com has even created an application to remind you to be cautious when posting to social media sites called the “Internet Shame Insurance.”

Listed below are a few useful links to other online articles within this topic:

- Life Hacker. “Save Yourself from Weiner-Caliber Online Embarrassment with Internet Shame Insurance.” http://lifehacker.com/5810453/save-yourself-from-weiner+calibre-online-embarrassment-with-internet-shame-insurance

- Life Hacker. “How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression.” http://lifehacker.com/5963864/how-to-clean-up-your-online-presence-and-make-a-great-first-impression

- Resumebear. “Update: Facebook Responds To Employers Asking for Passwords.” http://blog.resumebear.com/changing-careers/update-facebook-responds-to-employers-asking-for-passwords/

  Written From the Desk of Myles’ Mind…

  Myles

        References:

  1. Hill, Kashmir. “What Prospective Employers Hope To See In Your Facebook Account: Creativity, Well-Roundedness, & 'Chastity'”. Forbes. 3 Oct. 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/10/03/what-prospective-employers-hope-to-see-in-your-facebook-account-creativity-well-roundedness-chastity/

How much "Klout" do you really have?

Currently there are a variety of tools available to monitor and quantify an individual’s or business’ social influence. Social influence can be understood as the ability of someone (or a business) to use social power to influence the behaviour of others. Contemporary examples include peer pressure, a persuasive argument or a “call to action” (alleydog.com). Within the digital universe, understanding social influence is useful to gain knowledge about who people consider to be an authority on a subject matter, or who has the capabilities to influence a mass of people to behave in a certain fashion. The following will discuss three on-line tools (Klout, Kred, and PeerIndex) used to measure an individual’s or company’s social influence.

  Klout, Kred and PeerIndex are three tools used to measure the social influence of an individual or brand. Common to the three is the concept of measuring a user’s (either an individual’s or a brand’s) social influence across multiple social media/networking platforms. All three tools are used to identify who the leading influencers are for either a company or niche. However, there are some notable differences between the three tools. For instance, Klout uses a single score to represent your influence. This score is generated by examining how many people are sharing your content and how many influencers you are engaged with. The Klout platform also offers rewards to individuals whom are highly influential amongst their digital networks.

Kred is slightly different than Klout, in that it incorporates two scores for measuring the social influence of an individual. One score represents influence, similarly to Klout. While the other score measures “outreach” showing how many people are engaged with the individual, and is centered on the idea of community.

PeerIndex, on the other hand differs from the former two tools mentioned in that, the tool measures the on-line authority of an individual culminating in the PeerIndex score. Here, the tool is used to measure how authoritative an individual’s on-line activity has in generating social influence. The platform segments social activity into 8 benchmark topics, and then scores the user’s authority in each topic, termed a topic resonance score. This is used to calculate the PeerIndex score, alongside with scores that measure: how an audience listens to an individual’s on-line content, the effectiveness of the activity on multiple social media/networking platforms, and the “realness” of an on-line profile.

  The aforementioned tools do provide a legitimate measure of on-line social influence, by measuring the influence that a user has in the on-line community. The serve to measure the impact of social media campaigns providing valuable information regarding ROI from a business perspective. However, these tools are marred by the inherent inability to measure the social influence of real people in real face-to-face interactions. For example, David Suzuki can be considered a enormously powerful social influencer who reaches an large audience through traditional platforms such as news stories, documentaries, speaking engagements, etc. However, if he is not extremely active on social media platforms, then his score on the three tools mentioned above will not reflect his social capital as an influencer. (http://wearesocialpeople.com/what-is-peer-index/)

  In developing a strategy to increase one’s scores within these tools, a variety of tactics can be employed. For example, currently (January 2013) my Klout score is “46.” In order to improve this score, I can “game” the system by engaging individuals in a question and answer style conversations that would boast my activity with a user. I could also add more friends on platforms such as Facebook, or connections on LinkedIn, or follow more profiles on Twitter (which in some cases results in reciprocal follows). Furthermore, I could employ third party social media management tools such as Hootsuite, to schedule a regular and steady flow of content to my followers on a multitude of platforms.

  For businesses, these tools can help to identify influencers within a certain area or niche. By engaging these people, businesses can disseminate their content to the influencers’ network of people who are both interested in hearing the message, and eager to amplify it to their own social community. This provides an opportunity to broadcast news regarding their brand through a more organic channel, “people” connecting with other “people,” as opposed to having a company try to communicate with individuals. This gives the impression that the messaging is relevant to the audience, because someone whom they view as an authority on the subject is sharing content with them, as opposed to a business that may appear to be self-serving in their communications.

  There is an inherent risk of using social influence to make business decisions in that, a person’s social influence and presence provide only a glimpse of who that individual really is. Also, as stated previously, these measurement tools only gauge their on-line influence, discounting the importance of “face-to-face” communications. The concept that people put on a “mask” when in social encounters is not new, so it can be assumed that people present themselves in the most appealing fashion. This can lead businesses to make inappropriate decisions based on people’s egocentric on-line behaviour. Therefore, the risk becomes real when businesses rely too heavily on social influence when making business decisions. A balance must be sought when making a business decision, which incorporates a more multi-facet approach to understanding the problem at hand. Business must be cautious not to “put their eggs in one basket.” Furthermore, as mentioned previously, social influence scores can be “padded” by using strategies to increase a user’s influence or authority score. This may lead businesses to identify influencer that actually have no meaningful influence amongst a large audience.

  In conclusion, while Klout, Kred, and PeerIndex provide a legitimate measurement of an individual’s on-line social influence, businesses must be caution of how they apply these social influence measurements to their businesses decisions. The aforementioned tools provide a gauge of social media influence serving more as a barometer to the overall effectiveness of social media communications, rather than providing an accurate and real-time measurement of a user's social media influence. A through understanding of all factors related to social influence is required to use these tools effectively.

Written from the desk of Myles’ Mind…

Myles

References:

  http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Social%20Influence

www.klout.com

www.kred.com

Newlands, Murray. “Klout vs. Kred Review.” Future of Engagement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvTajAESNXc . Web. 26 Jan. 2013.

www.peerindex.com

Schmittauer, Amy. “10 Ways to Increase Your Klout Score.” Tweetfind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhnAMYtA-Gc&feature=youtu.be . Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

“What Is Peer Index?.” Wearesocialpeople.com. http://wearesocialpeople.com/what-is-peer-index/

Connecting the pins: How Brands can use Pinterest as a Marketing Tool

The bulletin board has long been a vehicle used by both individuals and business to spread a message to a mass audience. The Pinterest platform has digitized the traditional concept of a bulletin board to allow its users to “pin” content to digital boards organizing these pins according to the user’s preferences. By digitizing the cork-board, Pinterest has improved the traditional communications vehicle to include the ability to upload photos, and “pin” video content, online articles/pictures linking the externally hosted content to the website of origin. It is important to note that Pinterest has removed the ability of users to create and “pin” text rich content within the platform to add to their board(s). It is critical to recognize how Pinterest favours externally created rich-media content, to better understand how the platform can be utilized by businesses to engage consumers.

With 12 Million registered users generating 20 Million unique visitors monthly, the Pinterest platform can serve as a useful tool for the dissemination of interesting and relevant content to an identifiable audience. Users “pin” inspirational and interesting pictures, video content, and articles to aptly named “boards” that serve to categorize and organize the “pins” according to content. For example, grilled cheese aficionados might create a board to share recipes, pictures, or articles, pertaining to their love of grilled cheese sandwiches. The idea of connecting individuals who share common interests is explicitly articulated in the mission statement of Pinterest, “…Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests” (www.pinterest.com/about).

For a brand, Pinterest allows a company to create a board, pin inspirational and interesting content, and share that content with anyone who is interested. This means that brands can create or share content from other digital platforms that is relevant to their brand. A business can even disseminate information about an upcoming special, sale, or engagement event to further connect with consumers. A business can verify their website for display on their Pinterest profile to further drive referral visits to other online “touch points.”

The value for businesses occurs when Pinterest users “repin” a post that cites the brand’s company website (or other digital touch point). By “repining” a post to their own board, individual users amplify the reach of a relevant and interesting post, using “hash tags” to identify keyword related to the “pin.” By linking a “pin” to a source website, such as a company website, blog, micro-site, or social media site, a brand can capitalize on referral visits aiding in communicating a brand’s message.

Written from the desk of Myles’ Mind…

Myles

References:

1.              “SCMD 121: Introduction to Social Networks for Organizations” Hootsuite University. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

2.              “What is Pinterest?.” Pinterest.com. http://pinterest.com/about/

“Pinterest > For Businesses.” Pinterest.com. http://business.pinterest.com/

"Be like water..." - Bruce Lee

#sitspot #inspiration #rockstar (at East Don Trail)

The value of Tumblr in the creation of a personal brand.

Central to the idea of developing a “brand” (either corporate or personal) is the idea of personality. “Story-telling” has a long tradition of being the communication vehicle by which both people, and brands transmit their experiences or ideas to the masses, necessary for the general public to garner a sense of a "brand’s” personality. These stories set the tone and voice of a "brand," and provide a frame of reference for people to better understand and context from which a "brand" is speaking to them from.

The Tumblr universe is an interesting and powerful creation tool for both individuals and corporate brands. Central to the Tumblr platform is the concept of “story-telling.” Story-telling has for ages provided people with information, entertainment, and most importantly developed a sense of “shared consciousness.” Tumblr extends the network that receives the “story,” to allow both personal and corporate brands to reach a wider/more-diverse audience via the Internet. Tumblr users are encouraged to follow Tumblr blog pages that are of interest to them, which can be sought out on the platform through the use of the "Tag" search feature.

Tumblr incorporates digital media into the story-telling process, by encouraging story-tellers to use visuals, videos, GIFs, and audio to further illustrate their ideas and experiences, in order to build a deeper connection between, the audience and the story/story-teller. The platform, which is supported in 11 different languages further aides in disseminating user created content to a global network of interested followers. Also, Tumblr is capable of serving as a hub for social media content hosted on other platforms (I.e. Youtube, Instagram, etc.), adding to the visual nature that Tumblr naturally lends itself to.

Additionally, it is interesting to understand how Tumblr facilitates the development of an online “brand” presence. The platform allows users to fully customize their Tumblr digital space to reflect a consistent message that a personal brand aims to communicate. This customization is further extended to allow users to choose a front-facing URL address that reflect their brand’s theme. Tumblr engages blog followers with a steady stream of unmoderated content, essentially providing a "time portal" to view what communications are being made about the personal brand at a given time presented in a post-by-post basis. It is because of this post-by-post nature inherent on Tumblr, that makes it specifically well-suited for the development of both a personal/ and professional brand. This unmoderated story-telling process gives both individuals and companies the ability to present their unique story in their own way. Individuals are able to control how their story is told (in terms of in what order, and using audio/visual aides), and how the message is communicated to their mass of interested followers.

Furthermore, Tumblr allows its users to amplify a part (or post) of a personal brand's story by re-blogging the post and sharing it with their own Tumblr network. The Tumblr platform has been designed in this fashion to encourage real engagement with a “brand’s” story. For a personal brand, this means that people who share common interests can amplify a person’s story and reach a network of people who feel the content is relevant and interesting to their online community. Perhaps, best stated by Thomas Jefferson, “that ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition…” A personal brand developed on Tumblr has the capabilities of disseminating an idea or “story” to global audience of eager “ears,” or in this case, “eyes” hungry for relevant information.

Written from the desk of Myles' Mind...

Myles

References:

Levine, Ari. “How The Best Brands Tell Stories Using Tumblr with Ari Levine.” Hootsuite University. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.

“Thomas Jefferson > Quotes > Quotable Quotes.” Goodreads.com. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/290492-that-ideas-should-freely-spread-from-one-to-another-over  

We all need a little more of this in our lives

#lunchtime #skate at work

Interesting Tumblr Sites worth Checking out

Attached is a list of interesting Tumblr sites to check out. These pertain to interesting ways that "Brands" have engaged consumers/audiences to engage with their brand. 

The LIST:

http://penready.com/blog

http://madebynike.tumblr.com/

http://coca-cola.tumblr.com/

http://heinekenbeer.tumblr.com/

Written from the desk of Myles' Mind...

Myles