Archives for December 2010

Setting Your Stall from Your First Blog Post

As I start to wind down for the year – and, I guess, with the ubiquitous year-end blog post to come – I looked back at my very first post on this blog to see where I started.

(Note – I’ve been blogging on and off for about 12 years but this is the one that I’ve made my own, so to speak).

The reason for looking back was simple enough – I’m a firm believer that your first post should set out your stall on what you hope to accomplish, and what you’ll be talking about. After all, you’re looking to (hopefully) attract an audience and build a community (in whatever shape that may be) – so it’s not a bad idea to start as you mean to go on.

Looking back at my first (short) post, I think I’ve blogged in the way I set out – talking about emerging/social media and its effect on people, business and communities. So as far as stall-setting and follow-up goes, I think I passed my test.

Which made me curious about the main social networks and how they fared when it came to setting their stall out on their first (public) blog posts. So I did some digging, and here’s what I found.

Twitter

Probably my favourite social network, the Twitter blog’s first public post was back on August 03 2006. Posted by co-founder Biz Stone, the post was about Biz feeling an earthquake and how it was his friends tweeting about it that confirmed he wasn’t imagining things. So, almost 5 years ago and Twitter was already being used to break news and report on natural events – I think it’s safe to say it’s continued to live up to its early promise.

Facebook

Fast becoming my second favourite network, thanks to a certain Facebook Group and some great banter and interactions on various Pages, Facebook’s first blog post was also in 2006, on Tuesday August 15. This inaugural post talked about the launch of the Facebook Development Platform, enabling developers to build apps for the platform. With apps being a huge part of the Facebook experience, again, like Twitter, this first post seems to have been a perfect primer.

Although LinkedIn is the oldest of the main social networks, its blog started after Twitter and Facebook’s, with the first public post happening on April 24 2007. Written by the ever-present Mario Sundar, it was a simple enough post that promised to help users find their way around LinkedIn, and asked for feedback to be constantly shared. A normal enough post, but nothing that showed what LinkedIn’s potential might be.

YouTube

Before Twitter and Facebook decided to start blogging, YouTube was already posting regularly, with its first one being written way back on July 07 2005. It spoke of wanting to make YouTube “the digital video repository for the Internet”. Additionally the post shared tips on browsing and linking videos – something that’s a key part of today’s experience on the channel. As a lesson in setting your stall out from the start, YouTube’s first blog post is perfect.

Slideshare

One of the perceived newer networks, Slideshare has actually been active for a while, and its first blog post appeared back on September 25 2006. It was a pretty vague post – unless you were an alpha tester of the new platform, for which the post thanked you for feedback about the software. There was nothing that suggested Slideshare would become one of the best resources for information, presentations, ideas and statistics on the web. It’s also kind of funny to see the URL for the post still keep the standard WordPress one for first posts – “Hello World”, indeed.

Flickr

The oldest post of the ones I looked at, Flickr’s blog first posted on February 04 2004 – and there was absolutely nothing that indicated what was to come. Instead, the Flickr post welcomed GNE players – a nice touch from the company, who created the Game Never Ending (GNE) that made way for Flickr. Like Slideshare, it too asked for comments and feedback as it advised of graphical overhauls in the coming days and weeks.

So there you have it – six of the better-known social networks, and how they started (at least from a blogging point-of-view).

I think it’s fair to say that YouTube and Facebook offered the clearest take on direction, while Twitter showed the real-time potential of its service. LinkedIn kind of tried, while Slideshare and Flickr simply added to the buzz that was building around the platforms.

As for MySpace? I tried finding their official blog, but got lost on their “wonderful new layout” and landed on a bunch of different developer blogs instead. And with no archives readily available to get to the first blog, I wasn’t going to start digging for the first one. Confusing and not user-friendly – kind of like MySpace, then…

How about you – what does your first blog post say, and how have you fared in building on its promise?

Culture Club or Knowing Your Customer

Did you know that in Germany, you should always use a knife and fork to eat sandwiches? Or that in Italy you shouldn?t yawn in front of others?

How about clicking your fingers or whistling in China ? did you know it?s rude?

There are a lot of differences between cultures. Some are less profound than others, yet they?re there all the same. Are you taking that into account when trying to reach that audience?

Say your new client is from Italy and you?re having a webinar. That yawn you fail to stifle during the meeting could skittle that big account you?ve worked so hard for over the last few months. Or you have new investors from Mexico. If you don?t keep your hands above the table, it?s seen as a sign of disrespect. And who wants to work with someone that disrespects them?

It doesn?t matter if you?re in PR, marketing, advertising, manufacturing, retail or a million other industries. If you don?t know either your client or audience, you?re not going to succeed too well.

Online sales have increased massively over the last few years. The Internet and e-commerce have made international trading the equivalent of buying at your local produce market. Even your local produce market – or any offline equivalent – usually has a huge mish-mash of different cultures in the trading stalls.

Shouldn?t we spare that little bit of time beforehand to get to know the culture and see the bigger picture?

image: xiaming

Mixing It Up

When you have a great meal, do you tell your friends about it? When you see a great movie, or hear a great CD, are you someone who recommends it to others?

Word of mouth is the most trusted recommendation factor around. We trust our friends, our families, our connections. We?d rather go with their advertising than some stranger that?s being paid to recommend something.

So how often do you use your word of mouth to highlight unsung heroes, or new connections, or new people?

We?re all connected in numerous ways ? some purely online, some physically. Whatever way it is, the connection is there. It may have different levels of connection, but the one thing that?s constant is the trust factor.

Say someone I respect points me in someone?s direction, I?ll check that person out. Or if they say I should be reading a certain blog, I?ll take the time to have a look through it and either add it to my reader, recommend it to others, or move on. Even if I move on, if I know someone that would get a kick out of that particular blog, I?ll recommend it to them.

This is something we all can do.

There?s a huge amount of great information and people that go unnoticed, simply because they?re lost in the noise of our online conversations. So let?s be cause champions.

But let?s be slightly different cause champions.

If you recommend a blogger, make it one that isn’t from the norm. While the A-listers like Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse and Seth Godin all offer great information, I?m sure none of them would begrudge you recommending other bloggers over them. People like Gini Dietrich, Mark W. Schaefer and Jim Connolly are coming out with some amazing stuff ? you really should check them out.

Same goes for Twitter and the #followfriday recommendations. We all know that the “big guys” are usually worth following. So how about other guys? Recommend people outside your normal niche as well. If we all just recommended PR or marketing users, it?d get to be a pretty predictable Friday.

Or in your business or job – if you can’t handle a project, but know someone that could, recommend them for the job. The client or customer wins, because the work is still being done; your recommendation wins as they get extra recognition; and you win, because you’ve connected two needs to each another and made yourself look unselfish in the process.

There are some great people out there. We know that ? don?t others deserve to know it too?

image: camil tulcan