Cri de coeur: Embrace social media. Think, act and be social, then measure the impact of social media activities #sm

When, as social media advocates, we embark on the crusade to mainstream social media in our respective businesses, we are probably asked why is this "social media" business so important and how can we measure and show the  impact of our activities.

I guess the best answer to this question, is to assess the level of investment. So here is a rough list of questions to assess how serious is your organization in investing in and embracing social media:

• do you have a cadre of bloggers?
• do you have a social media officer for Facebook, one for Twitter, one for Pinterest and Instagram, one for G+, one for YouTube, Vimeo and Blip?, one for LinkedIn? 
• do you have your social media plan in place? 
• are you making conscious decision when to use which social media channel and for what? 
• do you have your multilingual, locally sourced viral content lined up and ready to be disseminated on different channels?

If you have answered YES to all or some of the above, then you are well positioned to measure the impact of your social media activities, because you:

• have mastered that social media is a tool to develop a brand familiarity, build engagement and give you organization’s a human face
• have mastered how and when to use the different social media channel 
• have a clear idea what works for you and are using social media to support the mission of your organization 
• have kept social media in-house and have made it the day job of your staff 
• are creating quality and viral content and also curating content
• are disseminating facts, figures, infographics, cartoons, pictures and engaging with the digital audience
• have embraced and instilled a digital culture in your organization. In other words, all staff are contributing to the social media channels, they are actively blogging, tweeting and also participating in on-line conversations.

And as a result your social media activities are having an awesome impact; you are engaging with and having a conversation with your audience; your message are being amplified; there is much more awareness about your issues; more people know about the work of your organization and they  are contributing to fund raising initiatives of the organization.

I am sure there are lots of folks out there that are achieving all the above with a skeleton staff and perhaps with no budget.

So just imagine how much more impact your communication efforts would have, if we were to adequately resource the social media arm of our communication operations.

I believe today, even the skeptics have come to terms with the fact that:

• social media is a powerful tool in the communicator’s toolbox 
• it is fast and furious
• it offers numerous opportunities and has an incredible multiplier effect

We’re coming to terms with the fact that:

• blogs are a useful way of influencing and shaping opinions 
• HASHTAGs are the new taglines
• campaigns not only have moved to the digital world, but sometimes start there
• we are no longer pitching but having a conversations and people are sharing their views in the language and the way they feel most comfortable – that is why they SHARE
• ROI has become ROE - return on ENGAGEMENT

So what does this all of this mean in terms of measuring the impact of social media activities? and what exactly should we be measuring?  and what should we be doing to have the desired impact?

People-centred measurement – SROI, rather than ROI
Measuring impact of social media means, measuring how PEOPLE have interacted and engaged with your content. This is why it is a two-way communication.

I guess the question we should be asking ourselves is, how can we have Nick Kristoff put two Facebook status updates in less than an hour on rural development and agriculture-related issues.

This why the quality of content is paramount – and this comes as no surprise. To make an impact, we need to create emotionally engaging and “viral content”.

This means we probably need to spend 50% of our time on the idea and 50% on how to spread the content, Typically viral content is:

• authentic, shows the organization’s heart, is emotionally engaging, pays tribute to  and entertains your audience, and shows you care about your audience and shows that you’ve created content that is relevant to them
• simple and jargon free
• one that takes a stand and has a call to action 

Once we know what we want to achieve, know who we need to attract, what actions we want people to take, and we have our emotionally engaging and “viral content”, then we can measure the impact of our social media activities and we can do it in terms of:

• how is our audience sharing the content?
• are our tweets being retweeted and by whom, are people marking our tweets as favourites? 
• are people replying to our posts and tweets? 
• are people posting on our wall and commenting on our posts? 
• is our audience clicking on the links? Are our links spreading organically?   
• is our content influencing others, are they talking about it? And what percentage of mentions goes to our brand and what to our competitors? Are we talking to the right people?
• are we listening to what our audience is saying? 
• are people downloading our documents? Do they attend our virtual events? Is our audience responding to our call to action? 
• MOST IMPORTANTLY Are we feeding the voices of our audience into decision-making process? 

Embrace social, Be social, Think social, Act social
Social media may not have penetrated in all parts of the world, but it definitely has penetrated amongst and between today’s decision and policy makers and more importantly it is the way of life for tomorrow’s decision and policy makers.

It is true that the people we work with and serve may not use social media or have access to it, however, this does not mean that we should not be using these channels to advocate on their behalf and share their stories with on-line community and raise awareness about their realities.

As a social media junkie, I believe ignoring this new communication paradigm is no longer an option
Here are my FOUR calls to action:

• THINK SOCIAL, ACT SOCIAL and BE SOCIAL and for this we need to change the way we work. To start with, let’s mainstream crowdsourcing as part of our business
• I am sure you’ll agree that producing 140 page highly technical documents which needs to get translated in all our official languages is  an expensive proposition.  Let’s convert the complex concepts of the 140 page report into 140 characters and do so without using jargon and even better do it visually
• For the speech writers: Think of how your soundbites can travel on social media. Dare I ask think in 140 characters
• Take risks. In the fast and furious world of social media, there is little or no room to ask for permission 
• Last but not least, and pay tribute to and celebrate your social media activist and colleagues

Who is the primary audience on social media when it comes to development-related issues? #askAg

Couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure and honour of participating  in an Agrilinks sponsored #askAg twitter chat, where we discussed the use of social media for development.

One of the many interesting questions posed to the panelists was to describe how we reach one of our primary audiences through social media. The question made me reflect on who really is the primary audience of social media efforts when it comes to development related issues? Are we really reaching our donors, or for that matter our recipients - the poor rural people?

Quite frankly, I am not sure. And I do not think we are. For that matter I do not think we should be using  social media to reach our primary audience, unless our primary audience is within 25-45 age group. I know this may sounds absolutely absurd and quite out of character for a social media junkie like me. But here is my rationale for this statement - and I stand to be corrected and challenged:

• As development workers, our primary audience - our donors and other development partners - are probably not in the millennial age bracket, and may not necessarily consider social media as their preferred communication means.
  Yes, it is true that today many politicians and decision makers are at least "active" on one or more social media channels. However, this said, the majority of them have ghost writers and their aids are feeding the social media channel. This means that they are not reading updates posted on social media channels nor engaging with "their audience". Which means, they are not reading our posts or our tweets :(

• Moving on to our beneficiaries..... I am not sure we can claim to have a high percentage of them actively engaged on different social media channels. At best, we may reach farmers' organizations, grassroot organizations that work with them, but not Jane the farmer or Osvaldo the pastoralist - at least not yet.

So, why in heaven's name are development workers using social media? Based on my experience as a social media convert and dare I say a social media strategist, as development workers we are using social media to:

• raise awareness about our issues with the public at large, with the folks who know little or nothing about development
• make the voice of the people we work with and serve - the voice of the voice-less - heard
• mobilize social capital with the hope that it will translate into mobilizing financial resources

In a way social media for development as turned the table because our secondary audience - the public at large - becomes our primary audience and our primary audience - the donors and our beneficiaries - become our secondary audience.

And hello - what about the millennial - the future policy makers - they are and should be indeed OUR PRIMARY audience. We need to invest in the future and have them advocate for changing the present.

Social media is rural development’s best friend!

The advent of social media and Web 2.0 has democratized how citizens interact with people in power, be it members of parliament, donor organizations, international bodies, civil society and the media. Social media tools have paved the way for citizens to build a “personal” relationship with their rulers and their peers. These tools allow everyone – those in power and the normal citizens - to create and share content and add value to the political, social and economic debate.

Those reading this blogpost know very well that Web 2.0 started as a massive social experiment. Today we’ve gone beyond the experiment. Social media and Web 2.0 are now part and parcel of our daily lives and thanks to this revolution, citizens in urban and rural areas are in an unprecedented position to have their voices heard!

Last February 2010 I had the honour and pleasure of talking with CNN’s anchor and correspondent, Jim Clancy on how social media has changed mainstream media. During our conversation, Clancy pointed out that mainstream journalists use social media to “mine” information and to “get the temperature”.

Over the last months, we’ve seen how citizens in countries where social media tools are banned have found inventive ways of sharing their message with the outside world. We have also seen that restrictions on the export of technology related to the use of internet-based communication have been lifted in the US to boost free flow of information in Iran, Sudan and Cuba. Since these tools are open and accessible, they’ve become a catalyst for transparency and accountability. And thanks to their egalitarian nature the farmers in rural areas, just like the urban activists in capitals have the same opportunity to have their voices heard.

Social media is allowing development workers to capture in real time emerging needs and trends and at the same time allows development workers to disseminate their messages and appeals in real time. A case in point is the appeals via Twitter for the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

At the same time, more and more development organizations are using a variety of social media tools to report live from events and to solicit comments and feedback. For example, last month, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), used a number of social media tools and social reporting methodology to report live from the third global meeting of the Farmers’ Forum and the thirty-third session of its Governing Council. IFAD’s social reporting team, composed of 10 volunteers, attended the various sessions and brought the meeting live to those who could not attend, through Twitter, photography, videos and through IFAD’s social reporting blog.

Together with Clancy who moderated a high-level panel discussion on "From summit resolutions to farmers' fields: Climate change, food security and smallholder agriculture", the IFAD’s social reporting team solicited questions via Twitter, which Clancy then fielded to the panellists and the audience, one from @mobimonkey and another from @mongkolroek.

For me, IFAD’s social reporting experience demonstrated how social media tools contribute to giving development a new participatory approach which goes beyond just words but is rooted in action.

If yesterday, we only needed to engage with governments and with grass-root communities, today, we have to engage with all those who wish to engage with us and have something to say. What has changed is that as development workers we have to continuously and consistently be “listening” to what people have to say.

Before the advent of social media, we could have afforded brushing off comments made in third-tier media. Today it is hard to ignore a farmer’s organisation blogpost or a comment on Twitter, because ignoring a comment or an observation can have a negative snowball effect. This means we need to be equipped to deal with feedback and criticism in a constructive and timely manner. This also means that today more than ever, development is a joint effort and there is an extended development community which includes all actors and most importantly the people who we serve and need to reach.

I believe that if international and development organizations fail to embrace social media they will become irrelevant in no time. We not only need to have our ears on the “social media tools” to hear and see what others are saying about us, about our partners and stakeholders, but also have to use these tools to influence policies, to set trends, advocate for eradicating rural poverty and advocate for smallholder farmers and the poor rural people whom we serve.

In concluding, I believe that social media is perhaps one of the greatest allies of development workers. Today we can get our messages out immediately through Twitter and through blogs. Our PowerPoint presentations are available on tools such as Slideshare, photos from our projects and programmes are readily available through Picasa and Flickr and everyone can see our achievements and challenges through our videos available on YouTube and Blip TV. At the same time, we have the opportunity to hear first hand and listen in real-time to issues and challenges as they emerge. We are in a position to get FIRST HAND information. We need to harness all this wealth of knowledge to fulfil our mandate of eradicating rural poverty and ensuring food security for all.

Is social media’s age of innocence over? Is the magic kingdom of social media at risk?

Lately I’ve been wondering to what extent social media has lost its free spirit and soul.

Remember the early days when we all shared our uncensored thoughts on twitter, when we could blog from our heart and show our passion about a topic; the wonderful days when it was safe to be controversial.

With time something has changed and it seem as if we’ve forgotten that social media is about conversations and about giving voice to people.

What is ironic, is that while we praise social media’s power and reach when it topples regimes which are not to our liking we do not do the same when it comes to accepting controversy and listening to opinions which may be different from ours.

Is the age of spontaneity of social media over? Is social media leaving its childhood and entering its adulthood – the age of restrained reasoning?

Are we inadvertently putting a leash on this global megaphone by restraining ourselves to share our personal views, aspirations, frustrations, dreams and ideas in fear of retaliation?

Are we inadvertently transforming the very tool that gave a voice to the voiceless to a lame mainstream mouthpiece?

Have we deliberately blurred the boundaries of private and public to safeguard the interest of the big boys and girls?

I do not know. What I do know is that there is definitely less controversial, thought provoking and innovative ideas floating around social media channels.

What we are seeing is corporations usurping social media channels to push out their products and their messages. I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong in them doing so, provided they are willing to engage in a conversation both with those share and do not share their same ideas, convictions, aspirations and ideologies.

For me the beginning of the end was two years ago when  Octavia Nasr was asked to leave CNN after expressing her personal opinion in a tweet.

Are we – the social media junkies of this world – going to let the rest of the world put a muzzle on us? Can we join forces and commit that we’ll continue to express our ideas freely and respectfully? Can we go back to the early days of social media, the days when we were all spontaneous, the days when we did not worry about social media guidelines and good practices?

Why are we accepting to restrict and restrain ourselves? Social media is our tool. We built our communities around it and with it….. If we do something wrong, the community will let us know. We are accountable to our community and do not need anyone else to tell us what we can and cannot do. Let’s not allow the bad guys invade our magic kingdom!

Taking our social media presence to higher heights. Thank you @unsocial500, @gaurisalokhe, @mongkolroek, @Nancy_Groves #kmers #globaldev

Some argue that social media has brought us closer and others claim that it has made us more lonelier. 

I think it is fair to say that social media is now part and parcel of our daily lives. And like any technology, it has, to some degree, changed the way we conduct business and interact with each other.

Over the last seven years, as a development worker and as an early social media adopter, I’ve been advocating for mainstreaming this new communication paradigm in our business and core processes.  

I have used and seen how my colleagues across the United Nations Agencies, the International Financial Institutions, the NGO community and grassroots organizations have used these channels to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities facing people in developing countries. 

I was lucky enough to learn from well designed and well choreographed social media strategies - be it during crisis such as the Haiti earthquake, drought in the Sahel, Ebola; be it to for events, and campaigns such as the International Year of Family Farming, Rio+20, #post2015, #whatdoesittake, #2030now.

I learnt from the more savvy how to better engage with the audience to harness the “wisdom of the crowd” and I was fortunate enough to be able to put my new learning and knowledge to practice.

As an earlier adopter, I saw first hand how different organizations embarked on this journey. Joining forces with my fellow early adopters, we consistently and continuously enticed our respective organizations to embrace this new communication paradigm. We  created our own “virtual community” where we shared our experiences, successes and challenges.

We used each other as sounding boards and peers when faced with challenges. After each big or small success, we collectively celebrated. And in the spirit of reciprocity we shared our achievements with each other

One of the many uphill battles that we fought together, was convincing our colleagues to use social media channels and their personal accounts to talk about and share snippets of their work. You can imagine the joy and satisfaction of those of us who over years have been fighting this battle to see our efforts being recognized in the UN Social 500 list. 

I must admit that having our names amongst "the most influential men and women who are promoting, discussing and describing the work of the UN on a daily basis via their own social media channels" finally gave us the boost that we were looking for. A big thank you to the @unsocial500 folks for compiling and maintaining  the list.

Thanks to the work and commitment of the wonderful folks on this list, today the United Nations not only has a solid social media presence, but more importantly all those closely involved in this communication stream have a superb support network.

With the mainstreaming of social media in our work, I believe today the United Nations is more UNITED than ever. A decade ago, asking UN agencies to collaborate and contribute to each other’s campaigns may not have been a trivial undertaking. 

Today, when the UN family embarks on a campaign, all the various agencies chip in and participate. This is made possible thanks to well-crafted social media advisory packages which provide all the necessary assets (messages, precanned tweets, precanned Facebook updates, infographics, images, links, videos) including the license to adapt the messages. As a result, we are in a better position to amplify each other messages, avoid doing propaganda and reach out to a diverse audience.

A good case in point was the 22 March World Water Day celebration. A decade ago, all the UN agencies and IFIs  would have celebrated this day “on their own” thus hardly benefitting from each other’s experience, let alone the “wisdom of the crowd”.

The 2015 #worldwaterday was indeed GLOBAL. Our UN Water colleagues did an amazing job of bringing everyone together to share facts and figures about water scarcity in developed and developing countries. Unworthy’s Twitterchat  was a great example of partnership between and among profit and non-profit organizations to raise awareness about challenging and important global issues.

This is just one of the many instances of social media’s unprecedented multiplier effect for development! As a result, in a time and age where we need to deliver more with less and where there is a pretty tight competition for resources, mainstreaming social media in our core business has allowed us to amplify each other messages, raise awareness about different developmental issues, engage with and involve the audience.

Thanks to all the folks in the support network for paving the road to success. I am sure together, we’ll be able to design and implement many more innovative campaigns and take our social media presence and agenda to new and unexplored heights.

What's the next big thing for #socialmedia? Let's consider going back to basics....

Is it me, or has the content on social media channels lost its freshness and edge?

As an early adopter I remember the days when we shared punchy, out-of-the-box content. I remember the days when we had full-fledged conversations on social media. I remember the days when we cherished the affordances of the various channels and used them for different purposes. I remember the days that we shared more from our heart than our head. I remember the days when social media channels were more SOCIAL than media.

In reading Twitter's blogpost  "Introducing event targeting", I could not but smile at the statement "if it’s happening in the world, it’s happening on Twitter”. It is now conventional wisdom that Twitter’s strength is “providing as-it-happens coverage and commentary on live events”.

To prove this point,  I checked the live Twitter feed from an event which was taking place at that moment. I was stunned by how we may have ran out of creativity and as a result the messages and content seem to have lost their punchiness and sound and look all the same. Scanning the feed made me realize that we may be living under the false impression that we've outsmarted Twitter's technological affordance.

We seem to have forgotten that Twitter was born to convey messages in 140 characters or less. We've forgotten the mantra "If you can't explain it in 140 characters, your idea is too complicated!"  We seem to have forgotten why Twitter is at its best during live events. We seem to have forgotten that while maintaining a professional tone, what travels well is a message from the heart.

No doubt that a picture is worth more than 1000 words and we all agree that it is great to add a photo in your tweet highlighting what is happening in that very moment. This said, I am not sure, whether it is cool to add  photos jam packed with text to outsmart  the 140 character limit.

In the good old days we conveyed a message with 140 characters or less. This meant we spent more time to craft a punchy, meaningful, relevant and engaging content which had the potential of going viral.

We seem to have forgotten the wonderful and unique affordances of the various social media channels. We seem to have forgotten that social media networks are supposed to connect PEOPLE and as such, in sharing content, we need to talk WITH people, and not AT them. We seem to have forgotten that the key to success on social media is engagement.

This brings me to content curation – which I believe to be an art and something that we should do more of. The key to success is walking a fine line between delivering relevant and timely social engaging content without this being “contaminated” with our own bias and/or interest, without it being a megaphone or in the worst case scenario end up being propaganda.

In scanning the various social media channels, I longed for the conversational tone, I looked high and low to find a piece content that I could engage with, a soundbite from the heart. What I found was more of the same. I wonder if the lack of punchy and engaging content is to avoid getting into trouble? And if so, this is probably one of the reasons we are seeing less and less  viral content.

How can we go back to create conversational and real content, content that touches both hearts and minds and goes viral.

Think about it, when was the last time you shared a piece of content? Why did you do it? Probably because it was something that touched your heart, meant something to you and your community. It may have been counterintuitive and controversial, it may have been simply fun and something out of the ordinary.

As an avid follower of Simon Sinek, recently I've been pondering whether we've lost sight of the WHY of social media and are exclusively focusing on the WHAT and HOW.

So, is all lost…. or have we reached a point where we need to think of what's the next big thing for social media? Maybe it is time to find our way back to the beginnings of social media – to the WHY.

Maybe we need to come to terms with the fact that the next big thing is social media is to go back to the original affordances and uniqueness of the various technologies.

Maybe we need to go back to basics. Let's be less of an emulator and more of an innovator. 

Join the conversation.... @rsamii

Recreating the golden age of “Letters to the editor”

Do you remember the letters to the editor? The missive that we used to write to express an opinion and our views, hoping that it would get published…..

These missives, which were the print version of on-line commenting, tweeting and blogging  and often works of art, would get published in reputable newspapers, magazines and weeklies.

They were works of arts, because of their rigor, because of the fact that they followed a protocol in expressing views and opinions, because they hardly ever used profane and/or offensive language, because they were combatant in a respectful manner.

Today the internet and social media have become preferred communications channels for many as they allow us to easily connect and engage in conversations. The “social” web has fundamentally changed how we consume news and content in general. We are using digital tools to insert ourselves in conversations and connect with other people.

As our news consumption pattern evolves, we have developed the urge of immediately reacting and expressing our opinion and ideas.

While there is nothing wrong with this urge, however, in doing so, we need to remember the protocol, the rigor and the respect of the “old century letters to editor”.

As development workers, UN officials and civil servants we have an obligation to express our opinion and views in the most respectful manner. While each and every UN organization has its own code of conduct and ethics, there are certain things that are universal and applicable across the board.

When commenting and engaging in an on-line conversation, you may wish to consider these common-sense guidelines which I had put together sometime ago:

Be a good ambassador: Be aware that your behaviour and opinions on social media channels directly or indirectly reflect on the organization. Make sure your profile picture or avatar reflects your professionalism.

Be honest, transparent and open: If you are blogging about your work, identify yourself. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, be the first to point it out by making it clear that you are expressing your own opinion. Bear in mind that transparency does not mean disclosing confidential and/or proprietary information. And remember not to disclose confidential information in your on-line conversation. If you make a mistake, admit it and correct it.

Be passionate, enthusiastic and engaged: Share the passion you feel for your work and talk about your successes and challenges. If you are writing a blog, encourage your readers to provide feedback and comment. Read the contributions of others and see how you can contribute to the conversation.

Be responsible: You are responsible for what you write and how you behave on social media channels. Participate in online social media, however,  do so properly and exercise solid judgment.

Be conversational: Talk to your readers and avoid being pedantic. Do not be afraid to bring in your personality. When communicating on social media, consider content that is open-ended and one that solicits response, so that you can engage in a conversation. Cite others when you blog and solicit comments.

Be respectful: Respect your audience’s privacy, respect your colleagues and peers. Respect your “competitors”. Disagree in a respectful manner.

Be conscious when mixing professional and personal: Sometimes the professional and personal may intersect. While respecting freedom of speech, as  international civil servant, we have certain obligations and need to abide by our organization’s code of conduct.

Be aware of global implications: Your interactions on social media channels can have global significance. The way you answer a question online or write may be appropriate for some parts of the globe, but considered inappropriate or illegal in other parts of the world. Therefore, keep the “world view” in mind when engaging with social media tools.

Bring value: The best way to get your thoughts and words across is to write things that people will value. Write informative, interesting and thought-provoking content. Help build a sense of community by sharing and discussing your experiences and challenges.  Do not forget you are responsible for what you write. Aim for quality and not quantity.

Build relationships: Engage with your audience and build trust to develop “relationships” rather than just exclusively using social media as an advocacy tool.

Correct mistakes: If you come across a misrepresentation of your organization’s work, identify yourself and correct the mistake. In most cases people do not mind being corrected. However, if you get the feeling that someone is deliberately misinterpreting what you are saying, ignore them. On the other hand, if you have made a mistake, do not hide it, be open and admit it.

Give credit where credit is due: Do not claim authorship for something that is not yours. If you are using third party content, make sure you have permission to use it and provide appropriate attribution. Do not use copyrighted and trademarked content without asking permission.

Know that the internet is permanent: Once information is published online, it becomes a permanent record. Remember on the internet everything stays on Google!

Respond to constructive criticism: Turn negative comment into positive discussion. Thank the commenter and engage them in a conversation. Take time to read between the lines and understand the arguments. In correcting factual errors and responding be respectful, sincere, confident and truthful.

Separate opinions from facts: When interacting on social media, make sure you separate opinions from facts.

Spread the work and connect with people: Do not talk about yourself exclusively, but also share the successes of your colleagues, peers and the organization you work for.

Think of CNN, your mother and your boss: Do not say anything online that you would not be comfortable seeing quoted on CNN or other television networks, discussing with your mother or explaining to your boss! Remember, there is nothing private on social media and all your posts and comments may be traceable.

Use a disclaimer: If you publish on a third party website or on your personal blog, use a disclaimer similar to:“The information posted on this blog and/or website are my personal views and opinions and do not necessarily represent my organization’s positions, strategies or opinions”

Write what you know: When writing about development-related issues, write in first person and stick to your areas of expertise.

The above are excerpts of what the social media guidelines I had prepared for IFAD. Hope you find the above useful and if you are interested to know more, here is the link to the full version of the guidelines.

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I am writing a series of guest blogs for @unsocial500 on how to boost engagement on social media. The purpose of the series is to share best practices and tips. The above blogpost first appeared on UN Social 500 site. If there is a specific topic you want more information and guidance on, please let me know so that I can put it in the pipeline :)

To compete or to collaborate? Social media is the answer #socialmedia #kmers

Have you ever tried having your voice heard in a crowded and noisy environment? If the answer is yes, you know what it takes to do so!

Keep the image of making your voice heard in a crowded milieu in your head….. Now imagine having your voice heard in the development arena crowded with a multitude of development organizations, United Nations agencies, International Financial Institutions, multilateral and bilateral agencies, research organizations, think tanks, Non-Governmental organizations, farmers’ organizations, civil society and foundations.

I am sure you will appreciate the challenge. As development workers to have our voice heard, we need to show the relevance of our work. We need to show the impact of our work through human stories and hard facts. We need to show value for money, show that we are worth the investment and that for every taxpayer dollar spent in our operations there is multiple return and that this money is being spent judiciously, wisely and has the desired impact.

This means, that to have our voices heard, to make sure we access the finite development funds and resources, we have to compete with each other, pitch and position ourselves.

Now close your eyes and think of a scenario where the competition against each other becomes collaboration with each other.

Eight years ago the early technology adopters in the development arena by embracing social media discovered a way to turn the table and transform the competitive environment to one of collaboration. The advent of social media brought the development community closer and became a catalyst for knowledge sharing and cooperation. 

This semi-miracle happened because we suddenly discovered that this new communication paradigm not only allowed us to share our individual messages, but more importantly we came to the understanding that by amplifying each other messages we were raising awareness about the comprehensiveness and the integration of the various aspects of development agendas. By sharing a post or retweeting a tweet from a sister agency, we showed that we were not working in silos, rather that our work complemented each other and as a result managed to show the multidimensional aspect of development.

I think it is fair to say that social media is now part and parcel of our daily lives. And like any technology, it has, to some degree, changed the way we conduct business and interact with each other.

Over the last eight years, the early social media adopters and development workers  have collectively been advocating for mainstreaming this new communication paradigm in our business and core processes.  This has led to well established social media channels and more importantly resulted in bridging the gap between development agencies and the general public. 

For example, through live reporting of events, we have managed to bring our business closer to our traditional audience and as a result managed to extend and expand our audience base. By complementing the official channels and traditional means of communications - products such as our reports, publications, press releases - with telling the back story of a major publication through a blogpost, or pulling out the salient facts and figures of our dense reports in the form of an infographic or DYK (do you know) posts, we have managed to unpack the wealth of our respective organizational knowledge.

Colleagues across the United Nations Agencies, the International Financial Institutions, the NGO community and grassroots organizations have used these channels to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities facing people in developing countries. In doing so, they have put the THEME, the TOPIC, the ISSUE in the forefront as opposed to the organization. 

On the occasion of UN’s Sustainable Development Summit, almost all of the UN family mounted campaigns to showcase the universality and importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In doing sIo, we tried to show how all the SDGs are inter-related, how all of them carry equal weight and why delivering on them is not a "nice to have", but rather a commitment and an obligation. The skeptics may argue that the cacophony of #globalgoals, #2030agenda, #post2015 and #sdgs  campaigns fell on deaf ears. This may be true a prima facie, however, five months later, seeing citations and references to these campaigns shows how collectively we managed to raise awareness about a theme, topic and issue and not necessarily about our individual organizations.

This radical change in our mindset led to well designed and well choreographed social media strategies and campaigns which allowed the development world to raise awareness about, and fundraise for crisis such as the Haiti earthquake, drought in the Sahel, Ebola, etc. It allowed us to join each other campaigns and provide a united, comprehensive and cohesive front for events such as #iyff, #post2015, #cop21, #parisagreement, #globalgoals, #2030agenda and more.

This change in paradigm allowed us to better engage with the audience, to harness the “wisdom of the crowd” and allowed us to learn from each other.

One of the many uphill battles that we fought together, was convincing our colleagues to use social media channels and their personal accounts to talk about and share snippets of their work. Thanks to the work and commitment of the wonderful folks who embraced social media, today the United Nations is more UNITED than ever. A decade ago, asking UN agencies to collaborate and contribute to each other’s campaigns may not have been a trivial undertaking. 

A decade ago, the development community would have embarked on campaigns individually. This meant that we hardly ever benefitted from each other’s experience, let alone the “wisdom of the crowd”. 

Today, when the development community embarks on a campaign, the various agencies chip in and participate.  This is made possible thanks to well-crafted social media strategies, including the license to adapt the messages based on individual organization’s mission and goals. 

This means our activities and campaigns are indeed GLOBAL. They are global because we share and cooperate, because the “lead” agency brings everyone together and equips all concerned to share facts and figures about specific issues. As a result, each agency is able to show their contribution to the issue at hand and consequently we are in a better position to amplify each other’s messages, avoid doing propaganda and reach out to a diverse audience.

As a result, in a time and age where we need to deliver more with less and where there is a pretty tight competition for resources, mainstreaming social media in our core business has allowed us to amplify each other messages, raise awareness about different developmental issues, broaden our scope, engage with existing and involve new audience.

By cooperating with each other to raise awareness about issues, we’ve managed to show how the work of the entire development community is relevant and how we all depend on each other to achieve the complex, complicated and challenging overall development community’s goals. And in doing so, hopefully we can also show how development is not about providing resources to EITHER this or that agency, rather it is about providing resources to ALL agencies so that together we can tackle all and the many complicated, complex and challenging dimensions of our beloved business.

Battle of giants: Social media, web 2.0 vs letters to editors and press releases

The other day I came across a beautiful and inspiring quote by George S. Patton "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."

Reading this quote made me realize that if I am not thinking like everyone it does not mean I am completely crazy, but it actually means I am thinking….

I've been thinking about how Web2.0 tools and social media have democratized the way we communicate and how they have opened up frontiers which only a decade ago were completely closed or perhaps only accessible to a small elite.

Today those who have embraced the philosophy underpinning web2.0 and social media are experiencing unprecedented freedom of speech and thought. This is why some governments are going out of their way to shut down or jam certain social networking sites and web2.0 tools. Little they know about the power of the community and network!

Let's take a trip in the time machine and go back 5 year. In July 2004 if I wanted to share my opinion and views about something I had read or come across I would have had to write a letter to the editor hoping that they would publish it. If I had written something that I thought was earth-shattering and groundbreaking the only way I could get it out was either to publish it in a journal, put it on my personal website which probably no one would have visited or if I was bold enough write an opinion editorial.

It goes without saying that since I am not a big shot nor a movie or rock star, neither my letter to the editor, nor my article and opinion editorial would have been published, resulting in me being highly frustrated.

July 2009, the world has changed and in this particular sense, it has changed for the better. Today, I am on an equal footing as the big shots and the movie and rock stars. I can freely share my insight and views with the rest of the world. I can go on-line and comment on almost anything. I can publish my groundbreaking and earth-shattering thought or aspiration. That is exactly what I am doing with this blogpost. I am in position of power, I can do it and I am not at anyone's mercy!

All of this is possible thanks to web2.0 paradigm, philosophy and thanks to a new way of life. Millions of people are taking advantage of this stuff and making their voice heard within and outside their communities and networks. What is happening is that if they have something good to say, their voice will be amplified exponentially, something that no opinion editorial or letter to the publisher could have ever achieved – even in their respective hey days.

Web2.0 and social media has created the phenomenon of citizen journalism which in turn is challenging traditional journalism. Thanks to YouTube, Blip.Tv, Flickr, Picasa and other tools we have access to documentaries, news, photos which mainstream media would most probably think twice before broadcasting, and yet these are real people-centred stories.

Traditional news/media outlets came to realize the potential and power of social media and web2.0 when they started feeling the blows. Some reacted more swiftly than others. I happened to recently watch 10 minutes of CNN's back report. I found it very entertaining. I watched Ivan Watson, a relatively seasoned CNN journalist "embedded" in a battalion in Afghanistan, showing us around the military camp, trying to tell the audience the human side of the story. What was amazing was their effort to make the piece look rough – so the pictures were grainy, they had done away with the usual script and articulate language. The rabbit in the hat was the "sock water", which Watson explained with some gusto. He explained how the soldiers put a bottle of water in a sock and hang it from their jeep and so that the desert wind can cool it making it drinkable. This was their version of a raw footage and a human story… good try.

Most mainstream newspapers now have their blog section, they are now allowing their readership to comment on their articles and they do not exercise editorial control as much as they used too… So, today, I can comment on virtually anything and no longer need to write a letter to the editor crossing my fingers that it will be published. Yet some people still insist in writing letters to editors and are very disappointed and frustrated when their letter is not published.

What is amazing is when I tell these disappointed people: "so what that the editor did get publish your letter, go on-line and add your comment, there are more people reading on-line comments and more importantly you give others an opportunity to react and comment on your comment", they look at me as if I am an extraterrestrial creature.

It gets worse when I dare say: "believe me pretty soon opinion editorials, press releases, print newspaper – the stuff we know today - will be subsumed by new forms of communication and this stuff will become artefacts for museums". That is when they go berserk and get all geared up to pull out the strait-jacket!

For me these are two instances how thinking like everyone means someone is not thinking. It is understood that the concept of "everyone" is relative…. My web2.0 friends and peers are part of another "everyone" dimension"!

All of us at some point were faced or are facing the challenge of making the "everyone" understand and appreciate the power and, potential of web2.0 and social media. We need good and convincing examples of how web2.0 and social media at work.

President Obama's campaign is a perfect example of social media and web2.0 tools in action. The White House website is another excellent example. Another good resource is Christian Kreutz's article "Exploring the potentials of blogging for development". This morning I came across a great blogpost entitled "Journalism should look to collaboration, not charity" on the Guardian blog – yeh, these guys are cool and have embraced web2.0 and social media.

Also thank God for news and information outlets such as Huffington Post, blogs such as Global Voices on-line and mainstream journalists such as Hala Garani, Rosemary Church, some ABC journalists and others who have adopted web2.0 way of life. Kudos to those journalists who use twitter to interact with their audience.

But yet, despite these examples and thousand othes, we are still faced with the enormous challenge of making the old-timers and the older generation understand the benefit and potential of social media.

These guys resist adopting these tools and way of life, because they see their area of expertise being eroded. Simply put THEY ARE AFRAID OF LOSING TEHIR JOB. Instead of jumping on this band-wagon and bringing in their vast experience, they end up sulking, sitting on the fence, hoping that this movement will die.

So what can we do to make them understand that: (a) the community has a lot to learn from them and is keen to benefit from and want to draw on their vast experience (b) this "thing" is here to stay and will not go away and (c) if they want to survive they better jump on the band-wagon as opposed to trying in vain to derail it, because it ain't going to derail, so they better use their energy positively!

On a bad day, I ask myself whether it is worth the effort to try to conceive the cynics that the old-way of doing business is now history. On these days I think maybe I should just concentrate my energy and efforts in grooming the younger generation – because they (a) have an excellent grasp of this new way of life, (b) I can learn a whole lot from them and (c) together we can do some fun stuff.

But when all is said and done, I really do not want to leave the "older generation" behind, because they too have a lot to offer, so if you know of any useful resource or if you have a rabbit in your hat, please share it. Let's not leave anyone behind!!!

There is no such thing as "new" technology.....

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

In studying the genesis of technology,  I now know that there is no such thing as  a “new technology”, simply because  each “new” technology is an evolution of an “older” technology.  

History shows that the introduction of any “new” technology is inevitably accompanied by a group of skeptics and alarmists who go wax poetic about the perils and dangers of the “new” technology.

Let’s take a journey in a time machine and go to ancient Greece of Socrates.

The advent of writing was a source of major concern and distress for Socrates. He believed that one could only gather and gain knowledge through dialogue and interaction - that is to say, you need to ask questions and get answers.... “dialogue where ideas are interrogated until the knowledge is truly understood”. He then went to say that this was not possible with a book - “written words” - or with a painting. 

Now, let’s fast forward to today.... As knowledge management practitioners, we advocate for documenting and capturing the learning and lessons as they emerge. We then produce papers, case studies, publications, a myriad of PDF files which accordingly to the latest World Bank Knowledge Management Evaluation no one reads.

When we have the luxury and opportunity of “hearing the story” of that lesson learnt first hand, that is when we truly understand and assimilate the learning. And this is not only because we hear it orally, but as Socrates said, it is because we have the opportunity to interact with the “author” or the story teller.

Socrates was also concerned that because written words are disembodied, the art of memorization, delivering speeches, rhetorics and more broadly dialectic is at great risk. For sure, today the art of memorizing poetry or epic stories is not something common. Similarly individuals excelling in rhetorics may be sneered at and deemed as arrogant and self-centred. 

However,  I believe the “new” media - aka social media - has created a fertile ground for conversation and engagement - albeit virtually and not face-to-face. I know Socrates would not necessarily be happy with this compromise, but nonetheless, it is probably better than the one-way traditional media. 

This said, when it comes to education, nothing in the world can nor should replace the role of the teacher, instructor, mentor, whatever you want to call this figure. So, no I am not at all for on-line courses nor e-learning. These are tools that are useful when you have a grasp of a subject matter. There are just like dictionaries... You do not learn a language or a philosophy by “reading” or “consulting” a dictionary.

 While we’re in the time machine, let’s visit the 21st century and examine the “novelty”  or lack of thereof social media. The Economist article “How Luther went viral”, very eloquently demonstrates how social media has been around at least since reformation, if not earlier.

It shows how Luther then and how social media users now are taking advantage of a decentralized model to share information, put pressure, raise awareness about issues and engage in a multidirectional conversation. In other words, we are in as much of a networked world today as we were back in 1500s and earlier.

By the same token, while Luther exploited the power of print and distributed short pamphlets instead of huge tomes, we communicate with 140 characters the headline of a news or the news itself via a tweet. Instead of writing an academic paper with lots of footnotes and citations, we blog and instead of creating 40 minute documentaries to raise awareness about atrocities happening in the world, we make a one-minute Vine video.

And when it comes to measuring success, instead of counting the reprints of a pamphlet, we measure it by the number of “Likes”, “Retweets”, “Shares”  and comments.

I wonder whether the discussions and exchange of views and ideas happening on social media channels would have tranquilized Socrates’ and changed his view vis-a-vis the fact that written words are not necessarily disembodied..... Who knows. 

Another extraordinary aspect of mainstreaming any “new” technology is its agency to create new lines of jobs. These jobs can either see the light of the day to protect the very essence of the technology or be created as a result of user appropriation.

For example, as writing became mainstreamed and the norm, this gave rise to forgery and falsification of manuscripts and scriptures. This  in turn led to whole new genre of employment requiring academics and experts to examine writings on clay, parchments, papyrus, silk and paper to detect whether these were original or the fruit of a forgery. Similarly, the mainstreaming of social media has led to creation of jobs such as professional bloggers who raise awareness about social, economic and developmental issues, or act as whistle blowers;  social media strategists and ghost writers for prominent personalities and celebrities.

I’ve also learnt that it is prudent not to sing too much the praises of any technology and make it seem as if it is the panacea. Here are some examples of great technologies that “changed our lives” or where supposed to change our lives which now have retired to an obscure section of our memory lane....... telegraph, fax, typewriter, Concorde, Kodak film and more recent ones, GoogleWave, Google glass, MySpace and list goes on and on.....

Be forewarned, some of the “old” technologies come back in new guise..... Think of the scroll, which became old technology with the introduction of codex - or book..... And guess what .....good old scroll is back big time! How many times did you have to scroll while reading this blogpost?

I find immense comfort in studying history, as it allows me to put things in perspective, understand where we are coming from and how we got to where we are. 

I’ve also learnt that being an early adopter puts you in a vantage position to live passionately through the hype, sit back and wait for the next “big new” technology. 

As an early adopter I also cherish raising awareness about the benefits of the “new” technology and convincing the “cavemen” how the “new” technology can and will make a difference!

As I mentioned in an earlier blogpost, I am a technological determinist and one who is maturing to be more balanced.

More to come.... so check back in and I would love to hear your views and ideas.

Remembering and paying tribute to David Carr

On Thursday 12 February when CNN breaking news flashed on my phone announcing the death of David Carr, New York Times media columnist and reporter, I sat in disbelief, thinking to myself, Oh My God I cannot believe this…. 

Dean Baquet, the executive editor of New York Times described Carr as “the finest media reporter of his generation, a remarkable and funny man who was one of the leaders of our newsroom.”  He was indeed exactly that.

I am not one of the lucky people who knew Mr Carr in person. Nonetheless, I looked up to him, admired and respected him because he was insightful, because in reporting stories he used a different lens than others and most importantly because he was an extraordinary  story teller. 

The New York Times article announcing the cause of his death, describes him and his writing as “plain-spoken and could be blunt; he often gathered in readers conspiratorially and was sometimes self-referential and conscience-stricken. The effect was both folksy and sophisticated, a voice from a shrewd and well-informed skeptic.”  

He was not afraid of nor shied away from being BLUNT and showing his emotions, passion and convictions. And most importantly he cared about people and what they did. 

Hamilton Nolan in his piece “David Carr, Your Best Friend”, has this to say about Carr:

“If you needed a hug, he would give you a hug. If you didn't feel that you needed a hug, he would still give you a hug. He seemed to know better than you how much you might need a hug. He always hugged, like a man who had come home from war, which in many ways he had. We would talk about sobriety and fighting and love and who was really sharp and who was an asshole. If you needed advice, he would give you advice, and if he needed advice, he would sit there and listen to you give it, even if you weren't sure it was worth hearing. If you needed to be yelled at for being an idiot, he would oblige, and he would sit politely and be yelled at himself, as well. He always had an idea about what should be done, even if he didn't always do it.”

Telling the truth

Carr stayed true to his profession. He enshrined the value of telling the truth and writing with passion.

Last year in his commencement address to the UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism he said “if you tell the truth, no harm will come”. In addressing the graduate students he said “do what is in front of you, fit in before you stick out” …. “don’t just do what you’re good at, learn how to deal with frustrations”.

He reminded his future colleagues that “journalism is permission to live". "Experience the moment…. take responsibility and ownership of what you do (be it success or failure).”

The underlying message of his commencement address, which was the “fil rouge” of his existence was how telling the truth is a way of living.  His quest for truth was almost obsessive and comes to life in his book The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of his Life--His Own.

Jelani Cobb in his New Yorker piece paying tribute to Mr Carr, says: “he (Carr) didn’t develop a brand; he built a reputation”. And he had a reputation of being a great advocate for the profession of journalism. He loved the New York Times and was perhaps the staunchest defender of the paper. 

“He was our biggest champion and his unending passion for journalism and for truth will be missed by his family at The Times, by his readers around the world and by people who love journalism”, said Dean Baquet, NYTimes executive editor

If you watched “Page One: Inside the New York Times”, no doubt you’ll remember Carr’s visit  to Vice to write the story of their partnership with CNN. And I’m sure you remember the “exchange” between him and Vice editor when the latter challenged the authority and importance of New York Times. 

Carr - who was at this best - in a vintage Carr moment, not only put the record straight about NYTimes coverage of Liberia over time, but put the guy squarely in his place.

Social media savvy

Carr was one of the very few journalists - if not the only one - who was fully conversant with the new media. He fully grasped the power and potential of social media. At the same time, he made it clear to us - social media junkies - that without mainstream media, we would not have any news to share. 

His beloved paper - The New York Times - had this to say about their equally beloved Carr: “He became better known, perhaps, for his reporting and analysis of developments in publishing, television and social media, for which he was an early evangelist.”

As Jelani Cobb said: “He was allergic to euphemism and a believer that journalism was the art of curating minutiae. He also had one of the most valuable attributes a writer can claim—an ability to withhold personal judgment” and in doing so, he did recognize that “traditional journalists” felt a bit overwhelmed and threatened by social media’s fast and furious communication method.

I love his soundbite about Twitter: “Twitter is listening to a wired collective voice. Here the medium is not the message, the message is the medium”  and he continues to say that in reading tweets “you get a sense of today’s news while you are waiting for a coffee at Starbucks”.

When the young Brian Stelter joined New York Times, Carr described him as the robot in the NYTimes basement. Shelter in a recent interview humbly shares how much he learnt from Carr…. “I carry a piece of David with me for the rest of my life…..” “David was like a father for me”. 

“Deciphering digital jargon” episode of Sweet Spot series shows how Carr comfortably engaged in a digital conversation and shows how he put to use digital technology in his profession. HE GOT IT and GOT it big time.

You'll be missed.... May you rest in peace
A lot people from different walks of life admired Carr’s integrity, his wit, bluntness, his unwavering desire to tell a story and his quest for the truth.

Hamilton Nolan eloquently summarizes the magnitude of Carr’s persona: “In 58 years, he lived at least 158 years worth of life. Everyone who knew David Carr was lucky too. The only unlucky people today are those who never got a chance to know him, because they would have enjoyed it.”  

I am one of the many unlucky people who did not know David Carr. Yet, I will miss his mischievous smile, his voice, his eternal quest for truth and his bluntness.

Mr Carr, you'll be missed. It will probably take 158 years before the world gets  another David Carr. Thank you for sharing your wit and for giving us so much. May you rest in peace.

#Socialmedia metrics: Trashing “vanity metrics”, embracing engagement and behavioural change indicators #UNMetrics

In this month’s blogpost, I’m reaching out to the community to see if we can brainstorm to find relevant and meaningful indicators to assess the impact of our social media efforts.

We all know that in the development space, our success is measured by the impact we have on people’s lives. If you are an economist, you probably measure this in terms of income; if you are a sociologist you measure it in terms of well-being of a household; if you are a governance expert, you measure the effectiveness of institutions; and if you practice sustainable development, you measure all of the above and more.

Throughout my social media journey, I’ve been struggling to find a meaningful way of showing the impact of development-related social media efforts.

I’m not fully convinced that number of fans/followers, number of mentions; number of retweets and/or social shares tell the full impact story.

I consider the above as quantitative indicators – or what others call “vanity metrics”. These are not hard core engagement indicators. They do not shed light on behavioural change nor do they show the action of the user on any given piece of content.

Maybe there are folks out there who have cracked this nut. If so, please share your insights.

Bearing in mind that we can never get away from metrics, I would love to hear from our very own community whether the following indicators could help us have a better picture of the impact of our social media efforts:

• how are the influencers in our field engaging with our content
• are our followers taking action and/or inquiring about our work as a result of “reading” and “interacting” with our content
• how are our followers curating our content
• how is our audience complementing our content to generate new knowledge
• how is our audience advocating on our behalf and/or advocating our cause
• what is the evidence of behaviour change as a result of interacting and engaging with our content
• who is providing salient, substantive and constructive comment, thus sparking new conversations
• is the community raising issues and pushing us out of our comfort zone
• what is the quality of original content we’re producing to respond to our follower’s needs and request

I am sure our collective wisdom and experience can help us crack this nut. So please, share your ideas and input. Let’s try and come up with a set of comprehensive indicators which really measure engagement and behaviour change.

To share your thoughts all you need to do is tweet with the #UNmetrics

Looking forward to your insights. Until then goodbye…..

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I am writing a series of guest blogs for @unsocial500 on how to boost engagement on social media. The purpose of the series is to share best practices and tips. The above blogpost first appeared on UN Social 500 site. If there is a specific topic you want more information and guidance on, please let me know so that I can put it in the pipeline :)

Interview with CNN anchor Jim Clancy: How has social media changed mainstream media

This week I had the honour and pleasure to meet CNN's Jim Clancy. Yesterday, I asked if I could interview him about social media. Jim, being very modest, said he does not know much about social media.... But I can tell you he knows A LOT and he's an advocate for social media.

This morning he kindly agreed to grant an interview. You can't imagine my excitment. A little nobody interviewing the famous Jim Clancy.

It was a pleasure to work with Jim. He is such a pleasant and humble person.

When a vision becomes reality - the story of my organization's social reporting team - aka dream team

When you have a vision, you want to inspire others so that they can help you achieve it.  Usually the transformation of a vision into reality requires that people either “see” the vision in its entirety or at least “see” some elements of it. Alternatively, and in the best case scenario, the people who need to help make the vision come true, are like-minded folks who trust you and YOUR vision. In that case you are in business.

If on the other hand, you have cynics, naysayers and people who go out of their way to pull the rug from under you, then fulfilling your vision becomes an uphill journey, as it is highly unlikely for a visionary person to forgo their aspiration.

The realization of a vision is always accompanied by a sense of joy and pride. The second best satisfaction for a visionary person is when a respectable person outside their immediate circle sings the praises of and acknowledges their vision.  That is when you sit back and think to yourself - well, you know what, it was worth it all.  And if you are amongst the lucky ones who had people around you who “saw” your vision and accompanied you on the journey, then you feel truly blessed and accomplished.

This is exactly how I felt when I read Nisha Pillai's blogpost, singing the praises of my organization’s social media efforts. I think it is fair to say that introducing and mainstreaming social media has been quite a challenging experience. But comments and words of appreciation from seasoned professionals like Ms Pillai warm my heart. Thanks to my organization's social reporting team, today more people see the power and potential of social media. 

I thank the DREAM TEAM for sharing my vision. Through out our journey, you gave nothing but your best to overcome all the challenges. You continuously and consistently championed and mainstreamed an alternative communication paradigm. 

I go proud of what we managed to accomplish together. I am proud of never giving up, preserving and forging ahead as if there was no tomorrow. I am proud of your unwavering support which allowed us to turn the vision into reality and to make our organization's social media practices  a model to follow.

Well done DREAM TEAM. You are and will continue to be a DREAM TEAM.

THANK YOU and love you all.

#Hashtag or not to #hashtag, that’s the question….

The advent of social media is making the once “off-limits”, highly exclusive meetings less exclusive and more participatory.

Take the World Economic Forum…. Back in 1971 when Professor Klaus Schwab kicked off the then “European Management Forum”, this event was an exclusive meeting for a select few. As the event and the institution evolved into the World Economic Forum (WEF), it continued to remain pretty exclusive, until the early adopters in the room started tweeting.

That was the beginning of democratization of WEF. The live reporting allowed those of us “outside the room” to know in real time what the world movers and shakers were up to. It also allowed “those outside the room” to take part, share their views and dare I say influence the future.

With the advances of technology and more specifically thanks to live webcasting, live reporting, SnapChat, Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, the once exclusive events are becoming more and more participatory.

I consider this democratization as an excellent opportunity for influencing policies and politics. This said, I also acknowledge that for it to work, we all need to be engage and embark on the journey in a responsible way.

As social media strategists, the opening up of meetings to “those outside the room” demands that we decide whether it is best to set up event specific social media channels and/or use event specific hashtags.

There are many opinions out there and it goes without saying that folks need to assess and go with what suits them best. In this blogpost I am offering my take based on my own personal experience.

Personally, I would not create an event specific channel. And here is why…..

Think about it – an event has a start and end date. While you may be able to populate the channel with compelling content before and during the event, think of how you’ll go about maintaining it after the event is over. Also, think of what is required in terms of time and effort to build a solid follower base so that your content reaches those who need to know about it.

Here is an alternative to creating event specific channels…. Why not use your already well-established social media channel – that is to say your corporate account(s). By doing so you are not starting from ground zero. You already have a solid follower base and more importantly you can count on all those folks who care about your work and who are willing and able to advocate on your behalf.

This means you do not have to go through a lot of trouble to drum up interest provided you share compelling and engaging content. In doing so, you can leverage your followers networks to raise awareness about your event. At the same time, by using an existing and well-established account you’ll be able to mesh your event content with other type of content, thus providing the necessary depth and breadth.

Keep all of that in mind and let’s add another element to the equation to make your event super special…. And here comes the almighty HASHTAG.

Hashtags are your best allies. They allow your content to standout and allow you to aggregate your content across platforms. A good hashtag is as good if not better than a compelling content.

You know the saying “a picture is worth than a thousand words” Well a good and well-thought out hashtag is worth a thousand words…..

When you embark on crafting your event hashtag, you may be tempted to have your own proprietary hashtag…. Take a minute and check to see if there is already a hashtag that you can use. Check out some of the trending ones and see if any one of these can fit your bill.

Remember, you want to engage with the audience, therefore building on a hashtag which has a solid presence and where there is good conversation going on will only increase chances of your content travelling across platforms and allows a wider audience to engage with your content.

Creating hashtags is a fun exercise, as it allows the team to put on their creative hat and come up with cool stuff. Below are some tips on how to go about to create a memorable and “viral” hashtag.

• First and foremost, sit down with your team and brainstorm.
• Secondly, make sure the hashtag is consistent with your brand.
• Thirdly, make sure your hashtag evokes emotions and is action oriented.
• Fourthly, make it short and sweet.
• Fifthly, since you are having fun in creating it, make sure it is clever and humorous.
• And finally, test it to make sure it resonates with your audience and leaves no room for “misinterpretation”.

With your super awesome hashtag in the back pocket; you are now ready to rock!!!!

Start using your hashtag two weeks before your event. Ask your audience to post relevant content using your cool hashtag. Use it as part of your live reporting, be it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or if you are blogging.

In reporting live from your event, use text, photos and videos to share with the folks “outside the room”:

• the mood in the room and what’s happening in the room
• the backstory
• great soundbites

Use the hashtag to keep an eye on the conversation and at the end of your event, use Storify to compile the best soundbites across platforms.

As a final act, thank your followers for taking part, inform of them on what’s next and/or your next big event. Remember to share your Storify compilation using the ALMIGHTY HASHTAG!!!

#ThatsallFolks! Do let me know if there is a specific topic you want to learn about and we’ll indulge. See you next month.

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I am writing a series of guest blogs for @unsocial500 on how to boost engagement on social media. The purpose of the series is to share best practices and tips. The above blogpost first appeared on UN Social 500 site. If there is a specific topic you want more information and guidance on, please let me know so that I can put it in the pipeline :)