From online to-do list to daily tasks management: what and how.

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Brian Beehler

Everyone let me introduce Anastasia Chumakova she`ll be guest writing for my blog from time to time and will be focusing on how social media can be applied to collabrating around projects…read more about Anastasia.

by Anastasia Chumakova.

Thanks Brian for the introduction and I look forward to making the connection with your readers. Let`s get started, do you have accounts on Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace? Recently, I started to do so much work that I was busy almost all the time. I didn’t want my friends and relatives to think that I didn’t care for them, so I made sure that I posted short messages and pictures on my profile. This made them know, wherever they are, no matter in what time zone, that I’m ok, just pretty busy.

Is it possible that we could use social media the same way we do in our private life, but for work? The answer is yes, for my first article I`ll be discussing: online collaboration tools.

Online collaboration tools can be software or a feature within an application that enables teams to discuss projects, deadlines, tasks, scheduling, and planning. An extremely effective feature within an online collaboration tool is the ability for it to send email notifications to all members of the team who may be involved at various points throughout the project. Thus, all the discussions and relevant data are kept in one place. When any changes are brought to the discussion, everyone gets notified. Searching for emails, making phone calls or scheduling more meetings is not necessary with the use of these tools. In my opinion, collaboration tools are extremely useful as I can take a quick look at what tasks people are doing at any given moment, I can prioritize tasks to create an effective to-do list for myself. Because of this feature, I`m able to share my to-do list, and I can view other lists from my team members.

Solutions for daily task management are numerous. You can choose one according to your personal needs. I am not going to recommend or promote any in this article. You can test them for free and pick the one that you like most. Here is some sound advice that can you can use when making your choice, but understand making a choice may not be easy. First thing to consider is the price of the product and the maintenance package included or available for purchase. If you are serious about keeping your data safe and accessible, do not refuse the maintenance, however it should be affordable. Many of the collaboration tools available have been designed for enterprise, small and medium businesses (SMB) or small teams, thus giving you the option to choose whatever features you need based on the size of your organization. Based on my past experiences with open source collaboration applications, I would recommend not choosing this option for small teams unless you are a software development business and can deal with programming yourself. I`ve also discovered that enterprise solutions for the most part use project management (PM) features and tracking along with collaboration tools. In this case, collaboration tools are positioned as just another feature that comes with the software. Project management features help you to plan and control your resources, so that you can assign tasks in a more efficient way. The Tracking that comes with most enterprise solutions provides business process automation: it typically enables you to start an automated generation of tasks. Tracking is very useful in the event you have daily repeated activity, like ticketing or customer support that involves processing of like kind data in a similar way.

To sum it up, collaboration tools can enable you to create to-do list online, access it through your browser window, and store your data within a secure cloud service. What truly makes it collaborative is the ability to make comments, create notes, build wikis around projects, spur on discussions through forums, stay up-to-date with RSS feeds, and be notified by email based on tasks if necessary. As mentioned, project management features can help you plan your personal and team to-do list keeping everyone on track with needs to be accomplished and with the tracker feature you can add business process automation to deliver tasks on time to all team members.== Be sure to do your research before purchasing your collaboration tool – I`ve tried to explain some of the offerings available to-date in the market to help you make a choice. One thing to remember when trying to bring social media into your collaborative environment – the main principles is the same as Facebook: enabling people to unite online, to allow them to work in collaboration together.

—- Anastasia has been studying task management features for different collaboration solutions for many years and enjoys sharing her conclusions with you.

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Build a Private Social Network for Your College With Student Life Network

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Brian Beehler

Great article in Mashable today about a new tool to assist schools and students to start their very own social network. This is a Canadian company making waves across North America.

Build a Private Social Network for Your College With Student Life Network.

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Digital considerations before jumping into action

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Brian Beehler

In my last post (Digital Strategies for Social Causes) I introduced the opportunity that has presented itself for non-profits to take advantage of social media. In this post I’ll explain some of the digital consideration that must be addressed before jumping into action.

Delivering on a mandate for a social cause from a digital perspective requires, in large part, sustained, relevant and credible communications between the NGO and the target audience. For the most part NGO’s must consider core platforms such as web, mobile and social media to deliver it’s message – in order to:

  • Spark dialogue and action,
  • Create awareness,
  • Create and offer a multitude of opportunities for individuals and organizations to take action.

We must first consider the following in order to meet our digital objectives, if not considered it could mean serious damage to the NGO’s reputation, efforts and image within the public.

  1. Acquire and accessing rich content for digital initiatives. If a non-profit is to engage their target audience through the use of digital and social media it would need to create an online experience that would act as the catalyzing elements in establishing a dynamic community. It must invest in meaningful two-way dialogue with their audience to stimulate valuable and discussion-worthy content to invoke support and action. It must access rich content, stories, and knowledge which will aid in providing further value to the community.
  2. Call to action vs. information. For the most part organizations or groups use Social Media as a way to share information about them instead of using it to involve the public. For the purpose of causes it must use innovation and social media tools to stimulate grassroots efforts by focusing on “call to action” activities. In order to be successful at stimulating a grassroots movement causes must only be seen as the enabler (bottom-up) of the grassroots movement online by providing their audience the tools to support the call to action.
  3. The digital experience. In Canada, approximately 79.2% of Canadians (36M) use the internet of which 59.9% access social networking sites. Given these statistic it is evident that the web-based online experience will serve as a key catalyst to engaging Canadians. In countries where online user know what to expect when visiting a social network specifically people between the ages of 18-34. They’re more web-savvy, experiential, and look for ways to engage with organizations and content. In order for a non-profit to be successful in building a digital experience that engages their audiences it must create a bold and innovative community that is highly immersive, challenging, and radically different from traditional social cause websites.
  4. Engaging your audience in an open, dynamic and an unpredictable environment. Due to the unpredictable nature of social media non-profits must be prepared to potentially face attacks against the cause, high levels of emotions, anger, and offensive language as they engage and create discussion with their audience. To ensure a non-profit remains committed and transparent throughout situations of unrest, clear rules for engagement and risk mitigation strategies must be considered. These rules will bring some level of normalcy and to keep the dialogue at a respectable level to keep Canadians engaged.

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Digital strategies for social causes…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Brian Beehler

It’s been sometime since my last post and my apologies for those of you who visited regularly. I decided today to make more of an effort to get back into the swing of things again.

Since my last post I’ve moved from my previous position from Canada Post as Director of Social Media and moved to the world of non-profit in the same capacity. Over the past 4 months I’ve been developing the digital strategy for a Canadian cause involved in the mental health space. It has been an exceptional journey to determine how social media can be applied to a cause that requires grassroots support from all Canadians. Many of the best practices, approaches, tools and technologies that are effective in the for-profit world apply in the non-profit space (probably more so…). I’ve discovered the ground is fertile for new and innovative approaches to moving social causes in the social media world. Now that I’m back online, I’m ready to share what I’ve discovered and strategized over the past 4 months – many of the post that will follow I’ll bring you through my journey. But what I’m more interested in is to know your thoughts in my approach and if there are opportunities that I may have missed.

The opportunity…

Digital communications and technologies are transforming the way organizations interact with the general public. Emerging social software tools enable broader and easier information access, sharing and consumption, so too are they imposing unprecedented transparency on people, organizations and issues, while disrupting traditional communication and information hierarchies.

But despite the challenges posed by this new digital landscape, new opportunities – previously unforeseen – are emerging as a result. Over the past 2 years non-profit organizations have approached social media with a “listen, fail informatively, and evolve approach” and our seeing tremendous results. These results are causing non-profits to change both in the way they work and as well as their relationships with supporters. Social technologies have enabled these organizations to build and deepen relationships, encourage individuals and small groups to self-organize, facilitate collaboration, and engage the public.

As a result, my recommendation to the foundation is to proactively embrace the full potential of social software and recognize the need to enable meaningful two-way communication and engagement between the cause and all Canadians to get involved in a meaningful way that leads to unprecedented improvements in mental health services, mental health project funding and the mental well-being of all.

The ‘Digital Strategy’ is intended to provide the foundation with a common-sense roadmap upon which to successfully deliver on the promise to catalyze a grassroots social movement that will transform the way people think about, and act towards people living with mental illness.

Let me know your thoughts…next post I’ll introduce some of the strategic consideration that will be considered in order to take advantage of the opportunity.

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How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Brian Beehler

As technology adoption among small businesses increases, social media is an area that more business owners are becoming interested in. In fact, social media is predicted to see one of the biggest increases in online marketing spending this year, just behind website and e-mail marketing.

Alexis Lamster, VP of customers at Postling and creator of the below infographic, told us that the company analyzed nearly 20,000 Postling users to extract information on how small business are using social media.

Check out the data below and let us know in the comments how your small business is using social media comparatively.

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC].

http://www.mashable.com by Erica Swallow

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10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Brian Beehler

In many ways, 2010 was finally the year of mobile for news media, and especially so if you consider the iPad a mobile device. Many news organizations like The Washington Post and CNN included heavy social media integrations into their apps, opening the devices beyond news consumption.

In 2011, the focus on mobile will continue to grow with the launch of mobile- and iPad-only news products, but the greater focus for news media in 2011 will be on re-imagining its approach to the open social web. The focus will shift from searchable news to social and share-able news, as social media referrals close the gap on search traffic for more news organizations. In the coming year, news media’s focus will be affected by the personalization of news consumption and social media’s influence on journalism.

Read more by Mashable: 10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011.

 

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Local Deals Come to Facebook Places

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Brian Beehler

The rumors are apparently true — at an event today at Facebook headquarters, the social networking site revealed that it will, in fact, be launching a deals service for Facebook Places. Watch out, Foursquare.

Local Deals Come to Facebook Places.

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Bridging the gap between Small Businesses and Social Media – The Consumer

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Brian Beehler

In my last post “Bridging the gap between Small Businesses and Social Media – The Concept” I introduced the concept of a virtual marketplace known as “The Community”. This community would act as a bridge between Small and Medium sized businesses (SMBs) and its potential customers by the integrating social media, transactional software, mobile and desktop platforms. The Community will operate, in essence, as a  connection point between SMBs and consumers.

What does this mean for the Consumer?

While SMBs form the heart of the community, consumers are also a vital audience – SMBs are looking for greater access to potential customers and ensuring barriers to sale are reduced is a critical component of the Community.

Consumers would have the option of accessing the Community through a variety of channels: the marketplace itself, top online properties, social media and mobile. Once in the Community, they will be able to search for specific products, browse online catalogues, make purchases and share information across social media platforms. With search, purchase and share functionalities, consumers can access a range of technologies from a single entry point, instead of having to visit each portal individually or rely on large search engines to find local products.

The Benefits for Consumers:

  • Simple: single entry point to search and buy product along with enhanced social shopping capabilities.
  • Local: search can be localized to specific areas/postal code regions to allow for easier product/service identification.
  • Social: consumers can interact directly with SMBs by posting comments, reviews and feedback directly on the SMB’s Community Storefront.

If we give SMBs the opportunity to quantify influence for the first time there more liable to end up with a small army of volunteer brand evangelists.

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Bridging the gap between Small Businesses and Social Media – The Concept

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Brian Beehler

With the vast majority of individuals and businesses relying increasingly on the internet to connect and interact, virtual communities have formed across different platforms and areas of interest. Within this vast network, my concept will introduce a socially optimized Community. This community would act as a bridge between Small and Medium sized businesses (SMBs) and its potential customers by the integrating social media, transactional software, mobile and desktop platforms. The Community will operate, in essence, as a virtual marketplace and the connection point between SMBs and consumers.

SMBs

The Community is designed to meet SMBs’ online needs; namely providing streamlined access to a variety of social media platforms and software to simplify how they conduct business online. By establishing a ‘storefront’ within the Community, SMBs will be added to a directory that will be accessible through various online properties, Facebook and Twitter pages and a mobile application. From the Community dashboard, they will be able to manage their online storefront and add functionalities such as Facebook and Twitter automatic updates, PayPal and delivery services. Understanding that SMBs may have different access needs, the Community is built on a flexible platform that allows for easy integration within their existing website and mobile access.

As referenced in The Opportunity, the value proposition for the Community lies in its cross-technology integration. From one dashboard, SMBs will be able to develop its Community, Facebook and Twitter and mobile presence, send updates via social media platforms about recent sales, new developments and new products, manage financial transactions via an Paypal and coordinate shipping, while also soliciting advice and recommendations from other SMBs and consumers. The platform and the dashboard would be built to expand and grow alongside the community with new services and functionalities being added over time.

The Benefits for SMBs:

  • Efficiency and convenience of accessing a range of social media and transactional functionalities from one platform.
  • Ease of access to technologies that support the entire sales cycle (marketing/promotion, financial transaction, product delivery and follow-up.)
  • Cost-effective approach to engaging the online community while leveraging established platforms (PayPal, Facebook and Twitter.)
  • Unique discount offers and e-deals through the Community.
  • Access to the business expertise.
  • Potential for increased revenue due to greater online visibility and lower barriers to purchase.
  • Increased social media visibility to drive and support word-of-mouth and online marketing activities.

In my next post I’ll introduce “The Concept” from the consumers perspective as well as give you more details on the technology and features.

Filed under: Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

WARNING – email Scam Alert from Canada Post

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Brian Beehler

There are currently a number of email messages titled “Canada Post Delivery” being sent to computers in Canada. These do not originate from Canada Post and have been identified as a scam. These should be deleted immediately.

Also, here is an article from Lesley Ciarula Taylor from thestar.com concerning the virus.

IT departments and online news boards are crackling with advice about a new computer virus masquerading as a Canada Post delivery notice.

The official-looking virus, in both English and French, sends a message to inboxes saying, “We missed you, when trying to deliver! Please view the income and contact us with any questions. We will try to deliver again the following business day. ©2010 Canada Post Corporation.”

The message contains a PDF attachment which carries the “Trojan” virus. When opened, it sends a virus through the users’ systems.

The subject line announces: “IMPORTANT: Canada Post Delivery” and then a number, which IT specialists speculate is just random.

One Google news board post said a user tried first pasting the number into the Canada Post website tracking device and realized it was fake.

“Postal-themed” viruses started early last week with a British Royal Mail delivery scam, according to one anti-virus alert site, which described the ploy as coming from the “Bredo malware-spammers.”

The Canada Post version began late last week and by this week had been modified to arrive in both official languages.

“The actual attachments are PDF files, which is quite unusual for spam containing malware,” the anti-virus site reports. “Maybe that’s what the bad guys were relying on. There are still many people out there who mistakenly think of PDF as being a ‘safe’ format.”

The Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre on April 16 sent a Cyber Flash warning to IT departments after detecting the virus and analyzing it. The CCIRC is a division of Public Safety Canada.

The spammers were highly effective, CCIRC reported:

“Anti-virus detection for the associated malware was poor with only 18 per cent of vendors detecting the sample as malicious.”

The centre alert recommended that IT departments block the IP address 59.44.60.152 on their network perimeters.

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