Many of you have read or seen the interviews I did about the Chile earthquake. I thought I’d tell you in my words what happened and then I’d like to share some thoughts on what social media really is from my perspective.

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 I awoke and got a cup of coffee. It’s the first thing on my agenda after a quick stop at the washroom. I had a few slurps and then went to the office to get phones. This is a common routine for Ken and I. Coffee then phones.

After getting phones, I look to see how many emails and messages there are, clearing them from my phone as I go. Then I typically open tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is the twitter client I use most often on my iphone. Once I have looked at twitter I head to facebook, because while I have a facebook app on my phone it doesn’t show me my pokes and my goal as a rule is to clear up anything that is an action item. Pokes are action items.

Saturday began like any other day, but I got stuck at tweetdeck. Both Ken and I noticed a number of tweets regarding an earthquake in Chile. My brother’s wife is there so our ears perked. We started searching google for news, looking at trending topics on twitter and in general seeking any information about the status of the people in Chile.

Once we saw the magnitude of the earthquake, 8.8 is HUGE, we started wondering if we should contact my brother to find out if he heard anything. I decided to attempt to call Chile to see if maybe all was ok in Santiago, which is where Maria was, and of course couldn’t get through. Call failed. Call failed many times and by now I was getting nervous. I looked at Ken and asked if he thought I should call my brother. We agreed I should.

I woke my brother up from a sound sleep to give him horrible news. An earthquake had occurred and we had tried to reach his wife and couldn’t get through. He said he would start trying. He was so distraught! There is nothing like having to share with a family member bad news. Really bad news. My heart went out to him but I believed it was better he know what happened than to wake and hear it elsewhere.

My brother and I quickly got off the phone with each other so he could start his long vigil while trying to find out what had happened to Maria. In the meantime, I too went to work to see if I could find some answers.

I can’t tell you how often I have been asked what hashtags are and how to use them. I have certainly used them for basic searches before this, but they became a lifeline.

Quickie def. of hashtags: A hashtag uses the hash symbol [pound sign] on your keyboard to draw attention to a specific topic or word.

When I was looking at the trending topics I quickly saw patterns. #Chile was big, #chileearthquake was too. #terremotochile was the biggest one at the beginning of my search so there I went, to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=terremotochile
I noticed a lot of people had many other hashtags so back on twitter I started posting random tweets, at first with no hashtags, moving to hashtags.

I honed my tweets and eventually started getting responses from people until the final response that really was a game changer for us. This one, from @jpcoderch:

We soon worked out the details and he went to work in Chile trying to call my sister in law. It took approximately two hours until he finally got through to her. Maria sent a message back with the code word twinkie, a pet name she uses for my brother so we would know it was really her.

The rest is really history. The interviews I did with the BBC as well as CBS Miami and even the conversation I had with a person from MSNBC which led to a story on their blog, that’s all easy enough to discover and share and it has been shared enough that I do not feel compelled to again.

What hasn’t really been talked about, though each of the news stations attempted to put their own spin on it, is the value in social media. I’m not talking about the communication potential or the way we might all find our next job, but the life altering value I have personally experienced. It also changed perceptions for me.

Prior to this incident, I had relationships with a few fairly well known web-celebs. Do you know only a handful of our moderately well known friends communicated any interest in what was happening or offered on any level to put the word out, and none of them, unless pointed to our situation offered support of any sort? Does this surprise you? I was not surprised, but it did give me pause to consider who we align ourselves with and what value are they in our lives if when something that really matters happens they aren’t even be in the audience as silent support. How engaged is that? I’ll save that for a later post.

Is social media important? Yes. Is it really important? Yes! Social media empowers it’s users to find their own information, to seek out people and ideas to enhance their lives, and provides opportunity to gain perspective. Prior to now, we were fed our ideals, socialized by big media, and brainwashed into believing all was as we were told. The innovators of the world didn’t buy into it and created tools that we can all use today to find what the real truth is. It is also much more as our story clearly demonstrates. It is an organic connection to the whole planet that allows us to see there is more than just us.

My thoughts have been building. I am in the process of writing a much more detailed post about engagement and social web celebs. For now, let me just say thank you to all who helped us and encouraged us through an incredibly trying and frightening time. We were very lucky to have the tools we have to be able to get to a result that was ultimately a gift. We found our family member alive and safe.

We hope all whose paths crossed ours during the awful Chile earthquake have had the kind of outcome we had, and for those who did not – our hearts grieve with you for all you have lost.

Technorati Tags: #terremotochile, #Chile, #earthquake

Our good friends at iotum just scored a sweet deal with Samsung Canada. If you buy a Samsung notebook between tomorrow, March 10th and April 30th, tax day for you Canadians, you will be given a free year of Calliflower Conferencing. This is a HUGE value and a fantastic service if you have a business that uses conferencing.

Please read the press release below for more details on this really fantastic opportunity!

Samsung Canada Channel Partners To Offer “Calliflower” Conferencing With New Laptops

In Exclusive Deal, Samsung Canada Resellers To Offer Multimedia, Social-Network-Style Conferencing Service to Purchasers of Select Netbooks and Laptops

OTTAWA, CANADA (March 10, 2010) – iotum announced today that Calliflower, its interactive conferencing and collaboration service, will be promoted through the VAR and system integrator channels of Samsung Canada. Under an exclusive agreement from March 1st to April 30th, 2010, Samsung resellers will offer purchasers of selected Samsung netbooks and laptops the first year of Calliflower service free, and will receive commissions when their customers sign up. 

Calliflower applies an engaging, social-networking-style visual interface to the task of conferencing and collaboration, and under standard pricing charges a $50 US monthly flat rate for unlimited use for up to two organizers.  Participants can join through local access phone numbers in major Canadian cities and around the world, or via Skype into a single conference, all while sharing presentations, documents, links, and chats with all those remotely assembled.

Calliflower’s  intuitive controls also allow participants to see the status of other callers and raise hands to request the floor, while also providing call recording, invitations and reminders, integration with calendars, and more.

“This partnership is a great way to grow customer relationships for our small-business retailers and system integrators, by offering another powerful, money-saving tool alongside our laptops and netbooks,” said Michael Dodgson, Product Marketing Manager for Netbooks at Samsung Canada. “We also see the chance to promote great Canadian technology in a space – teleworking –  that’s very much in demand.”

iotum CEO Alec Saunders, for his part, acknowledged that Samsung Canada’s promotion would provide a great boost to Calliflower’s long-term user base. “We’re so confident in the service and the sales channel, that we’re willing to offer the first year’s service for free – a $600 dollar value,” he said.

Samsung Canada resellers and retailers will have customers sign up for Calliflower through a web site, entering PC serial numbers for proof of purchase and downloading the client software.

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About iotum

iotum is a Voice 2.0 company that aims to reinvent business conversations and shape a world of relevant communications where devices, social networks and Web services work seamlessly together to let people communicate with whom they want, when they want and on the device they want. 

About Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

Samsung Electronics Canada, Inc. (SECA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., markets a broad range of award-winning digital consumer electronics, information systems, telecommunications and home appliance products. SECA upholds Samsung’s mission to provide consumers with innovative digital convergence products that possess exceptional technology, quality, features, performance and value.

Samsung has been a global TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games since 1998 and has been a presenting sponsor of the Olympic Torch Relay from 2004 to 2008.  Also through Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope charity, Samsung helps athletes and celebrities raise funds for their respective charities, including the Wayne Gretzky Foundation in Canada.  Samsung is also a proud sponsor of Hockey Canada.

For customer service inquiries, please call 1-800-SAMSUNG (1-800-726-7864), and for more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

So RSA is over. It was a fun experience and I learned a lot about some new technologies. I was only there from Monday to Wednesday, but I was able to get a lot crammed in in a short time. I got to get into the ArchSight “CyberCrime CashBox” and walked away with $750 and a tax form. I also won an iPad from the Trippwire booth during the “Security Smackdown Game”. So expect a review of the iPad soon as I should receive it this coming week.

After a bit it started to blur together but luckily there was tons of whitepapers to snag. Also the conversations have started to come apart and become individual sessions and absorb into my brain.

Along with the iPad and the cash I got tons of contacts, product overviews, demos, information, and of course the swag.

All and all it was fun and I hope to do something like this again. Maybe something a little more in my field like standard computer stuff and programming. But the security stuff was very cool, although a little unsettling after the fact with all the info about security and cybercrime.

First the written news:

Friends, Family Go Online To Find Loved Ones

MIAMI (CBS4) ? Amid the devastation in Chile is a communications meltdown leaving people with few options. There are virtually no phone calls, but lots of digital messaging.

Moments after hearing about the earthquake, tweeter Sheryl Breuker in Walla Walla, Washington tried reaching her sister-in-law in Santiago, Chile. When she couldn’t get her on the phone, she turned to Twitter.

“So I gave out her phone number to a couple people. About two hours later, we received notice that she was safe, she was OK,” Breuker told CBS4’s Gio Benitez over the phone.

Total strangers went out to find her sister-in-law in Chile. They found her.

“What I learned was that the person helping us was also missing family and had not yet heard from his family, so it was a pretty big deal, and pretty awesome, honestly,” said Breuker.

Today, phone lines did not connect families, but fingertips did.

“You’re pretty much a social media expert, in a sense. I see you have like 18,000 tweets, did you ever expect something like this to happen?” asked Benitez.

“Absolutely not. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and you hear these stories of people having these experiences, certainly nobody I know,” said Breuker.

Follow Sheryl Breuker on Twitter here.
Follow CBS4’s Gio Benitez on Twitter here.

Note: Moved the CBS video below the fold to stop it from running every time people hit the web site. You can see it below

Imagine awakening only to learn there’d been a major earthquake in Chile, where you have family. We did.

Many of our friends know Sheryl’s brother Brian and his wife Mariali. We’ve all been friends for quite some time (Jaiku, Facebook, Twitter), but now we’re also family. She lives just outside Santiago, not far from where the big earthquake hit this morning.

We immediately tried calling, texting, online, but no contact. Power, water, and phones are out there. In many areas the devastation is severe. We simply didn’t have any idea. We reached to social media. Everywhere.

People responded, mostly by retweeting. The power of the retweet is something we take for granted. A man we didn’t know in any way sent a simple tweet that he was in Chile and
asked how he could help. We scrambled to give him every bit of useful information that we could come up with.

He messaged several times that phones were out and he couldn’t get through. Then, amazingly he said “as soon as I get a chance I will go to the address you gave me.” Through Twitter, we made contact with someone in another continent, but close enough to go physically check on our family.

If that isn’t magical enough for you, if you really don’t understand the power of human communications through technology, the power of what we can do together, within two hours of our first contact with this man, I got a DM in Twitter than said “found her! she is OK…. she told me to tell Twinkie to stay cool, she is fine!” And an email with more info on how to try to contact her directly.

Twitter’s a tool. The power is in the people, but the reach and potential is far bigger than you understand. Until your life is personally and directly impacted, you simply can’t truly appreciate that power.

Technology gives power to communications tools. Communications tools give power to people. People impact one another and change the world.

Our deepest heartfelt thanks to @jpcoderch. You are our hero of the Santiago earthquake JP. Now we’re connected. At some point Sheryl and I hope to visit Mariali in Chile. It’s a part of our family. I hope we can take you to dinner one day and get to know each other in person as well

Side note: Many of you know our dearest and best friend, JP. What an interesting bit of serendipity that our new friend and hero is also JP. John Paul and Juan Pablo. Two gentlemen and friends who touch our lives.

In the interest of high performance and high bandwidth, I’m doing some research into some next gen applications. It no secret that Google has put out an RFI for it’s new Fiber for Communities build. I’m working with several groups in the Pendleton community and doing some research into applications that could benefit from have such a blazing fast internet connection. If you had a 1 Gbps connection? What would you do with it? I’m not talking about what we can currently do better, but what we can start doing that is an “Out of the Box” thought. Things such as Tele-visits for doctors and patients. Or even distance learning for home-schooled or even foreign exchange students. Maybe something like simulated virtual environments for 3D conferencing across different locales.

My question to you is simple; What would you come up with, if given the opportunity?

Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. I grabbed that from friend, Shashi Bellamkonda and think it incredibly compelling. One of the things we all look for when trying to understand the value of social media is a way to define it so it makes sense en masse. In attempting to define the ROI it gets a little sticky because there are so many different sets of analytics and no one can agree on a standard. For more on my thoughts on that here is an article I recently wrote for Women Grow Business in Washington DC – Replacing ROI’s Old Monetary Vision.

Last night I was pointed to a great article that actually helps remove some of the mystery around social media and the value it has in the world we live in today. One of the biggest indicators is that social media investment is minor if anything at all, and your return is potentially huge. I’m sharing from the article but I hope you’ll go and read it in it’s entirety.

The SBSI found that nearly one out of five small business owners are actively using social media in their business. Small businesses are increasingly investing in social media applications including blogs, Facebook® and LinkedIn® profiles.

And further to that is this next paragraph by small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier.

“In order to meet the growing challenges of a tough market last year, I was forced to consider alternative options to keep my business visible,” says small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier, CEO and Founder, Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care. “With a very small investment in social media marketing, I was able to generate new business opportunities. Our Google® ranking is consistently number one for many of the phrases people use to search for eye doctors in and around my city and we have received a “bump” in terms of new visitors to the site. My blog has been picked up by different news sources and led to media interviews. I am now recognized as a thought leader in social networking within my profession and lastly but most importantly, my marketing budget has been reduced by more than 80%.”

Let me just reiterate, the cost of social media is minimal. As stated above, Dr. Glazier lowered his marketing cost by 80%. What could your company do with that 80%?

Of course, it’s not enough to simply create a presence in the online world of marketing venues. People want to have a relationship with those they hire. I would caution you that engagement must be a part of your marketing campaign. Broadcast messages will not build a customer base. You must use tools, video, audio, and messaging systems to encourage a relationship.

Today, small business is winning. It’s winning because they are resourceful and far more attuned to their clients. During an economic downturn such as we have been experiencing for the past 18 + months, small business success is a key indicator of the value in social media.

Yesterday Ken wrote here on stardust three key factors to success. Adapt, Adopt, Adjust. This should be every small business’ mantra. Social media must be included in that.

Remember, Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. We build our trust through social communication. Credibility will follow with engagement.

I was just reading an article by David Reinhardt entitled Think There’s No Room for Social Media in the Workplace? Think Again!. It gives some great points to consider, but I think the issue goes far deeper. Reading David’s piece is a great starting point for thinking, so go do that first. I’ll wait. When you get back, I’d like to share some added comments on on his seven points.

Before we go further, let’s debunk one of the great delusions of the day. Social media is in the workplace already. In nearly every workplace you can think of. It’s already there. Be honest with yourself. Social media is in schools. It’s in planes, trains and automobiles. It’s in restaurants. It’s even in the bathroom, as troublesome as acknowledging that may be.

To deny social media is already in the workplace is to bury your head in the sand. If that works for you, continue. But before you do, consider this. if you bury your head in the sand, you’re in a very dark place with nothing to see. And, note the picture. Your ass is a target. A big target. If you’re comfortable in denial and placing your ass in the air as a target, just remember you’ll never see what’s coming when your ass gets blown out of business. You’ll remain blissfully ignorant as you fly into the abyss of that long, dark goodnight.

Or, you can pull your head out.

People naturally gather around common points of interest
Humans are social creatures. We gather in communities, tribes, enclaves and neighborhoods. We share stories of the events in our daily lives, both business and personal. It’s ingrained in our nature socially back to the the early origins of our race.

In the workplace, we gathered at the break room, coffee pot and water cooler. Today, we can gather and share space online without being physically colocated. We can and do. And we will. The workplace cannot change our nature.

People like visuals
Not only are we social creatures, we’re visual creatures. Those early clans in caves told stories around the fire and left pictographs of their world. The social web is our canvas. It’s where we paint the pictures of our world and our lives.

We share pictures, words, music, what we had for lunch, and personal snips from our lives. We also share what we do, what we think, our ideas and ourselves in the workplace. To stop that would dehumanize us. In today’s information economy, dehumanization simply doesn’t fit. We are not drone workers in a factory and will never be that again. We, as a species, have evolved.

People are increasingly able to use complex websites
The web has become our natural home. For many, it’s what we’d refer to as our third place. Home is our first place. Our job is our second place. Our third place is where we choose to spend time. With the information age and communications technologies, the delineation between these places has vanished. Just as we can timeshift and placeshift our work to any time and any place, we all integrate our social selves into our work life as well. And we do.

People want to be able to add their own content
The old broadcast media world is dying. Quickly. The gatekeepers of news, information and entertainment have lost the reins. No matter how the clutch at them, that horse has run away from the old media cart. Everyone is an author. Everyone is a mdeia producer. We add content to the global body of knowledge constantly. And we like it. The concept of 15 minutes of fame is very much relegated to the abyss alongside the legacy broadcast media that promulgated the very idea. Why should you or I be relegated to 15 minutes when we have something to share every day? We shouldn’t. We aren’t. And we won’t.

Different people have different styles of working together
Just as there have always been loners and teams, there are different working styles among individuals in the connected world. Some people love to share; others do not. But companies have said for years, “our greatest asset is our people.” Really? And how do you encourage that asset? Not by trying to control how they work together. The greatest productivity comes from letting all that brainpower that works for the company unleash something new and innovative. That comes from the personal freedom to kick ass, not from the handcuffs of being told how do to every little thing.

Micromanaging people by telling them how to work, and how to work together has never been effective. It never will be. Today people will change jobs 20 or more times during the course of their career. The old model of taking a job “down at the plant” where dad worked, then spending 40 years there simply doesn’t fly. The workplace is changing and many of us are simply independent contractors who choose who we work with and how. The smart business leverages this reality by giving people the ability too work together in ways that are effective. For many of us, that must include social media and networking. It’s our lifeblood in our career. It has replaced the old human resources career guidance process. Like what McKinsey called Frogs in a Wheelbarrow, the best performers will jump to the most suitable work environment.

Even that model is evolving. That model applies to digital immigrants – those of us who grew up in the legacy analog world, but today live in the digital world. Digital natives entering the work force have always had open and unfettered access to the digital tools of now. They simply aren’t interested in working without the tools they view as basics of life. A business is going to have to embrace digital natives or shutter the doors over time as baby boomers exit the workforce.

Information that is not found might as well not be published
Publish or perish is no longer just a rule in academia. It’s a reality we all live with every day of our lives. We feed the Internet machine with so many routine actions. We publish our lives without thinking. Even those who don’t know their lifestream is published, are publishing in some fashion.

Use your ATM card. Swipe your employee ID. Enter a door code. Private transactions, though private they may be, are published somewhere.

If you aren’t on the Internet, you don’t exist. If you don’t publish, there is no record of your existence. Publishing in the now, is the word of mouth stories our ancestors told by the fire in caves. It is our record. Our existence.

As a business manager or executive, if you’re asking how to control social media, you are asking the wrong question. You cannot control social media. You cannot contain conversation. You cannot dictate. It’s far too late. Just as China cannot contain the vocies seeking expression, you are fighting a hopeless cause. In business, that’s counterproductive and costly. Not smart business. So be a smart business person. Pull your head out of the sand, and quit exposing your backside.

It’s easier than you think.

Adopt social media technologies with an open mind and thoughtful steps.

Adapt to the world as it changes. You have to be flexible.

Adjust work flows, business processes and management oversight to make the best use of the power of social media. Don’t expect to control it. You can’t. Slip into the groove. Like driving down the highway, and sliding into the slipstream of that big 18-wheeler, find your comfort zone and slide into the fit the brings value to every involved.

It’s easier than you think. Need help? Contact us.

As an intro to my contributions here, I thought I’d share a brief thought I shared recently on my Posterous notes.

Life in an IT Department is a tough job. Next time you see one of your IT professionals, thank them. IT support is way more than just fixing your computer when it’s broken.

The IT Department is a strategic department that is constantly working to stop most issues before they get to your workstation. Not to mention that the IT folks work on everything in the building from one group needs for file storage to an others software code repository. These are things we in IT do because they have to be done and because not just everyone should have admin access to everything.

Now after my ramble, if you work in an environment where the IT staff is not appreciated give them a little something to brighten their day. Say something like “Hey there IT guy my computer is doing fine and thanks for being there to support me.” If your IT staff seems grumpy it is most likely due to the recognition of the deeds performed on a day to day basis that go by unnoticed by those who run the whole place.

Let me just get right to it. We would like to introduce my nephew, Brandon Rochelle as a new writer here at Stardust Global Ventures.

A little background on Brandon from his ‘aunties’ perspective.
Brandon is practically a digital native. He has virtually always had a computer at his disposal, has been taking them apart, putting them back together and basically learning them from the inside out since he was little boy. Brandon was there, already online when I had my first connected experience. He showed me the ropes of some of the gaming sites back in the mid 90’s, and he was there to help when I needed a hand. The only time Brandon wasn’t completely entrenched in computer life, and even then not really, was during his stint in the army when he was working on Chinook helicopters in Iraq.

Brandon is a Technical Architect focused on creating physical and logical network infrastructure.

His specialties include: Java Programming, Visual Editing/Creating, HTML, JavaScript, JSP, Computer Management/Repair, Resource Management, adherence to Policies and Procedures, SOA.

He’s currently working on some research around high performance and high bandwidth and next generation applications. Brandon is working with several groups in the Pendelton, OR community to encourage Google to bring their next generation high capacity fiber to the area. He’s not talking about what we can currently do better, but what we can start doing that is an “Out of the Box” thought. Things such as Tele-visits for doctors and patients. Or distance learning for home-schooled or even foreign exchange systems. He’s also interested in simulated virtual environments for 3D conferencing across different locales.

You can find Brandon online at
Twitter , Google, LinkedIn