Q & A

What is AssistNZ? I'm lost!

posted 18 Oct 2010, 22:00 by Jess Maher

We have embedded one of our slide show presentations which provides a brief overview of our various sites and services. 


AssistNZ WTF? A simple overview

Why url.assistnz.com in all these links?

posted 18 Oct 2010, 01:44 by Unknown user

We use Google Apps Accounts and Services for our members and in our business enterprises, using these services you can enable your own shortlink service using your own domain name. This is much like the service commonly utilised on Twitter called 

Ours is simply called URL, if you have an AssistNZ email address you can log in to this service, otherwise you can view the links but not set up your own at this point. The service can be found at  http://url.assistnz.com

Where can I find information about the workshops?

posted 18 Oct 2010, 01:42 by Unknown user

What workshops do you offer? 

Information about our workshops can be found at http://url.assistnz.com/workshops/

Our next upcoming workshop can be found directly at http://url.assistnz.com/orm 

Where do I find the Whānau RSVP form??

posted 18 Oct 2010, 01:39 by Unknown user

The form and invite have been embedded below, this is the Whānau RSVP form only. Members and other clients must register using the eventbrite.com form which can be found at http://url.assistnz.com/orm


Official Consultants will receive this invite below... 

                                                                                        V

Consultant Reservation Confirmation Form Embedded Below:



What does Social Media mean for Kiwi Businesses??

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:34 by Jess Maher


Social Media requires a customised and specific approach which must be aligned and ingrained within the business in which it is positioned. Getting involved in the world of social media will be more appropriate and beneficial for some organisations or industries than in others, but as the mainstream is increasingly integrated and embedded in such mediums, no business can realistically continue to ignore their presence for that much longer... 

On our Social Media Think-Tank site, we have embedded numerous presentations and readings which may help give you more insight. But we believe a little direction and suggestion is all that is required for Kiwis and NZ businesses to better realise their objectives and responsibilities, which have already become a legal consideration in NZ courts and governmental policies, and also an organisational issue with use and boundaries in the workplace and repercussions even for the many Kiwis currently seeking employment. Beyond this, social media is increasingly in the news to a much greater extent than in the past, and this trend seems set to continue.

Businesses are going to have to either adapt to these changes or protect themselves from them. Which ever their choice, we are exploring, researching, developing & implementing solutions related to and regarding social media in New Zealand and its influence, impact & potential for Kiwis in today's global world. We'd love to hear what and how your doing- whether from the perspective of business, communities, individuals- anyone and everyone who recognises the changing world in their lives... 




Boudreaux,C (2009) Analysis of Social Media Policies, socialmediagovernance.com|   Full record can be found on assistNZ site;http://url.assistnz.com/smtt-smp

What makes you guys different?

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:19 by Jess Maher   [ updated 16 Oct 2010, 21:29 ]


We firmly believe that social media goes far beyond the marketing, PR and sales generating focus which has remained at the forefront of the industry since its introduction to the main stream. In fact on inspection we believe that while not always recognised as such, social media cuts to the core of every business. Effective Social Media Policy & Planning requires accurate and relevant measures and reviews so that the needs of the business can be adequately fulfilled through the use of Social Media.  

We recognise the need for integrated and embedded approaches to social media regardless of context and aim to shift the emphasis from that of marketing and campaign management in the externally focused majority of many Social Media consultants. 

AssistNZ's specialises in Social Media Policy, Protection & Planning. Our services are customised to the various individuals, businesses and community groups we work alongside. We work in collaboration with others in our industry and across various arenas to ensure we are best equipped to help you with piecing together the puzzle of social media. 

Considering the various processes, functions and roles within your business, we categorise and consider three seperate and overlapping focus areas; internal, external and horizontal.   Focusing only with concern to what is relevant & useful for you. 



What do your workshops cover? Why would I need to do one when I can, like you say, find out anything I want to online?

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:17 by Jess Maher

While everyone already potentially has access to all the resources they require to achieve pretty much any goal they have set, sometimes it can be difficult identifying the best ones, or working out where to find them or how to go about using them. In consultantions with businesses, we emphasis the individual context and objectives as an important part of the environment which any social media policy or strategy might be excecuted. It is critical to understand the significance of customisation and individualised approaches to any social media use. Unfortunatly, or maybe fortunately, there is no one size fits all solution to the best strategies or approach to your social media use. The solution must be customised depending on the problem it is solving, the context in which it is found and the objective with which it is undertaken. So while we guide, direct and discuss social media use, plans, policy + strategy on a number of our sites, users and viewers must ensure a very personalised approach is adopted wether they focusing on the individual, organisational or governance levels of social media use. For this reason, we provide a number of services aimed at ensure a wide range of accessible solutions for our clients. 


We have online discussion forums and blog updates, collaborative community workshops focusing on different levels of focus and also indivudal client consultation services. Specialising in social media planning, policy + protection; our business development and advisory services aim to get clients more comfortable and effectively achieving thier objectives, utilising social media as an effective and cheap tool to do so in large number of cases. While we have provided individual level consultation over and above our workshops + presentations, the majority of this has been focused on providing 'clean up services' in the legal, managerial, brand or individual reputation management type areas after the significance and reach of the potential risks of social media use have actually been realised or experienced by our clients. We are hoping and are gradually experiencing more people and users become aware of this risk and potential for damage beofre it is too late, hence our workshops!

Why do you guys think this should be all so serious?

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:16 by Jess Maher

 After all its just a Facebook page and a few 'questionable' emails maybe, but seriously....

In the recently very publicised case of blogger @Whaleoil who was recently charged with breaking name suppression orders, the case set an important legal prescident for all users of social media. Regardless of where you post comments (be it Facebook, a personal blog or some encrypted 'private' forum) the courts have stated that a comment made online is effectively comparative to printing a whole lot of pamphlets and distributing them in the letterboxes of your neighbours. 

You can not only be held accountable as a result, but you should expect that you could be. Now before you go deleting everything you have ever posted online, or you Facebook account, be aware that you are not really ever able to technically delete these as a user. Everything you post online is fundamentally both public and permemant. 'Deleting' anything you have posted to Facebook particularly deciving, while the data does not appear in your feed, any simple code run on the cache of the site, including an of those external tracking programs (such as Postlings) see the 'deleted' text appear much like this. Whilst it is not showing it is still very much there and whilst slightly more difficult to access, if there is for any reason the need for someone to investigate your online use for any reason, it would not be beyond thier access (view the recent post on the name suppressed individual from the recent alcohol related school boy death in Auckland of James Webster case).

The problem issue that current users do not to a large extent realise the extent + significance of their social media use, largely till it is much too late. It is a much better idea to not get youself in trouble with such medias in the first place than it is to try and fix the problems incurred after the fact. The publicness and permenance of our ''virtual realities'' force the value of transperancy throughout our societies and the best way to excel in your positive and valuable use of social media is to be honest and true to your word. If everyone gets a voice, misleading or deceptive statements will quickly be made very obvious under investigation. 

With the NZ Police Force already signed on to the Governments social network the examples of this real life integration and implications are endless (there is a register of stories, news articles and links which can be found in the think-tank). Considering the move towards e-govt in 2020 we are hoping that more Kiwis can catch on to the importance and significance of this change and reality before it is to late for them to do anything about what they post from this moment forward. Just think, while it can be bad getting caught out saying something in appropriate to that your boss or mum sees on Facebook, the government and policy might not be so forgiving. We are hoping Kiwi users get this potential risk as soon as possible as the evidence of 'stuff-ups' is already a massive pile and at this point we all have the opportunity to do what it is that makes Kiwis so special + unique. That is use our size, location and culture to our advantage and utilise our international place in the world as a representative test market and case study for the western world, showcasing to others the potential value and usefulness of social media when it is excecute in the right circumstances.

What are the three levels of focus you talk about in your workshops?

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:15 by Jess Maher


In terms of Sweet As Social Media use, we think the NZ govts break down of society into 'three levels' is a pretty good one (Digital Strategy 2.0, 2004). It outlines the three levels as Individual, Organisational + Government in terms of the role of transforming our societies to digitally capable ones as we get closer to full implementation on e-govt in 2020. We too adopt these and focus are workshops with explicit focus on one or a number of these different levels as approariate, aiming to at least touch on all three in every workshop. 

I can’t find anything! I don’t know where to login?

posted 16 Oct 2010, 21:11 by Jess Maher   [ updated 16 Oct 2010, 21:15 ]

Chances are you have incorrectly redirected by Google. .com is registered as a Google Apps Domain, which means you will find many of our services have a very simular URL to the regular google ones. If you do login under the Google version, don’t freak out! You haven’t lost your information, work, or documents/!

Below we have outlined for you this case with reference to the Wave service, the standard Google users version of Wave 
will not be continuing so it is important to make sure you access the assistNZ.com domain version. If you are trying to get to
the login page and you see the page below titled, Google wave Labs- you have not arrived at the correct place, if you 
proceed to login, it will appear you have no data. 

Instead, please correct your URL in the address bar to http://wave.assistnz.com















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