E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Do I Respect Media Snackers?

I think I do, nevertheless you would probably have to tell me if I am right on track or not. But let’s see where that reflection comes from.

Yesterday one of my fellow IBM colleagues, and good friend, Doug Meacham, received the challenge to participate on a new meme going on at the moment, initiated by Jeremiah Owyang, that discusses the recent YouTube video put together by the folks of MediaSnackers on whether knowledge workers are respecting, or not, Media Snackers, a new breed of "young people, hyperconnected to a wide assortment of digital, on-demand media. They are consumers who are no longer bound to linear media; who "snack whenever, wherever and whatever they like"".

From there onwards Doug took the challenge and brought further the new meme on to me, as I am getting to wrap the last finishing touches to move from the old job into the new one. But before I go on with my own take, I strongly encourage you all to go and read his comments on the topic and specially the fantastic commentary that followed afterwards, because it is just as good (i.e. On whether content is king or not! Plenty of food for thought in there, I tell you!)

But, anyway, let’s go and have a look on whether I respect those media snackers or not. Here is my list on what I do to show respect:

1. I, too, try to offer insights that will be of value, specially when I try to put together some thoughts on how traditional Knowledge Management is moving forward into the next generation of Knowledge Sharing, which is actually been adopted massively by those same media snackers, who eventually will be part of the knowledge workforce very soon, if not already.

2. My posting frequency is daily and I am sure that plenty of people think it is a bit too much. I must say that I have grown into the habit of posting rather often, but somehow I sense that it may slow down a bit as I get to start my new job from tomorrow onwards. On the other hand, I have also been told that people enjoy the daily blog post, so we will just have to wait and see how it goes. Any thoughts on what frequency do you enjoy the most?

3. I, too, try to keep my posts short and to the point, but I keep failing time and time again and this is something that I know I need to work on much harder. I have said this in the past. I don’t have the gift that Euan Semple has but I am trying… Seriously … (I know, this post is not a good example either!)

4. I cannot envision a blog post without a link to other snacks, like Doug says. So I tend to link quite a lot. That is the whole beauty of blogging, how you are connecting through hyperlinks different views, conversations, dialogue to enrich the original discussion and bring it into new levels of interactions.

5. One thing that does help me keep real for the media snackers is my extensive use of different various micro-blogging tools, like Twitter, Facebook status message, and various other Instant Messaging tools, i.e. Skype and Google Talk, mainly. Phew! I think I am doing all right on that one!

There are several different reasons why I started blogging over four years ago. Perhaps too many to mention them over here in this particular blog post, but one thing for sure is that for me blogging is a daily learning experience. Not only from my own blogging efforts, but also from what I get to learn from interacting with other bloggers I follow on a regular basis. However, like in everything, there is always room for improvement:

1. Definitely need to shorten my blog posts in order to bring forward the same key point. A tougher, I know, but I need to keep working on it. Only thing left to ponder about though would be the kind of impact it would have on you folks reading those short articles. What do you think? Shall I try and see if I am good enough at it? Or just stick around with how things have been running thus far?

2. I am with Doug on this one as well. Exploring new formats is something that I have been looking into for months and have got a couple of ideas here and there. Cannot say much more on the subject, but now that I have got the perfect opportunity and reasons behind it, I can say that it is coming …

3. And, finally, one thing that I am hoping to continue doing over the course of time, which is basically keep feeding myself with what the media snackers are doing / saying themselves. In a way they are the ones defining how they are consuming their media / snacks, right? So participating with them from the various conversations is probably going to help out a bit. That is why I have always been very keen on following up most of what they themselves get exposed to, or are involved with. Something that I have been blogging about in the past and which I am hoping to continue further with it as time goes by.

And now, since there isn’t a meme without bringing other folks into the conversation, here I am tagging Martin Koser, John Tropea, Jack Vinson, Nancy White and Tony Karrer. (Oh, Euan, if you want to take the challenge, by all means, enlighten us, as well please ). Let’s find out if they also respect media snackers or not…

(Here is the embedded video that originated the meme in case you would want to find out where it all comes from)

Tags: Media Snackers, MediaSnackers, Doug Meacham, Jeremiah Owyang, Meme, Metablogging, Blogging, Euan Semple, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Google Talk, Martin Koser, John Tropea, Jack Vinson, Nancy White, Tony Karrer, Blogging 101, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Social Media, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge Workers, Workforce

Pumping Up My Overall Web 2.0 Experience – Flock 1.0 Beta on the Mac Rules!

Over the last few days I have been bumping into a number of different blog posts from the various folks I follow in my feed reader, who have been trying out the first publicly available beta client from one of my favourite Web browsers: Flock v1.0 RC3, and I thought it was about time that I should a comment or two on what my own experience with it has been thus far. If you have been reading my blog for a little while now you have probably noticed already what a big fan I have become of such particular browser and it seems it is not over any time soon! Yes, that is right, folks, Flock v1.0 Beta just rocks!

I am not going to mention all of the different nifty social software features that have been put together for this particular beta release. For that I am just going to point you to the superb blog post that Harry McCracken has put together over at PCWorld where you would be able to read one of the best, and most thorough, reviews put together so far on this very same subject.

However, I am surely going to be sharing this with you. Flock still is my default Web browser for all of my Web 2.0 activities, like the previous versions have been all along. But here is the new thing. Flock in combination with the MacBook Pro I am currently using as my work machine just takes things into a whole new experience! Flock on the Mac rocks! And rock solid! Incredibly stable, hasn’t crashed a single time yet, very intuitive to navigate and make use of the various different features, all of the different social software capabilities are very nicely integrated (Much better than in Windows) to the point that I am really enjoying the integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Ma.gnolia etc. etc. and overall I can certainly comment on the fact that over the last few days I have been trying it out it has enhanced my exposure to Web 2.0 quite a bit. For the better.

And I am surely glad it has, because I was starting to get tired with how poor that same experience is with my Windows machine. Up until now I have been enjoying Flock quite a bit in the Windows notebook, but as soon as you try it out on the Mac you surely know what you have been missing all along, or, what I have been missing all along. It just feels smoother, more natural, just like a lifestyle. Exactly how social software has been envisioned from the start.

Yes, I know that most people are enjoying FireFox quite a bit, but to me it lacks some serious functionality as a Web 2.0 browser, along with some stability and memory footprint issues. Plus rather simplistic. Oh, yes, I know about the extensions, but let me tell you something. Those very same extensions work as well with Flock and don’t need to carry them with me. They are already there. At least, the ones I am interested in from day one.

I know that people may have different issues with a couple of the components that may need some work, like the integrated feed reader or the blog editor and I am sure, while those capabilities get to be improved as time goes by, I will still be making use of them in between my default options at the moment: Vienna and Qumana. So I can surely wait till they are finally done. But still the overall experience from a Mac is just so much more compelling than everything else that I may have been exposed to in the past, including Flock itself in Windows.

I know that this may sound rare, but contrary to what I thought was going to happen with this new MacBook Pro I am finding out that I spend less and less time working in it, but instead hang out more on the Web 2.0 apps. out there helping me enjoy that exposure quite a bit and making it much more integrated with my daily workflow. And Flock 1.0 is doing a superb job at it, too!

Ok, ok, I realise that it is not as fast as Opera is. In fact, Opera beats them all in that particular respect, including Safari, and that is why for my straight up front reading of Web sites Opera is my default browser, but for all of my social software tools Flock 1.0 on the Mac rules. Now and for quite some more time to come! Thus there you have it, some of the main reasons why I am sticking with Flock and why I am still enjoying the overall MacBook Pro experience… Oh and the empowering Leopard will be installed over here very soon, too! But that would be another story for another blog post…

(Keep up the superb piece of work, Flock developers!! And thanks ever so much for making our Web 2.0 experience much more enjoyable and resourceful. We would never probably be grateful enough for what you have been doing all this time — quoting Harry’s post shared above: "Two years ago, when the Flock people started talking about the notion of a social browser, they might have been a little ahead of their time.")

Tags: Flock, Web Browsers, Browsers, FireFox, Opera, PCWorld, Harry McCracken, Reviews, Social Browser, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Communities, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Ma.gnolia, Vienna, Qumana, Mac, MacBook Pro, Apple, Windows, Lenovo 3000 N100, Speed, Security, Safari, Browser Wars, Innovation

5 BIG Reasons CEOs Should Blog

As I am entering my last week working on the transition from the old job to the new one, earlier on today there was an incredibly piece of great news that even though it may not be suitable for this particular audience (i.e. The Internet Blogosphere), I just cannot help mentioning it over here anyway. As you may well know already by now, very shortly I will start my new job over at IBM Software Global Tech Sales and Social Software Programs and Enablement Teams helping with the embracing and adoption of social software within the corporate firewall and beyond with various different initiatives.

I mentioned this already a few times in various different places, even though I am still on learning mode for the new job, it very much feels like my dream job come true. Everything that I have been doing thus far, mostly, in my own private time, is now going to become my full time job! Yes, indeed, a dream job come true, don’t you think?

However, things got even better today, when earlier on this morning I found out in our internal blogging platform (Blog Central) how not only my entire new team has dived in and started their own individual blogs (With some very engaging conversations I am hoping to bring over here as well), but also my own boss went through the process and set up her own blog as well! Wooohooo! Can you imagine? My own boss blogging away just like I have been doing for a while myself.

Well, you may say that this is not a particularly relevant achievement since plenty of managers out there are already blogging away for a few years now, but what happens when your boss happens to be the VP executive from the Social Software Programs and Enablement Team? I guess that changes things a bit, doesn’t it? It surely does and that is why the whole day I have been very very excited, because my manager, Gina Poole, is already blogging behind the corporate firewall and diving into some of the different conversations going on at the moment.

How exciting is that? I am not sure about you, but to me, it surely is. It kind of felt like a shot of adrenaline going through my blogging veins validating everything I have been doing all of these years. Nothing less, nothing more. You VP executive from your dream job is now blogging! Very nice!

Over the last few days I have been spending some time with my new team and with Gina sharing with them several various different tips and tricks on corporate blogging based on what I have been exposed to and learned over the last few years. The conversations have been incredibly enlightening with the end result that Gina just published her first blog entry this morning!

Yes, I realise that it is just an internal blog, without an external exposure just yet, but that is just the first step. Just like I started it all up myself about 4 years now. Then two years later I dived into the Internet blogosphere and here I am, blogging away. I am sure that the next step is going to be having Gina blog externally and I am certain it will not take two years like it took me. Things have evolved quite a bit already, so I am even more excited that it may even no longer be restricted to just blogging. Perhaps Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else would be next, too. That is right. No limits!

The first steps are now done and as I am getting to write this blog post I just couldn’t help remember a blog entry that Ted Demopoulos wrote not long ago over at the IAOCblog: 3 BIG reasons CEOs should blog:

"1) Blogs add a personality and face to a company. This can mean more business — more dollars and cents.

2) Blogs influence the most important people

3) Blogs connect CEOs and senior executives to their most important people — the customers.

Bonus 4) Writing is a critical business skill"

Well, to me there would be another great reason why CEOs (And other high level executives) should get started with their own blog:

"5) Blogs connect CEOs, and high level execs, to their most important people — their knowledge workers"

Gina, I know you will be reading this from your feed reader … Welcome to the Blogosphere!

Just like I said, the waters are lovely!

Tags: Gina Poole, IBM, IBM Software, IBM SWG, Executive Blogging, Corporate Blogging, CEOs Blogging, Blogging, Metablogging, Social Software, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Social Software Enablement, Social Networking Services, Ted Demopoulos, IAOCblog, Knowledge Workers, Blog Central