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This Is What The Ideal Social Network For Business Looks Like

My initial answer to the question above was: “Hasn’t been invented yet” but of course Mhairi Petrovic from Out-Smarts didn’t let me get away with that and asked what my ideal Social Network would look like.

Before I get into the answer I need to make one point clear: I don’t see how any Social Media tool could be successful for business without appealing to the general public. Any successful tool needs to work in our private life so it can be successful for business.

Let’s cook up our own Social Media tool:

cook up a social media networkMy Ideal Social Network for business would combine the best features of all existing ones and then some:

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Stop (Social Media) Bullying NOW and Don’t Blame The Tools!

On Wednesday Amanda Todd from Coquitlam BC committed suicide after being bullied. (Read more about this story in the Huffington Post)

Amanda posted a video of her plight on Youtube 5 weeks ago - the best way available to her to cry out. Unfortunately help came too late for her.

Because the bullying against Amanda happened on-line, now many are quick to blame to blame the tools.

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The Revolution of the Connected Consumer

A lot of my energy as a Social Media consultant is spent explaining to you how to use tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others effectively. Many of you have realized that a presence on these platforms is important for your business. While I get a lot of satisfaction out of teaching you how to use the tools I hope you understand that we are talking about more than just a new “nice to have” in your marketing toolbox.

The goal of this post is to motivate you to watch this 11minute video of a TEDx Presidio talk by Brian Solis. I know that my saying it is important to watch is not going to be enough, so I’ll transcribe a few key quotes below the video.

What stuck out for you - care to discuss?  

(all quotes are by Brian Solis unless otherwise indicated)

“Relationships - the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other”

[tweet_box]It’s not B2B, it’s not B2B, it’s people to people ~@BrianSolis[/tweet_box]

Brian Solis Quote social economy

Brian Solis #socialeconomy image

 

The Occupy movement was less about a cause but more about what happens when people get together to say something.
No matter if it’s the occupy movement or a revolution in the Middle East - the point is that you and I have a voice.

You and I have the ability to get together and do something to change something. As long as it is important to you and me.

“Whether you are the 99% or the 1%, fact is you are part of a movement”

Business leaders shouldn’t have to experience a consumer revolution …. if employees care enough, the “Corporate Spring” will happen from within.

The Social Economy has given rise to a new consumer revolution. In an era of connected consumerism, Social Media Strategies aren’t going to save your business.

 

People are running these relationships with editorial calendars on Facebook because they think that your “Like” of them was a form of opt-in

Social Capital can be measured by the amount of trust and reciprocity in a community or between individuals ~Robert Putnam

[Social capital is the ….] investment in social relations with expected returns in the marketplace ~Nan Lin

Sometimes capitalism isn’t just measured by profit, but by the richness of relationships and earned social capital

The future is yours to shape. Both as an individual and as a member of the organisation you might work with.
But it takes a lot of things…
It takes empathy
It takes courage
It takes vision
It takes perseverance
Resistance will always fall to persistence”

I hope you watch the video and discuss your impressions with us   

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Thank you Brian Solis for your permission to use the video

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Social Media Is The Oxygen Of This Revolution #SyriaKelowna

As a Social Media consultant I often write about the How, What, Why and tips and tricks to make your experience more rewarding. As much as I love doing that Social Media is much more than that - it represents a fundamental shift in our lives - a shift that can be compared to the impact of the printing press or the industrial revolution.

With the help of many friends I co-organized an event yesterday that brought the struggle of the Syrian people into our small city of Kelowna, BC

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Social Media Doesn’t Give Us a Voice, But Amplifies It

Social media is the revolutionary tool of the new millennium. Revolutionaries no longer wield swords or are on the attack like in previous eras. The Syrian revolutionary is in the form of a citizen journalist; one of the most noble, important and dangerous roles of the revolution. They are equipped with camera phones or maybe camcorders, and film tragedy on a daily basis.

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Don’t Sanitize your Social Media Presence

Don’t get me wrong - I do schedule updates and I am guilty of using Twitter as a RSS feed too often. We all get pulled into self promotion sometimes. I’m also glad I still have my private Twitter account @frith64 where I chat about my hobbies and my political opinions.

But! Remember that it’s people that make purchasing decisions, not search engines and not analytics. After all the glitter is gone, consumers as well as B2B (business to business) decision makers are human beings - Social Media works when we manage to establish a direct or indirect personal connection.