Chad Swaney: E-Learning Designer and Social Media Advocate

The conventional wisdom about Twitter seems to be that it is great for posting a random thought about the news or getting some friends together for beer, but it can’t be used for anything that serious. I disagree. Microblogging can be a powerful communication tool in an organization.

Tweeting Tech Support

Chris Arkenberg wrote about a recent incident in which he called up AT&T/iPhone support with a question about whether iPhone Twitter apps use SMS to transmit data. He eventually got a hedged non-answer after 15 minutes of waiting, but it got him thinking about how people find answers to questions in business situations. read more

I frequently read Janet Clarey’s blog and was interested in what she had to say in her recent post about social learning in small and medium businesses.

I was particularly struck by her conclusion:

If you don’t have a supportive culture of openness and sharing you are screwed. Need to do the work there first.

This reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a Vice President at a medium-sized retail company. The topic of Twitter came up, and he had an opinion that is typical for those who are skeptical of social media. He asked, point blank, “what good would it possibly do for [CEO Name] to be on Twitter?” read more

One of the biggest mistakes I see from web designers is making accessibility more complicated than it should be. When most designers think of creating accessible content, they imagine hours of exaggerated tagging, designing tab-browsing and hot keys for every minute function of a site, and writing over-descriptive metadata. Most people just give up and don’t even bother. However, by using some simple techniques and following  basic guidelines, you can make your website accessible to a wide audience of users without spending too much time and energy.
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