Honourable mention must go to Ed Levinson from Analusis, mostly because he was just so darn entertaining, in the tradition of manic street preachers. (Sadly, Ed didn’t actually get to pitch his idea. It went like this):

Sadly, Ed got pulled away at that point. He’d hit the 30-second mark. But I could tell that most of the people in the room wanted to hear more and I will be in touch with Ed to find out precisely what this entrepreneurial mentor was driving at.

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If social media is all about conversations, engagement and community building, what to do when there is only broadcasting and not actual conversation? As social media enthusiasts (and I call myself one), do we look in the mirror often enough and ask of ourselves am I really engaging or just pushing my message out?. Is social media becoming an echo chamber again? – Hummingbird604

So, do I practice what I preach when it comes to social media? Not always. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I’m long overdue for a social media-themed post, so I’m glad I saw Hummingbird604′s query. I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while.

Linking to his post is a social act, so at least I’ve got that going for me. But like many social media evangelists of late, automation through Web 2.0 tools has gone from supplemental aid to crutch to virtual substitute for engagement. I still try to engage when I can, but I’d guess that upwards of 70 per cent of my messages in social media are broadcasting.

But that’s OK.

What is broadcasting, anyway? It’s not “anti-social” behavior, just not directly “conversational”. Mostly, I’m talking about those automated 140-character messages, usually containing links, that get churned out automatically from blog RSS feeds to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, hopefully engaging the eyeballs of my combined audiences. I do want to share interesting content with my friends and followers, and logging into separate profiles to do so is not an option. I just don’t have the time.

Don’t get me wrong. I love it when people respond to these syndicated messages with their own tweets, comments and email messages — and I do strike up conversations when that happens (And before I forget, if you do find this post interesting, please leave a comment!).

But how often do my “broadcasts” result in these conversations? Probably less than half the time. and I usually don’t have the time to engage beyond a few back-and-forth tweets before a project deadline wrenches my attention away. I have to keep my “social” conversations pretty streamlined — the equivalent of meeting a friend in real life for a pint, enjoying some stimulating dialogue and then skipping out 15 minutes later, just as things are getting good.

And how often am I actively visiting other people’s social media profiles and blogs to leave a comment or spark a discussion? Certainly, not as often as I’d like. I can probably count on one hand the number of comments I’ve left on blogs in the past month.

Partly, it’s a reflection of a tough economy where marketers have to justify their efforts with shorter-term ROI. Social media engagement can pay off big for organizations, even in the short term. Abandoning social media campaigns entirely to bots with RSS feeds — or just abandoning them, period, is a recipe for failure if you’re really looking to engage an audience. But when we find ourselves wearing so many hats and facing increasing pressures at work to deliver more with less, the “social” part of social media, just like the “social” part of our our non-work existence, will inevitably take a hit.

Social networking and social media are here to stay. The real engagement that comes with it is also here to stay, too. But work is work and there’s a time and place — online or in the real world — for conversations. We do what we can.

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In the pre-Web era, your privacy was something that was largely under your control, and apart from having your picture appear in the newspaper or on a police blotter somewhere, the risks were fairly limited, and easily understood. Now, the definition of privacy is a lot harder to nail down – and, in fact, differs from person to person – and the risks are (theoretically at least) unlimited.

It’s not all bad. Worried that your future employer is going to check your Facebook photos for incriminating evidence of conduct unbecoming? In a few years, it won’t matter. When everyone has embarrassing photos on the Internet, then employers won’t bother checking, if they really want to hire someone to get the job done.

What is your expectation of privacy in a wired world?

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Contributors to this discussion have already hit on my own thoughts.

1. Social Media (Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc) is not a panacea. It is an enabler, but you still have to do the work of engaging influencers, the media, government, corporations, whatever, if you want to get something done. For many social media evangelists, time/budget are still hurdles to getting the work done effectively. Must re-focus.

2. Like Raul says, you get what you give. I’ve definitely been less active on the scene in helping others with their causes than I could have been, so response to my own social media efforts of late has been lackluster. This conversation is a much-needed kick in the ass.

3. Focus on the real world goals that are measurable (awareness = number of media hits, fundraising = dollar amounts) and on the effects (ie. the actual social change that comes about as a result of these efforts).

I recognize these challenges, but it’s time to get back on the horn. Phew.

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Nowhere is this more evident than in the PR strategy of Olympics organizers, who are caught between old and new worlds of community engagement. New media is about free participation and building a community, and VANOC’s approach offers a lesson in recognizing the fine line between sabotaging community relations with excessive control and letting the bloggers run wild.

Read the rest of my BC Business column about how businesses can build a social media strategy on top of their traditional communications and marketing capabilities (and avoid the pitfalls of trying old tactics in a new medium), Let’s Get Social. Enjoy.

PS: What do you think of the cartoon image Antony Hare drew for me? I think it’s pretty cool.

PPS: Kris Krug was kind enough to update me the other day on the status of his alternative media centre for the Olympics, the True North Media House. Since they didn’t actually have a name for their group when I interviewed him, the place-holder name being tossed around at the time of the inverview was the Independent Media Centre, which I abbreviated in the article as IMC. I’m informed there is already an IMC that is not at all related to True North Media House, so where you read IMC in my column, please translate it as True North Media House, to avoid confusion.

KK also took exception to the following line in my column: “IMC spokesperson and web 2.0 entrepreneur Kris Krug says the people behind his group are overwhelmingly pro-Olympics and pro-business and are not remotely related to such groups as the new-media anarchists behind the Resistance 2010 campaign, with their No Olympics on Stolen Native Land motto”

While I was strictly correct in that the True North Media House is not the same organization as the Resistance 2010 campaign, Kris wants to make clear that anarchists and people of all stripes and affiliations are welcome under the big tent that is True North Media House. Glad we cleared that up.

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But I expect this debate is not going to go away anytime soon. Interesting that Canada seems to be going in an opposite direction to the USA and other nations, which have recognized the danger of allowing large corporations to throttle Internet access and usage.

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Vancouver social media guru Monica Hamburg has put together a phenomenal compilation of social networking sites for job seekers to find that hidden job market at Me Like The InterWeb.

Just one problem, and I say this as a convert to the incredible opportunities offered by social media and as a good friend of the author: between blogging, Twittering, Facebook-friending and all the rest of these very cool ways of connecting with employers, isn’t it way too easy to get caught up with all of these fun things and neglect the brass tacks of a traditional job search (eg. researching companies, adapting and revising your resume, tracking down the person you’re supposed to talk with, submitting your credentials and following up with a phone call)?

I know from personal experience that it’s easy to get immersed in social media sites and blogging, taking significant time away from activities that would have a chance of getting me famous or making me money. There’s only so much time in the day. Where I’ve succeeded in converting my social media efforts into “real-life” opportunities, I’ve made a conscious and dedicated effort to connect in more traditional ways with people and organizations where I’ve created links in my social networks. That last step, so basic and obvious, is not always followed-up without deliberate strategy.

My advice to those just getting started with new media apps would be to make sure you’re managing your time. New media can bring you opportunities. But I’d also caution that after a certain point, unless your business is directly related to social media, a law of diminishing returns seems to come into effect.

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I sat in on a presentation hosted by the BCTIA where some of BC’s most promising tech companies talked about the possibilities for success through creating solutions that people actually need, not just want. They also talked about how tech companies can cope with the overall economic trends, which ain’t good. Get the story in Techvibes.

But it’s been a busy week, and I haven’t just been focusing on tech for profit. A little follow up to my previous Fearless City post, you can see how Phones for Fearless is helping bridge the digital divide in Vancouver’s downtown eastside in my contribution to the Vancouver Observer. Will the experiment in social media for social change be emulated in other North American cities? I’m curious to see what happens.

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Turns out there was a downside for those smart fellas getting that good deal in distant lands. All this time, businesses in China and other places where intellectual property has weak protection have been setting themselves up for a disaster that will hobble the Asian economy for the foreseeable future. Pirated software means no security patches, leaving vast swathes of Asia’s corporate sector at the mercy of cyber criminals. Ah, the irony. Check out the full story in my Techvibes post, Piracy and Corruption in the Far East.

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Somehow, the column seems a little dated. Just a few months after Microsoft’s much-talked-about expansion into our Pacific Rim metropolis, the Canada-US exchange rate has moved up to par.

One leg of the near-shoring rationale has already collapsed. The other – similarity of culture, quality of work and shorter travel times – seemed pretty wobbly to begin with. Surely there are at least as many qualified American professional geeks as Vancouver-based ones.

At this point, our one saving grace – and it’s a big one – is that Vancouver is quite possibly the nicest place in the world to live, and will likely remain so in future. Hopefully, that’s enough to ensure our high tech industry clusters have a chance to thrive.

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