Updating Canada’s Election Act so you can tweet the results

Today the Canadian government announced its intention to table legislation that will bring Canada’s Elections Act into the 21st century. Tim Uppal, the junior minister for democratic reform, tweeted today to share the news. That’s right: next election...

The meaning of engagement

A great description of meaningful engagement from Chris Jones: True engagement requires more time and energy and active listening skills, but the resulting flow of information brings rich rewards. Insights begin to accumulate and multiply. Ideas get validated and...

How great editing motivates great user-generated content

When a business or organization takes on its first social media project, the communications team typically worries about how to handle a deluge of negative comments or inappropriate content. Rob and I always tell people that what they should worry about is the exact...

How to monitor your blog’s comments using Twitter

Unlike my Twitter conversations, blog comments often take a day or two to hit my radar. Since Tweetdeck (my Twitter client) is my de facto engagement hub — the place where I engage in online conversation — it makes sense for me to track other conversations in that context. To that end, I’ve figured out a setup that pulls comments on my blog posts, plus blog posts about my writing or speaking, into Tweetdeck.

Engagement planning worksheets to engage your users and move them to action

It’s often hard for nonprofits to figure out how they can engage people effectively online. It’s hard enough to get visitors to your site or social media presence, let alone drive them effectively towards action. This post gives you two tools that can help: a user profile worksheet, and an engagement planning worksheet.

Wrap your brand in reflected glory

Someone needs to tell the folks at Glad: Unless your customers pay for the privilege of wearing your logo, don't build an online community around your brand.