Greetings,
As if someone pushed a button, online social networking has taken off in the last few months. Plaxo and LinkedIn are getting quite the buzz.
What's it all about and how do you use these social networking tools to advantage? That will be our focus for the next few issues. Thanks to all of you who have shared your thoughts on the topic. Please be in touch if you'd like to add your comments to the insights we'll be offering.
My experience with the topic predates the Internet. The first article tells some personal history about the subject--mostly for vetting the comments that will follow in future issues.
The first law of effective communication is "know your audience." When you're sending out an e-zine, it's important to consider what your publication looks like and how it shows up. The second article this month considers how newsletters appear on handheld devices.
We're heading for the dog days of summer. What better time to attend a seminar on e-zine publishing? Check out the free seminars in the column to the right. If you can make one of these dates or prefer another time, let me know.
Above all, stay cool.
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Social Networking
In the Beginning
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This is the first in a series of articles about online networking.
LinkedIn, Plaxo, biznik, Facebook, Myspace. You may think these technologies sprouted up in the last few years. But the concepts actually go back over two decades.
In fact, I helped organize the first-ever Electronic Networking Symposium in New York City April 11-14, 1985. It was a heady time. We all knew we were at the very beginning of something that would revolutionize the way people related to each other, but we didn't know the exact form it would take.
Folks came from as far away as Japan on that occasion to meet in person after they had been communicating with each other online for several years. Lisa Carlson (now Kimball) and I dreamed up the event to galvanize the new medium and bond in person. Some people criticized the get together. "Why meet in person?" they asked. "The whole idea is to communicate online."
Face-to-face
But we believed that online communication shouldn't substitute for face-to-face connections, and one of our hidden agendas was to help our fellow electronic pioneers get that message.
In those days, there was no Internet. Or, more accurately, it wasn't publicly available. So people used various messaging systems that didn't interconnect. We had "porters." These were volunteers who carried messages from one network to another. This was how we put out our invitation to gather at a loft in Greenwich Village that weekend. We charged $50 per person and provided brunch and a professional meeting facilitator. We were thrilled beyond belief when 54 people showed up.
Highlights
Fortunately, I'm a packrat, so I still have a file with printouts of all the proceedings. Most of it wouldn't interest you, but this quote from George Bugliarello might.
"Global networking offers us the possibility of expanding our biological intelligence to form a hyperintelligence: an intelligence operating on a global scale and representing a major evolutionary step for our society and our species." Remember, this was 1985.
I also found a discussion about what services on-line entrepreneurs would offer in the future. "Produce on-line newsletters--for example for an investment advisory service" was one suggestion. Today Shawenon Communications does exactly that for all sorts of organizations including service providers, small businesses and not-for-profit organizations.
And then there was this comment: "PROBLEM: as with all consulting, the value of the information provided online could be questioned; the reputation of the provider will be even more important with online services." Today customer ratings are a key success factor for Internet vendors.
This brings me to a final question. Everyone who attended that historic first Electronic Networking Association (ENA) meeting got a tee shirt with the emblem shown in the photo. How much do you think that would bring on eBay today? I've got three left.
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Small Window
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I don't have a BlackBerry or any of its first or second cousins. I keep my calendar on--shudder--paper! So I have no more idea what it's like to receive Web Words on a tiny handheld screen than I do what it would be like to "meet" someone for the first time on Facebook.
Reading on the Go
Because the first rule of effective communication is "know your audience," how people receive e-zines is of critical importance to me. "I assume you can't read e-zines on your BlackBerry," I said to Scott Dezieck at a recent Berkshire Entrepreneurs Network meeting. "I don't want to," he replied. I can easily understand that.
This was not my first conversation on the topic. I'm told that most handheld users review their email on the go, handle short, immediate communications from their smart phone and then review longer communications--such as newsletters--from a laptop or desktop at a later date. But my bet is that for many on the go, later never happens.
Handheld users have an option to delete an item from their email stack or to delete it from their handheld, but keep it in their email. Of course, BlackBerry users can use folders to segment their email and even use filters so that newsletters never show up on their handheld device in the first place.
How many of your subscribers use a handheld for email? Of course, you can't know for sure. As of April 2008, there were 14 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. And then there are all those relatives to swell the numbers. So chances are, some of your readers see your newsletter on a small screen. What can you do about that?
Summarize
As you know, each issue of Web Words begins with a short introduction--a chatty executive summary of the current issue. This should be helpful for all readers. But it's especially convenient for handheld subscribers who can scan the introduction and then decide whether to read the full newsletter later on a grown-up screen or ditch the current issue all together.
I'd love to hear your comments on the handheld issue, both from users and from others who receive communications from these Lilliputian devices. I'll share what I learn from you in the July issue.
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| Web Tips |
 Ever wish you could edit an audio communication as easily as you can change a word-processed document? Thanks to Audacity (don't you love the name), you can.
This free program allows you to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs and cut, copy and splice sounds. It also does a lot of other things I don't even understand.
They made PC World's 100 Best Products of 2008. You might also want to check out the 97 other products that came ahead of them.
And finally, to reach them, use the link here, not the obvious URL that actually takes you to a software consulting company out West.
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And Finally . . .
Shawenon Communications collaborates with small businesses, solopreneurs, professionals and not-for-profits to get their messages across in the written word.
We specialize in electronic communications, including e-zines and other forms of email marketing, and Web site content. We also ghostwrite articles and other business communications. As a business partner, we resell Constant Contact's email marketing service.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this issue, please click on the Forward email button below to share this newsletter with others.
You're also welcome to reprint material in this newsletter as long as it is unaltered and credited to the author. Be sure to send us a copy, too. If being reproduced electronically, the following link must also be included:
www.shawenon.com
Sincerely,
Susanna Opper
Shawenon Communications
413-528-6494
Copyright © 2008 Shawenon Communications.
All rights reserved. |
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Free Seminars
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Our seminars are back. In all honesty, I can't say by popular demand. But free intros to e-zine publishing produce Constant Contact signups. So, more free seminars are on the books.
July 8 at Shawenon in Alford
July 23 at Panera in Pittsfield, MA
July 25 at Panera in Rensselaer, NY
Contact us for more information.
If you know someone who might be interested, please
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