The Wayward Celt

 Blue Galaxy is an IBM idea (as @kellypuffs says in her developerWorks article: a project, movement, community, initiative; or as I say just a cool thing) to connect the subject matter experts inside and outside the firewall with others who can benefit from those connections.

I was lucky enough and honoured to have been selected as one of the first Blue Galaxy stars (and have my very own poster as seen below) to help drive the idea and enable people on the ground to really being participating in solid social conversation. Mind you, I wasn’t selected to lead or drive from a formal project management perspective. Rather, like all of the other Blue Galaxy stars, we were chosen because we lead by example: not only can we talk about how to play in the social spaces and make the most out of the amazing capabilities to connect with some seriously cool and smart people, but we’re all walking the walk as well. Leading by example, showing everyone what can be accomplished in these spaces, really driving our own successes and IBM’s successes at the same time; that’s what makes everyone who’s part of Blue Galaxy a star.

Social business isn’t about marketing. It isn’t about driving sales. It isn’t even about improving efficiencies or bypassing convoluted process. It is about connecting people with other people to achieve mutually beneficial successes: that is social business, and that is what Blue Galaxy does.

Blue Galaxy brings together the right subject matter experts in the right channels to ensure widespread success across all clients, brands, and disciplines around the globe by simply sharing our expertise where it can be helpful and add value. I’m humbled and honoured to be involved in such an amazing initiative and to be able to attend IBM Innovate 2013 as a Blue Galaxy star and share my passion for social business.

But don’t let this fool you, this isn’t just an IBM thing… the ideas behind it are relevant to anyone who has expertise in their field and can share in the social spaces. While the Blue Galaxy moniker is IBM specific, the concepts and capabilities involve us all regardless of affiliation. If you’re a tech writer, you have expertise and knowledge to share. If you’re a long-haul trucker, you have expertise and knowledge to share. From a farmer to software developer, we all have knowledge in our realm of expertise which can be shared and help bolster successes across disciplines and in turn help us further our own successes as well.

Call it hippie2.0, but the successful businesses of the future will be the socially enabled, open, transparent businesses which share their expertise and knowledge with the world.

If you’ve been reading my posts here for any amount of time, you know I am passionate about social media and the transformative powers it imbues upon us personally and in the business worlds.

But social conversation also has a darker side; one which has an equally transformative power, but often goes unrecognized until the damage is done. That dark side is the undermining striation and polarizing effect of opinionated conversation.

While social media has given anyone with an internet connection an audience and a voice far greater than history has seen before, how we choose to wield that power to express opinion must be done so with thought and intent. Without it, we begin to see that dark-side rear its head and begin culture shifting us into opposing sides of issues that are either wholly irrelevant, or have far more facets than a simple two-sided opinion could accurately contain. As with most things in life, there are very few times when something is as simple as right and wrong.

How we discuss these issues, however, can either serve to help or hinder our cause… or in an even more Homeric manner, help or hinder our future. We are all embarked upon our own Odyssey, and the choices we make on a day-to-day basis relating to how we use our social voices, defines our collective end result. Understanding how our words impact not only ourselves, but our community and our culture is a critical insight we need to recapture.

Take, for example, current political discussions. I am certain that neither of the major parties are hell-bent on destroying the United States. More so I am also certain that both parties believe in their hearts that they are doing the right thing to ensure the success of the country and avoid failure. That is not, however, the indication anyone would get from social conversations which frame the issues into an us versus them mentality; that we are right and they are wrong. This deeply polarized view leaves no room for the plethora of grey areas that surround such complex issues involved with a government covering such a vast geographic region and the millions of people to whom it is beholden.

Social media, by virtue of the short sound-bite type postings, encourages over simplification of complex topics when the realities of life dictate the absolute opposite: that there are not simple solutions to the issues we face today. After all, if there were simple solutions, these diametrically opposed conversations would be short-lived and the simple truth of right versus wrong would prevail. Instead, we are faced with conversations laced with vitriolic and polarized speech, serving only to widen the gap between “us” and “them”.

The dark-side, dear friends, is the chasm of divergent opinion growing between us all. That chasm, as it grows, pulls us apart from community and drives us towards more insular engagement bordering on xenophobic, and the desire to remove ourselves entirely from open conversation.

The take-away and call to action here?
Pause for a moment and recognize that none of us want to destroy our country. Before using our social soap boxes to lambaste perceived opponents of opinion, step out for a moment and look at the larger picture to see all points of view knowing that anyone who holds a differing opinion feels just as correct as we do. So, when we return to our social channels and engage in conversation either in our own posts or as comments in others’ posts, we are sure to do so with respect, rationality, and an understanding that we are all in this together. If we can do that, we can begin fighting this chasm of simplistic and polarized ideologies and work not to build a bridge over it, but to fill it in so it no longer even exists. Realize that when we use our social pedestals to speak, people really do listen and with that audience comes responsibility to use your voice wisely, with an understanding of both the positive and negative effects it can have.

Social Business permeates our daily lives now. You can’t ignore it. Whether it is a FourSquare check-in, Yelp review, or Facebook/Twitter/Google+ post, if you are playing online you can’t avoid the fact that businesses are engaged.

There are countless examples of how businesses have done the right thing or the wrong thing in some social channel and all the acclaim or shame as a result, but I want to discuss here are the businesses that DON’T go viral with the right thing, but continually DO the right thing day in and day out. The right thing they are doing? Their best effort.

What do I mean by this though? Isn’t a best effort failing when other businesses are going viral? here I say no. There are two kinds of social businesses: the ones who are trying to be rock stars and gain the largest following they can, and then there’s everyone else: those businesses which day in and day out provide not only information, but true social engagement through responsive posting. This means listening to their audiences, keeping the pulse of their own channels under their thumb, and knowing what the right kind of response to mentions or comments will be.

In social business, responsiveness and attentiveness are critical. Knowing how, or even if you need to reply is a bit of black magic and most certainly an art form in itself. But, what I have found is that most people just want a response even if you can’t provide a comprehensive answer. This is what I mean by best effort. Sometimes it is enough to simply say: “Hey I saw your post and am working to find more information for you”…. so long as you do actually follow-up again later. Best effort could even mean doing a few quick searches to find some links which may help the commenter/poster.

So what IS the right thing?

• Be responsive, even if you don’t have the answer.
• Be personable and human
• Provide your best effort.

By way of example…

I was recently delighted when a large corporation replied back to one of my own posts, not only with some personable words of encouragement, but with a link they thought I may benefit from… and they did this all within 5 posts between us in the course of under 30 minutes. Was my direct issue met with a 100% solution, no. What I got was a personal touch point that made it known I was heard. THAT, my friends, is best effort and responsiveness defined. And that is what a social business is.

No one has all the answers all the time, pretending otherwise is silly and your audience will see right through it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t help people even though you don’t have the right answer, sometimes just a response is all the answer a person needs.