Smart Savvy

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You just joined Twitter. Who do you follow? Where do the cool kids hang out? Maybe you just want to follow the most popular entrepreneur tweeters out there…but how do you follow them all at once? Recent Top Grad Finalist and Founder of Aer Marketing, Brian Wong (a.k.a. The Prodigy), has the answer.  Together with his team at Aer Marketing, a full-service web marketing firm, Brian has recently created a new social media web application for Twitter called Followformation.

Followformation helps users quickly follow people that matter in the areas of their interest. Who do you follow and how? For new Twitter users, (Aer coins them “chirpers”) this can be especially intimidating. Followformation helps the social media newcomer simplify the first few steps by categorizing the top Twitter users in their respective categories and automating the entire follow process.

Users are able to choose their categories of interest and preview the people in these categories,  as well as create a custom category if not on the current list.

Followformation is also announcing an advertising platform called the “formation” that will be available in the coming weeks. Companies and individuals will be able to bid on a featured position in each category. Bidders will be pre-approved based on a set of criteria that are designed to preserve the quality of the users in the formation pool. Bidding dates will be announced in the days to come on Followformation’s Tumblr page.

The company plans to expand Followformation’s following concept to other social networks in the months to come, including Tumblr.

We here at Smart Savvy are big on entrepreneurship and innovation. Thats why we love getting new updates in our RSS feed from Springwise. Powered by over 8,000 “spotters” worldwide, Springwise highlights new business ideas and innovative marketing techniques. 

Over the past few weeks Springwise have been on a roll, posting some exciting business prospects. Its encouraging to see that even in a world-wide economic recession, the entrepreneurial spirit pushes on. 

Here are a few of our top picks for your viewing pleasure.

Elevator Pitches at 3000 Feet

“This is inflight entertainment that should appeal to all of our entrepreneurial readers: Virgin Atlantic’s recently launched PitchTV. As part of Virgin Atlantic’s 25th birthday celebrations, Richard Branson announced a new way to support innovative business plans. Entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the world in video format, uploading the videos to Virgin’s website, where the online community can view and rate their idea.” Link 

Nissan’s Unique Advertising Campaign

“Nissan Canada’s hypercube contest is a unique social media campaign to promote the company’s new Cube vehicle, which launches in May. Rather than embark on yet another mass-media advertising campaign, Nissan and Capital C—its creative partner in the effort—have chosen to tap the creativity of Canadian consumers. Specifically, back in March they invited up to 1,000 Canadian musicians, DJs, dancers, programmers, designers, bloggers, podcasters, poets, writers, storytellers and artists—”anyone who considers themselves creative, hip, interesting or unique”—to explain via survey and Twitter why they should be selected to audition for one of the winning 50 spots” Link

Viral Campaign Design

“ Wildfire’s patent-pending technology aims to solve that problem with a self-service web application that allows corporations, small businesses, marketing agencies, bloggers and nonprofits to easily create their own attractive, branded interactive promotions and simultaneously publish them in multiple social networks. Users begin by creating a branded interactive promotion using Wildfire’s easy-to-use software—available promotion formats include sweepstakes, coupon giveaways and user-generated video, photo and essay-based contests.” Link

I read a very interesting article this morning on about Twitter  and its effects on spreading information. In this case however, it was a negative example. The author points to the fact that Twitter includes people tweeting and retweeting information on the Swine Flu epidemic (currently trending 2 terms: Swine Flu and #Swineflu) and are doing more harm than good.

“Unlike basic Internet search—which has already been nicely used by Google to track emerging flu epidemics—Twitter seems to have introduced too much noise into the process: as opposed to search requests, which are generally motivated only by a desire to learn more about a given subject, too many Twitter conversations about swine flu seem to be motivated by desires to fit in, do what one’s friends do (i.e. tweet about it) or simply gain more popularity.”

I think it would be difficult to argue that Twitter doesn’t add noise to our daily lives, but simply another layer that has been added to our lives, and one that enables us to expand our informational flow to unprecedented levels. This over-stimulation can have detrimental effects.

Twitter’s biggest weakness is also its biggest strength, however.

Think of the tweets from the Hudson River plane crash, or the earthquakes in China. These examples weren’t just noise, they were real time news providing valuable insight into the calamities.

The information on the Swine Flu might be “motivated by desires to fit in and to do what one’s friends do” right now, when hard facts about the crisis is limited, however when pertinent, urgent information becomes available, Twitter will become the first channel of information for a large audience.

I would like to get your thoughts on this - do you think Twitter is vain? Or does it provide specific value?

Late last week, a brown paper package arrived at our office door. Inside we found a video. The cantankerous host (a.k.a. The Smokin’ Recruiter) asked us to take his message to the world. We’ve decided to oblige him… although we’re not sure we should.

I read an article this morning on BNET that tackles the issue of attitude vs experience. 

Experience tends to equate with baggage. Behaviour is learned. We do what we do on the basis of it having led to success in the past. We’ve all been annoyed by people who insist on telling us how things were done in their last company or last job. There are benefits to learning how other people do things, but the underlying message is that what we’re doing is no good, and that can be demoralising.

So what about hiring on potential? This, too, comes with some small print.

For “potential”, read “lack of directly applicable experience”. That means giving the individual time to learn, which implies training, coaching and the provision of development opportunities.This one of the reasons many companies fall back on what they hope is the quicker-fix solution of hiring so-called experienced people — it takes less effort.

I think we can add one more identifier- process. Attitudes can be fleeting and short lived. Experience can leave large blind spots. But a person’s process (how they look at problems, deal with conflict, persaude) is consistent.

The right people have processes in place that allow them to adapt to different situations- and those are the people you want to have on your team.

Link to full article

Part III of Blog Hosted by: Tim Hiltabiddle, The Nice Guy Bill of Rights

The following is reproduced from one of my favourite blogs www.800ceoread.com.  Some food for thought from a ‘nice guy’…

Welcome to blog post number three from Tim Hiltabiddle, co-author of Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office. You can find the first post here and the second here.

The Nice Guy Bill of Rights

It was a blustery day in November of 2004 when my friend Russ Edelman first came to me with the ‘nice guy’ idea. The concept - which had been percolating in his mind for several months - was to come up with ways to help people in the business world who suffer from Nice Guy Syndrome.

We discussed it while sitting at a local restaurant in our hometown of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The plight of nice guys really resonated with me, but we both realized that we had to put some meat on the bones. It needed a hook; some concrete ideas to rally behind. We needed to find ways to empower nice guys and help them overcome the behaviors that limit their effectiveness.

We quickly stumbled upon the idea of a Nice Guy Bill of Rights. Instead of being passive or feeling victimized, we wanted nice guys to realize that they have the inalienable right to speak their minds or say ‘no’ to things they didn’t want to do.

So, lacking a pad of paper, we literally asked for a stack of white paper napkins from the waiter (true story!) and started to jot down various ideas for our Bill of Rights. After many months of pruning and tweaking, we settled upon these eight strategies to help nice guys be more successful:

1. You have the right to SELF-AWARENESS Before you can set a course for where you want to go, first you must be completely honest about where you are. A thorough knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses is extremely valuable.
2. You have the right to SPEAK UP - Overly nice guys often struggle with speaking their minds and expressing their opinions. The ability and willingness to speak up is essential if you want your ideas to be heard.
3. You have the right to SET BOUNDARIES - “No” seems to be the hardest word for nice guys. Frequently they choose to be the proverbial doormat instead of setting a boundary that clearly defines what they will (and won’t) do. Nice guys must set good boundaries and consistently reinforce them as needed.
4. You have the right to CONFRONT - Conflict is a challenge for most people. It is especially difficult for nice guys, who instinctively want to get along with everyone. It is very important to learn to address issues directly and overcome the fear associated with confrontation.
5. You have the right to CHOICE - Nice guys often feel powerless, as if they have no choice in a given situation. The truth is that they frequently give away their power to choose. The key? To own your choices and, without guilt, to make the right decision for you and your organization - even if it means people will be angry or disappointed with you.
6. You have the right to EXPECT RESULTS - Maintaining accountability sometimes makes you unpopular. Regardless, to be effective nice guys must be willing to hold others (and themselves) accountable for results, schedules, commitments, quality, deliverables, and budgets, to name a few.
7. You have the right to BE BOLD - Taking risks is extremely challenging for nice guys. If they want to succeed at a high level, however, they must be willing to go beyond their comfort zone and be bold.
8. You have the right to WIN. The business world is highly competitive. Nice guys, however, sometimes shy away from competition because they aren’t comfortable with “winning” (and other people “losing”.) While a win/win scenario is ideal, it is not always possible. Everyone is ultimately best served when the best ideas and solutions win, not when nice guys “play small.” Nice guys owe it to

The following post is reporduced from the BNET Insight Blog writen by CC Holland.  I’d be interested in your thoughts to his question ~ Would you hire a job hopper?

Your team has an opening and you’re down to two strong candidates. Candidate A has excellent qualifications and has been at her current position for six years. Candidate B has equally strong credentials but has held six jobs in the last six years. Which one do you hire?

According to executive search expert Tim Tolan, Candidate A should be more appealing because she doesn’t exhibit, as he puts it, “career ADD.” He makes a strong argument that serial hoppers need to “find their pond and stay for a while.”

To me, that’s old-fashioned thinking. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, today’s average American will have had 10 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38. Do the math: That’s a new job every other year. What’s that if not job-hopping?

While a checkered work past requires some investigation from a hiring manager — after all, you don’t want to discover that your new hire left her old jobs because she’s inept or has the pesky habit of showing up at the stroke of noon — I don’t buy into the argument that it’s a death blow to a resume.

In fact, I think that different industries understand or even embrace the peripatetic professional. In journalism, you’re expected to move around; staying in one spot too long, especially if you’re a young reporter, kind of makes you look unmotivated and lazy. The tech industry also embraces the wandering worker. By contrast, the financial world can provide the kind of infrastructure and advancement opportunities to allow someone to remain in place, without complacency, for years. (My better half has been rising through the ranks at a national bank for a staggering 16 years now.)

So think twice before you condemn a candidate for his variegated vocations. You don’t want to pass up a potential superstar because you’re afraid he has career ADD.