Instigator Blog

First impressions are critical. Whether it’s face-to-face, through your blog design or via instant message, you always want to put your best foot forward.

With so many people connecting online on a daily basis, it’s more than likely that your first communication with someone is through instant messaging rather than email, phone or face-to-face. That’s just how prevalent and accepted instant messaging is today as a form of communication.

And there’s no shortage of technology choices either. I use a handful of options including Skype, MSN, Gtalk, AIM and ICQ.

By its very nature, instant messaging is a very informal means of communication. With email, people have the opportunity to think about what they’re writing, save drafts for another time and respond at a slower pace. On the phone, people are typically very professional but also very comfortable since we’ve all used the phone for many years. Instant messaging changes a lot of the rules of communication because it’s:

• Informal feeling and casual
• Designed for very fast communication
• Unstructured and messy
• Increasing people’s availability and demands on their time

And now instant messaging is evolving into “broadcast instant messaging” through tools like Twitter which in some ways exacerbate the chaos created by instant messaging.

Given its nature, it might be easy to ignore the impression you leave through instant messaging. But that would be a big mistake.

Through every bit of communication - whether it’s a well-thought out email, phone conversation, meeting or instant message chat - you’re forming an impression and being given the opportunity to sell and promote yourself.

People forget that when it comes to instant message.

Recently I had two separate conversations via instant message that left me unimpressed. The people were flippant, slow to respond, and too casual in their style of writing. “Hey d00d” isn’t how I want to be addressed when we first connect online to talk about business.

It’s important to remember that the rules of communication still apply when connecting via instant message:

• Be respectful
• Show interest
• Don’t ignore people
• Don’t communicate like a 16-year old teenager talking to her girlfriends
• Treat conversations seriously and professionally
• Get a feel for how the other person wants to communicate and work towards that

Instant messaging is a great tool for communication. I use it constantly. But when you start reaching out to people - making those first contacts and having those first critical conversations - be smart about it. Remember: you’re making a first impression that will stick with people for a very long time, even if it’s just through a little chat box.

In the 3rd installment of Your Passion Podcast I’m talking about connecting with others.

It wasn’t always my strong point, but after a year or so of blogging and realizing that I needed to put myself out there, I’ve embraced the ease and power of connecting online and started translating that to offline connecting as well.

Connecting is key. Sounds simple, and in many ways, it is - particularly online. There are plenty of tools (chat, Twitter, Skype, blogging, etc.) and as long as you’re willing to invest the time and a bit of yourself (to demonstrate who you are, what you care about, and why others should care) it will be returned in kind.

I hope you enjoy Your Passion Podcast — and please send in your own recordings!

In 2-3 minutes tell me what you’re passionate about and why - and I’ll put you up at Instigator Blog.

After some nudging from a few people (I won’t name names: Mitch, Austin and Chris) I decided to give Twitter a chance.

You can see the widget in my first sidebar on the right. That now tells you (as accurately as I so choose) what I’m up to. Scary, huh?

When I first heard about Twitter I was not impressed. Do I really need to know what everyone is doing down to the minute?

It seems so compulsive, obsessive and over-the-top. And in many ways it is. It plays beautifully (or frighteningly) towards our natural instincts as humans to know what others are doing. We’re all Peeping Toms and voyeurs at heart - Twitter let’s us do that very easily.

We also like to think of ourselves as rock stars (why not!) and when you start to see the number of people following you grow that’s exactly what you feel like. Bam! There goes my ego! Robert Scoble is apparently being followed by everyone in Twitter. Maybe not, but he’s got over 850 followers in there tracking his every move.

One friend emailed me and said, “Welcome to Twitter Hell…” which I can only assume means I’ll spend too much time reading my friends’ 1-sentence long bits on what they’re doing, watching as updates roll in on the site or through my phone.

Here are some quick observations:

• Twitter is fun. You can’t help but get roped in to tracking what your friends are doing, updating them every time you sneeze and watching your list of friends and followers grow. What I found particularly interesting is that a couple people I know who aren’t considered great communicators are using Twitter heavily.
• Twitter is being used for 2-way communication. People are actually communicating with specific friends through Twitter and not using it solely to broadcast what they’re doing. I recently wrote a message @jeremywright about his current trip to Vegas. Although everyone can see it, Twitter is creating actual dialogues and not just bits of information floating all over.
• Twitter is forming a sub-culture. There’s no question that Twitter is forming a sub-culture of people connected through it. Soon, people won’t ask, “Do you blog?” The question will be, “Do you Twitter?” (or “Are you a twit?” - but that might be for a different reason.)
• Twitter might be a flavor du jour. I can see a point in time when people get bored with or tired of Twitter. After 1 day I already feel anxiety about making sure it’s regularly updated and used effectively. That might be more telling about me than anything else. But, at some point I can imagine people deciding it’s not worth updating regularly and then letting it slide. Twitter only works if people use it a lot.

I’m going to try very hard not to get too sucked into Twitter. But it’s amazing the type of people using it - people who are so insanely busy it’s not funny. But they’re still updating Twitter a few times per day. That says something for sure.

In the meantime, feel free to check out my Twitter profile and add me as a friend.

Following up on my first podcast at Instigator Blog, here’s Show #2 of Your Passion Podcast.

Today I’m talking about change and the passion I have for embracing change versus simply accepting it. Accepting change is a good first step but it leaves you vulnerable to negative change or passivity. No one wants to miss opportunities; but simply accepting change and not embracing it can result in exactly that - missed chances to succeed.

By embracing change you give yourself the chance to go outside of your comfort zone, take risks, explore and invent. You also give yourself the chance to turn something negative into a positive, and ride positive change even further than expected.

Change is inevitable. Embrace It. Find a Way To Benefit From it.

Don’t forget - I am looking for submissions to Your Passion Podcast. Take 2 minutes - tell me what you’re passionate about and why. I’ll put it online for everyone to benefit from… Email submissions to byosko@gmail.com.

This video just came across my path today, thanks to Philippe Borremans, Web 2.0 explained in video: Teaching the Machine.

Even when you’re “in the biz” of Web 2.0 and pushing online communities and conversations, it’s wonderful and inspiring to take a step back and say, “Right. That’s what we’re doing here.”

Kudos to Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University for putting this together.

It’s short, to-the-point and will leave you saying, “Oui.”