Lee Stacey - Filed under '@LStacey'

March 15, 2011

Is sharing really caring?

When I hit the "Publish" button on my blog post"Social media suicide - the conclusion" the other day I thought I was done with that topic. I had found out what I wanted and it was now time to move on... that was until I found myself sat on the train tonight, reading my feeds and sharing the stuff I like with my Twitter buddies, such as I do.

Sharing is caring

On my phone I have this great app called my6sense which by way of clever algorithm surfaces content from my RSS feed subscriptions that is most likely to be of interest based on what I've previously shared using the app. I scan, I read, if it's good I share. The more I share, the more the app knows about the kind of stuff I like. It's just full of shareable win. In fact today, it would appear that it was a little more full of win than normal as my good friend and colleague Hamid (@HSirhan) got all excited and came as close as you can get on Twitter to looking like something from Dawn Of The Dead but with a hankering for links rather than brains. This was what got me thinking... he was loving it but was everyone else?

Like it or lump it

Prior to my social media suicide experiment I took the view that if someone didn't like my content, they could simply unfollow. If they are not interested in what I like, they aren't interested in me and that's fine. No skin off my nose. I really didn't care at all but now my network is smaller and the relationships I have with those that are a part of it is essentially stronger, should I perhaps reassess this? Perhaps it's time I dropped that ridiculous, egotistical attitude. While I know I can't please all of the people all the time, I could probably do better in trying not to piss them off. Because my followers aren't all 30 something male tech geeks with a passion for social media and digital marketing, chances are that when I spray Twitter with links that interest me, most of them are probably of no interest to most of my followers and in some cases may even flood their timeline. This would piss me off if I were in their shoes.

What about those that do like it?

Amongst those that I'm connected to there are a few (Like Hamid) that really do like the links I churn out and there are even a few folks that follow and engage with me because we have those things in common. If I were to stop sharing these links, they would be missing out on the cool stuff I really enjoy sharing with them. Often it's a conversation starter and that's where the real value in all this social stuff really is, right?

I have actually been here before

It's not the first time I've had this little moral tug of war. I've been here before. A while back I even set up a Twitter account exclusively for sharing links and sharing links only. Conversation over here and links over there. Everybody's happy. Of course, it didn't work because the content and the conversation actually go hand in hand. It was a silly idea.

The solution

I've not really got a solution; that's why I'm writing this rather rambly blog post. With a bit of luck you might leave a comment and help me out on this one. I will be doing a couple of things differently from now though. Firstly, I'm going to share a bit slower. Bombarding my timeline with links probably isn't a good idea. Secondly, I'm not going to rage so much when someone I follow bombards me with irrelevant links. I now understand this and know that they are only doing as I once did.

The moral of the story is simple:

Treat your followers as you wish to be treated by those you follow yourself.

If you liked this blog post, you may also like:

Should I commit social media suicide?

Tweet silly!

A Twitter follower is for life

Blogging for normal folk

Filed under // Category: Social media LStacey content followers lee stacey my6sense sharing social media suicide twitter

Comments [9]

February 13, 2011

Social media suicide - @LStacey is dead, long live @LStacey

After some great comments on my last blog post "Should I commit social media suicide?" and from Twitter, I've decided to go ahead with the experiment and start again with a fresh new Twitter account. Just to keep things simple I did some name swapping so that I could keep my ID @LStacey and not lose my (and I hate this term but...) personal brand completely. I've also followed all of the people I engage with on a regular basis. These people are important to me so I don't want to lose them! I guess this is a kind of pre death resurrection, if such a thing is possible.

Social-media-suicide-rebirth-eggs-lee-stacey

The story so far

I'm pleased to say that so far the results have been good. Within an hour of setting up the new account almost 50 of my contacts have made the jump. This will probably have a positive effect on my relationship with those followers. I can imagine some of them may have felt like they were just 1 in 15k when really they meant a lot more than that but probably couldn't see it.

A good feeling

It's funny but I feel slightly refreshed. Once again I am able to use the "All friends" feed instead of a favourites list. Everything feels much faster too although I suspect that's more placebo than anything else.

Next steps

I guess the next step is to sit back and watch. Not sure if I'm going to kill the old account off altogether or just let it rot. My be worth leaving it with a message saying that I've moved home.

It may take me a little while to get all my different social media services connected again as I do use quite a few tools on a regular basis. I'm bound to forget a few!

I'll keep you informed as things develop!

Related blog posts

Filed under // @LStacey Category: Social media followers rebirth social media suicide twitter

Comments [2]

November 25, 2010

Now PLEASE stop ripping me off... Thanks!

Many moons ago I created a whle bunch of demo content for a music production application called Fruityloops (now called FL Studio). Ever since then that music has been (vaguely) remixed more times than I've had hot dinners... This is nice. I like this. Unfortunately, another thing that happens a lot is that people try to pass it off as being their own. This is not nice. I do NOT like this.

I'm not going to start taking people to court over it. It's not like they are going to make any commercial gains or even mean any real harm by it so I'm taking the passive approach and uploading the originals to YouTube as this seems to be where it is happening most. My theory is that mine should rise to the top because they have the distinct advantage of not being fake. Also, I have pretty good web reach.

Funny thing is that none of the songs in question are even that good! :D

Old skool Pilchard on YouTube

Filed under // Category: Music cool stuff demo dsl flstudio fruityloops lee stacey lstacey music pilchard

Comments [4]

March 5, 2010

CV Secrets - A Great Employee Introduction Game

At my place of work, FreshNetworks (a division of Fresh Minds) joiners introduce themselves to the firm by playing a game called "CV Secrets". The basic idea is that you have to stand up at the weekly meeting and give details of five positions or events from your past, one of which must be a lie. The rest of the firm has to guess which is the lie. It's great fun and gives everyone a snapshot of your personality as well as a bit of past history.

Just for a bit of fun, I thought I'd share mine with you.*

Out of the following, can you guess which is the lie?

1) I was trained in hand to hand combat and aggressive negotiation by a former government agent.

2) I came into contact with several orally transmitted diseases.

3) I was heavily involved with video pornography.

4) I used to service the needs of the clergy.

5) I used to get my knees dirty to keep housewives happy.

Over to you!

*close friends, colleagues (having already played) and family members, please don't give the game away.

Filed under // cv secrets freshminds freshnetworks lee stacey lie lies lstacey personality truth

Comments [12]

December 22, 2009

Why I Made A Facebook "Fan Page" - And Why You Should Too

People see the words "fan page" and instantly think you have delusions of grandeur when you create one; unless you're a superstar, that is. In my case, there are some very simple reasons behind doing so.

Privacy

The new Facebook privacy settings are a total pain in the arse but surprisingly they are actually better than they ever were, just a damn sight more complicated. The good thing is that you can lock things down and only let people see what you want them to see. You can organise people into lists and exclude them from certain content and it all works pretty well (I think). Rather than exclude my extended network from things and have to add people to lists every time I get a new friend request, I've decided to only have my "inner circle" as Facebook friends. My extended network don't need or even want to know what I'm saying to my Mum.

Content

I create a lot of content that my extended network are interested in (because that's more than likely how they came to be in my extended network in the first place) but my friends and family are probably not. In fact, they probably get pretty peeved with me flooding them out all the time. I can publish content to a Facebook fan page and only those wo want to see it will see it.

Connecting

A fan page allows you to grow a larger extended network. Anyone can join in and get social. It's a good way to increase your reach and influence without compromising your personal life.

Sharing

Pages allow you to share with more people and allow more people to share with you. Whether that be photos, links, or whatever content. Sharing is good!

The House Vs. The Pub

Your Facebook profile is like an online version of your house. Your friends and family may come and go as they please but you don't just want to let anyone in. They may pee on the carpet and that's never a good thing! Your Facebook page is more like your local pub. You can go and chat to anyone you like and meet new people if you wish to do so. Anyone can come in, anyone can leave. Anyone can choose to interact with anyone else or not. Entirely up to them.

The Spammy Bit :p

Now I've given you the whys and wherefores, please allow me to spam you with a link to my Facebook fan page:

http://bit.ly/LStacey_FB

You don't have to join if you don't want to but I do like to be social and if you do too, it probably wouldn't hurt. :)

Filed under // Category: Social media facebook fan house lee stacey lstacey page pages privacy pub social media

Comments [1]

December 3, 2009

Confused By Google Wave?

It appears that most people are. What I'm going to attempt to do for you here is not a review or a how to... That would be pointless. It's not a released product yet so it could change drastically and suddenly at any point. What I shall be doing is giving you my take on what Google Wave is in it's most basic form, what it can be used for and the concept of the wave it's self.

NOT A Social Network

Whenever I'm helping someone get to grips with Wave, one of the first questions they ask is how they find other users or friends. Well, you don't. I'm not saying you "can't" because there *is* a social aspect to it but it's not a social network, it's a communication tool. You don't trawl around the email network looking for email addresses to add... Think of Wave as being email 2.0. Email with benefits. If you're a web forum user you can also see it as being like a forum on demand!

Collaboration

Sure you can use Wave to talk to an individual, just like email but it really comes into it's own when you want to collaborate on something as a group. If a person has an idea they can start a wave about said idea and invite other contacts into the discussion. Just like CCing someone in an email but again better. It's better because they can be brought into the conversation at any point and see the whole conversation as it happened. Using the "Playback" feature, they can also see how the conversation evolved post by post. Particularly useful if a conversation has multiple threads.

Threads

Real life conversations are not perfectly linear. They have multiple threads. Something said earlier in a conversation might be revisited later etc. By having a threaded view you can respond to anything and interject at any point in the conversation but unlike real life conversations, this need not cause the main thread to go off topic. By using playback, you can see when and how various subtopics were started.

That's All... For Now

I'm not going to say any more. The purpose of this article is to de-confuse. If you want to learn more, Google it.

Filed under // Category: Social media collaboration communication concept confusing conversation email forum google lee stacey lstacey social media social network wave web

Comments [4]

November 25, 2009

Happy Sad - Made With Microsoft Songsmith

(download)

Just downloaded the demo for Microsoft Songsmith, very quickly penned some lyrics and off I went...

Terrible song, terrible singing, terrible lyrics but it works...

Lyrics:

No one will ever understand

the feeling I get when I hold your hand

When I look into those eyes I float away

Here I am under your spell

broken hearted can't you tell

It's hard to live when you're so far away

Chorus

You make me feel so young so old

You make me feel so scared so bold

You make me feel so good so bad

You make me feel so happy sad

Twisted broken torn in two

It hurts to be in love with you

But the feeling's getting stronger every day

It's worth it though cos I have faith

that one day I'll keep you safe

I won't be beaten by the games they play

(Repeat Chorus)

I will give my life to you

I promise I'll be strong for you

You mean too much to let you slip away

It's crazy but it's true you see

I know you are the one for me

It's you and me forever all the way

Filed under // Category: Music happy sad lee stacey lstacey microsoft music songsmith wma

Comments [16]

November 20, 2009

Marketing On Twitter... So Many Still Getting It Wrong

So you've got a business, you're on Twitter and you're auto adding people based on keyword searches in the hope that they will follow back. Some do, some don't. When they follow back you hit their DM inbox with a link to your product/service and you can tweet all day about your awesome things, right into their stream. Perfect, right?

WRONG

Sure it's very low cost and due to low cost if it only works occasionally that's fine and dandy but you could and should be doing much better. I'll ask you one simple question: What happens to spam if it ends up in your inbox? You delete it, am I right? I know I'm right. The same thing happens with tweets but users are also blocking these days and enough bocks can lead to exclusion from search and in some cases an account suspension. Great plan. How's that working out for you?

So what's the right way?

Successful marketing is about communication so that's what you have to do. Keyword searching is still a good place to start and with tools like Twitterfall you can even refine your search to a geographic location. So let's say you fix thingies in London and you've set up a search that will highlight people with broken thingies in the London area, that's a perfect start but what next? Simple, when someone in London has a broken thingy you can respond by letting them know who you are and how you can help. It's always good to strike up a little bit of a conversation and show that a) you're human and b) that you have the knowledge to help them out. Once you've done that they will probably ask you for more details on your service. That's the trick, making them ask you!

So you've made a new customer and they are happy with what you've done. They will probably now follow you on Twitter and because you made them happy they are going to tell other people. By engaging with that person you have just extended your potential reach to everyone they know too.

Building a fanbase

So you're getting followers and making new business left right and centre. Good work but you can still do more and expand further on this. Now that you're building a fanbase you can start publishing information to your feed that they will find useful and informative... No, I don't mean spamming them with links to your products but you can inform them of any special offers and/or promotions and depending on your demographic link them to things they will want to see or read. Now would also be a good time to start a blog if you don't have one. If you're a local business, people like to know how and what you're doing. If you're investing into their community or taking part in something fun in the area, that's exactly the sort of thing they will want to read about. Publishing your blog posts (once is usually enough) to your Twitter feed keeps them in touch with you on a more personal level.

Blogging is easy these days and with sites like Posterous (what I'm using right now) it's as simple as sending an email.

Just the basics

Those are just a few basic tips on how to push your business or service on Twitter but there is still more that you can do but that all comes down to your own entrepreneurial spirit and creative mind. There are many more social media tools out there that can help you out and Twitter is a good place to be looking for them. The most important part (and I've said this so many times before) is engagement. Make friends with people and talk to them! One human being to another... Just like we used to do but digitally.

Of course there are automation tools out there that can make your life easier but you're talking to human beings (mostly) and they like to know that you are one too. If your information stream is purely robotic people will soon lose interest.

If you're looking into promoting your business on Twitter, I hope this information is of some use to me. Feel free to comment on the post or shout at me on Twitter ( @LStacey ), I'm always happy to help if there's anything you don't quite understand or if you're struggling to make it work.

Happy Tweeting!

Lee Stacey

Filed under // Category: Social media blog blogging business engage engagement fanbase lee stacey lstacey marketing posterous pr promote promotion social media spam tweet tweeting twitter twitterfall

Comments [0]

November 9, 2009

Lee Needs A Job

Now that we're firmly planted in November I can officially announce that after two good years working as an IT Manager for a prestigious property development/investment firm based in London's Mayfair district I too have become victim to the dreaded economic downturn and find myself seeking employment. Usual story, the company needed to downscale considerably and that meant downscaling IT also; so here I am, looking for work!

I'm unemployed but not unhappy

I could get rather upset and wallow in misery but that's not how I roll. I see this as an opportunity to find a nice new challenge to sink my teeth into and I'm rather keen on finding a role in digital marketing and/or community management as these are things I've actually been doing for a number of years but more as a hobby or a bolt on to previous employment roles.

Social media maven (tongue in cheek :p)

I think it's fair to say that I have a rather good understanding of social media and it's associated tools and techniques. Amongst other things, I have over 12,000 followers on Twitter, a very well read blog and I'm not a spammer so that's got to mean something, right?

Are you looking for a job too?

This blog post actually has a dual purpose. Obviously my main objective here is to promote myself and find some work; preferably something I WANT to do. The other purpose is that I firmly believe that in the current climate anyone in my position (and there are quite a few) needs to stand head and shoulders above the rest so now is a good time for polishing that personal brand! If like me you're looking for work, get out there and shout about it! Get blogging, get tweeting and get engaging (does that work in that context?). Of course if you do nothing but shout about needing a job you won't get much of a following so you'll need to do a bit of work. You've probably got some time on your hands now so start creating content that interests you and I can guarantee that it will interest others too. If you're writing about things you enjoy, it's actually pretty easy. Try it. Out of that your personal brand will be born, you will gain a following and opportunities to network. Don't go follower crazy either. There are various techniques for gaining followers quickly and I advise against all of them. The best thing you can do by far is be yourself and engage with other people sharing your interests.

Hire me... Please...

At the moment I'm collaborating with a professional copy writer on my CV (resume) using Google Wave, which in it's self is pretty exciting but I can send you a draft version if you're desperate to employ me right now. (I'm being positive here, OK?)

If you know of any positions currently vacant that might fit someone like me, please contact me by one of the means listed below:

Email: me@leeneedsajob.com

Twitter: @LStacey

MSN: msn@leestacey.com

Skype: pilchardmusic

GWave: lee.a.stacey@googlewave.com

Thanks for reading and...

Giz a job! :D

Lee Stacey - Musician / Geek / Thinker

Filed under // brand branding community digital google it lee stacey leeneedsajob lstacey management manager marketing personal redundancy social media twitter unumployment wave web

Comments [1]

September 20, 2009