Twitter

The New Face of Networking

Posted on November 1, 2009

Recently a financial services provider for Clockwork (the Geek Girls have day jobs at Clockwork) sent a note asking us where we network for business. I assume our contact was hoping to meet other small business owners like us and thinking that attending such events would be the best way to do that. Without thinking I started to answer, but it was tougher than I thought to come up with any kind of meaningful list of networking events that I attend regularly to connect with business contacts. I stopped trying and simply responded that the majority of significant connections I’ve made over the last few years have been made via social networking. In fact, I had tweeted only days prior that I was struggling with a particular experience with this financial services provider and, while I received several responses from competitors, I heard nothing from anyone from the brand itself. It was unfortunate, actually, because this is no small brand. In fact it’s huge. The idea that they seem to have a very minimal (if they have one at all) social marketing presence seems sort of backwards.

Later that day I did an informational interview with a freelancer looking to make new business connections for new work. While discussing her desire to find new opportunities and people in my network with whom I could connect her, I asked the question, ‘What are you doing with social?’ She responded by admitting, as so many people do, that she didn’t really see the usefulness of it — especially Twitter. I suggested that Twitter might actually be a very valuable tool in her quest for connections because, via Twitter, she’d have access to people she never would have opportunity to meet in any other setting.

Both of these conversations got me thinking about how some business and professional individuals still view social media. They see it as too much ‘social’, there’s not enough business value. The Geek Girls always say that we’re not here to sell our readers on social media. But I would suggest that those among you who still think it’s mostly fluff, might want to look start ‘listening’. Tune in to those people on Twitter that you know and respect in a professional capacity and then start to leverage their networks. See who they follow and start listening to more peripheral conversations. If you’re curious you should know that Twitter doesn’t work like Facebook because you can follow just about anyone. And if you decide to participate you have that option, as long as you are contributing in a relevant, authentic way. In essence, you can leverage your contacts’ networks to determine those among them that could be beneficial for you to know and, ultimately, introduce yourself to them and participate in conversations with them. It requires an investment of time and attention. But the opportunity is not insignificant.

When the Geek Girls are out talking to people about technology and social media I often talk about how we have opportunities to be better friends because of the connections social networks have enabled for us. I know that I am a better friend because of what these services bring to my relationships. Life is busy. Being a mom and a professional and a person with interests, social networks have allowed me to connect and reconnect with my friends on my terms. It may be late at night, I might be exhausted or in my pajamas, but I can make contact with my friends, catch up on their lives and their families and the things that are important to them, and remind them again that I care and I’m here. But these sorts of interactions are not reserved for our personal lives only. We can also make and foster new connections for business. And I would suggest that business networking is equally as difficult for some in real life for some of the same reasons. Using a tool like Twitter gives us access to people we need on our terms. We can learn from them, converse with them, make an impression on them, perhaps even influence them, all on our own time and our own terms. Perhaps even late at night in our pajamas.

I can join and participate in my professional associations, but my free time is so rare and so valuable that the events they produce really have to provide some serious value. Getting a babysitter or coordinating with the rest of my family or sacrificing family time or the time I need to actually get my work done are all difficult prospects. I am not alone. Most people I know are very selective about the traditional networking and continuing education events they attend. But when you consider the potential that social media offers, suddenly you’re confronted with the idea that there are now, for the first time ever, far fewer than six degrees separating each of us from just about anybody.

Don’t get me wrong, the Geek Girl’s also say that, whether you’re a brand trying to have a presence for social marketing, or a person trying to engage with friends, family or professional connections, we do not recommend that social networks take the place of real-time interaction. Social media is ‘in addition to’, not ‘instead of’. But wow, the potential for access and first contact is huge. Where you go from there is up to you. Don’t discount this social revolution on the web. It’s moving like this because there really is something to it. My recommendation is — start listening and see what you hear. And, if you’re the financial services provider I mention earlier in this post — call me. I’ve got a few tips for you.

What the Hashtag?

Posted on October 26, 2009

One of the hardest things to explain to people who are unfamiliar with Twitter is hashtags. Many things about Twitter are not immediately self-evident, and hashtags are one of them.

What Are Hashtags?

The simplest way to explain hashtags is that they are a way to categorize a particular tweet.

The name hashtag combines the notion of tagging (using a word or phrase to categorize something) with the hash symbol (#). (I don’t know about you, but I always call that symbol a pound sign. I’m thinkng of starting a campaign to rename hashtags to poundtags. Anybody with me?)

If you are reading a tweet with a hashtag, the hashtag will be a link. Clicking that link will take you to the search page for that hashtag.

Who creates them?

Anyone can create a hashtag. It’s anarchy! The company I work for uses the hashtag #clockwork whenever we tweet about work, but other people in the world also sometimes use that hashtag to tweet about a Jiu Jitsu studio in NYC, or the movie A Clockwork Orange. So, even if you start using a hashtag someone else may start using it, too. (Or, they may already be using it. The only way to find out is to search for the hashtag and see if it’s already in use.)

How do you find them?

Sometimes, events that you attend will print the hashtag in the brochure. Sometimes, someone will create a hashtag that gets so popular it becomes a “trending topic” on Twitter. Sometimes, you might just see a hashtag in a friend’s tweets.

What does each hashtag mean?

One of my co-workers just sent me this amazingly cool site, http://wthashtag.com, which crowdsources what hashtags mean. This is fantastic because, since anyone can create a hashtag, a central directory of what each hashtag means has never existed. And because anyone can create one at any time, this approach of asking the public what they each mean is the only way it can be realistically managed.

If you see a hashtag and wonder what it’s for, this site can help you find out. If you start a new hashtag, you can add more information about it here for other people to discover.

How can you use them?

This is where it gets really interesting. Hashtags can be used in a bunch of interesting ways:

Industry Chats: People in the same industry, who are interested in a group conversation, sometimes start up a hashtag and have people meet at a certain date and time to talk about something. Kind of a like a big chatroom, but using Twitter instead of instant messenger. Some examples include #journchat (a PR discussion group on Monday nights), #blogchat (a blogging discussion group on Sunday nights) and #behindthefirewall (a group that discusses how social media is being used inside of corporations).

Events: I’ll use the recent MIMA Summit as an example: everyone who was tweeting about that event used the hashtag #mimasummit. If I want to see tweets that are only related to the MIMA Summit, I can use search.twitter.com and follow all tweets that contain that hashtag.

What’s interesting about hashtags for events is that they can be used both for those at the event, and for those that couldn’t attend. For those at the event, hashtagged tweets can be a way to keep up with breaking news at the event (“Session 1 is canceled” or “We know wi-fi is slow, we’re working on it now.”). For those not attending, it can be a way to listen in on what’s happening and participate from afar. At some events, you can submit questions to the speaker via Twitter and a person acting as a “Twitterhost” will pass the questions along.

Sometimes, as is the case with #mimasummit, people use the hashtags for days and weeks after the event is over to share follow-up articles, blog posts, and videos.

Companies/Organizations: I also mentioned the #clockwork hashtag earlier. Using Twitter’s API (application-programming interface) we created a custom search that appears on our homepage (the custom search allows us to filter out those other, non-related tweets that also happen to use our hashtag).

Fans and practitioners of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology use #gtd for any of their tweets that relate to that topic.

To Make a Statement: The other day, I got irritated with a conversation that was happening where working and at-home moms were being pitted against each other. I decided to start an #endmommywars hashtag, for no reason other than to give people a spot to voice their support for each other. This happens all the time with causes big and small.

For Fun/Entertainment: On Friday, someone started a hashtag meme #oneletteroffmovies. People were tweeting funny movie titles that were just one letter off. Like my contribution, My Big Fat Geek Wedding. Totally pointless, but entertaining. My husband and I were reading the submissions together on Friday night, laughing and trying to think of our own.

There are also hashtags for #MusicMonday (to share music suggestions), #FollowFriday and #Women2Follow (where you can suggest that other people follow someone whom you find interesting).

To Be Clever: The final way that people use hashtags is to add a funny, sarcastic sidebar comment to their tweet. As in, “I just changed my 1,000th diaper. #mylifeisglamorous”.

Spammers: It just wouldn’t be the Internet if spammers didn’t figure out how to ruin everyone’s good time. Depending on the popularity of the topic you’re following, you’ll often see unrelated tweets that contain the hashtag (and often a few others). That’s just spammers trying to get attention from unsuspecting Twitterers by dropping trending topics and hashtags into their spam tweets. Sad, but true.

So now you know. As you are tweeting, hashtags allow you to categorize those tweets. As a person who is reading tweets, hashtags provide a way to filter the overwhelming universe of tweets into a more manageable set of only those you are interested in at that moment. Looking through tweets related to a given hashtag can also be a great way to find interesting new people to follow on Twitter.

Feel like getting your feet wet with hashtags? Add #geekgirlsguide to your tweet, and we’ll see it. (Or just try #myfirsthashtag — it won’t hurt anyone!)

Hashtags?! I Still Can’t Figure Out What Twitter Is For!

If you need more Twitter 101, check out these other articles we’ve written:

The One In Which I Rant About The Misuse Of Social Media By Companies And Executives

Posted on July 21, 2009

Recently the Geek Girls talked to a group of emerging women leaders about the merits of social media in promoting both personal and professional brands. It was a great session and afterwards we found ourselves immersed in lengthy discussion about trying to separate the personal from the professional (in short — get over it). In attendance at the event was a group of interns from a very large financial services firm. One of them approached me with a question that she asked in a very hushed tone. “Can I remove a picture of myself, from Facebook, if it is someone else’s picture?” She looked slightly nervous as she waited for me to answer. And when I answered in the negative she looked crestfallen. “You can remove the tag that identifies you,” I replied. “But you are stuck with the picture unless you contact the person who put it there and ask them to take it down. Anyone with any amount of sensitivity has got to respect that kind of request.” She seemed satisfied with my answer and I moved on to another question. But a few moments later I turned to her and asked “Is it an embarrassing college party kind of picture?” She nodded, “Yes.”

A few days later the twittersphere enjoyed a minor buzz around the news that a Montana town’s hiring procedures now included requiring job candidates to hand over their log-in information for their Facebook accounts so that their potential employer could see who they really were. I, like everyone else with any sense, was appalled by the nerve of these people. We all wondered if this was legal. The press didn’t serve them very well and shortly thereafter they backed away from this policy.

When we’re out talking about social media the most common questions we field include those around deleting questionable or personally damaging content, specifically pictures, from Facebook. Oftentimes the questions come from young people. However, more often than you think, established professionals harbor similar concerns. The web and social networks make being “social” a whole new ballgame. Of course, my first words of advice are around the terms of use and terms of service for Facebook. We say this all the time, we’ve mentioned it on the blog, but its worth noting as often as possible: when you put things on the web, whether you like it or not, they don’t really entirely belong to you any more. When you share assets like pictures on a social network you’ve essentially given away the rights or ownership of those images. That is something you need to accept and you should operate in accordance with that awareness. Additionally, if you are someone who enjoys recording social events and interactions through words and pictures remember to be sensitive to your subjects, and, if the subject is you, be smart about what you allow to be photographed.

illustration by Rett Martin (@rett)

As Meghan and I walked away from that event that breezy Wednesday evening, I couldn’t help but express my empathy for the young woman who’d expressed concern around the picture her friend had posted of her. But beyond that, I have real concern for human resource professionals and leadership inside of organizations that would condone invading someone’s privacy in a way where they are intending to seek out these sorts of incriminating images. I take issue with leaders who conveniently lack any recall around their own questionable choices or reckless behavior. Because, let’s face it, we’ve all been there. And I think that is my biggest issue. Social media gives us access to a wealth of personal and professional information the likes of which we have never seen before. Whole educational profiles, resumes, work histories, testimonials, personal addresses, family pictures, life histories, and, yes, transgressions, are all documented and available on the web. For the most part, its a very cool thing. We can record and validate experiences and share them with our communities in a way that enriches our connections. But we can also abuse it. And I think the worst abuse happens when we believe we have a right to scour through that kind of information to establish a profile of questionable behavior. After all, context is key. The context in which certain situations occur color the lense that records them.

It’s more than that though. Some of the greatest lessons of my life and career have come from my mistakes or missteps. I have news for you, people: I went to college. I stood around a keg. I drank too much beer, or maybe I wore pants on my head. I don’t remember. But the important thing is — I matured beyond that. I had those experiences, and I moved on. I grew up. And I can honestly say I am probably a more well rounded person because I allowed myself to partake in the ridiculous or, even (gasp) the forbidden. It hasn’t happened yet where a compromising picture of me has shown up on Facebook (unless you count the one where I look like I’m in drag in a dinner theatre show which is scary for sure). But it might. When it does I will likely ask the person posting it to remove it. Or maybe I won’t, just to prove a point. But to act like college is all academics, or that victories in life are the only moments along the path worth recording, is nuts. In the long run, we might be forcing people to be even more deceptive about who they are. Because we all know resumes aren’t always non-fiction. We’ve all been there. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all reframed a professional story so it doesn’t reflect poorly on us. We’ve all been in the wrong place at the wrong time. To deny any of that would be dishonest. Hopefully we’ve all learned from those experiences and they contributed to the professionals we are today. Hopefully we’ve gained some perspective and we can demonstrate some compassion and, by extension, respect the social privacy of job candidates or colleagues or acquaintances.

Social media is here to enrich our lives. Not make us fearful about living them. Let’s not abuse our positions by insisting on access to information we have no right to in the first place. What you condone now, in terms of policy, could always come back to bite you in the end. Put that in your pipe and smoke it (just be sure no one is standing nearby with a camera when you do).