walk on: exploring the digital experience

Social Media and the Organization

The last six months have been very exciting for me and amazingly busy. I serve as the Director of Social Media and Digital Communications for Aurora Health Care, a not for profit health care provider that serves the eastern half of Wisconsin. We have over 29,000 employees and provide care for millions of people.  

I've spent my time since my arrival educating the organization on what social media is and how we can enter into a new level of conversation with our caregivers, patients, donors and the communities we serve. Recently, I've been finalizing our 2009 strategy and slowing rolling out the program. We're currently establishing a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. I'd like to share a recent experience we had with Twitter, a tool that is tough one for individuals, let alone corporations to get their heads around. At the end of the day, Twitter is what you make it. 

Aurora Health Care has been steadily expanding its presence on Twitter and exploring ways to use the tool to help us learn about online conversations especially those focusing on health care. Our network is quickly growing and has been very useful in helping us on a couple of projects. We're currently developing social media guidelines to help caregivers within the organization as they participate in social networks and other opportunities on behalf of the organization. I was in a team meeting and we decided to check to see what other corporations were doing around guidelines for employees. I quickly pulled out the trusty iPhone and sent a tweet to the Aurora network and my personal network. Ten minutes later, I had five examples and over 20 links to corporate social media guideline examples. 

This is information we otherwise would have needed to spend time researching and tracking down. Instead we used the power and knowledge of our network to facilitate the process. If we can do this for simple things like this, think of what we can do for patients around health care needs and information. Amazing opportunities. 

Why Don't They Get It - Age of Conversation 2.0

I've had the pleasure of participating in the second iteration of the Age of Conversation. I was one of the 100 contributing authors to the original Age of Conversation and now have the pleasure of being a member of the 237 member team that contributed to Age of Conversation 2.0.

Each of the author's contributed based on one of five topics. It's an exciting collection of thoughts from industry thought leaders that you need to get your hands on.

The most important thing is that all of the proceeds go to charity. Variety: The Children's Charity.

Order you copy today!

Check out the authors:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G. Kofi Annan, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw and James G. Lindberg, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Reading Corner

I generally read a couple of books at a time. I'm not sure if it's a form of ADD or if I consumer information better in bits at different times but usually the mix includes a marketing book (my career focus), a book for leisure such as a novel and a topical book to learn something new. Right now, I've got four books in the hopper, one of which I just finished and three which are in full swing. Here's my current reading list:

Marketing
Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
I received this book as part of the blogger outreach program and was asked to read and review it on my blog, amazon and every where else I could. This book was very well written and easy to read and identify ways to integrate the practices into my daily work. This book is an excellent jumping off point for individuals interested in social media and looking to take their company into the waters. It provides clear explanation as well as valuable case studies for framing ideas about your company's move into this medium. It also provides a valuable how-to approach for planning purposes. I'm looking forward to leveraging my learnings from this text into my new position in the healthcare field.

Tribes by Seth Godin
To my surprise, a copy of this book showed up in the mail on Saturday as an early release present. Earlier in the year, I pre-orderd the book and joined Seth's experiment at Triiibes. The book was delivered as a pre-release gift, an additional copy to read, so that I can share my purchased copy when it comes. I'll provide more information on Seth's approach and on the book in a future post but needless to say. I'm cranking through this because it's an insightful and engaging romp on leadership.

Pleasure Reading
The Lord of the Ring: Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
I love these movies and decided I needed to read the books to get the full experience. I'm through part one and am excited to see the world of Middle Earth unfold with additional content that didn't make the movies. Many things can be taken from these books and applied to every day living. I appreciate the works of authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

New Skill
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
One of the challenges I face in my new job is to establish a process to make informed decisions on digital communications social media applications for the organization. I'm reading Avinash Kaushik's book so that I can bring a formal analytics program to our web sites and digital programs that will help us know what our users want and how to create an experience that will reward them. Compliments to Mitch Joel for recommending this book as well as to Avinash for writing a book on something technical that engages the marketer in me.

Look for tidbits of wisdom and thought that inspire me from the pieces in the near future.

The Winds of Change - Social Media Here I Come

The winds of change are blowing in my life...again.

As of August 25th, I'm leaving the agency world at Fullhouse and have joined Aurora Health Care as the Director of Social Media & Digital Communications. It's a new an exciting opportunity that brings me back to my roots in the non-profit sector.

The last three years have been an interesting evolution for me as I've been able to define the true work related passions in my life.
- Serving people
- Serving the community in which I work
- Digital Communications/Social Media

In the last few years of my career, I've never had the chance to have all three present in the same job. I've had to sacrifice one or more and have struggled with that of late. I'm very fortunate to have found a job at Aurora that supports all three of these elements. Aurora is a patient focused Health Care organization that is dedicated to serving the communities in which they operate. They have also realized the need to focus on social media and digital communications as a way to communicate with both internal and external audiences. It's exciting to be a part of an organization that has formalized a position that is responsible for social media and integrating it into the organization as a communications medium.

I'm excited for this new opportunity and will be using this blog to document my own experiences as well as those of Aurora as we look for new ways to use social media/digital to interact with our patients.

Collecting Stories - We Feel Fine

I was watching a TED Presentation with Jonathan Harris, an artist and computer scientist, about his passion for collecting stories. One of the projects that Jonathan shares during the presentation is We Feel Fine which he developed with Sep Kamvar.

We Feel Fine scans the worlds blogs to collect snippets of peoples feelings. The information is then rolled together and presented using visual cues that allow you to review and even search for feelings. It's a mesmerizing, amazing and frightening look into the emotions and experiences that people are sharing online.

Have a look when you get a chance and explore the snippets of stories that are being shared.  The digital experience and tools available to individuals today have fueled the need for connection and sharing more than any other medium before this. To me, this is more proof that brands are not in control of the message or the medium any more.

The Age of Conversation is Coming

The Age of Conversation 2 is coming soon. 237 authors have submitted their contributions and the final review and book building is underway. I was fortunate enough to participate in the first Age of Conversation with 100 authors and am excited to be apart of this second experience. The new book will feature a variety of topics that will feature thoughts from all the authors below. The other wonderful thing? All the proceeds go to Variety, The Children's Charity.

 

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

 

Technorati Tags: Jamey Shiels,Age of Conversation,Consumer Generated Content,Variety The Childrens Charity

Can You Dance Like Matt?

The following video is making the rounds online. It's a guy named Matt who has traveled around the world and danced. Danced in 39 countries and filmed it all. According to his web site , "In 2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal."

The interesting thing is that the trip was sponsored by Stride Gum. Not to promote their brand, not to pimp their gum around the world but to demonstrate the power of an individual connecting with others in the same way around the world.

This video simply makes me feel good. It makes me feel hopeful and optimistic about why people connect and that at the heart of it all, we're all in this together.

When was the last time you danced.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: Jamey Shiels,Dancing Matt,Stride Gum

Leading with Insight

Matthew Milan at Critical Mass posted a very interesting presentation to slideshare call Leading with Insight. It is a thought provoking look on how critical it is to be insightful and use it as means to inspire and lead. The presentation gives clear instructions on how approach things in a manner that is thoughtful and creative. Can you and your brand use insight as a guiding principal to identify solutions and provide solutions that are truly amazing?

I would have liked to be in the room when this presentation was delivered. 

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Technorati Tags: Jamey Shiels,Leading with Insight,Matthwe Milan,Critical Mass

Gen Y Guide to Web 2.0 at Work

I've been out of the loop for a while, cranking with work and family. I've been able to consume content but haven't had a chance to spend time thinking and working on anything to post. I'm going to work on getting back on track and posting regularly.

I'm in the process of working on developing strategies for social networks for a client. I've been doing a lot of research and working out tactics. Somewhat related to social networks was this piece I came across from Sacha Chua, via Beth Kanter, via Gavin. It's an interesting look into Gen Y and a recommendation on how to leverage their skills and familiarity with Web 2.0 tools to make a name for themselves.

 

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Technorati Tags: Jamey Shiels,Generation Y,Web 2.0,Social Media

Bum Rush the Charts: Age of Conversation

The Age of Conversation Bum Rush is ON! Purchase your copy today at Amazon. We need you to help push the book to the top of the charts.

The book is a collection of over 100 authors who contributed their thoughts and insights regarding this Age of Conversation that we find ourselves in. Each of the contributions is a 500 words or less and provide valuable information on how we interact in today's conversation driven world.

And if you need another reason to buy the book, all of the proceeds go to charity to support the children of Variety. Purchase the book today.

 

Technorati Tags: Age of Conversation,Jamey Shiels,Social Media,New marketing