WiFi, Social Media, and the Sweet Science

The reasons why I love social media are also the reason that I kind of hate social media. 

Here is a medium that allows anyone, from anywhere to chime in on a topic and be heard. Maybe some people are heard more than others but the medium is generally pretty neutral. What's more, tools like Twitter make it easy to quickly jump into a conversation and jump out again so you can go about your busy day.

However, it is the brevity of the Twitter format that often annoys me. Yes, that platform is convenient because of the 140-character format, but it is also inconvenient because of the 140-character format.

To readers of this blog, it is no secret that the Wi-Fi industry loves social media. There are tons of great blogs, YouTube channels, and Twitter streams just ripe for the birth of interesting conversation. I've had the great fortune of participating, contributing, and learning from some of the smartest people I've known via these tools. I hope to continue to do that.

Now, recently I shared my belief that wireless throughput testing and stress testing was not a worthwhile topic for a blogger. While I stand by my belief, it seems that the 140-character nature of Twitter has led some to misinterpret my statement. Let's us clarify things a little in this much more character-friendly platform called a blog.

Reasons Why I Believe Throughput/Stress Test Are Not Worthwhile Topics For Bloggers

There are several reasons, and I will list them in no specific order:

• Currently, throughput/stress tests are a loaded subject. While it is good to occasionally court controversy and push-the-envelope, this particular topic takes a lot of time investment to do properly. Some bloggers might have the time available; I don't.
• The general concensus is that stress tests in the 'real' target environment are far more relevant. This I agree with 100%. The problem is, as an independent blogger doing this in my spare time, I don't have the technical and financial resources to ever do this. I took a quick look in my closet and, as I feared, I didn't find 30 tablets that I forgot I owned. 
• Throughput test publications always lead to the same conversation. As a blogger, I try to create content that helps me learn, helps the community learn, or that fosters new conversations. This conversation has been beaten to death.

Poor Reasons Not to Post Content

Anyone who hosts a blog, or joins Twitter conversations should expect that people are not always going to agree with them. This is perfectly fine as long as it is in a professional manner. My fear, is that people took my comment to mean: "Don't post content because people will disagree with you." To be clear, this is not even remotely close to the meaning of my comment. In fact, I would say that any blogger who is never disagreed with is simply not pushing the boundaries enough; at least from a technical blogging perspective. 

On a personal note, I count on people disagreeing with me and correcting me. My entire wireless learning community is online since there no mentors or wireless junkies that I have been able to get connected with in my region. I'm sure there must be some but damned if I know where they are hiding. Until I find these people, I am forced to read textbooks, test gear in my lab, and send my questions into social media tools in hopes of learning more. With this in mind, it is actually an understatement to say that I am 'okay' with disagreement; I absolutely require it if I hope to keep up and grow with this industry.

Daniel 

What The Wireless Industry Has Taught Me About Social Media

I think any employer who is looking for advice on where to stand on the social media debate should look no further than the wireless industry.

From my perspective, this is an industry which has embraced social media in a very healthy way. If you want to find out anything about wireless networking or mobility, there is almost certainly a blog, Facebook page, YouTube Channel, podcast, or twitter conversation going on about that very subject right now. What's neat about all of these information sources and discussions is that they are being created by a mixture of vendor employees, VAR employees, consultants, and administrators. So what, right?

Well I'll tell you so what: All of these people are managing to participate because their employers understand the importance of being part of the conversation. If you aren't part of the conversation, then how would people possibly know what you've got to say?

Here are a few things I think the wireless industry does very well when it comes to social media:

1. Open-mindedness. It always amazes me when I see multiple competitors having an open discussion, about wireless technology, that sticks to the merits of the technology and isn't continually beaten down by marketing spins and bias. Yes, everyone has a degree of bias in their words but that doesn't mean we can't listen to what others have to say.
2. Promoting Others. To me, this is even more important that being open-minded. The wireless industry does a great job of making sure that your important message is delivered to the masses. To me, the key word in social media is social. Help others get their message out, and they will help you get yours out. I love that my industry has embraced this idea.

Right about now, employers might be saying: That's great, but what's in it for me? Here are few ways you can benefit from allowing your employees to join the conversation; and it doesn't have to be as an offical rep. for your company:

• Reputation. Your companies reputation in the industry improves dramatically if you have employees who are highly respected and well known. 
• Lead Generation. While not the primary driver for social media, you can gain leads from social media that you wouldn't have gained otherwise.
• Thought Leadership. We're talking about the Internet! If someone wants to know something, they will find it online. Do you want them the get the information from a competitor, or from you? The choice is yours.
• Employee Satisfaction. Help your employees build their personal brand and they will be much more satisfied. As a side benefit, this also feeds into the reputation point above.

I'm sure I could ramble on and on about this but I think that is enough for now. My point to employers is, you owe it to yourselves to find a way to let, at least some, of you employees join the conversation. Done properly, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Daniel

I used to believe that a company would benefit most by allowing employees to focus on creating content for the corporate site and other new media channels. Now, I've come to realize that the real benefits come when a company empowers employees to build up their personal brands. Instead of having one social media outlet for your organization, it's like creating a positive reputation funnel, made up of your employees, that channels directly back to your company. What are your thoughts on this perspective or anything else that I've included in this post?