To some extent this is down to my latest shiny new toy. That's Google Plus, or more specifically, Communities over at Google Plus.
I don't often write about social media here. I'm much more interested in the social impacts of these tools than I am the tools themselves. So apart from Blogger and Twitter, I don't use any other tool that much. I've never found Facebook that compelling and though I've got lots of contacts on Linked, I'm not on there that much (particularly with the removal of Events and Answers, which I thought were some of its best features).
But I really, really like Communities on Google Plus. In fact I really like Google Plus, but prior to Communities hadn't found anything that made me want to spend time there. I tried a few Hangouts / Hangout On Airs which I still want to experiment with, but my efforts towards the end of last year weren't very successful.
But Communities are great. They're easy to use, nicely formatted with link pictures appearing automatically and I just find them much more compelling than groups on Facebook or Linkedin, or even Twitter.
Added to that you've got potential benefits supporting AuthorRank, linking back directly to what's still going to be the world's leading search engine, so it's a good place to be spending time contributing.
I'm spending most of my time in two communities that I'm also moderating:
- Social HR is growing quickly - 428 people as of today - and consists of a mix of posts about different aspects of HR, and some discussions about what social HR involves.
- Employee Engagement is a community I'm co-moderating together with other members of the Engage for Success movement. It's growing more slowly but we're having some interesting conversations there, and once again, I personally fin it a much more compelling place to be than the movement's existing Linkedin groups. I'm sure that over time the conversations will slowly move to the Google Plus group.
Do have a look at Google Plus, Communities, and both Social HR and Employee Engagement if you've not been over there before - it'd be great to see you.
Though I will soon be getting going posting here again too.
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- jon [dot] ingham [at] strategic [dash] hcm [dot] com
Technorati Tags: Engage for Success, Google Plus, Google +, Communities, Social HR, Employee Engagement
Jon, it’s interesting that you are positive about Google Plus communities especially when you’re choosy about your social media tools. I think this demonstrates several things. First, different tools suit different things. Second, social networking works best when the tool is easy to use, is already populated with at least some of your network, and provides value. Too often at work we ask people to use the wrong tool, set up in ways that aren’t user friendly and don’t make them valuable enough - and then we wonder why they fail. I’ll be spending more time on Google Plus communities this year and look forward to seeing you there.
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