I own an iPhone, which should actually be called the iPod Touch with Optional Calling Feature. I drop calls to friends, family, clients and other AT&T subscribers on a daily basis. Hell, I even drop calls to AT&T Customer Service.

I have a Facebook Fan Page and I love it even though there’s really no way to get in touch with Facebook’s Customer Service Department (oh – that’s because it doesn’t exist). You can’t get a malicious fan page imitating a key client taken down because, in spite of rallying 20 colleagues to submit a Fake Profile notice, Facebook’s too busy jacking around with privacy settings and figuring out how to monetize the client base they don’t service.

But I’m not leaving either one. And it’s likely because I’m an idiot.

My iPhone has the most user-friendly interface of any mobile device on the market and as a new Mac convert, I’m never going back to the clunky Windows OS. It doesn’t matter that half the planet uses the Marimba ring tone for their phone or the Glass sound for text messages so I’m always in some frantic “Is that MY phone?!” scramble. The only way to get more ringtones is to jailbreak my phone (which I’m not far from doing, for the record), but then I lose my visual voicemail which I do so enjoy (even though I sometimes don’t get voicemail notifications for hours and the phone doesn’t even ring when I have a call).

My Facebook Fan Page not only serves as a hub for those who enjoy my content, it allows them to connect with one another. No matter where I go, I can let everyone know through Facebook. I can drive traffic from Twitter to Facebook to my blog, from my blog to Facebook and Twitter. Followers can share cool links with me on my Fan Page wall. I love the interaction though it’s impossible to get Facebook to remove me as an admin on Facebook Fan Pages I built for clients.

Why do we do it?

Business is about cost versus benefit. For all my bitching, I’d still yearn for an iPhone if I didn’t have one. I’d miss the lively interaction on my Facebook Fan Page and personal profile if I walked away from a company run by a 26-year-old whose built something bigger than he can handle and doesn’t know the first thing about servicing those on which your relevance relies.

Does AT&T suck? Amen and pass the salt.

Does Facebook have absolutely no concept of customer service? Without a doubt.

But I’m staying with both. Somehow technology gets a hall pass when every other transaction in my life can’t escape the scrutiny of a discerning eye. I can’t explain it – except to say that I’m a sucker.

Are you a sucker for anything?

I wish I could say it’s with great difficulty I write this letter, but it’s not. As a matter of fact, what follows is purely stream-of-consciousness frustration that’s putting on a blog suit and gloves. Complete with two middle fingers.

I love my Redhead Writing Facebook Fan Page. My fans do, too. My fans and readers can always get ahold of me: Twitter, contact form on my website, Facebook message, carrier pigeon…But what I simply can’t fathom is how you have 400 million users to-date and lack a CONTACT US tab on your site. How is it that you’ve grown into the social networking behemoth you have without one iota of consideration for those who actively use your site and need help doing so?

Your customer service is apathetic if not entirely absent, yet you profess to know what your users want every goddamn time you change your UI. But I understand – you’re BIG. B-I-G. Being BIG apparently grants you a level of untouchability accompanied by a lack of accountability to your users. If we don’t like it, we can go to MySpace, right? Or Google Buzz. Let’s sit down and dish in this pretend letter of mine that I doubt anyone from your business team will ever read. After all, you’re too busy to respond to user-generated questions on:

How to transfer ownership of a Facebook Fan Page (because businesses NEVER change ownership in Facebookland)

How to remove a permanent “admin” on a Facebook Fan Page (another 8 pages of unanswered user questions)

Changing the name of your Facebook Fan Page (whoa – 163 unanswered posts)

I’m going to give you a lesson in Customer Service, Redhead-Style. Sit down, stop changing your UI for a minute and listen to what we have to say (since you don’t even do that on your own site in the forums).

Your User Interface Sucks, the Concept of Service and Budgets

Frankly, as someone who deals with UIs as a large component of her day-to-day, you suck. Suck, suck, suck. If you sucked any more, you’d be on the street corner in the shady part of town, doling out hummers for $10. In the past year, I’ve logged in no fewer than three times and found all my schizzle in a hizzle. There is not other successful business that keeps dicking with its UI to the extent that you do and no one’s amused. We have no choice but to accept what you lay down (especially since you don’t listen to any of your users or have a Customer Service department to take complaints or help resolve important issues. Here’s a quote I find amusing:

“Thanks again for making Facebook a part of your life. Happy sixth birthday to Facebook and our whole community. We look forward to building more things and continuing to serve you for many more years to come.” – Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook to the UK Telegraph

Really, Mark? How is it possible for you to “continue to serve” when you haven’t even begun? Your users speak on your very own Facebook Forums and you don’t reply. There’s no Contact Us page (like any other website on the planet…even plumbers have a Contact Us page with a phone number…so do Adult Novelty Stores – OMG they have a PHONE NUMBER, TOO…so does Twitter). And here’s the mind-boggling spaghetti that is your “Help Center.” It’s like one of those outsourced-to India automated phone systems where I’m always told “0″ is an invalid entry.

Speaking to a human, being serviced by a human…it would be a novel concept on this site designed to connect human beings. How you’re above it all is beyond me. I’m wondering if somewhere you’ve teamed up with AT&T on masterminding the Shitty Customer Service Model – I own an iPhone and would throw it out the window if I weren’t so in love with the damned thing. AT&T’s customer service is maddening and I’ve never paid so dearly for such a high level of frustration. While I get the frustration for free with Facebook, I’d think that you could find $1.25 million in your estimated $550 million in revenue to hire 50 customer service reps at a whopping $25k per year to handle some customer service emails and calls. Customer service has been called an unaffordable budget cut in today’s economy, yet somehow Facebook lacks it entirely. Kudos for being ahead of the curve on saving money, but you’re saving it in the wrong place.

Maybe stop fucking around with your UI and save the money on design and coding. Just an idea. Reallocate those funds to serving those who promote you, use you and need help in maximizing their use of the services you provide.

Stop Acting Like Frat Boys

We get it – you started Facebook as a roommate thing and are oh-so-proud of where it’s gone and excited about where it can go. We are, too. But you need to stop acting like frat boys looking to nail the Google sorority girl. Your users and their content are what make you so attractive for partnerships. If you keep pissing us off, we’re going to gradually go away. We left MySpace, we shirked Plurk. We’ll do an about-face on Facebook as well. Start remembering who brought the beer and hot wings to your kegger and quit looking at Google’s tits long enough to communicate with those who got you where you are. We’re telling you what we need and what we want. All you have to do it engage. It IS “social” networking, right?

Enough With the Ad Whoring

It’s great that your ad network is a cost-effective means for businesses and individuals to promote services, causes and brand awareness. But I don’t want to see Jennifer Aniston’s unauthorized picture whoring some weight loss program or scam ads for “debt relief” services. I’m in Facebook to connect with people. People do business with people. How about some QA for these crap ads we’ve seen as of late and screw the user rating feature for ads. YOU are the network. Start taking control of your content. I could always hook you up with Focus on the Family and Tim Tebow if you want to learn more about bait-and-switch marketing tactics, y’know.

…and that’s all I’ve got for now, dear Facebook, but I’m sure my readers have more. We’ll see what they have to say about your shenanigans as I know the problems and views expressed above aren’t exclusively mine. I may be an outspoken redhead ranting out of Denver, Colorado, but I have clients who rely on me for answers about Facebook and you…make it difficult to say anything other than, “Well, that’s just the way it is. Facebook said so.”

And THAT is a crappy answer to have to give with the obligatory shrug.

You wanna hug this word jumble?

(As a primer, have a gander at HubSpot’s When Two Worlds Collide: Social Media Marketing & SEO post – great recap of the Search and Twitter news of the past 24 hours and some excellent graphics as well)

Let’s talk search. I’m most always sporting my SEO hat when generating online content. Except on Twitter. I have a feeling that’s going to change in short order as we witness the interwebz becoming the interweb. HubSpot touched on the potential affects the Social Media/Search “Group Hug” will have on how content is handled on a move forward basis. Great post and worth 15 minutes of your time to read in-depth (link is above). For the sake of time and attentions spans, I’m opting for bullet points to lodge my concerns:

• CRAP OVERLOAD: There’s a lot of crap on Twitter as it is: spam, affiliates pumping links. Get your shovels now because the term “crapload” is about to be redefined.
• SPONSORED TWEETS? FUGGHEDABOUDIT: With Google and Bing jumping into the real-time search pool, every Tweet is now “sponsored.” Linkjuice be damned, the Sponsored Tweet pool has been peed in. Will it matter WHO sends the tweet now if it’s all about links and keywords?
• ALGORITHMS: If Google expands its ranking algorithms to include Tweets, holy shit: lock up the women and children. How will they weight Retweets against original posts? Are Retweets the goal? Will gamers set up bogus accounts on an even larger scale to pump up their link juice?
• URL SHORTENING SERVICES: bye-bye unless you redirect. Ow.ly – go ahead fix yer shit or get in the breadline now.
• VANITY URL SHORTENING: get yours today. Better yet, hope you got it yesterday.
• SETweet? Keyword stuffing in 140 characters or less. Colloquial conversation just got a stick shoved up its backside.
• VOLUME: With SEO firms, affiliates, PR peeps and businesses themselves all interested in rankings, will we be inundated with link blasts to drive rankings? How will the algorithms compensate?
• THE BLACK HAT IS BACK: Prepare yourselves. With SEO black hat practices having been re-engineered by affiliate marketers who put up 10 fake blogs to pump links back to a single site, I dare say that we’re on the verge of a whole new “think tank” determining the newest ways to game the system.

Some thoughts for the folks over at Google and Bing from a lippy blogger who wears her SEO hat with a rakish tilt:

• New Algorithm Bling: I know your coders are already pissing their pants when it comes to adding social to search. Think long and hard about how initial postings of Tweets will be weighted against Retweets, please. Each will have its ramifications.
• The Double-Edged Sword that is Volume: Twitter users with large communities enjoy the viral spread of good posts through their network. The power of the Retweet. Will your algorithms penalize, reward or find the delicate balance in popular posts being shared in high volume VERSUS gamers who artificially generate high sharing volumes?
• Keyword Emphasis: How will you weight Tweets that are keyword optimized? A core component of search, will the new algorithms encourage keyword loading in social posts or find a way to value the colloquial texture of social media as we currently know it?

Answers will emerge in time, but Google and Bing aren’t in the social game. They just acquired access to it. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on other considerations for the Big Boys of Search to take into account as they grab real-time search by the balls and tell it what’s what. Leave me a comment below.

Showing your ass online is easier than you think

Dear “Fan:”

I see you…yes, you. You’ve followed me on Twitter, tried to friend me on Facebook, tripped across my StumbleUpon profile and pleaded us “colleagues” on LinkedIn. You’ve emailed me through both of my blogs and – to your credit – tracked down my company’s website and sent me an email at that address as well.

With an inbox full of your disjointed prose professing admiration for my wordsmithing and laced, without fail, with your enchantment by my fiery mane, you’ve poured out your heart and said that you want nothing more than to learn from me … communicate with me … emulate me … and you want to make one thing clear:

you’re not a stalker.

Of course you’re not a stalker. Why on earth would I think so? It’s merely your way of showing me how much you admire my work is all. I get that. You’ve just sought me out in every single virtual presence I maintain and attached yourself like a barnacle to my social media underside, clinging to me with an affection that’s generally reserved for small children and ponies at petting zoos and a teenager with their first set of car keys.

It’s perfectly natural for one to spew paragraphs of prose upon initiation of a virtual connection, one whose words you’ve most likely read out of context or even worse, one whose words you’ve poured through in their entirety and thus you think you “know” the writer, this object of your virtual and literary affection. I understand the strength it takes for one to sit down and craft that heartfelt masterpiece and am puzzled why I don’t quite rate a Beethovenish signature on the scale of Immortal Beloved. It seems only natural, considering you have me cornered … figured out … pegged.

You see my every word, every bookmark, and if I’ve erred, each picture posted for friends, families and the familiar to share. A single haphazard slip of the mouse and I’ve brought you into my inner sanctum, bestowing upon you the power to comment, peruse, rifle, and ultimately demand my engagement in your professed zealotry for my life and that which is “me.”

Each morning, I’m afraid to check my various electronic outlets as I know they’ll be filled by your comments, DMs, @ replies, messages and emails through my blog comment forms. You’ve scared me, fan, and I’ve no recourse except to put my foot down, reclaim my independence and push your social media stalker ass into the vat alongside Glenn Close’s bunny.

While I accept that having an online persona opens me up to people like you trying to gain access to my life, it doesn’t mean I have to allow it. Let me give you a rundown on why you are, indeed, a stalker (though you vehemently profess you’re just a fan/admirer):

Dictionary.com
stalker
(1) to go through an area(s) in search of prey or quarry
(2) to pursue obsessively and to the point of harassment

Social media has a beautiful safeguard built into it: permission. While you may follow, me I needn’t follow you. You may ask to be my friend, yet I need not reciprocate.  When someone such as yourself takes the liberties of imagined familiarity and grants yourself permission to contact me any ‘ol fucking way you please, at any hour and by any means…

you’re a stalker.

This also applies to your cousin, The Perv.

While my language is foul and ridiculous hash tags are of questionable taste to many, they are not implications of permission for you to speak to me in any way that’s less than respectful. You don’t know me, you’ve never met me, and I will block your ass and report you for abuse to any network I can faster than the epic fucktards who profess to help me make money on Twitter.

You are *not* my friend, my colleague nor even a mere acquaintance.

You are an unknown. Just as I am to you. And you freak my shit out.

Yet by your exhaustive process of “latching on,” you feel like you know me. My friends. My inner circle.

And you don’t.

You’ve gone straight from “fan” to dumbass by assuming that I appreciate your fanaticism and by thinking that, since I didn’t reply to your first 3 Facebook messages, it must be something wrong with Facebook.

But there’s not.

There’s something wrong with you.

Me? I’m a chick residing somewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region with a few thousand followers on Twitter, a couple hundred friends on Facebook and two blogs that beg debate on a variety of topics. I’m by no means all that and a bag of Boulder Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar potato chips. If you were remotely in the same fucking time zone as me, I’d slap a restraining order on you. But you assume that, based on the anonymity of the Internet, you’re entitled to horn your way into my life and force your desire to communicate on me.

Well, that’s horsehit.

As this blog is being written, I am parsing my Facebook friends and unfriending anyone whom does not “fit the bill.” I’m sure there will be more purging to come. I used to connect indiscriminately and I’ve learned my lesson. Those who ask me to connect now must indicate how they know me and I don’t give  a shit if they get pissed by my asking. It’s my life circus and if I want you to jump through hoops and sing Yankee-fucking-Doodle-Dandy, you’ll sing it.

It’s a challenge, I tell you — the process of trying to decide what to make public and what to keep private. Each day, I get better at the process and I have the pushy stalkers like yourself to thank. In an Internet age where newborns seem shat from the womb with a pre-programmed knowledge of the iPhone, it’s easy to find anyone through the wonders of technology.

Anywhere.

Anytime.

But I don’t have to communicate with you when you *do* find me.

Social media is permission-based interaction. I don’t give you permission to communicate with me.

When you take sex without permission, it’s called rape.

When you take belongings without permission, it’s called theft.

When you force yourself and/or your ideas onto an unwilling party, it’s called harassment.

If I were a celebrity (and thank all that’s chocolate I’m not), I’d have a publicist to deal with the jackassery that is you. Until I make my millions and I’m the flavor of the week on a Perez Hilton rant, I’ll continue to block you, delete your messages and keep you away from all that’s dear to me.

Why?

Because my life is my circus. I don’t need three-headed midgets like you running around and ass-raping the clowns.

They’re my goddamn clowns. Stay the fuck away from them, stalker (see part 2 of the definition above).

Sincerely,

The Redhead

Social Media - Bringing Back Mayberry

I just mused over on my Facebook status: “Erika Napoletano thinks it’s possible she’s too connected.”

Which immediately prompted a comment from Rob McNealy: “Is that possible?”

This is what I ponder on a Sunday night, surrounded by my menagerie of animals with my laptop perched on its namesake, a belly full of dinner and a furrowed brow. I’ve been playing with the subject of this week’s blog for about three weeks now, waiting for the juices to churn and produce something coherent and thoughtful. I think I’ve got it, yet you’ll ultimately be the judge.

The beauty of the interwebz is that we can find anything, anywhere. A few keystrokes, a click and ka-bam! Instant electronic gratification. It’s changed the way business market, the speed at which people share information, how we date, and how we hire/fire/validate employees. To steal a vital word from Roland the Gunslinger (likely my favorite Stephen King creation), “The world has moved on.” No longer are we limited in our reach by what’s near and immediate. We’ve become a generation of brats who insist on the instantaneous access that “new media” provides.

Through social media, we’ve brought back Mayberry – the town where everyone knows your name and personalities are as distinct as Aunt Bee’s recipe for fried chicken. Whatever social media application(s) you choose to compliment your pursuits, you can build networks reaching near and far with the same small town feel. There’s the Newscaster, the Traffic Cop, the Drunk and the Town Kook – all are alive and well on our computer screens alongside of their distinct ways of conveying life through words and emoticons.

As I write this, one of my Facebook contacts has just chimed-in with, “It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know.”

That’s step one.

Step two comes with the admitted perils of small-town living: it’s also about who knows YOU.

As a blogger, Tweep, Stumbler and Facebook Friend, I acknowledge my existence is very public. But small town living is a prime breeding ground for viral thought – the main reason that most of us are attracted to social media in the first place. Good news travels fast and bad news faster, there are days in the social mediasphere that I’m reminded that I have, in essence, surrounded myself in Mayberry with a delightful bunch of nosey neighbors.

See, there’s the bliss of small-town living where you know your neighbors, they’ve got your back and will watch your house while you kick it in the mountains for the weekend. And then there’s the flip side to the coin where the small town you’ve built for yourself gives way to the self-interested, those with ill-intent, the bitchers/moaners/complainers and those who (quite frankly) have no damned business knowing what the hell you’re up to at any given time. On the bliss side, it’s cool to be missed when you occasionally “unplug,” yet it’s kind of a pain in the ass to have it be a surprise that you actually DO unplug.

So I’ve started asking myself: why do I build my Mayberry?

And more importantly: who will be my neighbors?

We might be in a real estate crisis nationwide with housing developments shutting down construction left and right, but social media’s building new Mayberrys each and every day. I’m pretty damn fortunate that I truly adore what I do for a living, as it makes the Mayberry I’ve created and continue to build all the more rewarding. But I want to throw out there some simple rules that I’m learning to live by, as I’m sure I’ve got some remodeling and Department of Public Works tasks that need tending-to in this not-so-little town I’m still developing:

• Unplug. Step away from the iPhone, close your TweetDeck, ignore your Facebook alerts, leave your StumbleUpon mail unopened. It will all be there when you get back. There’s a world out there beyond that sexy little high-tech flat panel monitor that sucks you in day after day – check it out. And check out.
• You don’t have to be everyone’s friend. I’ve started asking people on Facebook who submit friend requests, “Hi! How do we know one another?” While I publish how to connect with me on Facebook across all of my blog presences, it’s OK to not be everyone’s friend. This goes for Twitter as well. It’s no mystery to my readers how I feel about too many cooks in the kitchen, and while we’re all out there to grow our networks with useful, insightful partners, I just can’t abide by the auto-follow back concept. If you choose to do it – cool. I can’t deal. I currently have an 800 Tweep gap between my follows/followers, and I anticipate it will only get larger. Hell, I’m just amazed daily that there are 2100 people interested in what I have to say!
• Altruism rules. It’s pretty shitty of me to ask someone what they’re bringing to my dinner party if I’ve just extended the invitation. So I don’t do it. I started as a listener in the social mediasphere and work every day to become a better one (and that goes for daily life as well). Listening begets sharing. It prompts new conversations, thoughts and concepts to bubble to the surface of the beaker atop the Bunsen burner in our brain. When you listen and share instead of demand an audience, I dunno – personally, it’s made me want to listen even more.
• Keep it personal. Anyone could sit down at Sheriff Andy’s table, partake in Aunt Bee’s home-cooked concoctions and dish about life in a small town. I am completely annoyed by the pervasive nature of auto-DM’s on Twitter and those who are actively choose to make their Mayberrys as impersonal as possible. Why would anyone send out a form letter via a medium that’s designed to bring people closer together? There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful for relationships that have developed with virtual-cum-actual Tweeps like @theclimbergirl, @jennfields, @naomimimi, @justasungod and more! But not a single one of them started with an auto-DM. They all started with: “Wow, I like what this person has to say. Maybe I’ll listen.” I personally liken the auto-DM to getting pulled over for speeding, kicking the cop in the nuts and then asking him to let you off with a warning.
• Hold a “town meeting” with yourself every now an then. Whether it’s for your social media efforts, your business, personal life or some permutation thereof – give yourself permission to check in on your status. Why are you doing what you’re doing? What has it netted? What do you hope it will bear? Do you know your neighbors? Who are your true friends? What’s in your toolbox? How large is your Mayberry? If you find that your networking has netted a small town that’s growing more like an out of control Deadwood than the Mayberry you envisioned…change it.

So yeah. Those are my reflections on connections. Maybe I’m not “too connected” but rather need to continue to prioritize and check out after I do some scheduled checking-up every now an then. Prompted to write by the fact that I almost used a hash tag in a conversation with a date, it was time for a reality check. The Mayberry I’ve built? I love my neighbors and I learn from them every day. I look forward to getting to know them more personally as time moves on, but I’ll issue fair warning: I do unplug. I will “abandon ship.”  The Redhead’s got a day gig that requires (and deserves) her attention and there’s a crapload of stuff I do that does not involve status updates, TwitPics or other electronic morsels of knowledge. I might have a public presence, but I need to do better at retaining a sense of privacy. Why? Because even in Mayberry, people close their doors.

girl geeks like social media

When I was 16, I called the phone company and ordered a phone line to be installed in my bedroom. Following a successful installation, I enjoyed a good 3 or 4 days of teen-girl-gab until mom (who wasn’t privy to the installation transaction—whoops) pulled the plug. When the standard one week grounding expired, I was once again relegated to calls during “permitted” hours and notes passed in homeroom.

It was those days of my youth where I could spend hours on the phone, talking about everything and nothing at all, that prepped me for my current geekish life as a social media addict. I never thought I’d be a geek, but since Mike Volpe can admit he’s a Twitter crack whore, I feel it’s time I admitted I’m a social media geek girl. Though I’ve graduated to a cell phone, I’ve plugged-into conversations in ways I never anticipated.

Mother of pearl, pass the gravy. I do love me some social media.

I Tweet, I Stumble, and I do a ton of other stuff,

oh-so-privately yet oh-so-publicly.

It’s akin to that episode of Sex in the City where Miranda dates the guy who’s gets a rise (literally) out of the thrill of being “caught doing it.” Deep inside, there are days it feels a bit dirty…like I’m going to get caught.

all these private conversations with strangers

the little giggles, smiles from the jokes

Should I truly, as a 35-year old woman, derive this much pleasure from electronic communications?

Yes. I should.

And now, you can, too!

See, social media isn’t just for teenagers or fans of rock bands. It’s not merely about online dating or posting stupid emoticons on someone’s “bulletin board.” It’s about connecting with people and investing in information.

This weeks blog is dedicated to YOU, the social media newbie. Perhaps your teenage daughter has a MySpace page and you have no bleeping idea what that is. Maybe you have to listen to your colleague talk about how he keeps connecting with friends from college on Facebook (when you harbored serious doubts he ever graduated high school). Whatever your situation, I’m going to show you 3 easy social media sites to feed your inner child, connect you with the world, and enjoy a new level of communication you never thought possible. I’ll also review both the personal and business applications of each site. Always helps to know what’s in it for YOU, right?  Let’s roll!

Facebook

Facebook is an easy-to-use online social media application that was initially designed to be an online “yearbook” to connect school alumni. However, its applications and capabilities have morphed into a cool tool that not only lets you connect with old friends but make new introductions and see who’s updating what and when in their Facebook profile.  You never know with whom you’re going to get back in touch, and for that matter THROUGH whom. If you’re completely new to social media, start with Facebook.  Their registration process will guide you completely thorugh filling out your information, uploading photos and how to find people you might know thorugh your existing address books.

Personal benefits:

• Connect with old school friends and business acquaintences, easily accomplished by searching by email or name. Everyone on Facebook uses their REAL NAME (which -gasp- might freak some of you out).
• The cool feeling that stems from seeing what happened to the class bully, valedictorian and the pain in the ass secretary at your first job out of college. Satisfy your “inner snicker.”
• A forum with a grown-up texture that’s, for the most part, free of bullshit, hookers and spam.
• Your profile can only be viewed by those whom you’ve given permission. Otherwise, all folks can see is a thumbnail pic, a school name and perhaps a city of residence. Privacy that provides access is nice sometimes.

Business benefits:

• Facebook is an excellent place for your business to establish an online presence and build a following. You can establish a “group” for customers or fans of the services you provide and send messages to them advising of new services, capabilities and developments.
• Another backlink to your company’s website. Backlinks are great for search engine rankings boosts, and a quality link like one on Facebook is nothing but net.
• Facebook helps you stay in touch with other professionals and maintain valuable business relationships. Whether you’re on the move or a long-timer with your current employer, it can never hurt to consolidate your contacts in an application other than Outlook!

LinkedIn

Perhaps THE most powerful social networking/social media tool for professionals, LinkedIn’s platform is tops. More like an online resume and self-contained microsite, your LinkedIn profile includes such key business stats as your employers (past & present), what you’re working on, what you’re looking for in business relationships and your key qualifications. Though the personal, purely social applications for LinkedIn are limited (it’s not a “chatty” site) I simply cannot imagine a single business professional who would not benefit from a LinkedIn account, and here’s why:

Business benefits:

• Your profile acts as a perpetual online resume. You never know who needs you, for when and for how much!
• Reviews & Recommendations: As we’re well into the age of endorsement-based marketing, what better way to let your customers, clients, patients or prospective employers know that you know your shizzat than through having your colleagues and business partners give you a recommendation that’s attached to your profile? Powerful stuff.
• Introductions: No matter what your industry, there’s always someone whom you’d like or need to meet. Through LinkedIn, you can identify which of your Connections may be connected with the person you seek and request an introduction from that person. If you can’t see how this is useful, then I highly recommend a job in public sanitation.
• Groups: From marketing professionals to C-level execs to work-at-home moms, stay in touch with like-minded folks through a myriad of Groups. If you’re hosting a webinar, conference, get together or something of the sort, don’t miss a valuable opportunity to stay connected. If you’re a business, consider establishing a Group to bring together your contacts and build your marketing database.  For example, HubSpot (a company whose webinars and blogs I follow closely – also hosts of the upcoming Inbound Marketing Summit) has two groups – one on Facebook and one on LinkedIn.
• Built-in Email & Communications Platform: Need to have an offline, yet online, conversation? Most social media/social networking applications have email and messaging systems as a part of their features and LinkedIn is no exception. Whether you’re gauging interest of a candidate to join your company who currently works for a competitor or just want to dish about the details of a recent conference, the messaging capabilities are confidential and can, if you’d like, copy your email address on file.

Twitter

First of all, you’ve gotta see the cool “Twitter in Plain English” video, available on their home page by clicking the big red “watch a video” button.

Simply stated, Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that limits your entries to 140 characters. Messages are called “Tweets.” Whatever your whimsy, type it in! At first glance, it may seem unclear or useless to you, but I’m on Twitter at least 10 hours a day for both personal and professional reasons. Todd Defren of  SHIFT Communications published an interesting article Get Into Twitter or Get Out of Public Relations and Jeremiah Owyang recently wrote on FriendFeed & Twitter.  While the platform itself has it’s…ahem…ongoing technical issues, there are those of us not unlike Mike Volpe that are crack whores for the daily candy dished-out on this awesome site.

Personal benefits:

• Connect with new and random people – read snippets of lives far and near. What they find funny, love and hate. I enjoy whoelheartedly my communications with tech professionals in the Denver area and rock climbing attorneys in the Pacific Northwest…and I’ve never met them.
• Welcome to Short Attention-Span Theatre! Honestly, it’s why I love text messaging. I sometimes don’t have the tolerance for a full-blown and rambling conversation. Gimme the nuts & bolts and get the hell out of my face. I’m busy over here (but genuinely value what you have to say!).
• A pleasant diversion – Twitter can go mobile with you, and there are several applications out there from TwitterBerry and beyond.

Professional Benefits:

• People find YOU. Over time, you’ll accumulate a following of like-minded or complimentary professionals that want to hear what you have to say. For example, I post links to blogs about SEO, technology and social media that I find interesting. People who follow me know that I post content of substance and come to respect the fact I’m not going to waste their time with crap. So they follow me, and that in and of itself is a wonderful compliment.
• Who knows – your future employer may be lurking in the Twittersphere! Every day I read about firms that are hiring, people who know of firms hiring…and these aren’t idle Tweets. They’re ones sent out with contact info of who to call, the company name and all that good stuff.
• Be Your Own Brand - When you’re establishing virtual relationships like those on Twitter, you’re building a personal brand. The content you Tweet, reTweet (when you repost someone else’s Tweet) and the conversations you carry in 140 characters or less speak to who you are and, I think, how you value other people’s time. I know that when I see a Tweet from certain folks, it’s “funny stuff.” From others, it’s “holy shit, I need to read this now” stuff. Others get so annoying over time that I just unfollow. The old saying still stands: you only get one chance to make a first impression.

So, I hope the information above has been useful to the newbies in the social mediasphere. Perhaps the old hands have found an interesting tidbit or two as well. Social media and social networking are really nothing new, but their growing popularity has a lot of people asking “WTF is up with it?” The moral being, you can dish like a schoolgirl behind the bleachers and still keep it 100% professional, all with a little help from a few sites to get you started in your virtual, social world.

PS: Mom still reminds me about that damned phone line prank every year.  I get her back by voting Democrat.

This blog is dedicated to old friend, incredible woman and new Tweeter @cara19. Stop by her profile on Twitter and see what she has to say!

And at the risk of repeating myself, here’s a no-holds-barred explanation of social media. Funny, yet spot-on.

[slideshare id=496437&doc=whatthefissocialmedia070208-1215026815612657-8&w=425]

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