Vicious rumours...

Getting staff on social media is throwing up some interesting dilemmas. With many users who are signing up to Facebook and Twitter not having used the platforms before they are vulnerable to what more internet savvy users would immediately recognise as scams or viruses.

I'm sure by now every regular Twitter user will have received a private message telling them that someone is spreading nasty rumours about them. Its a clever ruse - people who don't recognise it as a scam will immediately be anxious to see what is being said about them and as the message comes from someone in their network they are more likely to trust the information.

These messages have caused some anxiety among staff who didn't recognise it as a scam, call someone in communications for advice or Google the problem.

We've all become more aware of bogus doorstep callers, suspicious phone calls and emails containing dodgy links. Social media offers a new set of scams and opportunities for hackers.

Is the best thing to do to alert people to all the potential mishaps?

To tell them not to click on links that don't seem right?

A warning about vicious rumours from a friend or colleague wouldn't fall into this category. There are new scams and viruses all the time - it won't always be that the Comms and Marketing team are the first to receive the bogus messages in time to alert other staff.

We can however advise people stick to the basics and advice (from Dell and also available in an infographic): 

• Don't post that you're going on holiday and leaving the house empty. 
• Don't post too much personal information.
• Use a secure password so you are less likely to be hacked automatically
• Keep computer security settings up to date
• Be aware that apps and add ons may be accessing your personal information

The only way to learn to recognise these scams is to become more savvy generally. The more people use these channels the easier it will be for them to recognise the potential for misuse.

This method of learning will however favour the younger 'have a go' generation who tend not to worry so much about the consequences over the older generation who are used to being taught how to do things in a specific way with specific parameters and are less experimental in their approach.

As the social media 'leaders' within the organisation we can't stay up to date with every scam going and sending out warning emails will only make new users fear everything, preventing them from being able to use the channels successfully.

For those who want to know what's out there here are some lists of scams that you might fall victim to:

Maximise Social Media: Scam Alert!
Network world: 15 Social Media Scams
Times Colonist: Top 10 Scams
Consumer Affairs New Zealand: Social media scams

If nothing else there could be some useful marketing lessons to be learned from these about incentives to click through!

Who defines 'good' customer service?

Our charity clients are some of the strongest people I've met. How they manage to persevere through the bureaucratic nightmare that is seeking asylum, deal with what has happened to them in their home country and then battle through applications through family reunion visas is beyond me.

In theory our part in the process is the easy one. Once all the hard fought for documents are in place we simply book the flights and they travel to be reunited as a family.

We don't provide emotional support (we are neither trained or experienced in this area) but from our communication with clients we understand how the flight is the pinnacle of what, for some, amounts to years of separation.

Imagine then that you have come to the airport. You are scared of authority in a country where you do not feel safe. You have been through years of trauma. You have a small child with you and are leaving behind another who, having turned 18, does not meet the criteria to travel to the UK.*

It is late at night. The check in staff refuse to accept the travel visa you have spent so long jumping through hoops to acquire. They tell you to go back to the issuing embassy and sort it out but you cannot travel tonight.

If this was you or me we'd make a fuss. We'd be confident in our documents and in our rights as their customer. We'd be asking to see a manager, for them to phone head office, making something happen. How many times will this be all that's needed to resolve the situation?

But if you're scared and worn down and unable to properly communicate you can't do this.  Should the airline staff recognise this and make sure they've tried all the channels that they would have done if the customer had made a fuss?

For example look at this story in Inside Housing about asylum seekers who are scared to complain about sub standard housing in case they are deported.

Is it our responsibility as a customer to make sure we get the level of service we expect? In some cases, such as our clients, expectations will be that the situation will go against them as it has done so many times before. For us, and especially those who care about delivering high levels of customer service, we will expect and demand much more.

Having previously worked with wealthy customers who felt entitled to the world I have been used to meeting and aiming to exceed these demands and expectations. It is a concern that when customers are less confident and empowered might be settling for second best as companies lower their standards to meet expectations.

It is important that when we're considering how we provide customer service we not only meet our customers expectations but look at what we'd expect in their position.

* All case studies referenced from any clients, of Bolton at Home or the Refugee Welcome Trust are amended to be representative of the situation but not true to any one case or client. Details are either general descriptions or an amalgamation of different client's stories.

Social media training

Back in November when we began the social media training the list of 1079 staff that needed to be scheduled in seemed more than slightly intimidating. Two months on and 36 people in the task appears no easier. With so many staff with busy schedules, and in some cases a reluctance to attend, filling up the sessions is proving difficult. And whilst running 108 sessions is a mammoth undertaking we're currently averaging a 50% capacity effectively doubling our time investment.

The sessions themselves are proving interesting. Its great to meet people from around the organisation and share my excitement at the way we're moving forward. With all the best intentions of providing a consistent base line of knowledge each session changes depending on who is there. With three tech savvy users we would run through the basics quickly to confirm understanding and then discuss the protocols and guidelines for use. For those less acquainted with the basics discussion around potential misuse is slightly more complicated.

If someone doesn't understand how Twitter works its nearly impossible to explain how quickly things can get out of hand generating the stories they've heard in the press. Having people understand the basics is essential. On the plus side the press coverage has piqued people's interest in the platforms and raises good points for discussion.

Discussions are generally based around the way we want people to be using social media at work and when and how 'big brother' will be watching. From the beginning it proved impossible to set out guidelines and setting out rules for what is and isn't acceptable has been put aside in favour of these face to face conversations. After hearing people's suggestions about the potential for mishaps this approach would appear to be the right one. I don't think I could have come up with all the suggested 'faux pas' other staff have. Although I would hasten to say these have been hypothetical and (touch wood) we've had no problems so far.

I'm sure when people grow in confidence there will be more mishaps and as more staff join and become active the monitoring will become a much larger task but for now its just great to be getting people started.

Off to the Philippines

I will admit there is something that has spurred me on in getting up and running on the whole blogging thing. In December I was accepted onto Rotary International's Group Study Exchange, a fantastic opportunity to spend a month in Manila learning about how people work out there.


More to come on this but for now thankyou very much to Bury Rotary club for sponsoring my application.

About the charity

People usually ask me why I felt I had to set up a charity and I have to say it seemed like the only option at the time. I had some involvement with refugee organisations in Manchester, heard about some people that needed family reunion funding and that the Red Cross programme had closed (this has since reopened).

Working at the time with property investors who were buying apartments like they were handbags it seemed sensible to see if I could get some of the refugees looking for funding some of the money that was being waved around in the office.

However nothing is that easy and once the ball got rolling setting up a charity was the only way to get the money and once you've set it up and a few people have got in touch, you've been over awed and inspired by other people in the sector and the help they're willing to give you, you've seen the need.... you're kind of committed.

Originally the idea was we'd give grants to families looking for family reunion and we still do this. When an asylum seeker is granted refugee status their dependent pre flight family are eligible for visas to come and join them. Although this sounds simple written down this visa application can be expensive (legal fees and documents - the visa application is free) and can see delay after delay for documents to be found, applied for, DNA tests to be carried out and any obstacle you can think of coming up.

At the end of this people are left with a visa and a family overseas. The cost of bringing a family over depends on many factors, the country of origin, whether children are accompanied and the number of people. For some it can be well into the thousands and for most even a couple of hundred means months of saving their already stretched income.

We are able to take cases, on a one by one basis, and cover the travel expenses for the family. This means families can be reunited faster and the healing process can begin.

About this time last year we launched a travel service to those who are able to fund their own travel. This allows them to use our booking service, contacts and discounts and we charge a small fee (as a percentage of any savings they make on the flights) to go towards our main grant fund. Although it started slowly cases going through the service are beginning to come in and we hope this will continue to be useful to people looking for family reunion.

Whats's the longest word you can spell using the top row of a keyboard?

*Hint: You can use the letters more than once

Great icebreaker from Kathy Valdes at Verse One at a seminar today.

Wanting to know what came first - the chicken or the egg so to speak - I looked into it a bit further.

Christopher Scholes laid out the keyboard in that now familiar QWERTY design so common two letter combinations were on opposite sides. This simply to prevent his mechanical keyboard jamming.

Scholes with the assistance of his friends Carlos Glidden and Samuel W Soule invented a writing machine in the early 1870s - the original layout was not the QWERTY pattern we see today. This became popular in the Remington No. 2 of 1878.

As the manufacturing rights for the Scholes and Glidden Type-Writer were sold to E Remington and Sons in 1873 and there were a few rearrangements of the keyboard subsequently it would seem that this is just a coincidence.

Unless as I prefer to think the designers prioritised this clever trick and excellent pub quiz fact for future generations above mechanics and usability. Maybe this is something we've all been guilty of as designers at some point?

Answer: Typewriter

Getting started...

Not particularly sure where I'm going with this blog but as I spend my days pestering the staff at Bolton at Home to write articles for the corporate blog I thought I should give it a shot.

Colleagues objections range from 'I don't know how to write' to 'How will I find the time?' and I agree with both sentiments with the additional concern that nothing I do is of any interest to anyone. However I have decided to carry on regardless.

So... a bit about me.

I really enjoy the work I do for my day job. Looking at everything digital from social media to intranet and a lot more besides for a housing association based in a small Lancashire town I get to meet staff in roles around the organisation and, when I'm out and about, our customers.

It never ceases to amaze me how much is going on in the communities we work with and I'm always on a mission to get our activities out in the public domain, partly to showcase the work of the organisation but mostly to tell the outside world about the brilliant people living and working in our neighbourhoods.

I will admit that my career background hadn't really prepared me for life in the private sector but would hope that after 10 months 'adjustment' I'm getting better at working within a public sector environment. I think my colleagues would be better placed to say how this was going though!

In my spare time I run a charity supporting refugees with family reunion. Having set it up just over two years ago I'm not sure I'd completely recommend this as a relaxing hobby. At the beginning of our third year we're struggling to meet demand for our services and are still making only a tiny dent in the sector but will be persevering on a case by case basis.

For anyone out there thinking this all sounds massively rewarding I will advise you that I've learnt that charity management is 98% fruitless fundraising and turning people away and 1% small successes and 1% incredibly rewarding case work.

So I would think I'll be writing about all these things and probably just whatever comes into my head... Not sure how its going to go.