LinkedIn is a very valuable tool for professionals and companies alike. For example, many people have used the recommendations feature to help them increase their employment and career goals and aspirations. Many companies have used LinkedIn’s vast source of data to search for new talent.
When people have a problem with LinkedIn, most of the time (although the platform is far from perfect), it’s because of the way individual people use it.
Take the following as a case in point:
I don’t mind connecting with people I know on LinkedIn. I also don’t mind connecting with people I don’t yet know but who might work in the same office as me. However, this one made me laugh hard:
LinkedIn
I am a person he trusts yet he doesn’t know me. So why the heck should I connect!? Should I connect?
Later this month (next week in fact) I will be leading a class at George Brown as part of their Continuing Education program. As part of the Social Media Marketing Certificate I will be teaching the Twitter Marketing course.
To say that I am excited would be an understatement. I’m pumped. And not so much about having the opportunity to teach. But the opportunity to share and learn.
Social media continues to change. Both from a tools/platform perspective and a best practises perspective. This will give me and my students the opportunity to learn the latest trends and practises around using Twitter for marketing.
The best part of the course will be our guest speakers. Being situated here in Toronto gives us the opportunity to learn from some interesting people working at cutting edge brands. Twitter Canada also has their offices here (yes, I’m trying to get someone from there to come speak to the class).
Here is who is booked so far:
Trevor Dean from Level 9 Digital Strategies Inc.; Ira Kates from Catalyst; W. Ryan Dodge from Royal Ontario Museum; and Jaime Stein from ING Direct Canada. I’m also hoping to bring in two additional speakers.
Acquire the strategic approaches and practical skills needed to engage with a target demographic using Twitter. Evaluate Twitter’s effectiveness as a marketing tool using case studies and assigned readings. Learn to plan, develop and maintain a Twitter presence for your brand, organization or business that delivers real business value.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Happy New Year everyone! May 2014 be everything you want it to be and more in 2014.
Earlier on Thursday, itbusiness.ca published my latest article. In it I highlight who I think will be the top Canadians to watch in 2014. And not just any Canadians. but those who, I believe, will be making a big impact in 2014 and beyond in digital technology.
I hope you enjoy the article which you can read HERE.
As we approach the last day of 2013 I thought I would take a moment to reflect back on the year.
2013 started off on a high with my start-up, thirdocean. However, it became clear after a few months that the company would either have to undergo some dramatic changes in what we offered or we would have to shut down and move on (which is what eventually has happened). A little bittersweet but a move that has turned out for the best.
My co-founder, Carolyn Van will be starting graduate studies in 2014 and is currently doing some interesting work as a consultant.
In September 2013 I started as the Digital Content Manager with Catalyst. It’s an industry-leading company with some amazing people working here. I can’t wait to tackle 2014 and do some really innovative and interesting things in content marketing. I was also approached by George Brown college. I will start teaching part-time in their Social Media Marketing Certificate program in 2014. That should be fun!
Thanks to all my good friends and family who helped support me in 2013. A special shout out to the lovely boys and girls from The Work Republic family, all the Karim’s at big time design and communication, and the smart folks from The Cat’s Pyjamas.
Back in 2010 in the initial iteration of this blog I did a short book review of Accidental Billionaireswhich was the book that inspired the movie, Social Network which were both inspired by Facebook.
hatching twitter
Hatching Twitter is the story about how 4 friends came up with the idea for the 140-character “status” updater/social networking site/global phenomenon, who then became co-founders and then became sworn enemies.
Ev told Jack he had to “chill out” with the deluge of media he was doing. “It’s bad for the company,” Ev said. “It’s sending the wrong message.” Biz sat between them, watching like a spectator at a tennis match.
“But I invented Twitter,” Jack said.
“No, you didn’t invent Twitter,” Ev replied. “I didn’t invent Twitter either. Neither did Biz. People don’t invent things on the Internet. They simply expand on an idea that already exists.”
Like Accidental Billionaires (which is a better book than movie) Hatching Twitter (which has just been optioned as a TV series) is about friendship, betrayal, success, business, love, hatred, loyalty, and almost any other emotion you can think of.
Although media and recent history tells a different story, I would like to thank Ev, Jack, Biz and Noah for creating a tool that has changed and continues to change the way people communicate and brands market.
Twitter has become the place where everyone from private citizens, brands and celebrities continue to compete for the attention and adoration of their friends, family members, consumers and marketers. Reading about how this successful company was hatched is a must for everyone. Especially if you’re an avid fan and user like myself.
