One of the most fabulous things about Twitter (used well) is how it gives you an insight into the experience of life from another’s perspective. This is one of the reasons why celebrities are so popular. You get a snippet of life through the eyes of Stephen Fry, Victoria Beckham or Rio Ferdinand.

Last week Tony Evans, the football editor of The Times, decided to invite us into his office, via Twitter, for a couple of hours during the Chelsea-Barcelona Champions League semi-final while he was preparing the sports pages for the following morning. What follows is an intriguingly frank and eye-opening transcript of his tweets from that evening.

Even if you’re not into football, please do read on, as this will be an interesting read. There are some football references to provide a context for what’s being reported from the Times office – but this is not a blog about football, I promise

But first … what’s this got to do with you?

This brilliant stream of texts beautifully demonstrates a couple of key benefits of Twitter that organisations should be looking to make better use of:
1. The unseen human element
2. Transparency of process
3. The instant, immediate nature of Twitter

While you’re reading the account below, I’d invite you to think about what processes go on in your industry or business that are generally unseen by the public. How might a similar approach benefit your business? For example, are you a designer who struggles to justify high fees because people simply don’t appreciate the time that goes into your designs? Are you a photographer who has trouble getting people to understand the value of hiring you rather than their mate who “does a bit of photography”? Do you host events that appear to go swimmingly, but all the while you’re doing all sorts of organisational gymnastics to make it appear so?

By asking how you might apply this to your own business situation, I’m not suggesting you live-tweet through all of your projects. A surprising insight here, a behind-the-scenes photo there might be all you need to take people along for the ride with you.

Meanwhile, back at the office …

The feed begins about an hour before kick-off at 7.45pm. For the non-football fans, this semi-final was played over two legs, and the winner is whoever has the highest combined score over both legs. Chelsea, unexpectedly, won the first leg 1-0 which meant they needed to win or draw this game to progress to the final. Chelsea have had a crap year though and Barcelona are widely considered to be the best team in the world at the moment, so despite going in ahead, Chelsea were the underdogs.

All tweets are copied verbatim.

Settling in for a big night in office. If anyone’s interested, I’ll give rundown of timing of these things – shows pressure reporters under
7:00 PM – 24 Apr 12

We’ve got three in Nou Camp. @OliverKayTimes , Matt Hughes and@RorySmithTimes. All will be writing in region of 1,000 words. File by 10pm
7:04 PM – 24 Apr 12

We’ve alread talked to page drawers. 2 plans, one if CFC win, one if lose. Normal time: paper off at 10.10pm. ET: 10.20. Pens: 10.35.
7:07 PM – 24 Apr 12

When copy is filed, it goes to a sub-editor, who fits it, checks it and writes headline. Then a revise man, who checks again
7:08 PM – 24 Apr 12

For 1st edition, @OliverKayTimes writes the match report (1,000), MH colour (900) and @RorySmithTimes has worst job in football writing
7:10 PM – 24 Apr 12

Poor @RorySmithTimes has to do the match ratings for both sides. Then, he has to write the back page. Around 1,000 words
7:11 PM – 24 Apr 12

Everyone hates doing ratings. But reader feedback tells us people love them. A great debating point. All calm now
7:12 PM – 24 Apr 12

And I assure you. No one has written a word yet.
7:12 PM – 24 Apr 12

We’ll also have @TonyCascarino62 giving his verdict. He brings a pro’s eye to proceedings
7:13 PM – 24 Apr 12

Spoke to the boys on phone and discussed early ideas. Could all change by half-time. Have to be careful everyone doesn’t write same piece
7:15 PM – 24 Apr 12

Some asking what I do. I decide who goes where. I’ll select pics, rip the pages apart and start again, if need to and provide direction
7:17 PM – 24 Apr 12

And scream blue murder if performance is not up to scratch. I can be very unpleasant
7:18 PM – 24 Apr 12

Photographs are crucial to our coverage. Marc Aspland is in Barca. One of best in the business.
7:19 PM – 24 Apr 12 via web

I’m lucky. My boys pretty good in how they approach things. No huge egos. But, managing egos is another thing I have to do. Big part of job
7:21 PM – 24 Apr 12

Bill Edgar is on alert for stats and tactical graphics. And other reporters on call if it goes mad. We’re set up. Now I go the canteen.
7:25 PM – 24 Apr 12

Curry. Mmmmm. We’ll see

7:33 PM – 24 Apr 12

Egos. Aspland hadn’t kept up to date on twitter feed. Sent abusive text demanding namecheck! Those pics better be good
7:36 PM – 24 Apr 12

Last email to Catalonia. File prompt.
7:42 PM – 24 Apr 12

A word about office: me, the night editor, chief sub, dep chief sub, revise man, 5more subs, two page drawers, pic desk editor, 3 online
7:46 PM – 24 Apr 12

The game kicks off, and the feed trails off, for reasons which he explains at 7:58 …

Night editor looks at other sports. I’m focused on football. Also have@LansleyTimes at Villa Park
7:48 PM – 24 Apr 12

Teams filed by @RorySmithTimes Page drawers getting pics for ratings. 17 pages in section. None gone yet. Have to start shifting
7:54 PM – 24 Apr 12

The next half hour is very much about watching. Having been with them, I suspect Kay and Hughes will start writing just before half-time
7:58 PM – 24 Apr 12

Now it gets interesting
8:24 PM – 24 Apr 12

… until about 35 minutes in, when things get very interesting in relation to the content (and a lot of other things!). After 34 minutes Barcelona scored (bringing the aggregate score to 1-1). Less than two minutes later, John Terry was sent off. Here’s why.

So, at this point, Chelsea had gone down a goal to the favourites and were playing with one less player.

Conversation with Nou Camp to clarify thinking. Have to make sure we don’t have half a dozen Terry pieces in paper
8:29 PM – 24 Apr 12

At 42 minutes, Barcelona score a second goal.

No extra time now. One variable gone. Off at 10.10
8:31 PM – 24 Apr 12

Just before half time, Chelsea score – bringing the game score to Barcelona 2 – 1 Chelsea, and the aggregate score is back level at 2-2 (with Chelsea going through on away goals scored.)

It’s now half time.

Tone of game changed. Ordered up three new pieces. Already thinking about 2nd edition
8:43 PM – 24 Apr 12

They are writing away furiously in Nou Camp. The copy needs to be in this office in less than hour. The problem is catching the right tone
9:02 PM – 24 Apr 12

The second half begins, and the following activity takes place while the second half of the game is being played.

Monitoring email between boys in ground as they carve up information and work out who uses what. In an hour, the paper needs to be off
9:12 PM – 24 Apr 12

First words from @OliverKayTimes drop. Ratings should not be far behind They will be finalised on phone later
9:14 PM – 24 Apr 12

Ratings here. Good work from @RorySmithTimes They take a while to set up by the page drawers before they’re subbed. Nearly 700 words
9:18 PM – 24 Apr 12

Already planning significant changes to 2nd edition. Short turnaround time. It goes off just after midnight. All hands to pump
9:27 PM – 24 Apr 12

Cascarino filed. Back page filed. Took phone call from sports editor. ‘Be bold’. Oh yeah…
9:44 PM – 24 Apr 12

Off in just over 20min. Waiting to see back page pic. Plus loads of copy
9:48 PM – 24 Apr 12

Full time is called. I know, right? Who’d’ve thunk it from these tweets? Also, Torres scored at the death to absolutely confirm Chelsea is through to the final.

Starting to get edgy about copy. Phone calls begin shortly.
9:52 PM – 24 Apr 12

Matt Hughes filed
9:53 PM – 24 Apr 12

Page drawer forgot to include a file. Quick change @OliverKayTimes filed. All copy in
9:56 PM – 24 Apr 12

Page drawers (we’re down to one) beiefed on changes. 10 pages of changes. Off at 12.15. Working on tactical graphic
10:03 PM – 24 Apr 12

5min to deadline. 7 pages left. Get too late, I’ll get a spanking tomorrow
10:05 PM – 24 Apr 12

Very close to getting off. 4 pages left.
10:09 PM – 24 Apr 12

Off at 10.15. Two hours to improve it
10:16 PM – 24 Apr 12

Look at the dateline at top of pages tomorrow. If it says 1GM, you’ve got he edition that’s just gone
10:17 PM – 24 Apr 12

Bloody graphics department told me their machines are not working. Great timing
10:18 PM – 24 Apr 12

Now the boys in Nou Camp are finishing with the managers and will talk to players in mixed zone. Then they rewrite with quotes.
10:20 PM – 24 Apr 12

I’ll need their words in just over an hour. One sub editor has gone home. More files to shift than before, less people
10:20 PM – 24 Apr 12

To those who ‘don’t care’ or ‘zzzz’, just unfollow, why bother telling me? Enough people are interested
10:23 PM – 24 Apr 12

This is the worst time. Waiting for people to file. Going over and over again whether you’ve missed stuff. Miss it often and you don’t last
10:33 PM – 24 Apr 12

Got graphic in. Up two floors to appply some pressure
10:37 PM – 24 Apr 12

The sight of me on the bounce worked. They’re finding a way of doing the tactical graphic
10:42 PM – 24 Apr 12

Copy dribbing in. I’m bogged down with really fidly stuff. Painful
11:18 PM – 24 Apr 12

Graphic sorted. Things beginning to fall into place. Now to try and read some of this stuff
11:27 PM – 24 Apr 12

Unusually, we’re in much better shape than normal. We’ll definitely be off in time. Now I need to talk to boys
11:33 PM – 24 Apr 12

Find out what’s been said at the ground and discuss what we do tomorrow. I’ll leave a note for the morning crew before I leave
11:33 PM – 24 Apr 12

So, even though this edition is some way off from finished, I’m already thinking about tomorrow
11:34 PM – 24 Apr 12

I am forever advising people to create videos for their business – and, specifically, “How-to” videos. I think they’re great for showcasing a bit of what you know, they let people see and fall in love with you the human being (rather than you the faceless owner of a random business) and they’re easy to share.

However, I did get to wondering the other day – do they actually do anything for the viewer? Can people learn new skills from “How-to” videos? If they can’t, then essentially all I’m advocating is video spam.

So, I decided to put “How-to” videos to the test. My stepdad is a real guy’s guy, one of those MacGyver types who can build anything, fix anything, or stop any evil supervillain from taking over the world with nothing more than a screwdriver. I, on the other hand, have achieved a lot in my life, and am proud of the stuff I can do – but there’s no arguing that it’s really more of an academic bent than practical. I remember being school age, and still needing my mum to tell me which shoe went on which foot, and holding up my knickers to her asking, “Is this the front?”

The point of all of that is really to prove that I’m not the handiest of people – to the extent that the proudest my MacGyver stepdad has ever been of me was when I bought my own screwdriver set.

They’re for reaching jewellery that falls behind the dressing table.

With all of this in mind, I decided that the truest test of whether “How-to” videos worked would have to be a very practical, rather than technical, skill. So, I bought a sea-bass. Then I watched this video of someone filleting a sea-bass.

Then I did this:

So, it’s true! One really can learn new skills from “How-to” videos!

So why aren’t you making them for your business?

Remember this?

It caused a bit of a stir when I published it – thank you so much for your wonderful comments, tweets and for sharing it as much as you did!

One person who noticed it was Guildford-based photographer Gavin Thorn of theLightMatters. We chatted a bit (on Twitter, of course!) and then a couple of days later I got this tweet:

Which was followed up with this email:

Twitter: the world’s greatest referral network

Here is a little update I promised you about a recent success I’ve had with Twitter. It’s a good case study for everyone who disregards social media, thinking it nothing more than a channel to find out when someone is having a coffee…

On Thursday 26th I saw a call for editorial fashion submissions from a magazine. The deadline was the 1st February. The criteria was it had to be previously unpublished material and showcase an emerging designer. This was a great opportunity but I had nothing to submit. The only option was to pull in a team and shoot it. But, I had no designers, no prep team and no model. I had one day to put the team together, one day to plan it and one day to shoot it. Couldn’t be done.

I wrote a couple of casting calls to put out through my blog, Model Mayhem and even (rather cheekily) theBestOf. I contacted all the designers I knew. Absolutely nothing – everyone was too busy with London Fashion Week.

Cue Twitter.

I posted a few tweets throughout the day and Twitter delivered. Somewhere out there in social media space people saw my requests and suggestions started to come back. In just one day I’d put together a team with 2 couture designers, make-up artist, stylist and a very talented model from an agency I really wanted to work with.

We did the photo-shoot in my Surrey studio and I made the submission deadline. Fingers crossed the images will be published.

Twitter isn’t just about people having cups of coffee. Twitter is arguably the world’s most powerful referral network.

Pretty cool, huh? He’s worth a follow too at @theLightMatters, if you’re on Twitter.

Do you have a social media success story you’d like to share?

This is the second part in my miniseries on Google Analytics, sparked by an email containing a flurry of questions from my friend, Susan. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

Who’s visiting your website?

Click on “Standard Reporting” at the top left, and ensure you’re on the “Audience: Overview” tab (if you’ve never been here before, it will probably default to this page anyway). Both of these are indicated in the image to the right.

You’ll see something like this:

1. Site visitor total numbers

At the top you’ll see a line graph showing you total visitors to your site on each day within the given time period. (Remember, you can alter this time period, and all of the statistics I’m about to tell you about will alter to reflect the new dates).

2. New and returning visitors

A small pie chart showing the proportion of visitors in (1) that are new, and how many are repeat visitors. You’ll probably want lots of both, but the ideal proportions will vary depending on what you personally want to achieve with your website.

3. Overview breakdown summary

This is where the numbers start to get interesting!

Right, so translating this information to the left into useful English:

During the given time frame, 94 separate people visited this website, 146 times in total (which means that at least a few people have visited more than once). During these visits, 285 pageviews (that is, 285 pairs of eyeballs on individual pages within your website) were recorded (so people didn’t just look at the page they landed on and left – some people stuck around and explored other pages within the site). The number of pageviews is almost double the number of visits, so people visiting the site look at, on average, 2 different pages (1.95, to be precise!).

The bounce rate is 62.33% – which means that 62% of visitors arrive at the site and don’t visit any pages other than the one they land on. (Warning: If the numbers are already swirling around in your head, skip this bit! But that means that if 60% of people don’t look around, the additional pageviews must then come from approximately 40% – or roughly 58 – of visits. 58 people thus account for almost 200 pageviews (because the other 88 viewed only one page each), which means that of the people who visit more than one page, they will visit, on average 3 or 4 pages each.)

Visitors spend an average of 51 seconds on the site, and 15.07% of visits were from completely new people who hadn’t visited the site before.

To put this into any more meaningful context than that requires a chat with the website owner, and an in depth look at what the website is, what she has on it, how many pages she has, how she promotes it, and what she wants to achieve with it. If there is sufficient interest from you reading this right now – and Susan is willing to lay herself bare! – I might attempt an interview and analysis on this blog. Please let me know in the comments if this is something that would be of interest to you.

4. Where (geographically) do your visitors come from and how are they seeing you?

This is also an incredibly interesting table! The default view as shown in the large image above shows the language of the visitors to Susan’s website – which is, in this case, not terribly interesting.

However, if you play with the menu on the left (and don’t be afraid to play! How else will you discover what Analytics has to offer?) you will discover that you can see which countries your visitors come from … or even which towns (remember, you can click the image to see it fullscreen):

Now, if Susan were looking to join a trade show, or run workshops, or visit market stalls around the country to sell her products, knowing where she has a big online fanbase would be quite helpful in figuring out where to start, hey? Furthermore, if you look down the rest of that menu you’ll be able to determine things like what browsers people are viewing your website on (bad news for you if your site doesn’t work on Explorer, but that’s what most of your visitors are using!) and whether they’re viewing your site from a mobile phone or tablet.

In Part 3 we will look at “How people are finding your site”.

Susan is a very talented friend of mine who designs and makes bags under the label Stitchedup4u. She sent me this email today:

I use Google Analytics to track traffic on my Folksy website, however, I don’t really understand all the functions it has and therefore can’t get the info I would like from it.

There is so much it can do that I don’t know about. That is what gets to me. I want to know how to search for specific things like where are people finding the links to my items – ie Facebook, Folksy, emails? How do I search for their locations? Who are first timers to my site and who are returners? How do I discount my own views? How will it impact on my sales – how do I find where they have found the links to Folksy/Facebook? What search words are they using and how is it directed to my page? I had 78 views on my Folksy page yesterday but what do I do to see what/who it is? BUT also what else do I not know that would be useful to me?

These are just some of the questions but there are loads more!

Happily, all of these questions are very easily answered! I will answer the questions in stages though – there is simply too much information, especially if you’re new to Analytics. We’ll start today with a general explanation of the basic stats you’re presented with when you log in.

Dashboard: Translation into Humanspeak

When you first log in you will see something similar to this dashboard:

Yours may look slightly different, but this will be fairly typical. These boxes (which are called “widgets”) are translated here (click on any image to see it full size):

1. Date range

The dashboard will show you all the stats for the time period specified here. If you want to look at specific information just for yesterday, or see how you’ve done over the last month, or see what your trends have been over the lifetime of your site, you can do it easily here by changing the dates.

Just click on the date, select your date range and click “apply”.

2. Daily Visits

The number of people who have visited your site each day within the period selected.

3. Average Time on Site

The average time spent by each user on your website. You obviously want this number to be higher rather than lower!

4. Total Goal Conversion Rate/Conversion Rate by Source

Analytics allows you to plug in targets for site visitors. Want visitors to stay a certain amount of time on your site? Want them to visit more than one page? Want to know how many people reach your shopping checkout? You can tell Analytics about these goals, and these two tables will tell you the stats relating to those targets.

Susan hasn’t set any targets, so it’s not showing us anything. I’ll help you set targets in a future instalment of this series.

5. Traffic Types

This chart shows you proportionately how people are coming to your site.

i. Referral: People have clicked on a link (ie, from Facebook, Twitter, another website, etc.)

ii. Organic: They’ve found you by a search (ie, Google, Bing, etc.)

iii. Direct: People have typed your link straight into their browser, or favourited your page.

iv. Email: They’ve clicked a link in an email which has taken them to your page.

6. Time on site by country

The average time spent on your site, divided up into the locations of the people who visit.

We will look at adding additional widgets and what they can do in a future instalment.

In Part 2, we will look at Who’s visiting your site.

I’m regularly asked about the value of Twitter and what I get out of it, the ROI of Twitter and how I can stand all the “I’m having a cup of tea” rubbish that people tweet.

I find it so difficult to explain the inimitable magic of Twitter in the one-sentence response I know the asker wants, so I’ve decided to keep a “Twitter diary”. I documented the main things I did on Twitter yesterday, the things I noticed, liked, retweeted and replied to – and why. Hopefully it will help explain what I get out of Twitter.

6.30am

Granted, it’s a bit early. However, I have a morning meeting and there are a couple of jobs I need to do before I head out, so I’ve logged on early for a quick scan.

There aren’t too many updates at this time of day, so I’m pretty much just catching up on what’s been posted overnight – either by a few die-hards or by people in different timezones.

One such tweet is from Marianne Cantwell (@FreeRangeHumans) – a popular blogger and coach who specialises in helping people break free of the 9-5, and be ok with creating their own job:

I immediately think of Rona Wheeldon (@Flowerona) – when I first met her she was a VA. In fact, she was the first “proper” VA I ever met and helped me make my own transition. She’s sold her VA business and now runs her own blog on all things flowers, and that’s how she makes her living.

So as you can see, I recommend her in response to Marianne’s tweet (who I don’t personally know, by the way) and this results in an invitation for Rona to be interviewed for her book.

Value #1:
Facilitated a nice PR opportunity for someone who helped me 2 years ago.

I also spot this traffic warning tweet, and knowing that many of my followers are from around the area, retweet it:

Value #2:
Possibly giving someone a helpful heads-up to make their Monday morning less crappy. You never know.

And finally, before getting up to get ready, I tweet a link to my latest blog which I published the previous night:

Value #3:
Exposure for my blog.

9.00am

I’m on the bus now on the way to meet my accountant at 10.00am. It’s essentially “dead” time, so I entertain myself a bit on Twitter. While on the bus, I spot (and retweet) some funny tweets that help me start my day with a smile:

Value #4:
I’ve started my day with a giggle

Value #5:
Hopefully, so has someone else

I also spot this tweet:

One of the accounts I follow has been inadvertently sending “phishing” direct messages, it seems, as I spot a second tweet from someone else confirming this. The idea that I should write a blog about what to do in this situation pops into my mind, and I write a note to remind myself to do so.

Value #6:
New idea for a blog entry. The blog entry will hopefully help other people and raise my profile as a social media helper-y type person. All good

Next, I spot a tweet written by someone I have been meaning to get in touch with for awhile. The tweet spurs me into action, and I drop her an email.

Value #7:
A very lovely and useful person – a possible joint venture, client or advocate (or all of the above) – has been brought back to the front of mind and prompts further contact.

And in amongst all of this, I’m also spotting useful tweets like these – other people’s blogs that look interesting or useful, which I “favourite” to read at a time when I’m back in front of my computer screen, rather than trying to read it on my phone:

Value #8:
Gained some new knowledge or a new perspective. Learning is good

11.30am

I’m training my accountant in Twitter. We’ve both got our laptops (and Twitter) open. While I’ve set her a Twitter-related task to do, I sneak a quick peek at my own feed, and spot this:

After some back-and-forth I find out that in addition to receiving a fee there is an interview as part of the shoot, into which I realise I should be able to shoehorn a few things on Sundowner, so I throw my hat in the ring. Half an hour later the journalist phones me up to say I’ve been selected, and just like that, I’m on the train into London.

Value #9:
Big publicity opportunity … and one more thing to cross off the bucket list!

1.00pm

So I’m on the train again, with more dead time, which means I’m back on Twitter. It’s at this point I realise that 2 people have retweeted my blog (and another 2 retweet it by the end of the day) and 3 new people have followed me as a result (and this grows to 9 new follows by the end of the day).

I thank the people who retweeted:

Value #10:
My blog gains potential exposure to 3000 new people, and I have gained 9 new followers.

I also quickly tweet about a free tweetup I’m hosting in Kingston this month, which is retweeted once and followed by 3 registrations.

Value #11:
3 new registrations for my event

3.00pm

I’ve arrived at the photo shoot. Everyone seems lovely. It is explained to me that Nancy Dell’olio is about to launch a book about how terrible we are as a nation when it comes to getting dressed, so a 4-part Alicia-Silverstone-in-Clueless-style makeover miniseries will precede the launch. They seem quite pleased at how perfectly in character I have come as the dreadful “before”. I pretend I totally meant for that to happen.

Then I send a text to my friend to find out who the hell Nancy Dell’olio is. Turns out I’m useless without Wiki.

Suitably enlightened, I head into the makeup room where the first two victims are caught in the unforgiving laser beam that is Nancy’s gaze. This part of the interview cuts off abruptly as Nancy’s phone rings. It is her housekeeper phoning up about … something that Nancy deems definitely not serious enough to have interrupted her on a shoot. As she’s giving her housekeeper an earful, out comes my phone:

This tweet, predictably, prompts a flurry of replies, which I quickly reply to while the housekeeper digs herself into what appears to be an ever-deeper hole.

Value #12:
Some good old-fashioned bonding over celebrity gossip

4.00pm

By now I’ve had my hair done. I don’t look at all like me. I look … pretty! And differenty. So naturally, I tweet it:

And I have a lot of nice friends who said nice things in reply. Bless their well-trained cotton socks!

Value #13:
Connection. Bonding. Support. Play. Lots more giggles.

9.30pm

It’s been a busy day. There’s been lots of tweets to me in response to a lot of things – the blog, the tweetup, Rona’s recommendation, and of course, my surprise trip to London. My final look at Twitter for the day is to sit down with my mentions and make sure every single mention receives a reply:

Value #14:
Reconnecting and refreshing bonds with several people I haven’t connected with in awhile … do you REALLY think the sort of things that happened today could have taken place, or been reasonably shared with anyone but my closest friends, on any other medium???

Value #15:
A gorgeous free new dress that looks absolutely “bangin’” (direct quote from stylist) on me

So, yes Twitter takes time and thought – but I hope this helps demonstrate a little of why I think it’s totally worth it. It takes seconds to pick up your phone and send a single tweet. Everyone has time for that, and once you get in the mindset for it, it’s easy to work it into your normal routine. Just do it!

I gave a talk on social networking for business purposes the other day. These talks are always very interesting for me because the room always contains people along the full spectrum, from those who totally get social media, to those who are indifferent, to those who openly hostile, to those who consider it a particularly idiotic kind of witchcraft.

Like this, I guess.

Anyway, halfway through this one, someone got a bit fed up of my explanations for why various social media is so useful and said, “What’s wrong with just picking up the phone?”

Nothing’s wrong with it

The answer is, nothing.

This is a common misconception amongst people who have never used or “got” social media, and particularly Twitter and Facebook – that it is somehow a socially inept person’s replacement for more “real” interactions.

What must be fundamentally understood before you can embrace social media is that it’s an alternative way of communicating that complements everything else you do. It is not meant as a replacement for face to face conversations, phone calls, trips to the pub, or anything else you do to effectively communicate and build relationships with anyone. Phone calls have their time and their place – but there are also times when a phone call is inappropriate (really!) and may be more damaging than not.

You need me and you need me NOW!

If you go to two face to face networking events this week, you might meet 40 people. Chances are exceptionally good that most of those people will, at some point, require the kind of service that you provide. But chances are also exceptionally slim that you are exactly what they are looking for at exactly the time you meet them. If they don’t need you today, do you give them up as a lost cause? Or do you take steps to ensure that you are the first – or only – person they think of when they need someone like you?

Hopefully it’s the latter. But wow, 40 people? That’s a lot of people to phone afterwards, isn’t it? Add that to the 40 people you met last week, and the 40 people you’ll meet next week that you need to stay in constant touch with, and suddenly you have no time to do anything but talk to people on the phone in the hope that they might remember your name when they need you.

A restraining order might be bad for business

But how often do you think you need to speak them for them to remember you a month, six months, a year down the line when they need you? And if you’re interrupting them with phone calls every week, or even every month, just so that you stay front of mind, do you think they will be thinking of you positively?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could stay in constant touch with people without them taking out a restraining order? And wouldn’t it be even better if there was a way they could get to experience nuggets of your work, get to know your approach to your clients, your attitude to your subject matter, and understand you better as a person outside of the job you do? Wouldn’t that be great?

Happily, that’s what social media does.

Phone calls before the relationship has progressed to the right stage can be confused with harrassment, and can force a person’s hand by turning a “Not yet” into a “No”, just to stop the irritating phone calls. Social media interactions can coax people along the path from “Not yet” to “Yes, now, and it has to be you” – and it’s at THAT stage that phone calls can be indispensible to cementing your relationship.

Time and a place

Finally, there is a hypocrisy inherent in the claim that online communication is impersonal, but phone calls are not. Yes, social media can be impersonal, if people overly automate or try for the hard sell – but so can a telephone call, if people are following a script, phoning you out of obligation, or again giving you the hard sell. If you are speaking to someone via a telephone, there is still a subtle disconnect. You are still not communicating with someone face-to-face, are you? But when it is not appropriate or realistic to be face to face, telephone is an effective alternative.

But when it is not appropriate or realistic to pick up the phone, Twitter, for one, is an effective alternative.

So, there is nothing wrong with picking up the phone. There is a time and a place for phone calls – but, equally, there is a time and a place for alternative methods of communication. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and the skill is in knowing when to use which.

I will be running a 2-hour “Introduction to Social Media” workshop in Staines on Monday 13th February, 2012. Entry is a donation of the amount of your choosing and all of the profits will go to Midas Plus. Click here to register and for more information.

Facebook has been quite naughtily active recently. They’ve made a few changes that they’ve not adequately or clearly told everyone about. You may not be aware of the implications – in fact, you may not even be aware of something going on that you’re not aware of!

Fortunately, that’s what you’ve got me for This is the third in a 3-part series to let you know what the changes are and what to do about them.

Note: You can click on any of the images to see them full-size.

Demystifying Facebook’s new Timeline

Facebook has been threatening to release “Timeline” for awhile now, and it has hitherto been an opt-in thing. However, Facebook have announced that they will be slapping everyone with it on the 22nd December. Like it or not.

As I understand it, Timeline is not going to share anything you haven’t already shared (no, that’s “Frictionless Sharing” that will be doing that for you) so there’s not terribly much to worry about if you use Facebook sensibly – however, when I started using Facebook it was just to keep in touch with family on the other side of the planet, and I had no idea I’d ever start a business based on social media, or that my business contacts would slowly ooze into my personal life. Life happens. Life changes. For that reason, I give you this embarrassment-minimising guide to Timeline. Merry Christmas

What is it?
A new way of organising and presenting what you choose (and have chosen) to share on Facebook. It looks quite sexy, actually:

Image taken from https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

What’s the problem?
The main reason for all the negative fuss over Timeline (apart from the fact that a lot of the time people just like to make a fuss over any kind of change!) is that it allows for your friends to much more easily search, find and share old posts – like, proper old, from years ago. From when you were still faffing about in college and assumed you’d be in a rock band rather than working for a conservative legal firm.

Can I just not use it?
Erm, no. Facebook have been rolling it out gently, but as of 22nd December apparently everyone will be getting it. Even you. Whether you want it or not.

So what can I do?
It’s not actually as dire as many are making it sound. Ultimately, Facebook is just re-organising stuff you’ve already chosen to put on Facebook. You won’t be getting Facebook operatives breaking down your door, pinning you against a wall and ransacking your private collections to post it in your Timeline.

However, to minimise the chance of younger, stupider posts coming back to bite you on the bum, here are some things you can do:

1. Read part 1. Ensure you only share your posts with Friends only.
2. Read part 2. Do not opt in to “Frictionless Sharing”
3. Unfriend people who aren’t really friends. You should do this anyway, but sometimes we just think, “It’s not worth the hassling of offending them by not accepting the friend request, is it?” They’ll get over it, I promise.
4. Get rid of the embarrassing stuff. Once they flick the switch, you’ll have 7 days to go through your posts to delete anything you don’t want recycled on your profile. Do it. You can of course get a head start by going through your photos and photos you’ve been tagged in now (currently accessible from your profile – see the link to “Photos” underneath your mugshot) and deleting any compromising ones.

If you’re still worried, pop on over to Twitter or Facebook and ping me your questions ahead of the changeover this week.

Facebook has been quite naughtily active recently. They’ve made a few changes that they’ve not adequately or clearly told everyone about. You may not be aware of the implications – in fact, you may not even be aware of something going on that you’re not aware of!

Fortunately, that’s what you’ve got me for This is the second in a 3-part series to let you know what the changes are and what to do about them.

Note: You can click on any of the images to see them full-size.

Change #2: “Frictionless Sharing”

Have you started seeing stuff like this in your Facebook home feed over the last few months?

Chances are, your friends didn’t choose to share this. What they’ve done is accessed the paper through a Facebook app or accessed a page with “frictionless sharing” enabled and, having given that initial permission, Facebook has thought “I’m sure you MEANT to press “Like” but just forgot … or it was too hard. We’ll do it for you – you’re probably cool with everyone knowing what you’re reading/listening to/doing, right?” It’s – in my opinion – the equivalent of looking at a product description on Amazon.com and Amazon saying, “You’re looking at this, therefore you’re interested in it, therefore you must want to buy it” and docking your credit card and shipping the product to you without you knowing.

The Prevention

The best way to avoid this is to learn to recognise the apps that do this – for example, if you click on the link in The Independent example above, you will be taken to a screen requesting permission for this app to have access to your account.

You’ll be inclined to say yes without thinking because, well, everything you do on Facebook flashes a box like this up, right? The problem is, that as soon as you click yes, EVERYTHING you read on The Independent in future will show up in your timeline. And while you may or may not be into that stuff yourself, do you really want your mum’s friend seeing that you’ve read Unleashed: The Secret World of Britain’s Dominatrixes, however objectively interesting it may be??

So “cancel” this window and manually search for the article on the newspaper’s website.

The Cure

However, if you’ve already allowed these apps access, it’s easy to delete them and revoke access. Simply go to “Account Settings” …

… and then click “Apps” (on the left menu). A list of all the apps that have access to your account will be displayed. Simply click on the name of the app, then click “Remove app”.

Living with it

There’s unfortunately no middle ground where you can enjoy the functionality app but still control what gets posted. You can control who sees it – but you can’t stop them sharing it.

Facebook has been quite naughtily active recently. They’ve made a few changes that they’ve not adequately or clearly told everyone about. You may not be aware of the implications – in fact, you may not even be aware of something going on that you’re not aware of!

Fortunately, that’s what you’ve got me for This is the first in a 3-part series to let you know what the changes are and what to do about them.

Change #1: Your posts and photos may now be automatically public

Even if you’ve previously changed your security settings to “Friends only” when posting status updates and photos, recent changes to Facebook appear to have reset this, as it were – new things you publish are set to “Public” by default (as you can see in the image above). This means that people who aren’t your friends can see it.

When you post to Facebook via the website, you now need to ensure you select “Friends only” before you publish the status/photo.

This should set it to “Friends only” from now on.

If you haven’t been aware of this and have been merrily posting status updates under the misapprehension that only your friends will see them, you can go back now and reset your past posts to “Friends” – simply scroll down your profile, run your mouse over the status and a small icon will appear in the top right corner. If it’s an icon of two heads, you’re all good. If it’s an icon of a little Earth, here’s how you change it: