Social Media
It Was Fun At #ChilliTweep In Chilliwack
I had the pleasure of attending #ChilliTweep in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada and I want to share some photo’s of this fun evening. This is was the second attempt in a few years to have a TweetUp in that community, and I have to say, the venue came to the table with great food! The Best Western Rainbow Country Inn hosted the event, and this time the turn out was great, well done to those involved in organizing #ChilliTweep!
Here are a few pics from this fun evening.
Here’s the gang early in the evening:
Here is Jenna Viere who pulled together #ChilliTweep, The Twitter handle is @BWRCI (Best Western Rainbow Country Inn) – Well Done and I look forward to future #ChilliTweep Events.
Up next, the very active Social Media maven in Chilliwack, not only is she pretty, she is very smart and can help you big time, here she is listening contently, Jamie Billingham. Jamie sees the future of business and does her best to help those who don’t see it, keep up the great work Jamie!
It was great fun to meet a new friend from Australia, Myles Harris, a sharp young man with wisdom beyond his years when it comes to the future of business, a like-minded man in my books. : )
A great time was had by all, it is my hope that next time an event is held in Chilliwack that you could be there to enjoy good food and great people.
You will notice I am strategically out of every picture : ) I was the man behind the Camera WOOT!
The Future Of Business Is NOT Social Networks
One of the futurists I was following tweeted something that spurred me to write this little bitty, so bare with me. There is much confusion about Social Media / Networks, and saying that the future of business is Social Networks only adds to that confusion. For some unknown reason, there are far too many who seem to think that Social Media is the answer, the messiah, the silver bullet to all their business problems. STOP IT! This is far from the truth, and is sheer stupidity on the part of those who say it is.
I’ve talked about the next generation a few times now, GEN C, they are the under 20 somethings and they are starting to figure out what they want, and it’s not what business owners want. In fact, the generation that comes behind them will never know what a Tower or laptop is or was. imagine a generation that only knows wireless handheld devices, may never know what a Newspaper was, let alone a fax machine. They will all be things placed in a Smithsonian in some major cities if they can afford to have the show in town.
If you are paying attention to these social networks, and those who have built them, they are shifting and flowing, not because they work well, but because the people in those environments are looking for something. The future of business will be dependant on a couple of things, social networks are one of the tools to obtain those things, but not the end all. Being tagged will be paramount to being found in the future, your brand / product or service will live and die by being found. That being found will need to be everywhere, not just in social networks!
To found on the Internet will be one of the many challenges to deal with in the next 2 – 3 years. As with everything, the cream will rise to the top, the have’s over the have nots will continue as it does in the bricks & mortar business world. The big difference will be the tools or mediums you use, and how you use them that will matter, and should be well thought out. In the bricks & mortar we just yelled, and the loudest business got the attention, not so in the future, and social networks will play a minor role. Attention is the new currency, data is the new oil, and the combination of those two will present a whole new way of doing business in the near future. The problem is, the data is not fully understood, the technology we need is still not ready, it’s not ready because we don’t know what problem needs solving yet. Much of what we are relying on in social networks, hasn’t happened yet.
The future of business will be social, and it will most definitely be mobile, but it won’t be social networks that are the future. The real future of business is because we are connected, on the move, regrouping on the fly, unable to be controlled by anything or anyone, including social networks. A connected world cannot be controlled, it might be seduced, but only temporarily, and that is what big business and corporations are afraid of, they can’t control you & I.
Consider this, there will be another 3 Billion users of the Internet in the next 2 – 3 year, 5 at the most, are you in a position to get they’re attention online? Do you have a strategy or a plan to capture .01 % of that potential revenue? I can’t wait to see what new ways of increasing the new currency of attention, I’m ready, I’m more than ready, I’m down right excited. But if you’re still trying to figure out how to use social media networks, how to use a blog or a website, you better hire someone tomorrow to help you see whats coming. They can at least help you see the tidal wave and show you how to ride that wave rather than get wiped out by it.
That’s what we do here, we show you the future, and then help you create ideas to adopt what we show you. We are in the beginning of an upsetting industrial shift, a paradigm shift, and it’s very painful for some. Also keep in mind, much of what I am talking about is not about skill set, it’s more about how you think, to look at the world of business as it really is or will be.
Scott Stratten's UNMarketing Book
It took me two days to read this book, and what a joy it was to finish it so I could share with you. I was emotionally moved while reading this book, that doesn’t happen often, I’m not sure why yet but I’ll figure it out. It could be because he has son named Owen : ) Now I read alot, I like to learn, I like to read other perspectives, and I love to take what I’ve read and learned and then apply it. I’ll admit up front I have been a Scott Stratten fan upon learning he was in this space, he joined Twitter a month earlier than me and I’m proud to say he has made something of Twitter that most haven’t. The book is part of his overall plan I think, he didn’t expect to get asked to write the book but if you follow Scott, it was only a matter of time. The Title is his Twitter handle, @unmarketing. The Book is called, UNMarketing – Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.
Once you start reading, you get the impression he practices what he preaches. I was reading along around chapter 10 and I had this notion, this feeling that I have heard all this before. In fact, I did! I heard it from Scott since the day he joined Twitter, these 64,000 words he put together in this book are actually 457 Tweets on Twitter! If you do the math, 457 x 140 Characters = 63,980 words! I felt like I was reading bite sized chicken nuggets (Tweets) from Scott, bite sized stories, this book reads like a Twitter stream to me. I know, I’m weird, but when you read it, you’ll understand what I mean. I don’t know if he intended it that way, but that’s what it was like for me.
There are 56 Chapters, they are somewhat short, but all are packed with well thoughtout points, some you have to read twice. I found myself saying yes many times while sifting through the pages, because, everything, most things he was talking about, all were simply the use of common sense. Looking at a business in a new way, not using old Industrial Age thinking. I believe that anyone over the age of 35 is stuck, stuck in old thinking. It’s no ones fault, it’s everyone’s fault, from our parents who couldn’t see past what was in front of them. To our leaders in the school system that had to buy into a lie. And we believed the Government was going to look after us, another lie. I think we are seeing that the system is not humane and it merely serves itself.
The first two chapters didn’t really grab me, but the third one did, it’s called the Trust Gap. From that point on, I was giving Scott all of my attention, right through to the Index. The restaurant story is one of my favorites, I have actually lived and tried to get that one done, you’ll love it. If you can get a restaurant owner to do it, the fun they will have, and the money will be a by-product of their trust in the people formerly known as consumers.
There is one thing I don’t agree with Scott on, I hate Wal-Mart, he loves them! His reason’s for loving Wal-Mart are valid to him, he admits he is lazy, and that’s why he goes there. One stop shopping. What I really don’t like about Wal-Mart is this, it makes people think in a broke frame of mind, by cheap stuff 500 times when quality might only cost a few bucks more, and you buy it 5 times instead of 500. That’s just my view on stores that sell in that fashion, right down to Dollar Stores & the new $5 Store. I should talk, I used to work at a store equally as bad back in the 70’s, F.W. Woolworth! But that’s a whole lifetime ago and another Blog Post.
OK, let’s get back to the book…..Buy It! Don’t take my word alone, you will learn, you will get perspective you may not have had before, and you will see a much bigger picture when you get to the Index. There is much more I could cover, but let’s face it, I didn’t write the book, and I can’t possibly do it justice here. Thanks Scott, and good luck on the Book Tour.
Be sure to follow Scott in your Social networks, buy his book, there is much wisdom between the covers, and most definitely visit his UN-Marketing Blog.
A tease for you, you will love The UnEnding : )
This Is Amazing – Gary Hayes Social Media Count
I spend many hours doing research on many topics, and every once and I find something interesting like Gary’s Social Media Counter. I’m posting it here because he has graciously provided the code. The data is interesting in that how fast things are moving, one can only imagine what it will be like when the other 3 Billion people come online in the next 2 -3 years.
Take a few minutes to watch what’s happening, if you stare at it long enough you’ll see the elephant come at you : ) (Just Kidding)
Enjoy this and make sure you visit his site: http://www.personalizemedia.com/
When The Light Comes On
There have been many times when I went to a conference, sat in a workshop, or just talked with one of the speakers, and then walked away talking to myself, mumbling and processing. Everytime, and I mean everytime, I ask myself why I can’t see somethings but others do. You know, when you have that Uh Huh moment, the moment you get excited because you just saw or heard that thing, that thing you were missing or waiting to someday get so you could finish that whatever.
I do a fair bit of public speaking, workshops and think-tank sessions, and I always get a charge out of watching someones light go on. That moment of epiphany, the eyes get big, the smile and then SHAZZAM the light goes on. What a treat, it’s the high of highs for me, I love it when you get to play role in someones great idea or pain of figuring something out. It happens almost everytime I speak, I show them the future and then help them figure out how to adopt it. The creative juices always flow from something they didn’t know or just saw, the pen starts scratching on the pad an then the million question come at me like a Gatling gun. Fun stuff I must say.
Today was one of those days, I punched out the information in my workshop and it was as if someone pulled the blinders off and they could see once again. I love seeing people light up, they are always grateful after I share with them. Being surrounded with great people makes it even more special.
Do you turn lights on in people, are you helpful and giving of yourself, are you sharing in such a way that people want to hear more, get more, an then share what they learn from you. If you’re asking me, that’s the social currency, when others talk about you in a positive way, that you helped them solve a problem or just simply brightened their day. It’s called getting Attention.
I challenge you to give yourself away and turn the lights on in people. You will be blessed and rewarded ten fold.