Twitter has just released audio tweets for iOS. This is a fantastic development with all the complaints about fake news and fake reviews we will now get to hear people’s authentic voice. Of course, if you use Android or you’re on the web you will have to wait as the release is only for iOS.
Don’t worry if you want to get started with audio tweets there is another way. Android users and people on the web can record your voice notes on Sound Branch and re-share back on Twitter. When you reshare your voice note your Tweets will autoplay as Twitter cards. Best of all if you are a brand you can get your very own white-labelled Sound Branch site where you can share branded audio tweets on Twitter. All audio tweets are transcribed using Sound Branch making tweeting quick and easy.
Sound Branch not only allows you to produce audio tweets but you can create podcasts from your voice notes via playlists. Sound Branch is also available on Alexa, Google Assistant for smart speaker voice experiences.
This is a new chapter in Twitter’s story. It will be interesting to see how widely audio tweets get adopted. You can’t reply with audio tweets at present and some users might find it difficult switching between audio and text. Overall I think it will make Twitter more human and you can fit a lot more information into as 140-second audio clip than you can a 280 characters tweet.
Learn more about Sound Branch by getting your free account here or download the mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Following the coronavirus and everybody working remotely I now work out of my garden shed. If social distancing had not been introduced then #SeanInTheShed a business talk show wouldn’t exist. It’s one of the small ways we can turn this crisis into small positive actions.
I talked with Antony Cockle
We go live at 4:30 pm every day of the working week. We start off by talking about the interviewee and how they started their career, then about their business followed by how they are coping with the coronavirus crisis and any advice they would give.
Having published my own book “Flexible” about five years ago I was able to get Beta access to LinkedIn live. I either had to use it or lose it and so I decided to get started.
I talk with Simon Palmer
#SeanInTheShed has made me become a better listener. I’m also learning a lot along the way and making some fantastic business connections which might be mutually beneficial in the future. It’s also good to reconnect with people I’ve known over the years.
#SeanInTheShed broadcasts on a daily basis on LinkedIn LIVE.
We all watch Netflix and Amazon Prime at home why can’t we watch work related videos at work?
The way we do business is changing. Phones are becoming redundant from desks. Less people are doing the daily commute to the office as home work becomes more widely accepted. In marketing it use to be about position, placement and price. It’s now about building community, creating content, collaborating and conversations.
With this in mind the business tools we use on a daily basis need to measure up to these changing needs. Employees need to start creating content in communities with customers. The lower value information can be gained on demand at the point of need. Live video calls can then be used for the higher value interactions.
Watch and Learn is a catalyst to all this. Meeting face to face is important but what happens before and after? Take an annual event there is a spike of interest and then conversations die down. People might connect on LinkedIn or email and arrange follow up meetings. However this is only a small fraction of the total potential when it comes to conversations. Indeed at these events there is no smart matching of individuals to enable partnerships or customer transactions.
Watch and Learn builds rich communities which harvest people’s voices and videos making interactions feel more human. This gets away from the sea of emails which don’t build lasting relationships.
Private groups, timelines, playlists, profiles, direct messages allow for content creation, collaboration and conversations. Building community is the new smartest way to do business. It is more targeted, more convenient and a richer experience. Traditional phone calls after all are being replaced by video calls. The truth is we have to keep switching tools from video conferencing software, to email, to CRM and chat apps.
Watch and Learn is one platform where you can build community just in time or in real time. You communicate to people using their preferred method of contact be it text messages, voice messages, video calls, screencasts or live video calls.
Activating all of this leads to a more enjoyable and memorable business culture. Everything is transparent and relationships are built with full accountability and responsibility. There is no he said she said and it’s like a gold fish bowl with clear water. Most businesses are currently operating in an opaque world. Even if an organisation is open and transparent in outlook their systems don’t give this level of transparency all in one place. We all watch Netflix or Amazon Prime at home why can’t we watch more videos in the workplace?
The most successful people schedule their time. However, some items in schedules can get in the way of important tasks. For some people reducing the number of meetings and emails helps to declutter schedules. Whether you are strictly on billable time or not we all want to be productive and add value. Unnecessary meetings and replying to communications that shouldn’t have been emails get in the way.
Rather than broadcasting our message at the point of conception we often wait to schedule a meeting. This means we wait for a conversation to happen and the moment has passed. If we do communicate thoughts immediately via email authenticity and meaning is lost.
Already we see people using video conferencing as a new way to communicate more effectively and reducing travel. Video combats global warning and reducing our carbon footprint can only be a good thing. Of course you’ve still got to schedule these video conference calls.
Conference calls quite often are recorded and sometimes without knowledge of the participants. In a webinar situation recording is accepted but often run of the mill meetings are recorded. Greater transparency about recording is needed. The benefits of recording is a searchable archive similar to email. This helps us to recall and remember prior conversations. Lots of households have Alexa and Google home devices are listening in and whilst there are privacy concerns most people have come to accept these devices.
Now when you are in a video conference call sometimes they’re cancelled because people forget to turn up and other times people are late and had you waiting around for at least five minutes until people join. All of this is wasteful of time. Another point is that video conference calls tend to last half an hour or sometimes an hour. This doesn’t mean that the conversation isn’t important and that you shouldn’t have one hour video conferences! There will be times when a half an hour video call can be replaced with something more efficient of time. We all know as a meeting becomes longer attentions wain.
Combining asynchronous communication with video allows for a more personable communication that doesn’t need to be scheduled. Whilst these videos are not live the recipient gets to choose when they play the video. Undoubtedly some users will play the videos shortly after every recording and others will wait a few hours. This allows a greater flexibility around schedules.
For businesses there are a multitude of videos you could post. It could be an appraisal video with evidence to your manager on what you’re learning what you’re achieving. This sort of video diary will be able to be played back by not only your manager but you yourself.
You might be a coach or mentor developing a member of staff. If your staff are remote it can be a challenge after a face-to-face meeting to keep in contact. Again asynchronous video can help keep relationships and conversations going.
You might have just won some new business and want to personally thank a customer for the contract award. Why not send a video? Not only can you thank customers but video can be a fabulous way to praise staff for going the extra mile whether that is in a private direct message or on a company wide timeline.
When you look at the most popular Internet platforms at the moment video is a common ingredient. For entertainment there is prime and Netflix. Kids prefer YouTube and TikTok. Lots of young people use Instagram stories and we are all sharing videos on WhatsApp.
Video isn’t going away. Transcribed videos with ability to quickly recall key information makes the corporate intranet much more appealing. When it comes to knowledge transfer be it handovers or for new starters video screen casts showing and telling how software is used increases time to competency.
The world of business is heading towards self service. If you’re travelling abroad you check in online yourself, in the supermarket there is now self checkout. When it comes to business communications there will always be face-to-face communications for building relationships. Video messages are there to supplement communications for “between times” to improve your productivity (avoiding a meeting) and to increase richness of communication (videos beat email for authenticity). With more people working from home and people being conscious of their carbon footprint video might just be the answer. Less scheduling, less travel, greater productivity without compromising relationships.
You can learn more about video and artificial intelligence at the below link:
Welcome! As MD of Webanywhere Ltd, I'm interested in everything to do with e-learning and the web.
Amongst my random thoughts and witterings, I'll keep this blog up to date with some of the best ideas and resources that I find online, plus snippets from our company news.
