A practical approach for professional communicators to pick out what matters (Presented on Jan. 18, 2011, to communications, marketing, design, and web staff at the University of British Columbia)

1. A practical approach for professional communicators to Pick out what matters by Adrian Liem Filtering the Digital Flood

2. Overview A Common Problem The Communicator’s Dilemma How do you deal with it? 9 Steps

3. Information is Abundant Time and Attention is Scarce A Common Problem

4. Requesite “Web 2.0” Slide “User-generated” “Consumer is the creator” “Users are prosumers” <sarcasm>Creating synergies through integrated mash-ups to enable the viral delivery of higher value connections between robust networks of innovative communities, reinvented by aggregated feeds, citizen-media, open access, and transparent authenticity.</sarcasm>

6. Corporate online communities, blogs, RSS feeds, email newsletters

7. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, Foursquare, Groupon, Quora

8. Devices

9. Mobile: iPhone, Android, native apps, mobile apps

10. Tablets: iPad, Xoom, Playbook

11. TV, billboards

12. Content

14. Reading blogs, news sites

15. Posting comments on blogs

16. Reading and writing emails and newsletters

17. Reading and writing tweets

18. Stalking on Logging into Facebook

19. Watching video / online TV

21. Attention is Limited Where do you spend this time?

22. Information Overload How do people deal with this? Ignore it! Continue trying to consume everything they can Do nothing and hope it all goes away

23. The impact of “Social” on Professional Communicators The Communicator’s Dilemma

24. Our Conundrum Pt. 1 We are: Communicators, writers, marketers Designers and developers Professional producers and consumers of information We do this for a living! We can’t ignore it!

25. Personal vs. Professional Social media is inherently personal Personal tools are used in professional settings Profiles: Twitter, Facebook User Accounts: Google ID, Yahoo ID

26. When does it really matter? Personal vs. Professional matters when: Your “personal brand” isn’t the brand you represent professionally Your personal interests don’t match your professional responsibilities Entrepreneurs? Small business owner? Celebrities? Sports teams? Large corporations? Large public sector organizations?

27. Limited time and attention Where do you spend your time?

28. Our Conundrum Pt. 2 We are: (Consumers + Producers) x 2

29. That’s not a rhetorical question. Let’s discuss! How do you deal with it?

31. Audience input: (thanks!)Netvibes.com Hootsuite.com Instapaper.com Set up different user accounts for work vs. personal use. I don’t, I have someone do it for me!

32. Coping with Online Information Overload Common Approaches: Software RSS News readers Services Content aggregators Combined Software & Services Twitter account for a service that aggregates RSS feeds Behavioural Change habits (time management) Change expectations How about all of the above?

33. 9-Step Process Satisfice Create a professional lens Look for alignment Jump in Be selective, limit choices Set time limits Look for patterns, then scan Be open but critical, and reflect back Kaizen-ify it!

34. 1. “Satisfice” Satisfy + Suffice Accept that: You can’t keep up to speed with everything If it’s really important, you’ll find out about it soon enough (Hat tip: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz)

35. 2. Create a Professional Lens Think of what you’re looking for as a professional What’s your purpose, what are your goals? What’s central to your role, what’s peripheral? Think of what’s feasible in your situation What resources ($$, time, people, tools) do you or don’t you have at your disposal? Use this as a lens to evaluate everything you see

36. (Tables are your friends)

38. Within the public sector

39. Universities, municipalities, government agencies?

40. Your equivalent department in another organization?

41. Between sectors

42. Small businesses / sole proprietors?

43. Charitable foundations?

44. Personally

45. Professional doppelganger

46. Colleagues, friends

48. 5. Be Selective, Limit Choices Start filtering right away Make initial decisions on who to follow, who/what to ignore Hunt to the source (e.g. who was RT’d in the RT?) Rely on others to highlight what’s peripheral to your main goals Categorize and aggregate Set up saved Searches as RSS feeds Use RSS Readers (Google Reader, Netvibes etc.) Try Hootsuite, Tweetdeck Try Summify, Paper.li

49. 6. Set Time Limits “Time-box” Set a max time limit “Pomodoro Technique” 25 minutes on-task, 5 minutes off -> repeat Scheduled Time Check feeds once in the morning, once at lunch, once in the afternoon

50. 7. Look for Patterns then Scan Look for Recurring: links themes use of channels names of people, businesses, companies Once familiar with the patterns, scan (don’t read)

51. 8. Be Open but Critical, and Reflect Back Evaluate what you read and hear Beware of “social proof” and the herd mentality Validate what you observe What are their results? What did it take to get there? Reflect it all back on your professional goals and capabilities

52. 9. Kaizen-ify it! Continuously refine your approach Re-evaluate your professional goals Purge & Pilfer Unsubscribe, un-follow, un-friend Find more people / businesses / organizations to follow

53. Where has it gotten me? 9-Steps

54. An Example: Me Keen interest in Creative works (music, design) Tech startups, gadgets Business culture Psychology, motivation Food, hockey, skiing

55. Divided Attention Content is all personally interesting, but not all professionally relevant Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant

56. Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant? Divided Attention Creative works Yes

57. Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant? Divided Attention Creative works Tech startups, culture Yes Hmm, sorta

58. Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant? Divided Attention Creative works Tech startups, culture Business culture Yes Hmm, sorta Hmm, yeah sure

59. Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant? Divided Attention Creative works Tech startups, culture Business culture Psychology, motivation Yes Hmm, sorta Yes, sorta Umm, yeah…No

60. Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant? Divided Attention Creative works Tech startups, culture Business culture Psychology, motivation Food, hockey, skiing Yes Hmm, sorta Yes, sorta Umm, yeah…No I wish!!

61. Where’s the Overlap? Personally Interesting Professionally Relevant

62. Message vs. Medium? Often told: “It’s all about the message!” “Content is king!” Ignore the medium when all you care about is the message

63. Message vs. AND Medium Professional communicators: Personally interested in content Professionally interested in method of delivery

65. What tools are used

66. Tone of voice

68. Some Examples DogLotion.com Online video, community building, web development tactics Willmusic.ca Facebook: quick contests WhistlerBlackcomb Facebook wall: tone of voice and staff representation Invoke Media Twitter: Multiple managers for single account My friend, @rommil Custom URLs for web analytics

70. Use of Facebook, Twitter

71. Web development tactics

73. Information design

74. Integration with social

76. Things I’m keeping an eye on Metrics, measurement What’s a meaningful measure of “return”? Of “investment”? Monitoring, “cultivation” How are others building online affinity? What does it take? Premium plans How far can we push budgets of $0? Technologies Open access, open information Open source (Drupal, WordPress) Mobile (apps, web apps), location

77. If You Only Remember 2 Things Tools Hootsuite.com, Tweetdeck Netvibes.com, Google.com/reader Paper.li, Summify.com Instapaper.com Behaviour Satisfice Professional lens Purposeful decisions Time limits

78. adrian.liem@ubc.ca @adrianliem Links: http://bit.ly/fr9QKw Thanks!