GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

This is the second video in the social media strategy series. In it I walk through the first step in the social media strategy process which is to determine prupose. I stress the importance of looking at the overall organizational strategy, goals, and objectives. From there, you select a few goals that will lend themselves to a social media solution.

This step in the process is not about social media but about strategic thinking.

Social media strategy. To implement social media properly you need a plan. This is the first video in a series that will discuss social media strategy. The strategy process involves seven steps listed below the video. This entire series will discuss each of these steps in greater detail.

Social Media Strategy: The 7 Steps

1. Determine purpose
2. Choose the platform
3. Integrate and enhance
4. Set the budget
5. Sell the idea
6. Implement
7. Measure

Facebook has been riddled with some kind of trojan and/or spyware the past few months. Here are some ways to help limit your exposure to these nasty critters. 

1. Make sure you are running anti-virus software. McAfee and Norton are used in corporate environments. For home use I suggest Avast (which is free) and PcTools Spyware Doctor Spyware+Anti-Virus version (it is $20).
2. Install Spyware protection. My favorite is PcTools Spyware Doctor. If you purchase the Spyware+Anti-Virus version you’ll get great virus and spyware protection in one package.
3. Never click on any link (YouTube or otherwise) that looks suspicious. If a friend’s status update is a link or a link with a phrase such as “This is funny” or “You gotta see this” or “This is a great article”…DO NOT CLICK IT. Here are some examples of suspicious links.
4. Only click on links where your friend gives context to the link. For example, here are a few examples that I would say are “safe”.
   

   Note the verbose description to give context to the video and the embedded video itself.

   

   Note the link and the embedded article.

5. If you click on a link from within Facebook and you go to a page (even if it looks like YouTube, the New York Times, CNN, FoxNews, etc.) and the page asks you to download a “new version of Flash” or to download anything else…DO NOT DOWNLOAD.

Don’t be scared to click on links, just be smart about it. Post a status update asking your friends to give their links and YouTube videos context so you can decipher the bad links from legitimate ones. 

If you did click on a suspicious link, then you will need to IMMEDIATELY purchase spyware and virus scanning and removal software. I found PcTools Spyware Doctor to be particularly effective. 

Don’t take this lightly! These are insidious critters as some are keyboard loggers and capture EVERYTHING you type including bank account numbers, user names, passwords, credit card numbers, and perhaps sensitive work information as well. Everything captured gets sent to pretty seedy individuals who I’m sure do not have your best interests in mind. 

 Practice safe Facebooking!

I am going to start vlogging. I’ll be publishing on both YouTube and Viddler to reach two different audiences. When I do produce a video, I’ll post it here on the blog as well.

My vlogging topics will be:

• Leadership
• Business
• Social Media
• Organizational Issues
• and other items of interest to me (which I hope will also be of interest to you)

My first video is below. I turned my blog post ‘Top 10 reasons to ban social media access at work‘ into a video. I hope you enjoy. The style of all my videos will likely be the same. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. Enjoy!

Please note: This video and my previous post about banning social media are sarcastic rants. I actually believe organizations should embrace, not block social media.

Social media will have far reaching effects on leaders and the entire concept of leadership. The traditional organization as a top-down hierarchy have been deteriorating for some time. However, vestiges of Weber’s bureaucratic organization remain (and for some organizations, firmly entrenched).

Social media focuses more on social networks and connections and less on formal hierarchies. This presents both a challenge and opportunity for existing and future leaders.

The February issue of the International Leadership Association featured an article by Arthur Jue titled, “Social Media, Leadership, and the Emerging Architecture of Change”. In it, he states,

In business leadership, social media helps to enhance culture, recruitment, innovation, customer relationships, operational efficiency, engagement, and ultimately organizational performance.

It connects employees in new ways that redefine traditional roles, eliciting greater freedom of expression and commitment.

What I see is that leaders must now be facilitators of the social network process. Leaders will need to motivate staff inside and outside of the their purview encouraging the use of social connections far outside the normal boundaries of the organizational hierarchy. The leader will be seen as a facilitator of connections and understand that informal social networks using social media are far more powerful than the information transferred within the typical chain of command. The power is not in the leader, but in the collaborative power of employees.

My dissertation for my Ph.D. in organizational leadership will deal directly with leadership and social media. I’m working with my dissertation advisor at the moment and within the next few months I will be defending my initial proposal.

As Warren Bennis said, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” I’m taking on yet another facet.