Social Media

Recent changes announced by Facebook highlight an important risk in Social Media: there is very little privacy, and there will be even less in the future. Facebook has long coveted connecting outward to the rest of the internet, and with their recently announced “Open Graph” initiative, they are providing the hooks and programming interfaces to [...]

Have you ever been in a business meeting where some people are focusing intently… on their BlackBerry’s? Or have you been on an airplane, where most people are listening carefully… to their iPods? Or perhaps with your family at the dinner table, with several people texting, checking Facebook, or doing something else with their network? [...]

Have you ever been completely “ticked” by something you read? When this happens, you often feel defensive: How can they say that? It doesn’t apply to me! At other times, your reaction is more aggressive: you lash out in anger. You malign the sender. Or worse. If yesterday’s email world was risky, today’s social media [...]

Every day, there are more Social Media venues that demand your attention. Every day, there are more people that you need to connect with and respond to. Yet every day, there are only 24 available hours. Time is finite, but what you “need” to do each day seems to grow, and grow, and grow. What [...]

Much has been said about Twitter, but how can you use it when you’re trying to sell yourself into your next role? It may be easier than you think; consider these four strategies: 1) Networking: Reach out to your “followers” on Twitter to let them know that you are currently looking for a new role.  [...]

There is an important hierarchy in the real world when we think of our relationships with others. At one end of the spectrum are those nameless individuals we see on the street, while at the other end are those closest to us – usually our immediate family. And in between, there are many more: (People [...]

The number of ways you can use Social Networks seems boundless: connecting to former colleagues and old friends, sharing up-to-the-minute news, creating a community of common interest, marketing, sales, recruiting, investor relations, and so on. At the same time, there is the downside: endless time wasted, brand risk, and identity theft. With so much emphasis [...]

How do you know if your idea is really popular? Asking around is one way. Doing a survey is another. But how about the popularity of your idea on a world-wide scale? While this might be a bit of a challenge, if you can boil it down to a few keywords, there is a way, [...]

“You only have one chance to make a good first impression.” This is the siren song of personal branding, and is what causes millions of people to think carefully about what they wear each day. Too bad though, that in today’s too-fast social media world, the first impression does not come from your clothing, but [...]

How powerful is your network? Or rather, how do you make your network even more powerful than it already is? Try these four strategies: 1) Go Wide: Get more people onto your network list. This is often done at networking events. 2) Go for Quality: Get “better”, more relevant people onto your list. This is [...]

When someone sends a nastygram directly to you via email, it’s easy to deal with them directly: there’s just one person. But in the Social Media world, that nastygram gets broadcast everywhere. And when others start repeating, retweeting, and adding to the message, the problem escalates further. Many organizations – and many individuals – have [...]

Do you have a nagging concern that all of the time you spend on Social Media is not giving you a good return on your time investment? If so, you’re probably right, and you’re not alone. Too many people (and businesses) waste time doing activities that yield very little, often for the sole reason that [...]

With so many Social Media sites out there, where should you spend your time? In the “olden days” of just a few short years ago, it was fairly simple: For business, spend time on LinkedIn. For personal, use Facebook (or in the “real” olden days, use MySpace). If you have videos, then go to YouTube. [...]

Beyond the embarrassing photos, new found friends, professional connections, and social gaming, there lurks a conflict – and conflict of interest – that most people know nothing about. On the one hand there are Social Media venues (including Google) all of whom have a business model that provides free consumer functionality in exchange for user-generated [...]