myspace

Feedback from Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr

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Today I received feedback from the presentation I gave back in October 2008 (!) on the presentation ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’.

Again going for that whole transparency thing.

Feedback was very good – technical content rating was a 4 (Very Good) and presentation material rating was a 4 (Very Good).

The average is suspiciously round so it makes me think that not many people completed the evaluation, but there you go.

The presentation is available in an earlier post, but here is the slideshare:

Business Impact of Online Social Networking

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: online social)

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Friendly business

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The business of accounting is business. Nobody said that, but it’s true nonetheless. Accounting is a profession that is definitely not about counting beans and wearing cardigans these days. CPA Australia members are core parts of every aspect of Australian business life, and so it is unsurprising that they are often among the first to identify new business issues as they arise and they are the ones given to advises for business improvement. For example, an issue noted recently is the potential impact that online social networking has upon business, and if you work from home in your business, you will need to learn how to take home pay for this. These websites allow friends to chat, share photographs, videos, and to discuss their work, lives, loves, wins and losses. At last count, there were more than six million Australians with profiles on Facebook and MySpace.

It is hardly a business issue that Australians have friends. Mateship is an Australian tradition, whether on the Kokoda track or on Facebook. The issue is that, as our world becomes more connected, it is increasingly difficult to separate personal lives from the world of ‘work’. Private actions now take place in very public places, with search engines voyeuristically distributing these activities for the entire world to see. Consider the recent YouTube ‘star’ who made negative comments about his employer. Once, those excruciating videos would have tormented only his unfortunate immediate family. YouTube provides the conduit to a whole new audience. Questionable tastes in humour cross organisational hierarchies though. There may be regrets for the partner of a consulting firm whose photo was posted online by a member of his staff, complete with Hitler moustache, swastika, and a Nazi salute. Not perhaps the look his professional profile is looking for.

Business owners must cross the generational and digital divide to become digital citizens so as not to be caught unawares, like the new owner of a motor dealership who was unaware of a web comment telling prospective customers to ‘avoid [the dealership] like the plague’. Three years on, that advice is still there and is prominently displayed when new customers Google the dealership. Twitter, a relatively new social networking service, allows users to post ‘microblogs’ from their mobile phone. Comments damaging a business’s online reputation are regularly made there – at one store, while still in the store, a customer ‘tweeted’ to her 789 ‘followers’ about the bad service received.

It is not all negative. Delight the digital citizens and your business will benefit. Robert Scoble, a particularly notorious blogger, mentioned a new book he was reading in a single tweet. With over 34,000 followers, it seems people took note, and the book quickly scaled the heights of the Amazon best seller list.

A generation has matured with the internet at their fingertips. This is a different world than the old world of football, kangaroos, meat pies and Holden cars. Your customers use the internet to inform their opinions. A business can take some steps to present itself in the best light possible, but actively manipulating information is unwise. The punishment for chicanery and ‘bad behaviour’ online is unpleasant, caustic and swift. Transparency and honesty are necessary in the digital world. The actions of an over-zealous employee can quickly ensure that a business is condemned to the scrapheap of irrelevance – consider the very public example of the software developer 2Clix who brought legal action against Whirlpool to have negative comments taken down from its forums.

Increasingly, ‘personal’ and ‘work’ lives collide. People need to be a little more circumspect when posting material online. Activities are often publicly available and can be seen by anyone – an audience perhaps not originally considered. Recruiters increasingly Google a candidate’s name to see what can be discovered. Personal information can be used for identity theft, and likewise corporate information on personal profiles can be used for ‘social engineering’ scams to defraud the business.

Is this an accounting issue? Probably not. Is it a business issue? Definitely, and accountants fundamentally are about business. The CPA Congress in Melbourne this year includes a workshop to help people understand how they can use online social networking tools without causing great grief, and how a business can respond to the business challenge of online social networking in a positive way. This workshop will be particularly beneficial for businesses seeking guidance in navigating the digital landscape effectively. Experienced accountants, like those at the Professional Corporate Services In Australia, can offer valuable insights and strategies to optimize online presence and mitigate risks. For those few people that are natural digital denizens, the workshop will discuss tactics they already know. For others, there will be hints and tips that will save them time, money, and a poor online reputation.

The social networking phenomenon is here to stay and will continue to grow. Businesses must understand the impact of social networking upon the business, and monitor their ‘internet footprint’. Individuals must understand acceptable behaviour when living out their digital life. Simply ‘banning’ or ‘ignoring’ online social networking is rarely helpful. A sensible and informed approach is important, with an awareness of the potential risks and problems. For tailored guidance on managing financial challenges, consulting with an Insolvency Practitioner Bedfordshire can provide valuable insights and support.

Social networking: sometimes, it’s about business.

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A ‘Guest Post’ for CPA Congress

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A little while ago CPA Australia requested that I write a guest post for them for publication on the CPA Congress blog (cpacongress.wordpress.com), with the purpose of promoting my upcoming social networking workshop in Melbourne on social networking.  That post went live on Friday.  You can find the guest post at http://cpacongress.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/online-social-networking/, and I reproduce the post here for posterity, who I am sure will be so grateful they will come down to the retirement home to turn off Wheel of Fortune 2050AD. 

Looking forward to giving the workshop in Octobrer.

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It’s all fun until someone loses an eye. Then – it’s a sport.

In the same way, online social networking started out all in good fun. Somehow, online social networking moved away from the thumbs of tech-savvy Gen Y and into mainstream media. When someone lost their job though because of something they did online that their boss didn’t like, social networking became business. Nowadays it feels like there are tabloid journalists searching Facebook, MySpace and YouTube looking for a new angle and a new career to destroy – but that may perhaps be paranoid. Still, if you’re into muck-raking it’s more effective than going through someone’s wheelie-bin dumpster-diving for dirt – it’s cleaner, there are fewer pizza cartons involved, and it can all be done from the desk with a few mouse-clicks.

People do some silly things on online social networking websites. People also carry out private conversations in public forums. These activities can sometimes affect a business. All too frequently people are afflicted by a lack of common sense when they use online social networking websites like MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook (and at least 126 other social networking websites according to Wikipedia). When common sense flies out the window, the business can pay the price.

Ask the teacher who posted ‘lewd’ photos on Facebook the price of tabloid infamy (what, 12 year-olds don’t Google?). Ask the new owner of a motor dealership who did not know that a previous customer had written an online post advising prospective customers to ‘avoid them like the plague’ – three years on, it’s still there and showing up when new customers Google the dealership. Ask the owner of the store how she feels about the time a customer ‘twittered’ about bad service – before the customer had even left the store, the message was received by 789 of her ‘followers’. Then you could ask the shareholders of a company whose support technician was videoed asleep on a customer’s couch – and then the video posted to YouTube. Of course, that’s just plain funny, but it can’t be helping the brand strategy, can it?

There may also be some regrets for the partner of a consulting firm whose photo was posted online by a member of his staff – complete with his Hitler moustache, swastika, and doing a Nazi salute. Not a good look – but it’s still there, so maybe he doesn’t know about it! Or the married couple, a photograph of whom was uploaded to Photobucket – they were passionately kissing at the office Christmas party. Their main concern was that they were married, yes, just not to each other. I’m sure I don’t need to discuss the ‘Vlog Naked’ campaign. You get the drift.

Some of these firms know that these things have appeared online. Many businesses though do not know. In fact, when it comes to social networking, some businesses are slower on the uptake than a turkey at Thanksgiving.

What can businesses do about their online reputation?

There is hope! Those attending CPA Congress this year have the opportunity to participate in a workshop I am running called ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ on Thursday 16 October. It’s not a great title, but at least it’s descriptive. This is a companion workshop to a forthcoming CPA Australia Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence publication – a Guide to managing the business challenges that arise from online social networking.

This workshop provides an overview of social networking, discusses practical steps people can take to ensure their personal privacy, and walks through a process that businesses can use to develop policies and procedures that mitigate the negative impact of online social networking. The workshop also provides an insight into some of the potential business applications of online social networking. As a result, attendees at this workshop will be able to respond to the business challenge of social networking according to their requirements, and receive some practical pointers in helping their staff understand what they should and shouldn’t do online.

This workshop also promises to be a bit of fun – honestly, you never knew how much fun you could have with AS/NZS 4360:2004, did you? At the end of the workshop, participants will definitely have a firmer insight into online social networking and how to ensure that this new technology works for the business, not against it. Attending this workshop will equip you with the basic tools to use online social networking safely and to develop a policy approach that will limit the impact of online social networking upon the business.

Micheal Axelsen FCPA is Director of Applied Insight Pty Ltd and provides business systems consulting advice to clients. Micheal will be presenting ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ at CPA Victoria Congress on 16th October 2008.

Social security

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About this article

In about April I got a phone call asking me if I could write an article very quickly for the CFO Software guide of 2008.  This guide is produced in association with CPA Australia every year, and every so often the Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence writes an editorial piece related to the topic of the moment (usually).  This time, though, because it was very short notice (I believe the phrase ’10am tomorrow?’ was used), I got to draw a fairly loose association with the topic.  I wanted to write something a little different to the normal business article – although a good and serious article is excellent, it doesn’t achieve much if it is never read, in my view. 

So as a result, I wrote an article on the topic of social networking, and called it ‘business socialism’ – it was subsequently retitled to ‘Social security’.  In an edition where the companion articles are fairly business-focused, my article probably has, as was described in unsolicited feedback, as a ‘tone’.  The Editor’s Letter for this edition notes that the theme of social software and tapping into the wisdom of crowds ‘is picked up enthusiastically by Micheal Axelsen, the chairman of the Information Technology and Management Centre of Excellence for CPA Australia, in his opinion piece’. 

I’m going to take that feedback as positive feedback.  I reproduce the article below as I submitted it, together with an attached scanned copy of the magazine.  If you think you may be the person who has their photograph in FaceBook giving a Nazi salute, perhaps drop me a line on my email. 

Oh, and thanks to Jenny for being very sporting about the fame of her cat, Stitch.

Social security

Once, ‘friends’ were people that you met regularly. Friends went to the movies together. Friends may occasionally have had one beer too many and woke up together on a park bench. Sometimes friends were workmates. Sometimes they were actually your significant other’s friends. You and your friends drifted apart when you changed jobs (or your significant other).

Today, the world is very, very different. The circle of friends expands and grows. Friends that move away can be ‘followed’ with social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Because of Facebook, I know that a former colleague has just received a kitten called Stitch. A cute cat, but I have not met that colleague in eight years.

Today, people are Facebooked, MySpaced, and LinkedIn. They Flickr and Twitter and Qik. People blog and they YouTube.

Today’s workforce talks over the internet in myriad ways, at all times and at all opportunities. The line between ‘work’ and ‘leisure’ has become very blurred. Social networking sites can have a real business impact.

Social networking is positive in several ways. For example, searching on a candidate’s name will provide more background than a resume ever will. A footprint on the internet will exist somewhere. Potential employers can be better informed about the candidate. The same approach can be used for prospective suppliers of products or services to the business.

Candidates or suppliers with personal photographs in the Facebook group ‘embarrassing party photos’ may not like this. However, it is not only the young that can have unsavoury photos appear online. At least one Facebook user has shown poor professional judgment by posting a photo of their employer’s grey-haired managing director giving a Nazi salute. The poor fellow probably doesn’t know it exists.

A scan of blogs and other online tools for qualified candidates expressing frustration about their current job may be helpful when recruiting. Head hunting to fill specialist roles can be much easier in this digital world.

On the other hand though, customers with bad experiences services will likely retell their story on the internet. Today’s mobile technologies allow this to occur before the customer has even left the store. Many prospective customers today will perform a search on the business. These customers tend to believe an anonymous internet posting in preference to any information contained in a marketing brochure.

Employees’ activities ‘out of hours’ can also have an impact. The legal liability is at best murky when an employee stalks another employee using social networking tools. When businesses request employees to put their details on MySpace or Facebook as part of a staff recruitment drive, a legal problem may arise very quickly if an employee is stalked, attacked or has their identity stolen using this information.

Likewise, LinkedIn is a popular social networking site for professionals. This website provides a ‘newsfeed’ of the events occurring in your network of contacts. Secrets can be inadvertently given away by staff members setting their LinkedIn status to (for example): ‘Micheal Axelsen is developing a proposal for Can-Do Technologies’. LinkedIn also allows a contact to see their contact’s contacts, which can give an interesting insight into that contact’s marketing activities.

Business should respond in some way. In 2008, the CPA Australia Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence is writing a guide for business with appropriate policies to adopt for social networking. At the least, we encourage businesses to understand their ‘internet footprint’. A regular search upon the business name, the names of key products, and the senior management team is essential, with Google Alerts a good tool that can alert you to such new content.

Staff should also be aware of the risks and issues for the business and their career when posting information online. At least one Facebook user has been astonished to see photographs of her in an inebriated state. She is desperately trying to get these ‘friends of friends’ to delete the photographs.

The social networking phenomenon is here to stay and will continue to grow. Businesses should review the impact of social networking on their business. There is a need to communicate to all staff the types of appropriate behaviour and content when living out their digital life. Businesses should monitor their ‘internet footprint’ and plan a response when the business is mentioned online. ‘Banning’ social networking is unlikely to be helpful for a company. A sensible and informed approach is important, with an awareness of the potential risks and problems.

Social networking: sometimes, it’s about business. And we mean business.

 

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Don’t be the Llama Loser: Social Networking Websites, your business, and your career

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting to the CPA Australia IT Discussion Group on the topic of social networking websites, and how they can affect your business and your career. If there’s one crucial message, it’s that you need to be judicious about what you put on the internet, use the privacy options on Facebook/MySpace, monitor the internet using tools like Google Alert, and be honest and transparent in your dealings with clients online.

Oh, and I think it is essential that all right-thinking adults reconsider their decision to vlog naked…

The presentation is provided below as a PDF. Astute members of the audience will note that I removed the photograph of my wife and I on top of a mountain – for the sake of the children.

This is a companion piece to two articles I have written for InTheBlack magazine (CPA Australia’s journal). The first article (“It’s about who knows you”) is in the June issue, and the second article (“Virtual water cooler”), which is scheduled for July 2008.

The presentation was a lot of fun – please feel free to leave feedback if you attended. I know we went a bit overtime – mostly because of a venue mixup and, to be frank, I had too much material :). It was great to present this on the day that I received notification that I’m now an FCPA.

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