Debate Rages On

This past Friday (8/21), I was asked if my internal blog post could be featured up on our company home page. Like everyone that gets these requests – we all say yes. Traffic to your blog posts are a good thing, right? This blog post was nothing more than sharing a YouTube video on Social Media – Is it a fad or a revolution.  Seems harmless, just trying to share with the internal employee base on what is happening out in the world.

Social Media Revolution on YouTube

It did not take long for my excitement of getting increased readership turn to oh no, what did I do. I was hit with an increased amount of traffic (comments within the blog are ok) in email, instant messages and phone calls. Some folks, giving me the business on – what, you on Circuit to down right nasty comments on the subject matter (social media).

• The comments in the blog post ranged from – thanks for sharing to social media is crap. What has it done, what will it do and show me where it has helped. All great opportunities to demonstrate the capabilities. Just in the post alone, you can share that their concerns and thoughts – and demonstrate how they can get answers to their questions and answers.
• The emails – for those that have not read a previous post of mine – I have been doing everything in my power to get out of as much email as I can. So, the Circuit link went up at 11am. My noon email sync – did not get me much email, but my 3pm one – 20 emails on that subject alone. It was a late Friday type of day, but I was swamped with answering emails.
• IM’s popping up – letting me know they saw my mug on Circuit. Always nice to get some ribbing from folks. I have to be able to take it, because I dish it out..
• A couple of phone calls to boot. What shocked me more than anything was that my phone rang. I usually only get cold calls or magazine subscription inquiries (and the occasional United Blood Services needing blood donors). The calls I received were pretty good ones. Folks, that I did not know that wanted to talk about how they could use some of the capabilities.

I really enjoy getting the additional traffic – when your stuff is linked to the company homepage – well, traffic increases thousands of percentage points. Of course, we know that blogging is just not about posting content. Engaging in the discussions, comments and additional blog posts – are just as important. I spent quite a bit of time, doing just those things. I believe strongly in the tools and capabilities that they have and continue to evolve to bring to us. The road to educate the users – is still a big opportunity. I was reminded of that – Friday!