CC image courtesy of Bill Gracey - Gone to Mexico on flickr

The issue of control comes up over and over again when we talk about the online world. It recently it came up at Internet Librarian in many different ways, including:

• How do I stop a staff member from wasting time on Facebook?
• How do we control what staff are saying online?
• Management wants everything posted online (Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc) to go through PR.
• We don’t want employees to be able to access social networking sites?
• What about privacy?
• We can’t allow just anyone to post a comment without approving it first.
• How do we know a student is who they say they are?

I have answers to all of these questions, but these questions aren’t what this is about, what they represent is, control. Or the illusion of control.

The desire for control comes from fear. Fear of change, of the unknown, of doing things differently, of a situation not created by us, of taking risks. It is human nature to fear these things, it’s how we’ve survived.  So is adaptation and times are changing, just as they always do, and we need to adapt.

In the internet age your image/brand no longer belongs to you. It belongs to your customers. The things they have always been saying are now online for the whole world to see. The content and commentary they post about you may rank higher in search engines than your site or content. You can’t stop them. Every attempt you make will be like fighting the Hydra, cut off a head, two will grow back. I promise.

Prevent comments on your website? They’ll start their own blog or Twitter account or website. Implement a filter to block social networking sites? They will find a way around it (and you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face).

Stop wasting time trying to get control, you might be fooling your boss or the board or yourself, but you are not fooling your staff or more importantly your customers. Better yet, when you stop spending time trying to get control or pretending that you have it, it frees you and your time to address the real issues.

Still not ready to let go? Think about these questions from Andrew McAfee :

• Are you ready and willing to let more internal voices communicate and shape your brand over time?
• If not, why not?
• Is it that you don’t trust your people, or your customers?
• Is it that you don’t want any negativity at all to appear on your digital properties?
• Or is it that you’re afraid there might be too much negativity?

Still not convinced? Or need to convince someone else? Try reading these:

• The Illusion of Brand Control
• Power And The Illusion Of Control
• M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree
• Case Study: Setting Content Free at Ford Motor Company
• What you can control and what you can’t.
• Social Media and The Reality of Control
• On Social Media And Culture Shift
• Why the 54% of companies blocking access to social media should unblock
• The Hazards of Leading Culture Change

*Up Next – What you can do after you’ve accepted control is an illusion.Similar Posts:

• How social media can hurt your library
• The Hazards of Leading Culture Change
• Eternal September: Be Ready to Repeat Yourself. Again.

1. Lust: Innovating in a space you have no business being in.

2. Gluttony: Trying to create too many initiatives with too few resources.

3. Greed: Taking short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth.

4. Sloth: Taking short cuts—not doing the hard work, not following the proven process.

5. Wrath: Being so focused on your competition that you miss the same opportunities your rivals are missing.

6. Envy: In the context of innovation, envy means launching a “me too” product instead of finding a space you can own.

7. Pride: You won’t give up on your favorite idea—even when the numbers prove you’re wrong.

From a Business Week article on the sins of innovation and how you can stop yourself from committing them.  See the full article for complete description and most importantly, how to stop yourself from committing them.Similar Posts:

• Do You Have Enough Fun in Your Diet?
• Checklist for Preventing Innovation – What Would You Add?
• The Hazards of Leading Culture Change

Otherswise known as : I Was Wrong

My orginal warning about creating a Facebook page is still correct, the update I posted was inaccurate.  I’d like to thank Elizabeth for sharing what she discovered when she created a Facebook page after my last post on Libraries and Facebook.

The new “create a page for a celebrity, band or business” link allows you to create a page using a business account.

I don’t have a Facebook account. Can I still create a Page?
Yes, you can do so by creating a Business Account. To get started, you will need to first create a Facebook Page. To start this process, please click here. Once you’ve entered in the required information, you will be asked to log in to an existing Facebook account, or create a new one. If you do not currently have a Facebook account, please select ‘I do not have a Facebook account.’ You will then need to enter your email address and date of birth. Please be aware that managing multiple accounts is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If we determine that an individual has more than one account, we reserve the right to terminate all of their accounts.

So what is the difference between a business account and a personal account?

Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.

Unfortunately that business account is still tied to the page as the primary administrator. Meaning you can not remove yourself. You can promote other people to admin status but they can not remove you.

Similar Posts:

• Libraries Think Twice about a Facebook Page
• Libraries and Facebook pages – Update!
• Facebook Community Pages vs Official Pages and Your Library or Business

In times like these when we are asked to do more with less this is something managers should keep in mind.

One of the videos I watched is this TED talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation. He talks about the mismatch of what science knows about motivation and what business does.  Essentially as long as you’re paying people adequately and fairly, money is no longer the most powerful motivation. Watch the video and maybe buy the book when it comes out. You can also read the entire transcript on TED.

There are a lot of interesting points, here is one of my favorites:

“Results Only Work Environment. The ROWE. Created by two American consultants, in place in place at about a dozen companies around North America. In a ROWE people don’t have schedules. They show up when they want. They don’t have to be in the office at a certain time, or any time. They just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, where they do it, is totally up to them. Meetings in these kinds of environments are optional.

What happens? Almost across the board, productivity goes up, worker engagement goes up, worker satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down.”

What do you think? If more money wouldn’t motivate you, what would?

Similar Posts:

• Libraries looking to save money? Consider telecommuting!
• Library Usage Will Go Up During a Recession – Management Are You Really Prepared?
• There is No Excuse for Bullies at Work (or Anywhere Else)

Great news libraries & librarians! Your Facebook page is no longer tied to the account of the person who created it!

When you visit facebook.com you now see an option for “create a page for a celebrity, band or business”. You’ll be required to enter your full name to …” certify that you are an official representative of this brand, organization, or person and that you are permitted to create a Facebook Page for that subject.”  There is a little warning about how false representation is a no-no. You will need to enter an email address and confirm it, so use a real one.  But the end result is a page not tied to the profile of the person who created it! hurrah!

Similar Posts:

• Libraries Think Twice about a Facebook Page
• What Libraries Should Know Before Creating a Facebook Page – Libraries & Facebook Update 2
• Facebook Community Pages vs Official Pages and Your Library or Business