When I speak with start-up entrepreneurs and at business groups I am always amazed that so many intelligent business people hold onto the illusion that, “If I build it, they will come.”

Don’t get me wrong here… the occasional lead can be generated by an excellent tweet or someone’s random search on Google, but I think (deep down) most of us realise these are happy, but infrequent events.

And that’s why I don’t believe that online social networking is a new way of promoting your goods/services – it’s just the old way facilitated by new technology.

If you are unprepared to share your knowledge, help people out and put your own ideas “out there” then you’re just wasting your own time. Selling has always been about reassuring people that you are the best course for resolving some, or all, of their business challenges.

So here’s the Top 11 from my perspective:

1. Focus hard on “who” you want to network with and “why”.
2. Establish where these people gather and get in there.
3. Be prepared to talk on the phone and meet too.
4. But don’t be scared to work globally and virtually either.
5. Remember, a purchase order is not a piece of paper – it’s a transfer of trust.
6. Be ready with additional information when asked, e.g. PDF brochures, testimonials, case studies, etc.
7. Have a LinkedIn or Plaxo account (or both) and use them.
8. Honour your followers, friends and recipients, i.e. succinct, useful information.
9. Keep “fun” networking (i.e. friends) and “business” networking separate wherever possible.
10. Look for complementary contacts where you can help one another generate sales or improve mutual propositions.
11. Be consistent.

All sounds like basic common sense doesn’t it? But I continually shock myself at how bad I am at actually doing it.

Soo…9 days without Facebook. What have I been doing with myself? Mowing the lawn, taking long walks outside, working on projects for work and school; I’ve also been revisiting the various social networks and micro-networks I’ve joined over the last several years…and I’ve joined a coupla more. Presented here, for my benefit and yours, are the places I’m connected to online – and why I’m on a particular network. This doesn’t count email discussion groups I’m part of; I suppose that’d be a whole ‘nother post!

General/Meta

Twitter – @zoecarnate

FriendFeed – FriendFeed is awesome; let’s hope Facebook buying them doesn’t screw it up.

LinkedIn – my business, my biz-nass.

LibraryThing – my library, cataloged. A super-fun social network for book geeks.

Myspace – because sometimes I’m nostalgic for 2003.

Plaxo – does anyone remember what Plaxo is for?

YouTube – my vids, vids, vids.

Futurist

ShapingTomorrow – a large global community; primarily devoted to environmental scanning and trend analysis

The New Futurists – a younger crop of futurists, centered primarily in the northeast United States.

Faith

TransFORM – there’s more than meets the eye here.

Christiarchy! – Christian anarchists and Anabaptists (is there a difference?)

Christian Mysticism & Contemplative Spirituality – what it says. Contemplate that.

Missional Tribe – this one had a strong start but I think WordPress infrastructure, while great for blogs, isn’t great for supporting social networks.

Recovering Evangelical – hee-hee.

Metro Atlanta Emergent Cohort – my once and future cohort.

The Hyphenateds:

Anglimergent – I’m not Episcopalian, but I’m inspired by ‘em…especially St Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco.

Baptimergent – I’m not Baptist, but I used to be! And I’m inspired by New Community Church in Raleigh.

Cathlimergent – A brand new network started by my friend John Sylvest of ChristianNonduality

Emerging Leaders Network – aka Luthermergent. I’m not Lutheran, but…you see where this is going? Mad props to House For All in Denver.

The Common Root – formerly Submergent; an awesome group of Anabaptist-minded peeps.

QuakerQuaker – aka Convergent Friends.

House Church Homies

Simple Church

Organic Church Today

Healing Communities

Bleeding-Edge Creatives

Love Is Concrete – you can actually draw stuff in this network.

Wisefire – a great group of people.

iEvolve: Global Practice Community – Integral peeps.

Xobni, a very useful Microsoft Oulook plug-in (s msft) that we’ve covered with praise previously, has just released a new update that now reveals more information about your contacts, including acquiring valuable data from their Salesforce account. This has been a much-demanded feature that is available for all Xobni users for free at this time. Ultimately, there will be a small fee for this feature but the return on investment for those organizations that use Outlook and Salesforce will make the decision a no-brainer.

The other new feature that most people might have missed in a previous update (I know I did) is the ability to access each contact’s Twitter account information. This was also a very popular request from Xobni’s userbase who’ve previously been able to access their contacts’ Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. Adding Twitter and SalesForce connectivity to your address book makes a great deal of sense.

Here’s an example of what the Xobni panel displays next to your email message. Not only will you see the usual information such as phone numbers, email addresses and threaded email conversations, but now you can actually view that contact’s Twitter stream (once you connect the right Twitter account, based on the email address used). Notice how you can actually send a tweet right from Xobni as well as unfollow the contact and view their Twitter profile for even more information.

Personally, I love this hot trend of infusing intelligence into our otherwise under-utilized address books. Services such as Xobni, Gist and the one that started it all, Plaxo, are providing tremendous value by allowing us to get more from our contacts. It’s baffling to me that Google has not done much with contacts in Gmail. Things will become even more interesting when (not if) Google finally adds social networking power to its address book.

Do you use Xobni?

Credit: Kevin Dean (www.betaart.com)

So, I’ve got a Mac Mini at home, a Mac Mini at work and a MacBook Pro that I carry around with me for both. Oh, and an iPhone for personal use and a Nokia 5800 for work. I’m on Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn and MobileMe, and at work most colleagues have google calendars (as do I, for my work appointments) and use Yammer.

The question is “How do I sync all my contacts and appointments efficiently and effectively?“.

At the moment, everything’s screwed: my iPhone has duplicate (and even triplicate) contact entries; my work appointments are being duplicated on my laptop (but not anywhere else); the list goes on. (I won’t bore you with it.)

The reason for all the mess is this: I’ve made a stupid mistake.

I don’t have a consistent ‘master’ copy of the data – different machines are syncing in both directions and everything’s getting confused.

I’ve decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and start from scratch. So far:

• I’ve stopped all my syncs on all my machines; nothing is talking to anything anymore.
• I’ve stripped my laptop back and installed BusyCal (which is fab, BTW).
• I’ve logged into MobileMe and ‘refactored’ all my contacts (which basically meant deleting a lot of duplicates created by my sync setup and redundant crap that Daylight had created – sorry MarketCircle, but I gave up on it).
• I’ve forced my contacts down on to my laptop from MobileMe, and switched on syncing of these.

To do:

• Similar to above on my other computers
• Then iPhone
• Then turn on Plaxo syncing (but on which computer? Need to determine which will be the ‘master’ – the changes should then just trickle through MobileMe to the others).
• Then start thinking about the Calendars(!)

Watch this space.

Free Nielson Social Marketing Research Report

Nielsen conducted some interesting research on Social Marketing earlier this year. Below is an outline of the highlights and a  link to a free copy of the  full Nielsen Social Marketing Research Report

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf

Global Faces and Networked Places

A Nielsen report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint

Report Highlights

1. Putting the growth of social networks – popularity and engagement – into context
2. How the audience to social networks is changing
3. The challenges facing advertisers on social networks
4. What advertisers can do to find the magic formula for advertising in social networks
5. Factors contributing to the Facebook phenomenon
6. Why localisation has won the day in many countries
7. Where mobile social networking has taken the greatest hold
8. What ‘traditional’ publishers can do in the face of the social network phenomenon

Warren Raisch – Social Marketing Research Post: November 10, 2009

The folks at Ribbit Mobile are offering 100 invitations to WebWorkerDaily readers for the beta of their new communication service. Just sign up on the reservations page, and enter the invite code “wwd09″ in the appropriate box.

Ribbit Mobile has more features than Google Voice, and reminds me a bit of VoxOx, which I wrote about a few days ago. This service looks very promising, but, like VoxOx, it isn’t finished yet. I’ve been unable to test it fully, because it doesn’t yet support Sprint cellphones. I also can’t get my contact list to import, either from a CSV file or through Plaxo (the only options Ribbit Mobile supports). I hope to post a fuller review soon.

Try it out, and let us know how Ribbit Mobile works for you.

I have thought about what to write for this post for a few days now.  After lots of thought and careful attention to how to mince words together, I have finally formalized these few principles about the importance of business and social networking.

We all know that building a good network of friends, colleagues, clients, etc. is important in any field, but I am not sure many people know how to effectively network.  With emerging social networking websites such as Facebook and business networking sites like Linkedin, networking is becoming increasingly popular among business professionals as well as anyone from young adults to grandparents.

However, I believe these websites are just one part of the equation of effective networking.  Getting out and meeting people the old fashioned way is important as well.  Here is what you should do before getting out and meeting people at networking events, social gatherings, and in public spaces:

1. Have a business card (Even if you are not employed full-time, it can help you establish credibility with who you meet – Having your name, contact information, and current position is a MUST)
2. Be able to clearly state what it is you currently doing with your life and what you want to do next (What are some of goals and aspirations in a quick 20 second pitch?)
3. Have something to offer the people you meet besides just a business card (Maybe it is the ability to connect the person you meet with someone you know in their field)
4. Dress to impress (When in doubt, wear business-casual and know what this means)
5. Be confident in how you express yourself and carry yourself – Remember that around 90% of communication is non-verbal.

Today I received an email stating:

Try Plaxo Premium free for 30 days

Since I stopped my free membership in May 2009 I was wondering why they have sent me this offer. At the bottom of the page it stated:

You are receiving this e-mail as part of your Plaxo membership registered under the email address: hans.wolters.xxxxxx@gmail.tld Control which emails you get from Plaxo.

I have already sent an abuse to abuse and sales@. I wonder what their response will be.

Check out these great social media-themed pumpkins to get you ready for Halloween! (Thanks to Mashable for compiling this list!)

Twitter ‘fail whale’ Pumpkin:

WordPress pumpkin by Eric Martin:

Apple pumpkin: (and a vintage logo pumpkin for fun!)

RSS Pumpkin:

Firefox Pumpkin:

Plaxo Pumpkin (by Pete Curley):

Happy Halloween from Blue Media Boutique!!

Gmail. LinkedIn. Facebook. Your phone’s address book. Your contacts may live in many places online, yet there’s always the possibility one of these places will disappear or crash, taking your information with it for good. Or perhaps you simply decide to close your account with the network.

You should consider importing the contacts from these networks into your main address book app. We use these services to connect with people, update our statuses and play with whatever features they contain, but we don’t always remember that these resources have contacts that belong in our primary address book.

Another consideration is having a secondary resource for backing up your primary address book. With most services able to import and export files as a CSV or vCard file, it has turned into a fairly easy process. For the least tedious approach, try to find a secondary resource that you can keep in sync with your primary resource — for example, Plaxo can sync your address book with Mac OS X, Yahoo!, Google and several other apps. Otherwise, you’ll have to import and export your contacts on a regular basis.

After selecting the apps for your primary and secondary sources, here are the steps to take to make sure that you have all your contacts in primary resource and backing it up to the secondary resource.

1. Determine what kind of files your address books can import and export.
2. Export address books from your social networks into a comma-separated (.cvs) or vCard (.vcf) file based on Step 1. Remember where you save the files.
3. Import the addresses books from Step 2 into your primary resource. Repeat until you’ve put all of your contacts into your primary address resource.
4. Sync your primary and secondary resources. If they don’t have a sync wizard, go to Step 5. If they have a sync wizard, make sure you synchronize them on a scheduled basis if it’s not automated. You’re done.
5. Export the address book from your primary resource into a comma-separated (.cvs) or vCard (.vcf) file.
6. Import the primary resource file into your secondary address book as your backup. Repeat on a scheduled basis, unless you find a way to automate it.

You might want to consider a solution that can sync with your phone — if that’s not already your primary source. That’s what I like about Google Contacts and Calendar — they sync with my favorite PC app, I can access them anywhere and they also sync with my phone. Read our contact management and application articles for ideas and apps to consider.

How do you manage all of your contacts?

THEN own car was an aspiration and acquired after years of hard work. One had to book a car in advance and wait for 6 weeks for delivery from our trusty old Maruti.

NOW, no self respecting customer waits for cars and expects a immediate delivery. Options available today are from at least 10 different manufacturers.

THEN Communication was either Face to Face or over a Wired Line Telephone. Email was unheard of.Out side of office was out of work, one could switch off.

NOW Mobile phone calls are cheaper today then landline calls of 10 years back. You are always connected through email, social networking sites, and text messages. One is never disconnected and never switched off from work.

THEN Product information was sent out to customer as brochures !!!

NOW Customer reads about your products on your company’s website, reads reviews and consultant reports on their site. Reads about user experiences on blogs, social media etc.

Market place has changed and the approach to market also needs to change. Age old concept of sale was to be first of the block and aggressive approach to market and customers. Supplier was the king and demand always outstripped demand. Refer back to good old Maruti, customer did not choose the color or the delivery date; it was the Maruti Dealer who chose these for you. For my first car, I wanted a Marina Blue and was given n option to take a white or wait for an indefinite period of time (this was six weeks after 100% amount was paid to “book” the car).

With the changing times the function of Marketing has also had to go through a sea change. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” Please note the key here is “Customer Requirements”.

Historical approach of Marketing was Product Orientation. It was the job of Marketing to Inform through aggressive communication about the availability of a product, its benefits above competition and then remind about the product benefits. The classical 4 P’s of marketing Product, Price, Placement and Promotion were to the fore.

Modern times, information is available at the click of a button. Sources for information have changed from a company published brochures to online websites, review sites and analyst pages. All this is available to customer at the click of a button. Modern day customer is not worried about supply as supply side has outstripped the demand and is more concerned with applicability of “Solution” and his scenario. In terms of feature and functions sets there is very little choose between products from various companies. We could say that marketing has evolved from Product Based Marketing to Customer orientation.

Product                                                 Solution

Promotion                                          Information

Price                                                      Value

Placement                                           Access

This has lead to the evolution of Marketing to Demonstrating the capability and applicability of a solution, involving the customer in the evolution and empowering him/her to make the favorable decision. A whole new paradigm to marketing has been introduced via the online medium. Customers can reach out to the peer group for views and feedback faster and in a more convenient manner then say a decade back. There are various Social media networking groups which are being used by customers for their research. Things like Facebook, Twitter, Linked IN and Blogs have changed the buyer behavior.

Social media is the fastest growing category on the Internet. According to some studies

70%        Read Blogs

55%        Join social networking

45%        Social media is influencing buying behavior

26%        have changed their mind about purchase decision after reading Social Media.

Peer opinion is 3 times more effective then the advertisements or company. One positive word of mouth is more effective then 200 adverts. A positive reference leads to 5 more enquiries and a negative word gets to 100 walk away.

Companies are using and can use Social media for

Creating exposure

Building partnerships

Generating Leads

Reduce marketing expense

How does one go about using Social Media?

Have a strategy in place, with goals and objectives

Establish presence

Expand Reach

Properly maintain the presence

What Are Social Media Sites

Twitter

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

Twitter is ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide by Alexa’s web traffic analysis. Although estimates of the number of daily users vary because the company does not release the number of active accounts, a February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits. In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, Zimbio of 240 percent, followed by Facebook with an increase of 228 percent. However, only 40 percent of Twitter’s users are retained.

As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When you choose to follow another Twitter user, that user’s tweets appear in reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page. If you follow 20 people, you’ll see a mix of tweets scrolling down the page: breakfast-cereal updates, interesting new links, music recommendations, even musings on the future of education.

San Antonio-based market research firm Pear Analytics analyzed 2,000 tweets (originating from the US and in English) over a 2-week period and separated them into six categories.

• News
• Spam
• Self-promotion
• Pointless babble
• Conversational
• Pass-along value

.

The firm found that “pointless babble” was the largest category of Twitter content, making up 811 tweets or 40.55 percent of the total number of messages sampled.

Conversational messages accounted for 751 messages or 37.55 percent, tweets with “pass-along value” i.e. retweets – accounted for 174 messages or 8.70 percent, self-promotion by companies made up 117 tweets or 5.85 percent, spam was 75 tweets or 3.75 percent and tweets with news from mainstream media publications accounted for 72 tweets or 3.60 percent.

Social networking researcher Danah Boyd responded to the Pear Analytics survey by arguing that what the Pear researchers labeled “pointless babble” is better characterized as “peripheral awareness” or “social grooming.

Linked IN

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site mainly used for professional networking. As of October 2009^[update], it had more than 50 million registered users,  spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. LinkedIn has more than 50 million users worldwide, of which approximately half are in the United States. 11 million are from Europe. With 3 million users, India is the fastest-growing country as of 2009.

The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.

This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

• A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
• It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one’s contact network.
• Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.
• Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

Facebook

Facebook is a global social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. The website currently has more than 300 million active users worldwide.

A January 2009 Compete.com study has ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace.^]

Facebook has a number of features with which users may interact. They include the Wall, a space on every user’s profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see, Photos, where users can upload albums and phototos,  and Status, which allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions.  A user’s Wall is visible to anyone who is able to see that user’s profile, depending on privacy settings.

Over time, Facebook has added several new features to its website. On September 6, 2006, a News Feed was announced, which appears on every user’s homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays of the user’s friends.

Plaxo

Plaxo is an online address book and social networking service founded by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, Minh Nguyen and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring.

Plaxo provides automatic updating of contact information. Users and their contacts store their information on Plaxo’s servers. When this information is edited by the user, the changes appear in the address books of all those who listed the account changer in their own books. Once contacts are stored in the central location, it is possible to list connections between contacts and access the address book from anywhere.

A Plaxo plug-in supports major address books including Outlook/Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Mac OS X’s Address Book, though other ones can be supported through an application programming interface. Additionally, Plaxo can also be maintained through an online version.

Social Media Marketing- Do’s and Dont’s

Dos
1. Don’t sound like PR -Social media marketing is effective when it is an authentic, transparent dialogue and not a vehicle to push promotional messaging.
2. Listen and Respond – Listen to the unfiltered voices of customers and people who are engaged in conversations about your brand.
3.Plan and Strategize - Give social media the respect as a credible marketing strategy and develop a plan that includes goals, objective and  measures.
4.Resources –  Realize that resources will have to be dedicated including time, money and most significantly human capital. Social Media Marketing  cannot be a hobby.
5.Work within limits –  Do understand the benefits, as well as the limitations, of the tools or tactics such as blogs, social networks, Twitter, etc before creating your initiative.e.g. one Twit is 140 words.

Don’ts
1.  Not An Answer to All Ills – Don’t assume social media marketing will transform a poor quality product or service into a super brand.
2. Inclusive Engagement –  Don’t launch a social media marketing plan unless your organization  understands the risks, as well as, the rewards and has defined its social media direction because social media will change business dynamics.
3 .Internal Processes –  Don’t launch a social media strategy unless you have processes in place such as internal communication plans to field information to the appropriate departments for resolution.
4. Horses for Courses- Don’t place a person in charge to oversee the initiative who does not understand the impact of the culture of social media (honesty, transparency, authenticity) and has a spirit of generosity.
5. Objectives - Don’t start a social media marketing strategy unless you want your organization to be perceived as innovative, customer-centric and forward thinking.

Just a bit of fun for this instalment – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. (Sorry… is that Jackism or is it being Jackist?)

I have listed eleven possible SN characters this month based on animals. Please add more or feel free to amend the descriptions. I will not censor contributions (but will edit offensive language or inappropriate suggestions).

I’ll repost a consolidated list in November. And whoever my wife thinks has made the best contribution will get a FREE bottle of Champagne from us, anywhere in the world, so Americans don’t bottle out!

Do I have high hopes? Of course I do! Let’s make the list definitive, if it doesn’t achieve a Wiki entry I’ll be really disappointed. It’s up to us… Please distribute the link across your social networks.

1. Owls – good sources for advise and wisdom
2. Parrots – only pass on links or repeat what others say
3. Rabbits – only purpose is to offer sex online
4. Foxes – networkers with a hidden agenda
5. Vultures – prey on the vulnerable through scams and cons
6. Meercats – self-appointed police, report abuse & online dangers
7. Puppy Dogs – desperate for any kind of friends or online connections
8. Hyenas – only in it for the laugh
9. Gorillas – those who indulge in cyber-bullying
10. Elephants – individuals who remember where everything is online
11. Tigers – always up for a fight or debate

Please respond with your ideas through this blog so I can keep it all together. It would be a difficult to track everything through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, etc.

Thanks and have fun!

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about social networking? Many people will rhyme off the usual suspects: Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo and myYearbook. Umm, OK… myYearbook is a personal choice. However, ask anyone about social networking for business or networking and you’ll undoubtedly hear LinkedIn come to the forefront. LinkedIn has quickly become a standard business tool for busy professionals looking to connect with current, past and even future colleagues.

If you’re looking to build your professional network, share business information or even perform some high-level market research, LinkedIn is for you. Here’s a helpful video that takes a fun look at LinkedIn:

While LinkedIn may be the current leader for professional social networking, it is by no means the only option available. Sites like Xing, Ecademy, Spoke, Networking for Professionals and ProBook are all sites that provide similar services but with their own individual flair. 

There are a host of other professional networking sites that deserve credit… unfortunately, if we were to talk about all of them in this forum this post would probably deteriorate into a novel. 

Below is some information on some of the most popular professional  networking sites not named LinkedIn:

Ecademy

Plaxo

Enjoy!

A Focused Social Strategy

Building your own Social Network is important if you want to leverage the power of Social Marketing and understand the dynamics of Social Marketing. Depending on your age demographic this may be second nature to you or it may be something that you find yourself on the sidelines of scratching your head about, like when Reality TV became the rage.  

Select the appropriate Social Networks for your objectives. Define your strategy both personal and professional and then select the networks and groups that make the most sense for you. Remember even though many of us separate our personal and professional Social Networks they are easily accessable to both communities. So if you have a great personal brand building on Linkedin for example and you use your Facebook or Myspace account to talk about your party life then remember that potential and current employers can learn a lot about you and your life by looking at both sites. So always be aware that you are building your own personal brand with everything you do online.

Let’s start the baseline on what I have in place today with a review of where I am finding success. I’d love to have your input on what is working for you.  I am trying to use the latest platforms and tools that make it as easy as possible to publish content, start conversations and share with others.

The Basics

Selecting A Blog Platform 

I researched Blog platforms and selected WordPress because I liked the ease of use in publishing from both the Web and from my Mobile phone as well as the ability to syndicate my content. I also liked the Statistics they provided and the easy administration of multiple Blogs. I also like how you can integrate video into the Blog easily and share through RSS feeds.  In addition, I liked the price, it was free. As are other tools like Blogger and Xanga who offer free offerings. There may be other bells and whistles I am missing but for now it fits what I need.

For me the ease of use is important. I have a full-time career, a family, non-profits I support and I try to have time to pursue my passion of sailing so I did not have any free time. I did not want to have to learn a complicated technology in order to launch this adventure. So the ease of use got me started. My next major step was telling someone that I started…so now I feel accountable. 

My Active Social Networks

My Social Networks

I participate in a number of Social Networks. Below is a list of Social Networks that I am active in. I should note that this is not a part of any Social Marketing strategy yet. It just happens to be where I am active today. I am testing and formulating a strategy that I will share with you over the coming days.

My Current Active Social Networks:

• Linkedin and Linked in Groups ( Think Conversation Linkedin Group)
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter – wraisch account
• Plaxo
• Amazon Authors Network
• Ping.fm – Automation tool for sending out posts across all of my Social Networks
• WordPress – My Blog platform

I’ll provide a quick overview of how I am using each network over the coming days. Starting with my Linkedin activities outlined in earlier  post.

Warren Raisch Social Marketing Success Stories Post: October 13, 2009

Gain A Competitive Edge In Today’s Challenging Marketplace

Times running out, it’s the 4th quarter, are you sitting on the 50 yard line hoping for the ‘Hail Mary’ Miracle? It’s not too late for you to meet your 4th quarter goals, but you will need to be proactive to win!

Plan now to join Richard Martin, President of WCN Interactive and Internet Marketing Consultant, for the October ‘Brown Bag It’ marketing lunch series. This workshop will focus on tactical marketing methods that will help your business prosper and grow.

What are attendees saying? “I have attended each of WCN Interactive workshops since January 2009. Richard has done an exemplary job introducing social networking to the novice and current info to those with experience. I definitely recommend everyone attend.” — Patricia R.

Each participate will receive a ‘play book’ of 10 tactical moves that, if implemented, will help you win your Super Bowl!

Focusing on helping you make your goal…

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
11:45am – 1:15pm
Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Board Room
400 Fortenberry Rd.
Merritt Island, FL 32952

RSVP to Susie Pazos
321.459.2200
receptionist@cocoabeachchamber.com

Cost: $15.00 Chamber Partners, $20.00 Non-Chamber Partners

“While friendship itself has an air of eternity about it, seeming to transcend all natural limits, there is hardly any emotion so utterly at the mercy of time. We form friendships, and grow out of them. It might almost be said that we cannot retain the faculty of friendship unless we are continually making new friends.” Robert Hugh Benson

Friendship Highway - Tibet gorge

If you recall, we started this blog in Part I ~Redefining the Medium: Fleeting Fame, Fast Friends and Social Media Connections, where I touched on the not so delicate matter of the confidential, taped interviews of Michael Jackson. The Rabbi is entitled to his decision though I still wonder where, as compassionate humans, we ought to draw the line when we engage in the public dissemination of private conversations. If the notion of confidentiality in friendship is slowly losing its cachet, should it be surprising that private confidences are exposed for all to see on social network sites?

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” Henri Nouwen

The Social Media Conversation ~ A Landscape of competing voices

In addition to the constant dissemination of sapid news or trending topics, another critical element in this conversation is the ever-growing influence Social Media (SM) has on our definitions of friendship on social networking sites. SM provides social interaction via the use of social networking tools/sites that encourage and enhance the human need to be in constant communication with each other. Even when we are not physically present, we have the capacity to connect with our ever growing sphere of friends and family through an impressive range of social networking, online media channels.

The ease of connecting with celebs, media moguls and people from all works of life contributes to the huge success of the medium. From the comfort of your laptop, you can reach out and “touch” a ton of people. Businesses have cottoned on to this obvious marketing tool and are a growing presence on Twitter, Facebook and a host of other sites. Legacy bloggers and online experts have become international stars as the global reach of the internet allows greater access to their work; often via a blog link or direct connection on a networking site. This massive exposure has a catch; it attracts friends and foes alike and all have to contend with the fickle tendencies of their audience/readership.

“How does one keep from “growing old inside”? Surely only in community. The only way to make friends with time is to stay friends with people…. Taking community seriously not only gives us the companionship we need, it also relieves us of the notion that we are indispensable.” Robert McAfee Brown

Familiar Friendships build communities ~ Pablo Picasso 1908

The growth of online communities and virtual relationships adds another dimension to the traditional definition of friendship. Traditionally, we meet our friends, and occasionally, our acquaintances and enemies, in person. We celebrate milestones with our loved ones and closest friends. We develop many friendships that last a lifetime and the word -friend- carries much weight. While these friendships are also sustained through social engagements, emails, phone calls, letters and visits, a key benefit is the face time spent together; face time in real time, real life, real world settings.

In our virtual communities the word – friend – is used loosely. Befriending others is definitely imperative to enlarging our sphere of influence in the Virtualverse©, however, virtual friends can remain incognito, be traded for burgers, become viral/spammy, be ignored, unfollowed or invited to attend/join a dizzying number of virtual clubs/groups/parties. The standard rules of friendship don’t always apply in these arenas and that is what triggers the sense of urgency to find more/new friends. Friendly engagement is encouraged at initial contact until the euphoria wears off, the next great connection shows up, or the social connectors simply move on. Buzzing around like bees in search of nectar, we miss the chance to get to know each other beyond our catchy user names and superficial introductions.

“True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value.” Ben Jonson

Spectrum of Online Relationships via David Carr

Besides Facebook and Twitter, two top sites that have become dominant, heirs apparent to the social networking universe, MySpace, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Flickr, YouTube, Match.com, eHarmony and a slew of other online networking sites also contribute to the concept of building digital identities and friendships; they collect our data and announce us to others with similar goals or interests. Each site markets itself as a distinct, social network community replete with its own unique culture and rules of engagement. Of course, there is some cross-pollination as these sites battle to offer more and more features, benefits and values to their growing, global subscribers.

David Carr’s Spectrum of online relationships illustrates the genesis of an online contact and its ultimate destination; a place where if all goes well, we invest, collaborate and share wins. The dynamics that play into online social encounters are, to an extent, similar to offline social exchanges. There is the equivalent of flirtation, then courtship, a marriage of mutual interests, piqued or waning interest, followed by a collaborative or disaffected friendship connection. The difference is that online, the progression from initiate to fast friendship is immediate; even while the new “friend” on either side remains unknown.

“A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?” Kahlil Gibran

Foundation: The Friendship Tree is conjoined and deeply rooted...

Nevertheless, the fast pace of our social network interactions has contributed to the challenge of finding time to connect with new and old friends beyond the initial hello. Facebook and Twitter use the word “friend” when encouraging us to build our connections whether through Friend Finder on Facebook or the myriads ways we build conscious or unconscious friendships on Twitter. Naturally, the primary intention behind most of our “friending” on SM sites is about having a virtual interactive experience, however, some people do take the word literally. True friendships grow and, like a mature tree, produce deep roots to solidify the depth of the friendship. Forced or fast friendships don’t; unless each side makes a concerted effort to become invested in its growth.

LinkedIn and Plaxo offer “friend” as a selected option when connecting with or inviting other people to become a business contact. This option is probably chosen by people when a link/connection does not fit under one of the obvious work-related categories. For instance, a Twitter or Facebook friend will also be a LinkedIn friend unless they belong to one of your groups or have a business connection with you and your resume in the real world. Ironically, you can be triple connected on multiple sites and still know only snippets of information about your connections. quite remarkable isn’t it?

“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.” E. B. White (Charlotte in “Charlotte’s Web”)

The Social Media Jungle ... A real escape from virtual reality...

Inevitably, as media attention swirling around Facebook and Twitter has grown, more celebrities and big businesses have jumped on the bandwagon. Ashton Kutcher became the first Tweep to gain a million followers. Oprah soon followed. Actors, singers, writers (J.K.Rowling joined recently), athletes and other entertaining folk from a wide spectrum of fields have since joined the fray; some of them pay attention to their random tweets and quickly get their fawning, following millions. New rules have had to be implemented for the community and especially for those intent on abusing it. Virtual fame and friends still come fast and furious as applications from Tweetdeck to Twittorati keep us all on our toes.

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” Alice Walker

15 Minutes of Fame: Everyone will have theirs in this lifetime ~ Andy Warhol

To keep up with its version of close encounters of the expanding friendship network, Facebook has also implemented new rules to accommodate the growing noise and cancel out some of the anonymity that encourages virtual abuse. Aside from owning our names on FB, we have more customizable control over what we and our “friends” can see and read. You can now choose to use Facebook Connect via your FB page for both business and social connections and keep the connections separate. You simply customize your friendly connections into controlled categories; ending up with self-created levels or degrees of friendships with ranging access. Businesses, industry experts, the famous, and wannabees can all have fan pages dedicated to their products, craft or causes.

LinkedIn, which is all about business connections, continues to steer its membership into maintaining a business orientation by advocating group memberships, strict rules around sending invites and professional mode photos. It recently laid down the law by removing, without warning, profile photo images considered in violation of the LinkedIn Photo Policy because they were “not an accurate representation of you.” Images that were not representative of the human or company brand behind it were unceremoniously cast aside. Social friendships might be developed through the groups you join, but that doesn’t seem to be the modus operandi of LinkedIn.

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.” Rachel Naomi Remen

Social Media: What do we think?

In addition to redefinitions of friendships, another interesting cultural shift that has occurred within these virtual communities is that the Virtualverse, which might have once prided itself on being an egalitarian construct, is increasingly less so. The virtual world is becoming more of a microcosm of the social, real world we actually inhabit; with procedures, power players and plebs – shades of j. doe and everyone else. There is also the not so current but growing trend towards monetizing our social networking connections which has brought some new players, big and small businesses, spammers and faster friends on the scene. I wonder how these players interact and if they truly listen to the needs of the community. The word, in some circles, is that we all stand to benefit from this mass monetization campaign. Do we? How?

My main concern is that the spontaneous creativity and excitement that welcomed a new generation of socialized technology might get circumvented by the rush to cash in/out. We need to listen to the reactions in our larger communities and track the way newer types of monetized, exclusive communities are evolving. As we try to build a sense of real community within our virtual communities, how will this drive to monetize them impact us? While this could be a good thing, I don’t have all the answers. Do you?

As we struggle to make meaning of our social networks and their influence on fame, friendships, business and media connections, we must revisit the original impulse that triggered the birth of virtual communities. The original idea of building online, social communities for people to congregate and communicate must remain fundamental to the survival of our social network sites. If not, something new will have to replace it or we will all have to go back to the proverbial drawing board. What do you think the future holds for SM sites? What’s next and when? Share your food for thought.

Photo Credits:
Friendship Highway, Tibet Gorge ~ Marty L. Lutz
The Social Media Conversation via Brian S and Jesse ~ Google Images
Friendship by Pablo Picasso 1908 via Olga’s Gallery
Spectrum of Online Relationships via David Carr
The Friendship Tree by Ian Marke 2006©
The Social Media Jungle ~ Google Images
15 Minutes of Fame ~ Google Images
Social Media: What we think ~ Google Images

Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank

TripIt, which aggregates people’s travel arrangements from various web sites into one web itinerary, is rolling out a referral program today that lets developers who build apps on top of its API receive a 10-20 percent cut of the sales from its TripIt Pro premium subscription service. The San Francisco-based startup released TripIt Pro, which offers customers real-time flight information for $69 a year, in June.

More than 250 developers are using TripIt’s API to build web and mobile apps, according to founder and President Gregg Brockway. Though the company offers a free iPhone (s appl) application, its API is also used by developers on other mobile platforms and travel applications, and by online address book and social network service Plaxo. TripIt also developed an application for LinkedIn last year.

Separately, TripIt is partnering with travel web site Hotwire, which Brockway co-founded before leaving some five years ago. The deal will let Hotwire users send all their travel information to TripIt, which will then create a free web travel itinerary for them.

The startup pulled in $5.1 million in Series B funding last spring from Sabre Holdings, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and European Founders Fund, bringing the total amount raised to $6.1 million.

- What is a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistants (VAs) are independent entrepreneurs providing professional administrative, creative, managerial, technical, business office and/or personal support services. VAs use the most advanced means of communication, and the newest and most efficient and time saving office products and work delivery, regardless of geographic boundaries. Virtual Real Estate Assistants work from their own offices, on a contractual basis, and abide by an established Code of Ethics requiring integrity, honesty and due diligence.

- How can a Virtual Assistant help me and my Business?
Virtual Assistants may not be physically in your office but they are online doing the tasks given to them by you. They co-ordinate with you every step of the way. Regular Brick-and-Mortar employees are paid and judged on their work for being present in your office. Our VAs are paid and judged on their work produced in the end of the day. Each hour is tracked, making them proficient.

- I need a Real Estate Assistant, how can someone so far away know anything about my locality?
You would be surprised to know how many VAs are working with Real Estate Professionals in the U.S. (Maybe that has been their competitive edge). Our VAs learn basic things about your local area during orientation. They have a database of properties open in front of them while receiving or making calls. Quick Copying and Pasting can bring approximate distances and even driving directions in Googlemaps from Point A to Point B in seconds.

- I don’t have time to sit down and type every instruction for the VA. How do we communicate?
Our VAs will call you to get these instructions. You can also make PC-PC free calls and delegate tasks as well. If you are always on the road, just call the VA and ask her/him to call you in your cell phone, since the VAs have unlimited calls to anywhere in the U.S., they can call you for free.

- How can FilSupport Virtual Assistants help my Real Estate Business?

This one is a long list.

1. 80% of all home searches start with the Internet. Imagine how much exposure your properties get from spending 2-3 hours every day just dedicated to posting classifieds. We recommend you assign a different phone number to these ads being posted by your VA. After a month check your database and see how many customers inquired about your properties using the number posted by the VA. It may astound you as to what you may be missing out on so far.
2. The VA can also be like your very own Call-Center Rep. , they can make outbound calls both Warm and Cold. They can receive Incoming calls and give information to potential customers. In comparison with big call centers where Call Center Reps work with too many accounts, they cannot give you the same attention and detail as your own person can do for you.
3. Some of Our VAs assist in making Broker Price Opinions and understand how to use the MLS, update your website of recent listings and Download-edit- Upload pictures of properties onto your website.
4. They can call landowners from sites like Craigslist and get them to list with you.
5. You’re a busy person; can you really prioritize your social network sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace and Facebook? With consistency and continued updates on these sites, they can penetrate a whole new market for you.

6. At FilSupport, we make sure that every VA is Up-To-Date with their knowledge of the internet and how to use tools to make work accurate and fast. We have been working with Real Estate Professionals for 4 years now and we know the where, how, what, when and who to find on the internet.

Redefining the Medium: Fleeting Fame, Fast Friends and Shifting Social Media Connections Part I.

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Korean Bell of Friendship

Friendship: the quality or state of being friendly, attached to another by affection or esteem: favored companion. Webster
Fame: the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed. Webster
Social Media: Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies/tools to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). Wikipedia

“Every expression of desired friendship has potential bite. Every smile reveals the teeth.” Dean Koontz

Friendship Highway - Tibet gorge

Recently, I watched Rabbi Schmuley Boteach speak about his tapes/new book during an NBC Today show interview. The explanation for why he wrote the book, based on 30 hours of taped confidential interviews with Michael Jackson, gave me pause. I paused because I wondered how the dead would truly react if they could respond to the actions of those who choose to speak on their behalf; sometimes in the name of friendship.

No matter how objective one wishes to be on matters of public interest, there comes a time when one must stop and wonder about the fleeting nature of fame and friendships. Of course, in Michael Jackson’s case, one wonders: Is this the action of a true friend? At what point do we cross the line of offering meaningful support to taking advantage in a relationship? Should all relationships be considered sacrosanct? In our contemporary, fast moving world of instant gratification, what is the new definition of friendship? Should the deceased be spared or, in the battle for media attention, is everything and everyone game?

“Silence is the true friend that never betrays.” Confucius

Friendship, Love and Truth

This is far from shocking especially when we consider that we live in a world where many of us clamor for our Andy Warhol coined phrase of 15-minutes-of-fame; while, needless to say, some of us focus on the extended version. Ironically, in the scramble for fast and fleeting fame, we have allowed our friendships to disintegrate; we know reality TV characters better than we know ourselves. We bond endlessly with people we have never met; and hopefully with some we plan to meet. Our TV friends meet us everywhere; online, offline and in hard copy. How does this serve our growth as social beings?

“What is a friend? – A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle

Friendly Cubs

We have inherited a world where as the interviewer on a rather interesting episode of CBS’ 60 minutes suggested, CMG Worldwide is the CAA for “Delebrities” – the Dead On Arrival. For the famous, death can bring a new crop of fans and friends. For the living, Einstein is the biggest Deleb and according to a Wiki report, 85,000 claim to make a living as professional Elvis Impersonators. Yes, one can appreciate the need to give proper acknowledgment to the deceased and we must honor them, but what about the living? Aside from the financial benefits to heirs and handlers, what are the implications of this notion of perpetual, eternal fan friendships?

Looking back at the Michael Jackson Tapes revelation, what was equally telling was how different media outlets chose to present this discomfiting revelation of MJ’s private chats. It was viewed through different lenses; some clear, some tinted and others fogged over. An underlying question ought to be, do we need to know more? Granted, this is news, however, do we linger long enough to contemplate how massive doses of data flung at our heads are sifted? Do we still exercise logic and the process of evaluation? Do we need to be privy to every incestuous relationship? Even in the name of fame, fanship or friendship? I think most of us let the data fly by and then revisit it when we have quiet moments.

“I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you — Nobody — too?
Then there’s a pair of us? Don’t tell! They’d advertise — you know!” Emily Dickinson

Two Elephant Trunks meet in Friendship

With the tremendous exposure to instant sound bites on what celebrities, close and distant friends/family, and even acquaintances do, it is no wonder that media saturation and information overload have blurred the lines between what we once considered public fodder and private discourse. With the click of a mouse, we have immediate access to information that can educate, titillate and truly aggravate us. We are not always better informed by the excess. Sometimes, it is simply, just damn overwhelming. Whether you are famous, infamous or irrelevant (though no one should be considered such), the internet has become home to all our fibs and foibles. Hence, it is not surprising that our definitions of friendship are distorted.

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” Anais Nin

HitLab Augmented Reality

Since many of us today are increasingly busy with our social networking communications, we have little time left for actual real life interactions. We have access to sophisticated toys, a growing array of new technologies and social network sites that have augmented and amplified our relationships and sense of reality. Some of these new technologies, like Augmented Reality (AR), a term coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, can and do offer compelling opportunities in the medical, gaming and learning environments. AR conferences draw industry gurus and brilliant researchers who are pushing the boundaries of invented reality; albeit an augmented one.

AR, in real-time, merges virtual 3D objects into real world video sources and creates a mixed reality. For instance, AR creates virtual characters that can step out of the page of a story book or a video screen as if real. There is research work on using AR technology to create virtual celebrities. This brings to mind the realization that, potentially, every child’s imaginary friend can be brought to life to interact and engage the child in some version of 3D wonderment. Yes, medical and learning environments will be enriched. All well and good … however, I can’t help but ask how this will affect our sense of wonderment and our use of pure imagination? I hope for the better…
More Later. TBC…

Photo Credits: Korean Bell ~ Google Images
Friendship Highway, Tibet Gorge ~ Marty L. Lutz
Friendship, Love and Truth ~ Google Images
Friendship ~ Icanhascheeseburger.com
Two Elephants in Friendship ~ Google images

Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank

Times in London in September 2009 are interesting.  Some businesses are moving ahead, others are having more parlous times.  The CBI reports the recession is easing, but anecdotally I hear various sectors especially in training, design & print are quiet.

Realising this, my main purpose in life is to make sure that whatever we provide to our customers, works.  That is, telephones ring from new enquirers.  Email addresses and contact us forms produce new and genuinely interested prospects.

Few can have not heard about the Social Media Marketing buzz that swept London last week.  In the well attended Business Scene event last Tuesday Nick Tadd spoke about the end of the marketing department and the rise of the findability experts.

And in the packed eCademy meeting last Thursday Penny Power impressively and passionately described a social world of facebook, twitter, and blogging (especially eCademy blogging) where business happens, and will increasingly so.

Marketing agencies are not so sure, and a number of ’show me the money’ questions are appearing.  A safe starting convention is nothing stays free on the internet for long.  Clearly my view is some people are doing very well with Social Media Marketing.  My observation is also that some people have worked very hard to promote their businesses through social media with little result.

As an agency who focuses on making phones ring, upping sales enquiries and multiplying e-commerce sales, we own the responsibility of carefully selecting and costing the right marketing channels that will let our clients customers find them, and be genuinely in a frame of mind to purchase.    We also need to be at the forefront of sales generating marketing technology, and embrace exciting developments that genuinely help win enquiries and sales.

However, whilst I have my own opinion, I am going to ask for yours.  Between now and the end of November, I’m running an online survey aimed at London’s businesses already running Social Media Marketing campaigns or actively considering them.  How well or otherwise is social media working for your business.  Get your views across, here’s the link:

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?94B0DCC092D2C4CE

Pre-release results will be circulated exclusively to everyone completing the survey and leaving their email addresses at the end of November, and the surveys will be published in early January.  Email addresses will be deleted and not used for any other purpose.

By then we will all know how effective or otherwise Social Media Marketing can help our businesses.

Link again:

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?94B0DCC092D2C4CE

Make your views known and we’ll share and bank the knowledge.

Chris Clark

_______________________

Chris Clark is MD of Clark Marketing, a digital marketing company focussing on keeping clients’ shops full, getting the Hillingdon Mayor to see one of our success stories for herself, turning £5-figure e-commerce site sales to £6 figure, and more.  Chris has just completed his diploma in interactive and direct marketing for the IDM at Kings College, London, and was the oldest one on the course!

Dupa ce mi-am exprimat dezamagirea ca-s prea putin utilizatori ai Plaxo cand ReFresh ne-a intrebat ce retele sociale folosim, am zis sa si explic de ce imi place mie.

Am descoperit foarte de curand Plaxo si mi s-a parut o platforma foarte faina pentru networking si mentinut legatura cu amicii mei. Nu trebuie sa ma re-imprietenesc cu oamenii cu care sunt deja prietena pe Facebook pentru ca Plaxo si Facebook si-au facut ochi dulci si au inceput sa se pupe acum vreo 5 luni. Atunci Plaxo anunta ca nu va trebui sa-ti cauti prietenii de pe Facebook in mod individual si sa dai click-uri pana te ia cu ameteala, Plaxo o sa ii gaseasca si  o sa-i puna in reteaua ta. Echipa Plaxo spune ca avem nevoie de retele sociale cu adevarat interoperabile, cu date portabile unde utilizatorii detin controlul. Facebook e pe drumul asta de cand a lansat Facebook Connect.

Imi place la nebunie ca pot sa-mi fac update-uri pe Facebook si ele apar si pe Twitter si pe Plaxo. Datorita prieteniei dintre Plaxo si Facebook – ceea ce postez intr-un loc apare si in celalalt. Cand am batai de cap cu o campanie – nu trebuie sa fiu online pe toate cele trei site-uri – postez pe Plaxo si continutul mesajelor mele apar si pe Facebook – si de acolo si pe Twitter. Imi ia mai putin timp, nu ma mai incurc in parole, lucrurile sunt simple.

Plaxo e bun pentru oamenii care vor sa-si mareasca reteaua profesionala, sa-si intareasca brandul personal, sa descopere oameni noi, sa gasesca joburi mai bune sau sa gaseasca oameni pe care sa-i angajeze. La capitolul cariera trebuie sa mentionez Company Navigator, care iti permite sa vezi cat de usor/greu ajungi in diferite companii. De exemplu, din reteaua mea am acces la zeci de companii, din reteaua mea extinsa (care include si prietenii prietenilor mei), am acces la sute de companii.

Sa fie clar, Plaxo nu e foarte folosit printre romani, nici macar la jumatate din cat e folosit LinkedIn dar e cea mai buna retea pentru rezolvatul de probleme – ai adresa de contact si-un numar de telefon in profil si mai toata lumea provine din medii unde nu-ti permiti sa faci spam sau sa vezi cati prieteni poti sa strangi in 12 ore.

Todos os dias vejo um novo artigo/post nos portais, sites e blogs pela web sobre como os selecionadores/recrutadores vem utilizando-se das ferramentas da internet para encontrar candidatos e para vasculhar a vida social e profissional destes. Pois bem, neste post irei lembrar vocês candidatos: A recíproca é verdadeira. Sabemos que as empresas usam e abusam da internet para conhecer os candidatos, mas por quê não usamos a mesma técnica a nosso favor? Devemos fazer a lição de casa.

Na verdade muitos já fazem, ao ser convidado para uma entrevista de emprego os candidatos tem usado cada vez mais as redes sociais para pesquisar sobre as empresas e também sobre os selecionadores. Entram no perfil do recrutador, sites como Linkedin, Plaxo, Orkut e Twitter são os preferidos. Fazem buscas no Google com o nome completo do selecionador obtendo o máximo de informações. Criam um verdadeiro mapa sobre os interesses da empresa e do profissional responsável pela contratação.

Talvez você ainda não faça isso, mas eu faço. A primeira coisa que faço antes de uma entrevista é a tal lição de casa. Pesquiso a maior quantidade possível de informações que me sejam úteis no momento da entrevista. Isso me dá uma grande vantagem, pois conhecendo os interesses, crenças e valores do selecionador fica então muito mais fácil ganhar a simpatia deste.

Portanto, sempre dê uma boa conferida no site da empresa para qual fará entrevista, estude a história, a filosofia, a cultura, a crença, a missão, a visão e os valores da compania. Busque no Google/Bing/Yahoo e nas rede sociais informações sobre os selecionadores. Leia com atenção seus perfis, perceba seus interesses, em quais comunidades participa, se participa de fóruns especializados e se é ligado a família. Procure por pontos afins, durante a entrevista use com sabedoria as informações e com toda certeza terá vantagem frente a um cadidato despreparado.

Alguns dirão, mas que post água com açúcar este seu Darcio. Ok. Sim, este  é com certeza um post água com açúcar, mas pergunto: – Você tem feito a lição de casa antes das entrevistas?

Prepare-se. Faça a Lição de Casa!

Amplexos, c ya!

As my frequent readers know, I’m a strong believer in the emergence of a Social Web characterized by openness and interoperability, and powered by a virtuous cycle of social discovery. The cycle starts when a visitor to a media site shares content out to one or more their social networks, enabling their friends to discover it, click over to the source site to consume it, and from there to share it (or another piece of content) out to their social networks – starting the next loop of the virtuous cycle.

Enabling that cycle under the hood, will be a common “Open Stack” of technologies (like OpenID, OAuth, Portable Contacts, Activity Streams), which will dramatically lower the cost of integration – a critical requirement to scale from a few distribution partnerships to leveraging discovery across the whole of the Social Web. And I believe that such a virtuous cycle will play an essential role in enabling the newspaper industry to evolve from its print past to its online future, with a viable long-term business model that is native to the Social Web.

That’s why I’m so excited by what was rolled out today by Plaxo, long a champion of the shift from walled gardens to the open Social Web, together with TimesPeople, the forward-leaning social news arm of The New York Times, which has led the way on opening up the industry via its revolutionary combination of free access to content and open APIs.

In recent months, the two have been working together to simplify the task of sharing to one or more social networks. Today, they introduced the first fruit of that collaboration, a TimesPeople “feed” for the Plaxo network, which allows one-click sharing from NYTimes.com over to the Plaxo network. The feature was implemented via the TimesPeople APIs, without the NYTimes.com having to integrate a single line of Plaxo-specific code or even to add a Plaxo logo or link anywhere on the site. (As a result, any other social network or content aggregator could easily replicate the feature.)

TimesPeople members who have hooked up the feed can share a news story with a single click on the “recommend” button next to the article. That’s it. In the background, without any further effort, Plaxo picks up and delivers a content bundle that includes the story’s headline, a snippet of copy, a thumbnail image, and link to the full story.

Other social networks can take advantage of the same API, as well, paving the way for a model in which one click by a reader can promote a story to all of the aggregation services that user shares on.

This stands in stark contrast to the status quo on most media sites. All too often, sharing a piece of content means choosing from a bewildering array of branded links, or a popup UI splattered with dozens of colorful, little Web 2.0 logo icons. Or more recently, it might mean a deeper one-off integration with a single partner. Either way, the media site ends up having to decorate itself with one or more logos – and faces the hard choice of how many and which ones to present to their audience as choices.

And this “Nascar effect” makes it highly unlikely that a user will make the effort to share content out to more than one of the social networks they use.

Hats off to Derek Gottfrid of TimesPeople and Joseph Smarr of Plaxo, for this great example of Social Web interoperability!

[Reminder/disclosure: Plaxo is my employer (but I try my best to write about it here objectively and only when it is relevant to opening up the Social Web).]

Update: There’s also now a post on NYT’s “Open” blog, Plaxo: The Pulse of TimesPeople. Nice!