Robert Blaise

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TWITTERING

Now you can get the most current updates from Miami-Dade County schools via Twitter. So who’s next to get on board? Will it be your Church that send “you inspirations tweet to help you stay on the right path”?  How about your local restaurant offering up “the soup of the day tweet”?  The possibilities are endless if you are participating in this revolution.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Message sent - 5/22/2009

M-DCPS on Twitter

As another means of helping parents and the public keep informed about school district news and events, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has initiated a Twitter page.

Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to send and receive information and updates from other Twitter users by email and cell phone. The District will use the service to keep Twitter users informed about the developments and progress of the school district, through news releases and short informational postings.

Follow M-DCPS at twitter.com/MDCPS to get the latest updates from the District.

Social Media Marketing Good For eCommerce

Article by Doug Caverly

Online retailers who haven’t embraced Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media sites had better get a move on if they don’t want to be left behind.  New stats indicate that a whole lot of people have turned to these resources to satisfy some marketing needs.

WhitePaperSource surveyed about 900 marketers and found, “The overwhelming majority (88%) indicated they were employing social media for marketing purposes.”  Which is impressive enough.  What’s more, these marketers aren’t coming up empty-handed.

A report states, “The number-one benefit of social media marketing is gaining the all-important eyeball.  A significant 81% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses.  Improving traffic and growing lists was the second major benefit, followed by building new partnerships.  An unexpected benefit was a rise in search engine rankings reported by more than half of participants.”

So there are really all sorts of ways in which social media marketing can work for online businesses.

It might be best to approach this matter with low expectations - don’t assume every person who follows you on Twitter to order 500 products - but considering that social media marketing is free by definition, eCommerce professionals should go for it.

NightTline: Twitter and ABC Launch a Tweetable News Show

Article by Ben Parr

Twitter has rapidly become an invaluable tool for news outlets: news anchors are using Twitter constantly to ask questions and gather feedback from their audience, while CNN’s Breaking News account is the #2 most followed user on Twitter. But what ABC and Twitter are about to do tops our list for the boldest use of Twitter within traditional media.

So what’s ABC conjouring up? Well, its popular Nightline news program and anchors are going to host a weekly online news program that uses Twitter for debate and questions. It’s called NightTline. Yes, that’s Nightline with two Ts. The show airs its first episode this Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EST.

According to ABC, the show will take on Nightline’s Face-Off model, which pits two opposing sides on an issue that an ABCNEWS anchor provides and moderates. It’s a model that causes a lot of heated debate and verbal exchanges, perfect for an easily-distracted online audience. The first question on NightTline? “Is torture ever acceptable?”

Twitter will be integral to the entire show. There will be a Twitter widget that allows viewers to chime in on the discussion or ask questions during the debate. The Nightline anchors will also use Pixel touchscreen technology to display and interact with the debate occurring on Twitter.

The show will air digitally on the Nightline website as well as ABC News Now, ABC’s digital distribution network. We’re very interested to see how much the show will rely on user participation via Twitter () for questions or responses to the debaters. This could a be very cool concept or this could fall flat on its face. We’ll just have to watch to find out.

Facebook vs. the Fortune 500

By Steve Tobak

Do you think your company will need to transform its management practices in order to attract and motivate the Facebook Generation? Management expert Gary Hamel thinks so, and while he presents an interesting argument, I wouldn’t overhaul your entire corporate structure just yet.

Here’s the premise, the experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of [Generation F]. If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly.

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These features of Web-based life are written into the social DNA of Generation F - and mostly missing from the managerial DNA of the average Fortune 500 company.

Having “grown up” in the tech industry, I’ve seen many aspects (but not all, mind you) of the “coming changes” Hamel refers to already in practice. They’re entrepreneurial characteristics that have been part of high-tech America for some time, brought to us by the likes of Cisco, Dell, Google, Intel, and Microsoft.

hese companies and they’re innovative entrepreneurs and managers have already been transforming the Fortune 500 for at least one generation, if not two. Moreover, the change has been and will continue to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. As such, I don’t see Gen F making or necessitating transformational changes to management practices; they’re already in progress.

Anyway, that’s what I think. Take a look at Hamel’s 12 characteristics and let us know what you think. Here’s a list, but the entire post is here: The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

Is Hamel right? Will the Facebook Generation transform corporate America, or is that work already in progress courtesy of the technology industry? And what do you think of these characteristics? While I believe some (1, 2, 8, 11) are positive and in progress, others (6, 9, 10, 12) are pretty radical.

How To: E-mail Mailing Lists 101

Helen Bradley has put together a great article here on the best practices for Mailing list 101. This article takes you from setting up your system to the legalities of sending unsolicited emails (SPAM) to building an effective marketing campaign.
Read the full post here