Baby Boomers: trends and opportunities in social media for businesses, organizations and individuals' careers: Digital Wagon Train™

Social Media Governance

An often encountered barrier to an organization's decision to embrace social media is governance and policy, the rules that determine how members or employees may or may not use the vast array of social media tools. The issue is compounded by the realities of organizational stability and the freedom of expression. Does an organization have the right to totally control what is published on their network, using their computers? Do we as individuals have the inalienable and unfettered right of self-expression?

As with most issues of control and rights, the answer lies somewhere in between yes and no. The presence of reasonable expectations, civil behavior and common sense are required, but are unfortunately and quite often misunderstood or flat out ignored.

The Internet was initially developed as a communications tool between government agencies and institutions of higher learning, certainly two opposite poles concerning control and freedom of expression. Yet, the Internet has grown to become the single greatest communications tool in history. There are those who call for tighter control, as there are those who advocate for little or no control. The truth is, it's neither. It's a balance between the two, and it is our responsibility to strike and maintain that balance as well as we can.

Chris Boudreaux, who has led business transformation initiatives at several Fortune 100 companies, has compiled a list of 82 Social Media policies for your edification. It sure helped mine. Thanks Chris.

Image is a painting by the artist Randy Dillon, "Man Typing on Computer Keyboard". Artist's permission granted.

Want The Inside Track To A New Job? Start With Twitter

In the past year Twitter has become the darling of news media -- remember how the news broke when US Airways flight 1549 crashed into The Hudson?

Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida posts the first photo of U.S. Airways flight 1549 on Twitter from his iPhone . Thirty-four minutes after Janis posted his photo, MSNBC interviewed him live on TV as a witness (see video below). News coverage at Google. Live video at Fox News. TV reports suggest that everyone survived the crash.

Then in June, when Twitter wanted to shutdown for some maintenance, the US Government asked them to delay the maintainers because Iranians were depending on it to get out news during the Iranian Election Crisis.

So it should come as no surprise that businesses are now saying that Twitter is becoming one of the most important tools you can use to land a job.

From a post on my blog FunnyBusiness

According to the latest statistics only about 5% of the population is on Twitter. And, yet, it is being touted as one of the best places to get a job. In the past couple of days everyone from CNNMoney to the WSJ  have run stories about the success the unemployed have when they just tweet away looking for work.

For baby boomers this means its time to take a trip to Twitter to experience its culture, learn its customs and figure out how to unleash its power to help you achieve what you want.

The lighter (funnier) & sadder side of social media

The Onion, America's Finest News Source, has provided us the chance to chuckle about that which we espouse everyday. A shout out to Jay Bridge for sharing this with us and you.

So, You're Still Not Using Social Media?

Mashable marketing director Marta Kagan has put together this helpful SlideShare presentation that should answer many of the questions so many have as to why they should be using social media. Many thanks to Mashable and Marta.

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later