Did you get the

message?

OrOh how to ping thee, let me

count the ways

Tris Hussey, Social Media ConciergeM2O Productions

What was the question I asked?

Did you receive my message?

Did you understand my message?

Both questions reflect the challenge of sending messages today

Oh how to ping thee, let me count the ways Myriad options:

Phone & voicemail SMS Email IM Facebook (and similar) Twitter & micromessaging (public and

private) Website-blog-online doohicky Audio—Video Paper

How you send the message matters

Yes, the medium is the message

You can’t escape the connotations of the how the message is sent, regardless of intention or content

Is a Facebook message less important than a direct message or an email or IM?

Yeah you think they “read” it

Online most people skim, not read

People read down the page in an “F” pattern

Blocks of text are left behind (which explains EULAs doesn’t it)

Online comprehension is very different versus reading on paper

What’s the factor that matters most?

Complexity?

Relationship (professional versus friendly)?

Speed?

Aesthetics?

Audience?

Paper? Huh? Let’s skip it for now, but …

We still get tons of bills, invoices, and statements in the mail

The era of snail mail isn’t over (but let’s get the salt shaker out)

Email, ah the new-old stand by

Email as a linchpin and connector to other services

The new “default” correspondence

But…

Is Twitter replacing email?

But don’t forget vacation

messages When email becomes central to your work

& business

Missing emails can cost you…

Like $2 million

Business today requires a base level of tech savvy

More than knowing about “the Google”

IM Easy, fast, informal

Doesn’t scale terribly well

Using more or less?

Whither with Twitter?

Websites Your CV

Your storefront

Your identity

The foundation that other media rest on

Is it still a centre for conversation?

The upstarts Facebook

Don’t get me started on it Platform for communication or professional

liability? Disconnected from other media

Twitter/Identi.ca/Laconi.ca/micromessaging Filling a space in between other media Game changer or new shiny thing?

New media brings new rules & morés

How familiar is too familiar?

What is public?

What is private?

Could choosing one media over another matter?

What if…

Ray Lam & Facebook

Facebook We have to decide, as users, how we’re

going to use it or not.

Events?

Fan pages?

Professional communications?

Staking a claim?

Twitter The scourge of auto-DMs

@reply spam

“Oops” DM Fail

It’s public “-ish”

Very rapid

Leads to blurring public and private

Rules? We don’t need no stinkin’ rules!

Leading to messaging gaffs

Where does this leave us?

Besides confused…

We need to segment our communications tools by audience

Understand where they each shine

Experiment, carefully

Perhaps it’s about time

Do you take time to consider the message, the audience, & media?

Do you have time to wait?

Can “rules” be written fast enough to keep up with our own desire to innovate?

To end this presentation