What happens when you see that little red marker pop up? A new message? A new friend or like? A new tweet?

It is ever so tempting to stop what you’re in the middle of to check. Straight-away, because it’s so important, right?

Checking an alert all too often leads to checking something else, which leads to time disappearing down a black hole. I know because I’ve been down that vortex.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Using computers and respond to the 24/7/365 stream from social media is something new to all of us. This implies learning some new tricks.

Of course, some people blithely ignore the seductions of constantly checking messages or following up on just one more link. But many of us aren’t so good at this.

At the workshops with Beth Kanter in Auckland recently, we touched on attention and information coping skills.

Everyone laughed when Beth reported that according to one study 39% of people check their phones for updates and new emails in the bathroom. The urge to stay connected obviously comes from a very deep place within.

Talking over Jane Genovese’s mindmap on “How to focus in the age of distraction” (pictured above) at one of the workshops was useful. Even thought I’ve looked at this before, I still found some tips to hone my practices.

Beth collects and shares useful articles on Mindful social media and Information coping skills. There isn’t a single approach that will work for everyone.

I admit I haven’t read all of Howard Rheingold’s book “Net Smart: how to thrive online”, but I am selectively grabbing tips. If I tried to sum up his advice in a single word I’d say it’s breathe!

A glimpse of Howard’s infotention advice can be found freely online – the 15 minute mini-lecture offers a few hints, plus there are articles and links if you want to read more.

Being Zen-like is a topic Oliver Burkeman’s delves into in a recent article on ‘conscious computing’. Setting aside the esoteric rationale, I’ve actually tried a couple of software programmes listed that help focus attention.

Ommwriter offers a 100% blank screen to write on, and Flux dims the screen brightness in sync with the actual time of day.

I don’t sense there is a magic wand that will instantly vanquish distraction. It’s something I sense will take more practice yet (as I return to writing this post after checking a red pop-up signalling incoming mail).

What are your strategis for staying focused and surfing on the sea of incoming information?

Admit it: we all make mistakes. And try things that don’t work. There’s no shame in this, so the saying goes.

Yet, when things go awry it’s something we tend to keep quiet about. Or brush aside. We definitely do not shout out loud I failed.

If Beth Kanter has her way, we’ll change our ways. We need to look at ‘failure’ afresh.

As she recently wrote “people won’t try out new ideas or approaches if failure is seen as a career-killer. But when it’s treated like what it is — an opportunity to learn — it can be a fun and rewarding process.”

At the Nonprofit Technology Conference – held 11-13 April in Minneapolis (which I joined as a virtual participant) – Beth invited participants to take a failure bow.

Stand up and acknowledge failure was the message Beth and her fellow panellists sahred with the 1500 participants.

It isn’t obligatory to make such a public song and dance about acknowledging failures. There are quieter, internal rituals that organisational can adopt to make it okay to say things didn’t work.

A few examples of organisations consciously addressing failure are shared in a recent blog post by Beth (“Go ahead, take a Failure Bow!” published on Harvard Business Review blog). Holding a quarterly FailFest, running joyful funerals and organising honest loser awards are some of the practices organisations have adopted.

There is a serious point to the frivolity: organisations need to be brave and own up when dump things just don’t work. Trying new things is stifled if everyobody is too scared to make mistakes.

At workshops Beth is running in Auckland next month, participants will be invited to fess up and take a failure bow. I’m not sure how people will react, but I certainly have my share of failures to own up to.

Can you see open acknowledgement of failure playing a role in your organisation?

PS Don’t miss out on learning from Beth. Register now for workshops on 11 & 13 May 2013, in Auckland.

Some things we take for granted: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Pigs don’t fly. From little things, bit things grow.

But when someone says websites aren’t relevant any more, well, that’s not a statement that’s easy to swallow.

In the last few months this message has been repeated to me by three or four folk. The rise and rise and rise of social media is the main reason given: people can stay in touch and find out everything about our organisation without going to a website.

I thought I’d restate why I say community organisations still need to a well maintained, easy to use and attractive website in their online communications mix. NB the reasons don’t apply equally to everyone.

A website allows your organisation to:

• Control what goes where. The relative weighting given to content and the structure are all decided by you. 100%. You’re not left stranded by the arbitrary decisions of a faceless multi-national corporation.
• Make available essential, if somewhat dowdy, accountability documents, eg annual reports. These are in there rightful place, alongside any news, organisational information, etc.
• Publish longer research, essays or other articles. Not just bon mots.
• Add multiple ways for people to support you: sign petitions, volunteer, give stuff or donate cash. Donating isn’t only about collecting one-click gifts, it can entail things like membership, longer term APs or bequests. This information needs to be available, alongside a button or link.
• Host dedicated areas for your constituents or network members. This could be about discussion, archives or e-learning. Private and simple are often key features.

Of course, there are times when a website does little for an organisation, except suck in time and money. I’d be the last to suggest a website is mandatory. Yet, nor would I too easily dismiss them.

In my experience, websites act as an anchor of an organisation’s online presence. Solid, dependable and even somewhat immutable. Reflected in a tightly packed few pages is information about what you do, how you’re making a difference and how people can get alongside you.

For those that care what people say after visiting an organisation’s website, not something that everyone is too bothered by, then keeping things spic and span is essential.

Is your website still a core part of your orgnisation’s communications mix, or has it been eclipsed?

Useful resource

Aspiration Tech highlight the differences between web and social using spectrums of online engagement. Get some insights into why social can achieve different things to websites.

Photo credit: Phill Lister

Let’s be honest: many of us are not good at managing money. Mention of forecasts, cash flow and accruals is met with grimaces, not exuberant glee.

Getting a grip on accounting basics can lead to resources being stretched further, and will ensure finances are prudently managed.

Some pain to learn how to get better at accounts is worth it. And fortunately, training on accounting for the non-financially minded is widely available. Technical terms are translated, and much of the arcane methodologies are stripped back.

I believe many organisations could benefit from access to a similar approach to training on the use of technology.

It’s not exactly an easy thing to boil IT management down into digestible chunks. Technology touches on so many parts of every organisation, and keeps changing. Fortunately, some others have created technology planning training for non-techies.

The recently released Tactical Tech Planning On Demand online course covers what Idealware consider the key areas for organisations to grapple with. As the name implies, the course focuses only on what you really need to know.

The training is broken down into 26 modules, which comprise short videos along with activities. The five main topic headings are:

• Getting Started
• Infrastructure
• Data
• Online Communications
• Action Plan

The aim is “to help you assess your organization’s technology infrastructure and address your current and future needs.” A usable IT action plan is the result.

I can’t help think, as I have pondered in the past, that some training along these lines will help New Zealand organisations to get better at using IT to support their work.

Within the broad aspirations of the Ministry of Social Development’s Investing in Services for Outcomes capability building programme, released in January, technology is one of the areas highlighted for attention. The emphasis seems to be on responding to challenges within individual organisations.

Would some technology training, ala financial management for non-accountants, be useful for NZ community organisations?

Idealware’s On Demand Tactical Tech Planning – The Trailer from Idealware on Vimeo.

As the sun rose on the New Year it was pretty obvious the upheaval caused by social media will continue unabated. People still flock online to connect with others in lots of different ways.

Looking ahead it is hard to know what will rise, what will fall. Will the effects of Facebook’s share float permeate even further? Could Bebo make a comeback alongside MySpace? Will Pinterest keep rising?

Whatever happens to individual sites and services, we can be sure that social networking is here to stay.

A deep understanding of how online networking works, along with awareness of the sweeping demographic and cultural changes bubbling underneath the surface, can really help organisations thrive when communicating through social media. On the other hand, without a grasp of the big picture, using social media is something of a lottery.

Having an impact also takes knowing what works well. What truly engages people? To count “Likes” or “Retweets” is a start. Bigger questions about whether it’s worth it need a robust approach to measurement. And time to reflect too.

To grapple with these types of challenges I’ve invited someone I consider a true leader in social media use to run two workshops for community organisations and NGOs in Aotearoa New Zealand. In May 2013 author, trainer and blogger Beth Kanter is coming to share her tried and tested frameworks, and knowledge of the practical application of social media practices from around the globe.

Ever since I met Beth at a workshop she ran at the Connecting Up conference in Brisbane in 2008 I’ve developed a very deep respect for her work. She generously shares her experience, is open to different cultures and always keeps a light touch.

I struggle to keep up with Beth’s prolific sharing on her blog, but I found her (short) book “The Networked Nonprofit” (2010), co-authored with Alison Fine, very helpful. I’m now half way through “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using data to change the world” (2012), co-authored with KD Paine.

My view on the benefits of digging more deeply into social media is shared by my workshop co-hosts. I’m delighted Mangere East Family Service Centre and Volunteering Auckland are coming on board to each co-host one of the workshops. Support from The Tindall Foundation and Connecting Up is a big help too.

If 2013 is the year you want to extend your organisation’s social media use, come along to one of the workshops:

• “Improving social networking practice with measurement” workshop
  A full day workshop and peer learning network, intermediate level, Saturday 11 May, Mangere, South Auckland. More information and registration page
• “Be networked, use measurement and make sense of your data” workshop
  A half day workshop, introductory level, 1pm Monday 13 May, Auckland. Registrations open next week

Don’t expect Beth to tell you which social networks are best for your organisation. Nor to predict what is the up and coming one to get into. However, you will walk away with insights that will help you deepen your practice using social media.

These sonic hijinks caused the only anxious moment in our NetSquared Downunder virtual camp held last Thursday.

We used free Google technology and standard webcams to successfully share innovative web projects between the four live and online. People watched from venues in Adelaide, Auckland, Melbourne and our very own wee capital city. And beyond in the wider world.

Over the previous four months the event’s four organisers played our way into being relaxed with Google’s online meeting place/ service/ tool. Google+ Hangout is user friendly and robust.

We also depended on uber fast broadband actually working on the night – something only reliably available in big cities for now. Even when one of the venues lost its wifi connection, thus the aforementioned warbling, the broadcast was able to continue using a tethered cellphone to stream in the internet.

It was the sharing the substance of the four projects that made the whole event worth it. People stayed behind talking about each of the four projects showcased.

It’s been really enjoyable virtually working alongside three talented and energetic organisers generously giving their time to make the event happen. I tip my hat to my co-organisers Richenda Vermeulen in Melbourne, Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Auckland and Ben Teoh in Adelaide.

There’re rumours of more sharing using a similar approach within the regional NetSquared network and beyond. I’m definitely keen to use free tools and my freshly tested knowhow to contribute.

Read some more about NetSquared Downunder ‘virtual’ camp

1. Photos from the NetSquared Wellington event, 29 November 2012 – thanks Stephen and Mihn
2. A write up about the topics and tech by Ben Teoh
3. NetSquared Wellington meetup group – open to anyone interested in using the web to make the world a better place
4. The live broadcast via YouTube was started early, jump to 58:54 to get to the heart of things.

Photo credit: Aggregatormag