Yesterday I was lucky enough to get to facilitate a fascinating discussion during ASTE 2010. I’d prepared an hour worth of presentation, but halfway through the questions from participants were so interesting we spent most of the time discussing the issues rather than listening to the presenter (me).

We talked about a number of elements including the paradigm shift we’re currently in the middle of, how the fundamental way that knowledge is managed is changing, and how businesses are using social media to maintain customer relationships. And chiefly, we discussed the hurdles our schools are facing when integrating social media into the classroom in an attempt to better prepare students for the “real” world they’re about to enter.

The slides below provide visual support for the discussion. This talk also borrows heavily from Larry’s Lessig’s TED talk “How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law” (embedded below).

And here’s the TED talk by Larry Lessig:

Many of our more venerable educators, administrators, and board members think that Social Networking (aka Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) is a fad of sorts. They are surprised when I tell them these should be integrated into their curricula. When they ask why, I tell them that companies are hiring people who know how to properly use these tools.

Since many of them often don’t believe me, here’s a “real world” example:

After we lost all our belongings in a house fire over the summer, and winter has rolled around, I find I have no winter boots. So I send out a casual post to my social network:

When I make a post it gets delivered to everyone who is “following” me (both on Twitter and Facebook). So about 800 people were able to see my note about the new snow in Juneau. One of them replied:

To which I replied:

And now things get interesting. Because Twitter is an open social network, you can tune in to public conversations. You can even save search results so that you’ll be notified whenever a key word appears. This is what smart businesses do. They monitor the social stream for mentions of their brand, so they can stay in touch with their community.

I was surprised, and impressed, to see that Zappos noticed my post and sent me a nice reply. Zappos is a great online store, and they prove it by being savvy enough to tune into the public Twitter stream. They even gave me a nice smiley face =).

But that’s not where the story ends. Later that night I finally selected the boots I wanted to try and placed the order. After I did so I replied to @Zappos_Service:

And they responded with a nice, personal message:

But they’re not the only savvy company monitoring the stream, because this morning I got this message, also with a nice smiley face:

The interaction with not only the vendor, but the manufacturer of the boots was a great experience for me. It solidified my faith in both brands and gives me the feeling that they’re not just faceless corporations but people wanting to connect with customers. This feeling makes me happy, and those companies know it’s a worthy investment because a happy customer is a repeat customer.

So if you are surprised when you learn that companies are hiring people with social networking skills, don’t be.

After filling in the basic setup info, the first thing I did was let Facebook search for and find some people I knew. I let it scan through my email contacts list, and it went out and searched its own records for my fellow graduates and other people I “might know” based on information I gave it. Then I got curious and started typing in names of people to search for. I was able to re-connect with some wonderful gems from my past whom I didn’t think I’d ever talk to again. A few of us went so far as to get on the phone for an epic catch up. A few more I’ve been able to meet up with while the timing and location is right.

Online, “friends” exchange nods and comments on the threads each other are sharing. A simple click of the “Like” button joins you to a conversation and affirms to the other end(s) that you’re listening. A few keystrokes in the comment box extends and adds value to the conversation. When you join conversations, you expose yourself. Many people simply “lurk“, while others engage in conversation and open themselves up to growing their network.

Everyone has their own sort of metric for how they decide whether or not to “friend” someone. Or, in more practical terms, who to add to their social graph. I tend towards the more open side of things and will add someone to my graph if I’ve met them in person or if we share some significant common interest or circumstance.

As such I make sure to pay attention to who is listening. Initially Facebook was a place for sharing personal threads, but over time my graph has grown to include many of the professionals I work with.

If you’re not sure what this social networking stuff is, here’s a handy vid from the swell folks over at Common Craft:

If you haven’t heard of http://del.icio.us by now, then you’re in for a treat. This is *the best* way for you to get an introduction to social networking while at the same time solving that pesky “OMG I have too many bookmarks” problem.

Below is a video that explains it all (thanks again to the folks at Common Craft), and for more detail checkout my “Web 2.0 for Beginners” online class.