My dear friends at Waggener Edstrom kindly invited me to the Sony Ericsson Media Event. Not knowing what to expect (although I did smell a new phone), I went to the event held at Marina Bay Sands on the afternoon of 16 June. Sony Ericsson has chosen not to take part in CommunicAsia this year, but to piggyback on the biggest IT exhibition-conference in the region to create a number of fringe events around it. One is this media event, and the other, a showcase by Sony Ericsson’s APAC digital ambassador,  popular Korean girl-band, The Wonder Girls.

I also took this opportunity to speak with Steve Walker, Head of Global Product Marketing for Sony Ericsson to get some of his ideas on their social media strategy for the region. Although I hadn’t managed to dig any deep insights from him in the short 10 minute conversation (together with 2 other media), the interview might provide you with some idea on Sony Ericsson’s direction in the digital arena. Some of Sony Ericsson’s global digital success includes a viral video to market the X1, the W595 Darkside campaign, the Extra Man campaign for 2010 Fifa World Cup, and the C95 Online Photographic Competition, just to name a few.

Sony Ericsson has taken some very interesting plunge into social media as a global effort. With Sony Ericsson’s re-brand to align with Sony’s global tagline ofmake.believe, there is a lot of potential to expand on this and create new interesting campaigns & outreach. I for one, love the limitless possibilities of this tagline concept (See Jayden’s blog as an example on their blogger approach. Less the fact that they actually advocate PAYING for coverage of course). I’m definitely looking forward to more localised campaigns that will excite the local online community.

Before we touched further on the SE event, I would first like to make a comment on the venue. Marina Bay Sands so does not live up to its name. Not only the venue is hardly ready to be opened, the premium proposition of Sands Vegas is totally not felt in this location. We may be looking at something less than a white elephant, but rather, one which we are likely to refer as the empty vessel. The management will have a lot of work to do to up its standards.

(APAC Overview by Hirokazu Ishizuka, Corporate Vice President and Head of APAC region)

(left to right : Mike Foong, Chester Chen & Joe Teh)

It was all in all a simple affair, there was a surprisingly good turn-out from the invited bloggers. My best guess is many of them have lined up activities for CommunicAsia on the same day so they do not have to apply for too many days of leave away from work. It was good to meet familiar faces like @MikeFoong, @JamCanSing, @DK, @amsie and also finally met @JoeTeh, @triplez82 for the first time.

(left to right : Amelia Wong, ME & DK)

The event was to launch a entire series of new phones from the Xperia series, new walkman phones and an eco-friendly no-frills handset. You can read more about the phone’s specifications from Justin Lee’s coverage here.

(Above, brand new X8)

(Thanks to Justin on the clarification on the correct model names) The Xperia X8 was the highlight of the evening, the more affordable and smaller twin of the X10, the X8 comes in a number of colourful gradient casings to choose from. But the one that really impressed me was the Xperia10 Mini, which is a very smart design, targeted to fill the missing link between a small and handy but smart phone. This design should suit ladies very well, the light-weight and sleek looking design is also perfect as an accessory to be hung from the neck. Mobile social networking is fast moving towards the mass market and is no longer a gadget for the geek. However, not everyone is ready to carry around a bulky phone and the Xperia10 Mini may just be the solution for this group of people.

Best entertainment phone or not, I do not know. But it is certainly the stylish phone that Sony Ericsson has always positioned their products to be, making it the most accessible phone for the new kid on the block. I was initially unconvinced by the way the interface works and how it connects with the contacts on the phone. However, after an introduction and demo by Justin, I changed my mind and may just consider the X10 Mini if I ever need a smaller smart phone. The only challenge is that I’ve never used Sony Ericsson before and am skeptical about the brand & product.

I was touring CommunicAsia together with @skribe and managed to meet up with a few new found friends from Twitter, some who are exhibiting at this grand annual information technology event. We were caught by @stsanto from Getit Comms, who invited us for an interview with @B2Bento, to share some of our take on social media and marketing on virtual worlds. Here are the full recording of our interviews.

Over client trainings and some chats with friends who are less social media savvy, I realised a common misconception on the term “Social Media”. So that brings us back to the fundamental question of what exactly IS “Social Media”? And what’s the problem with this term?

As quoted from Wikipedia,

Social media can be said to have three components;

1. Concept (art, information, or meme).
2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal).
3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).

In a definition given by Brian Solis as a result of ongoing discussions between some of the industry’s best practitioners, including Doc Searls, Stowe Boyd, Robert Scoble, Jay Rosen, Chris Heuer, Jeremiah Owyang, Shel Israel, Chris Shipley, Deb Schultz, JD Lasica, et al. They conclude that…

Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.

In simple concepts, if… (as taken from Wikipedia)

• Print media is communications delivered via paper or canvas
• Published media is any media made available to the public
• Digital Media is electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive digitized information

Then simply to say… social media can be defined as

Communications delivered through Social Channels

But of course, that is streamlining it to a very basic idea. The nature of social media works distinctively different from many other types of media. However, I would like to bring your attention to the two main keywords I see in the statement above. That is Communications and Social. The two words suggest 1) Listening & Talking and also 2) Engaging. Which more or less sums up the most important but most commonly overlooked aspects in Social Media.

So What is the Problem with “Social Media”?

As social media is largely dependent on the use of technology, hence many folks commonly interpret it by the technological platforms in which these communications sit on.

I have probably heard this a thousand times.

Q : What is Social Media?
A : Oh! Facebook and Twitter?

While this answer is not technically wrong, many people miss out the importance of “engagement”. So when I try to explain how conversations are being carried out, I may be returned with either one of the following reaction.

A: Oh! You mean spamming?
B : But what do you talk about?

Brands aside, when further explained to individuals on the great potential social media can do for their personal profiles, the responses are usually

A : But I have nothing to say about myself.
B : But I don’t want anyone to know about me.

Don’t be mistaken, I don’t mean privacy is wrong. In fact, the more active you are on social media, the more caution you should take on your privacy status. What I am saying is there is a common misunderstanding of what exactly social media is all about. It isn’t about platforms or technology alone, it is also not about being egoistic and exposing your privacy to the world.  Last but not least, it is not about a group of people gossiping on the internet space. Sure, there are bound to be times of casual conversations, but those conversations do not reign over the actual sharing of great ideas and resources.

The other common misunderstanding is that “media” indicates a connection with “journalism”. Well, I will blame it on the commonly coined term, “citizen journalism”.  This term has been used to describe the trend of breaking news on Twitter, the convenience of allowing the public to send photo stories to online tabloids like “Stomp” in Singapore. The ability for anyone to write articles, shoot photos  and host their own shows online. This has created a lot of skepticism for many people, especially traditional folks; irking at the fact that news from the internet is now a job of any tom, dick or harry. That concept alone puts people off.

The problem with social media is… people have all kinds of weird perception of this term. It is an overly-used and overly-hyped (and of course, overly-rated) term that actually serves no purpose except in describing the nature of this medium. Think about this… 20 years ago, you could live without email at work and things still click. But 2 decades later today, if your email server went down for an hour at work, you are likely to be screaming your head off at the technician. Social media will become a way of life that is indispensable in the same way. It is simply a natural evolution of technology that provides us with another communication platform. It makes our world smaller by connecting people from different corners of the globe. It facilitates all the social activities you would previously have to meet up in person to execute. There is no rocket science in the idea of social media. Don’t be intimidated by big words like these.

The Two Cs to SOCIAL

My simple explanation to social media can essentially be broken into two keywords. Communication and Conversations.

Communication

• Verbal (written) communication: Conversations through messages, status updates, voice chats etc.
• Non-verbal communication: Sharing photos, videos, games, virtual goods etc.
• Real-time: One of the uniqueness of social media is the ability for real-time interactions to take place.

Conversations

• Dialogue : Two-persons conversation.
• Multi-way: Conversations from multiple sources/directions involving many participants at the same time.
• Communication Platforms : Photo/Video sharing sites (eg. Youtube), blogs (like this), social networking sites (eg. Facebook). These sites may house communication tools like sending messages, status updates, poking, send a gift, social games, photo gallery etc.

I hope that clears the air for many people who are overwhelmed by what social media is all about. Whatever platforms that spring up, be it Facebook or Twitter or Foursquare. They are but tools that help facilitate human’s desire for communication. Our lifestyles has evolved, but not so much has changed in our need to share our lives with one another. The only difference? It just became easier.

This is going to be a really short post (I hope). A topic that came to mind as I was working out a proposal for a client. I realise some people are still unaware on how to effectively use the Direct Message feature on Twitter. Or rather, I should say many still think of Twitter as a “broadcast” tool. And uses the DM like a “personalised broadcast tool”. *shakes head* Let’s get back to basics.

How word-of-mouth is disseminated on Twitter

When a tweet is being sent out, you will first reach your immediate followers (1st degree), which their retweets will reach their immediate followers (2nd degree) and so forth. Any replies, retweets or following will expose your message and profile to new people. So think of a multi-level communication structure when you send that tweet out.

So never think no one is reading. Someone always is.

Think : Why Twitter?

• If you have chosen Twitter as a channel, I would expect you are looking to converse and engage folks in conversations.
• You want to share as well as get the latest news, be in the know-how and obtain real-time responses.
• You want to be seen, be heard and be noticed.
• You want your word to be spreaded.
• You want to grow a sustainable community (following).
• You want to syndicate your content from other platforms.

Think: Why Public?

You want your conversations and content postings to be public because of all the reasons above. It’s a great place to know people and lead your conversations into a private discussion. However if it is your intention to be seen, be heard and be noticed, feeding your content on DMs (especially when you have yet to build a personal relationship with the other party) will make you seem spammy. And by doing so, you lose an opportunity to encourage retweets.

The great thing about Twitter is you never know who is reading what. Something that might not seem interesting to you could be intriguing to someone else. Hence if you want the word to be spread around, it’s always a general principle to have that word in public. Unless of course, it is meant to be private in the first place.

Think: Why Direct Messages?

• Chats : You may be engaging with a very sensitive or hot topic with someone and your conversations are flooding your stream. Now, people hate “flooding”. So take this conversation in private.
• CRM : You found a disgruntled customer. You want to address the problem. Reach out in public, show that you are listening and you want to take the problem forward. Bring the conversation into private mode and resolve any pressing issues, including obtaining customer information to rectify the matter.
• Private & Personal Notes : You want to get some attention and you don’t think it’s necessary to announce it to the world. It could be a note to a personal friend that doesn’t fits your professional image. A date with someone with meeting details that you would prefer to keep it private. All contact information should be exchanged privately.

Think: When NOT to use Direct Messages?

• When you are intending to mass send the same message to everyone and make it look like you are actually trying to be personalised. Actually, this applies not only to Direct Messages. You shouldn’t even attempt doing that on Twitter (or anywhere). Most people would generally classify that act as spamming.
• Automated messages. Similar to the above, except this is even worse. Never send an automated message especially when your intention is to tell someone to “visit my website”, “check out this cool video”. Trust me, you would be reported soon.
• When you don’t exactly know the person well and have nothing personal to say. Especially for brands. You would want to be deem listening publicly. So even if you are trying to garner some direct feedback from fans, make it a point to greet the person publicly first and ask if you can speak in private. (Just like you wouldn’t ask for someone’s number without getting his/her name first.)

What’s GREAT about Direct Messages?

• It gives you an opportunity to get to know someone beyond face value on Twitter. An avenue to exchange private information without fear for being stalked by strangers.
• You do not have to worry about your messages being flooded in the streams of replies and that someone you are talking to may just happen to miss it.
• The need for DM encourages 2-way following. That is because you can only DM someone who is following you.

Ahhem… okay, the post didn’t end up being very short at all. But there are definitely more to share. The “Direct Message” feature is a great tool but use it wisely. The downside of it is that many people has ceased to check their DM due to an influx of spams. Ask around, you would realise many of your friends probably don’t check their Facebook Inbox messages too for the same reasons. So DM does not guarantee you will definitely reach who you are trying to get. Again, the great thing about Twitter is the ability to reach hundreds and thousands of people in real-time. So you really want to be OUT THERE.

Use DMs, but use DMs wisely.

Social media has made a significant difference to my life and career path in 2009. It opened doors and windows to unknown possibilities and a brand new horizon, to people and places where I’ve not imagined myself to meet and be.

If you are still new to social media, perhaps upon reading this post, you may find that it’s not so hard to comprehend after all. It is basically a relatively newer platform that humans use to communicate with one another. And many rules of life remains the same.

Social Media is like Life

1. Start with the end in mind : Before you embark on a journey, you always decide a destination. Even if you don’t already, you are always in search of one. Social media is a lot like life, you need to know where you want to go and find the route to reach that destination along the way.
2. Stop and look (listen) : Don’t be too hasty in trying to reach your destination or make achievements. Take small steps and make it a point to stop and look (listen) at your surroundings. You could find yourself discovering beautiful sceneries and observations you would otherwise have missed if you traveled on the highways. Listen to what people are talking about and make conversations to the most unlikely suspects. You would be rewarded with gifts of pleasant surprises along the way.
3. Sincerity wins the day : Wherever you go in life, whichever agenda you may have, whatever you want to do, the basics of communication lies in the word “sincerity”. Lacking this in your heart and you risk closing many opportunities. Whether for your personal brand or for your clients, make it a point not to try too hard in selling. Be sincere in knowing the community and learn to be a part of that culture. Sincerity will lead you to some of the most amazing ends of the rainbows.

And life is grateful, for it will give you back what you have given

A lot like life, you will reap the returns from social media in relative to the contributions in which you have made. You may not be expecting it in the same form as you have given, but those rewards will be translated and distributed to you in various ways and you will see many of these turning into long-term benefits or life-changing events.

A new job in Social Media

Some of the unexpected rewards that was bestowed upon me includes a new job – as a digital PR strategist. In case you do not know, I am currently working for an international PR agency, leading digital efforts in the Singapore office whilst supporting my regional director in many of his projects. I have always wanted to explore public relations as an extension to my marketing knowledge but had procrastinated those plans when I found myself in a comfortable position with my last company.

However, the law of attraction was probably working for me when my an opportunity with my current employer knocked on the door. I was flattered to be recommended by a fellow tweep (one who tweets) who had not met me prior to putting my name in for the job.  It is a wonder how social media has change the way we network in the business world forever. “Knowing someone” today does not require you to put a physical face to a name. However, the level of trust you can build in an online acquaintance will be a tricky issue that we each have to tackle with ourselves. Then again, knowing someone in person don’t mean you know the person either.

Since taking on this new position, I’ve had a chance to put my skills and knowledge into good test with various international clients and with some desirable results that has proved to be very valuable case studies for my company and myself. I’ll share more with everyone at another appropriate time.

Life-transforming friends

Many friendships sprout by coincidences and when you least expect it. When the internet began to find popularity in the 90s, it created a new platform for people to make friends and expand their social circle. The evolution of social media has made this more evident than ever, allowing active interactions across platforms beyond simply chat. Each of these are designed for different purposes, from corporate social networking to challenging your friends on mini games. Everyone is bound to find something that fits their interest. This has made communications online a lot more conducive and effective than before.

And as life would have it, some of the most important people you are destined to meet are not conveniently sitting next to you. But by heaps of coincidences, you find them among the millions on the world wide web. Whether is it making new friends or getting in touch with old ones, social media has facilitated this so we no longer have the excuse of “saying we are too busy”.

Looking back, this year has indeed been a fascinating one for me personally. I’ve met some of the most amazing people in my life and some whom I’ve made steadfast friends with. Of these, I know a few will last a long way into the future.

A wealth of knowledge

The largest library I know today is not the one sitting in the city central. It is the one that sits within my browser. The internet is the world’s largest and greatest library of resources. I am sure no one can debate that with me. However, social media has changed the way we obtain those information and knowledge. Information used to be passive (web 1.0) and requires the user to actively find it. However, with the introduction of social media, information today is now fed to us in many different ways through RSS, Twitter, friends’ links, video clips etc. It floods our screens from every direction, cluttering our tiny brains. Sometimes, this overwhelming influx of knowledge can even be intimidating. But we take less effort today to locate and store resources, as well as making interesting finds that are out of our knowledge range. This helps expand our worldview and perspectives.

I feel almost deprived of knowledge when I am away from my social media platforms for too long and often when I hop back on again, I found myself trying very hard to grasp the crazy amount of new information that has been released in the past 24 hours. That is just how fast information travels today. REAL-TIME. Everything in your print is now “yester-news”.

However, from another point of view, I do agree that the dependence on technology just makes us more geeky than ever. So do balance that with some good ole travels. Nothing beats the real experience, for a journey of a thousand mile starts with a single step.

My personal sentiments

Many people around me are unable to understand how am I able to make a living out of Facebook and Twitter. What they are seeing are only the platforms, but they have failed to understand the nature of human’s desire to communicate and interact. It baffles my family on how I was able to find strange encounters online. Obviously they didn’t believe I had jobs looking for me just because I talk a lot on Twitter. Which, they obviously have no idea what is Twitter despite reading so much about it in the papers.

Social media is an overly used and overly hyped term in my opinion. It is simply but communications and dissemination of information. Something really simple, but branded with a unique terminology that differentiates it from the rest of the “traditional” channels.

Social media is not something I do to look hip or cool.  It is simply a way of life I have chosen that happens to work perfectly well for me. I can travel miles everyday while seated at my desk. I venture into unknown waters and meet interesting people, as if I am transported into “Alice in the Wonderland” or “Wizard of Oz” each single day. Sometimes I meet with the Queen of Hearts, while others, I may bump into the Tin Man or Scarecrow. But each revealing a little about myself.

Social media beyond my job, is a journey of discovering others and unraveling myself.

Beyond personal experiences

In the next chapter of Social Media Lessons in 2009, I will share some of the prominent cases of social media locally and in the region that has created waves and changes. There are many lessons to be learned from social media this year, lessons which businesses should take serious learnings from especially those to do with digital crisis management. Governments around the world has also taken social media a lot more seriously than before as they see the dire situations it can potentially put them in. Consider the move in which China has imposed an embargo on all major foreign social media platforms within the country.

2010 will see major shifts in the landscape with many big players vying hard to be the commanding power. Lots to touch on, but till then, it’s time to return to the Yellow Brick Road.

Flipping through the pages of headlines on the daily papers and walking through hundreds of food stores and boutique restaurants just makes me wonder. How much food are we taking in that could probably save a life or two somewhere else in this world? It’s not news that as a part of the world is fighting the problem of obesity, another part is dying of hunger. But does it takes a crisis as such to make us realise we are actually taking in more than we need?

Everyone needs a certain intake of food to survive, and for luxury purposes, we could take a little more than the minimum. However looking at Singapore, we are a nation of food-lovers and we proudly indulge ourselves in breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, supper (excluding all in-between snacks) with tables filled with rich foods and wasted foods end of the day. Definitely we are not alone. In most of the developed countries, a similiar scenario is taking place. Even in countries like China, where you see tons of wastage in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, there are children starving in rural GuangXi or ShanDong. Surely we understand that better standard of living calls for more expectations in food. And the fact that we worked hard for it, we deserve to have the better and more. I absolutely agree with this statement. However, I was just wondering, if we call upon a national effort or even an international effort to battle against the rising food prices and shortages by cutting down on food wastage, that everyone be responsible for each other’s living, then perhaps there may be a glimpse of hope for the less fortunate.

Can we eat only what we need and buy only what we eat. Have responsible food providers to produce only what can be sold and buy ingredients in relative. This may not make any significant changes over night, but nevertheless it is a good solution to fighting both food shortages, obesity and even battling diseases and problems of medical bills in the long term. Can we call on national support to collect whatever good but wasted food like breads that can’t be sold, which is already done now, and perhaps packets of rice that can’t be sold etc to homes and free food outlets. If we take a little more concern to the world we live and try to be a responsible global citizen, we can help by taking little steps. Definitely it is not likely for us to stop this crisis, but if we can even slow it down by a few percentage, please bear in mind that we are saving lifes. My family for one has started taking in less but right foods for the sake of health. However, through this process, I realised that I don’t really need to take in as much to survive. My food intake has been halved but my health has improved tremendously. We may be buying less off the shelves, but that means we leave more for others to buy.

If we sincerely believe each of us can play a part in the bigger environment, and truly wants to play a part, do consider buy less, eat less and give more. Wealth is the accumulation of giving, not having.

Of course, and if you can… support in dollars and cents please. As I post this, I have made a personal donation to the World Food Programme. I may not be a millionare, I may not be able to offer a mountain of gold. But every cent counts. Every single cent saves a life. Imagine how many people the little piggy bank in your room can save?

Support A Billion for A Billion movement by the World Food Programme. Even if you do not have the monetary means to, help spread the awareness. While we have the choice and freedom to decide what to have for lunch and dinner, we also have the choice to make the difference. Don’t be unmoved. Don’t be aloof. Don’t look away. You may be one individual, but you may be the one individual who would change the lives of many others. Don’t wait.

BE that difference today.

I thank you from the deepest of my heart.

One positive impact of the internet especially with the introduction of Social Media, is that the world has since become smaller. Not literally, but it has brought people together whom otherwise would have never known each other. That is also one of the main reason why I am a Social Media nutcase. Because it has opened my life to many more friends and opportunities. Some who have made it quite different.

As such, we are no longer divided by our nationality. Today, we are all global citizens. We all live in the same world, no longer separated by time zones, language or colour.

I feel extra strongly about this especially in a world filled with disasters today. Regardless of man-made or natural. More often than not, nature is something beyond a man’s control. And perhaps the only way to lessen the damage is for each of us to be more generous with ourselves. To give love to our global fellow-mates. Give and pay it forward.

In a world that is no longer divided by our differences, but brought together by our similarities. We should each feel the obligation and responsibility to lend a hand to our neighbours.  Being conscious of our surroundings will help us understand ourselves better. Friends are ever more important in times of turbulence than peace. Friends are every more evident in times of poverty than rich. As much as we want a friend like that, we first have to be that friend.

The continuous attack of typhoons, storms and earthquake in the past year has left countless scars and wounds on the planet we call home. Some may call it a retribution of industrialization. Nature returns us what we have bestowed it. However, it is always the poorest communities who are affected, left helpless, hanging on to their dear lives whereas the fortunate folks like us continue to have the luxury indulging in a lifestyle we are free to choose.

We don’t need to feel guilty about the wine and dine we love, we don’t have to forsake the beautiful homes we have, we don’t have to quit our jobs and sacrifice in humanitarian work.  BUT there is always something we CAN do.

The least we can do is to be conscious of all these happenings. Be mindful that happiness is fragile. Be appreciative and pay forward that appreciation. Make a tiny little change to our life and that small difference could potentially save someone from their dire situation.

I have started a #makeApledge movement, to encourage the digital community in making a personal declaration to help someone needy. It could be as simple as “I #makeApledge not to drink Starbucks for the entire month & will donate every single cent of that to victims of disasters in the region.” Something as simple as that.

Spread the word. Your word could amplify the voice and save millions.

Twitter : Spread the word with hashtag #makeApledge to make a personal declaration.

Facebook : Join our #makeApledge Facebook Event and share it with all your friends. Make your personal declaration in the comments box.

Let’s began with the turnout of the event. It was an astounding success, there were more than 500,000 attendees throughout the 4-day exhibition, as reported by The Straits Times. It was the first time in history that job seekers were queuing like breadlines and swarming in like bees. People were rushing and crowding in every single booth literally demanding for application forms.          

At my booth, we were an informative and awareness exhibition, hence do not offer direct employment opportunities. Despite we explained the forms at our counter are simply survey forms, people were queuing to fill those in.

 

Apparently, many people have the impression that if they fill in every single form in the entire exhibition hall, someone will hire them.

Which you and I know, it’s not true. But it was good for me, I fulfilled my KPI, filled up 4,000 forms in less than 2-days. I was however, a little depressed at this scenario I’m observing.

Over the first 3 days, we also have credible speakers giving talks at our booth on the potential of the tourism industry and the current openings available at their organisations. The major attraction are the 2 Integrated Resorts that will be opening end 2009 and first quarter of 2010. Together, they are likely to offer more than 20,000 jobs in all. In this career fair alone, there are almost 2,000 openings that almost 20,000 people are vying for.

As the Vice-President for Casino Games in Marina Bay Sands (MBS is one of the much anticipated IR, first to open in 2009 Dec) was giving a talk on the job scopes and potential openings that will be offered in this hiring exercise, I walked to the back counter of my booth where probably about 10 people are filling in the application form for MBS. I invited them to come forward and listen to the talk. Before I could finish, all of them have walked off. (And obviously without a smile nor a thank) .

And you can’t help but wonder, if one aren’t even interested in what his/her potential employer has to say. What makes him/her thinks the potential employer wants to hire them?

In the report by The Straits Times on 7th May 2009, a fresh graduate was quoted saying, “‘It’s a tough year ahead. I have no particular preference for job positions, as long as I can get one.” Indeed, that is an encouraging mentality, to manage expectations in tough times like this. But in an employer’s point of view, that would be the very reason why I will not be hiring someone like him. WHY? You may ask?

Recession is really the best time to hire talents. There is an abundance of talent in the marketplace as compared to the good times where everyone is trying to vie for the best. The cards now lies in the hands of employers and they are free to pick whomever that may best benefit their business, without paying outrageous salaries or incentives. At the wide choice of talents available, why should I (as an employer) hire someone who has “no particular preference or interest” versus someone whom values the position as an advancement to his/her career path. Why would I hire someone who “just need a job” versus someone who really is interested in contributing? The problem with many job seekers is always the same old issue. As much as you are concern if the company can pay for your next meal, the company is concern about how much value-add you can give them.

Hence, instead of thinking, “I have no preference.” Start thinking, “How do I make myself THE preference.”

I came across a lady, well-groomed, somewhat well-educated, English speaking, probably late 30s to early 40s, who came to enquire about the two IRs. She asked, “There’s Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World there, where’s the third one?” From her accent, you know she is a true blue fellow countryman. We looked at her with slight disbelief and said, “Mam, there’s only two IRs in Singapore”. Then, she asked, “Oh… then is Resorts World Sentosa in Sentosa?” Honestly, how do you expect me to answer a question like that. I really don’t wish to humiliate her intelligence.

But it suddenly dwells upon me, in the past 10 or 20 years where she held her last position, did time stood at a standstill? Perhaps losing that job was a push back into reality.

The day she left the doors of those offices, it was “Welcome to the Real World”.

How can anyone not take interest into what goes on around them? Apparently, plenty of people choose to do things only when there is a need to. Now that there’s a need to find a job, then they realise opportunities don’t lie around waiting. It must be sought after.

Little did people realise, knowledge and relationships takes time and effort to be acquired. It does not happen overnight. I have an intern from my company who asked a peer after one of my presentation, “What is a continent?”. No, she’s not in High School (even high school kids should know anyway). A month later, during an appraisal session, I asked her if she had wikipedia or googled the definition of a continent. She replied, “No.” So I probed further, “Aren’t you curious?”. She said, No. I said, “Why not?” And the anticipated answer is, “There is no need to.“

THE Government will leverage on new media in the next General Election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.

My two dime worth

I believe the evolution of tapping on new media in Singapore is possible. But evolution means it will take time to grow through stages of change, trial and error. And I agree that real name should be used.

A blogger, Angelina_jo mentioned, “May be our PM still does not get it, Sporeans cannot use their real names esp if they are against Govt policies, for fear of reprisal.” I think the concept has to be put right first. Being “Against” has to be with grounds and rational. If accompanied with constructive suggestions and evidence, then the word “against” no longer applies. I would think, when Singaporeans first decide to speak, appropriate and respectful language should still be used. Ultimately, respect is essential for any conversation. Be it to the government or simply your neighbour. Only with due respect, would anyone be interested to listen. And if someone chooses to speak up, make sure its a valid statement and not simply some form of intended scandal and message of angst.

I am sure both public and government can make out the difference between the two. The Internet has a long memory and even our government understands
that. SG government is wise enough to know what advices are to be taken positively and negatively. Just a reminder, our island’s success is by no chance simply a case of luck.

But again, USING the new media platforms is not equivalent to UTILIZING the new media platforms. Obama had a Social Media Head. Does our Singapore government have one? Training to get the staff hop on the social media wagon may not be the best way to implement these measures. Focus, time and in depth understanding of netizen behaviours and social media scope of influence is essential to the success of such a campaign. Obama has been crowned the best marketer of the year by adage. His online strategy was a revolutionary well planned case of Digital PR and marketing combined. In a moderated society like Singapore, the extensiveness of such an effect probably cannot be matched.