Rob Cottingham's blog | Social Signal

Considering how much of our time we spend at work, it's shocking how many people feel they aren't just in the wrong job, but the wrong career. They're talented, passionate people, but they aren't finding real meaning in their work.

Well, that took long enough.

But at last, the Rogers Wireless home page is updated to at least hint at the biggest news they've had all year:

Ah, there we go - our masterpiece: a screen capture of a stolen blog post that included a screen capture of a stolen blog post that included a screen capture of a stolen blog post.

This little piece of involuntarily collaborative art deserves a title. Suggestions?

 Bear with us and this all-BookmarkDevil.com, all-the-time approach... with any luck, this experiment will soon turn into something pretty fun.

One of the great things about the social web is the culture of sharing that it fosters. One person writes a blog post; another quotes it, disagrees with some parts, corrects a passage or two, and adds some more information; a third synthesizes it all into a cool infographic. It's a little like the coolest potluck dinner in history.

But every great potluck dinner seems to attract the folks who have no intention of cooking a damn thing. They're there to gorge on as much Jell-o salad and chicken fingers as they can before someone notices they didn't bring any dishes themselves.

It's an axiom of Web 2.0 that you have to, have to allow users to comment on your content. Have to.

And there's no question it can lead to some interesting, provocative, productive conversations. The downside is that it can also lead to little more than splenetic venting.

Last Thursday, through the kind offices of the Canadian Association of Labour Media, I spent the day with a gaggle of communications professionals from a wide assortment of Canadian labour unions, sharing what I know about the social web and learning about an array of initiatives that various unions have launched in the last while.

The web site's done. The launch date is set.

Now - before you open the site's doors to the world - you have the chance to take a few key steps that will play a bigger role in shaping the community you’re creating than any other measure you’re likely to take.

So take a deep breath, and think about the kind of community you’re about to host. Think about the tone you’re trying to foster, the culture you’d like to see take root. Think about what success looks like.

And then take a few critical steps to starting your community off on the right foot: