Above is a presentation I gave last week at the American Library Association‘s youth privacy summit in Chicago. I addressed how teenagers are currently using social and mobile technology and their varying views of what privacy actually means to them.

You can’t dig deep into this topic without coming across the mountains of research done by none other than danah boyd – and I referenced her work often. This presentation was only meant to be a conversation starter, and I highly recommend danah’s publications and research to anyone wanting to explore the complex issues behind youth privacy and emerging media.

Some of the questions put forth in the session were:

• What digital footprints are we leaving behind online through our participation in social networks?
• How will this data be used in the future? (Potentially integrated with non-tech brands such as Kraft, OnStar and Safeway.)
• Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Christopher Poole’s (4chan) opposite views on authenticity.
• How do teenagers define privacy? How does this differ from other generations?
• How do teenagers navigate social networks to protect their privacy?
• Where are they learning these skills? (Typically peers, not adults or the social networks themselves.)
• What new, more private forms of online media are they migrating to next, while still maintaining a Facebook presence?
• Do teens actually use email?

Below are few additional remarks I made after the session in an interview with Loida Garcia Febo from Queens Library New York, referencing how individual teenagers are tweaking their Facebook usage in interesting ways to maintain their own personal sense of privacy.

I would love to hear your opinions in the comments below (especially from parents). Are teenagers failing to understand long-term privacy implications of using social technology? Or are they smarter about privacy that any other generation before them?

This month I gave a talk called Journalism 2.0: Social Media Ethics at both the Iowa Newspaper Association and Wisconsin Newspaper Association conventions. (BTW, it was great to fly in to Green Bay Packer country only days after their Super Bowl win.)

The purpose of this talk was to help journalists better understand the following:

• How to craft social media policy for their employees and teams.
• How to balance their personal and professional social network identities.
• How to use social media as a research tool.
• How to maintain ethics and integrity while playing in the new media sandbox.

The latter point really sparked some debate up in Wisconsin, as real-time journalism was called into question – specifically NPR Senior Strategist Andy Carvin‘s curation and re-tweeting of #Egypt and #Jan25 Twitter posts. One audience member suggested that this was, in fact, not journalism. A paraphrased quote: “Journalists don’t ask the public is this happening? It’s up to us to report that.” Others in the room were vocal about the fact that Andy was simply doing his duty and providing a filter to all the noise.

Related to all of this is the “Line of Verification” concept created by Matthew Eltringham of the BBC, which I referenced in the presentation. Essentially, Matthew states that in the past, there was The Light Side (stuff that can be verified) and The Dark Side (stuff that can’t be verified and thus can’t be published). He argues that digital and social media networks have muddied up The Dark Side, and that some journalists need to start providing a filter for that uncharted area – which is what Andy Carvin is attempting to do on Twitter.

So what do you think? Can journalists play around on The Dark Side and still maintain their ethics, integrity and duty to the public? Is this a case of applying the rules of a traditional medium to a new one? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Embedded below via Slideshare is my original presentation deck. I also wanted to quickly thank Twitter pal Bonnie Boglioli Randall for originally pointing me to Matthew Eltringham’s post.

Image credit: pagedooley via flickr.

On Wednesday night I gave my State of social media in 2010 presentation to Omaha’s Social Media Club and posted three of my predictions about the SM space that morning.

Below are the remaining seven, plus the full presentation. (I used the Prezi platform and loved it. Are you using it yet?)

Prediction #4: Newspapers are changing shape, fast. Publications, over the next couple of years, will shift more and more resources into digital and social platforms. Printing on paper just isn’t a sustainable business model. Journalists themselves are changing shape, too – becoming content curators in addition to creators. Institutional news brands will start licensing content from other (more upstart) sources, similar to what is already happening with Silicon Prairie News and the Omaha World Herald. The “paywall” problem will likely be solved by those who impact search – Google and Facebook.

Prediction #5: TV will spread across many platforms and devices. Television content is breaking away fast from cable companies and the box that sits on top of a dresser. iTunes, Netflix, YouTube and Hulu are already emerging as the new “channels” for delivering content – and you’ll receive it a number of ways: tablet devices, mobile phones, laptops, gaming consoles and that large screen television in the basement.

Prediction #6: Cars and planes will become mobile devices with amazing social apps. As soon as we have Wi-fi in of our modes of transportation, all sorts of new opportunities open up. Imagine if cars and planes were synced to our social networking IDs – we’d have Foursquare overlays (where your friends like to eat) on GPS navigation systems. And seat-back touchscreens in planes that synced with LinkedIn and told you who else is on board in your industry.

Prediction #7: All websites will be social. Technology like Google SideWiki is forcing all websites, everywhere, to be social – whether their creators like it or not. Facebook will probably create a similar (and more mainstream) social overlay / annotation system. The days of websites as static “destinations” are over.

Prediction #8: Twitter will evolve away from a social network into a mainstream publishing platform for media and business. I believe this will mirror what happened with blogging platforms – originally adopted by individuals wanting to express their thoughts and connect with others, but over time became more useful as business tools.

Prediction #9: Social CRM is about to become a big industry. CRM databases with email addresses, phone numbers and snail mail addresses aren’t enough anymore – social networking IDs will be added to this mix. Look for LinkedIn and Salesforce.com to become major players in this game.

Prediction #10: Location-based networks will ad layers of metadata to IRL situations. Sitting down at a restaurant, checking in on Foursquare and seeing that there are five other people there and getting curious about who they are is just the beginning. The word “serendipity” gets thrown around a lot to describe this – I’d like to call it very efficient serendipity. We’ll leave behind lots of context (digital graffiti) at real-world locations using these tools.

Okay, that’s it! What do you agree with? Disagree with? Share your thoughts below.

UPDATE, 7/7: Silicon Prairie News posted a great recap here, plus some video.

Tonight I’m speaking to Social Media Club Omaha at Nomad Lounge in conjunction with Mashable’s Social Media Day.

For this talk I’ve been asked to focus on what’s trending and what’s next in the SM space, which is a great opportunity for me to step back, wipe the PowerPoint deck clean and start new.

(Speaking of PowerPoint, I’ve ditched it to experiment with Prezi – a non-linear, slide-less presentation platform. Is anyone else using this? I love it so far.)

I’ll be focusing on 10 predictions – three of which I’ve outlined below. The remaining seven (and the Prezi) will get posted after the talk is done! If you’re in the Omaha area, I hope to see you tonight. Don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook.

Prediction #1: The word social media will soon go away. I’m not saying it isn’t vital, but there’s a lot of unicorn baggage that goes along with the word. The Web has been inherently social since day one, when the first email was sent decades ago. Social applications are being integrated into every layer of business, from human resources to customer service (and, oh yeah, that marketing stuff). Let’s go back to calling it the Internet.

Prediction #2: Facebook as an identity company. That’s how the social network is describing itself these days. In the next decade, your Facebook ID will become just as important as your driver’s license, social security number, email address and phone number. (At least, that’s Facebook’s vision – they want to be your car keys to the entire Web and all of its applications.) Open Graph, Project Titan and Facebook Credits will all play in to this, long-term.

Prediction #3: Finance will be the next industry disrupted by the Internet. There is a tremendous amount of innovation happening in the finance space right now, with smart tools like Mint.com, and (here come some local shout-outs) SmartyPig and Dwolla. These companies are helping consumers get smarter with their money and laying new infrastructure for Whuffie-ish peer-to-peer payment systems. We all joke about Farmville, but I truly believe it is a microcosm of social commerce – and it’s just getting started.

Gotta run. I’ll post the remaining predictions soon. See you tonight, Omaha!

Despite its audience of 60 million users, LinkedIn remains widely misunderstood by the mainstream business audience. We continually meet people that have a LinkedIn account, but rarely curate it or proactively make connections inside the social network.

On Wednesday we spoke at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Iowa chapter about the nuts and bolts of LinkedIn and how to use it as a platform to showcase your reputation, get found online, and generate new business connections. Below is our presentation posted on Slideshare.

LinkedIn is absolutely one of the most important tools in our business development arsenal at Lava Row. How are you using it? What success stories can you share?

On Friday I gave a presentation called Fostering Community with Social Media at the Midwest Newspaper Summit (put on by the fine folks at the Iowa Newspaper Association). The audience was a mix of journalists and editors from regional newspapers as well as college students excited to break into the media industry.

The journalism world (specifically newspapers) is currently in a state of flux, and many are wondering if anything will be left standing five years from now. Yes, media platforms and reading habits have evolved, but the point of my session was that community equals opportunity – advantages go to those who embrace technology shifts and understand how to operationalize social networks for their gain.

While most of the audience was there to learn, I did my fair share of learning from them, as well. The session allowed me to connect with smart people who are working on innovative things, right here in Iowa. Thomas Ritchie (Online Editor at the Sioux City Journal) has put a focus on harnessing the real-time web and live-blogging stories for his newspaper, and he’s achieved quite a bit of success from it. Steve Buttry, who blogs about the future of journalism and media, sat in the front row and asked all sorts of good questions. I was also impressed by many of the college students I met, who are eager to break into the industry and tear it up using their knowledge of self-publishing tools and networks.

I have lots of opinions on where this is all going, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. What are your thoughts on the future of newspapers and news media? Please chime in below.

February is shaping up to be a busy month, speaking-wise. Starting tonight, we’ve got 11 gigs in 28 days – now that’s a lot of talking!

Recently some of you have been asking about what events we’re participating in and where to find us, so we’ve posted a detailed list (ones that allow public registration) below. We’ll go ahead and throw March’s trip to Texas into the mix, as well. If you decide to venture out to any of these, please say hello and ask lots of questions. We’d love to meet you.

Midwest Newspaper Summit
Friday, February 5
Downtown Marriott Hotel, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Social Media – Fostering an Online Community Around Your Newspaper

Social Media and Health Care (Iowa Hospital Association)
Tuesday, February 9
Thompson Auditorium, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: An introduction to social media

A Journalist’s Guide to New Media (Drake University SJMC)
Saturday, February 13
Meredith Hall, Room 104, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Linking w/ potential employers, clients and professionals via social media tools

American Marketing Association, Iowa Chapter
Wednesday, February 17
Hilton Garden Inn, Johnston, Iowa
Topic: How LinkedIn are you?

EntreFest 2010
Friday, February 26
West Des Moines Marriott, West Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Using Facebook to build your business

South by Southwest Interactive 2010
Tuesday, March 16
Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas
Topic: The State of Music Blogs in 2010

Photo credit: visual_dichotomy via Flickr

Back in late September we announced Lava Row Camp (a recurring series of monthly educational social media seminars).

After our first event we decided to re-tool the format in order to make it more accessible to more people — we’re moving the event time from the noon hour to 5:00pm, shortening the overall content to allow for more Q&A and interaction, waiving ticket fees and (here’s the best news) incorporating cocktails!

For the next installment of Lava Row Camp, we’re ditching the 101 slides and focusing on what’s next for the future of social media marketing and business. Some of the topics we’ll cover are:

• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Location-based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla, and the implications for marketing local businesses.
• Facebook’s recent changes to the News Feed (and Live Feed) and what this means for your business pages.
• Twitter Lists and how they will fundamentally change the Twittersphere (for the better).
• How Facebook Connect and Google SideWiki will forever change the corporate website.

So please join us at the Des Moines Social Club at 5:00pm on Wednesday, November 4th. Cocktails and networking start promptly at 5:00 and then we begin the discussion at 5:30. Be sure to bring your opinions and questions, as we want your insights to be a big part of the conversation. We’ll have a handful of drink tickets on hand for the first people to arrive — but they won’t last long!

The Technology Association of Iowa has graciously stepped in to help support these events, and we can’t thank them enough. Please RSVP for the event below, or you can just click here. We’re still in the process of assembling the presentation, so if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, just contact us or leave a comment below. See you next Wednesday!

Photo credit: moriza via flickr

I’m working on a lengthy blog post about how to get serious about becoming a professional speaker, but in the meantime, here’s a quick tip for those of you who frequently put on presentations:

Has this ever happened to you? Be sure to share your story below.

This morning we accepted the unique challenge of presenting to a room full of librarians at Drake University’s Cowles Library. (They referred to themselves as a “gaggle” of librarians). The audience was already well-versed on the inherent value of social media, but wanted a deeper understanding of how to get more engagement going on their blog. They were also very curious about Twitter — in fact, almost 30% of them already had accounts!

Embedded below is a copy of our presentation, which we think is applicable to any organization with a blog seeking more engagement. As always, you can’t just click a button to get more comments — it’s earned over time through active participation in other online communities besides your own.

One of the audience members referred to the “social mission” baked into the five laws of library science (put forth by Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan) and how this applies to the new tech they adopt. This afternoon I went back to the office and Googled the five laws. Number five certainly stuck out to me: The library is a growing organism.

While doing research for this presentation, Hillary discovered a ton of fantastic resources for libraries seeking to bridge the social technology gap. If you’re interested, go ahead and browse The Shifted Librarian, LibraryCrunch and The Ubiquitous Librarian — blogs that touch on the adaptation of new mediums within libraries.

Library 2.0 is a niche social network for librarians who want to connect, share knowledge and form a virtual brain trust. ASU’s Library Channel is an excellent example of an institution that has integrated social media into their web presence. Last but not least, you might want to check out the OCLC’s 2007 report: Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World.

Special thanks to Scott Phillips for inviting us to present to his co-workers, and for being a champion of social media at Cowles Library. If any librarians happen to stumble across this post, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!