EyeSee

It’s great that the unconference theme is coming to the Govt. of Canada via Govt Camp.

This event is for:

• IT People –Technology is one way that governments are transforming how they deliver services externally and internally. Technology people are needed to explore the art of the possible for these new services. Mash-ups, Open Data, social media are but a few of the possible areas for discussion.
• Policy People – We need you in the conversation so that you can share your expertise on the realm of the possible from a policy perspective. Privacy, Security, Access to Information, Information Management are all key considerations for successful government transformation.  Come share your knowledge on how to make these policies enable new services.
• Government Services leaders – Ultimately, government delivers value through the many services that are provided. GovCamp is about exploring the realm of the possible for service to individuals, services to businesses and services to other departments. Your voice is essential to inform the community and to guide those ideas that the community may have for you!
• Community – We are fortunate that there’s a passionate and creative community with vibrant ideas about how they can help create a closer connection between governments, individuals, businesses and even among government itself. Your participation at the Canada Gov Camp will provide you with a venue to share your great ideas and, if all goes well, interact with some of the people that can take your idea further.

Canadian Developer Connection gives further details. Register for your chance to be part of great change.

I am very excited to be part of something new and exciting, Fair Chance Ottawa. The goal of this group is to attractt and encourage high-quality candidates for this fall´s municipal election in Ottawa.

Here’s what I am talking about.

“who says you need conventional media to get your message out? Look at the Obama campaign. Online and social media and how you can make them work for you”

I hope to inspire the future councillors of Ottawa to take advantage of Social Media and the open source tools to communicate effectively and make a change.

Twitter has a few memes/games and one of them is the popular #FollowFriday. So on Friday you will see Tweets ending with #FollowFriday.

The rules are simple

1. On Friday

2. Suggest interesting Twitter users to follow

3.  @<twitter id> … #FollowFriday

It’s that simple. The idea behind this is to promote users that you find interesting.

Your followers or anyone checking the Everyone updates will see this Tweet.

It all got started with one simple tweet from Micha Baldwin…

With a suggestion from Mykl Roventine…

And it went wild….

Today FollowFriday is still here and yes there is an official website for it, FollowFriday.com. In addition to this there is

@FOLLOWfriday , @FollowFridays, @

Good old twitter search

Top Follow Friday

Tweeple Rank

Follow Friday Stats

Trend details

FolowFriday Tweeps

TwitScoop

Twitter Tag Project

So next time it’s Friday, recommend someone. Check out the above sites to find interesting people to follow.

At 4:30pm this afternoon I started down the path to participate in a social media scam. Here’s how it came about….

I was trolling Facebook looking for the latest example of a corporate Facebook Page that had a contest. No sooner had I started I saw a status update from one of my friends.

Well the iPad is a hot topic especially that it’s not available in Canada and people seem very divided about it’s usefulness. Eager to capture the screen shots I happily clicked away. I was led to the Test it & Keep it Apple iPad Facebook Page.

So focused was I on getting the screenshots that I failed to do the appropriate due diligence that I normally go through and Fanned the page right away.

I scrolled further down to follow the directions.

Step 2 was to invite your friends, a standard Fb contest step.

I did poke around on the main page though and found this.

Sure it’s fine and I went ahead and clicked on 30 people that I thought would find this interesting, thought that the iPad was not that great, etc. The thoughts that went through my mind was wow great marketing plan get people to spread this virally by forcing them to add 30 people!!

So I finally continue to step 3 where I register.

Next was the standard contest question. At this point I was thinking, amazing job with the branding, keep it simple and slick just like the Apple sight!!

It had the 16+ in big and I skipped over the fine print. I did notice the Canada logo thinking that is a program for Canadians; after all we still can’t get the iPad here.

This is where I stopped. Why do you care about my service provider and my mobile number? Yes it’s to give me a pin. I am getting suspicious at this point so I stop to poke around the Fb Page some more.

The Info. states clearly that this is for Market Research. Well at this point I am feeling very generous and why not help out those market research companies.

PIN here I come

At this point a friend alerts me via Fb that

Yes I am all for market research and helping those companies make better products. I then continue after this interruption.

A peek at the #of Fans

Well that’s a good number.

Another interruption via Fb mail. A skeptical friend stating that another Fb app taking friends info. Of course I am so righteous that I respond why I picked this individual and that if they won it would be great for the online community that they will build for the winners, well every good marketing company doesn’t just give away the prize but builds another micro site to then get feedback from the winners. They wouldn’t just say why it was good but give reasons why it sucks, how cool is that for better product development.

I then continue to look at the Terms and Conditions.

Well it states that it’s not affiliated with Apple.

In the meantime I Fb mailed the market research guru friend for an opinion, market research or scam?

My other friend proceeds to state that they still feel that it’s a scam. So I respond that I felt that way but not too sure and would participate to figure out if it was great marketing or just a scam.

So investigating further I take a look at the Wall.

And that is where I stop. If there are so many fans then why aren’t they saying anything? Why aren’t there any more wall posts by the market research company? Why no logo for the company?

Finally I take a look at the fine print but where could it be? The back button lead to it.

My earlier scan drew my eye to the 16+ therefore I totally missed the “Subscription service $2 per question”

Had I read that I would have been alerted to the fact that it was a scam.

At this point the market research guru responds with

“Market research does not do contests; marketers may.

If there is a prize draw as an incentive this is done fact the fact and with strict rules (in many cases these are governed by provincial lottery rules)

If you are asked to pay anything. Even a token sum, then ANY contest is a lottery & regulated as such.

For things like product tests, sure they give you shampoo to use & test it, but not expensive stuff that you haven’t rubbed all over yourself

I fear, but have no proof, that it is a scam.”

So there you have it.

Well I was this far in so why not see what happens next in this scam.

I enter my phone and get a text a few seconds later.

Find PIN @ end of msg.

Enter 4 a chance to WIN!

Trivia subscription

$2/Ques, 4Qs/wk, Info

skill2thrill.com, 2 end txt

STOP. Ur PIN: xxxx

The text with the PIN was followed immediately by a skill-testing question

Next Q: How big is the

touchscreen on the new

Apple iPad? 1:9.7inches

or 2:3.5 inches. TEst 1 or

2 to 33456 now!

This was followed by another text

Great! Ur chance to win

starts now! Answer the

questions, and remember!

more correct answers =

more chance of winning!

Help:18666700126

I text the correct answer to the number provided.

I receive a response

Yes! Correct answer! : -)

Next Q will be sent later

this week! More correct

answers = more chance to

win! (2$/Q) Info: 18666700126

I checked my mobile bill and true to the Terms and Conditions I was charged for the text. The $2 charge does not show up yet and I will look out for it and let you know where it shows up.

Let’s do some basic math.  There are 97,470 Fans. Say they each answered one question. Then the “Market Research” company in question should have made a whopping $194,940 in a very short amount of time!!!

Should I wait for the 3 other questions or just call it a day? After all it’s just $8 for the chance to win an iPad for market research purposes!!!

So there you have it folks, I have been SOIAL MEDIA SCAMMED!!!

Now it’s back to finding a great Facebook Page legit marketing example. Come across any?

Thanks to all the organizers, Social Media Week in Toronto was a huge success. A special thanks goes out to Eli and Jyotika for making all the arrangements. A big thanks to both Michele and Shannon for live blogging via Facebook and CoverIt Live.

I had a blast and thanks to all for attending the Navigating User Generated Content presentation. There were well over 130 people signed up therefore I was not able to offer the interactive workshop I had originally planned, instead I went for a discussion and presentation.

With over 100 peeople in the room it’s always a challenge to know where to start as everyone’s level of understanding will be different. My strategy was for everyone to leave with some new ideas. For the young, it was to raise awareness to the fact that older people did not grow up with this technology and that media was a high budget production by the experts which took a long time. Social media has now changed that by making it available, in real time, byanyone for everyone.

This was followed by some exploration of tools followed by an indepth case studies. I ended with a group discussion on how to use these tools to gain exposure on a tight budget.

So how did I do? Well it’s always hard to tell, I know there was a fair bit of note taking, followed by light bulb moments from the audience during the case studies. So it’s safe to guess that the beginner and intermediate group had some take aways’. It was hard to say if I had something new for the advanced in the room, if any.

To top it all off I was interviewed by Jennifer Hollett from CBC and we had a blast playing traditional media rocks vs social media rocks.

Here’s the segments where they talk about smw on CBC, Connect with Mark Kelly. It’s long but here are the segments when there are mentions 00:01:11-00:01:20, 00:21:38-00:21:48, 00:52:00-01:55:02, Enjoy

There is a really awesome event happening globally….Social Media Week. So Toronto, New York, London, Berlin, Sao Paulo, San Franscisco all having amazing events simultaneously at the same time.

I’m here in Toronto participating in the fantastic event, at the Rivoli currently listening to Nelson Ko talk about the world ofWikis.

I will be on at 3:30pm talking about Navigating User Generated Content.

We will be attempting to live blog this event (dependent on the internet connection here). If you can’t make it here but do have questions please let the moderator know. She will relay the message and I will answer your questions.

There is a really awesome event happening globally….Social Media Week. So Toronto, New York, London, Berlin, Sao Paulo, San Franscisco all having amazing events simultaneously at the same time.

I’m here in Toronto participating in the fantastic event, at the Rivoli currently listening to Nelson Ko talk about the world of Wikis.

I will be on at 3:30pm talking about Navigating User Generated Content.

We will be attempting to live blog this event (dependent on the internet connection here). If you can’t make it here but do have questions please let the moderator know. She will relay the message and I will answer your questions.

See you online at 3:30 pm.

You can also follow the conversation on Twitter via #smwto

For photos/videos check out Facebook and YouTube.

See you online at 3:30 pm.

You can also follow the conversation on Twitter via #smwto

For photos/videos check out Facebook and YouTube.

Social Media is not just for marketing. In the early days it was used by the big brands for marketing. They typically had large budgets and therefore were always open to experimentation. Now that this technology is part of our daily lives it can be used for all kinds of purposes.

One area that it’s being used very successfully is for social change.  Jeremiah Owyang, from Forrester,  used his blog to raise awareness to the after effects of the earthquake in China.

Twestival was an event that took place on Feb. 12th 2009 in over 100 cities around the world to raise awareness and $$ for charity:water.

GenY Ottawa is featuring Susan Murphy who has been involved in numerous social media for social change projects.

Event: #GenYOTT — Ring in 2010!

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010 from 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM (ET)

Location:
Foundation
18B York Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N5S6
Canada

It’s sold out however do follow the conversations on Twitter

#GenYOTT

@Japman_Bajaj

@JenButson

@MattRichling

@lkerton

@SuzeMuse

Back by popular demand, I will be offering another workshop in February, called Soical Media Fundamentals for Business. This is a half day workshop that is geared towards Government, businesses, executives or anyone wondering what this all means and how it fits into a business.

This one half-day Social Media for Business teaches:

• History and evolution of Social Media
• Commonly used terms and definitions
• Social Networks
• Blogs
• Twitter (microblogs)
• Social Bookmarks
• Photo sharing
• Video sharing
• Podcasting
• Social websites
• Case studies

Participants will leave with a good understanding on what social media is and how to use it from a business perspective. They will be inspired to be creative and use their new found knowledge to use these technologies to communicate with their peers, customers and more.

Space is limited and is available on a first come and first served basis so sigh up to not be disappointed.

Happy New Year I hope you took time to eat drink and be merry. 2009 was a challenging year for many with the economic crisis still having it’s effects on businesses. This year should be better for everyone.

As a social media strategist I find that customers generally ask the same questions. During the course of the year I will be answering these questions. The biggest one that I will discuss today is the business case for participating in social media.

My answer to that is that it is no longer “should we participate” but how should we participate. Or communications mix has increased significantly since the old days.  We now have

• print – newspapers, trade publications, magazines
• radio
• TV
• website
• micro sites – site for a specific product or promotion
• social networks – Facebook, LinkedIn
• micro blogs – Twitter, Identi.ca
• video sharing – YouTube, Vemio, Blip.tv
• photo sharing – Flickr
• wiki – pb works, Tiki wiki, media wiki

As a communicator it’s now a challenge to pick the right channels to participate in. Although most of these are free your time or your employees’ time isn’t. There is no one tool and it’s usually a combination of tools that are needed in order to communicate effectively.

Communication can be internal within an organization (intranet) or externally. If it’s external communication then it’s easy however if you are interested in internal communications then Facebook, YouTube, Flickr are not the appropriate channels for you.  There are open source and commercial applications that enable you to achieve the same goals.

So what facts do I have to back my claim? Just take a look at your habits at work and in your personal lives.

• How many emails do you get per day? How many of them are directly related to what you are doing vs spam?
• How much mail do you get? How much of it do you read vs put in the recycle?
• Where do you spend your spare time? Is it online playing games, looking at videos, photos etc…

The answers to this is pretty simple we have way too much stuff to read whether it’s email, bills, letters etc. therefore we are very good at filtering. So then as a business who needs to communicate externally with customers or internally with employees how do you get your message through?

It’s through use of these social media tools, photos, video and audio.

I will leave you with this.   Pepsi Skips the Super Bowl, Spends on Social Media Instead!!!!

Everyone has been super concerned about privacy within Facebook for a long time. So here’s the latest scoop on this.

In other words you do have the choice of making content available to friend, friends of friends and everyone.

What these changes mean for you

• You can now control who can see every post you share, from status updates to photo albums.
• Regional networks (like London or Australia) have been removed.
• A common set of information for all users is now publicly available.
• Facebook-enhanced applications and websites now have access to a limited set of information when you use and interact with them: your publicly available information and information you’ve made visible to Everyone.
• No changes whatsoever to ads on Facebook. We do not give—and have never given—anyone’s data or personally identifiable information to advertisers.

From your home page, you will be sent through a transition tool that will help you select your new privacy settings. Remember, you’ll always be able to change your privacy settings from the Privacy page.

So you can customize who sees which post. So take the time to customize your settings based on what you are comfortable with. As always do give Facebook your feedback so that they can improve on this.

Further details are provided in Facebook’s privacy guide.