I’ve been thinking a bit about how there is almost a generational divide between those of us whose experiences have been dominated by broadcast and narrative, and those who are much more attuned to interactivity and gaming – either as players or creators. I’ve written this up here in preparation for on occassional series of [...]
Leadership blogging tips 9: Knowing what to write about
So far, the advice here has been…. Know who you’re writing for - and write for them Be questioning and uncertain rather than assertive – be part of a conversation and not a lecture Short nuggets rather than beginning-middle-end walk-throughs Write to start conversations with useful people – get feedback from outside of your circle Blog [...]
Leadership blogging tips 8: Ask the audience before making your next decision
In a couple of previous postings here, I underlined the importance of targeting, and the need to make sure that your work is being followed by the key people that you need to influence (advocacy targets, colleagues, connectors and mavens, etc). This post will qualify that slightly. Numbers also matter. While it’s important to have [...]
Leadership blogging tips 7: Promoting your work
The first tip in this series urged leadership bloggers to decide who they were writing for and to focus on this audience. Subsequent tips have looked at how you do this with your writing and how you handle subsequent interaction. But there’s also the mechanics of getting those all-important eyeballs on your work. Remember, though [...]
Another reason spam is on the way out
Mashable has a widely re-circulated post saying that spam is on the way out. Apparently there’s 82.22% less than there was a year ago because of various enforcement measure (cops, ISPs etc). There’s also the alarming other side to the story: That malware is a growing menace. I’d suggest that this landmark provides a useful [...]
What web-developers don’t want you to know
If you’re thinking of developing a website for your business or organisation, you can use Google to find a few articles with standard boilerplate advice about using wireframes, the linear-thinking alternative, the Project Initiation Document (PiD) with a conclusion that you should really be digging the dynamic and hip agile approach to planning your work. Combine this with the expensive [...]
You need to be properly informed before you can be undecided…
I had a very instructive meeting with a senior health professional yesterday (work – not the annual check-up). We were discussing local leadership on health issues and he mentioned a presentation [pdf] that he’d seen by Prof Keith Grint on three different kinds of leadership – the type needed in a crisis (a ‘commander’), in [...]
Trades Unions using Twitter
Shorter version of this post Twitter is a powerful tool. Increasingly, people who work in campaigns and communications believe this is probably true. They beleive it because thought-leaders in communications and marketing say it’s a powerful tool – and are known to use it very well. (See [social proof]) What they don’t always know is [...]
Is civic engagement good for the economy?
As Peter Levine notes, there’s plenty of evidence that prosperous communities are better at civic engagement. What’s harder to work out is whether those communities are prosperous because they’re good conversational places – or whether the conversational habits are a consequence of prosperity. His conclusion – one that I’d concur with based on personal observation [...]
Can you change people’s minds with your arguments?
Another quick pass on the question of relaxing while the internet chatters about you. There seems to be an idealistic argument here – and a more realistic one. On the one side, there are a couple of very high-minded quotes to consider: “..you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into” [...]
