So you want to be a beBee Ambassador?

This isn’t a typical post for me… There are way more words than normal. It does show you the inside mind of an introvert – how I process things and come to the conclusions I do. This isn’t intended as a ‘how to’ post, but more of an op/ed piece as I ponder this exciting new platform called beBee.

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Every so often something comes along that is fresh, innovative, exciting, and seems to be the place where all the ‘happening’ people hang out.

Now I’m anything but ‘happening’, but I do have my ear to the ground so to speak, and am constantly on the watch for upcoming trends that will impact my world.

It is more than a hobby. Part of my job is to forecast (meaning ‘educated guess’) what technology would be most appropriate five years from now.

When you consider that most technology is considered obsolete the moment you open the box you can appreciate how daunting this can be.

There have been a number of things that have been transformative in their time. The smart phone in everyone’s pocket or purse in practically every corner of the world, GPS, Netflix, to name a few. These are all common today.

What they have in common is that when they first showed up, only a select group of the world’s population saw the merit in them.

The first mobile phones were the size of a concrete block and weighed just slightly less. GPS technology was primarily used for military purposes and the available maps (if you weren’t in a major centre) were questionable. Netflix was getting your DVDs shipped to your house rather than take the drive to the local Blockbuster store.

The second thing that transformative technology or products have in common is that they actually have the capability to transform society. The early adopters were able to show the world the value of the product.

Once the early adopters show the world the value of something, it can take off with mass adoption (even your 80-year-old aunt wants one, or your grandma is on Facebook), and some people (never me for some reason) get rich as everyone gets on board and the technology, or product becomes mainstream.

Many times, the product promises the moon – words like ‘revolutionary’ are used. The early adopters are able to show the potential of the promise.

This is the time when a significant number of people get on the proverbial bandwagon – wanting to profit from the trend, or just wanting to be associated with it. “Look at me! I’m hip!” (Do people still use that word?)

For this group, participating usually meant buying the product, or signing up for the service. There was no risk involved. After all, both the ‘experts’ and the ‘hipsters’ were adopting it, so it must be good.

For many of these products and services, the promises and perceived potential falls flat. That platform that was going to deliver on all the potential of Social Media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) signed up millions of users, but turned into a niche product.

I think you get the picture. My job is to spot trends before they become the next big thing. Sometimes I’m able to see them. Other times I’m caught off guard. I’ve invested in technology that did not deliver. There are risks in being an early adopter.

As usual in my posts, I do finally get around to the point… and here it is.

When I first saw mention of beBee, my first thought was “Do we REALLY need ANOTHER social network?”

But because it is my job to explore new things, explore I did.

It soon became apparent that there was something different about this network. The founding partners were everywhere, interacting with practically everyone. More importantly, it began to attract a number of writers over from other networks. The engagement numbers were staggering compared to the other networks.

Through the concept of hives, users could interact with others who shared their interests – professional and personal. I wrote about my initial findings here.

It was obviously in its formative stages, but those who were developing the product were also online, interacting with users. There is a lot of great excitement and it feels fresh, relevant, and somehow innovative.

beBee’s foray into the English language community has been recent, and has taken off like a juggarnaut. I’ve only been involved a few months and I’ve watched the user base grow by over one million bees.

I’ve watched a number of users become Super-Bees – diving right in, inviting and supporting others, and producing top notch content.

For any social media platform (including beBee) to succeed, it needs at least 2 things:

- Users. beBee is doing admirably in this department, hitting the 11 Million user mark recently.

- Content. There has to be a good reason to belong to a network. Content is the currency between writers/bloggers and the social media platform. Writers will provide content, great writers will provide great content in exchange for exposure and engagement. LinkedIn has recently seen an exodus of writers/bloggers since it silently stopped providing their share of the agreement.

Most times, writers and bloggers are happy with this arrangement. The quality of content on beBee grew quickly.

Then beBee threw in something quite unexpected – the Ambassador program – promising equity in the success of beBee for promoting the platform through contribution, connecting and finding innovative ways to share beBee with others.

The crowd went wild.

No other platform had ever made such an offer before.

Every one (myself included) envisioned their profile picture with the words “beBee Ambassador” affixed.

If we are honest with ourselves, we also were a wee bit bedazzled with the promise of equity. We all have heard stories about the value of a unicorn startup. (Even though some of us lived through the crash in the 90’s of all of those Internet startups… but learning from history isn’t something we humans do well.)

Based on all the words I’ve bored you with so far, let me remind you that as a career I look for trends and platforms that will succeed. I believe that based on what I have seen so far, that beBee has the potential to actually be successful at being transformative and make a dent in the universe (unlike Google+, Ello, and a host of others).

While we are on the subject of honesty, let’s talk about what might be expected of you to qualify to be a beBee Ambassador.

Let me be clear that I am not on the selection committee for Ambassadors, and aside from the information on the website, I have no other inside information. This part is all my opinion and should be taken as such. It’s an opinion based on experience, but is an opinion none the less.

· beBee is a community. In a community you are expected to contribute, as well as learn from others. It is not about posting your viewpoint on things and expecting people to agree with you. It is about dialogue and disagreement. It is about growing together.

· It’s not about the number of posts, but the quality of the posts. This is about sharing something that is important to you, that touches you, that makes you giggle. It’s about being real, not to present the ‘fake’ you.

· While there are several professional writers and bloggers on beBee, an Ambassador shouldn’t necessarily need to be a Pro. Writing should be clear and understandable, and should be about one topic at a time, drawn from your passion or expertise. Rambling manifestos do not usually gain much traction on beBee.

· It’s about making time to read the posts of others, to comment on them, and share them. Like you, they see beBee as a platform to express themselves.

· It’s about being respectful of others. We all have things we believe deeply (politics, faith, preferences). These are part of you, but are not necessarily part of me. I need to know the things that are important to you, but please don’t expect me to wholeheartedly agree with you. Let us learn about our differences, rather than fight about them. If I disagree with your stand on something, I will do so in a way that sticks to the issues, and never, ever attack you as a person.

· It’s not about providing mushy platitudes, but real, honest feedback. It’s even better if you can get a dialog going.

· While articles from other online platforms contain some excellent material, take the time to share briefly WHY it made an impact on you. Don’t just repost it.

· Your other online networks KNOW you are on beBee. You are actively sharing the news and making it easy for them to come over to the Orange side.

· It’s about being the kind of person that others on beBee would actually miss if you were gone.

The Ambassador program should not be a tenured position... but based on appointment with a regular opportunity for review.

The Ambassadors will actively promote beBee, and beBee will support the Ambassadors as an extension of the organization (and also with equity as promised). Both parties need to be actively contributing.

There is another layer that many of us are in right now, that of an Active Contributor - or Frequent Flyer, or Super Bee. We are not doing it for financial remuneration, but out of appreciation for beBee - and a desire (no, make that a need) for beBee to succeed.

We (finally) have a platform where we can express ourselves effectively. That's not to say I don't want to be an Ambassador. If people think they can get equity based on volume of content we will be flooded with bad content and reposts. Let's keep the positive momentum going.

Perhaps beBee can create a sub program, one without equity but that recognizes the SuperBees in the community. Make it a peer nominated position, and make it a pre-requisite to becoming a beBee Ambassador.

Do I want to be a beBee Ambassador? Very much so. But if I was ever honored with the title, I’d certainly want to make sure I earned it, and through my efforts beBee felt good about appointing me one.

By all means bring on the Ambassador program Javier Cámara Rica and Juan Imaz, but make it an exceptional calling.

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About the Author:

I'm the Chief Information Officer for Appleby College, in Oakville, Ontario Canada, where my team is transforming the delivery of education through innovative application of technology.

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee, LinkedIn , ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I'm also an avid amateur musician and photographer (but not at the same time).  Check out my photostream on Flickr  or on beBee hive: serious-amateur-photographers