Griff Wigley

Empowering Voices Online (EVO): community leadership blogging

Evo-logo I’m working with my Gallomanor colleagues, Shane McCracken and Mary Reid, to deliver a series of one-day community leadership blogging workshops in the UK called Empowering Voices Online (EVO) .

Shane and Mary will be delivering the face-to-face sessions while I concentrate on the coaching and feedback via various tools, including the Interactive Learning Environment (ILE) on Blogging for Leaders.

First up on the 6th of February: participants from the city of Dewsbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. They’ll be meeting at the Ravensthorpe Community Centre.

Social media for the Trials Training Center

I’ve been working with longtime client Trials Training Center (TTC) in Sequatchie, TN to ratchet up their use of social media.

This week, we launched the Trials Training Center Twitter account and  the Trials Training Center Facebook Fan Page.


We put this collection of linked icons on their sidebar to make it easy for site visitors to not only follow them on Facebook and Twitter but also to follow the TTC blog via email or RSS and to view their videos on YouTube and their photos on Picasaweb.

Blog site for Forza!

Forza! I’ve been working on a blogsite with Gretchen Falck, owner of a fitness studio in Northfield called Forza! Building strong bodies and minds one core at a time.

Forza! features classes that “use Kettlebells, TRX Suspension Training, Resistance Stretching, and Body Weight Exercises.”

On using Twitter and Facebook with a blog: It’s Complicated

Social media policy sandwich board at the Goodbye Blue Monday coffeehouse This sandwich board in the front of one of my regular Northfield coffeeshops, the Goodbye Blue Monday, caught my eye, not only because it’s clever (“Look for us on Facebook & Twitter – but you won’t find us”) but because I’ve been trying to get smarter about how Twitter and Facebook can complement a blog, both for me, my clients, and here in Northfield.

Of course, no one approach fits all. Social media tools should be deployed in specific ways in order to achieve a specific outcome. But that generalization aside, I’m trying to determine what the issues are to consider for those who are wondering how Twitter and Facebook can be complementary to their blogs.

Kim logo I started thinking about this in earnest a week ago when I read blog developer and WordPress consultant Kim Woodbridge’s post from June 2009 titled Twitter and Facebook Integration: Stop Making Every Tweet Your Facebook Status. Kim argues that “posting automatically takes some of the social out of social media” but concedes that time is a big consideration for some people. The commenters on that blog post seem split on the issue.

I’m always coaching leaders on the importance of using an ‘authentic voice’ with their blogs.  In the past, however, I’ve rarely used an authentic voice on my own Twitter account, and likewise for the group Twitter account for our community blog, Locally Grown. It’s mostly been a manual Tweeting of blog post headlines. And on our Locally Grown Facebook fan page, the blog post headlines with excerpts are posted automatically to both the Wall and a special RSS tab.

So today I checked out some of the other web-savvy people who I follow to see how they’re using these tools.

Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan has a blog, an all-purpose Twitter feed, and a more focused Twitter feed. He doesn’t publicize his personal Facebook account. He also has a company, New Marketing Labs, with a blog, Twitter feed and a Facebook fan page. The company blog auto-updates to its Facebook Wall.

Brian Clark
Brian Clark has a blog, a Twitter feed, and a several other websites (eg, Teaching Sells) but no Facebook fan page. He doesn’t publicize his personal Facebook account.

Chris Garrett
Chris Garrett
has a blog, a Twitter feed, and several other websites (eg, Authority Blogger) but apparently no Facebook fan page. He urges people to follow (friend) him on Facebook.

Seth Godin 
Seth Godin has a blog, a Twitter feed, and a Facebook fan page. His blog posts are automatically posted both to his Twitter feed (“This is a retweet of my blog”) and his Facebook fan page (“This is repost of Seth’s blog”). He follows no one on Twitter.

ktwitnew2
Kim Woodbridge has a blog, a Twitter feed, a company (Anti Social Development) Facebook fan page, and urges people to friend her on Facebook. She manually updates her company’s Facebook Wall with her blog posts but also has her blog auto-update to a separate RSS feed tab.

All these people, with the exception of Seth Godin, are very engaged with their Twitter followers, creating somewhat of an online-community feel to the feeds.  They’re master curators, as they nearly always add value (and in a personal way) to whatever they decide to retweet.  They use Twitter as an extension of their brands which they’ve already built elsewhere (blogs, books, speaking gigs, etc.). To me, this is somewhat similar to using content platforms like WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad to build a space for your online ‘presence.’  Twitter, however, is in a class by itself because its viral value rises as more people use it.

Facebook is less a content platform like WordPress and more a social platform, where conversations and interactions occur in a complex viral stew. But it’s not your ‘property’ like your blog or your Twitter feed. (I can’t imagine a scenario in which I’d advise someone to first start with a Facebook fan page before creating a blogsite or a Twitter feed.)

But because Facebook is so big, creating a presence there (beyond your personal account) has to be considered as 1) a way to drive traffic to your own properties (your blog, your Twitter feed); and 2) as a place to engage your audience, even if you’re creating content elsewhere.

So for me, my inclination is to:

I’m hoping that the smarter that I get in my own use of Twitter and Facebook, the more helpful I’ll be to my clients and to the community of Northfield.

My Google profile

Google-Profile-Griff-300x154 I’ve compiled all my web-based info about me using Google Profile. See it at google.com/profiles/griffinjay. (People who are in my Google Contacts can see more info about me than the general public.)

My griffinjay profile comes up at the bottom of the first page of a Google search on my name, Griff Wigley. The word Griff is currently third in a Google search on the word, linking here to my business site, Wigley and Associates. The word Wigleys, currently 1st in a Google search, links to Wigleys of Mendota.

The civic blog site I work on, Locally Grown (aka LoGro and LoGroNo and LGN), is currently 1st in a Google search.

Optimizing WordPress for mobile devices

T-Mobile G1 (Google Android phone) displaying www.locallygrownnorthfield.org I’ve been installing the WordPress plugin WPTouch on all my blogs and many client blogs lately. It “deliver a fast, user-friendly and stylish version of your site to your iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini mobile, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm visitors without modifying a single bit of code (or affecting) your regular desktop theme.”

The photo on the right shows my T-Mobile G1 (Google Android phone) displaying the home page of my community blog, Locally Grown.

Comments are visible after clicking on any post. You can add a comment as well. The best way to keep track of comments, however, is to use an RSS reader app on your mobile device and subscribe to the blog’s comments RSS feed. Then if you see a comment that you’d like to comment on, click the link to the comment. It will activate the mobile-optimized view of the web page and position you for typing in your comment.

A new blog for Kutzky Park Neighborhood Association

kutzkyparklogo120w Back in 2004, I helped Rochester, MN neighborhood group, the Kutzky Park Neighborhood Association, set up a new website with a blog using Blogger.

They asked for an updated site this summer so we converted all the old Blogger posts over to WordPress. We gave the admin keys to local volunteer Pam Gjertson who’s been learning WordPress on her own and experimenting with various WordPress themes… currently using one of my favorites, Atahualpa.

Invisible Children blog

invisible children sshot I’ve been advising Mike Tikkanen on making some changes to his blogsite, Invisible Children. It’s the blog for his book by the same name, as well as for Kids At Risk Action (KARA), “a non-profit advocacy network focusing on issues related to neglected and abused children.” I first coached Mike back in 2005.

Blogsite and Facebook page for MN Senate 25 candidate Al DeKruif

al-dekruif-sshot al-dekruif-fb-sshot

I’ve been working with MN Senate 25 candidate Al DeKruif, setting up a campaign website with a blog and a companion Facebook page. His blog posts automatically get published to the Wall on his Facebook page as well as to an RSS/Blog tab.  And his Facebook updates automatically get posted to a Fan Box widget on his website’s sidebar.

Another round of leadership blogging with my Brit colleagues

ukaid-largeFor over a year now, I’ve teamed up with a UK-based colleague of mine, Shane McCracken (his company is Gallomanor) to work with a federal agency of the British government called the Department for International Development (DFID), now also known as UKaid. It’s “the part of the UK Government that manages Britain’s aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty.”

dfid-bloggers-banner
We’ve been coaching a growing group of DFID staff in several countries on how to use blogs to highlight the local work their office is doing. See the DFID group blog for more. We’re about to launch a new crop of DFID bloggers this fall.

Simon Davis and Shane McCrackenAlthough we work with several DFID staff at their headquarters in London, our primary colleague there is Simon Davis.

Simon and Shane had a meeting last Monday in the plaza outside the DFID office and I convinced them to take a photo and send it to me. Splendid!

Blogging For Leaders: a new interactive learning environment

blf-sshotI’ve set up a new site called Blogging For Leaders (BLF). It’s an interactive learning environment (ILE) designed to help people use blogs and other social media tools in their roles as leaders.

I’ve been a leadership blogging coach since 2003, and have worked with business and non-profit executives, politicians, government officials, education administrators, small business owners, and community leaders.

I’m taking what I’ve learned (and what my clients have taught me) and putting it into a structured online  course. And I will be wrapping an online community of learners around it with a web forum where I’ll moderate the discussions, provide some coaching, and gather ongoing feedback on how to improve the offering.

Currently, the course and forum are only open to those leaders associated with a couple of my client organizations

That will change later this fall.

WordPress under attack; sites hosted by Tiger Technologies have been protected for 3 weeks

wordpress.org logoMost of the blog sites I’ve set up for my clients run on WordPress. Late last night, I spent a couple of hours checking and upgrading sites to Version 2.8.4 ASAP because there’s a nasty worm making the rounds this weekend:

I wrote to my favorite web host, Tiger Technologies in California, asking them if they knew about it the worm and whether they could tell if any sites had been compromised. The owner, Robert Mathews, wrote me back within a few minutes:

Continue reading WordPress under attack; sites hosted by Tiger Technologies have been protected for 3 weeks

New blogsite for Re-Pete’s Saloon & Grill

Re-Pete's Saloon & GrillI’ve set up a blogsite for Re-Pete’s Saloon & Grill in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Co-owner Jen Gunning will be blogging Real Soon Now.  Her co-owner husband, Jerel Gunning, has been blogging at the Club 95 website for their other restaurant in Hixton, Wisconsin. That site will soon be getting a makeover and Jen expects to take on blogging/site maintenance duties there, too.

Social network update: Students Speak Out

As I noted in a May, 2007 blog post, the Citizens League contracted with me to set up, launch, and run the Students Speak Out (SSO) social network, part of their MAP 150 Project. Over the 5 months of my involvement, Erin Sapp, Lars Johnson, Stacy Becker, Kim Farris-Berg, Sean Kershaw and others working on the project gradually assumed more and more responsibilities for the social network until my work on it ended in the fall.

MN Journal sshot The project flourished, including an expansion to Students Speak Out: Milwaukee.  Much of this is chronicled in several articles in the July/August 2009 issue of MN Journal, the Citizens League’s newsletter.

platforms-sshot SSO is featured in a paper by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor Satish Nambisan titled Platforms for Collaboration (PDF), published in the summer 2009 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review. The RPI press release on the paper, A New Way to Look at Innovation: Rensselaer Professor Outlines Blueprint for Social Change, summarized SSO:

2009-0827-nambisan Nambisan cited Minnesota’s nonprofit Citizens League and its successful use of exploration platforms for its Students Speak Out project, which was launched in 2007 to identify and tackle student issues. The Citizens League invited students to participate in a Web-based forum where bullying emerged as a key concern. The discussion quickly expanded beyond the Web and the students. Parents, journalists, education researchers, school board members, legislators, and city government officials all came together, both online and in offline venues including teacher training programs, student workshops, student video contests, and an annual convention.

The Citizens League developed an issue brief and white paper, and the Minneapolis city government incorporated the students’ feedback in policies to reduce youth violence. In perhaps the greatest indication of SSO’s success, Milwaukee launched a similar initiative in 2008.

Winds of Peace Foundation blogsite

wpf-sshot Back in Feb. of 2007, I worked with Winds of Peace Foundation CEO Steve Sheppard in launching his leadership blog.

This past month, working with foundation’s do-everything staff person and webmaster Bobbie Jones, we’ve now converted the entire Winds of Peace Foundation site over to WordPress. And we have merged Steve’s blog with the Winds of Peace Foundation news blog. Steve Sheppard’s blog posts are assigned a category by that name within that news blog.