Social media learning: for business AND pleasure

Last week, Kevin Jones of Engaged Learning invited me to participate in his Working/Learning Carnival. This is where a bunch of people write blog posts with a theme and the host of the Carnival, that would be Mr. Jones, gathers up the post links and lists them all in a post on the host's blog.

I met Kevin last year at an eLearning convention in San Jose. It was on this trip that I took those awesomesauce* photos of the Leonardo exhibit at the Tech. Remember? Go read My First (Dead Man) Crush for the whole, geeky story. I was at this convention courtesy of what most people would consider my "real" job. I have a full time job with benefits and a 401(k) that pays me to produce multimedia education elements and concern myself with maintaining the company's online reputation. I know I'm lucky to have this job, and I work very hard planning and producing, 40 hours a week.

Kevin's presentation at the convention was about overcoming the objections to using social media in learning environments. It impressed me. More important than impressing me was that Kevin is from Portland, Oregon. That day he pretty much guaranteed himself a spot in my Twitter stream. In case you aren't aware of the inner-workings of the mind of mediaChick (which is an experience in and of itself and not a recommended activity within one hour of eating) being from Portland is always going to get you my Gold Star of Awesomeness (GSA). Especially when mediaChick is far from home in a land of strangers and weirdly shaped trees with pointy bark and gynormous** green fans shooting out of the top of them.

Editorial note: Please don't move here solely for the purpose of getting a GSA unless you already have a job lined up. You'll be inflating our unemployment numbers and that just ain't Gold Star of Awesome.

I spend a fair amount of time keeping up with the constant influx of new technologies, theories and trends that affect my job. This means I get to spend time learning for work and go to conventions in places with strange foliage, and this is a beautiful thing. I love to learn! If information was a tangible thing, I would figure out a way to wear it, eat it and breath it. At the same time. Learning for work is a perk for me, and provides me with another bonus: the opportunity to learn things that also help me as a social media consultant.

Yes, in addition to writing and producing eLearning media, I am a social media consultant in my (I have no) spare time. It has become an eye-roller lately, this moniker "social media consultant." It joins "expert" and "guru" as labels that once meant a lot, if applied legitimately, but with overuse has become diluted. Look at what's happened to the word "innovative." So much is "innovative" now. This is the age of mashups, for a reason. You dig? And while some wonderful things are admittedly Super-Cool (read: mp3 players, GPS, the Googles) they're only Super-Cool, not "innovative." Innovative is the electric switch, the automobile and the silicon wafer. But does that discredit the Super-Coolness of the mp3 player technology? Nope.

I'm fine with being merely Super-Cool as a social media consultant, and not a guru or expert. I don't consult to be known as one. I'm happy enough reveling in the real power behind consulting and teaching the what and the how of using social media: all the learning that it requires. That spells A-W-S-O-M-E-S-A-U-C-E, yo. With a capital A.

Being a consultant is about sharing information, listening and advising. My job is to teach people what social media is and why they might care to know more about it. And if they want me to, I give them a plan on how to use social media tools to their benefit. Yes, I also execute brand strategy and build reputation dashboard monitors and all that other buzzword stuff...but the more I consult and listen and share my social media knowledge, the more I realize that my expertise (and all the real fun) is in the counseling.

I enjoy figuring out where a person or business is in their social media life, where they want to be, and helping them figure out how to get there. And in the process of learning and researching things that might help this person or that business, I am provided the bonus opportunity of learning things that also help me in my "real" job.

Social media isn't innovative. It's not hard to figure out, or implement. There is certainly no lack of information available online and off, written by amazing people with blogs waaaay more popular than mine. (Go read Connie Bensen, Maki and Dawn Foster's words.) These are smart, professional people who teach and listen and advise, for money. Like I do. There are a lot of social media consultants in the world today, but I don't see them as my competition. There's plenty of learning and teaching to go around. And as long as my job (or jobs, I should say) involve the opportunity to learn, I am satisfied.

I know there's nothing more Super-Cool than empowering another person with information that has empowered you.

I will link to Kevin's Working/Learning Carnival post when it is up. In the meantime, I wanna hear it: what are your thoughts on working and learning?

awesomesauce* For the record, I first heard this little ditty in a tweet from either @caseorganic or @corvida. Regardless of the source and the fact that everyone else on this planet has been "awesomesaucing" themselves silly without me all this time, they're both awesomesauce and you should be following them on Twitter.

gynormous** For the record, I came up with this little ditty. I think. And also for the record, the best part about it is the "gyn". Because secretly I am a 12 year old boy.

Let's go steady!