RoadWarrior Tips on #TravelTuesday

#TravelTuesday this week comes from @SarahActiance – and she looks at a few tips if you’re on the road a lot, or even a little..

Before I moved to the USA (just over three years ago now), I worked for Actiance in the UK – living 90 miles from our UK office, I worked from home.  I’d cut my commute to a mere 10 seconds – I could do email to zzzmail in about 10 seconds.  Less if I hurried.  I swore to never again commute.

Roll the clock forward and I now not only commute from my home in Pacifica, CA to our HQ in Belmont, CA, but I also travel quite extensively.  I’ve learned to pack for a two week international trip in 15 minutes flat, to keep a bag packed at all times and that if my passport isn’t with me, then that’s the day that I’ll be heading to the airport.  I’ve also learned great tips on being a regular traveler  and thought I’d share them this #TravelTuesday. Here’s just a few from me.

1. Always travel with spare power.  No matter where you find yourself there are never enough power sockets – airport, hotel room, conference – and they’re always strategically located just out of stretch for your laptop/ipad/phone.  Check out @VictorGaxiola showing his #roadwarrior status at the 2013 SIFMA Social Media Compliance seminar.
2. Always have an emergency shirt/blouse/spare undies.   Seriously.  You never know when you’ll be delayed or stuck in transit.    And when that happens, its usually the middle of the night and there’s no laundry service going to turn around your requirements in the short time frame that you have.    And while I applaud anyone who’s prepared to wash out their blouse/shirt in the sink in the room, drying it with the hairdryer and then ironing is surely some kind of endurance sport that doesn’t burn enough calories to be interesting.
3. Plan time into your schedule to eat properly.   Living off fruit and cheese plates on @united or pizza on @Amtrak might save you time short term, but it’ll cost you in nutrition and indigestion afterwards.
4. Get local social knowledge.  If your network is like mine, it will be varied and you’ll always have someone in that city that you’re traveling to who knows more than you do.  Take advantage of that social knowledge.    Whether it’s dinner companions, or simply advice on transit (subway or taxi?, which hotel? how long to the airport?) use your network to help you out.  Whether its publicly or privately.   I’ve never had someone say no, when I’ve asked for local advice on how, what, when.
5. If you’re a social being – then share on social  – I’ve tagged my check in clerk at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Vegas (and got an upgrade as a result), I’ve met folks in person that I’ve only known through social networks by letting them know I’m in town, I’ve got foursquare offers, check in deals, new followers, friends and connections all by sharing reviews, comments and content.

So there you go, that’s my five tips on being a road warrior – what are yours on surviving the miles,  keeping your sanity and avoiding jet lag? – I ask this question as I sit at home with no travel planned for the next four weeks… but you never know….

@VictorGaxiola demonstrates how to make friends with power

Amtrak Pizza – not a balanced diet

SEC Clears Social Media for Use: What does it mean?

On April 2nd the SEC issued a press release, which has been widely reported in a number of ways, as to what this actually means for organizations.  In this blog, lets take a look at what it actually means.

WHAT DOES THE SEC SAY?

Here’s what the SEC actually says “companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) so long as investors have been alerted about which social media will be used to disseminate such information”.

The exact text is on the SEC website:   http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-51.htm   We’re pleased to see that the content was tweeted as well.  Interestingly, it was in 2008 that the SEC actually cleared the use of websites for the dissemination of key information.  It feels like its been a long five years to get the same clearance for social media.  But perhaps not.   On August 6th 1991, some 17 years earlier the first website was born, at CERN – the first URL for that website was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html in case you want to check it out.  So, it appears progress is being made.  Our world is speeding up.

WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

• It means that, so long as a public company announces in advance, what social outlets they will use, that they are able to disseminate key information through these channels.
• In general, key information is usually mailed out or put on a wire service like Marketwire or PR Newswire and also onto the company website.

DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY WILL NOW ALL BE ON SOCIAL?

• Not necessarily, it doesn’t meant that individuals in companies will necessary be all now posting content through their individual network updates.
• It does mean that firms will need to open up access to social media so that Financial Advisers, Relationship Managers and those assisting clients with investment information can access this information – it really IMO opens the floodgates for firms now saying, that if you have financial professionals who need to keep up to date with key publicly traded companies, then they need to see this information.  If you don’t, then it would be like forbidding a professional to read the newspaper or watch TV.
• Usually when public companies distribute key information like this, they distribute it through a “corporate property” – in social terms this would be the company Facebook page, or the company Twitter account, or the company page on LinkedIn.
• Record retention requirements means that companies will have retain records of what they posted.  i.e. LinkedIn company updates.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THE DISTRIBUTED TEAM?

• It means that they will require access to social in order to conduct their work effectively.
• As a result of the SEC’s ruling, anyone that needs to keep an eye on key information from public companies will NEED to have access to social in order to remain competitive.
• The socially savvy public company will use individuals to push this content out, along with corporate brands. Take Reed Hastings of Netflix for instance – this whole thing started because it was HIS Facebook page, not the company page.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS and PUBLIC COMPANIES?

1)      Archiving company updates for public companies will become a must have.  Public companies will need to archive the company updates and any other updates that are related to Regulation FD.

2)      Ensuring that the right person / people approved this content is key.  They will need to prove that it was approved by the relevant individuals/groups in the organization.

3)      Companies may choose to share content to a “Shareholders Group” on LinkedIn, a group on Facebook, or a private feed on Twitter, thus requiring that content is approved and archived, is again key.

4)      Some companies might select individuals to share this key information – so ensuring that the content is again approved and archived is key.  However, the SEC points out, that “The report of investigation explains that although every case must be evaluated on its own facts, disclosure of material, nonpublic information on the personal social media site of an individual corporate officer — without advance notice to investors that the site may be used for this purpose — is unlikely to qualify as an acceptable method of disclosure under the securities laws. Personal social media sites of individuals employed by a public company would not ordinarily be assumed to be channels through which the company would disclose material corporate information.”  So ensure prior notification has been made – and that it is clear, which channels and which accounts will be used to disseminate this information.

5)      Those firms that block social access for the wider team will not be evaluating their policies, in order to provide open access to at least view for instance LinkedIn news and company updates while on corporate machines.

6)   Social networks outside of Facebook and Twitter should be lobbying the SEC – who referenced only Facebook and Twitter – but not LinkedIn as social channels.    LinkedIn is the network that most business professionals feel comfortable with and with whom they connect with business colleagues on much more than Facebook and Twitter.  It’s clear that the SEC needs to understand the company area of LinkedIn, but also the value of the personal network – using the Reed Hasting’s example – if he had used his LinkedIn network update to push this out, it would have had the same effect as he did with Facebook.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

1) Review your social policies, both for listening, and for distributing content.  This great move by the SEC has opened the way for “no business reason for social” to be removed.  Ensure that you’re including all the stakeholders into this review.

2) Ensure, if you are a public company, that any content you are sharing on social – goes through the same approvals that content for other mediums does.  Archive it and retain it.

3) Embrace this new communications modality approval by the SEC.  Those who disseminate key information in compliance with Regulation FD, through social channels, will certainly be in the forefront of the press and generate those softer elements of ROI, that we all strive for.  So make sure you take this into consideration when you’re looking at the benefits of social.

Let me wrap up by asking a question.  If you were to choose one social channel to share key information.. what would it be?

Socializing with Celebrity Connections

Today’s #TravelTuesday post comes from Jordan Schwartz, Social Business Associate at Actiance.

Our new best friend Miguel The Driver dropped us off front and center as event greeters hastily opened the doors of our black limo-esque Denali SUV and welcomed us onto the red carpet. Met by a barrage of camera flashes, the masses soon realized we were nobody of note and they turned their attention on to the next car. One quick picture with the Official CBS Photographer and my girlfriend, her sister and boyfriend, and their mom and I made our way down the lengths of paparazzi and E! Reporters.

Where was I?  Oh the Grammy’s (he said casually, like this happens every weekend..)

So how did I end up at the Grammy’s?  I guess I should really start with that.

My girlfriend’s mom happens to work for CBS and is “required” to go to both the #Grammys and the #Emmys every year, and this year I was lucky enough to get included in the invitation! Not that the whole red carpet/celebrity scene is my forte, but you’ve got to be excited about an invite like that. I pressed my new black suit and grey tie, and found myself back in Los Angeles where I spent 4 years at @UCLA

After being hurried along down the carpet as another face in the crowd, we found a few undisturbed seconds to take a couple pictures of our own at one of the classic Grammy signs. We made it through the down to Section 101, Row 2, Seats 1-5, and #instagram made its first appearance of my night as I snapped a picture of the stage and pushed it to twitter. One of my favorite parts of the night, we watched as the people of VIP-enough status to sit on the court floor filed in with their friends. Some of my favorite artists/stars of note were @TheBlackKeys, @TheLumineers, Fun. (@Ournameisfun), @Frank_Ocean, @Jtimberlake and @LenaDunham just to name a few.Naturally, celebrity hype and ‘fashion, fashion, fashion’ were central themes of night, but social media came in a close second. As you home viewers know from his opening speech, @LLCoolJ made sure to encourage everyone at home to tweet away with the hashtag “#Grammys” and mention him @LLCoolJ, noting that the Grammys in 2012 were the largest social media event to date and they hoped to break records again. What you didn’t see behind the scenes were the several other reminders to the live audience to post from the arena.

With such a large emphasis on social, I constantly checked twitter and posted (or tried to post) during my favorite performances trying to catch LL’s attention and be one of the random tweets read just after several commercial breaks throughout the night. My limiting factor was actually the data network in the arena. With everyone trying to tweet away, check in on foursquare, and post on their friends’ wall saying Justin Timberlake just walked by, it was hard to even get a post out.

Overall, seeing some of my favorite musicians sitting just rows away and braving the blinding flashes made for quite the night. Although I couldn’t do it every night (let’s say 20 performances was…stimulating), I would love to go back again for another 3-day music festival packed into one night.

Follow the exciting life of #TeamActiance on Twitter for the latest team adventures and experiences.

Living Vicariously Through Hash Tags

Today’s post comes from Victor Gaxiola, Social Media Subject Matter Expert at Actiance.

This week representatives from Team Actiance have descended on Orlando, Florida to participate in Lotusphere- IBM Connect 2013, including Kailash Ambwani, Sarah Carter, and Cinthia Shields. Although I am not at the conference myself, I have had the privilege of experiencing it vicariously through them and their activities through their tweets and the IBM connect hash tag #IBMConnect. By monitoring the collective tweets of participants, I’ve been able to experience the sessions, parties, speakers and conversations that have been taking place.  (Although, enjoying a drink via Twitter is not the same experience).

This certainly isn’t the first time that I’ve used hash tags to experience events from afar. For the past three years I’ve lived vicariously through the participants tweeting from the South by Southwest conference in Austin. This year I finally get to participate in person and will be using hash tag #SXSW to share my observations and experience of the events surrounding the conference.  Since I have not been able to attend SXSW in person before, I feel a certain responsibility in sharing with those outside of the event who will be living the event vicariously through me and others-  much like I have in years past.

Amplification

For speakers and attendees the use of a conference hash tag serves additional purposes. For one they allow them to communicate their own thoughts and feelings of the conference in real time, and monitor how people are reacting and experiencing the event. Speakers and organizers also have the added benefit of having scribes in the audience that are eager to amplify the conversations and messages that are being shared by conference attendees to a much larger and wider audience that is monitoring the event online. As a result, speakers that are presenting on specific subject matter to room of attendees can easily multiply the number of listeners and participants by the viral sharing of information to every connection or follower that a person has in the audience through twitter. As a speaker I am never dissuaded or insulted when I see folks Tweeting away the information I am sharing. If the idea is to share information and ideas, then getting the message beyond the walls of the event only increases the number of people who receive the message. It may also serve the purpose of increasing my own fan base and opportunities for new connections. 100 people in the room tweeting to 100 followers adds up quickly, do the math.

Twitter Walls

To encourage participation, conference organizers are aware of the importance of displaying and promoting the hash tag of the event to attendees as it is happening. At the Janney Montgomery Scott Elite FA Conference in Philadelphia earlier this month, the conference experimented with a Twitter wall in their Genius Lounge that was displaying tweets using the #Elite13 hash tag.  Having the hash tag and accompanying tweets scroll in plain view of conference participants provided an additional incentive to participate- and likely drove social behavior. I think everyone likes to see their name in lights- even on a Twitter wall at a conference.   People would actually stand in front of the wall and tweet, waiting for it to display on the screen in front of them.

#Elite13 Wall

Trending Topics

To find out what the most current and trending topics are in the country or specific geographic region you can go directly to twitter and look at trending topics to see what conversations are currently taking place. In addition there are a number of different tools online that will provide you a glimpse of the most popular hash tags that are available. Trendsmap allows you to see local trending hashtags on a map of the country that allows you to zoom in on specific regions and cities. It’s fun to look at too.  Another site which is fun is Twubs that serves as a directory of popular hashtags. Participants can plug in multiple hash tags and participate in the conversations. Finally, my favorite hash tag tool is TweetChat. By logging into TweetChat using my Twitter credentials, I can participate in any conversation by adding the hash tag and then following along. The bonus, is that any tweet, or re-tweet from the site will automatically add the hash tag to the post.

Two Screens

Additional validation for the power of hash tags has been validated by their use by networks to promote televisions shows and sporting events.   These days a hash tag can easily be found as a program begins or is mentioned as part of the broadcast.  Network programmers and marketers know that with the proliferation of smart phones and tablets, the idea of entertainment being digested via two screens is becoming more prevalent.   I myself have begun to experience this more and more and the act of watching television has become less passive and more active as I participate in the conversations surrounding the unfolding events on TV.   This was especially true with sporting events, and we in the Bay Area have been lucky with the performance of our San Francisco Giants, and now the Superbowl bound 49ers.  I anticipate that this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans will set a new record of online participation via tweets around the events of the game.

So although I’m not participating at the IBM Connect 2013 in person this year, Team Actiance is on the scene using hashtag #IBMConnect and sharing with us the people they are meeting, the events they are attending, and more importantly the things they are learning that help us all.

Selling Social Media to Your Organization

Today’s post is by David Oates, Vice President of International, Actiance.

At the recent FS Forum seminar on “Will your social media strategy get you fired?” one of the overwhelming themes from the audience was how to get sponsorship from senior management who have two questions upper most in their minds – “what’s the benefit?” and “what’s the risk?”

One of the key benefits of social is engaging with an audience that doesn’t regularly use traditional communications methods. Look at your target demographics. If it’s under 34 and you’re not on social, you’re not talking to your prospects and customers. In the UK for example, the largest and fastest growing age group on Facebook is 25-34 with nearly 9 million users, followed by 18-24 years olds (source Socialbakers). As most of them grew up using text and instant messaging not email, social is just another communication tool.

If you’re not talking to your audience, your competitors soon will be. Whilst a survey from Assetinum earlier in the year found that only half of the top 50 private banks actively replied to tweets despite nearly all of them having a Twitter account, it is not a trend likely to continue. Particularly as it starts to dawn just how much additional engagement Visa gained with its Olympic social media campaign.

Depending on how you deploy social media usage, engaging with customers leads to an increase in revenue, reduces contact centre calls and potentially lowers customer acquisition costs. Some organisations have even found it useful as a general employee communication tool in times where other methods are too slow. During the London riots, BNP Paribas used it to help staff move safely around the capital.

The benefits aren’t just related to increased sales and improved customer service either. Over time, engaging directly with your customers, prospects and even your aggressors provides the type of in-depth data that can be used to enhance and develop future products and services.

The risks for any organisation engaging in social media shouldn’t be ignored, but neither should it be an inhibitor. Letting staff “loose” on social media doesn’t mean giving up an organisation’s hard won reputation or its squeaky clean compliance record. Understand the threat landscape from data leakage, malware and user behaviour and how it fits into compliance concerns is key to mitigating the risk. Once you have a better understanding about the risks, it’s easier to see the steps required to ensure your organisation remains safe.

But as my colleague Victor Gaxiola says – it’s not “why’ we should be using social senior management need to ask, it’s how.

Social Listening

Today’s post comes from Victor Gaxiola, Social Media Subject Matter Expert at Actiance.

If you aren’t listening to your customers, how do you plan to engage?

During a recent visit to Chicago I had the pleasant experience of engaging with a brand that is effectively using social listening to increase brand equity and in turn brand loyalty.  In two tweets, they not only made me feel welcomed,  they also provided me an example of how a  brand can leverage a social tool to and share this experience with others- likely their long term motive.

After a heavy meal at one of our favorite restaurants, we decided to visit the Peninsula Hotel for an evening drink to finish the night. As a regular user of foursquare I checked in on my arrival to the lounge.   Within seconds of my check-in I received a tweet welcome from the Peninsula Chicago (@ThePenisulaChi) that included an open ended question inviting me to a conversation.  The entire exchange is below:

I proceeded to answer the question, and instead of being sold a product or service I was thanked for including the Peninsula Hotel as part of my Chicago experience.

What stood out to me about this exchange was the following:

1. The Peninsula Hotel is listening and engaging with people who check-in using foursquare, leveraging the location sharing application.

2. I felt welcomed and thanked for the visit.

3. In two tweets they have differentiated themselves from every other business that I check-in to that does not acknowledge my presence at all.

From a brand equity standpoint, I left feeling better about my experience at the hotel and was quick to share my exchange with my entire party and am writing about it now, which is yet another boost to their brand.  All from two tweets!

Social listening does not mean that you have to give anything away but at the very least acknowledge your audience, especially when they are providing you with the information about their location and interactions with your people or your brand.  It also provides you insight about who your customers are and how the engage with your people and products.   How would knowing this differentiate you from your competitors?

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of places to get a drink in Chicago that I could choose to visit, however, during my next visit I will likely go back to the Peninsula.   All from 2 tweets!

Belbey Blogs: Social: Personal Meets Professional – your top questions answered!

Today’s post comes from Joanna Belbey, Social Media and Compliance Specialist at Actiance.

Microsoft recently announced integration within Outlook with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Live Messenger. What does that mean exactly?

When you send an email, you will see a detailed history of your interaction with your contacts, plus  their photos and status updates on Facebook and LinkedIn. In other words, rather than the two-step process of looking at someone’s profile on LinkedIn or reading their Tweets, and then sending an email or a meeting notice, everything’s right within Outlook.

In short, Microsoft has just made it easier to understand and relate to our clients and colleagues. And for them to get to know us better. They’ve accelerated the movement of the integration between the personal and professional.

Did you just say, “cool!”? or did you cringe?

As a Social Media and Compliance Specialist at Actiance, I speak at industry events and meet face to face with professionals within the financial services industry. My mission is to help enable the effective use of social media within the enterprise while complying with the rules and regulations. Every day, I see firms moving away from their original stance of “No!” to social media to beginning to puzzle out the “How?”. They are collaborating across departments like Marketing, Legal, Compliance, Investor Relations, Human Resources, IT and Security to develop social media policies. They are working through the compliance issues and selecting vendors like Actiance to help them enable their financial advisors to use social media while protecting their firm’s brand and staying compliant.

But what do the end users, the Financial Advisors, think about what’s coming?

I recently spoke in Boston and New York at “Social Media Marketing: Don’t Forget the Sex” conducted by WealthManagement.com and Actiance. Although the events had a provocative title, the sessions took a serious look at the demographics of adoption of social media. According to a study by WealthManagement.com, Financial Advisors under 35 are more likely to use social media for business purposes than those 55 or older (68% vs. 45%). No surprise there. But, what was surprising is that with a bit of prodding and some training on Best Practices, advisors over 55 tend to get better engagement. Once they learn the tools, they recognize that social media is just another way to interact with prospects and clients.

In both cities, I found financial advisers who were nervous about using social media. They asked me the same questions:

Q: “How do I separate business and personal?”

A: Unless your firm has a special arrangement with LinkedIn, you can only have one account. On Twitter, you may set up separate accounts (e.g., @Belbey and @Belbey_Actiance) and even make them private. And for now, you can only have one identity on Facebook, so depending on your firm’s polices, from your personal profile you create a business page and direct your clients there. Or, if you don’t already have a Facebook account, you can set up just a professional page. However, these workarounds miss the point. Instead of thinking about how to shield your personal life from your clients and colleagues, think about how to let your personality shine through. Remember, with Microsoft’s announcement, true integration between personal and professional is coming…. If you have a passion for Bruce Springsteen, movies, golf, sailing, your alma mater or just couch surfing, let your connections know it.

Q: How much of my personal life do I need to reveal?

A: If you are using social media primarily for business, Jason Seiden (@Seiden), Co-Founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media suggests making 20% of your updates personal, in order to be authentic. After all, we buy from people with similar interests and who we like, right?

Q: “How can I protect my clients from being poached by other financial advisors?”

A: On LinkedIn, you can make your connections private by changing the settings, on Facebook you can change the privacy settings and control who can see what, and you can even make Twitter private. But, again, this question misses the point. Rather than “defense,” think “offense.” If you are helpful and engage with your prospects and clients on social media, you will strengthen the relationship, not lose it to some stranger.

Q “How much time will this take?”

A. If your firm provides a library of pre-approved content and technology to schedule updates, posting content and interacting on social media won’t take much time at all. Perhaps an hour once a week to schedule your updates, and then 30 minutes a day to interact with your connections / followers / friends.

Q. “How do I start?” And “What do I say?”  and the biggest unspoken question, “How do I avoid looking foolish?

A. Good questions. Before you begin to use social media, be sure to read your firm’s social media policy for direction. Hopefully, they will provide training on Best Practices and how to comply with the communications regulations. And it’s always a good idea to listen for awhile to begin to understand how it works before you jump in. And of course, use common sense. This is a public forum. Bottom line: approach social media through the lens of being helpful to your connections. Think about your clients. You might specialize in working with entrepreneurs, or small businesses, women, or perhaps ultra-high net worth individuals. Share content that they might find useful or interesting. To help you, many firms create a library of pre-approved content that you can tap.

The true integration of business and professional through Microsoft and Social Media won’t be implemented at your firm overnight. But, once it does, will you be ready?

Enterprise Collaboration: Debunking Common Misperceptions

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

As social software becomes entrenched on the enterprise scene, now would be a good time to put to rest some common misperceptions and myths that have hung ominously over the space.  The Jive IPO and Microsoft’s acquisition of Yammer speak to the validation and adoption of social software as a viable means to enhance productivity and foster engagement.

So, with that as a backdrop, let’s take a look at some common misperceptions and see how we can’t allay these concerns:

Myth #1:  Social software isn’t subject to regulatory guidelines

Social media and social software may be new forms of communication, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be logged and archived for regulatory compliance purposes.  In the eyes of the regulatory bodies (think SEC, FINRA, FERC, and similar), social software is just another form of electronic communication to be treated no differently than email.  That means that content posted to social software platforms needs to be supervised, logged, and archived to ensure compliance with applicable recordkeeping and monitoring provisions.  Since social software greatly facilitates collaboration, it’s very easy for individuals to bounce ideas (sometimes sensitive or unauthorized information) off each other and exchange files.  That’s why the regulators are interested.

Myth #2:  No one cares about social software eDiscovery

Anyone who’s lived in the US for any length of time will quickly and vigorously nod their head when asked, “Do you think the US is a litigious society?”  That’s like asking the Pope if he’s religious.  People do care about social software eDiscovery, and over the last few years, we’ve begun to see several cases emerge involving social.  Lester v Allied and Crispin v Audigier come to mind as particularly relevant cases involving social media eDiscovery.

In fact, Duke University conducted a comprehensive study and found that the number of eDiscovery cases jumped from 7 in 2003 to 111 in 2009.  The study cited that the #1 reason for courts issuing sanctions was a failure to produce electronic evidence (social software included).  And, like litigation in general, there seems to be no end in sight.

Myth #3:  Corporate governance has nothing to do with social software  

Au contraire.  Social software has everything to do with corporate governance, especially in an era where news travels lightning fast via social channels.  You needn’t look further than the Arab Spring to see the speed and power of social in action.

Good corporate governance entails having the appropriate policies and procedures in place for records retention, information governance, and conflict management.  It’s wide-ranging with the objective of instilling a sense of accountability throughout the company.  And this includes social software communications.  People use social software to brainstorm, debate, and even vent.  Say or write the wrong thing, and all of a sudden, it becomes a corporate governance issue.

Myth #4:  Plain ol’ capture is sufficient

Well, not exactly.  Following on from the discussion above, responding in a timely fashion to discovery requests sounds easy but comes with some challenges.  When you think about the volume of data floating around out there (emails, social software content, Facebook posts, Skype IMs, etc.), you’ll get a headache right quick.  Those headaches are compounded by the manner in which this content is logged and archived.

Many of today’s archiving systems just capture the content without regard to context.  We all know that people like to respond to blogs or other posts on social media.  When you’ve got a couple dozen people chiming in with their thoughts, feedback, even deleted comments, it’s easy to see the importance of capturing conversations in context.  There are just too many regulatory, legal, and corporate governance issues at stake to risk a substantial sanction or fine.

Off my soapbox now…

So there you have it – this author’s version of Mythbusters.  Like with most things social, it’s all quite fluid and dynamic.  What I just wrote today may be old hat tomorrow.  But, given that old-school concepts such as law and compliance still hold valid today, I gotta believe that the myths debunked above has some legs.

What kinds of myths are you seeing in your enterprise?

Socialite Demo at Finovate 2012 in San Francisco

Sarah Carter, General Manager of Social Business at Actiance presents a short demonstration of Socialite– the leading social media engagement platform that allows organizations to maximize the value of social media by empowering employees to share pre-approved content, interact with clients and prospects, and analyze the impact of published content.

To learn more, sign up for a free trial.

The Socialite demonstration was recorded at Finovate 2012 in San Francisco this spring.

Spam going down

Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.

No, I’m not talking about one of America’s most beloved (or perhaps ridiculed) canned foods, but rather, the elimination of about half of the world’s electronic spam recently, thanks to a coordinated effort from several ISPs spread across the globe.  Their efforts wiped out and crippled the Grum and Lethic botnets, respectively, which together accounted for about half of the world’s spam.  Let that sink in for a moment.

Everybody that has ever touched a computer has likely received some kind of spam in their email inbox.  It’s annoying and never seems to go away.  Just goes to show that there will always be evil lurking in cyberspace.  I’m talking about folks who are solely focused on wreaking havoc, stealing passwords, launching denial of service attacks, or hacking into computer networks of some of the most secretive agencies in the world.  Whether they do it for fun, cuz they’re bored, or on someone’s payroll, I do not know.

The bottom line is that all individuals and companies have to be on their guard and not underestimate the importance of having the proper security measures, settings, and policies in place to combat the evildoers out there.  Nowadays, the wildfire proliferation of social media and other Web 2.0 sites has proved to be prime hunting ground for spammers (check out a blog entry we did earlier on this topic).

Passing along malware is no longer the domain of email; it’s now spread to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Skype.  One thing that’s different about these sites (vis-à-vis email) is that they require a connection, friendship, or link to be established before you can receive content.  That wasn’t the case with email.  For instance, if Stevie were to receive a link from his buddy, Timmay, via Skype, Steve’s probably gonna click on that link since he trusts Timmay.  That link might not in fact be from Timmay, but rather, from some spammer in Estonia.

So, it’s all well and good that the amount of spam has been cut down for now.  But, like Wile E. Coyote’s lifelong pursuit of the Road Runner, I’ll bet a bomb shelter’s worth of Spam that hackers will continue to think up elaborate malware schemes that will make the Grum and Lethic botnets look like starter kits.