Link: http://www.Synapse3Di.com

After a phone call with a seasoned professional speaker last week, I hung up wondering how people can ignore the changing technology in the days we live in. I mean being busy is just not a good excuse any more. I am amazed by how few speakers and trainers are technologically savvy or even want to be. I still have speakers tell me they don’t have a FaceBook page or they don’t understand how Twitter can help their business. “Those are all time wasters” they say. After all, if you have a website why would you need a LinkedIn or FaceBook page?

To address the time waster comment, let me just say that the telephone can be a total time waster if you aren’t using it right. If you have meaningful conversations and engage people with discussions that actually TEACH them something, it’s not a time waster. If you just Twitter about how cute your kids are and that they are the cutest baby’s on the planet, well then you are wasting your time and especially my time.

It’s about engaging a whole new audience member and using the tools they are using, Just look at the elections this past November. Obama’s camp had a Twitter account, a FaceBook page and even held rallies in Second Life with an Obama avatar appearing on the scene. They were everywhere the young people were. They engaged the youth, they got them to take action. McCain’s camp did not think to use these tools. Hmmm what can we learn from this?

People don’t want to read stupid brochures or text heavy websites any more. Give me a 5 min video instead. Engage me in a discussion on Twitter or your blog. What's your cool quoitent? Are you hanging with the right crowd anymore?

Now about how these tools help your business? For the most part, these are FREE marketing and PR for you and your organization. And If used correctly, they can create an engaging environment for your potential customers or employees to learn, share, discuss and check you out. In your organization, are you banning employees from using FaceBook or Twitter? Is Second Life just too “out there” for you or your stodgy training department?

One company told me they couldn’t use any of these tools because their IT department would have to get involved. Oh boo hoo! Put them to work on the future of learning in your organization or when it comes time to elect the next great company to work for…your ballot box won’t be getting the check mark.

Link: http://www.Synapse3Di.com

With daily invitations to LinkIn, regular notices about an event in Second Life or hourly updates from Twitter, which applications are really helping you do business more effectively?  The other day I met with a great group of executives from a variety of companies to discuss some of the latest applications and gadgets that are bombarding us, my thoughts on each and tried to answer the burning question, "How will these help me be more effective?"  

I shared ways to use some of them in our workplaces to stay connected to employees and customers, and how to use others to perhaps save money on meetings and learning events.  So allow me to dish a bit here on just a few of my more frequently used apps.  On the social networking front we have FaceBook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning and many others.  I joked saying, "LinkedIn gets you hired and FaceBook gets you fired!"  Some of us can only wish that our FaceBook profile could possibly get us fired! 

LinkedIn is primarily a business app that folks use to tell the world where they are currently working, where they have been and it provides an easy way for folks to contact you without giving out personal info.  Most companies today are using LinkedIn for recruiting and screening.  The profile for most people on LinkedIn is usually more current than a profile found on a corporate website.  I have also used LinkedIn for throwing out a short poll with pertinent questions to get quick and meaty feedback.  (i.e. "What are you seeing within your organizaitons in regards to ___?")   

FaceBook, while folks are trying to make it more of a business app, and I did give it a fare shake, building my business profile only to have my daughter's friends (whom I love) write on my wall and nominate me for "The Coolest Person" contest.  It is just not a business application.  I do love the fact that my 17 year old daughter and her friends want to be on my facebook page and want me on thiers.  It is a great parent/child connector (not to mention a silent spy application!)

I love this blog entry by Paul Michelman for Harvard Business Publishing's Management tip of the day.  He shares why he is dropping his business contacts from his FaceBook account, 

 http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2008/07/why_facebook_is_useless.html 

I love Ning.  As far as a social networking site that has great business application, this one is it!  You go in and create your own group--be it a corporation, a team within that organizaion, an association, or a bowling league!  It allows you to customize the pages and post events, photos and members.  We are using it to announce business conferences or open programs, invite folks to a fundraising event, and post  discussions and articles relating to our group.  While this sounds a lot like the others, it is much more business focused and it is not about just getting people in your network and forming several little groups, it's about starting with your group and then keeping your group members involved, informed and connected.  www.Ning.com  Great for teams.

For a good use of Twitter (which I have recently ranted on about) you must first understand that it is a micro-blog (140 characters including spaces).  A quick post to get folks to link back to a longer blog post or see a great video clip of a a new product.  there are some who share what they ate or the fact that they are standing in line for concert tickets somewhere, and perhaps in some weird way, there are people who need that kind of connection.  I have been seraching for those who are using it to build thier businesses.  As a professional speaker and one who books other speakers and trainers for events, I love using it to send folks an update about a speaker or a great event that took place.  I can send out a "tweet" with a one line news update without having to write an entire article or blog post, AND I can do it from my cell phone.  www.Twitter.com  Check out one of my favorite Twitterers, Seth Godin of Make it Stick. 

Jott is another application that I have found great business applicaiton.  Jott is essentially a tool to distribute quick information to a very specific group of people from my cell phone to thier email and SMS text.  Let's say I am driving to a meeting and realized I need to get a meeting reminder out to my board of directors regarding tomorrow's meeting.  From my cell phone I call Jott.  I say I want to Jott my board of directors (you first set up your distribution lists).  Now the magic--I say my message (using voice) and it sends a text message and email to that group.  So it is voice to text.  I can even Jott myself to remind me to do something when I return to the office. Sure I can leave myself a voice mail, but I tend to check my email more frequently than my voice mail.  www.Jott.com 

And for Second Life.  Well each and every day I see a new business application for this platform.  Unfortunately most people never make it past the creepy orientation island.  This week we met with one of the Linden team members (Linden Lab is the founder of Second Life) and discussed the focus of Linden to create a more friendly business atmosphere when you first enter.  It is seen by most business executives, including the group I spoke with this week, as a game or an application where employees would waste time.  Oh the irony of that sentiment.

Imagine not having to drive to the airport, hassle with security, spend hours cramped in an airplane, not to mention hundreds, if not thousands of dollars spent, to attend a meeting with team members.  Imagine sitting through a conference call, but having team members actually pay attention and remember what was discussed?  Talk about productivity. 

I found a great video that shows some of the wonderful business applications of Second Life.  Sure there are those who will log on and waste time surfing (or flying) around shopping and chatting with sexy avatars, but those are the same people who are currently slamming thier last minute bids in on ebay to purchase that Star Wars collector mug too.