How to effectively gain entry into the social media ecosystem as it continues to grow in relevancy is top of mind for many, not only here in the Edmonton area but around Alberta and the rest of the World. 2010 will be the year many alter behaviors by integrating certain social web practices into overall business processes across the enterprise resulting in a “social calibration” of the corporate culture.
Veterans of at least one social media campaign will refine their approach as the realization that social influence is reliant on certain sustainable actions. In other words, there’s an understanding of the difference between being a blogger and being a blogger with influence—which means that social media integration into the 2010 marketing and communications plan happens at the outset rather than as an add-on later. This change in process should drive support for internal policy development and a concerted effort to build social capacity.
Also, as decision-makers come on board, I see more I.T. departments benefiting. The enterprise remains protected while I.T. enables social technologies behind their firewall by using open API authorization code like “OAuth” as appropriate. This success may also inspire the enterprise to pursue internal social media solutions related to human resources, such as employee retention, training, communications and knowledge capture.
Additionally, look for more organizations to embrace “cloud computing.” Despite still suffering from a bit of hype, trust has been strengthened in terms of data privacy and security… so the cloud will continue to influence collaborative innovations such as Google Wave for all to use.
As well, we’ll likely see more governments, (primarily municipal) embrace “open data” policies and concepts. And why not? Citizens are willing to contribute and even provide services for free. Participation in this area will continue to rise as access to public data truly becomes public. For more info on the open data topic visit eaves.ca and get ready for more city run contests, data mash-ups, and location aware services based widgets.
Maintaining consumer trust by way of social influence will remain a central goal behind social media performance metrics. Reputation 2.0 and the ever present need for active brand management online becomes a reality for more decision-makers in 2010. That said, this isn’t good news for lagging executives still employing the big plan of shutting down all access to the social web… but it’s certainly good news for their competitors who are consuming the social media Kool-Aid by the litre. That gap will continue to widen especially in areas of brand awareness, loyalty, customer support and rapport.
Experience suggests that concrete social media performance can only happen once the organization has truly committed. Up to now, there has been considerable experimentation and that’s to be expected. However, for measurable conversions to take place, an enterprise-wide commitment or social calibration must take place.
Ultimately, I believe 2010 will be a year of recovery, modest growth and prosperity. Social calibration should allow leaders who have a foothold within the social web (Twitter account and Facebook fan page) to accelerate and deepen relationships with customers. In other words, if your organization has been building social media credibility and customer love throughout a tough 2009, the next year will most likely require management teams to be better prepared to support future initiatives with more than just budget, they’ll need to support with a will to engage.
I’d like to wish all my readers, clients, the fusedlogic team, family and friends a fantastic Christmas and New Year’s celebration. √

The age of participation proves too scary for some.
Life is unscripted, uncontrolled and unpredictable—yet government in general proceeds under the premise it can control all things. This unfortunate reality resulted in a lost opportunity for many elected officials and civil servants who didn’t attend ChangeCamp Edmonton, an unconference in mid-October at the UofA’s Lister Hall. More than 150 people participated.
Ironically, I was unable to attend due to health, so I relied on real-time information on Twitter for some of the unscripted play-by-play. Chris LaBossiere, a colleague on the organizing committee, was able to provide me with his on-site perspective. “There would have been no better way in Alberta to engage in discussions with citizens yesterday than at ChangeCamp. People contributed easily, and volunteered to lead discussions. The success of the day was based on the individual participants. I was surprised and happy to see such age diversity in the room.” That statement by Chris is supported by pictures posted online. “Many stepped up and pitched new session ideas, we planned 25 and ran 27.”
I asked Chris why he thought more politicians or government employees didn’t attend ChangeCamp. He speculated that “Politicians didn’t see this as an opportunity. They didn’t realize that this wasn’t about talking about the past but talking about change.”
In response to the same question, Laurie Blakeman, Liberal MLA for Edmonton Centre, said plainly, “You didn’t ask.” This, despite the fact that she and other politicians, including City Councillors Don Iveson and Ben Henderson and Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell, were in the room or on the list to attend.
Doug Elniski, PC MLA for Edmonton-Calder, said he was there because “the more I know about social media the better I feel about using it. People in government have created a reluctance to use social media and I think it’s a symptom of a lack of understanding of what it’s all about. There’s still a belief that social media is this interesting novelty, the government infrastructure has not caught up. The speed of it is remarkable. You can’t manage this like an ad in the newspaper, it’s not static.” I couldn’t agree more.
“There’s an old saying in politics,” Doug chuckled. “The loudest thing you hear in politics is the grinding of the axes.” This was his light-hearted response to my query about whether the tone of the discussion changed when he entered the room at ChangeCamp. “Sure the tone changed to some degree, but I focused on listening to what other people had to say. The overall flow of the conversations was really good and, for the most part, people followed the rules of engagement. People were building off of the ideas of others.”
Laura also felt the tone changed with her in the room. “Well, in the first session I attended, I got outed. I made no attempt to engage in the discussion, but was asked direct questions. By the second session, everything was fine.” When asked why she attended ChangeCamp, she replied, “I’m interested in new ways in engaging my constituents. I was there to learn.”
Laurie’s opinion of the unconference structure seemed positive. “It was the self- generated structure, people seemed to be less stressed and approached things with an open mind.”
Arguably, the most interesting perspective was provided by Andrew Knack (who, as I write this, is at City Hall announcing his intent to run for councillor in Ward 1). Andrew came on my radar after he announced on Twitter that ChangeCamp Edmonton had helped to solidify in his mind that he should run for election in 2010.
“When politicians walk in, there’s an aura and perception that they are a little different than the rest. The best thing that I heard were the opinions and ideas that were not my own. I think it’s important to see how ideas can fit within your values. If you’re willing to listen to other people, then the value of an event like ChangeCamp is large. I took a lot away from the event,” explained Andrew. “A lot of the group discussion went back to citizen involvement and getting community leagues involved in the process.”
Personally, I understand why people in government may be afraid of getting into a dialogue about meaningful topics with everyday citizens in an unscripted format. That still doesn’t remove the point that it’s a shame to miss such a terrific opportunity. ChangeCamp Edmonton is just one positive manifestation of citizen engagement… an interesting format that many believe we need to build on.
Folks at all levels of government should realize that despite their fears, citizen influence through the use of social media is growing. Online influence is the new currency and wallets within government will remain empty until politicians and policy-makers engage with the rest of us. √

Does social media influence decision-makers?
“I hope that governments wake up and take notice,” said Sue Huff, an Edmonton Public School Board Trustee, when asked how governments should address the influence that social media seemingly provides. “There needs to be a willingness to share power and more genuine communication by politicians. I think people have felt very disconnected from governments.”
I got into this discussion when I brought up ChangeCamp Edmonton. After hearing about ChangeCamp in Toronto, I invited some locals to participate on a steering committee with the intent of holding a similar event here. I’m proud to say that on October 17th at U of A’s Lister Hall, Edmontonians will get a chance to participate in a day of democratic engagement. People from all levels of government and areas of society can register at changecampedmonton.ca for this free event.
I believe ChangeCamp will help citizens discover, discuss and engage in debate over key issues that pertain to their lives. Further, it is a demonstration of our ability to self-organize and create a construct that allows for deep conversations about how to enable government to serve us better. Huff liked the idea too, “ChangeCamp seems to be based on the wisdom of the crowd.”
I talked with her about many things social media-related. She believes that “influence goes both ways and I’d like to think I’m influencing public opinion in some way.” I wondered if this exchange of ideas online translated back to the Board of Trustees. Huff provided an example: She researched information she received on Twitter and her blog regarding issues around H1N1 and brought back to the board. “The things that I learn I share and that expands the knowledge of the entire board.”
Regarding whether social media has influence, many speculated online that fusedlogic’s live streaming webcast entitled The Great Edmonton Airport Debate actually influenced some on City Council when deciding the airport’s fate. I asked Councillor Kim Krushell if she had viewed the streaming video debate. Her response? Yes! Did she think that the social media activity around the airport issue influenced councillors? “Oh yeah! I do think it had influence on councillors. Bloggers directed people to e-mail… part of it was we were getting form letter e-mails from Cal Nichols’ side and personal e-mails from the NextGen crowd, complete with e-mail addresses. I found it all fascinating.”
Many are familiar with President Barack Obama’s now famous election campaign and its use of social media to influence American voters. How about closer to home? “I’m really just scratching the surface of the direct voter connection,” said Danielle Smith, who’s running for the leadership of the Wildrose Alliance Party. Phil Klein, father of former Premier Ralph Klein has joined Smith’s party. “The first thing I did was ask if I could put it out on Twitter,” she said. She admits, “I don’t have a blog yet, I’m not sure I will… being so busy, I like the efficiency of Twitter.
“We don’t have a very functional democracy here in Alberta. Decisions are being made out of the blue. From a policy point of view, the point of Twitter is to have direct connections—un-distilled commentary from average people.” Smith offered further, “Ralph Klein continued to be reachable.” Referencing that direct connection capability that Twitter provides, I mentioned that Premier Ed Stelmach has two Twitter accounts, and asked hypothetically if she ever become premier would she continue to use Twitter herself. Smith replied, “It’s obvious that the premier is not using Twitter himself. My intention is to continue to monitor what’s being said online. Should I win the leadership race, I would propose that Wildrose integrate social media into our operations at the policy level.”
So does social media influence decision-makers? Clearly, in different ways and at different levels, the answer is yes. How much depends on the situation and the issue at hand. There seems to be experiential evidence to suggest that this trend will only grow. As we get nearer to the day of ChangeCamp Edmonton—coincidently, the day Smith finds out if she won her leadership race—I’m sure that social media will play a part in whether some of you come out to offer some cool ideas for government to consider.
Repurposing Sue Huff’s comment, I agree with her and hope that governments take notice and come out chat with us average Albertans. “Let social media continue to lend power to the people.” √

This year’s Edmonton International Fringe Festival was absolutely terrific. As of my deadline, I’ve seen a total of four shows: Pitch Blond by Vancouver-born Laura Harris; Garret Spellicy’s local production The Lavender, South Korea; and Red Bastard by Eric Davis out of New York.
I saw the latter two because the fusedlogic team streamed both shows live via video over the Internet as part of our social media project with Fringe Theatre Adventures (FTA), the folks behind North America’s largest and longest running fringe festival.
The FTA had yet to engage in the social web beyond a Facebook group. This year, however, Industry Canada’s Marquee Tourism Program enabled a specific focus on generating awareness and interest in the festival and the city tourism options for fringe enthusiasts abroad.
Edmonton’s Fringe Festival broke new social media ground in several ways, including the streaming of three live webcasts all across Canada and for international audiences in places like the Philippines, United Kingdom and United States, plus Greece and Belgium.  A key approach to this campaign was to involve the Fringe community directly, encouraging both international and local performers to blog about their experiences at showyouourblog.com.  In the first six days of the festival, more than 100 blog posts from 10 different bloggers, including me, were generated.  Local photographers who are on Twitter also showcased our city and festival. Starting with a brand new group for this year, Edmonton now has the largest Flickr group of Fringe-related pictures in the world.  Well over 1300 photos in under 10 days – amazing.  Top contributors by Twitter handle were @Livingsantuary, @Sirthinkd, @Pixelens, @Cyclopsphoto, @Eadnams, @Wburris, and @PaulNey.  And thanks to everyone else who posted pictures.
To continue in the spirit of the Fringe,  I decided to take advantage of being around so many talented perfomers.  I interviewed the very talented Edmonton native street magician, Billy Kidd.  We talked about her life spent performing on the world’s streets, and her use of social media to promote her act.  Currently living in Bath, England, she still enjoys coming home.  From a perfomer’s perspective, she says “Edmonton’s Fringe crowds are great and there are less street performers here to compete with”, as compared to say Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe which tends to have far more performers.
When talking to Kidd about her online activities, she explained that she’s on Facebook under different name and for different purpose related to “nose flutes”. Bill Kidd is her magician persona and currently her social media activity is next to zero in support of that particular act. Although she admits that Internet does help: ” I get lots of e-mails from people who have seen the show.”  Kidd’s website billykiddshow.com is fairly basic and if, you Google her name, there is little in terms of a content footprint.  Certainly this result doesn’t support the great live audience experience produced when she “works her magic” curb side. I suspect it’s because she’s only been performing the Billy Kidd magic act for the “past year or so”.

We did an on-camera interview which is up on the Fringe-focused ShowYouOurs Youtube channel. Further, the pictures and video docummenting her performances here should definetly help increase exposure for her around the world – increased evidence that Edmonton has a “magical world ambassador” in Billy Kidd.

The magic is in the trends.
Have you clearly defined a goal for your web presence beyond simple brand awareness? For folks with an e-commerce presence, that goal is seemingly simple: conversion of traffic into sales.
I assumed that many website owners had heard of Google Analytics, and had installed the free software within their website code. But, according to Benjamin Mangold, the overwhelming majority of website owners don’t use this free service to its full potential, if at all. Further, they seem to follow the non-recommended “set it and forget it” methodology to website performance. He asks, “Why go to the trouble of monitoring traffic data if you’re not going to make changes based on the findings?”
Mangold is the analytics director for Mangold Sengers, an consultancy in Sydney, Australia. He visited Edmonton in July to hold his Seminar for Success training workshop on Google Analytics. He suggests that many organizations install the software but then simply review the numbers without taking any specific actions based on what the data are telling them.
The analytics specialist estimates that nearly 80 percent of the near thousand people he trains each year are not even using the software prior to attending. I found that statistic very interesting. In other words, many people have little knowledge of what people are searching for related to their brand, product or service. Even more telling is his suggestion that organizations of all shapes and sizes are spending marketing dollars to promote their websites but to coordinate their online and offline efforts.
If you’re not already using Google Analytics, Mangold suggests these tips as a place to start. First, after installing the program, review the keyword reports on how people are finding your site. You may learn that the words are different from what your organization assumes are the standard searches. Then create a list of keywords that are more descriptive in nature, and build content around that list. “Pick a phrase and generate content for that phrase, then watch to see how this affects your website traffic,” he adds.
When asked where companies that use Google Analytics go wrong, Mangold explains “they tend to look at the daily numbers and overlook the trends. The trending is where the real value is in analytics.”
One of the clear challenges is overcoming “analysis paralysis”—figuring out how to interpret and take action on all the data that’s available. Even assigning the right human resources to the task can be a difficult task in itself. Mangold says that Google is working on simplifying the data into a more consumable structure but couldn’t elaborate further. I’m all for that. Anytime a company can increase the ease of use of one of its tools without losing critical functionality, I think they’re moving in the right direction.
As for Mangold, he says he’d love to return to Edmonton to hold another seminar soon. The motivation behind this first event was that he felt Edmontonians didn’t get much of an opportunity to attend seminars of this type, and I’d have to agree. I’ll be sure to meet with him the next time he’s in town. √

A “white” nextMEDIA 2009 welcomed the world with snow on June 5th! Despite the “crispy fresh” start to this year’s event, the underdressed delegates—many from L.A. and some from as far away as Germany and Brazil—were still able to enjoy themselves.
The Internet and social web dominated this year’s nextMEDIA event. Monitors with Tweetdeck rolled along tracking the Twitter discussion and hashtag #nextMEDIA throughout the venue, keeping conference-goers up-to-date on the most recent chatter in and around the event. This hashtag evolved into #banff09, representing nextMEDIA’s big brother: the Banff World Television Festival. Discussion over the weekend covered the social web from several angles, including monetization models, culture and demographics, and search metrics. Talk regularly fell to differentiating between the hype of social media and its more productive uses.
Another well-discussed element of the social web was our involvement in the event. Judging by the current viewer-minute totals for the fusedlogicTV channel, many of you know we were doing our best to broadcast live via the Internet from that majestic castle in the mountains, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Most castles aren’t known for their blazing fast Internet connectivity, and this one was no exception. The single (slow) connection shared between the entire hotel complex was regularly too slow to even allow us to check our email; something that turned into a common point of contention among attendees.
That’s right folks, one of Canada’s premier tourist destinations is essentially an Internet “dead zone” when compared to other Alberta locales.
Is this even relevant or a fair criticism? Actually, it highlights a problem somewhat rampant through many well-used venues. Infrastructure is lagging behind requirements in many cases, and is further held up by owners and managers who think things are “good enough.” Events like nextMEDIA are now highly dependent on strong Internet connectivity. Conference organizers run the risk of a ruined event for no reason other than failing to fulfill the expectation of Internet access.
Spotty connections aside, the fusedlogic team was still able to get some great interviews broadcast live and recorded for those interested in embedding them on their own websites. By the second day, the great staff at Achilles Media, organizers of nextMEDIA, were able to obtain a better connection and pipe it out to the rest of us. With that taken care of, the event “streamed” on seamlessly.

Donning our own event-organizer hat recently, fusedlogic held its first Twitter for Breakfast at the World Trade Centre in Edmonton. It gave a group of people who knew little-to-nothing about Twitter a primer course in how it can be used for far more than one would expect. If your event is dependant on connectivity, we recommend you don’t take anything for granted. That’s why our process includes working with the location staff, in this case, the WTC to ensure Internet connectivity would meet our requirements. Experience has shown that in many corporate settings, firewalls, security protocols limiting access, are present. However, by going in ahead of time to double check connectivity, we were able to address these concerns. In fact, the WTC was generous enough to provide a technician after-hours to help make sure we were set up properly.
For Keith Persaud and his staff at Edmonton’s World Trade Centre, high-end technology requirements have become commonplace. “I think technologies like the Blackberry have influenced this. Audio/visual is much more than a podium and microphone these days,” he says. Mobile devices, 3G and Wi-Fi are enabling the sharing of user-generated content far easier than ever before. Access to the social web is of paramount importance for an ever-increasing amount of creative citizens. They want to generate or consume information—how, when and where they want it. These shifting behaviours, in turn, are influencing business models.
The WTC recognizes this trend as significant and is undergoing a technology restructuring at its downtown location. Built on a fiber-optic backbone, the building will be able to provide lightning fast connections, wireless access, and a host of other features. Clearly, it’s an organization that “gets it.” We’re looking forward to holding or attending events once this new infrastructure in place; Persaud suggests will happen by the end of August 09 or sooner.

How does a post-secondary institute open the door to social media for the first time?

Well, if you’re Jana Clarke, marketing manager for the MacEwan School of Business you go big, which is exactly how it should be.

First item on the list is to shoot an interesting and funny video webisode series with local acting and directing talent. The webisodes are entitled Mike and Lenny—Mike played by Richard Meen of MacEwan commercials fame and Lenny played by Donovan Workun of Atomic Improv. They tell a story about choosing a career in business and how the first step should be to consider Management Studies at MacEwan. Amid all the MacEwanBlogCamp.ca excitement, the day wouldn’t have been complete without a personal appearance by “Mike and Lenny,” and the guys didn’t disappoint. Mike and Lenny was directed by Jeremy Chugg of Brainstorm Productions and, through this process, I’ve come to better appreciate how the mind of a professional director works. Jeremy is a talented guy and he has a tough job. To see his work, search Google for Mike and Lenny, you’ll find all three episodes ready to roll.

My team at fusedlogic worked collaboratively with the entire marketing department at the MacEwan School of Business to plan out a great social media event called BlogCamp. This would accomplish a number of key objectives, not all of which I can go into here. However, BlogCamp definitely served to get students involved… after all, they know what it’s like to struggle with choosing a post-secondary institution. Who better to take the MacEwan school spirit message to the social web than existing students? Leading up to the event, fusedlogic provided no less than 12 hours of on-site social media instruction, not only for students but also for faculty, administration and BlogCamp sponsors such as the guys from Sonic 102.9FM. We covered blogging, Twitter, Facebook and numerous other tools and platforms.

One of the difficult things about this project was scheduling: Unfortunately, April 3rd ended up being right in the middle of mid-term exams for much of the School of Business. Despite that, Joe Difabio of MacEwan’s Commerce Club was instrumental in getting students involved as participants and volunteers. So we worked extra hard to get contestants who would be willing to blog for nine hours straight. What we ended up with was a group of talented and dedicated bloggers who exceeded our expectations. If these contestants were not typing, they were on the phone to friends for votes and support. During the event I had the privilege of chatting with contestants, sponsors and audience members who were on-site and the feedback was positive. The gang at Segway Canada (located in West Edmonton Mall) said they had a great time. Segway’s rock—I was surprised at how easy and how much fun they are to ride. The Ranch Roadhouse folks came out with their fun tunnel and there was never a shortage of students who wanted a chance to grab the Ranch bucks. See all the goings-on at www.macewanblogcamp.ca

The entire MacEwan School of Business can be proud of the fact that they broke new social media ground with BlogCamp. Until that day, a social media event of this type and in this format has never been done in Canada. Just search “blogcamp, Canada” if you don’t believe me. √

Twitter and other forms of social media continue to penetrate the psyche of Edmontonians. One indication is the kind thank you I received from Jason Darrah, communications business advisor for City of Edmonton within the deputy city manager’s office. He’s responsible for managing the @CityofEdmonton Twitter account (mentioned here last month). and as I found out there’s change in the wind. I asked Darrah what the City hoped to achieve through its early use of social media: Twitter, Youtube and Facebook. He gave several answers around the common theme of “listening to Edmontonians” and indicated that there is strong support to “connect better, be more open and responsive to Edmontonians.” With increased nimbleness, Darrah feels that the City will be in a better position to “engage citizens.” I must admit this was music to my social media ears but, before I get all misty, let’s back it up and talk about how the @CityofEdmonton Twitter account came to be. Of course, it’s not as simple as registering—ideally, it includes debate, planning and discussion. Darrah briefly explained that this entire social media effort is a collaborative multi-department exercise… to be sure, this hasn’t happened overnight. “The number one place we started was with a sound strategy…

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