Yes, I've Seen the Article. Did You Notice the Process?

"Have you seen this article in CMS Wire about SDL?"

"Why yes, you're the fourth person to mention it."

This post isn't about the content of the article or SDL's divestment news. For a good perspective on that, read a post referenced in the first article. This post is about a Linked-In feature, semantics, and possibly micro-formats.

So, how did you hear about the article? I don't see you mention the post about strategy shifts or this one about non-core units.

I suspect you heard about it through the Mentioned in the News (Linked-In) feature that promotes online news stories about people to their connections using an AI algorithm.

Here's what I (and maybe up to 500+ connections) saw. Note how the email automatically included:

• A link to the article
• The headline
• A link to the connection's profile

The article, the connection's profile, and an email.

There are also two ways users can influence in the interaction:

1. Wrong Person? In the email you can note if the person was incorrectly identified by Linked-In's algorithm
2. Notifying connections when you're in the news. As a Linked-In user, you can opt out of this feature as seen below.

I find this fascinating in a few ways.

1. Semantics. I'm not sure it's required to make the feature work, but the article uses microformats to mark the headline appropriately (itemprop="headline"). In addition to Google search results, this is a nice practical example of the more fuzzy term, semantics.
2. Concrete. I suspect many are seeing the email and are interested in content labeled, "News about [your connection]." It's refreshing to see a direct connection mentioned rather than another link-bait title. This falls under the tip of using concrete details to create "sticky" messages. 
3. Subtle AI. I also suspect few stop to notice the article doesn't actually link to your connection's Linked-In profile. An automated AI program determined the connection based on (plain) text in a news article and then grabbed the headline as well as a reasonable excerpt from the article. 
4. Tracked. The links and images have querystring parameters likely for analytics, tracking, and/or possibly personalization features on Linked-In (which isn't really surprising).
5. Not new. I'm late to the party. The feature was mentioned here and here.
6. What Share Link? Despite the sharing link in the email, I ran across the article in Skype and Slack chat. Long live copy & paste!
7. Creepiness averted. Offering user control is an important part of personalizing the customer experience.

So, what did you notice when you or someone else shared the story? Did your contact's name stand out? Did you congratulate him on being cited by an industry news source and/or discovered by Linked-In's algorithm? Or did you find this article in another way?

Maybe the content and news was compelling enough that you forgot about Linked-In?

Folder Practices with SDL Web/Tridion

I've been asked about folder best practices for SDL Web/Tridion a few times.

There is no single best practice for folders, though there are a few strategies that may fit you use cases based on what matters most to you. You manage folders mostly in the same way as any other system that organizes items, however, Tridion has three features that influence how you organize items:

• BluePrinting
• Different types of items (Components, Pages, Keywords, and External Content items)
• Authorization

The Functional Design training describes three basic ways to organize folders:

• By content type (schema)
• By channel / site
• By department or business unit

Most organizations use a mix of these approaches. You might also use dates to “archive” folders as well. These translate into familiar practices with corresponding trade-offs, starting with your top-level folders.

Congrats 2016 SDL Web Community Winners!

Congrats to the SDL Web 2016 Community MVP Winners!

Five quick tips for a successful year:

1. Enjoy the uber geek status. Be sure to get to the retreat if you can. It's awesome.
2. Keep sharing. Year two is harder than winning the first year.
3. Don't under-appreciate what you have to offer.
4. Don't get complacent or over-confident either. Winners aren't "the best," though the best often share.
5. Connect with others and encourage the next generation of sharers.

To previous winners that "fell off" this year, welcome to the alumni group. Here are thoughts back from 2012 on having MVP alumnus status. Big thanks to those that shared less but maybe mentored more.

For anyone else interested in this award, 2017 will be even harder for a few reasons:

1. Community members can get an SDL Web 8 developer license for research and sharing. The list is growing. Don't wait to get started.
2. Alchemy.
3. DXA.
4. DD4T.
5. The Next Big Thing in the Community (I've seen it. You're not ready for it. It's impressive.).

You may have read how to win my vote in a post from last year. That's old advice. To join the 2017 MVP class first join today's community. Then optionally see what everyone else is doing. And then share more than everyone else.

Thank the Mentors

In my last post I talked about too much and not enough SDL Web knowledge. Several posts ago I once asked who do you trust. This post thanks some of those that encourage community involvement around SDL Web.

I'm seeing a good amount of recent sharing for both technical and business audiences from the following groups. See a mix of content from veteran to new sharers on:

• TridionDeveloper, hosted by ContentBloom 
• Building Blocks' Blog
• Tahzoo's Blog
• Content Management Group on SDL Community (this is a bit less Tridion and more content strategy, but the group does use Tridion among other Web Content Management Systems)
• SDL UX Group

Thanks to John, Nick, Ryan, Robert, and Phillip, a few I know that have encouraged other sharers in the above list. Thanks to those behind-the-scenes that I've yet to meet or miss in this post.

When I asked how others encourage sharing in a recent Skype chat, Robert Stevenson-Leggett shared four points recommendations:

1. "Don't directly offer incentives, but reward good sharing"
2. "Compliment good tips and tricks and say stuff like 'that would make a nice post,' etc."
3. "Don't push too hard"
4. "Innovation time can be used to create healthy competition to share between peers"

He remarked that this approach "needs to be grassroots though, not top down." Chris Morgan agreed it's about rewarding initiative and we should "nurture not dictate." Pankaj Guar pointed out encouragement throughout an organization helps as well, both from the "top as well as bottom."

Ryan Durkin also pointed out that sharing can be scary. "It's kind of like presenting in front of hundreds of people which a lot of technical people won't do." You need to work with your team to mentor, review, and praise sharing to create momentum. He concluded by saying, "I'm a fan of catching people doing something good rather than catching them doing something bad. You get more out of people that way."

These thoughts match what I've seen personally as well as the science and art behind motivation. See Daniel Pink's Drive for more on motivation or anything by Seth Godin on overcoming that scariness.

I don't have much hesitation now when I blog, but I remember my mix of excitement and fear in this early Tridion post on BluePrinting. Today, I worry more if I'd say something that makes someone else's job harder. It's less about fear and more about respect.

I would also add these four points to the above advice:

1. Sharing may not change everything overnight, don't worry about your reach at first.
2. Some posts will help others in small, meaningful ways at the end of a Google search months to years after they're published.
3. You'll meet and connect with people from all over.
4. Sharing changes the sharer.

Personally, I've been inspired by at least two phrases from some of my own mentors:

1. "Share more."
2. "Don't ever apologize for not being technical," as encouragement to a relatively new Tridionaut who doubted his value to the community.

Did I miss anyone? Leave a comment citing helpful encouragement, inspiration, or challenges from your own mentors (in the Tridion community or elsewhere). Or by Midas Rule, write your own post to thank your mentors.