Online Community Unconference

Check out my Webcast segments from the Online Community Unconference, held at the Computer History Museum today in Mountain View, California. I recorded them on BlogTV.

The Online Community Unconference is a gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. ~ Forum One Communications

After the conference, I noticed that my session on Twitter was tied with the Webcast of a baby on BlogTV. (sigh) Oh, well. I just can't compete with animals and children for real crowd appeal.

Twitterisms - Random Observations

I guarantee you'll get sick of this topic long before I do. Yep, I'm blogging about Twitter again. Don't worry. I'm sure I'll get it out of my system eventually.

I caught myself on Twittervision recently. It's like walking by a row of TV sets at Sears. Sure, you're trying not to notice a camera is pointed at you, but you can't help yourself. Gee, is that broccoli in my teeth?




The Twitter spam has started already.

You knew it would, so stop pretending it wasn't going to happen.

Hey, Twitter head honchos. Now would be a good time to put some user-optional filters in place. Or not.


I've noticed lots of people using facial parts for their Twitter profile images...like Yours Truly. Ever wonder what happens in the public timeline when two face parts appear together?

So much for originality on my part. Funny, I never thought of myself as a "lowest common denominator" type of person, but I guess we all have our moments. Ironic how part of the other screen name matches my real surname.


And speaking of moments, the following Tweets -- found courtesy of Twittersearch -- fit in the category of "Too much information."

I draw the line at Twittering while on the toilet. Not gonna happen. Nope.

48 Hours in Twitterland

Twitter allows employees to live a day in someone else's cubicle, so to speak, and share learnings less obtrusively.

I am addicted to Twitter. Twitter is a "service that allows you to post short little posts under 140 characters," according to an Ask.com-retrieved definition from blog.zemote.com. This week, I've been using Twitter frequently, just to experience for myself if there exists any real business apps potential here. You see, I just joined a new project team and I decided I needed some high-tech, fast on-boarding. Twitter is a great way that co-workers can shadow each other and learn. I asked co-workers to sign up and Twitter about their day, so I could get a feel for their hour-to-hour activities. Meg accommodated me and signed up immediately. She Twittered about meetings and conversations and I soon realized that people-to-people interactions take up a good portion of her day.

As for me, I Twittered tweeted about a combination of one-sided MeetingPlace calls and Web slide presentations, amidst intermittent tasks like customer care by email, software training, and little unrelated observations. I tend to be more "heads-down," burrowing into the guts of the work like a tech-loner. I'd make a lousy manager that way.

Sometimes conference calls are the background noise I need while I dual and triple process. I rarely pick up a phone to chat with a colleague, because email is just an extension of my whirling fingers. Maybe that's not so great, especially since I work remotely much of the time, and my over-dependence on technology makes me a corporate wallflower -- invisible too often. If my co-workers in other cities were on Twitter, perhaps I wouldn't feel so isolated.

Two co-workers in the same company or group can have and act upon different concepts of work day effectiveness. After comparing our Twitter posts (Meg and mine) for the past 48 hours, I felt like my day was fragmented. It made me think about better ways to organize my tasks around bigger chunks of productivity and, of course, people. So, in a way, being on Twitter caused me to up my game, mainly because I was broadcasting to the world. Now if every person behaved that way...

As a side note, while reviewing emerging presidential candidates, I found myself gravitating toward certain candidates for technological reasons. Now I'm wondering if I can separate the medium from the message. I noticed that Barack Obama and John Edwards both have MySpace.com & Twitter pages. No, I don't think having a "cool" Web presence is necessarily a requirement of U.S. leadership. They're just tools (she tells herself), not qualifications for vote-getting or indications of competence. But I'm getting sidetracked again.

Anyway, back to the business hook for Twitter. Twitter allows employees to live a day in someone else's cubicle, so to speak, and share learnings less obtrusively. For WAH workers or those in another city, Twitter can also help convey ideas and atmosphere in real time -- something most distance workers wouldn't normally experience in such an informal manner.

So...if you've questioned whether or not Twitter has any real use, I can answer that. There are real time implications for corporations interested in adding more social media tools to their internal communications mix. It's giving me a better perspective on how I can best work on this new team, too.

Here's a list of business applications for Twitter:
· Attracting event sponsors - whether planned or spontaneous
· Media outlet news feed
· Event channel - i.e. film festival mini-reviews, sports play-by-play and so on
· Informational and real-time updates for users - system outages, server issues, product releases, and product updates
· Radio station play list - with updates on what track is now playing
· Team updates for a geographically diverse workforce
· Marketing or PR ticker directed at journalists or analysts
· Feedback channel for customer care purposes
· Blow-by-blow notations of usability studies for PD teams
· SEO strategy tool for enhancing an online community presence

Can you think of more? Comment on this blog post and/or add a link to Twitter Fan Wiki on Business Uses.

~ Kim

Wal-Mart Destroys Society -- No Fooling

A recent study of the impact of Wal-Mart stores in communities has negative implications. The study concluded that the presence of Wal-Mart depresses social capital stocks in local communities
* Communities with Wal-Mart stores had fewer non-profit groups and social capital-generating associations (such as churches, political organizations, and business groups) per capita than those that did not.
* Wal-Mart's presence depresses civic participation, namely voter participation

Yeah? And I just thought it was because of all the cheap and tacky teen clothing they've been selling lately.

Your Reputation Precedes You...Forever and Ever

Social computing is a pretty hot topic lately.

"There's been a lot of interest recently in the social aspects of Web 2.0 experiences because of their tendency to alter the communities that use them. A lot of folks call these pull-based interaction systems, which value reputation and trust above all other things..." ~ The shift to Social Computing by ZDNet's Dion Hinchcliffe

I'm excited about the future of social computing, while at the same time, somewhat apprehensive. I like to imagine "What if..." just to see where it takes me. Bare with me while I dream about a possible future.

Here's the deal. I didn't really dwell on the negative side of social computing until a colleague suggested to me that individual users should all have Internet reputation scores. These could be logged in a central repository, accessible by all users, sites and ISPs. He was so blindingly excited about this Orwellian concept of identity and wanted to start driving its adoption, that I almost threw up.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

A portable identity and reputation standard is a wonderful idea...for eCommerce, as in consumers and businesses engaged or to be engaged in a transaction. As a buyer of goods on eBay, I want to know if customers have had good experiences with sellers. As a seller of goods, I want to know if customers are prompt payers and willing to resolve any issues in a reasonable manner, if needed.

But apply a universal rating to private individuals in all their online social endeavors? Come on. Wow. Nothing like institutionalized bigotry...oh, wait. I forgot about some fly-by-night religious groups.

It's not like we don't have enough social caste systems in place already. My daughter doesn't wear Prada or drive a Hummer to school, so she isn't hanging out with the kids who do. Not that it matters. And I'm not the CEO of a big corporation or a brilliant engineer being courted by Microsoft, so you won't find me playing tennis with Bill Gates. Not that it matters. My significant other is not a political pundit or powerhouse, so the White House won't be calling him anytime soon to prep him on Iraq. And again, not that it matters.

It's reality. We all get it. We are human and we make choices. And sometimes, we make mistakes.

On the Internet, we each have a wonderful opportunity to discover new friends, learn new things, and perhaps evolve into a smarter and different person, regardless of our current status in the physical world or any past foibles. An Internet-wide user reputation system would change all that forever, severely and unnecessarily limiting our online freedoms.

Users who frequent user-generated communities, enjoy gaining favor on selected sites for the quality of their posts. What if you never had a chance to erase, hide or transform your online identity, even after you'd become a better online person?

I reminded my colleague that there are too many nutjobs online who spend all day plotting revenge on some poor newbie who mistakenly typed IN ALL CAPS in a favorite forum. And for some reason, self-appointed Net police seem to run in packs. Over the years, I've seen users gang up on someone for one indiscretion, just because it was good sport. A user judged by one community as a scoundrel could be a hero in another...but he might not get the chance, should new technology be misused to assign a "Human Value Score."

I can only begin to imagine what injustice will be served by an overreliance on a technical standard not meant for cataloging human beings. Why we continue to substitute technology for good old neighborliness is beyond me. Ubiquitous online ratings would have the potential to stalk users for the rest of their natural lives...can't we just give individuals the benefit of the doubt?

Much of the Internet's value comes from an ability to gather info and participate anonymously, devoid of superficial barriers like universal personality systems attached to one's ankle like an boat anchor. With many aspects of SciFi a bold reality today...intrusive direct marketing, identity theft, and domestic spying...I don't want to live my live in a fishbowl. There's a reason I'm not rushing to become a contestant on a reality TV show, with insensitive strangers deciding whether or not I can stay or go. And I value my privacy. I don't want everyone to know everything about me, especially if I had a bad hair day and posted in haste.

So, while I whole-heartedly support the development of social computing standards, merchant ratings and earned reputations, let's make one thing clear...portable ratings are best used for consumer protection and business development, not for Scarlet Letters.