Facebook is once again focusing on the wrong things. Short version: Facebook has been kicking inactive users out of groups and placing them on an “invited” list instead. …

December isn’t over yet, but I can already read the 2018 story for my online customer network. I can flip through the chapters and see the data*: 20% membership growth. 40% increase in engagement. 60% engagement for the year, period. I can also see what went into that engagement, and…

Each year at Microsoft Ignite, I declare I won’t turn into an S-shape staggering around from the weight of all the vendor swag stuffed into my backpack. Each year I fail. It all goes to good places: Other conference attendees helpfully liberate me of some items, I bring others back…

Towering trees, wide expanses of lawn, near-ancient, sun-warmed stone and brick contrasting, somehow magnificently, with newer buildings (some with electric blue accents) . . . . . . and all I needed for that memory-trigger was an email from my alma mater, Lawrence University. “As the new academic year approaches…

The list of unexpected questions appeared before my eyeballs: The whys and what-fors of being a Microsoft MVP. Thanks to Betsy Weber, my awesome Microsoft program manager evangelist, for the challenge! Why are you an MVP? I was gobsmacked when I was nominated, and even more so when I was selected, back there in 2016…

Starring our Yammer External Network for customers. “I’m out here training,” the email began. “There’s some concern from our customer about their own staff buying into our program. I distinctly remember a Yammer post from a gentleman who said he didn’t buy in at first, and what changed his mind…

One of the most important things to remember about Yammer is that it’s full of people, and those people exist beyond their screens! In our Yammer External Network for customers (instructors), one set of groups are called Chapter Groups. These regional groups help our instructors find each other within and…

“Your first month is almost behind you! Nice!” -a comment to a new employee on our Yammer home network. The quick answer is yes, Yammer does work for mid-size companies. Source: The mid-size company I work for. But what does “yes, it works” really mean? Well, here’s our perspective, and…

Flight time, 7 a.m. Touchdown, a few hours and a couple of time-zone-changes later. Ride secured, hotel checked into. It had begun. I’ve just returned from my first Microsoft MVP Summit this week, though I can’t yet talk about most of it because at the time that I’m writing this…