Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data
It appears I’ve been on a perpetual coffee break for weeks! And yet, it’s not so.
Many of you know I started a full-time job in mid-January — a “real” job some may say. A job teaching and using social media on a daily basis leaves me little time for staying in touch with you.
Anyway… I was fortunate to attend South by SouthWest Interactive (#SXSW) for several days as a benefit of working for Network Communications, Inc.
Nothing prepared me for seeing the internet on feet! The streets of downtown Austin were filled with people immersed in all aspects of the web. The 256-page program guide weighed 8 pounds!
- Design and Development
- Workshops and Panels
- Book Readings and Signings
- Business Applications
- Core Conversations
- Featured Speakers
- Content Strategy
- Web Psychology
- Causes for the Greater Good
- Networking and Funnel Cakes
- Interactive Lounges
- Emerging Technologies
One highlight for me was Clay Shirky’s presentation “Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data.” The blogs excerpted below provide an in-depth review of the informative — and entertaining — talk.
Shirky looked at the organizing power of the internet and its disruptive force. The sudden wealth of organizing and communicating tools, he argued, have upset many comfortably established systems, generally through their ability to provide better service than the status quo.
“Abundance,” he said, “breaks more things than scarcity.”
~ Mike Miner, The Fifth Column
Shirky argues that, in comparison to the sharing of goods or services, primates — including humans — have evolved to want to share information. “Sharing information is something we’re biased to do and to like doing.”
“Behavior is just motivation filtered through opportunity,” he said.
~ Dr. John Grohol, The Huffington Post
Media companies are freaking out about this change, but rather than realigning to a new reality they are trying to protect the old one. He noted that businesses create workarounds to problems, but part in parcel with that is that this builds in a desire to not solve the original problem lest the solution make itself obsolete. There is no profit motive in fixing something once and for all. ~@ Jeremy Littau
We have a word for not sharing if there’s no cost to you: That word is ’spiteful.’ ~ Liz Gannes, gigaom
Be sure to check back for an update on “How To Not Be a Douchebag” as presented by Ed Hunsinger, Violet Blue and John Adams.
How To Transform Email List Into Twitter Contacts
Here’s a quick outline of how to turn a client’s email list into twitter contacts.
It does work, but not always perfectly. If you have a problem, let me know.
To turn an email list into Twitter contacts, you need:
- An email list in an Excel Spreadsheet format
- A temporary Gmail or Yahoo! email account
- Access to your Twitter account
When you get an email list, open it in Excel. If you can’t open it in Excel, this procedure won’t work for you.
Save the file as a CSV (Comma Separated File) to a location where you can find it again.
Open your internet browser
In Gmail or Yahoo! mail, create a new account just for importing contacts. If you import into your personal email, you’ll find getting rid of these temporary contacts to be difficult. You will be able to use this account over and over to find Twitter users, so make sure you remember the password.
Once the account is created, go into the contacts panel and select Import.
Browse to the CSV file you saved from Excel and select it, then Import.
If all goes well, the email addresses will be imported into the account.
Now, switch to Twitter.com and login.
From the top menu, click on Find People.
Click on Find Friends.
Select the email provider from your temporary account.
Enter the login and password for the email account. Twitter will search for email addresses of its users, and present you with a list of those that match. Click on the Follow All button to have your Twitter account follow everyone that has Twitter accounts.
Thanks to Michael Bay (@sherpambay) for the tip!
How High Is YOUR Bar Set?
The excerpt below is from Mack Collier’s blog.
The post struck a chord with me tonight as I reflect on our day, our week and my new journey in Community Sherpa.
I share it with you as an example of a good blog post:
- A strong headline draws me in with an open-ended question
- A compelling story evokes emotion and triggers personal memories
- An image supports the compelling headline
- A call to action invites me to try something new
I think the lesson is to remember that you sometimes need to lower the bar to encourage interaction. It could be on your blog, your community site, Twitter, where ever. Believe it or not, there really ARE people out there that have never left a comment on a blog. AND some of them are a bit intimidated at the idea. Read the full story…
Are you moving the bar?
Other Places We Can Connect
