Announcing the Third Tuesday Measurement Matters Conference

July 29, 2010 • Joseph Thornley • MeasurementMatters, ThirdTuesday, TTT

We’re kicking off the fifth season of Third Tuesday Toronto (#TTT) with something special: a day long conference on social media measurement.

Third Tuesday: Measurement Matters conference (#TTMM), Sept. 28, 2010

“Are we there yet?” “How much longer before we arrive?” Every vacationing parent recognizes these words as the first expression of our need to know where we are and what progress we’re making.

Measurement matters. It’s how we know whether our efforts are having any impact. It’s how we know whether we’re making progress toward a goal or whether we’re stalled.

We measure what’s important to us. We measure to understand what is going on. We measure to provide insight into what works and what doesn’t.

Measurement really matters in emerging and fast changing fields. And social media is a field that is evolving rapidly. Evolving in participation, as it transforms from something for early adopters to a part of mainstream life. Evolving as new tools and platforms proliferate. Evolving as people adopt it and find new uses for it.

Anyone who uses social media for their work or is serious about it must understand what we can and should measure and how we can do it.

That’s where Third Tuesday Measurement Matters comes in.

A discussion of best practices and leading edge thinking

Many smart people are spending a lot of effort figuring out measurement methodologies and developing new metrics and measurement tools. They’re developing insight into the nature of participation in social media and the new patterns of social interaction. They’re developing new metrics to measure these new interactions. And they’re developing suites of tools that enable us to monitor, measure and analyze what’s going on in social media.

We’ll be inviting leading experts in social media measurement and companies who are developing the measurement tools to participate in Third Tuesday Measurement Matters. They’ll talk about the measurement challenges we face and offer their thoughts on how we should tackle these challenges. They’ll also demonstrate the best tools we can use to measure social media.

Help us shape the conference that you’d like to attend

We want this conference to deal with the issues that interest you and answer the questions that matter to you. So, we want your input into what we should discuss and who you think has insight to offer on the important issues.

In the coming days, I’ll post a preliminary agenda and ask for input on the topics that you’d like to discuss and the speakers you’d like to hear from.

Check back here in the next few days for more information and your opportunity to shape the agenda and lineup of speakers.

Third Tuesday Measurement Matters (#TTMM), Toronto, September 28, 2010.

Trust Agents co-author Julien Smith to speak at Third Tuesdays across Canada

November 4, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • JulienSmith, ThirdTuesday, TrustAgents

Julien Smith is co-author with Chris Brogan of Trust Agents, a New York Times best-seller that has been named one of Amazon’s top 10 business and investing books of 2009. And Julien Smith will be the next speaker to “go cross-Canada” with appearances at Third Tuesdays in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

I found Trust Agents to be a smart, practical introduction to the mindset that underpins success in the interconnected world of social media. A few quotes from the book that will give you a sense of what to expect from Julien:

“You need to be liked, and you start becoming likable by being worthy of being liked.”

“Helping others is probably one of the most effective ways to help yourself. By spreading ideas that help others, you get credit and people get the help they need. It’s win-win. What a change from the scarcity mentality most people live with every day, isn’t it?”

“One element of being considered One of Us is that the benefits or rewards you will encounter come from genuine interactions. Exchanges of kindness or transactions involving social capital tend to build on each other.”

Julien will be sharing his insights into the nature of social capital, the role of trust agents and how we can form tribes with others who care about the things we care about. In Julien’s words: “We will never need more advertising. We will always need more community, and tighter links between those we care about. Learning to build tribes using the new radios has never been more important, and understanding social capital has never been more valuable.”

Register to attend

Julien will appear at Third Tuesday Ottawa on November 30 and Third Tuesday Toronto on December 1. He’ll then do a pair of appearances at Third Tuesday Calgary on January 18 and Third Tuesday Vancouver on January 19.

You can register online now to attend Third Tuesday Ottawa and Third Tuesday Toronto with Julien Smith. The links to the Third Tuesday Calgary and Third Tuesday Vancouver events will be posted soon.

It takes a community to make Third Tuesday possible

Our sponsors – CNW Group, Rogers Communications, Molson Coors Canada, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, and Radian6 – underwrite the cost of bringing speakers to Third Tuesdays in cities across Canada. Their sponsorship goes toward travel, accommodation, the costs of the venue and audio visual.

Our speakers donate their time. Thank you Julien.

And volunteers in each community organize the events. So, a big thank you to our volunteers – Michelle Sullivan and the Montreal team; Tanya Davis and Monica Hamburg in Vancouver; Doug Lacombe and Andrew McIntyre in Calgary; Kirsty MacRae in Ottawa and Sarah Laister in Toronto.

Without you, Third Tuesday simply wouldn’t be possible.

Entering Twitterville

September 13, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • ShelIsrael, ThirdTuesday, Twitterville

twittervillecover-090811 It’s Sunday morning and I’m heading to Montreal to meet Shel Israel for the first of the Third Tuesday Twitterville Canadian book launch events. In the next week, we’ll be holding Third Tuesdays in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver.

Where to find Third Tuesday

You can get information on the Third Tuesday Shel Israel Twitterville event closest to you by following one of these links:

It takes a community

There are many people who should be thanked for making this week possible: Michelle Sullivan, Adele McAlear, Doug Lacombe, Andrew McIntyre, Monica Hamburg, Tanya Davis, Kirsty MacRae, Sarah Laister, LeeEllen Carroll and Mike Edgell. (If I’ve miss anyone, I apologize. Please let me know and I’ll add your name to the list.)

I also want to thank our sponsors. Their contributions are making it possible for us to bring Shel to Third Tuesdays across the country. Given the size of our country and the cost of transportation, this would not be possible without their support. So, I hope that you will join me in thanking our sponsors, CNW Group, MolsonCoors Canada, Rogers Communications, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and Radian6.

Thank you all for your support. You make good things happen for our community.

Shel Israel to launch Twitterville in cross-Canada tour of Third Tuesdays

August 11, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • ShelIsrael, ThirdTuesday, Twitterville

Shel Israel is coming to Canada in September to launch his new book, Twitterville. And he’ll be doing it at Third Tuesday social media meetups in five cities across Canada: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

twittervillecover-090811 Three years ago, Shel co-authored Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble. Naked Conversations was a must-read book in 2006. It captured the zeitgeist of the blogosphere.

Now Shel Israel is back with Twitterville, his look at Twitter and how it is being used by people and organizations to connect, play, share, create community, organize…. You name it and we’re finding a way to do it on Twitter.

Shel was the very first speaker at the inaugural Third Tuesday in 2006. So, launching Twitterville at Third Tuesday is like Shel coming home. I’m really excited that we’re able to bring him to Canada to do this.

Hold these dates

We’ll be opening registration for each of the Third Tuesday events with Shel in the next few days. In the meantime, mark the date of the Third Tuesday Twitterville launch in the city nearest you:

September 13 Montreal
September 14 Ottawa
September 15 Toronto
September 16 Calgary
September 17 Vancouver

What’s it about?

I had a chance to read an early draft of Twitterville. It’s a great read. Packed with interesting stories of real people using Twitter today. It drove home to me that we are still in early days of understanding the implications of social media and applying the new technologies to achieve the things we want to do. And it sparked my imagination, giving me ideas about how I can use Twitter and other social media in my own business and life.

I plan to post more about the content of Twitterville. In the meantime, you too can get a preview of the book. Shel has posted the book’s Introduction on his blog, Global Neighbourhoods.

Thank you to our sponsors

We’re able to bring Shel to cities across Canada thanks to the support of our Third Tuesday sponsors:

CNW Group, our founding sponsor;

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, who are providing accommodation for Shel;

Molson Canada, whose use of social media Shel has profiled in Twitterville;

Rogers Communications, whose network provides us with both landline and mobile Internet access; and

Radian6, who provide us with the tools we need to monitor and measure social media.

Thanks to each of these sponsors, Shel’s Canadian book launch will be just the first of several exciting initiatives we’re planning for the coming year.

Stay tuned

We’ll be opening the actual event registration soon. And we’ll have more news about how you can get a copy of Twitterville signed by Shel Israel. So, subscribe to the ProPR RSS feed or check back here for more information.

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UPDATE: Shel has blogged about his coming visit to Canada and his memories of when he came here in 2006 to launch Third Tuesday.

The City of Ottawa gets into social media: Third Tuesday Ottawa

June 15, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • chriswightman, CityofOttawa, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayOttawa

cityofottawalogo-090615 Over the past year, Chris Wightman (@cwightman), the City of Ottawa‘s Manager of eMedia, and his team have explored how the city could use social media to improve information sharing among employees and to bring the city closer to citizens.

Chris will be talking at the next Third Tuesday Ottawa about his experience with social media at the city. Chris will describe the hightlights of the city’s exploration of social media, what has worked, what hasn’t worked yet and what comes next.

Third Tuesday Ottawa

I think you’ll find that this is a classic case with lessons that anyone in a public service environment can use. From making a business case for each tool being explored through to making the case for open source software, Chris and his team have been there. They’ve also tackled the challenge of educating their colleagues about social media and its potential to help them do their jobs. And they’ve faced the expected corporate concerns of IT system security, privacy, accessibility and, of course, resources.

If you’re in government or a large organization, and you’re looking for inspiration and examples you can use in introducing social media in your work environment, you’ll find Chris’ presentation to be chock full of useful information.

You can register online to attend Third Tuesday Ottawa with the City of Ottawa’s Chris Wightman.

And once again, thank you to our founding sponsor, CNW Group, who have been with us from the outset. Your support enables us to continue to organize better and better Third Tuesdays.

The Third Tuesday Social Media Book Club

May 11, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • book, bookclub, ThirdTuesday

Sharing recommendations on the best books about social media

Do you read books about social media, online community, social networking and relationships and the impact of new developments on organizations, society and individuals?

Do you search for recommendations from others you know and trust before deciding whether to buy or read a specific book?

If so, you may want to take a look at the Third Tuesday Social Media Book Group. This is a new group I’ve started on Shelfari to enable you to share your views on books about social media, community building, social networking and online relationships, and their impact on organizations, society and the individual.

Who is this for?

Hopefully, the people who join will span a broad range of backgrounds – business people, academics, technophiles, students – anyone interested in these topics. And the group will be richer if the members – like the Third Tuesday Social Media Meetup members – come from all walks of life – including communications, marketing, human resources, corporations, not for profits and government.

How do you participate?

I’ve seeded the group shelf with a few books I’ve recently read.

If you’re interested in participating, simply register for Shelfari and join the Third Tuesday Group and then begin to add your reviews of the books about social media that you’ve read.

Why Shelfari?

Well, the software makes it very easy to add books, to review them, to form a group and to share with other group members. This ease of use puts the emphasis on reading and discussing. We don’t have to spend time figuring out the application. It’s intuitive and ready to use.

What’s next?

We’ll be adding Book Readings and discussions to the Third Tuesday meetups in Toronto and Ottawa. Stay tuned for more news.

Amber MacArthur and the MGI team will share video production tips at Third Tuesday Toronto

May 8, 2009 • Joseph Thornley • ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto, video

ambermac Amber MacArthur, Chris Dick and Jeff MacArthur will be our speakers at Third Tuesday Toronto on May 25. They’ll be sharing their tips on how to produce great video that people will want to watch, share – and maybe even pay for.

Amber has earned a reputation covering and commenting on tech through traditional media Citytv, CP24, and CBC, and new media. Every week she can be heard with Leo Laporte on Net@Night. Together with Chris and Jeff, she produces the CommandN video podcast. They’ve also made online video production a successful business, MGI Media.

ThirdTuesdayToronto Amber, Chris and Jeff will provide Third Tuesday participants with advice on how to shoot and edit video, how to create community around your videos online, and how to monetize online video.

You can register online to attend Third Tuesday Toronto with Amber, Chris and Jeff.

And as always, thanks for our sponsors, CNW Group and the Berkeley Heritage Event Venue. Their support allow us to keep Third Tuesday a free event for the community.