NO, surely not. Yes, t’was indeed the case and now no longer, thanks to the marvellous Patient Opinion. I attended the Empowering Change in the NHS Through Collaboration event, hosted by the Scottish Health Council and Peach Digital. [Wee aside – blimey, their presentation slides were seriously fabulous.]

Patient Opinion, known as the Trip Advisor of health services, shared the story of prescriptions left out for all and sundry to see as an example of the power of social sharing to change things for the better. A patient requested that their GP practice desist from publicly sharing patients’ treatments. Patient Opinion shared the story with the practice – and found from the site that other GP surgeries were also leaving prescriptions out in public. This is no longer the case.

So, most health bodies/organisations (and I can include my own workplace here in that it is a charity for unpaid carers and young carers) use Facebook to post up information and don’t really engage/consult/interact. Health-type organisations tend to approach Facebook/Twitter et al with fear and trepidation.

A large part of the event was taken up with descriptions of how to deal with negativity, with fabulous examples of how big corporates have dealt with complaints and turned situations around. This was particularly useful for me – when people post up negative comments on my organisation’s Facebook page my first instinct is to cry (I’m working on developing a thicker skin) and secondly, to go and hide in a darkened room.

Jess from Peach Digital gave some really sound advice about responding in general on social media, while Stuart from NHS Lothian (and that body is no stranger to complaints through social media) described how they tackle the gripes and grumbles.

And as the Patient Opinion experience showed, there is the potential for so much good as a result of social sharing. 50% of the feedback on the site is about good experiences and it’s as important healthcare practitioners to know the good as it is to know the bad. (I’m off to fill in the site myself about the fantastic care I receive courtesy of Gartnavel Hospital.)

Tim from twintangibles made the excellent point that research in the US shows that one third of adults use social media to discuss health. If you’re a health organisation, then it makes complete sense to tune into and use it.

So bring on the negativity I say – now I’m ready, confident and able to deal with them and looking forward to working in a much more interactive and engaging way with the fab folks on Facebook!

Stephen Noble gave an excellent presentation on viral videos – what works, why it works, why it’s important and what to avoid. He provided 5 main pointers on what to include to increase your chances of success:

• Originality – the screaming sheep video (google it!) is a great example of this. People don’t want to see the same old rehashes of pratfalls and ironic commentaries, they want something new
• Real or fake? – if viewers watch it several times and they’re *still* not sure if you faked it or not (of course you did) then you’re on to a winner
• Emotion – people respond to emotion more than anything, so reach out and touch them
• Remix – the mashup is one of this decade’s biggest winners in social media, and youtube is prime real estate for remixing other content. Just make sure you don’t infringe copyright or you might get more feedback than you really want…
• Preview – don’t forget about your still-frame thumbnail! If it’s boring, change it. You can even cheat…

My organisation are still quite some distance from being able to create our own viral content – the necessary formality that comes with being a governmental agency means that if we ever do so it will be entirely accidental and probably damaging! This was a useful session though and I hope to be able to put some of the ideas into action sooner rather than later. Watch this space…

…before turning to scramble in her bag, searching for a camera in order to capture the moment. The otter came out of the water. He sat a mere six foot from Judith and she weighed up the moment. Continue rooting round in her bag looking for the camera or… Just. Enjoy. The. Moment.

Enjoying the moment won the day. An excellent example of living mindfully hmm? The rather fab Jude and Em led the “Switching off – Mindfulness and Social Media” event at the In the Moment Centre for Movement and Wellbeing.

The two of them encouraged lots of discussion and ran exercises designed to get our group (and what an interesting collection of people they were!) thinking…

What started you on social media (me: er, newly single, someone told me there was a bloke on it I might like) and what keeps you there? What media are you exposed to on a daily basis – we listed the internet, the TV, the radio, phones, Facebook, Twitter, apps, our smart phones, branding and advertising. Etc, etc. What status updates are there on your Facebook newsfeed which generate an immediate reaction – and what should reaction be, if you stopped and thought about it for a minute or so?

Best of all Jude taught us a meditation exercise, designed to make us think mindfully. Oh the bliss of closing your eyes and listening to everything that surrounds you – the tick tock of a clock, the distant sounds of traffic, the coughs, splutters and breathing of your fellow human beings when they aren’t engaged in tap, tap, tapping away on keyboards, tablets and mobile phones!

There was plenty to learn from this informative session – our final session divided the participants into groups and we then had to come up with our own guidelines for staying mindful (and sane) on social. Marc in our group came up with ‘Eat before you tweet’ and we also opined on the values of doing one thing at a time (and doing it properly), watching your privacy settings, checking out emails & social media at allotted times, getting rid of spammers and reading posts properly.

All in all, a really good session and very useful too. I’m away to share my new-found mindful knowledge with friends and family (and with social media; but only at the time I’ve decided to look at Facebook).

Called ‘iShoogle’, the app is available on both iOS and Android and offers commuters, students, shoppers and the general public with news regarding train times and any line disruptions.

The app is also fully interactive with gamification and location based technology helping set it apart from the normal, mundane app. With the ability to check in via Facebook you can keep track of where you’ve been and where your friends have been in real time.

After a check in, you will be labelled a ‘Shoogler’ and put onto a leaderboard of ‘top shooglers’. This will show up on the app, so for example if I was leading the charts, my profile would be top of the chart as a ‘top shoogler’.

A definite must have for any regular subway rider.

Keith McMean, guest speaker at Social Media Week Glasgow highlighted this point during an event on Monday. He outlined that marketing landscapes are forever changing, and that to be left behind is not only detrimental to your business right now, but to generating in the future.

With advertising and marketing methods leaning more and more towards the digital age, it would appear that social media in its many forms is a great compliment to the traditional advertising and marketing methods.

So, what can you do?

Well the great thing about social media is that anyone can go on the journey. A journey outlined by Keith as never ending. In business terms, social media is a tool with which to shout out about your business and gain interest, meet new clients and knock business ideas back and forth.

In order to maximise the full use of your social media effort, the content of your online presence needs to meaningful and of quality. Keith mentioned the best way to prepare for any such event was to have a good solid strategy in place. Look at what your talking about and who with, are you being engaged with as much as you should be, as at the end of the day, the better quality will ultimately lead to a better return.

The four social media platforms Keith really pushed for a business are the usual big hitters;

-Twitter
-Facebook
-Google +
-LinkedIn

Although I can’t be there, at least I can try to follow events via twitter…after surfing through all the ‘glad to be here’ and promotional tweets, I find a link to an interesting article on online restaurant reviews amid the discussion on today’s sentiment analysis workshop. @herehussain is tweeting away some nice nuggets from the sessions she’s attending, her tweets include the following advice (something I’ve been banging away about for quite some time for our organisation!):

most important advice is not to ignore people’s complaints. Engage with them

Good stuff so far! Having now read the excellent How to follow and share article on the SMW website, I now check out the official Facebook page and find lots of good links to photos from events so far. Not really making up for my non-attendance though, as the pics make me feel I missed out by not being there rather than giving me access to some of the resources provided to the attendees. Maybe that’s the point though!

By far the most useful and innovative resource appears to be SMWlive, providing real-time streams of selected events. Unfortunately, my work’s IT policy doesn’t allow for live streaming. If only someone was holding a discussion on opening up access within the workplace…

I sincerely hope the weather and workload allow me to attend other events this week, as it looks like it’s been pretty good so far!

So, it comes as no surprise that Google is pulling out all the stops to make Google Plus a resounding success. Well, it’s working to some degree, they’ve just announced they have over 400 million members on the platform and, apparently, 100 million active monthly users after only one year.

However impressive these numbers may sound, it’s worth putting them into some context. Facebook counts almost a billion active users a month. And when you consider that an active user on Google Plus spends just 3 minutes on the platform per month compare to Facebook’s average of over six hours per month, it’s fair to say that Google Plus is not a “happening” social network.

So, the people at Google have a problem. They may have a lot of signups but very little interaction – and it’s the interaction they need to make it a worthwhile product (and the market research tool they need it to be).

As a result, it’s starting to look like Google is taking some more desperate measures to get people using it. It’s now more tightly integrated with Local results in search, making businesses with local listings adopt … or potentially drop down the page. It’s now more tightly integrated with paid search, meaning if you’ve got an active following on Google Plus you get improved paid search visibility.

When you consider Google’s mantra since the dawn of time has been “Don’t Be Evil”, it starts to become questionable when site owners start to feel their arms being twisted into using it to ensure they remain on the front page of Google…

What does this mean for the end user?

What does this mean for the future of Google Plus?

Is Google Plus REALLY a social platform or just an extended search tool?

I hope to answer these and other questions at my talk during Social Media Week entitled “Google Plus – Social Animal or SEO henchman?” – Thursday 1pm at the wonderful CitizenM Hotel. Equator has two days of talks, workshops and fun there on Thursday and Friday. Why not check out the full list on the listing above and book your spaces – last few remaining!

Our Selection #2

Social Media drop-ins + FREE WiFi in SMWGla Networking Lounge @ Skypark - Every Day

A great addition to this year’s week. Please join us in the networking lounge at Skypark (#SMWSPLounge), and take the opportunity to ask for help and initial guidance with the main Social Media platforms such as twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, G+. SMWGla team and volunteers will be there everyday to offer free support to anyone. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy free wifi kindly offered by Skypark, to watch live streamed content from other SMW cities or venues in Glasgow, to have a coffee at Where The Monkey Sleeps, and – why not – to have your moment of glory on SMWGTV. Join us on the couch!

Who’s leading? A Discussion Panel on Access to Social Media in the Workplace - McCance Building, Strathclyde University - Mon 24  - 5:30-8:00pm

Hosted by IRISS. Many individuals face obstacles when trying to use collaborative tools and techniques in the workplace. The obstacles are technical and cultural. Who within organisations can lead the move towards cultural change, from which technical change should follow? And which organisations are already leading the way? If we can break down the technical barriers, people might be more encouraged work collaboratively and to understand how social media can support workplace learning and development. The event will be a ‘Question Time’ format in which a panel of ‘influencers’ will be asked how we might break down these barriers.

What’s it all about? Using Social Media  - Glasgow Caledonian University, Tue 25, 11am-12pm 

It’s a common misconception that ‘digital natives’ are automatically conversant with all forms of social media. This workshop, hosted by Glasgow Caledonian University, will introduce social media platforms – both old and new – to the audience and allow them to discuss any worries which may be acting as an obstacle to their use of social media. They will also offer future tuition to any staff or students who wish to know more about using social media at a follow-up session.

Community Management: A User Guide by Equator Agency - CitizenM, Thu 27, 2:30-3:30pm

Our city headline sponsors Equator have recently published their great line up of events (follow their hashtag #socialmediageek). Like they say, just as with any Social Media Week event, their events are NOT about them selling to you – it’s about an open sharing of knowledge. This will be an engaging, informed and entertaining session on Community Management. With so many social tools and platforms available to us all, building an online community can be an attractive idea, however before you get started, have you given thought as to how you will manage this community? Like most things in social media, having a plan in place is a good place to start. If you think community management is about posting some content and replying to customer service queries, then this is the talk for you!

Future Technology and Social Engagement - by Equator Agency – CitizenM, Fri 28, 11-12pm

This is a talk aimed at those interested in socially engaging technology tools of the future but also looking back at the past and how it can play a part.  What Equator will be discussing is what role do new technologies play in engaging with customers, creating new experiences and then sharing? What does the future hold? Who are the sectors that should be embracing these new technologies and why? What were the very first social engagement tools? What ones are in use today? What will be the next one that we are all talking about?

If my mum or my employer read this, would I be dismayed? And if the answer is ‘yes’ then I don’t put it out there. That’s the golden rule I use for anything I post online. Simple, but effective.

I’m fairly reserved and some of the information I’ve seen people post on social media sites fills me with horror. Just why would you share that? And in some cases, why would you assume people would be interested in that level of everyday banality?

But here we have this tool which allows everyone to have an opinion – sometimes well informed and interesting, sometimes malicious, spiteful or typed and posted while under the influence of alcohol. Don’t do it!

There are old-fashioned rules you can use to apply to social media and which will stand you in good stead. So thinking if your mum or employer reading something that you’d posted online isn’t a scenario you want to be in, apply it.

Years ago, I was advised never to write something down in anger because it created a lasting token of an emotion which can often be short-lived. This applies doubly to social media sites. It can be very tempting to vent your rage online and it takes only minutes or even seconds for those words to appear. And then of course the subject of your rage may choose to respond online resulting in a most undignified exchange, available for the world and her husband to see. (There are a whole lot of examples of this on Twitter, usually involving reality TV stars yet to develop a thicker skin.)

Choose your online friends carefully too and check out privacy settings for everything. Privacy isn’t usually the default setting for most social networking and therefore if it’s something you value, look into the settings for your account and find out what they mean.

So share by all means – I’m very grateful for what Facebook, Twitter, blogging et al has brought to my life. I’ve admired great pictures, laughed at funny videos, contacted old friends and enjoyed the sense of connectivity with a whole wide world. But treat it with care, think of what you want other people to see of you and never, ever post while drunk…

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Scottish women. Every year nearly 4,500 women are diagnosed and around 1,000 die from the disease annually. 1 in 9 women in Scotland will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime.

Scottish Women’s Football and Breakthrough Breast Cancer have recently embarked on a partnership to help raise awareness of the symptoms of the disease and the benefits of regular exercise, primarily through the medium of twitter, but we need your help.

Our aim is to create a video which links up as many football fans and players around the world as possible by seeing them pass on a ball to each other.
All you have to do is ask someone to film you highlighting your footie skills – the more obscure the place, your surroundings or outfit, the better! It is entirely up to you what you do with the ball while it is in the shot. You don’t need to be skillful – just have some fun!

Clips should be no more than 15 seconds long and if you post to twitter please use the hashtags #swfonegoal and #breastcancer and @ScotWFootball @BreakthroughSco.

For further details, please visit the Scottish Women’s Football website.

Scottish Women’s Football are hosting a seminar on 26th September at Hampden Park in Glasgow entitled ‘SWF One Goal’ as part of Social Media Week. We will combine some of the skills clips received into a continuous sequence as part of our presentation.

You can follow SWF on Twitter @ScotWFootball, as well as Breakthrough Breast Cancer Scotland @breakthroughsco.

Good luck with the challenge and we look forward to seeing all of your entries!