Ask, Know, Do

How to Deliver Your Message on the Web

Writing Effective Internet Content

Whether people access the Internet through desktops, laptops or mobile devices, they consume Web content at a different pace and for different reasons than they do books, magazines, or newspapers.  People want their online information quickly, and they don't want to jump hurdles to find it.

So how can you determine the best way to deliver your message on the Web?  How can you learn to write for the websites and email with clarity and precision, and in a way that engages and holds people's interest?  The answers are in "The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating for the Digital World."

How to Inspire Trust

Srinija Srinivasan, Yahoo! Editor-in-Chief, says, "Economy of language has been a cornerstone of the Yahoo! voice and a core tenet from our early days.  Online audiences expect far more information, in much less space, in far less time, than ever before.  Attention spans are short, and every pixel counts."

"Today Yahoo! is one of the most visited Internet destinations in the world, and our focus remains on connecting people to their passions--matching the right content to the right person at the right time.  As much as ever, we are passionate about helping others realize the potential of the Web to enrich their lives and their communities.  We hope this guide helps you make the most of your online pursuits."

A Look at What's Inside

The chapters of the Yahoo! Style Guide take you from the most basic Web issues to more technical concerns, but the order you read them in is up to you.  The guide includes some chapters that you'll want to read from start to finish, and others that you'll leaf through as a reference.

 The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World

What is TED?

TED started in 1984 as a one-off conference meant to unite thinkers and creators from three worlds: technology, entertainment, and design.

Since 1990, though, the conference has been held annually and has come to embrace a broader scope in which interesting figures from all areas are brought to speak on a variety of topics, usually discusses through a lens of what’s happening in the world and where we’re headed. The talks are limited to 18 minutes (though some on this list run slightly longer), during which time the speakers are challenged to give "the talk of their lives," and many do.

TED’s site hosts more than 700 of the talks for free, viewable by everyone looking to learn more about the world and get inspired about the future, from college students to industry pros. There are 20 of the most inspiring talks posted on OnlineUniversities.com that might have a special appeal to recent college grads now making their way in the world.

When you’re feeling a little lost, these can guide the way.  Here is my favorite for those attempting to sell a product, service or idea.

Freedom to Learn, Know and Do

A cyberattack that was traced to Chinese hackers, which stole some of Google's proprietary computer code and attempted to spy on Chinese activists' emails, was the "straw that broke the camel's back," according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.  The Google controversy coincided with cyber attacks against over 200 American companies, believed by U.S. authorities to have been launched by the People's Liberation Army.

As the glow of the 2008 Summer Olympics faded, Brin said, the Chinese government began ratcheting up its Web censoring and interfering more with Google's operations.  On Jan. 12 of this year, Google said it would stop self-censoring its search engine in China, citing a major cyberattack that appeared to target the email of human rights activists.  Last Monday, Google began routing mainland Chinese users of its search engine to a site in Hong Kong that the company isn't censoring.  Brin indicated the idea to reroute users was "actually relayed to us indirectly from the Chinese government," although he declined to elaborate.

Google's decision to stop censoring searches on its China-based servers, rerouting search requests instead to its uncensored Hong Kong facilities, is historic.  Hong Kong's physical reality, its legal protections and lack of corruption, and its potential to be a truly open society are powerful advantages for foreign businesses.  The strength of support among Hong Kong's younger citizens for preserving Hong Kong's special status shows that the passage of time is not ineluctably on Beijing's side.

"One of the reasons I am glad we are making this move in China is that the China situation was really emboldening other countries to try and implement their own firewalls," Mr. Brin said.  When it discovered it was struck by the cyberattack in late 2009, Google found evidence the motivation was to peek at the emails of Chinese activists, Mr. Brin said, that's when he had had enough.

While many Internet freedom proponents are cheering the move, few large companies have come out pledging their support.  Mitch Kapor, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, said Google's moral stand made sense long term, because China will eventually get more open. "More businesses ought to follow 'gut principles' and shareholders and customers ought to support and encourage them to do so," he said.

Whether others will follow Google remains unclear.  On Wednesday, Go Daddy Group Inc., a provider of Internet addresses, told members of Congress it would cut back its business in China, following new Chinese requirements for information about registrants.

Announcing China's 1949 founding, Mao Zedong said, "The Chinese people have stood up!" Now, Google has stood up, and the game is on between Mao's heirs and the Internet generation.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2010

Social Media in the Workplace

Abstracted from Ray B. Williams' article on Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com)

Does the use of social media in the workplace benefit organizations and educational institutions and help productivity or hamper productivity? That's a question many leaders and educators are debating in organizations, even while students and employees immerse themselves in social media for both personal and business purposes.

" How much work can 'hyper-socializing' employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with others via text-messaging or obsessively checking social networking sites?"  That's a question that John Agno in his Leadership Blog, recently asked.

His reply was, "They can accomplish a great deal in today's 24/7 virtual environment.  The Gen Xs and Ys have a gift for multitasking (because they have integrated technology into their lives) and now have the ability to remain connected to each other and thus serve themselves and their employers well."

Part of the argument against social media in the workplace and learning place is the paradigm of what should go on in those places. We have separated social interaction from "work" interaction, seeing them as not only different but in conflict. Our society has viewed work and play as being separate and distinct. Think back. When today's older workers were in their 20s, they might have taken a break on the job to call friends and make after-work plans. In those earlier eras, companies discouraged non-business-related calls, and someone who made personal calls all day risked being fired. It was impossible to envision the constant back-and-forth texting that defines interactions among young people today.

What about business use of social media? 

Business.com released additional results of its milestone study of social media usage across American business, this time with a focus on B2B (business to business).  This research should put an end to the argument over the relevance of social media in the industrial sector. In fact, it appears that by percentage, B2B is ahead of B2C (business to customer) in some key categories. This report is full of details by industry, job type, and social media platform. It’s significant because of the scope of the study and the statistical rigor applied to the results. The study showed a statistically significant difference in social media activity with B2B’s dominating in 11 out of 14 social media categories. So obviously, organizations are seeing the value of social media, and are attempting to leverage that advantage for business purposes.  If social media is beneficial to business, why would they try to restrict its use for employees?

In many ways the issue of social media is one of determining who establishes both the value and need for products and services--the business supplier, which has been the norm till now, or the consumer/client, which has become the new paradigm?

The impact of social technology on business as usual is and will continue to be profound. Instead of the old model of change, from the inside out, the new model of change is from the outside in. Markets are shifting at the speed of a mouse click. These markets represent the rate of interest change (both economic interest and consumer interest) and the interest is changing based on the consumption of information and knowledge. The voice of the customer used to be analyzed based on old feedback mechanisms and survey’s which were poorly designed and time-consuming. Today, the voice of the customer is instant, transparent and designed by the content and context of open and transparent conversations. The new world of instant communications controlled and influenced by the end consumer is the outside force forcing fueling organizational changes for those businesses wishing to thrive or survive.  However, the pace and strength of these outside forces is changing the very change models used before by the leading management consulting firms and organizational change gurus.

McKinsey, one of the top management consulting firms in the world, is changing their approach to the creation and implementation of organizational change models. Organizations will have to learn change is now a permanent process and the only thing that should be managed is the rate in which you adjust to it. Not adjusting or accepting that change is permanent means you’ll be left by those that do.

What is AdWords?

Business owners know that engaging prospective customers with a blended marketing approach maintains a high frequency of touches and provides enough content to keep them engaged.  Today, the Internet is where many customers choose to engage with you because they are increasingly reliant on the Internet.

Remember the slogan, ‘The Internet changes everything’?   In the advertising world, the success of Google is providing evidence of that statement.  Google's simple text-ad service, AdWords, enables marketers literally to count how many Internet surfers click from a Google text ad to the company's Web site. That ad model is increasingly preferred to traditional TV, print and radio ads that have difficulty quantifying how many people are actually paying attention.

eCommerce has survived 12 years on the Web, evolving considerably over that time.  One of the biggest challenges and opportunities is the growing importance of search.

"The Role of Search in Consumer Buying," a study by comScore (sponsored by Google) found that 63 percent of search-related purchases occur in offline retail stores.  The results also indicate that 25 percent of searchers purchased an item directly related to their search query--of those buyers, just 37 percent completed their purchase online.  The study examined the search behavior of 83 million Americans, conducting over 552 million searches within 11 product categories using one or more of 24 search engines.

The comScore study analyzed the search behavior during the 2005 holiday season.  The 8.6 million who subsequently purchased items online were found to be intense users of search engines across all product categories.  They performed nearly ten times as many searches as non-buyers.  Anecdotal evidence shows that sites using both search engine optimization of organic listings and paid search strategies increase conversion rates because traffic goes up dramatically with links in multiple positions.  Users choose to click more frequently on an organic listing when they also see a sponsored Adwords listing.

Paid search spending has increased faster than any other online marketing channel.  Search marketing revenues in North America totaled $5.75 billion in 2005 and are projected to reach $11 billion in 2010 (SEMPO).  The Department of Commerce estimated total eCommerce sales for 2005 at 86.3 billion, an increase of 24.6 percent over 2004.  Total retail sales in 2005 increased 7.2 percent over 2004, with eCommerce sales accounting for 2.3 percent of total sales.

Landing pages to the online Adwords advertisement provide a complete company message, but one that is slanted in favor of the topic most relevant to the arriving customer.  The Internet has made it possible to reach out to an almost limitless market, at any time, and usually for little cost.  Yet sometimes, reaching out to one very important customer becomes more important, more effective, and more manageable than trying to reach 1,000 average prospects.

For example, influencers are people whose opinions may cause important customers to stay loyal, and even spend additional dollars.  Creating unique brand-related experiences that the influencer will then report on to peers communicates your competitive advantage. Engaging influencers ties closely with conventional concepts of market segmentation.

Using Adwords, mutual fund giant Vanguard in November 2005 spent less than $.50 per click, one-tenth that of some rivals, and 14% of Internet surfers exposed to the ad clicked through to its Web site.  That performance beats the response rate from a typical direct-mail effort, for example, of about 2%.  And it's why Vanguard upped its Internet ad spending by 33% since 2003, to $12 million of last year's $40 million total spent on ads, while it cut every other media category, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

For financial planners looking for Baby Boomers who need to plan for retirement, AdWords now offers a "site targeting" program in which its banner ads could appear on a handpicked network of blogs, like www.SoBabyBoomer.com, and news sites.  Sean Haggerty, Vanguard's marketing chief, says, "As big as we are, we are a Web and 1-800-number company.  We have no bricks and mortar, so our Web site and call centers tell us what works."

The Online You

There is no such thing as an eraser on the Internet.

Search engines provide endless opportunities for ego surfing, Google bombing (influencing traffic so it spikes a particular site) and Google juicing (enhancing one's "brand" in the era of micro-celebrity).  Overshare and follow yourself too closely: Google narcissist.

But Googling people is also becoming a way for bosses and headhunters to do continuous and stealthy background checks on employees, no disclosure required. 

Google is an end run around discrimination laws, inasmuch as employers can find out all manner of information--some of it for a nominal fee--that is legally off limits in interviews: your age, your martial status, the value of your house (along with an aerial photograph of it), the average net worth of your neighbors, fraternity pranks, stuff you wrote in college, liens, bankruptcies, political affiliations, and the names and ages of your children.

Here are some tips to clean up your digital dirt:

1.  Register with a free online profile manager such as LinkedIn.

2.  If you must MySpace, refrain from posting the risque;
consider cloaking or using an avatar.

3.  Order a background check and then contact vendors if
you find incorrect information.

4.  Think before you blog.  Anything personal that you post
may come back to haunt you.

5.  Fight fire with fire: Drive traffic with your own blog or by
hiring a search-engine optimization outfit.

A Closing thought:

35% of executive recruiters, who use the Internet to check out prospects, say they have eliminated candidates based on what they have found online (up from 26% in 2005).  Although 82% of job candidates expect recruiters to look them up online, 33% of job candidates have never conducted a Web search on themselves.

Source: BusinessWeek, June 26, 2006 and March 27, 2006

Measuring Customer Loyalty

You can measure customer loyalty by asking one simple question rather than relying on lengthy satisfaction surveys:

"On a scale of zero to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend us to your friends or colleagues?"

Measuring the difference between the percentage of customers who give high responses and those who give low ones, correlate closely with a company's revenue growth. 

Interested in tracking your company's customer loyalty scores?  Here is how a new book, 'The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth' (Harvard Business School Press) by Fred Reichheld, founder of Bain & Co.'s loyalty practice, recommends using this technique:

Keep it Simple: Lengthy surveys often lower the number of responses.  Ask yourself, "Would customers recommend the product or service?"  Then give them a chance to offer open-ended feedback.

Watch for Bias: If pay is tied to results, employees may be tempted to urge customers to rate products or services highly.  Have a third party collect the data and then audit the results.

Remember the Goal: Don't obsess over the scores themselves.  The ultimate goal is motivating front-line people and keeping the focus on the customer's experience.

Source: BusinessWeek, January 30, 2006

Social Networks fueled by the Law of Reciprocity

Applying technology to provide easy access for societal dialog has the promise of peer-to-peer co-creation of knowledge and rapid consensus solution-building.  Today's technology holds the promise of quickly connecting problem solvers with problems, converting actionable knowledge into value that transforms the world.

Back in October 1971, an engineer (who I knew when we both went to a small high school in Upstate New York during the late 1950s) named Ray Tomlinson chose the '@' symbol for email addresses and wrote software to send the first network email.   At the time, it must not have seemed very important because Ray didn't bother to save that first message or even record the exact date. Ray Tomlinson has been called the father of email because he invented the software that allowed messages to be sent between computers.  Ray made it possible to swap messages between machines in different locations; between universities, across continents, and oceans.  At the time, he was working for Boston-based Bolt, Beranek and Newman, which was helping to develop Arpanet, the forerunner of the modern Internet.

Now, over thirty years later email messages are a large part of our lives in today's network society and I bet you can't remember the first e-mail message you ever sent either? 

While email and the Internet have "changed everything" in the way we work and communicate, many are finding that reading and answering email messages can consume too much time; time we would rather spend doing something else. 

Wouldn't it be great if we could harness the good parts of email communication and do away with the bad parts?

Practicing the Law of Reciprocity

Perhaps, we can by being selective as to who we let into our networks while retaining the ability of instantly collaborating with many people across time zones and borders.  The foundation of network technology is how the people we connect with think about the collaboration process.  Social networks that are built on the "law of reciprocity" flourish.  Those networks that violate the law of reciprocity die.  So what is the law of reciprocity and how can you use it in your personal and business lives?

"One of the most potent of the weapons of influence around us is the rule for reciprocation. The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us."  Robert B. Cialdini, author of The Psychology of Persuasion (William Morrow, 1993)

Reciprocity flows from the law of love which is "the gift of giving" without the "hope of reward or pay," or serving others. This 'law of love' is identified in many different ways--for example, in Wayne Baker's business bestseller, "Achieving Success Through Social Capital" (Jossey-Bass), this law of love in the workplace is described as the "law of reciprocity."

The law of reciprocity is not what can best be described as "transactional reciprocity."

Baker says that, "Many people conceive of their business dealings as spot market exchanges--value given for value received, period. Nothing more, nothing less.  This tit-for-tat mode of operation can produce success, but it doesn't invoke the power of reciprocity and so fails to yield extraordinary success."

Baker explains, "The lesson is that we cannot pursue the power of reciprocity.  When we try to invoke reciprocity directly, we lose sight of the reason for it: helping others.  Paradoxically, it is in helping others without expecting reciprocity in return that we invoke the power of reciprocity. The path to reciprocity is indirect: reciprocity ensues from the social capital built by making contributions to others.

The deliberate pursuit of reciprocity fails, just like the pursuit of happiness.   Acts of contribution, big and small, build your fund of social capital, creating a vast network of reciprocity. And so those who help you may not be those you help.  The help you receive may come from distant corners of your network."

Who are the most popular authors in the world?

The first systematic record of book translations is the Index Translationum.  In 1979, the system was computerised and a true cumulative database began to take shape.  Since there is no systematic data on global book sales, the Index has come to be the best available proxy.  If you want to ask the question “Who are the most popular authors in the world?” then the Index is the only way to get an answer.

It is this glorious variety that makes the data so absorbing.  Although commercial authors do rather better than literary ones, there are plenty of both.  Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, Balzac and Kafka all feature in the top 50. But then again so do Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Alistair MacLean, Ruth Rendell and J.R.R. Tolkien.  Children’s authors are well-represented, though perhaps surprisingly J.K. Rowling doesn’t make it.

One also can’t help feeling that the institutions haven’t quite justified their place on the list. The Roman Catholic Church appears at number 48, yet one doubts if its works have ever had quite the mass-market appeal of Tolkien, who appears one place further down.  And was it supply push or demand pull which propelled Lenin (4), John Paul II (17), Marx (30) and Engels (36) to their elevated positions?  Even Disney, whose works are plainly popular, has derived much of its success by retailing its versions of other people’s stories.

But though the list has its deficiencies, it does highlight one extraordinary fact: namely, the overwhelming dominance of English language writers, and of British ones in particular.  If we take the top 50 places on the list and exclude institutions and those whose works have been heavily pushed by those institutions, there are 44 authors left.  Treating the Bible as authorless and the Grimm brothers as one author not two leaves just 40.  Of these some 25, or over three fifths, are American or British.  If the list were confined to authors whose work was first published in the 20th century, the Anglophone predominance would be stronger still.

Size isn’t everything of course, but English is also remarkable for the manner of its formation. Anglo-Saxon forms the bedrock of the language, providing almost all its most commonly used words, but bedrock isn’t the same thing as mass.  There are only around 25,000 Anglo-Saxon words in use today.  The rest of the half million or more words come from other languages, notably French and Latin. And that gives English a rare and wonderful suppleness.  It can be earthy when it chooses to be, high-flown when it cares to.  English is one of the few languages in the world in which one can swear like a German and make love like the French.

Source: "Strong Language" by Harry Bingham, January 6, 2006, The Financial Times, www.FT.com 

The Rule of Partial Insanity

With so much structural change happening within our world, it is important to guard against the belief that our way is the right way for everyone.  For the first time in human history every single one of our global problems is human-created.  Every one is a reflection of our choices and behavior.  And this means that the state of the world is a reflection of the state of our minds.

Most people think they know how the world works and this "knowing" prevents their perceptions from evolving.  A very few understand that their perceptions are only their truth---not other people's truth.  Perhaps, Mark Twain said it best when he talked about the Rule of Partial Insanity helping us express civility and charity between those who differ in their religious and political perspectives:   

"Let us consider that we are all partially insane.  It will explain us to each other, it will unriddle many riddles, it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now.

That is a simple rule, and easy to remember. When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is
insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic--for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his.  All democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the republicans and mugwumps know it. All
the republicans are insane, but only the democrats and mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect; in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

When I look around me I am often troubled to see how many people are mad.  This should move us to be charitable toward one another's lunacies."