Ran another failure swapshop at Bar Camp Bournemouth 5 – some INCREDIBLE, hilarious, worrying stories! You know the format and rules, so here are the lessons learned:

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The video from my recent talk at the Salesforce Social Success #micup is on the tube of you, so I thought I’d share it with y’all right here.

It was based on my post at the start of the year:

“You’ve been Facebook culled, don’t be upset” and what I’m calling: social network normalisation.

Do check out the other excellent speaker videos, they’re all 5 min talks on Social Media predictions for 2013.

http://youtu.be/EQ9xkvirt6U

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Yesterday was a great day at Bar Camp non-profits; as the name suggests a barcamp format unconference with a charity (or non profit) focus.

Less techy than other bar camps I’d been too, but equally brilliant in terms of the things I learned, conversations I had and people (new and old) I met.

If you’ve never been to one, GO.

If you think there isn’t one relevant to you, set one up.

The unconference format works for any area of interest and I always learn more than at a “normal” conference.

I ran a failure swapshop towards the end of the day, a usual slow start where people needed some encouragement but then it really got going.

For those not familiar with the failure swapshop it follows a very simple format:

1. “Hi my name is ____ and I failed”
2. >> EVERYONE CHEERS <<
3. Explain your failure
4. Share the lessons learned

There are only 2 rules:

1. We’re all friends
2. Share only the lessons learned

The aim of the session is to encourage people to discuss their failures in a safe and supportive way, sharing only the lessons learned with those outside the room.

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Am I the only person on the planet who understands the difference between users and usage?

There is a LOT of chatter at the moment around Google+ “now being the number 2 social network”…

SPOILER ALERT <– it’s not.

“Infographics” (I don’t class this as such personally, but that’s for another day…) like this one:

…and there are a multitude of “OMG G+ is the new number 2, go go go!” posts, all referencing one survey.

There’s quite a few things that trouble me about this:

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If I was to make a prediction for 2013 it would be that it will be the year of social network normalisation.

You might of noticed you’re no longer friends with someone on Facebook, perhaps you go to send someone a DM on twitter and they’re not following you any more .. maybe you want to get rid of some recruiters on LinkedIn who keep messaging you… you’re bang on trend for 2013.

…and yes, whilst I’m relying on mostly anecdotal evidence I do believe there is a trend towards what I call social network normalisation.

For me this takes 3 forms:

1. considered posting
2. friend reduction
3. network rationalisation

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