I felt compelled to write this post in light of the recent Twitter crazed support of the most popular reality show in the history of Australian TV, MasterChef. Something fundamental was uncovered for me and it relates to a change which we are all going to have to face up to. Twitter is crossing boundaries and these are quite serious ones indeed which Media companies such as Channel 10 are going to have to face up to.

The MasterChef final went to air on the East coast of Australia at 7:30pm last night. It was only to be aired two hours later on the west coast of Australia when it would be 7:30pm there, due to the time zone difference. MasterChef, during the series, gained a massive following on Twitter. If you don't believe me do a search in Twitter on #masterchef and see for yourself. The series for many who use Twitter was made that much more special when shared with new and old friends alike on the Twitter Social Media platform. The advertisement breaks for once became useful as Tweets spun between the lounge rooms of viewers. This is entertainment and we will see this concept grow and grow.

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Knowledge Solutions is investigating the Emotional Intelligence aspects of Micro-blogging (MB) tools like Twitter and other Social Media software. We are running courses which help companies profile themselves and their staff to see what if any Social Media will best suit the organisations Culture and that of their staff.

We have heard a number of arguments as to what the initial perception of Twitter is and why some People take to it like a duck to water and why others simply dont. Twitter (MB) can be used well and also really badly depending on how it is introduced to participants. I wont go into how to best introduce it here suffice to say that unless some time is spent in defining the aims of the tool and the derived benefits in context, adoption and successful uptake will be impacted.

There are so many aspects to this simple to use tool which are so useful however still perceived as a waste of time to those who don't understand it. There are also a huge amount of so called experts who bang on and on about the pure marketing benefits. If you had never seen or used Twitter before and someone said to you, Twitter is all about getting your product out there and getting loads of people to follow you so that eventually they will buy that product, would it appeal to you? You may give it a go but participation wouldn't last long with such a blinkered one sided commercially focused view which is bound to fail. However if someone was introduced to the Micro-Blogging world as understanding the relationship building, finger on the pulse, community focused, collaborative, Knowledge Management, Self Service aspects of the tools it would paint a whole different picture.

We need to reduce the clutter and clarify and educate about the protocols around the use of the tools in order to lower resistance.

 

Thank you to the wonderful people who attended the half day workshop we ran yesterday at the Mecure Harbourside on the Esplanade in Cairns. From the reviews it looked like you all enjoyed it and I already had Gabi calling me this morning using her Mobile phone through her VOIP provider using http://www.fring.com/

Please remember to register on our website if you would like to be notified of such events by Knowledge Solutions.

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OOooooooo what a feeling. You get up in the morning after having been up late the night before hard at work creating a Online group in Facebook or Linkedin or after inviting all your contacts to respond to your new Blog and you turn on your computer. Call me sad but it's the same feeling you would have had when you unwrapped the paper on your first bicycle with the anticipation of what it might be. You log in and there it is a shiny new comment and there's another and wow your online community is underway. I'm playing out a scenario here so go easy on me. I know this is not how it typically ends up being but let me just hypothetically or probably more pathetically speaking just wander in my mind for a while. OK it's the end of your first week and you have over a thousand hits and it's picking up. A month later you have had a couple more thousand views and your community is firing on all cylinders and you know full well you are onto something here. Well what do you do with it?

1) There is value in the relationships which are developing between you and certain members.

2) You still have the shiny bicycle feeling which is now motivating you to stay up all night as you watch comments go backwards and forwards.

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Having been born and brought up in South Africa before moving to the UK, USA and now Australia I realise what an impact Culture can have on relationships and the spatial proximity associated with these. In some societies two people speaking to each other may stand very close together which in another society would be considered invasion of ones space. More bluntly this would relate to invasion of privacy. With online communities we still need to take this particular aspect of relationships from the physical world into account. Try and imagine you are in a room with the members of the community. Online proximity is related to everything from the formality you use in addressing the others to the way you sign off. I for instance used to find it rude to sign off simply using the first letter of your name. Now I find that in certain methods of digital communication like a Wiki I have no problem with this as I know all participants really well and its grown on me.

 What works for some might not work for others and I would love to hear your take on this?

After a somewhat dramatic meeting on the Great Barrier Reef,

Woman near drowns and has blogging discussion with rescuer,

Luke was constantly in my demands to my husband when dh visited the Kleinhardt office, "Say hello to Luke and tell him I'd love to talk more about blogging any time. Tell he and his wife to come to dinner." DH (darling heart, not d#ck head!) is like the typical North Queensland business person, a little scared of blogging, and I'm not sure that the invitations were ever passed on.

How cool that Luke and I are now working collaboratively on business blogging in our home town of Cairns.

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Join us for an informal Cairns Bloggers meet at Imaginif (30 James Street, North Cairns) on Saturday evening, 26 July 2008.

• Family oriented for a casual BYO nibbles and drinks BBQ  (yes, you can bring the partner and the children).

• Starting 5pm ... until you’ve all had enough of each other.

• Imaginif will do the meats, salads, and sauces.

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There are a few people now blogging in Cairns. Interestingly, the majority of bloggers in Cairns appear to blog as an extension of their business platform. Go Cairns Business Bloggers!

Get to know your fellow Cairns bloggers. Visit them, link to them, leave a comment and create good blog karma between the growing blog network in our local area.

Cairns Bloggers

• Andrew Griffiths
• Balloon with Hot Air
• Berry Baby
• Big Little Sister
• Birdwing Therapies
• Cairns Action for Sustainable Transport
• Cairns Blog.net
• Cairns Unlimited
• Have camera will travel
• Imaginif Child Protection became Serious Business
• Jean Burman (artist)
• Kaj Haffenden
• Knowledge Solutions
• Nicky Jurd
• nunyaa
• Psych Matters
• Spasmodic Dysphonia
• SWAGS CAIRNS
• Tropical Passions

Over at Imaginif, I facilitate a fortnightly Blog Carnival: Carnival of Australia and Blog On Cairns.  I invite you all to join us.  Submit a single blog post here: BlogCarnival submission form.

My name is Megan Bayliss, director of Imaginif, and I am a blogaholic. I blog daily - in secret and in the open. I blog because I like it and because the more I do it, the more fulfilled my addiction to business blogging becomes. Most importantly though, I blog because it grows my business, my reach and my credibility. I blog as an extension of my business acumen.

Blogging is today an essential business tool. Can your business afford to be without one? Are you willing to be left behind as other business capture a very affordable marketing tool that has the potential to take their branding and business international? I'm not.

I have been blogging now for almost three years. I have been a paid blogger, a business blogger, a service blogger and I manage the blogs of some other Cairns businesses. I have learnt a few essential pieces of knowledge along my bloggy way and I am always happy to share with those prepared to learn.

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