Social Media in
Organizational Communication
How it affects technical communicators
Rich Maggiani
Solari Communication © 2008 Solari Communication.
All rights reserved.

How we used to communicate
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The Trail Ahead
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The Rules of Social Media
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Understanding Social Media
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Forms of Social Media
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How It Affects Technical Communicators
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The Future of Social Media
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il…
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The Rules of Social Media
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www.socialcustomer.com
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I want, I want, I don’t want…
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I don’t want to do business with idiots.
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I don’t want to be called by another
salesperson.
Ever.
(Unless they have something useful.
Then I want it yesterday.)
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I want to have a say.
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I want to know when something
is wrong, and what you’re going
to do to fix it.
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I want to help shape things
that I’ll find useful.
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I want to connect with others who are
working on similar problems.
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I want to buy things on my
schedule, not yours.
I don’t care if it’s the end
of your quarter.
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I want to know your selling process.
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I want to tell you when you’re
screwing up.
Conversely, I’m happy to tell you the
things that you are doing well.
I may even tell you what your
competitors are doing.
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I want to do business with
companies that act in a transparent
and ethical manner.
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I want to know what’s next. We’re in
partnership… where should we go?
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And these further thoughts!
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I want personal interactions with others.
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I want communication to be real and
relevant.
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I want plain talk.
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I want our ideas to be listened to.
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I want meaningful dialogue.
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I want to be engaged and involved in the
process.
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Understanding Social Media
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It’s all about…
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Participation.
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Engagement.
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Conversations.
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Connecting.
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Creating community.
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Community:
a fellowship and relationship with others;
as a result of sharing common attitudes,
interests, and goals;
through regular interaction.
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Forms of Social Media
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Social Networks:
MySpace
Facebook
Bebo
LinkedIn
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MySpace
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Facebook
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Bebo
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LinkedIn
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Blogs:
Dooce (personal)
MediaLens (political)
Blog Maverick (business)
Hecklerspray (‘popular’ media)
BBC (mainstream media)
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Dooce (personal)
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MediaLens (political)
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Blog Maverick (business)
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Hecklerspray (‘popular’ media)
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BBC (mainstream media)
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Wikis:
Wikipedia
Wikia
wikiHow
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Wikipedia
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Wikia
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wikiHow
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Podcasts:
Apple iTunes
Podcast Alley
InSight 24
Yahoo podcasts
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iTunes audio podcasts
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iTunes video podcasts
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Podcast Alley
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InSight24
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Yahoo podcasts
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Forums:
K2 Community Forums
BoardTracker
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K2 Community Forums
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BoardTracker
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Content Communities:
Flickr
del.icio.us
YouTube
Digg
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Flickr
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del.icio.us
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YouTube
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Digg
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Microblogging:
Twitter
Pownce
Jaiku
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Twitter
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Pownce
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Jaiku
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Distribution through RSS:
Real Simple Syndication
-or-
Rich Site Summary
-or-
RDF Site Summary
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How It Affects Technical Communicators
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Aviation Supplies & Academics
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Knowledgebase
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DATwiki
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Motorola
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92% of employees at Motorola are
engaged in social media
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They post almost 100,000 documents
daily.
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Coca-Cola Blog
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Took “the pulse of employees on key
company values”
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They even had a t-shirt:
“Have you blogged today?”
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About Business Blogging
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Nokia
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Splunk
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Blue Shirt Nation
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Normal turnover rates for retail
employees is 40–60%.
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Turnover rates for those employees
engaged on Blue Shirt Nation is only 8%.
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Geekbrief TV
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Mayo Clinic
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Gartner Portals, Content,
& Collaboration Summit
London, September 2008
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Aimed at Business and IT leaders to
understand how these technologies will
lead to bottom line contribution, efficient
services, and better IT infrastructure.
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Discussion posted by:
Robert Bredlau
Content Wrangler Community
Linkedin
Summarizing a main message from the
conference.
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“Businesses need to increase their use of
Web 2.0 technologies, …
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which was accompanied by ‘groans’ from
the IT department who only see an
increased workload.
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Businesses need to free up IT to move on
with more strategic, technology-related
tasks…
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and leave online content to those who
devise it in the first place.”
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That means us!
Among others.
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Social Media Technical Communicator
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Traditional technical communicator:
Interviewer, writer, designer.
Hidden behind the corporation.
Introvert – leave me alone so I can write
my handbook.
Practically no feedback on user assistance.
© bovacon 2008

Social media technical communicator:
Interviewer, writer, designer.
Content provider, expert.
Enabler, designer, moderator.
On a front-line – I’m an expert.
Extrovert – this is my opinion and this is
how you should do this.
Interactive, short feedback cycles and
reaction times.
© bovacon 2008

The Future of Social Media
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5,400 new blogs will be posted during the
course of this session.
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March 2003–March 2007
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Trends
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Intel—Intelpedia
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Wachovia Bank—Wachopedia
Source: CIO Insight
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Accenture
Introducing:
A YouTube-like video library
A Facebook-like social network
Social bookmarking service
Knowledgebase wiki
3-D virtual world for training
Source: Communication World & Shel Holtz
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Accenture
Source: Donald Rippert
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Deloitte
Source: Communication World and Shel Holtz

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Using social media at work
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Barriers to adopting social media:
A survey
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Lack of demonstrative business case
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Fear of transparency
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Fear of loss of control
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Resistance to change
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Not a high priority
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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Fear of misuse
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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No clear measure of success
Source: www.simply-communicate.com
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5% of employees are blogging and
creating wikis without approval.
Source: Forrester Research
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IT departments are implementing
social media because employees are
demanding it.
Source: Forrester Research
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The Summit
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You’ve reached the summit!
The rules of social media
Understanding social media
Forms of social media
How it affects technical communicators
The future of social media
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And finally,
I leave you with this thought.
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“Social media is not a fad.”
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Additional resources
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Solari Position Papers on Social Media
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Subscribe to Solari Position Papers
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Thank you.
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Contact me at…
Rich Maggiani
Communication Consultant
Solari Communication
137 Lost Nation, Suite 14
Essex, Vermont 05452
802.879.9330
877.879.9330
rich.maggiani@solari.net
www.solari.net
© 2008. All rights reserved.

Blossoming Flowers
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