emotional face-twitter

The emotional face of Twitter

by Luke Grange and Celia Prosser

The emotional

face of Twitter

by Luke Grange and Celia Prosser

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First published December 2009

© Knowledge Solutions 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or

by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior

permission of the publishers, Knowledge Solutions. Requests and inquiries concerning

reproduction and rights should be addressed to Knowledge Solutions:

www.knowledge‐solutions.com.au

mailto:luke@knowledge‐solutions.com.au | mailto:celia@knowledge‐solutions.com.au

To purchase copies of this e‐book, please go to www.knowledge‐solutions.com.au

Disclaimer

This publication does not purport to be legal advice and is provided as a general guide only.

Some information may become superseded through changes to the law and as a result of

evolving technology and industry practices. Users should seek professional advice in relation to

their own online activities.

Edited by Jo Tayler www.jot.net.au

Typeset in 11/16pt Calibri by Jo Tayler www.jot.net.au

Cover image: © Photosani/Shutterstock

Images: © Steve Brandon (Flickr) p. 27; Richard Audet (Flickr) p. 30;

Shutterstock pp. 10, 12, 17, 23, 33, 37, 46.

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Contents About the authors ........................................................................................................................ 6

0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 7

1 What is online social media? ......................................................................................................... 9

What is microblogging? .............................................................................................................. 10

The reach of online social media ................................................................................................ 12

What is Twitter? ......................................................................................................................... 11

The emotional face of Twitter .................................................................................................... 11

Microblogging as a ‘segway engine’ ........................................................................................... 11

The reach of social media ........................................................................................................... 10

2 An introduction to the terms and concepts of Twitter ............................................................... 13

Your profile ................................................................................................................................. 13

Following .................................................................................................................................... 14

Followers .................................................................................................................................... 14

Unfollow ..................................................................................................................................... 14

Both ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Blocking ...................................................................................................................................... 15

Retweeting ................................................................................................................................. 15

The live tweet stream ................................................................................................................. 16

Looking at an individual’s tweets ............................................................................................... 16

Searching on topics .................................................................................................................... 16

Hash tags .................................................................................................................................... 16

3 Managing your online communities ............................................................................................ 19

Collaborative business networks ................................................................................................ 19

CBN tips .................................................................................................................................. 19

Friendly social network .............................................................................................................. 20

FSN tips ................................................................................................................................... 21

Linking CBNs and FSNs ................................................................................................................ 21

The reach of online social media ................................................................................................ 21

4 The place for online social media in business ............................................................................. 22

Is your business using online social media effectively? ............................................................. 23

Conference Twitter usage .......................................................................................................... 23

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5 Emotional intelligence and online social media .......................................................................... 24

What is emotional intelligence? ................................................................................................. 24

Where did EI come from? ........................................................................................................... 24

Online social media as social science ......................................................................................... 25

Making sense of emotional intelligence ..................................................................................... 25

6 Personal filtering ......................................................................................................................... 27

Filtering and EI ............................................................................................................................ 28

Inattention blindness.................................................................................................................. 28

Same words, different meaning ................................................................................................. 29

7 Using emotional intelligence in online social media ................................................................... 30

It's a new school playground and it takes time to establish yourself. ................................... 30

Thin slicing .................................................................................................................................. 31

Building trust online to build rapport ......................................................................................... 31

Being clear .................................................................................................................................. 31

You’re selling emotion ................................................................................................................ 32

Is your social media communication style working? .................................................................. 32

Keeping your audience in mind .................................................................................................. 32

8 Learning emotional intelligence .................................................................................................. 34

Stages of learning ....................................................................................................................... 34

Feel the love ............................................................................................................................... 35

Emotions influence our performance ........................................................................................ 36

How can I improve the way I communicate through social media channels? ........................... 36

How’s your reputation? .............................................................................................................. 36

9 Emotional intelligence and online communities ......................................................................... 37

Belonging .................................................................................................................................... 37

What is a value? ......................................................................................................................... 38

10 Applying emotional intelligence to online social media ............................................................ 39

Reflection exercise for EI ............................................................................................................ 39

11 Twitter – it's all about connection ............................................................................................. 42

Connecting people on Twitter .................................................................................................... 42

Rules for connecting ................................................................................................................... 43

The little fox ... ............................................................................................................................ 44

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12 Twitter your business ................................................................................................................ 45

How can Twittering earn my business money? .......................................................................... 45

Building customer loyalty ........................................................................................................... 45

Customers research differently these days ................................................................................ 45

Measuring growth ...................................................................................................................... 46

Customer relationship management.......................................................................................... 47

00 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 48

THE EMOTIONAL FACE OF TWITTER

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About the authors Luke Grange

Luke is open minded, constantly revisiting communication concepts

to improve their timing, application and relevance. His three

passports are testament to an adventurous global career. Leading

Knowledge Solutions, together with the team, he helps clients take

part in new innovation and improving individual’s lives by

introducing online social media and open innovation. Client

engagement is the measure of online social media currency and Luke

has been developing and promoting online communities to help

companies develop their wealth of social media capital over the last

10 years. It’s his passion!

Celia Prosser

While working in the field of injury management in Australia and New

Zealand for ten years, Celia discovered that many of the injuries were

of a psychological nature, caused from interpersonal conflict or

bullying. Most of these injuries stemmed from a breakdown in

communication, poor leadership capabilities and lack of trust. So she

built on her existing skills in health science to include accreditation in

Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Coaching. Celia’s wide range of

skills and experience enable individuals and organizations to improve

their workplace culture to better achieve effective employee social

networking.

The Emotional Intelligence instrument Celia uses is the only

assessment supported by numerous peer reviewed research findings

and publications as well as tangible business case studies.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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Introduction The concept of online social media isn’t really new. While it has only recently become part of

mainstream culture and the business world, people have been using digital media for

networking, socialising and information gathering for over 30 years. So whether you're a newbie

or have been using it for a while this e‐book is for you. It's is designed to give you practical

advice on how to use online social media and enhance improve and strengthen your experiences

of social media.

Online social media didn’t start with computers – it was born on 'line'... on the phone. However,

the invention of the telephone is not what we’re going to explore here. Let’s fast‐forward to

1997, to a social networking site by the name of Six Degrees. This innovative website sought to

bring people together online. But only three years later it closed down. The reasons for its

closure were mainly due to users feeling uncomfortable putting information online and

interacting with strangers – especially when the internet hadn’t caught on quite yet. Basically it

was too early for its time. At this point most people didn’t really ‘get it’ or understand what it

was for or how they could use it in the way we do today.

Despite the early demise of Six Degrees, this site helped establish the central characteristics of

online social media that would later be fine‐tuned and elaborated on.

The move to emerging web‐based technology allowed us to shrink the world – metaphorically

speaking, of course. It allowed us to have quick and easy conversations online. That's what the

world wide web is really all about ... conversation. Initially we thought of it as a big library. Then

we thought it would be a place to publish from. But it’s really always been about conversation

and will continue to be about conversation as we keep moving forward. The fact that it

connected people through email gave us a buzz back in the 90s, but that quickly wore off as our

inboxes overflowed. CCing and BCCing still meant we had to open and read all those emails (not

to mention spam). Basically the system connecting and allowing us to communicate called email

is no longer effective and efficient enough.

But we don't want to linger too much in the past so let's zoom forward to the current day, when

we have reached a tipping point for the technology of microblogging. In a 2009 report completed

by MarketingProfs Research Insights it was demonstrated that new media is on the rise.

With company websites and email marketing approaching saturation levels in terms of usage,

attention is now shifting to interactive online social media.

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Twitter has grown over a thousand per

cent in Australia since early 2009. Its

annual growth since last April exceeds

3200% (ReadWriteWeb).

With these staggering figures in mind,

let's look at how this is affecting our

relationships both on‐ and offline and

what this means for our ability to

communicate with each other.

Let's face it: Twitter is powerful! It’s

bringing more people together than

any other technology in the history of

communication.

Microblogging gives you 140

characters to get your message across.

If it is not communicated effectively

then your audience has no option but

to make erroneous assumptions about

the meaning of that tweet.

This is why we feel it’s important to introduce Emotional Intelligence (EI) into the social media

arena. With microblogging there is even more scope for being misunderstood and more need for

people to think about how and what they say in each message. Because emotions affect the way

we think they ultimately affect the decisions we make.

Have you ever asked your boss for a pay rise when they were in a bad mood? Of course not!

So let me ask you this… how do you know they’re in a bad mood? Is it what they’re saying, or

how they’re saying it? Is it based on their body language and/or a combination of all of these

things?

Now imagine for a moment that you only communicate with your boss online ... How do you

think that would affect your messaging? (Or your ability to get a pay rise!)

It doesn’t matter if you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, YouTube or Flickr; your online

personality is not only part of your overall brand, it becomes an interactive experience for you,

personally, and, more specifically, the culture of your business.

We wrote this e‐book to help you navigate your way

around this new phenomenon and strengthen your

experience of online social media in a productive way.

We also align emotional intelligence and online social

media for the purpose of enhancing effective

communication through these channels – for your

business and in your personal life.

Terminology

You may see the terms ‘microblogging’ and ‘twittering’ used interchangeably as you move through this e‐book.

Twittering is microblogging. Microblogging is a concept and Twitter is one of the technical tools used to execute this concept.

(We would prefer to have called microblogging 'microsharing', which is a term we first heard used by Laura Fitton @Pistachio – follow her, she really really gets it.)

Wherever you see underlined text in this e‐book, it’s a live link. Simply click on the link to open it in your browser.

WHAT IS ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA?

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What is online social media? Online social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate

technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio online.

This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied

perspectives and 'building' of shared meaning as people share their stories and understandings

(Wikipedia).

All online social media platforms share four main characteristics:

• public or semi‐public profiles for users

• members connect with one another because they have some sort of shared interest

• members can view and connect with other individuals (friends or friends of friends)

• online social media Services allow for user‐generated content.

Online social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable

publishing technologies. At its most basic, online social media is a shift in how people discover,

read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology,

transforming monologues (one‐to‐many) into dialogues (many‐to‐many) and it transforms

people from content readers into publishers.

Online social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the

online world and form relationships for personal, political and business reasons.

There are a number of technical tools that facilitate the connecting of individuals online (such as

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yammer, Flickr and the various blogging sites). Each one

of these tools can be used for the reasons stated above however some are better suited for

different purposes.

For example, LinkedIn is better for establishing business relationships while Facebook has

traditionally been better suited to personal relationships (though this is changing as the drive for

the software to be all things to all people creeps in and we see added complexity.

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What is microblogging? Microblogging is a form of online

social media that allows users to

send brief text updates of 140

characters in length, or micromedia,

such as photos or audio clips, and

publish them – either to be viewed

by anyone or just by a restricted

group chosen by the user. These

messages can be submitted via an

increasing number of platforms,

including SMS, smart phone or the

web.

I often hear people say 'I don’t even

blog why would I microblog?'

Well for a start, there is a vast difference between blogging and microblogging. Very simply put,

the content of a microblog differs from a traditional blog in that it is much smaller in length and

aggregate file size. A single microblog entry can consist of a single sentence or fragment, an

image or a brief video.

Users microblog about particular topics; these can range from what one is doing or thinking at a

given moment to the thematic (such as sports cars), to business topics (such as brand

awareness).

Microblogs provide short commentary on a person‐to‐person level, share news about a

company's products and services, provide logs of the events of one's life and more.

Microblogging gives us the ability to communicate easily to people all over the world in an

instant. We can share stories, events and messages easily and quickly. It allows us to collaborate

with people all over the globe. It allows for brainstorming, problem solving and coordination of

activities in a relative instant.

Microblogging fosters cohesiveness, connections, accountability, leadership and authenticity – if

used in the right way.

The reach of social media Facebook accounted for 14.5% of all UK Internet page views during September 2009, equivalent to 1 in every 7 (Hitwise).

Twitter is now the 26th ranked website visited by Australian Internet users (week ending 5 September 2009) (Hitwise).

WHAT IS ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA?

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What is Twitter? The microblogging tool Twitter grew out of a brainstorming session at a podcasting company

called Odeo in 2006. The idea was for individuals to use an SMS service to communicate with a

small group. The first Twitter prototype was used among Odeo employees. It was launched

publicly in July 2006.

Twitter became its own company in April 2007. Twitter really took off at the 2007 South by

Southwest Festival in the USA, where usage increased by 300%.

The emotional face of Twitter Every one of us on Twitter looks different even

though, in its simplicity, it only has four

fundamental facets:

• following

• being followed

• people you follow who also

follow you (both)

• blocking.

We all look different in Twitter based on the four facets in the face.

It's the combination of these four facets that determines your personal community surrounding

you in the twitterverse.

You can even go a step further and argue that we 'sense', 'listen' and

'communicate' through the face. Therefore understanding what you want your face to look like

on Twitter is essential.

LUKE: As I was growing up, my mother often used to say 'It's amazing, isn't it … we are brought into this world with two eyes, a nose and a mouth, yet we all look so different'.


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Microblogging as a ‘segway engine’ Storytelling is so important and the internet

is the perfect platform for us to shoot the

breeze. This breeze may be about rocket

science, some new biotech discovery or the

latest Hollywood blockbuster.

Your knowledge doesn't all reside in your

head. There is a knowledge support network

that is hard at work trying to pass

knowledge to us and from us to others. The

internet allows us to do all this while having

a conversation – which is the most natural

way to pass on what we have in our heads.

A link in a tweet takes you to many places.

One of these is your awareness of the

proximity or alignment you feel with those

you have chosen to follow.

The reach of online social media • By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber baby boomers. 96% of them will have joined an

online social network.

• Online social media has overtaken porn as the number‐one activity on the web.

• Australians are now the third‐highest per‐capita group of Twitter users on the planet.

• It took radio 38 years to reach 58 million users. TV took 13 years. The internet took four years. iPods took three years. Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months!

• 80% of Twitter users are on mobile devices. Imagine what that means for bad customer service.

• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.

These statistics were featured in the YouTube video ‘Social Media Revolution' – it gives incredible statistics on how online social media continues to grow and is worth

a watch.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TERMS AND CONCEPTS OF TWITTER

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An introduction to the terms

and concepts of Twitter

Your profile Help yourself and help others – start by making it easy

to see who you are. Set up your Twitter profile with a

photo and a bio. In your bio, you need to explain what

it is that you are all about. In Twitter you only have 160

characters to do so, which is not a lot, so you really

have to think before you start to describe yourself. It's

a good idea to explain your reason for being part of

Twitter and also give a little insight into your personality. For example, start with something

about how you want to change the world and then say how much you like eating ice cream on a

sunny day.

It’s really important to set your profile up (with photo and bio) before you start to try and follow

others. If you follow someone without having these two things set up don’t expect them to

follow you; you will probably be blocked. The internet is now a two‐way conversation and we all

want to know a little bit about the other people out there before we get into deep discussion.

Everyone has a softer side – it's a great ice breaker just to show a little of this side of yourself in

your tweets and your bio.

Think of a suitable name to use in Twitter as

your username. This is really important as it

makes up part of your identity. If you have a

really unique first name – which most of us

don’t – you could use that. A combination of

your first and second names may be a good

one to use. Think about the context of your

Twitter account

You cannot NOT have a persona online.

LUKE: I often meet up with Twitter folk offline as well as online. If your name is Harry Collins, but you decide to call yourself Spanner on Twitter, expect to be called Spanner when you meet others in the street who recognize your profile photo!

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Following In the microblogging world, just as in real life, we can choose who we want to associate with.

You can actively follow people – and we don't mean stalking them or following them home. You

simply decide that you would like to see their tweets in your 'following stream'. If they decide to

follow you back then they will see your tweets in their following stream.

And so communities get built and overlap and relationships form.

Each time you read a tweet from the people you are following you can unfollow the person with

one click if their tweets stop interesting you or their links are not relevant to you.

Followers If you have a public profile, anyone can decide to follow you. If you have someone following you

then they will see your tweets in their following tweet stream.

There are tools to gather a lot of followers quickly, which are easy to sign up to online, but what

you quickly realize is that it's not the number of followers you have but the value of the

followers that is most important.

We each need to take time selecting who we want to follow and blocking those that it doesn't

make sense to have following you – those who most probably lack authenticity and would erode

the trust of others. It’s not a good idea to automatically follow anyone that follows you.

Unfollow When you hit ‘unfollow’ you won't see that

person again. So what drives us to do it? As it’s so

easy to ‘unfollow’ we thought we should provide

a run‐down on how to manage your community

in Twitter.

If we don't see sharing from someone we

unfollow them; that's life. We have to share the

‘luv’ or else we will be unfollowed. Not everyone

has worked this out just yet so don't believe the

stats about how many people follow each other;

it will change. Things will begin to settle down

and we will begin to see people managing their

following and followers more effectively.

LUKE: People selling to me without having developed a working relationship get the boot if they sell to me in a 'buy this now' kind of way.

The community I have, the people who I follow, would not sell to me in this way.

They let me know what they like and why they like it and if I want I can ask them where they bought it and that's it. It’s done in a conversation because that is what the internet is becoming: a conversation online.


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Both In order to be able to send a direct

message (DM) to another Twitter

user you need to be following them

and they need to be following you.

A DM is really useful once you have

established a relationship with your

follower. It’s not something to be

overused, but it is a more secure

way to send contact details, such as

a phone number, to an individual

without having to broadcast

personal details to

the twitterverse.

Blocking There is a dark side to the tweetspace. Some people punt pornography through tweets. These

individuals will follow you on the offchance that you will click on a link they post, which will link

to a porn site. It’s a good idea to block these individuals as some of their links could lead you to

getting a virus online (or offline!)

When you send a tweet it will go into the main twitter stream for anyone to see. However,

though most Twitter users only look at the individuals they follow. With this in mind, it’s

probably a good idea to block those who you don’t feel need to see your tweets in their

following stream.

Retweeting Retweeting (RT or Via) is a way to relay a tweet you found useful, funny or interesting to your

followers, thereby giving them value. By retweeting you also give the originator kudos for the

value you see in the message. In a retweet you can add a couple of words of your own to

embellish the argument of add your slant.

It’s polite to thank someone who RTs your messages in a short tweet or DM.

If those you follow tweet content (such as URLs), and they are in line with your objectives, they

would have read the content they are linking to. Each time they vet it on your behalf and you

begin to trust their judgment over time. If you retweet such tweets, it's important to double

check that the link is working and that the content that it takes you to is relevant to your

followers before you RT it out across the twitterverse.

LUKE: The other thing I look out for from my followers is that they share.

I recently asked my wife what it is that keeps us loving each other. She replied that we share stuff. online social media is all about sharing – that's what binds the communities online.

Currently the Twitter tools don’t make it easy to get to grips with all our followers in one view. But someone out there is no doubt developing an application to do just that; by the time you read this they have probably convinced you to use it. Soon we will have the ability to fine tune our community and tweak the untapped value out there.


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Similarly, your followers rely on you feeding them valuable content from those you follow and

they will reward you by handing out compliments and returning the favor with relevant valuable

links and RTs into their community.

The live tweet stream The live tweet stream means that a person taking part in twitter can see tweets as tweeters

around the world are pressing the send button. This takes the shape of a stream of Tweets that

just keep coming as people converse with each other, allude to news reports or simply say what

they are thinking.

Looking at an individual’s tweets If you want to see the list of tweets that one particular

person has sent over time you can click on their profile

and read their tweet stream. This enables you to see

who they have been making contact with and what

information they have been sharing with the

Twitterverse. It allows you to come to grips with what

interests them and what their passions are, how they

express sentiments and, ultimately, their emotions.

Searching on topics Another way to see a stream of useful information would be to search on a particular topic in

Twitter. If, for example, you are interested in rugby you could run a search for the word ‘rugby’.

All the most recent tweets with the word ‘rugby’ would be listed as a stream. Running searches

is a great way to find people in Twitter who may have similar interests; you might decide to

follow some of these people with similar interests.

Hash tags Searching online brings us another dimension of the real‐time interaction that microblogging

brings us.

A hash tag is the hash (#) symbol followed by a term or topic that describes a common interest

and develops a following.

For example, there’s a rugby game underway and tweets are flying out about it. A hash tag could

be brought into play (excuse the pun) to create a stream about that particular game.

Let’s say you decide to tweet about a World Series rugby game between Australia and New

Zealand that is taking place and you want to have others reply to your thoughts. You could put

You’re unique ... just like everybody else!


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‘#OzNZrugby’ at the start of your tweet. If others want to join in they would also put the hash

tag ‘#OzNZrugby’ into their tweets and a common search tag develops momentum. You can then

click on the tag and be taken to a stream of all tweets people have posted about the topic. It’s

like watching the game with a group of friends; you get to share your thoughts and feelings and

see what others watching the game think of a try or tackle.

Quite a few reality TV programs have had hash tags assigned to them; viewers add their opinions

about who should be given the prize or who should win. Once again, it’s like having everyone

who’s interested in the

same program that

you are watching

taking part in one huge

conversation as the

event unfolds in real

time.

This can have some

interesting results and

raise issues for TV

programmers, as can

be seen in the story

about MasterChef

below.


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Mainstream media must come to terms with realtime social media results Twitter became a space for the crazed support of the most popular reality show in the history of Australian TV: MasterChef. (The same was also true in many other countries.)

But something fundamental was uncovered: airing the same competitive show across a country with different time zones doesn’t work.

The MasterChef final went to air on the east coast of Australia at 7.30pm. Due to the two‐hour time zone difference, it was to be aired two hours later on the west coast of Australia (when it would be 7.30pm there).

MasterChef, during the series, gained a massive following on Twitter. Do a search for #masterchef in Twitter and see for yourself. For many who use Twitter, the series was made that much more special when shared with new and old friends alike online. The advertisement breaks for once became useful as Tweets leapt between the lounge rooms of viewers. This is entertainment and we will see this concept grow and grow.

Have you guessed the problem? All the viewers on the west coast who use Twitter had to endure the final results, which had been guarded till the last moment, without having seen the show yet. Big letdown to watch the suspenseful last episode already knowing the result! This is reality TV … if the results get out beforehand, the shows rating will go down and the entertainment appeal will decrease. Twitter could spell doom for many very clever shows, some of which will never get a chance to air as there may be no point until TV companies work it out.

A possible solution would be to make the shows more localised and actually incorporate online social media to boost the number of viewers.

MANAGING YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITIES

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Managing your online

communities Let’s say there are, for simplicity’s sake, two types of community networks out there. (The word

'social' does not always apply in the context of online social media.) There are the more formal

collaborative business network (CBN) forums and there are the friendly social networks (FSN).

They both have separate benefits and you should try to manage them as separately as you can.

Following are some rules of thumb that might help establish sanity in your online social world.

Collaborative business networks The collaborative business network (CBN) is a network of professionals with whom you have

come in contact over your working life. As you change jobs over time you may lose touch with

these people (some of whom knew more about you and felt as close as family, given the amount

of time you spent or spend with them). Some of these people may be ex‐bosses who will give

you a reference, which you can place in your profile of this forum. CBNs relate to your

professional life.

But be careful, these networks can also work against you. If you invite everyone you have ever

received a business card from or simply people who you never met who worked for the same

companies you once worked for, you begin to dilute the value of your CBN. This is not a sensible

approach and you may lose credibility as a result.

CBN tips

Here are some suggested rules to follow:

1 Don't dilute your network. Think before you invite or accept someone else’s invitation to

link with them.

2 Work it and it will work for you. (Invest the time.)

3 Maintain contact with the people on the network from time to time – even if it's just a

simple friendly hello.

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4 Before posting any messages take a moment to reflect upon what emotional response you

are wanting to elicit from your audience.

5 You may disagree with this one (you’re welcome to do so!): keep your CBN and FSN

separate. Too many people allow far too many of their business contacts into their

Facebook network and live to regret it!

Sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo can be like a live CV or resume of all your career experience and

professional skills. Recruitment agents and companies are using these more and more to look for

new recruits and check up on job applicants.

These sites also allow fellow community

members to post references. This referencing

has lacked authenticity in the past, but is

starting to be considered bone fide as a critical

mass develops.

Your own credibility hangs in the balance if you

give a reference for someone and it ends up

being untrue or inaccurate. These forums, as a

result, begin to self‐police themselves.

Friendly social network Your friendly social network (FSN) is a circle of people who you choose to share personal stuff

with.

This is more of a leisure activity and, depending on your personality, you may spend hours each

day or evening uploading stuff and checking what your friends have uploaded and written

recently.

This is an absolutely wonderful place to stay in

touch with people while you are travelling. It’s

also a great way to maintain contact with family

and close friends living in different states or

countries. It shouldn’t replace the phone. If used

in conjunction with other communication tools,

this type of communication enhances the bond

you can develop with others.

FSNs must be used with a level of maturity. Too

often we see a naïve approach to the FSN

concept. Think before inviting someone to be

your friend. Do you want to share everything

you are going to upload onto the site with

them? Once you have made someone 'a friend'

to later 'discard' or ‘block’ them could have

negative emotional consequences.

LUKE: Your Facebook profile photo is visible to the world so make sure you’re wearing some clothes in it.

I know someone who wasn't and the whole office took great delight in emailing it around.

LUKE: I don't have the energy to break my Facebook site into multiple security groups and compartmentalize my socalled 'friends' into who can see what videos or photos. I want to keep it as simple as possible.

CELIA: I have seen relationships break up as a result of Facebook passwords being shared. On the flip side, I have heard of longlost friends getting in touch and rekindling relationships ... some even falling in love!

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FSN tips

Here are some suggested rules to follow:

1 Ask ‘do I really want them to see this stuff?’ before you invite or accept.

2 Consider the emotional consequences of a post or upload and, if in doubt, phone and

explain what you really mean.

3 It's a great way to share experience and have fun, but remember there is a serious side.

Linking CBNs and FSNs FSNs and CBNs coming together is becoming more the norm. When you are explaining online

social media to someone, it’s far easier to separate them first and then explain that they often

do overlap. Facebook, for instance, has become a well‐recognized and effective business

platform.

The reach of online social media

YouTube 445

million

users

• #2 site in global minutes

• over one billion video views each day

• 17 billion searches in August 09

• 20hrs+ videos uploaded every minute.

Facebook 390

million

users

• #1 site in global minutes

• over 6 billion minutes spent each day

• over 2 billion pieces of content shared every week

• over 2 billion photos

• 6 million Australian visitors in June 09

• (the equivalent of the 4th‐largest ‘country’ on the planet)

Twitter 55 million

users

• Real‐time micro broadcasting

• 5,000 messages/second sent

• available via web and mobile

• 800,000 Australian visitors in June 09


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The place for online social

media in business Bringing online social networks into the mainstream and embracing them is a relatively new

concept for businesses. The MySpace and Facebook generation has grown up with them. As

these individuals take up management positions, online social networking is simply becoming a

part of the fabric of business – whether in a formal or informal way.

But even though younger generations live their lives

bathed in social media 24/7, this does not mean that

they immediately see the relevance of it in business.

The organizations that work out now how to integrate

online social media into their operations will be the

most successful.

This seems like a simple equation on the surface, but

in reality it's a complex task that needs to be

addressed by effective emotional intelligence skills at

each point along the communication journey by

everyone involved in the conversation. (This includes

those who only listen – don't forget them!)

Twitter is incredibly powerful. It’s bringing more

people together than any technology in the history of

communication.

The benefits of using online social media for business are about return on engagement: Connect with people. Build opportunities through dialogue that would not have otherwise occurred. Then connect them with your business.

4

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Is your business using online social media effectively? As you become more aware of how you communicate online you will engage more and more

effectively, which strengthens your ability to communicate over all social media channels –

including Twitter. It’s important to establish a common strategy for application in each of your

social media channels in order to remain effective online. You can repurpose content from

different channels, but it’s essential that you don’t simply repeat the message, but revise or edit

according to the environment and audience.

Conference Twitter usage Twitter is really taking off at conference venues – this

brings a whole raft of value to the experience of the

event. As the speakers are describing ground‐breaking

findings or concepts, twitterers in the audience are

tweeting the essence of the information to their

followers.

This has an amazing effect in that it brings the outside

world into the room and followers start to build on the

ideas as they are being expressed, so aggregating

value.

Typically a common conference hash tag is used and

followers start to cluster around the threads of

information.

Some people following the information coming

out of a session will simply

take it all in while others will

start to participate and add

their own views and ideas.

We have often seen people

inside the auditorium think

that the tweets are coming

from within – not so. People

outside simply need to get

hold of the context and they

can build on the value being

given and propagate that to

the twitterverse for others

to contribute to.

Imagine if you could hook up with all the people you would consider just brilliant ... We hope this section generates some conversations! Let us know what you think.


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Emotional intelligence and

online social media

What is emotional intelligence? Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be defined as a set of skills that demonstrate how often we

perceive, understand, reason with and manage our own and others' feelings, emotions and

mood states. If that's too much of a mouthful, another definition is: an awareness of and ability

to manage emotions in a healthy and productive manner.

After all, emotions give us vital information and we need to learn to listen to that information.

Where did EI come from? Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions.

Since 1990, Peter Salovey and John D Mayer have been the leading researchers on emotional

intelligence. They defined emotional intelligence as 'the subset of social intelligence that

involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate

among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions'.1

Salovey and Mayer proposed a model that identified four different factors of emotional

intelligence:

• the perception of emotion

• the ability to reason using emotions

• the ability to understand emotion

• the ability to manage emotions.

1 P Salvoney & JD Mayer 1993, ‘The Intelligence of Emotional Intelligence’ in Intelligence,

17(4), pp. 433–42.

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In 1995 the concept of emotional intelligence was

popularized after the publication of psychologist and

New York Times science writer Daniel Goleman’s

book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More

Than IQ.

Online social media as social science Realistically, online social media is about social science

and not technology. Social science can be defined as

the scientific study of human society and social

relationships. It can be argued that these days digital

communication channels:

• can act as your receptionist or first point of

contact

• are your spokesperson

• are the main contact for your talkative customers.

So it makes perfect sense that we should be working out how to use emotional intelligence to

make sure our online communications, especially those in online social media, have the best

chance of being clear and unambiguous, engaging and represent our business accurately.

Making sense of emotional intelligence Below is a table showing the seven skills that define how effectively we perceive, understand,

reason with and manage our own and others’ feelings. We have simplified it so it is not too

overwhelming. We have done this because emotional intelligence is a new concept in the space

of social media. Whether you are new to Twitter or have been tweeting for ages we want to help

you enhance, improve and strengthen your experience of the tools.

Don’t get too hung up on each of the skills. The first step is awareness. There is a reflection

exercise at the end of this section to help with that.

Don’t over‐analyze yourself. Because we try to be aware of how often we demonstrate

emotionally intelligent behaviors, you may think you are low in certain skills. But, in fact, other

people may have a different view of you.

Or vice versa – you may believe you demonstrate

certain behaviors regularly, but other people may not

see it as being so.

It is by developing awareness that the gap can be

closed, creating an opportunity for growth and

learning.

So do you place enough emphasis on how effectively you are communicating online? ... Seriously ... Do you? We would love to have loads of discussion on this point so feel free to build upon what we have laid open.

We admit it ... we also want to open up some dialogue, so have a read and let us know what you think.


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SKILL OF EI DEFINITION EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT

LEADERS USE THIS SKILL TO …

Emotional self‐

awareness

The skill of perceiving

and understanding one’s

own emotions

• recognise how feelings are impacting

thoughts, decisions, behaviour and

performance at work

Emotional expression The skill of expressing

one’s own emotions

effectively

• generate trust and perceptions of

genuineness with others

• inspire commitment from those they lead

when presenting the organisation’s vision

Emotional awareness

of others

The skill of perceiving

and understanding

others emotions

• better understand others and how to

engage, respond, motivate and connect with

them

It is a fundamental element of interpersonal

success and quality of interpersonal

relationships

Emotional reasoning The skill of utilising

emotional information in

decision‐making

• influence marketing strategies (as they take

into account how customers may feel

towards a product or service).

(Low scores may indicate an individual has a

more fact‐based decision‐making style.)

Emotional self‐

management

The skill of effectively

managing one’s own

emotions

• improve their ability to cope with work

demands

• practice effective self‐leadership

• manage stress levels

Emotional management

of others

The skill of influencing

the moods and emotions

of others

• create positive work environments for those

they lead

• generate greater productivity and

performance from others

Emotional self‐control The skill of effectively

controlling strong

emotions experienced

• improve their emotional wellbeing

• think and lead others clearly in stressful

situations

Source: adapted from Genos EI (Research partner, The Brain

Sciences Institute, Swinburne University).

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Personal filtering According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, we gather information from the world.2 Out

of approximately two million bits of information surrounding us, we are only consciously aware

of around 134 bits per second (BPS). At every waking moment we are literally inundated at a

conscious and unconscious level with information.

Imagine going to the supermarket. You walk into the store and you are surrounded by external

stimuli (such as signs, color, noises and pricing) and your body responds. Perhaps your heart

beats a little bit faster, the sound of a crying child disturbs you, you feel warm or cool, you have

self‐talk reminding you to buy milk or you mentally add up the cost of your groceries as you push

your trolley around the aisles.

If we had to be consciously aware of everything we see, taste, touch, smell and feel and pay

attention to it we would be overwhelmed. So we

have a filter Csikszentmihalyi calls the ‘reticular

activating system’, which filters most of the

information for us. We are only aware of a small

piece of the actual reality occurring around us.

Some of us pay more attention to what we see,

some to what we hear. Some of us are more aware

of how things feel and some of us pay more

attention to data, facts and figures.

What that means is that none of us perceive

reality as it really is. We each only perceive a

different set of 134 bits of reality per second. We

all have a different perception of reality. This

explains why ten different witnesses at an accident

scene can have ten different experiences of what

occurred, based on what they have seen, heard,

felt and calculated.

2 Csikszentmihalyi, M 1990, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper and Row, New York.

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As we gather information from the world the mind deletes, distorts and generalizes information

based on the beliefs we hold internally. If someone believes they are stupid, they may delete

from their experience any time they do something clever. Their mind will distort information, so

if someone says to them ‘You are so clever’ they may hear a sarcastic tone where there is none.

Their mind will generalize their experiences to support the belief they are stupid so they create

experiences, such as always failing exams, to support that theory.

Of course this is all unconscious. None of us would want to do this consciously. It’s human

nature to want to be happy and successful. Yet we have so much fear that we fabricate stories

to keep ourselves ‘safe’. Our unconscious minds then control and run programs automatically

for us – sometimes even programs that give us a result we don’t want, one that we struggle

to turn off.

The deletion of information also has an impact on how

we communicate online with other people. Whenever

we judge someone or have negative opinions about

someone or something, we tend to justify our own

reality and make that person wrong. We effectively

delete anything good about them from our reality.

Because of this, when we communicate through online

social media channels our minds will arrange

information in such a way that makes sense to us.

Filtering and EI The existence of these filters and the need to become aware of our emotional intelligence is the

reason we wrote this e‐book. We want to get everyone thinking about what life is like in

Do we ever know with 100% certainty what is going on in someone else’s mind? ... Unlikely!

Inattention blindness Daniel Simons (University of Illinois) and Christopher Chabris (Harvard University) conducted a study to demonstrate how much we can actually delete information.

In their study subjects were asked to watch video footage of people throwing a basketball back and forth. They were asked to focus and count how many times the basketball was passed. In the middle of the video clip a person in a gorilla suit passed through the middle of the game for nine seconds and then out of sight.

When asked, an average of 50 per cent of the subjects didn’t see the gorilla pass through the game! Why? Some people were focusing so much on the counting and data that they missed out on the visual detail of a gorilla in the middle of their view.

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someone else’s shoes. Someone may put a

message online that you view as sarcastic or

arrogant – how do you respond to that?

Hopefully this e‐book helps you to view things a

bit differently, thus enhancing your experience

of Twitter and other social media channels and

helping you build a more robust community,

keeping constant awareness of others in your

mind’s eye.

We need to think about our language usage in

online social media and what happens when we

create a story about what someone else is

thinking. When we use tools such as Twitter we

should realize that our communities are a

collection of people with feelings, needs and

aspirations. We need to consider the makeup of

our audience. Ask yourself: have you taken the time to get to know your audience and are you

trying to build a relationship? Do you get to know them by dipping into the tweet stream each

day or every couple of days.

We can never know for certain what is going on in someone else's mind. We can't possibly

because we don't know what experiences they've had, what values they hold or and what beliefs

they have that shape and influence the way they communicate.

If we simply keep this in mind it will help us communicate more effectively.

Same words, different meaning This old example helps us understand how many meanings can be derived from the same few words. Read aloud the following sentences, emphasizing the highlighted word:

I never said I would do it.







CELIA: Nothing has meaning but the meaning we give it

Have you ever come across a tweet or blog post where the tweeter uses language that’s so familiar to them, but they don’t seem to realise that the same language can have different meanings to people in a different industries or cultures? This can result in a barrier to developing relationships online. So have a look yourself. Notice how you interpret different tweets and how they make you feel – are you making assumptions about the intended meaning?


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Using emotional intelligence in

online social media We must realize and remember that there is a person on the end of all communication streams

and therefore the ability to demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence in such forums is

essential – not only for getting the desired outcome, but perhaps more importantly, for

nurturing ongoing internal and external relationships. We need to 'evolve' online. Just as it takes

time to evolve into the person we are truly meant to be, it also takes time to establish

relationships, communities and networks online.

It's a new school playground and it takes time to establish yourself.

If you join in the game on day one and want

to play hopscotch when everyone else is

playing basketball you're not going to convert

the players to your way of thinking in an

instant. They may even throw you off the

court.

You may need to play a game or two of

basketball (who knows, as your

understanding of the game increases, along

with your skills, you may even get to like it)

before you introduce yourself as a team

player and then suggest a new game.

By this time you have the trust of the other

players and they are more willing to listen to

your ideas and have a go at something

different. The same is also true for online

social media.

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Thin slicing Malcolm Gladwell introduced the concept of 'thin slicing' in his book Blink. He believes we are all

capable of judging and evaluating a person's authenticity and proximity to our values practically

in an instant. This is a process we have within us – to rely on a ‘gut’ feeling about people. If we

believe Gladwell, we simply need to go with our initial instinct in order to screen individuals

online who may or may not add value, as our instinct is practically always right.

On Twitter we are thin slicing individuals in 140 characters to determine whether they are worth

following or not –or whether we should block them altogether. This may sound callous at first,

but when the numbers of followers/following start to gather momentum you need to cope and

relying on your intuition is critical.

Building trust online to build rapport A business that people don’t trust is not going to survive long. Trust is essential. Once eroded,

it’s hard to win back (even if a claim or rumor wasn’t even true in the first place).

To grow your online community you need people to feel they can trust you to live up to their

expectations. One of the things about building trust online is that it's not going to happen

overnight. But it will happen if done correctly.

Building trust is about building rapport. So how do we build rapport online?

When we talk about rapport we really want to look at becoming what can be called a

‘charismatic communicator’. The word ‘communication’ comes from the Latin communicare

meaning ‘to share’. It’s about sharing information, give and take. Communication involves the

ability to be aware of other people and their needs. This awareness enables us to communicate

in a way that is uplifting, inclusive and generally favors others.

Rapport is not about trying to make people like you. (That’s called manipulation!) Creating

rapport is about having people feel they are like you in some way. This develops trust at a much

faster rate. Rapport is the ability to enter someone else’s world; to make them feel that you

understand them and that you have a common bond. The more you do this, the more flexible

you can be in situations and the greater your chances of obtaining relevant information to create

a win‐win situation.

Being clear Nothing has meaning but the meaning we give it – so if we are not clear in our communication

then others will ‘hallucinate’ (make assumptions) about what they think we are thinking and

feeling. They will make their own judgment call and come up with an answer that makes sense

to them. The resulting response, however, may be inappropriate or inaccurate.


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You’re selling emotion The obvious, though overlooked, aspect of communication boils down to the fact that: you’re

selling emotion.

We are emotional creatures. Everything we do is for an emotional response. Think about it ...

when you go fast in your new red sports car or admire the results of your recent botox

treatment, what are you hoping to get out of it? Be honest now … you want to feel free,

powerful, alive, energized, whatever. The point is you want to feel something.

We feel first, then think later – this is our basic survival instinct. You don’t tend to analyze how

many claws the lion has; you feel fear and run like hell. (Penn)

We need to consider that how we communicate is going to have a huge impact on our ability to

form really valuable networks and productive relationships and maintain our reputation and

credibility in the marketplace. We create our own marketplace now by who we follow and who

we have following us.

Is your social media communication style working? Are you attracting attention? (In the right way, of course.) Are you convincing your audience you

have something worthwhile to say? Are you converting leads to customers (having listened to

them and replied)?

This all starts with you having to decide what end emotion you want someone else to feel and

working your way back from there. This is easier said than done; it takes conscious effort.

Mark Twain once sent a letter to a colleague with a note attached: ‘Sorry about the long letter,

I didn’t have time to write a short one’.

Keeping your audience in mind In order for us to make as much sense as possible to our audience we need to ask:

• What do we want our audience to feel as a result of this tweet?

• Could the message be construed as ambiguous, aggressive or damaging in some way?

• Is your messaging resulting in you being like what your audience expects you to be like?

• If not, how can you say it differently to be more yourself and authentic?

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This really applies to microblogging

as well. We might think writing a

message in 140 characters is

simple, but actually conveying

everything we want to say and get

the tone right in fewer words is not

that simple at all.

The constraints of 140 characters in

a Twitter post means we have to

put quite a bit of thought into it to

get it right. Don't forget that every

tweet conveys emotion and can be

misinterpreted! It is a skill that we

get better at with more experience

though.

Christopher S Penn, in ‘It’s how you make me feel that matters‘, explains that communication is

about selling emotion. He lists some examples of some of the well‐known folks in online social

media and asks:

Examine the feelings and notice what is going on for you:

How does Chris Brogan make you feel?

How does Gary Vaynerchuk make you feel?

How about Ann Handley, Pete Cashmore, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Perez Hilton or

Justine Ezarik?

The answer is never 'nothing'. They all create emotions in you that bring you closer to knowing

them and help build trust. Each of the above examples all elicit a certain emotional response

from the audience and this helps build trust.


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Learning emotional intelligence Online social media exposes us: We have long been segmenting our work life and private life and

the passion in both has been diluted as a result. Nothing is sacred on the internet and we are

exposed based on what we paste onto it, good or bad. Community shame is the law by which we

are judged. If we want to delve into the depths of the internet and drag up the dirt on someone

who has multiple identities it’s only a few clicks away. Don't feel you have to try hard to find out

more about someone’s identity. It's out there for you to find. And likewise for other people

learning stuff about you.

Hence we should practice constant awareness that what we are saying online could be forever.

Make sure that you don't do anything that could adversely affect your online community unless

you are prepared to have your name and all exposed. And in the blink of an eye you will be

unfollowed.

Microblogging has made it as simple as pie to never have anyone you don't want traipsing round

your backdoor. Microblogging lets you mould a true and authentic community, which will form

over time and provide value throughout your life.

We often hear people complain that it’s too

hard to learn how to mold their communication

so that it’s more effective and received well by

their communities. But it’s not impossible – we

can change and we can learn!

For example, it’s no secret that you can sweat

your way to more sculpted abs and a stronger

heart. But research has found that you can also

build a better brain.

Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that

Changes Itself, stated 'For about 400 years,

scientists viewed the brain as a complex

machine ... and that meant it couldn't grow

new parts.'

Stages of learning

Unconscious incompetence

Conscious incompetence

Conscious competence

Unconscious competence

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'But recent studies and imaging technology show that

it's more like a muscle – or a group of muscles working

together – that bulk up when exercised.' Much like a

football player who cross‐trains to improve his

performance (sprinting, weightlifting and stretching),

cross‐training your head with different tasks boosts

your mental fitness by increasing your brain's neural

connections, blood flow and even the weight of the

brain itself.’

So even though people may have the misconception

that you can’t learn how to be more emotionally

attuned to both yourself and your audience it’s simply not true. Like learning any new skill, if you

practice, you move through the different stages of learning until the skill becomes part of who

we are – our neurology ‘learns’ a new behavior.

Take yourself back to when you learnt to drive a car. When you first got behind the wheel there

was so much to think about. You had to coordinate all the parts of steering, changing gear,

depressing the clutch and brakes. It all seemed so challenging back then, but now you probably

don’t give it a second thought.

Feel the love Because emotions affect the way we think they ultimately affect the decisions we make. This is

where emotional intelligence comes in. Exercising emotional intelligence not only makes a huge

difference in the workplace and life in general. These skills are essential for building

relationships online. For example:

• Effective leaders communicate how they feel to inspire and generate confidence from

others.

• High‐performing sales teams think more about how their customers feel to strengthen

their selling relationships.

• Teams that work more closely are more aware of how emotions help and hinder the

team’s performance, increasing job satisfaction and retention.

Ask yourself the following questions.

• Have you ever been in a situation where you did not hire or accept someone because

something just didn’t feel right?

• Have you missed out on a job promotion because of poor leadership or communication

skills?

• Have you ever had any interpersonal conflict or been bullied?

• Would you ask your boss for more resources or time off when you can see they are having

a bad day?

Emotions influence the behavior that we display to others. This gets reflected through our tone

of voice, our body language and our facial expressions. So how can this be transferred into

effective communication online? It’s the same principles as face‐to‐face interaction: listening,

sharing and remaining as transparent as possible.

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks ... but you don’t have to be an old dog to be stuck in a rut!


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Emotions influence our performance How do you perform at work when you feel frustrated, bored, distracted, irritated or annoyed

about something or someone? Contrast this to how you perform when you are upbeat, positive,

satisfied and optimistic. Now think about your interaction online. Have you ever posted

something and then later regretted it? The

trouble is, now it’s up there for everyone to

see (or if you delete it, you’re probably too

late and lots of people have seen it).

These days many organizations have online

social networks. Within these networks the

members demonstrate different levels of

emotional intelligence according to their

individual experiences and filters. In general,

businesses are not used to communicating

through multiple online channels. Because

online we don't have tonality and body

language to help us – especially over

modalities such as Twitter, where you only

have 140 characters to get your point across

– we begin to make judgments or

assumptions about another person’s

character. It’s only human.

How can I improve the way I communicate through social media channels? Great question! We're so glad you asked. You can start by trying to improve your own emotional

intelligence and apply it to our communication online. Read on!

How’s your reputation? A 2009 social networking study by Deloitte LLP found that 74 per cent of employed Americans believe it’s easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Deloitte also reported that nearly one‐third of those surveyed say they never consider what management, co‐workers or their clients would think before posting material online.

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Emotional intelligence and online

communities

Belonging It would be nice if we could force our communities and networks to love us and stick around

forever. The truth is we can’t. They either exist or they don't. Members either swarm or they

leave. They are either interested and participative or they are NOT (and this includes lurkers who

simply listen).

So what is it that glues these communities together? It's a similar essence that makes a group of

colleagues go to the pub after work together. They have the opportunity to go straight home but

they don't. They feel they belong in this group (this network) and are better able to fend off any

attacking lions by being in a

group –it’s basic survival.

There is also a common

thread, which appears

through the language we

use. It is interesting to note

that words such as

authenticity, transparency,

honesty, trust, genuineness,

safety, respect, security,

integrity and congruency,

all seem to come up when

speaking about online social

media. These are values

that are important to many

people in our communities.

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What is a value? Very simply, if you place importance on something then you value it. Therefore values are

the way we judge good and bad, right and wrong, appropriateness and inappropriateness.

In our minds we unconsciously arrange our values in hierarchies. As we evaluate our

actions, the more important values are usually searched for first. After the more important

values are found and satisfied, then the next most important ones become important. We

can liken this to those Russian babushka dolls. All our values are a subset of our one big

value and the more layers you take off the values become more subtle and the dolls

become smaller.

If we feel that life is meaningless or pointless; if we

feel conflict over issues at work or home, in our

relationships with ourselves and with others, it is often

a result of conflicting values. Because values are

emotional states we want to experience on a daily

basis and they shape our decisions and what our lives

look like.

Therefore, ultimately, our values will dictate how we

communicate online.

Values are the unconscious rules

we live by.

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Applying emotional intelligence

to online social media Re‐read the emotional intelligence table on page 26.

Now let’s break down the skills listed to examine what they mean if applied directly to online

social media. See the table on behavioral indicators, EI skills and examples on the following two

pages.

Note that, as yet, there is no research available to show which of the skills is a direct predictor of

certain behaviors online.

We have a project underway to uncover this. The predicted outcome of this is to make it easier

to directly measure each skill and assess how it is affecting people’s ability to build effective

online relationships.

Reflection exercise for EI Keep a diary for the next seven days. Take note of situations that occur online and how they

make you feel. How did you react or respond? Come back to some of the situations a day or two

later and note how you feel then.

At the end of the week, examine your diary. Reconsider each event and the emotions you felt,

the strength of the emotions and your reactions to them.

Consider whether your reactions were appropriate to the situation and how you expressed your

feelings online.

Recall your thoughts, your body language, facial expressions and whatever else is relevant for

you at that time. Did that affect how you responded online?

Rerun the situation through in your mind. Could you have done it differently with more

emotional awareness and expression? Would this have made a difference?

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BEHAVIOURAL INDICATORS SKILLS OF EI EXAMPLE

Engages in creative ways of enhancing and

disseminating relevant information through online

social media.

Resolving group conflict with appropriate etiquette

(i.e. outside the view of non‐partial online parties).

Integrating various Online community members'

perspectives and feeding those out to the other

online groups of interest.

Emotional awareness of others

Emotional management of others

Emotional expression

Emotional self‐control

Emotional self‐management

A great example of 'what not to do' is posted on Peter

Shankman’s blog, How an 'accomplished communicator'

communicates. The sender of an email publicly shared a

not‐so‐nice side of his personality in a very public setting,

which could potentially be disastrous for his career. Had he

been more aware of his emotions perhaps he would

probably have thought twice before posting the message.

Is proactive in openly discussing difficult issues,

concerns and people problems in the appropriate

online social media channel of communication (e.g.

Facebook, Twitter, email, video conference call).

Can advocate an issue or cause that is often

sponsored by business.

Emotional expression

Emotional self‐awareness

Over $7,000 was raised in a short time through microfinance

for women in poverty. This mostly accomplished through

Twitter. Had the original message been incoherent, this may

not have been the outcome. This was a very effective segue

to a tweet‐up (face‐to‐face meeting) to further serve the

cause – all organised through Twitter, Facebook, a blog and

Flickr.

This is a great example of how communication can be

initiated online that also results in face‐to‐face interaction.

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BEHAVIOURAL INDICATORS SKILLS OF EI EXAMPLE

Encourages and supports team members in their

online social media activity to contribute actively and

fully to projects. This also acts as a decision support

system and crisis management. It also allows for

assembly of relevant people at short notice.

Emotional awareness of others


Emotional reasoning

Twitter was used to broadcast updates regarding Australian

bushfires in the state of Victoria in early 2009.

Online social media allows for collaborative

brainstorming and contributes to project outcomes

regardless of where all contributing parties are

located.

Microblogging is often used as a tool to aggregate

relevant material and allow all parties to co‐create

valuable knowledge.

Emotional reasoning


When looking for information on how competitors are

performing, a marketing group could create a hash tag in a

tweet to categorise a topic within their defined project

group. (For example, '#prodcomp'.)

Each time a marketing department member finds a related

article on the internet they can send out a tweet with this

tag. Then the person who is developing the competitor

analysis can search on this hash tag and extract all relevant

articles. That person can also check at any point to see how

many related articles have been found by the group doing

the research, give encouragement and motivate the group

members along the way.


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Twitter – it's all about connection

Connecting people on Twitter The highest level of networking is not when you connect yourself with others, but when you

connect others with others who need each other. When this level of connectivity is attained the

degrees of separation becomes inextricable and the value gained is enormous. When these

individuals start to share information it is profound, but when this information is shared and

others who might have an ontological bind to it start to tap the source something amazing

happens. The strength of the multiplier effect experienced in knowledge sharing is something

we have never seen to such an extent before.

Microblogging is the platform that will drive this free flow of innovation and knowledge

aggregation. Twitter has already reached a tipping point in this regard and it is passing

knowledge at the speed of conversation.

Restrictions to knowledge sharing from the microblogging platform: Einstein took the concept of

time very seriously and for good reason. You just can’t change it. It’s set in our three‐

dimensional world. There is an amazing book called Einstein's Dreams in which the author

explores what the world would be like if we had a different perspective on time. For example

one chapter delves into how the lives of people living in a valley where time is faster the lower

down into the valley you live. You move slower as you walk up the hills surrounding the valley.

Microblogging can’t get away from the concept that it is best lived as it happens. Authenticity is

a result of us being in the moment. We can't delay a tweet until early morning and expect it to

have the same result. It's just not real!

There are a number of Twitter applications that will allow you to store up tweets and deliver

them in a staggered approach. This is a useful tool for some, though we feel the true value of

Twitter is to know that there is someone on the other side of the tweet who just pressed the

send key – someone’s stuck in a bus shelter has just tweeted that a car drove through a puddle

and sprayed water up onto them. This type of tweet is real time.

That's what a conversation is: real people, living right now, talking about it.

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Rules for connecting OK we can't leave you hanging like that without some kind of solution, so here goes:

It’s going to take a combination of social media tools to successfully manage our network of

communities, but I guess you knew that already.

It’s going to take a combination of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (with a few others in the pot

to get the balance right).

It’s complex, time consuming, convoluted and ever‐changing, but massively rewarding if you

manage all your social media channels effectively and listen to the signals. These signals are

drawing on all the skills of emotional intelligence!

Repurpose your content to spread yourself effectively across these channels. Do so, however,

without repeating yourself word for word and remain authentic and real.

LUKE: Twittering in the time zones

I have an extensive network in Europe and the USA. If I start to move my focus towards Twitter and hypothetically start to ignore other social media channels as Twitter takes up more and more of my social media time I'll start to ignore those who are not in a similar time zone to me.

OMG we are getting back to how is really is in the real world and chatting to people who are awake when we are ... how about that! Seems strange to even contemplate.

I have thought about this long and hard and unless I stay up very late or get up very early there are followers and people I follow who I won't actually get to see in my tweet streams. I will have to actually go and look at their tweet streams. I'm not tending to develop a relationship with them as I don't see their tweets that often so I'm going to start to forget about them over time and may even unfollow them (heaven forbid).

What's the point of following loads of people on the other side of the world who don't get involved in the conversations that I am so passionate about?

It would seem that any time zone which is more than a few hours either side of me will start to be forgotten in months to come. (I'm generalising here as there are a few dedicated tweeters in the States and Europe who do some crazy hours and I’m not really conscious of where they are and what time it is where they’re tweeting from, though they are not the norm.) So for me Twitter is a latitudinal relationship builder – I'm starting to adapt to this way of thinking.

Loads of you may think that I'm on another planet with this concept but in Twitter it's the authenticity of the moment that gives me a thrill. Delaying tweets is a marketing game. Keep it real people and it will work for you. I don’t feel the Luv unless I think there’s a person behind the tweet. I’m not a ro(bot) so why should I reply to an automated tweet sent by a bot?


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It’s important to extract the essence of community for us to understand how to connect online.

The following anecdote highlights the importance of loose ties.

The Little Prince … It was then that the fox appeared.

'Good morning' said the fox.

'Good morning' the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

'I am right here,' the voice said, 'under the apple tree.'

'Who are you?' asked the little prince. He added, 'You are very pretty to look at.'

'I am a fox,' the fox said.

'Come and play with me,' proposed the little prince, 'I am so unhappy.'

'I cannot play with you,' the fox said, 'I am not tamed.'

'Ah please excuse me,' said the little prince. But after some thought, he added: 'What does that mean: “tame”?'

'You do not live here,' said the fox, 'what is it you are looking for?'

'I am looking for men,' said the little prince. 'What does that mean: “tame”?'

'Men,' said the fox, 'they have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?'

'No,' said the little prince. 'I am looking for friends. What does that mean: “tame”?'

'Oh, it is an act too often neglected,' said the fox. 'It means to establish ties.'

'To establish ties?'

'Just that,' said the fox. 'to me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world ...'

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Twitter your business

How can Twittering earn my business money? This question gets raised all the time when we speak about using social media. People want to

know where the money or return on investment (ROI) is.

Social media is not a quick win – it takes time but you can see value building along the way.

What's the ROI of getting dressed in the morning? It allows you to go outside ... it's not about

instant gratification ... online social media is about building relationships.

Social media is not free – it takes people, it takes technology and it takes time. All of these things

are limited resources and they all have a specific cost, but they also yield a specific result. That

result is in the building of a worldwide community, which can reap rewards by developing new

marketplaces. Eventually it will result in a cost reduction in customer service, improved market

research and escalating business intelligence. And if you use online social media well to promote

your business, you will see ROI in the long run.

Building customer loyalty Twittering helps build customer loyalty, it will get you more customers and it lets you identify

what your customer community perceives and determines your brand to be. Think about that

last point and repeat it out loud.

As long as you twitter with emotional intelligence, you will be able to strengthen your

relationships and make social media work for you. Your bought advertising spend will be partly

replaced by word of mouth or earned advertising (kudos), which is a lot more effective and less

expensive.

Customers research differently these days We listen to our community just like we did in the veggie market on the high street. Not a lot has

changed, except we spend more of our time and develop more of our communities online these

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days. Monitoring mentions of your business online is important. Measure the negatives and

manage them. Work on improving identified weaknesses or faults revealed by your customers in

the online community.

Measuring growth If you want to think about dollars

you need to establish a baseline

to measure from: growth from

period to period, the before and

after statistics of how it's

generating you income.

You may want to keep an activity

timeline and then look at your

ROI (ROI = (gain from investment

– cost of investment) / cost of

investment). Measure the before

and after of:

• sales revenue

• transactions per month

• net of new customers.

Don't forget to include branding. Have a look at negative versus positive mentions over your

social media streams. Measure hits to your website and foot traffic through your business

outlets (if relevant). You will soon see that if used correctly and appropriately social media will

take your customer relationships and your business profile to new heights.

Olivier Blanchard’s slidedeck on return on investment has taught us a lot.

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Customer relationship management Have a look at: searchcrm.com (the self‐proclaimed ‘world’s best customer relationship management resource’).

The trends are pointing towards the uptake in the relationship economy and the future of the new web with its interactive technology.

• At the Gartner Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Summit expert Paul Greenberg stated that customer experience is now the key differentiator in the business ecosystem. Web 2.0 technologies like blogs, wikis and social networking sites are changing the way companies interact with their customers and putting the customer experience centre stage. Gartner recommends companies looking to improve the customer experience get started with Web 2.0 as soon as possible.

• Gartner's Scott Nelson feels the CRM market is changing as companies begin to understand what it really means to be 'customer‐centered' and focus on the customer experience. According to Nelson, Web 2.0 is taking a central role in forward‐thinking organization’s customer strategies.

• Frank Eliason, Comcast's director of digital care, has established a group within Comcast to monitor blogs and social networks and respond to them. While Eliason's division is providing customer service, it operates separately from the company's customer service division. However, Gartner predicts that by 2010 more than 50 per cent of companies that have established an online community will fail to manage it as an agent of change.

• Don't focus on CRM failure. A Gartner survey of CEOs found that building closer relationships with customers will be the top strategy for growth between 2007 and 2010. Nelson urged companies to investigate Web 2.0 and social networking sites, which he believes will be one of the biggest areas CRM h


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Conclusion These days we have the ability to communicate easily to people all over the world in an instant.

We need to be conscious of creating our online social media personalities in the same way that

businesses consciously create their branding guidelines and key messaging guides.

Businesses need to be aware that their brands are now represented by individuals in the

organization and that a lack of emotional intelligence can result in potentially disastrous

consequences.

It is imperative that employees are equipped with the skills to communicate effectively online.

More importantly if employees are feeling dissatisfied, fed up, and undervalued offline, this will

have a ripple effect online. Therefore having an emotionally intelligent organization is good for

business.

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The emotional face

of Twitter by Luke Grange and Celia Prosser

Let’s all embrace a new era of understanding!

Take a look around at the evolving social and business landscapes in today’s world ... extremely rapid technology‐driven change is creating unprecedented competitive pressures for survival.

But how does this affect our ability to get along? What are the benefits of communicating in an emotionally intelligent way?

Where does the human factor fit into the ever increasing use of online social media such as Twitter in our business and personal lives? Luke and Celia decided to explore the concepts of communicating effectively online – and the consequences of not doing so!

Whether you’ve been using online social media since day one or are fairly new to it, this e‐book should get you looking at things in a new way, help you to be more aware of your online communications and show you how to navigate your way around the online social media spaces.

Online social media for business is about ‘return on engagement’. Connect with people, build opportunities through dialogue that would not have otherwise occurred, then connect them with your business. It’s not irrelevant to you and can be very very powerful.

www.knowledge‐solutions.com.au

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