Renaissance Reflections

Making Social Media Work for You: Article in HR Matters Magazine

A couple of months ago I was asked to share my insights about social media for the January 2012 issue of HR Matters magazine. The full article is embedded below, or you can access it directly on SlideShare. The uploaded copy is a little blurry, so feel free to message HRmag@sminorgs.net if you would like me to send you a copy.

As always, your feedback is welcome!

- Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD

Making Social Media Work for You

View more documents from Courtney Hunt

Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs): State of the Community 2012

The Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community began in May 2009 as a LinkedIn (LI) group, and quickly expanded to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. In early 2010, the S.M.A.R.T. (Social Media and Related Technologies) Blog was born. The start of a new year seems like a good time to reflect on the current state of the Community and share a few goals for 2012.

via www.sminorgs.net

I recently created a "State of the Community" report for the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community, which I thought folks here might be interested in taking a look at.

Click here to read the S.M.A.R.T. Blog post that introduces the report.
Click here to access the report directly on SlideShare.

I'm curious to know if anyone knows of other similar reports that focus on things like "social engagement," "digital engagement," "community engagement," "social enterprise," "social learning," "social recruiting," or "government 2.0." It'd be great to see what other organizations are doing along these lines. Thanks!

The Social Workplace: The Future is Now

In this SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog guest post, Jerry Carducci offers his thoughts on the future of the social workplace. Building on the ideas in the latest S.M.A.R.T. News Digest – Social Media and the Workplace - What’s In Store for 2012? – he anticipates the impact of new digital technologies on organizational culture, employer branding, consumer listening, and organizational policies.

Click here to read the post.

via www.sminorgs.net

 

12 Hopes for 2012: Enhanced Adoption of Digital Technologies

As the Digital Era progresses, technological capabilities continue to outstrip our willingness and ability to address the opportunities and challenges they present. In this post from the Digital Era Thinkers Blog, I offer 12 hopes for 2012 that are rooted in the psychological challenges we face and are built on our willingness – both individually and collectively – to tackle them in thought, word, and deed. As always, I welcome input from others.

Click here to read the post.

via www.gcdel.org

The “End” of Email: Reflections from a Digital Era Thinker

A recent statement made by Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, about the "elimination" of email at the company churned up quite a bit of controversy in cyberspace. Many of the pieces sharing the news included misinformation, and much of the commentary reflected misunderstanding. The latest SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog post clarifies what Atos is actually doing, offers insights on why it’s the right move, reflects on some of the reasons for resistance, and highlights the importance of strong leadership in enabling organizations to move ahead in the Digital Era.

Click here to read the post.

via www.sminorgs.net

RSS Thought Leadership via SMinOrgs and GCDEL

Most of Renaissance Strategic Solutions' thought leadership comes through the two digital communities founded by Renaissance's Principal, Courtney Hunt:

• The Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community
• The Global Center for Digital Era Leadership (GCDEL)

This thought leadership is provided indirectly through Courtney's curation of news articles, blog posts, videos, and other resources that are shared primarily through the LinkedIn groups and Twitter accounts for each:

• SMinOrgs LinkedIn group
• SMinOrgs on Twitter (@SMinOrgs)
• GCDEL LinkedIn group
• GCDEL on Twitter (@GCDELstream)

Direct thought leadership is provided through the following blogs:

• SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog
• Digital Era Thinkers Blog

The SMinOrgs email blasts listed below provide links to some of the thought pieces and guides Courtney has written and will give you a sense of the breadth and depth of her thinking and analysis: 

• Spotlight on LinkedIn

• Introducing GCDEL...SMinOrgs' Sister Community

• Recruiting in the Digital Era 

You can access even more pieces by visiting the respective blogs and/or the SMinOrgs email archive.

To stay current on Courtney's Digital Era thought leadership, please join SMinOrgs and/or GCDEL (visit their respective websites for details on where and how), or connect with her directly on LinkedIn.

Tragedy, Hope, and the Undeniable Power of Social Media as a Force for Good

Two recent tragedies offer several insights about the integral role that social media plays in modern society, illustrating its power in enabling us to demonstrate the sublime aspects of our humanity as well as the mundane.

The last week of April 2011 in the Southeastern United States was marked by two tragedies: The better-known story is of the powerful storms that swept through several states on the 27th, making it the second-deadliest day of tornadoes in US history. The lesser-known story occurred the day before, when a female eagle was killed by a US Airways jet as it landed at Norfolk International Airport, leaving three young eaglets with only one parent at a crucial stage in their development, and thousands of people – who had been watching the eagle family’s nest at the Norfolk Botanical Garden (NBG) via a webcam – stunned, grief-stricken, and worried (Click here to learn more about the nest and its history. Click here to read my previous blog post about the NBG eagle community).

Click here to read the full post on the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) website.

via www.sminorgs.net

The Art of Social Media Success

Title: The Art of Social Media Success

Source: Employee Benefit Adviser

Author: Elizabeth Galentine

Lead Paragraph: Looking for a way to promote his latest venture, a website where consumers can select an agent at the same time they buy their policy online, Alan Katz decided to start his own blog both as a hobby and in hopes that linking to it would increase the search engine optimization of the insurance website.

Brief Commentary: I was interviewed for this article earlier in the year, but I didn't find out it was published until a few days ago, via a Google alert set up on my name. Ah, the power of digital technology...

The article provides good information on how social media can be used in a BtoB context, particularly by service providers like benefits brokers and consultants. In fact, the nature of the relationships with clients can make those applications far more powerful from a long-term perspective than how the technologies can be leveraged in a BtoC context.

Social Media: Does “New Tools for Doing Old Things” Mean “Old Wine in New Bottles”?

Recently, after I shared an SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. News Digest with the Internal Communication LinkedIn group, I received the following comment from Luc de Ruijter:

via www.sminorgs.net

The tagline for the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community is “New Tools for Doing Old Things.” Like many taglines, it can be subject to (mis)interpretation. This SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog post explains its origins and meaning, in terms of both its original intent and beyond.

You Can’t Say That! ... Can You? Managing Comments in Online Communities

 
Last week there were two (unintentionally) related pieces in the New York Times (NYT) that addressed the issue of managing comments in online communities:

• In Readers With Plenty to Say, Public Editor Arthur Brisbane wrote a column describing the NYT’s approach to publishing reader comments online, and the challenges that approach creates.
• In Facebook Wrestles With Free Speech and Civility, Miguel Helft described Facebook’s ongoing struggles to maintain the proper balance between allowing open discourse and protecting people from harm.

Both pieces generated a fair bit of commentary (268 comments for the Brisbane column and 88 for the Facebook article), including mine.

On Tuesday I received an email message from Mr. Brisbane asking permission to include an excerpt from my comment on his piece in a follow-up column, Keeping Up With the Commentariat. Of course I agreed!

Since this is an important issue that many organizational leaders have concerns about, I thought a blog post sharing the articles, as well as my perspective, was in order.

Click here or on the link below to read more...

via www.sminorgs.net

This reblogged Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) S.M.A.R.T. Blog post provides many of my thoughts and recommendations about the best way to approach handling comments from online community members. Please feel free to identify issues I may have missed, raise questions, and/or share your own point of view, either here or on the original post.