One of the biggest barriers many thought-leaders find in using social media is their lack of subject-matter: “What should I write? I can’t do an 800-word article every day…” is a common refrain. Most bloggers will confirm that shorter posts are much more likely to be read, so this desire for longer postings is usually [...]
Posts under ‘Thought leadership’
Viral fraternalism: Why trades unions have the most to gain from social media tools
Even after Googling for ten minutes or so, I was unable to work out whether it was Groucho Marx or George Burns who said, “The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” That may be true for actors, but one of the hardest lessons that brands, politicians and marketers [...]
Leadership blogging tips 3: Mean what you say
“If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans” – Woody Allen Blogging helps you develop your thoughts in public. This can improve your productivity and create a new dialogue with a targeted group of people that you want to work with more closely.
Inforgraphics & open data: An introduction.
The leadership blogging series on this site will continue to dance around what is essentially a single point: That blogs are good for getting others to help you describe a problem (the essential prelude to solving it effectively). People who have thought about this potential for any length of time have concluded that an effective [...]
Leadership blogging tips 2: Productivity, recreation or therapy?
Unless social media makes you more efficient and effective, it’s recreation or therapy*. Obvious, eh? As Flannery O’Connor said… ‘I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.’
Leadership blogging tips 1: Target your audience
Short. Classy. Targeted. The busy influential people that you most want to have a conversation with are not likely to be impressed by ‘digital incontinence.’ Peter Jay was upbraided by a sub-editor at The Times for writing his column too densely. He replied: ‘I am writing for three people in England, and you are not one of [...]
Potent Facebook
You may have seen this already, but it’s worth another showing. Using Twitter may offer some instant gratification, but it’s worth remembering just how potent Facebook is as a medium. The Conservative Party’s digital manager Samuel Coates recently tweeted that a Tory microsite got something in the order of ten times as many referrals from [...]
New series: Leadership blogging – a primer
I’m going to be publishing a series of practical advice posts here on ‘leadership blogging’ -how social media can help influential people increase their influence – and (perhaps more importantly) be more influenced by others in useful directions. These posts won’t really tell you what to say if you decide to start using blogging tools [...]
Like building a block of flats without doorhandles
In my scarce spare-time, I’ve started work on a non-commercial ‘hyperlocal’ website in my neighbourhood. It has brought home to me just how near-yet-far local social networking is from achieving what it could do. It’s in it’s early stages, but go and have a look at Finchlinks and tell me what you think? The whole [...]
Dragging viral bait
I’ve just had this article published by The Telegraph. Sometimes, it’s only when you read yourself elsewhere that you see that you buried your more important point under less significant ones. “Since the 2005 election, we have raced past the tipping point. Facebook has 23 million British users. About half of the eligible voters are [...]
