So I’ve been up since 4:30am this morning – initially woken up by my hungry son but then as I settled back and I had an epiphany. Egad! I sat up. That Facebook fan page our company was just hired to help shape, seed and feed is a group!
Damn – I should have figured that at first glance - the ‘George Bush is still disliked by 1 million people” related group should have tipped me off. Groups have no control over their associations (other than to disable it) but, as one would expect, Facebook pages do.
Not many organizations are building groups these days – the focus is on pages! so I wrongly assumed it was page – not looking at the obvious signs. I won’t make that oversight again.
Facebook groups arrived first, pre-2008, and so if your non-profit or organization was ambitious in 2007, chances are that their facebook presence could be a group not a page. Unfortunately, groups are rather limiting compared to pages. And so for growth, the transition is necessary.
We’re no longer able to convert Facebook Groups into Pages. You’re welcome to create a Page and notify your Group members that you’ll be using the Page instead of the Group going forward. If your Group has too many members to send them a message, we unfortunately aren’t able to provide you with any other solutions for how you might contact them about this change.
SHIZEN KOOKENS!!!!! (i don’t know how to spell sh*t cookies in german)
I just finished another course teaching social media to job searchers in downtown Toronto. The attendees were wonderfully diverse both in careers, interests, and backgrounds – so representative of diversity Toronto. I felt honoured to be in a room sharing with individuals so rich in experience. I really think I should add a coffee social afterward as I just wanted to share in their excitement… hmm. note to self!
As an indication of how heavily demanded this learning is, the course was signed up overcapacity (again!) at 35 individuals and ten more on the waiting list. (the room was small and so very hot). One of the nicest things said to me at the beginning of the course was from Eddie who grabbed my hand in hello and said “I’ve been looking forward to this ALL month”. And I believed him. What faith!
I mean to upload my current presentation and tools in my linkedin profile (coming!) and still – I wanted to share a very neat video link to anyone drifting through..
I was asked today how I ‘keep up’ in terms of staying ahead on trends, thought leadership, emerging technologies, etc. Staying relevant (or fighting for relevance as I was six months ago when I returned from mat leave) is very time consuming.
For the moment, I dedicate 14 hours a week to keeping fresh – every night, every day of the week from 7 – 9pm just on new business startup, reading, engaging and learning. (yes.. my house is a mess and I have scrapbooks that have no photos in them).
Admittedly, it is a tough practice for anyone in a profession moving a the speed of light and if you are like me – unsupported by those comfy subscriptions to Forresters, e-marketer or Jupiter, etc, then it can be a real challenge (thank god for twitter).
Okay – so how I keep up:
- twitter – following people I respect both local and international.
- following choice bloggers like Charlene Li (formerly Forrester) and George Colony from Forresters because I can’t get Forrester reports right now but can still follow their blogs
- read business books – which are not immediate sources of emerging tech or trends but give me strategies or structure or approaches to business
With the brain learning enthusiam of a mother coming off maternity leave, I fell into itunes to feed my commuter time and discovered a great deal of information available in podcast/videocast form. After listening to many duds, I found some great podcasts. Among my favorite podcasts are the University channel within iTunes. I’ve been listening to Stanford’s Social Entrepreneurship podcasts as well as the Harvard ideacast channel. (See my favorite – an interview with Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia on the Stanford section). I sprinkled in the daily news like the Wall Street Journal morning reviews – a paper I can ill afford in the worst of times. For entertainment, I watched/ listened to the Onion News Network and Shill – a podcast about PR and social media featuring a great deal of swearing and whisky drinking (no ‘e’ – apparently they drink Scottish whisky).
Posted by Laurie Dillon Schalk 
