You may or may not have heard the news, but Google rolled out brand pages for Google+ on Monday. Brands like Macy’s and The Muppets have already hosted hangouts, and H&M shared videos from its launch party for a collaborative line with Versace on Tuesday night. What does this mean for associations?

Associations can now create – yes, yet another – social presence online. Personally, I’m not fully convinced that Google+ will be a “Facebook killer” or whatever it’s supposedly labeled as. But, it’s got Google money behind it and it’s also not something to completely ignore. If members are really into Google+ – and some people are – there’s no reason not to create a profile for your association.

Here are some things to keep in mind regarding Google+:

- “Circles” are G+’s version of Twitter lists or Facebook friend lists. I still think the concept of circles is a bit confusion, but you can add people to more than one circle and only share certain things with specific circles. This could be good for members who are also volunteers and may be privy to additional information.

- Hangouts are video chats that take place within G+ and can include multiple people. I love this concept and this could be useful for small staff associations who work remotely.

- To send someone a direct message on G+, navigate to your home stream page and start out by typing the + symbol, followed by a specific person’s name.  Once you choose their name from a drop-down menu, it will only be shared with him or her.

We’ve probably all heard the stats about how multitasking actually doesn’t do much to help our productivity at all – bouncing fruitlessly from task to task results in getting nothing done, rather than getting everything done.

Science has shown that those who multitask have more stress and experience fractured thinking both in front of and away from the computer. Although Internet users are more efficient at finding information, they are also, essentially, rewiring their brains, Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, said in a New York Times article.

I absolutely recommend reading the article – among other things, it describes the struggles of a California family heavily involved with technology and how a wife wishes her husband could fully unplug and engage with his family. It also highlights a study done on how multitasking affects the brain. If you’ve read anything about multitasking, it won’t surprise you to learn the multitaskers took significantly longer to perform basic tasks.

Science is proving that multitaskers can’t shut off the multitasking part of their brain, even when they’re supposedly focusing on just one thing.

Our brains are adapting as we try to force an endless amount of information into them, but just reading (or watching) something doesn’t necessarily mean we retain it.

With all the technology available to us now, it’s important to not forget the true focus of associations: engaging with real people, in real life. It’s not fun going to an event and watching everyone tap away at their iPhones instead of actually talking to one another. (I’m definitely guilty of it too, but I’m making a conscious effort to improve.)

Go to any college campus and instead of seeing students chatting with one another, you’ll find coeds tapping away at their phones, or attached to their laptops with headphones in their ears. Our workplaces are no different.

I talk a lot about how great technology and social media are, but when it comes down to it, association professionals have to remember that the best way to actually associate is, well, to talk. In person. Without an iPhone within reach.

Unplugging from our devices can be so refreshing. Take the time to engage with your staff in person. Remember to create meaningful, in-person experiences for your members. We don’t need to rely fully on technology for communication, and sometimes I think we forget that.

If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.
(Frank Lloyd Wright)

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Happy Friday! I hope everyone’s week has been happy, productive and fun. I’m still in disbelief that we’re just about halfway through May – where did the month go?! Of course, there were lots of fantastic posts and ideas around the association community this week. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

1. The CAE exam was one week ago, and KiKi L’Italien chronicled her study process at her blog, From Failure to Fabulous. Her reflections on the exam were so inspiring, especially after she took the exam last December with undesirable results. It’s been great to read about her journey, and I would encourage anyone thinking about taking the exam to read her archives there.

2. At the Idea Center, Peggy Hoffman wrote about adhocracy and how, despite the term’s popularity, organizations have been slow to adopt it as a practice. Defined, adhocracy means “episodic volunteering,” and Peggy writes that associations should redefine what it means to volunteer and not be afraid of conflict.

3. I love love loved Frank Fortin’s post about the difficulty of breaking silos. He writes that every new communications channel in an organization requires silos to break down and shares an example from his own organization. There’s no magic pill. There’s only one way revolutions happen – one conversation at a time. Definitely a must-read.

4. Deirdre Reid had a fantastic post published at SmartBlog Insights yesterday – she discussed how association professionals can foster new ways of associating for members. First and foremost, it’s the members’ association, she points out, and reminds us that younger members want to contribute and be heard just as much as “older” ones.

5. Jeff Hurt wrote about the five different memory lanes in our brains and how event organizers can provide great, memorable experiences to attendees. There are different strategies the human brain uses in different situations, and Jeff provides several tips and suggestions to take advantage of each strategy.

What were your favorite posts from the past week?

Whatever your plans are this weekend, we hope you have a great one!

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Ah, baseball season. Outdoor stadiums, peanuts, tailgating, city rivalries … Not for nothing is baseball called “America’s pastime.” Since I like to find parallels between sports and associations, I thought I’d use the beginning of the season to reflect a bit on associations and baseball.

What does baseball have in common with associations, you may be wondering. Well, it took a little thinking, but here’s my take.

Now, this may not be true for everyone, but personally, I find it a little difficult to concentrate on a baseball game if I’m watching it on TV. Baseball doesn’t share the fast pace of my favorite sport (football), so I much prefer attending baseball games in person.

And honestly, the same principle applies to conferences and events. Although many associations are making more efforts to include and encourage virtual participation, it’s still a fairly passive activity for many people. They can share their thoughts and reflections via Twitter and blogs, but without actually being there, they’re still missing that special something that makes in-person attendance so special.

For all the talk about virtual attendance and participation, it’s hard to deny that actually going to a conference is more fulfilling, just like attending a baseball game in person is usually more fun.

So what can your organization do to ensure virtual participation is as engaging as possible?

Many advertisers air commercials encouraging people to follow then on Twitter, send a text message to donate money to a cause or send a text to receive mobile updates. I think a lot of conference organizers and sponsors have similar offerings – mobile, especially, is important right now, and will hopefully continue to gain traction among associations.

Does your association announce an official hashtag for its conference or meeting? Twitter users can follow the updates in real-time, and not only can they see what other participants have to say, they also can meet new people with similar interests. Is there an official blog or online hub for all attendees — in-person and virtual — to share feedback, reactions and thoughts?

The Internet and mobile technologies allow people to participate in events from a distance, but there’s still a certain something that in-person attendance gives us.

The more associations can replicate an in-person event for virtual attendees, the higher participation will be. (I’m thinking non-dues revenue here…) In the past, baseball franchises could rely on fans’ emotional attachment for television ratings, but with more and more media channels vying for people’s attention, it’s difficult to capture viewers now. However, new revenue sources and advertising opportunities are opening up as more Web sites (such as ESPN.com) begin live-streaming games and showing online “gamecasts” for those who pay for premium memberships.

Associations can do something similar — offer reduced rates for virtual attendance and stream sessions and keynotes live. I’m sure some organizations do this already, and I’m curious about their results, especially if your organization is a small-staff. Have people participated virtually? What feedback have you gotten?

Most of us probably agree that there’s nothing like experiencing an event in-person, but with a little bit of ingenuity and technology, associations can create a meaningful virtual experience, allowing people can participate and receive valuable information from afar.

Play ball!

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This is the final installment in a 12-part series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The previous 11 installments can be found here. Thanks for reading!

I had to search through the archives to make sure I hadn’t already written about FriendFeed — I could have sworn I had! If you’re not familiar with FriendFeed, it’s a really cool tool that lets you post status updates, photos and links (and more!) across multiple social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

What makes FriendFeed different, you might ask. It combines feeds from other outposts — such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter — to create one complete stream in one place. And it lets you access that stream in multiple ways.

If you already have a Facebook, Twitter or Google account, you don’t even need to create a separate account for FriendFeed. You can use any of your login information for the previous sites, which is pretty convenient!

When you add fellow FriendFeed users as friends, you receive a customized stream that includes their Twitter updates, Facebook updates, videos and links. You can view your stream directly on FriendFeed’s site, through Facebook, via e-mail or via RSS (in a reader such as Google Reader).

Similar to Facebook, there is a “Like” button for your friends’ items, as well as the option to comment.

There are a few different ways to post something on FriendFeed. You can simply update from FriendFeed.com, and direct your update to whichever outposts you’d like. You can also post via e-mail (which works well for attached photos). And FriendFeed has its own version of Twitter’s “re-tweet,” as well. Each entry has a “Share” link beneath it, and clicking that will bring up a box with a few options for sharing it.

So how can associations use FriendFeed?

The site supports “Groups,” which multiple people can subscribe to and receive information from. For example, if your association began a FriendFeed account for the organization and a corresponding group, members could join the group and receive updates from one another and the association simultaneously. Everyone in the group can share things with one another, and leave comments that all members can see. Groups can be public or private.

FriendFeed could be a great way for members to interact while still experiencing the “stream-style” of information, which is becoming increasingly popular. It even reminds me a little bit of the mobile hub ASAE and The Center created for the Annual Meeting back in August — combining everyone’s comments about #asae09 in one place.

But meetings and events aren’t the only times small-staff associations could potentially use FriendFeed. The site is an ideal way for members to interact and share information about the industry. Imagine a “mini-Twitter,” in which only members’ and the organization’s updates appear and everyone can interact within it. Pretty cool.

Rather than just using FriendFeed during your events, though, members can share information all the time — FriendFeed allows them a central location to collect all status updates and one condensed feed from which to view them.

Check it out and see what you think. How could your organization use FriendFeed?