One of the cool things about my new Droid phone is the ability to blog using the “wp on the go” application. In fact, I’m doing it right now…

The layout is pretty basic. I’ve got a very simple WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, an area for tags and an area for categories. I can also add a picture, which I have. Not sure where in the post it will appear, though.

I like the idea that I can fire off a quick post whenever I want, but it feels more like a failsafe than a surefire solution.

Do you use a mobile blogging solution (besides Posterous)?

Hook, Line, Sinker (How I fell for a phishing scam) courtesy of ToastyKen

There is an inevitable pattern of migration in Social Media. I often tell people that we all “follow the kids.” I was 26 years old when I joined Friendster back in 2003, and I was still among the older people on the site. Then I heard about MySpace, and that space was primarily youth oriented. Until late 2006. Facebook was restircted to college students at the oldest. Then, inevitably, the site expands to include older people, until a point is reached where the youngsters seek out a new frontier. So if the first wave is young people and the second wave is everyone else, the third wave is inevitably Phishers and Spammers.

When I first went to Facebook, one of the main attractions it held over MySpace was the absence of comments  extolling the virtues of a $50 Macys Gift Card or a message saying “I can’t believe they took this picture of you”; while I would never click on those links, I know enough people would, enough to make it “profitable” for these people to keep at it. Now Facebook has spam wall posts and messages. While all of this is annoying enough, over the past few days, the line was crossed for me when I started seeing spam messages on Twitter. Turns out that several people have fallen for this scam, sent through Direct Message no less. While I’m not so naive as to think that anything online can remain “pure” forever, it’s disheartening to see a platform like this infiltrated – a platform that, while certainly very public, has a personal feel to it, and can create real and meaningful connections between people – whether for personal or business personal.

The paradigm of the Social Networking age says that it is better to form real relationships with the consumer than to fire buckshot aimlessly, hoping that someone will unwittingly click on a link you’ve sent. When we speak to groups, we always discuss how adept people have become at avoiding interruptive or “push” marketing. This is no different on the internet – we use spam filters and popup blockers, and get hijacked only when we’re tricked into giving away our username/password. So be careful who you give your information too – especially third party applications – a simple google search will usually give you some insight as to the validity of the app.

At the risk of sounding naive, maybe if we all get just a bit more cautious, we’ll be able to shut these phishers out.

Technology Then & Now Courtesy of Ilovebutter and Creativecommons.org

One of the benefits of being a Social Media Marketing Company is that the job is not geo-tagged to any specific location. So I get to travel and talk about stuff that I enjoy. Recently I was in Seattle speaking to a Group of Professionals in Seattle, and then traveled to Orlando where I spoke to a Management Training Seminar and attended the National Association of REALTORS meetings.

In all three venues Social Media marketing was a hot topic.  But as I spoke to individuals and companies that wanted to engage in the social media world I noticed that many of them had the same solution. Let the designated tech guy in the company handle the social media strategy. In fact in a couple of instances, as I was speaking to the marketing person or the owner of the company, they called the technology person over to engage in the conversation. Now don’t get me wrong, I love technology. If it has a plug or a battery, I probably own it or want to own it. I consider myself something of an entry level Geek- after all I own PC and Mac laptops – but I am not the kind of Uber-Geek that actually knows real deep stuff about programming in three different languages, and I would certainly never be hired by a major company to oversee their technology interests. And frankly, for the most part, these people were not the people that I would think should be in charge of a marketing program.

Though Social Media obviously uses technology to communicate, the technology should not be the focus of any new entrant to social networking. I think if you can read, and write a coherent business letter or compose a well written email, you have the skills you need to interact in the Web 2.0 world.  In fact, I have friends who believe that they are not great writers, but are accomplished Bloggers because they love to take photos, or use their flip videos, or their laptop cameras to post their thoughts and enhance their on-line identities and reputations.  The method of communication may be different today, but the focus should still be on the communication and not the technology.

In my experience Social Media is about generating content  and engaging others. When you twitter, know one knows how big your computer is, or cares how cool your phone is (though I can see what app you use to post – and I know if you have an IPhone- making me jealous) They care about what you say. When you post a photo from your phone it can have as much impact as a high quality photo taken by a professional quality camera, and your blogging platform (Blogger, Word-press, Type-pad, etc,) is not as important as what you say in your blog. Therefore the decision to implement a social media strategy or engage potential hires or clients through social networking or new media should be based upon your ability to create content and engage your potential audience, and the person to implement that is the person who you would choose to be your voice, or the voice of your company. 

So for companies who are investigating this new method of engaging with potential customers, think about communication, not technology. Consult with the person in your company who can articulate your company mission and goals the best. See how they would engage  – through the written word, photos, videos, or a combination of all three. Would they prefer to blog, twitter, or use podcasts to generate content? Don’t worry about their technological proficiency. After all, I bet you know more than a few good drivers  who can’t change (or even find) the oil filter in their car?

Go out an engage. Be genuine, Be consistent, and have fun. The results you want will follow.

Twitter Friend Image courtesy of Pong & Creativecommons.org

As the Internet reaches new levels of consumer interaction the number of new free web based applications grows steadily, providing us with functions beyond the software housed on our hard drives. Regardless of the type of user you are, there should be something interesting here for you to try.

Please check these out, and if you have an opportunity, come back and comment after you use them, or feel free to point us towards other sites that you use and enjoy. This post will focus on micro-blogging applications, though we’ll get a little more diverse in later posts on this topc.

Remember the Milk is a Twitter app that allows you to do exactly what it says, remember the milk, remember to stop at the store, or do any task in the future. It also allows you to map your task and to remind yourself in a variety of ways, through email, SMS, and instant messenger (AIM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Skype and Yahoo).

• It might be a subset for neat free apps here, but there are a number of ways to interact with RTM that deserve mention (the easier it is to keep track of tasks, the easier it is to complete them!)
  • Mac Users get a little love with Remember the Moof

Tadalist is a similar type of web based application (not a Twitter app)with a slightly different calendar based interface. While the program is very useful in its free state, the reminder function (which to me is a crucial function for any mobile user) requires an upgrade to premium membership which costs $3 per month.

TweetLater is another twitter application which allows you to schedule your “tweets” . While this can also serve as a reminder, Tweetlater also welcomes followers automatically (saving you from the faux pas of forgetting to type :@soandso Thanks for the Follow!”) and allows you to automatically follow those who follow you (if you are so inclined).

And what microblogging post would be complete if we didn’t take a minute to address the desktop clients that allow us to follow the conversation at will.

My first desktop program was Digsby, an application that allows you to follow you email, myspace, facebook and twitter in one application. I didn’t care for the itieration I was using because it gave me too much information. In all fariness, Digsby has been improved and also offers Linkedin integration.

My second program was Twhirl , a desktop app used by many of my friends. It was hard for me to know if the delays I saw in Twirhl were  a result of Twitter problems or Twhirl problem, but the single column of information was an easy way to review what people were talking about , and responding was also simple and easy.  In addition, I was able to start a number of twitter accounts at the same time, so that was a sort of neat feature.

Now I mostly use Tweetdeck – this program allows me to create groups, and displays response in different columns which allow me to keep replies separate from people I follow, and from 12secondstv clips, while showing another column indicating twitter trends. The number of columns can be changed, as can the order of the columns, allowing for a really user friendly experience. As with every other application we use from Internet Explorer to Firefox, you should play around with them and see which one facilitates the conversation for you .

Image by danperry.com via Flickr

Not everybody likes to write, and if that sounds like you, using a Vlog (Video log) rather then a Blog might be an easy way to put new content out on a regular basis without a great deal of difficulty.Or you might choose to pariticpate in the new media conversation through sites like Seesmic, Ustream, Oovoo, or 12secondstv, Though these are not specifically vlogs, they are posts with your profile attached helping you to share your thoughts with the blogiverse.

There are a couple of ways you can approach the problem of creating a Vlog. You can use a laptop with a built-in camera and microphone. Or, if you already have a computer that is not that well equipped, you can invest $50 to $80 in an add on camera/microphone combo that plugs into the USB port of your computer. Or, if you are willing to invest a little more,($150-$180) you can buy a Flip camera, which can record an hour of video and plugs right into that handy little USB port as well.

Whatever your choice, all you then need to do is to pick a topic, and looking directly at your camera, talk to the camera as if you were talking directly to a potential client. Be sincere, and be ready to discard a number of your efforts until you’re comfortable with your camera.

If you choose to buy a camera like the Flip, the world becomes your background. You can showcase neighborhoods, interview clients, video your listings, send clients information on repairs required, or show off your staff. The possibilities are endless. But if you are more comfortable in your office talking to the camera attached to your computer, then that’s still a great way to communicate to a large group of people in the same manner you communicate to reach of your customers or clients. And the videos need not be long. While certain sites allow for longer video uploads, there are others where a more “Twitter-ed” approach to Vlogging is taken – videos must adhere to a specific length, often giving enough time for little more than a single thought, opinion or piece of information.

Whatever the length or topic of your video, this powerful medium of communication is just another useful tool to consider when reaching out to your network.

reputation courtesy of russel davies and creativecommons.org

Warren Buffet said       “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” 

When we are young, we are often not aware of the unintended consequences of our actions. We’re immortal and invincible and that does not lead us to caution. As a result we are often unrestrained in the things we do and say. Before Social Media appeared, and the Internet was everyone’s scratch pad, it didn’t matter as much. A comment made in an off handed manner was limited to a small group of people and those others that they repeated it to. Today however, we all have access to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, FriendFeed, and thousands of other social sites where everything we write is memorialized forever, and is available to every potential date, mate, friend, employer, employee, partner and associate – and that is something that should give anyone pause, before they post a photo of themselves that they might later regret, or write something without considering what the impact of their creativity might be.

I’m not suggesting that people shouldn’t take positions or have opinions. In fact, I posted a great quote from a friend of mine about a week ago. It was a quote from her grandfather who said “If you’re afraid of being criticized,  say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing. “ However I do believe that a everyone needs to think about the message they project when they post something, and be prepared for the consequences when a prospective employer checks out their online identity.

Laurel Papworth, an Australian Social Media Strategist, notes in her chart on Reputation Management Cycles, that we start creating an Identity when we post our profile, which is broadened by our choices of avatars, friends, social networks, friends and applications,  but our reputation evolves from the actions we take in the network and the manner in which we take those actions. 

One of the most important things that we do at BuzzBuilderz when we help our clients create their online profiles is to be aware of what image they want to present in each venue. For example a good Facebook profile is warm and personal and shows the social side of the individual. The LinkedIn profile however should be more formal, and should help express the professional side of the client, while the 140 character profile that needs to be placed in multiple social networking sites, needs to be broad enough to attract professional attention while providing a sense of who you are. Evene your online nickname or avatar can be important to the identity you build. And if you build the base properly, as you can see from the link to Laurel’s well considered chart, your profile grows into an identity, which in turn creates a reputation, which then impacts the trust warranted by that reputation (good or bad).  

So taking a photo of that intimate tatoo that you just got, or bragging about how much you can drink, or the quantity of recreational drugs you took last weekend - and posting it to your myspace page might not be something you want to share with your next employer.  I’m just saying.

advertising saturation by Will Lion

Getting noticed has always been an issue for salespeople and businesses. We strive to create differentiation in our professions so that we can be the chosen provider of services or goods for our chosen demographic. As a Real Estate practitioner, I was viewed by the public as part of a monolithic industry, and my job was to explain why I was different than all of the other real estate agents at all of the other companies. As the owner of a real estate company, I had to establish the quality and variety of services offered by my firm as opposed to other firms, many of whom had substantially different business models.

Our dilemma is compunded by the number of advertising impressions received by the consumer every day. When I started in the real estate business in 1971, the consumer received around 560 advertising impressions everyday! Today the number has grown to 3,000 advertising impressions every day! How can anyone be heard above the din of so much “white noise”?

Typically we chose to network. We built our sphere if influence by attending local events, volunteering, meting new people and impressing them with our personality, skills and caring attitudes. There are even business organizations like LeTip that are focused on building the person to person referral base of a business through personal meetings and promotion, but in today’s world, that is both time consuming and somewhat limited (though like any program useful in its own way). Many people just don’t have the time to travel to the meetings, make their presentations, and live up to the time commitment such a group might demand.

And that is where Web 2.0 comes to the rescue. With Virtual Networking taking the place of physical networking through online meeting sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, people have the opportunity to reconnect with business associates they may have previously worked with and to meet new people through their association with their current contacts. In my case, I recently reconnected with a friend in Texas who was the manager of a large National firm in Philadelphia before he moved on to other community based work. Though we had an excellent business relationship, life sort of “got in the way” and we lost track of each other for a few years. Now he reached out online from his current business in Texas, and we are well on the way to re-establishing a new business relationship which I am sure will be mutually beneficial.

New potential clients benefit because the anonymous nature of the internet connection allows consumers to connect in a non-threatening way, and decide , after observation of different individuals online, who they wish to do business with. By using other sites to aggregate their activities online, and publish them in an interconnective manner, using programs like twitter and plurk, and mybloglog, the professional increases their reach, decreases their time, and expands their potential base of customers. In this manner the Web 2.0 user gets not only a much larger reach geographically, but a much more convenient manner of building and maintaining his or her network by differentiating their brand.