Thanks for your comment and welcome to my blog. It's unfortunate that some people still seem to view the various internet social platforms – social media, blogs, etc – as their own personal soapbox instead of what it should be used as – a platform to foster conversations, exchanging ideas and developing relationships that will help everyone gain new insights.

Of course, those who choose to simply use the internet as a one-way form of communication, of talking to instead of talking with others, are welcome to do so. They'll just be missing out on the real benefits of using these communication platforms.

Thanks again Dianne for your comment and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this piece.

For example, I recently read a review about a business book on a blog written by a business competitor that flammed a book written in language for front line employees rather than academics. The reviewer, on his blog, came across very mean spirited. It was odd behavior so I research the blogger who promotes himself to be the go-to-guy for CEO’s.

On LinkedIn his comments are snarky. On Facebook, he has less than 40 friends.

Putting negativity out on Twitter means it is on the internet forever. So, your advice is very sound because once negativity is launched it can reflect back on your business for years.

@Jimmy – Hi Jimmy. See, I think your comment helps to reinforce the first point I made in this piece; that the focus shouldn’t be so much on the platform but the message. Is there extraneous fluff being shared on Twitter? Sure, but the same can be said for conversations had on public buses, in movie theatres before the film starts, etc. The key is to separate those messages from the communication platform so that we can figure out which one works best for us.

For example, extroverted leaders would probably feel more comfortable with face-to-face conversations while an introverted leader might prefer email. There’s nothing wrong with either approach, unless that is in both cases the leader is doing all the talking and not making time to listen. Thanks to the open-nature of Twitter, we get to see first-hand what works in being able to transfer information and ideas and what approaches leave such content stuck in limbo because recipients aren’t receptive to how the message is being relayed.

Thanks again Frank and Jimmy for your thoughts. Appreciate as always your contributions to these discussions.

@Anne – Thanks Anne; no matter what state our minds might be, I welcome having such good company.

It’s an excellent point you bring up Anne, of how the things that get retweeted on Twitter influences over time what we share with others on this site. The idea of external influences impacting how we communicate is something I wrote about in an earlier piece “Changing our Behaviours – A Lesson From the Birds” which looked at a recent study on how noise pollution is affecting birdsong and what correlations we can draw for our own behaviours.

That’s also an interesting idea you have about using sharing praise through company intranet outlets. I know some companies have been looking at implementing their own Facebook-style sites to encourage innovation through collaboration across various departments. I think having employees being able to congratulate team members and having that ‘retweeted’ internally would definitely be a great motivator for improving productivity and innovative drives.

My thanks again, Gwyn and Anne, for sharing your thoughts on this piece.

Great analogy!