Ryan C. Miller.com – Social Media, Business & Small Things -

08/23/11 – Icebreakers

Posted on August 24, 2011 by MillerNo Comments

Quick thoughts on Google+

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Miller6 Comments

I’ve been playing around on Google+  for almost a week now and wanted to add my list of opinions to the millions that have already been thrown around the web so far. If you haven’t checked it out, I will say that it is NOT a Facebook, nor a Twitter killer. Here are my top takeaways from toying with the service:

1 - Seamless integration with your Google Account. I see Google+ as being a killer app when it comes to social media for teams or small businesses. The ability to share content within small circles as well as jump between group video chats and have your Google Docs at your finger tips is very cool. I’m sure Google is counting on the adoption not just to grow the + network but also to get more people to switch to Google Apps.

2 – Making you put your connections in a container as you connect is helpful. Bigtime. I feel like Facebook for me has turned into me sharing content with a large network of people, whom I know in very different capacities. Some people might love the Social Media content, others may hate it. And I know I can put friends into Groups on Facebook – it’s just too much work for me at this point. With Google+, you have to add friends to a circle (friends, aquaintences, work, etc) as you connect, making sharing and grouping much more manageable.

3 – Google hangouts has smoked Facebook video chat. The client is super light, easy to use and though we may not use group video chat much, I think more and more people will use Hangouts as an easy way to do video conferencing on the cheap. iChat was the best experience I’ve had so far, but now you’re removing the requirement to have a mac.

4 – No one is here. It’s nice to not be bombarded with brands or businesses or tons of people who want to connect at the moment. I feel like I’m very much in control of my network. We’re still defining the follow etiquette here but I don’t feel at all compelled to follow everyone back that adds me, especially if I don’t know them. Or, you can always add people you don’t know into a separate circle and share only what’s appropriate.

5 – Conversation: For whatever reason there’s a ton of interaction here. Way more than Facebook or Twitter from what I can see so far. Being able to see all the comments on a post makes it easier to jump in to the conversation instead of using @replies where you only see the pieces you’re involved with. Very cool so far, but will it last?

What Sucks.

1 – The population of Google+ right now seems to be almost all techies and marketers. Makes sense though since we love anything shiny and new, so we’ll move first but that has some major downsides right now. There’s a lot of noise. I see a lot of duplicate posts throughtout the day – way more so that on Twitter or Facebook and it’s distracting

2 – Conversation: No threaded comments make popular posts from folks like Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan eat my feed and take up real estate several screens deep. I wish we could see some threaded comments soon, or that the system would recognize that if more than 3 people have shared a post that are in my network, I only need to see it once.

3 – Lack of a Filter: I do like the idea of circles and the way following works on Google+. I can follow whomever I want and they decide whether to follow me back or which circle to put me in. However, what would be awesome would be some sort of application process where I could filter content from certain people. For instance, I wish we could create tags for each post we share (generic tags, but that were available to those who are in our circles). That way, the people following us could choose only the topics or tags that they want to follow, instead of getting a firehose of content and comments.

4 – Search: I don’t feel like there is a good discovery engine for meeting new people or jumping into topical conversations yet. Twitter is certainly the best at this (or at least they were until searches became filled with brands trying to sell things based on keywords). Maybe I’ve missed it but I haven’t found a good way to meet NEW people yet on Google+.

5 – The pace: I’m still in love with Twitter’s ulta fast pace of information and being forced to get your point across in 140 characters. It’s super easy to meet new people, share content and interact publicly – which is especially key for businesses to show that they can do online customer service. Google+ seems like it’s easy to follow people but not as simple to jump into a conversation then get out. That may change as more people get onto the service and start tailoring content to different circles, but for me I’m stil a Twitter diehard.

Bottom line? I like it. I think it has real promise, especially for both business networking and tailoring content towards certain groups. It’s great way to keep your personal separate from your professional (if that’s what you want), while maintaining different levels of connections – but on the same network. Honestly, I’ve already started using Facebook a little less (not giving it up yet though). I’m also very curious to see what the opportunities for brands are going to be.

So what do you think? Are you on Google+ yet and what are your first impressions. How do you use it differently than Facebook or Twitter? And what’s the thing you like the most and hate the most about it so far? Fire away in the comments!

My Toolbox (so far)

Posted on April 13, 2011 by MillerNo Comments

I’ve been giving some talks recently to businesses and groups on promoting yourself online and some basic social media primers for business. I try not to get all caught up in the tools or the 3rd party add-ons because sometimes those are the things that can get confusing to people and you miss the point of the medium which is interacting, listening and sharing… It’s not about any one tool. So I try to leave those out as much as possible in order to get people acquainted with some best practices. But I often get asked what tools I use on a day to day basis for myself when it comes to managing all that data. So here’s a quick overview of what’s in MY toolbox:

TweetDeck - for Twitter management and sharing. I don’t load in any feeds from other networks to the system except for Twitter, though I do allow TweetDek access to my Twitter, LinkedIN and Facebook accounts so I can manage what I share across multiple platforms. The software allows me to separate, sort and search the tweets from over the 1,000 people I follow by category (Local friends, Conference Peeps, Social Media Gurus, Humor, etc), as well as monitor keywords I’m interested in tracking. It will also alert me anytime someone is mentioning my name or talking to me via @replies or DMs (Direct Messages). There a are a lot of other tools out there (CoTweet, HootSuite and the official Twitter Client) but so far for managing my PERSONAL accounts on a desktop, I’ve been sticking with TweetDeck.

Twitter (for iPhone) – While I use TweetDeck for my desktop, I use the official Twitter client for my iPhone. It allows me to keep tabs on my groups and conversations in a simple, intuitive interface, but lacks many of the bells and whistles that TweetDeck has.

Su.Pr - Su.pr is a URL Shortener that I use when I really want to track the sharing of my original blog post content. When I share a link (www.ryancmiller.com for example) it will shorten it to something that uses less space in your tweet (www.su.pr/Ekfjr). But by using their dashboard I can log in and track how many clicks each shared link gets in real-time as well as any retweets, and even let’s me easily submit my content to StumbleUpon. It allows me to see when my content is clicked throughout the day as well as which content strikes a chord with users. I can then use that data to make better decisions about when and what to post.

Google Reader – If you don’t currently use Google Reader or an RSS reader to subscribe and manage blogs you like. Sign up now. I subscribe to roughly 75 blogs that I read daily (or whenever new content comes out). Google Reader dumps down the content from all of these blogs into one place where I can read only new items at my leisure, tag posts, share them, and organize the blogs I subscribe to into categories (Social Media, Business, Photography, Wine, etc). Because let’s face it – I can’t read about business all day every day and using an RSS reader is a great way to manage all that content without having to go to each site every day to see if there is a new post.

Instapaper – I constantly see links or headlines to posts via Twitter or Facebook that I want to read – but don’t have the time right at this moment. So I use Instapaper to save those articles for later. Using a bookmark link in my browser it will extract the photos and text and format things in such a way that it’s easy to consume at a later time via my iPad or iPhone. Get it.

So that’s a start, right? Those are just my desktop tools that I use (though some of them cross over to mobile) to manage content and sharing of things I want to consume or share. If you’re looking to not miss a beat with news, keep better tabs on those in your network, or just grow your chops in the industry of your choice, some or all of these may help you out. I also consult and help to manage a lot of this data for clients at the agency, and we use some turbocharged tools for managing so many accounts and large mounds of data. But this should get you started on a personal level. Questions, comments, complaints? Leave me a comment and let me know what tools YOU use that I didn’t mention, and why.

The Away Team

Posted on February 21, 2011 by MillerNo Comments

I wish we’d stop getting caught up on platforms when it comes to social media and community interaction. Do you HAVE to be on Facebook? Do you HAVE to be on Twitter? That depends. Where is your community?

Lots of different businesses want to drive the conversation to their blog or website, but they may not be seeing a ton of traction, do to inconsistent content, or promotion, etc. That’s the downside – the upside? They may have a very active Facebook Community. Twitter isn’t far behind. That’s a win.

I’m asked all the time what platforms businesses should invest their time and resources on. The real answer is…. it depends. I think it’s important to put up listening stations on as many platforms as you can manage, because a user on twitter is just as valuable as a user on Facebook or a blog commenter – and we need to meet those users where THEY want to be met.

That’s one of the dilemmas of social media. Brands don’t get to control where people will talk about them, or where like minded people will set up shop. You don’t get to decide to drive them through one communication channel anymore. In short, you are always the Away Team.

That shouldn’t scare you. It’s just a fact. I really believe that to run an effective social media campaign you have to be comfortable being the away team – interacting and playing on fields that are not your own website. That includes, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Quora, and forums. (By the way, forums are still most definitely a part of social media, and in my opinion hugely under served by brands. Big opportunities there, but that’s another post.)

So, get on the bus. Listen. Then listen some more. Help people solve problems on their turf and maybe, just maybe you’ll be invited back.

What Egypt and TEDx have in Common

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Miller1 Comment

This past weekend I attended a viewing party for TEDx Manhattan – Changing the Way We Eat, which was put on by The Foodshed (an awesome local website / group which supports local agriculture). I’ve been huge fan of TED for several years now but this was my first opportunity to watch a livestream with a group context, with individuals who were looking to be inspired and who want to work towards changing the way we eat. I was not disappointed.

Take away what is by default awesome about TED (incredible speakers with inspirational messages and amazing ideas)… and you’re still left with something remarkable. Our party was one of over 135 viewing parties around the world who were simultaneously taking in TEDx Manhattan. Throw in all of the people watching the livestream on their computers at home, and all those who were exposed to those messages in real-time via social media. It scales pretty quickly.

What amazes me is the velocity at which these ideas and experiences can be shared by people all around the world in real-time. We’re hundreds and in many cases thousands of miles apart, but are all sharing the experience. It can be digested, remixed, re-uploaded, amended and shared again in so many forms of media which hopefully will inspire people to act to bring about change on a large scale on issues ranging from sustainable agriculture to factory farms.

We’ve seen this in Egypt and Tunisia. Now I’m not giving credit to Facebook and Twitter to for starting the revolution – but they were without a doubt the conduit with which people could spread ideas at the speed of light, organize, and get their message out to people around the world. A way for us all to share their experience. I also believe that the speed at which these ideas and movements spread really helped to minimize casualties and violence in Egypt. Speed and communication was everything. And because of this communication, ordinary Egyptians were able to bring down a government that had been in power for 30 years in - about 18 days.

Always remember that these tools work just as well for micro movements as they do for major movements. Are you ideas, content, and brand messages easily shareable? More importantly, are they worthy of being shared?

Speaking of sharable ideas – here’s one talk that was shown during TEDx Manhattan that I especially liked:

Scalable Customer Service

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Miller1 Comment

Internet companies can be tricky things and don’t exactly have the best track record for customer service (ever tried to get a Facebook problem solved by contacting someone AT Facebook?). We get it. You’re digital. You’re web based. But it’s not an excuse to wall yourself off from your customers.

Case in point. Over the weekend I was dealing with some pretty decent email outages with certain accounts that definitely were not caused by something on my end. Filing a support ticket with Netfirms seemed to have gone into a black hole and I never got a response. What I (and I think a lot of people) didn’t count on or look for right out of the gate was essentially a non-promoted ‘back door’ support medium via their Twitter account. (Full disclosure – I currently host most of my stuff through Dreamhost – but do still use Netfirms)

After a couple of hours not hearing back on my support request, I sent out a tweet describing the problem and within a couple of minutes had a friendly support person on the case. A few @replies (public) and DMs (direct messages – not public) later the problem was solved. I was impressed. By the way, this wasn’t the first time I’ve had a good experience with Twitter support at Netfirms, but it did get me thinking about the medium as a scalable customer service tool.

Using a medium such as Twitter where search is real-time and robust has other benefits as well. When I tweeted about the problem and got a response, another Twitter user chimed in as they were having the same problem. Support can scale if you can fix the issue in public. Posting what was causing the problem and what users need to do for the solution can spread just as fast as the problem did and would save us all a lot of on-hold time.

Companies used to be able to get away with making it difficult for customers to get support (or at least, as a customer there wasn’t much you could do about crap service). Now, those with bad experiences tell google – and for internet companies this can be a big deal.

It kind of boils down to a basic premise of “If something isn’t working – stop doing it. If something is working – do it again.” Simple, right? If your company sucks at phone support, don’t offer phone support – but DO offer kick-ass online support…support so kick-ass that you’d be a fool to complain about not having phone support. It’s not about having phone support vs Twitter support – it’s about having support. Period.

Ideally it’s about having both – meeting your customers on their terms and using the tools they want to use can and will go a long way to building a long term customer. Just ask Zappos. But if you’re going to make users jump through hoops or use a narrow set of channels to get service and support, it better be a great experience for them.

So, what has been your best experience with customer service on the web and with what company? Who has been the worst? Fire away in the comments, please.

The First Utica Tweet Up

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Miller4 Comments

I had a great time meeting new folks and re-connecting with friends at the first Utica Tweet Up held over the weekend at the Hotel Utica. I wish I could have stayed longer (had to play an acoustic gig that night at The Devereux) but am looking forward to the next one. Here are some of the folks I met as well as a quick chat I had with @AShort315 who organized the event.

Miller Interviews the Creators of the Tweeture – SXSW 2010

Posted on March 18, 2010 by MillerNo Comments

Through sheer luck, I had the opportunity to chat with Hazel Grian and Simon Johnson – who were the creators of the Tweeture. I was amazed that this project was actually built as a context aware and location aware robot that could interact with whoever had possession of it at the time. I’ll let them explain it in much greater detail:

Hazel and Simon are looking for people who had interactions with the Tweeture at SXSW and are asking them to post their thoughts on the project to YouTube. I’ll have mine shortly.