Your time is limited

Your time is limited ,so don't waste it living someone else's life - Steve Jobs

Social Media has changed the way we do business and the way we connect to the world. In the past 9/10 years there has been a revolutionary growth of sites, blogs, programs, platforms, tools, products, and means to connect online.

Today Steve Jobs who was an exceptional innovator and leader passed away. Through his work at Apple, we are able to embrace and use technology on the run and essentially it's a social online revolution.

Technology has grown so rapidly and has extended so far.

I'm Generation X, I never had a mobile, never played video games as a child, had TV which switched off at midnight, did not have telephone messages and wrote letters and postcards. We sent faxes, wrote letters and make telephone enquiries in my early years of work. The World Wide Web and emails were exciting, then online chat, then mobiles and texting, then blogs and then/now web 2.0 and all the gadgets.

We got into trouble for passing notes at schools and some people will never understand the connection between a pencil and a cassette tape.

In fact some people will never see a cassette tape, apart from all the retro phone covers!

I have been watching technology grow so much that now children are blogging at schools, building websites, learning about animations and drawings and becoming computer, iPhone and iPad savvy. They are using words like Google, Photoshop and text speak naturally in sentences which amazes me.

There are careers now that were not in existence 10 years ago. 

People are website savvy, they are blogging, making videos, selling eBooks and have job titles that I'd never heard of until recently; Brand Ambassador, Director of Analytics, Director of eMarketing, Interactive Specialist, PPC Consultant, SEM/SEO Engineer, Social Media Analyst, Web Project Manager, New Media Coordinator, Director of Integrated Media, Content Strategist, Social Media Specialist, Communications Associate ... to name a few.

All these roles combine, PR, marketing, technology, engineering, innovation, ideas, building, searching, analysing, communications, customer service, media, advertising and client services.

For young adults and children, this means that they can embrace a wide range of study skills and their careers will combine so many industries that are radically changing the future of workplaces, entrepreneurs, CEOs and work on a day to day basis.

My nieces and nephew will probably be employed in a role with a job title, which has not been developed yet!

Steve Jobs, learnt, taught, did and embraced a huge combination of skills. He inspired and encouraged people (at and beyond Apple) to think and speculate what people may need and listened to what people wanted and then set about improving technology for us, to make it easier for us to use.

With changes in computer and online technology, everything is becoming so user friendly that it has having a huge impact on how we connect and how we can improve our work and productivity.

With social learning in the workplaces and encouraging people to learn at work; my clients are making an impact on their individual roles. Training has become and is the most important tool I have at hand, I love watching people learn. Social Media has had the most positive effect for them at work.

I use my iPhone and apps, to work productively while on the move and in between training clients, I check emails, monitor accounts, answer queries and find resources, news and info and this has helped me become a better trainer.

Steve Jobs said that ," I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love."

Farewell to Steve Jobs who lived a full life.

Keep learning

Thanks Jo, who is doing the New Skills Festival this September for today's post regarding social media and my basic guide.

As a trainer, I have to learn something new every day. Social Media is constantly evolving, even Blogger has just changed its entire interface and set up some basic mobile messaging blog options.

The people I teach, learn the value of social learning, social skills, social etiquette and social communication - I encourage you all to keep learning, to find information and to read as much as you can about your industry, your clients, your customers in order to really communicate and engage with them.

Although I do encourage you to do general searches, I'd like you to dig deeper. 

Attend free webinars (if time and money is a problem) - webinars will give you helpful insights, guidance, an introduction to something new and how tos.

If you can take a course, from 12 weeks, to a weekend, part time or full time for a few years, workplaces generally encourage their staff to further their skills and increase their training. Speak to your employers about improving your skills - if you're an entrepreneur - there are some great evening courses, weekend options and I recently found a 12 minute marketing course which I love the sound of.

Take advantage of slideshare, people are constantly uploading informative slides. slideshare is an excellent place to put up your slides (regarding your thoughts, business practices) where you can view and share information while finding excellent content.  

Search blogs, they are often personal accounts or journals and can give you great insight into any subject. 

People who blog are experts themselves, they are sharing their day to day knowledge, thoughts and experiences with you. People are renovating, building houses, starting businesses, studying,  travelling, dreaming, having babies, recovering from illnesses and business blogs (often) keep you very informed.

Keep searching Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube for advice, questions, reviews, data, statistics, information, answers ... anything which will help you learn.

Have a look at all the conferences, or webinars, Tweetups, mashups available (the easiest way to find them are on Twitter), they are often after hours and this is a great way to meet people offline.

Social Media has changed how we interact. We are no longer working standard business hours, 5 days a week. We have to schedule Tweets/Updates/Posts, monitor accounts on weekends and be online when our clients and customers are online ... you need to work out when best suits you and how.

Never stop learning. It's one of the most important things I have learnt on my social media journey.

New Skills Festival

Over September, check in every day to learn something new.

http://jojoebi.blogspot.com

Benefits of Social Media

With social media you can find information from anywhere about anything you are interested in.

I love finding information and reading other blog posts and sharing information with people who are using social media or are just learning how beneficial social media is as a business tool, for people who work at home and for anyone who wants to learn and explore.

I regularly update the Social Status Facebook Page to share with you the benefits of social media. People are writing blog posts, opening social media accounts and sharing information 24 hours a day.

If you want to find out something, whether it's an idea to promote and market your business, or how to use a certain tool or program, you can find your answers by searching on YouTube for how to videos, and by following realtime search on Google, find the realtime tab on the left hand side of the Google home page by clicking the more button. This will keep you up to date on whatever is happening in the world.

Use Facebook and Twitter search to find and follow great business pages, read blog posts, watch videos ... information is constant and changes in the blink of an eye, so a great way to make sure you don't miss something of interest to you; is to add links, pages and blogs to your favorites or if you want the information to come to you as soon as it's put on the Internet then subscribe to RSS feeds.

We are certainly learning to search and find information. And then we are sharing across Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other software programs to reach other people.

I love Read It Later, you can save any link from Twitter or the Internet and then read it later when you have some down time. I use Read It Later to track information and find references and get ideas for blog posts. I find it is also great to track information to send to clients to assist them with their marketing and promoting and to help them with their social media.

The greatest benefit is that social media is so accessible to use as a learning tool.
Social Media gives you a chance to learn, to connect with people all over the world, to find tips and info and to share, therefore helping other people with a how to, or a tip or a blog post on their journeys.

And remember learning never exhausts the mind - Leonardo Da Vinci.

Connect

Social media is not just about marketing, promoting, business, feeds, ROI and all the other marketing terms I am sure you have heard of, read and used yourself.



Social media is about connecting and this has been especially apparent on Twitter and Facebook. People use social media to reach out to each other and connect with each other.


There is an incredible amount of sharing on social media sites. People write about everything and share so much about their lives and themselves. It truly helps us to connect, to embrace, to have empathy, to show compassion and you can see this by how many people reply or comment on updates or blog posts or statuses and send or share links with others.


It shows me, that people in the world can learn from each other and mourn for other peoples' losses, deaths and tragedies and support each other and communicate with each other in a way we never could before.


We can also celebrate with people, congratulate people on their accomplishments and achievements and be happy for someone who has witnessed, seen or done something.


On the 3 May 2011, Derek K Miller died of cancer at 41 and wrote a last post to say goodbye to his family. His post reached hundreds of his followers and his friends, who said goodbye to him in their own way and cried tears for him. It also reached out to hundreds of strangers, to people who have or have had cancer and did what I believe social media does best, makes us closer to each other, helps us learn about others and really reaches us, wherever we are in the world, no matter our own individual circumstances.


In the same way, Jenny writes a diary for her son Cooper who has leukaemia and shares her love for her son and again, blogs like these teach us about Jenny, her love for Cooper and both their experiences of cancer.


And a 5 year old boy, whose sister sold his artwork which paid off his cancer treatment, again shows us how we can connect, can reach out to each other, can reach out somehow in ways we never could.


I cannot express how beneficial social media is. Not only for business, for marketing, from building a brand, from putting a business online, from a making money point of view, from building a community - which are some of the reasons that individuals, businesses and corporations are using social media for.


Businesses, entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations have seen how they can benefit, how we can all benefit by communicating with each other, by connecting with each other in a number of ways.


We no longer just look at websites. We watch YouTube videos, we use Facebook, we communicate on Twitter, we read blogs, use discussion forums, click on likes, share links, we make business connections on LinkedIn. We use email marketing, surveys - we are truly being more socially active online.


And the benefits are astounding. We can connect and make contact with people who love the same things we do. We can find people in our industries. We can find jobs, resources and ideas. We are truly sharing.


We can respond to queries, clients and customers in a hundred different ways. The work we do is different. We look for, find, research and use information which is immediate on the Internet and we can benefit by reading, observing and listening to each other.


But the essential most crucial part of all the social media, is that I as a stranger can mourn the loss of a man who loved his children, I can learn, read about and understand about illness and family life.


We can teach each other and learn from each other. And we get a glimpse of love. We see empathy and compassion. We can wish each other well, help each other, give and receive advice.


I truly love social media but it goes further than that for me. I love learning from people. I love the way I can get information, any kind of advice, assistance, tips, hints which helps me with my business, with marketing and deciding how to teach my clients. I love the way I can find information and news and stay so up to date about anything that is happening in the world.


But when social media shows us that we simply can connect with each other and get a glimpse of love -  then we watch and see how people respond, full of empathy and compassion for each other; that's when I truly get a glimpse that we all just really want to hear each other and be heard. (It's quick, people make thousands of Tweets a minute and hundreds of Facebook updates - so you cannot possibly read everything)


Sure, we want immediacy, we want businesses to respond quickly when there is an issue or a crisis. We want to have our say, have the freedom to express (whatever, TV shows, cooking skills, business meetings, funny things that happened through the day, complaints, news, and opinions)


But social media really is about communicating. Not just communicating, but learning about each other. And being very, very grateful that we can.