Glide Brings Instant Video Messaging to Mobile

Glide is a new iOS app from the company of the same name. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store, with no additional in-app purchases.

Glide positions itself as “the Voxer of video” — in other words, it aims to offer push-to-talk functionality combined with the ability to broadcast live video and record video messages to be reviewed at a later date. Early impressions of the app seem to indicate that it does an excellent job at both of these tasks, with a few caveats.

At present, Glide requires a Facebook account to log in. The company says that in the near future sign-in will be possible with other services, but for now it is limited to Facebook. This is not an unreasonable requirement for a social app, but in certain territories — notably the U.K. — App Store reviewers have historically been rather resistant and critical towards apps which have Facebook as their sole option for creating an account and/or signing in.

Once into the app proper, Glide has a pleasingly simple interface that follows a lot of the popular conventions of the moment. A pop-out drawer on the left of the screen allows access to information about the app, links to the developers’ social media presences and the ability to contact them directly for support. Another pop-out drawer on the right allows access to the user’s friends list as well as the facility to create new groups and invite friends from Facebook to start using the app. The friends list indicates whether the users are online and whether they are currently broadcasting, watching a video message or typing.

On the app’s main screen, message threads are organized chronologically with relative timestamps. Tapping on a message thread reveals it. Individual messages may then be played back, and the user may “broadcast” to the group at any time by tapping the camera button at the bottom of the screen. If group members are online at the same time, they may watch the user’s broadcast live; if not, it is recorded in the thread for later playback. All videos are stored online and streamed to group members’ devices, so an active Internet connection is required to play back messages. Tapping a button in the upper-right corner of the screen allows the user to add additional friends to a conversation and also to switch between the device’s front and rear cameras as desired. Meanwhile, a “T” button in the lower-left corner of the screen allows for quick text responses to messages that do not really warrant a full video message. The user is notified of these new text messages immediately via a popup message, even while watching other videos.

Glide is an extremely simple app, but this simplicity allows it to concentrate on doing one thing really well. It’s a good solution for sending quick and simple video messages back and forth between two or more people and provides a well-implemented, thoroughly modern means of communication. The only real issues with the app at this present time are the fact it only supports Facebook logins — a fact which is apparently being worked on — and the requirement for an Internet connection to view past video messages. The app positions the fact that all videos are stored “in the cloud” as a selling point, but it would perhaps benefit from the option to cache videos or save specific messages that the user would like to keep handy at all times, even when they do not have a reliable data connection.

BEST WAY TO HELP? BE A GOOD LISTENER

*From the dusty archives…

I overheard an exchange between a mother and young child at a store the other day.  The child was trying to communicate with the mom and the mom said, “The best way to help is be a good listener.”  The child began to talk and the mom quickly and ferociously cut her off and said in a sharp, condescending voice, “Oh, you’re already not being a good listener!  The best way to help is to be a good listener.”  This went back and forth for several minutes with both the mom and the daughter becoming louder and more firm in their response.  Finally, the daughter gave up.  You know what?  No one won.

That’s right.  In her zeal to teach her child that the best way to help is by being a good listener, she completely missed the fact that she was NOT LISTENING.  Now, I’m not the perfect mom all the time, just about 50% of the time.  Seriously, I know that little ones can try your patience.  But the point is that we spend so much time trying to teach someone else what is “right” that we don’t do it ourselves.  It’s no different in the workplace.

How many times do we see managers telling an employee the same thing over and over only to have the employee do something completely different?  How many employees have to come to HR to complain that their manager never listens to them?  Then, HR has to try to give recommendations on how to bridge the gap in that conversation.  I’d say it’s almost a daily routine.  What we need to do is tell managers to start talking less and listen more.

If an employee is not doing something “right”, instead of telling him that the manager could say, ”Hey, I see how you’re doing XYZ.  Tell me how that is working for you.”- This allows the employee a chance to say why they do something a certain way, aka have their voice heard.  Then, the manager can follow up with something like, “That seems like a good reason.  Have you ever thought of doing XYZ to enhance that?”  Now you’re in a dialogue and the employee is far more likely to embrace the suggestion.

By taking time to really listen to an employee you will achieve better results in terms of:

• Engagement- Employees who have their voice heard and then see those ideas validated will have higher levels of engagement with you and the department.
• Teaching and Coaching- When you listen to the employee, you have a greater chance that you can teach them why something is important to handle in a certain way.  They will be more accepting of process changes, procedure changes, or other change happening in the department.  This is also the way to give them opportunity to voice their concerns and you the opportunity to coach them through it.
• Learning- Even the highest level executives are continuous learners.  By taking that extra time to listen to an employee, you will definitely learn something.  It will spark new ideas, new ways to communicate, help you develop your own skill as a leader, and more.

So, the next time you are coaching your leaders, make sure they understand that by pausing to listen to the employees, they will reap the rewards.  What other techniques do you use to convince leaders that listening is one of the most valuable tools they have?  Share it in the comments.

from by Trish from HRRingleader.com

Learn To Be Funny; It Will Improve Your Communication Skills

Learning to be funny can enhance your communication skill. Most people love a good humorous story. A speaker is always easier to listen to if they can make you chuckle at their story. Unfortunately many people do not have this skill. They attempt to be humorous by telling jokes and end up being humorless. If you want to improve your communication skill learn to be funny, learn to weave humorous stories into your training, your speaking, or your conversations.A growing trend

According to The Herman Trend report, more and more “C-Level executives are embracing the value of going beyond the occasional humorous remark and learning stand-up comedy.”  The have learned the teaching and connecting value of making people laugh. I use humor in my presentations, usually by relating something humorous that has occurred in my HR career. After all if something funny or ridiculous has not happened to you in HR then I would be surprised. The ability to relate it to others is where the skill comes in.

Take a class on doing “Stand-up”

I have taken a class on how to do stand-up comedy. I have no aspirations of ever being a professional comedian, but I did learn a lot from that class. I learned that it takes practice to look poised. I learned how to think on my feet in front of an audience. I learned how to handle a heckler (the role played by the instructor). I learned the value of using humor to bond with your audience. A common theme in my class feedback is the attendees have enjoyed my stories and my sense of humor.

Here in the Atlanta area there is a comedian, Jeff Justice, who does corporate training and teaches business people on how to use comedy to accomplish their business goals. I know a number of his graduates and have seen some of them in action. It works. I can recall one individual in particular who was as stiff as a board in his normal presentations. Jeff helped him parlay that stiffness into a humor style that worked for him. Jeff bills himself as the Humor Resources Director, and that title endeared me to him. By the way, I have no relationship with Jeff other than admiration for his work, so this is not a paid commercial.

The value

According to Judy Clark, who was mentioned in The Herman Trend Report, there are five takeaways to learning to be humorous:

1. Participants learn how to practice light-hearted self-mocking. When we find out what people are saying about us and make light of our own foibles, we take back our power.
2.  Learning how to handle hecklers as stand-up comics, translates into valuable communications skills; they know how to handle difficult people with grace.
3. Writing jokes together is a creative and bonding experience. “Nobody writes comedy alone,” states Carter; we all need others to help us determine what’s really funny.
4. People learn it’s OK to take risks—to do things that scare them.
5. Finally, participants learn how to effectively communicate difficult issues in a way that people will hear it.

So if you want to be a better communicator you may want to think about taking a class on stand-up comedy. You may discover something about yourself.