a Global Bridge

If you've been following along, you'll know I love posterous, but the blogging limitations have forced me to try blog-if-you-dare WordPress... Also, the name of my blog no longer resembles what I've been doing online... So please check out my new blog http://140chitchat.com and let me know what you think.  Many of these posts will be rolled over there, not easy since there's no export to WP feature... But the name is more pertinent, I hope you'll find the layout will be easier to navigate, and again - I'm looking for guest blog authors all the time - so recommendations are welcome!  This blog will still host my personal thoughts, opinions, etc on Social Media.  But the Day's News will be found on the new blog.

Check it out -you all have been wonderful for waiting patiently and visiting me on this blog daily!!

Hey, hey gang!  Miss me?  I'm working on rolling out a new blog that will have an easier to navigate format!  Hooray!  But I'm stil on the hunt for passionate guest blog writers... Know anyone?

In the meantime, here's part one in the latest on Social Media today:

Twitter's up.  Oh no, it's down... Wait... oh, wow... @ev throws a Hail Mary server pass to @biz and the crowd all watches intently...

Rumor Alert: Apple is reportedly working on an iPhone/iTouch app that would bring FM Radio to these devices.  It's all about multiple revenue streams, folks.  And notice how Apple seems to have more "rumors" floating around than any other company (Tech or otherwise).  Me thinks that's not a coincidence...

Did you hear about the NASA Tweetup?? That's right - NASA is inviting all of it's fans on Twitter to a space shuttle launch Tweetup!  On Nov. 11 and 12, the first 100 people to register at NASA's website will be allowed on site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  I think that's a great way to marry daily biz with social media!  If you're in Florida, and want to go, registration opens up on October 16th and I'd imagine 100 spots will go faster than you can say "tweet."

Yesterday, Microsoft released another slew of security updates/patches/fixes - some for Windows 7.  It was the six year anniversary of so-called "Patch Tuesday." 

"Since moving to a monthly schedule in October 2003, Microsoft has released about 400 security bulletins based on an informal count of releases in its bulletin archives. The bulletins address about 745 vulnerabilities across almost every Microsoft product."

230 of these bulletins addressed issues that Microsoft deemed "critical."  No one is surprised by any of these numbers, I don't think.  But the real question is - how is that Windows 7 hasn't even been released yet, and still it needed patches and fixes already?  Do they not have a quality department on-site?? I'm just sayin'.

More to come tonight!

For the latest, be sure to check me out on Facebook http://profile.to/susanboggs and on Twitter http://twitter.com/aglobalbridge.

Got Social?

Well, I know some of you came to me by way of eHow.  And I said last month that I would be either thumbs up or thumbs down on the eHow program to compensate writers.  I can tell you officially, I am THUMBS DOWN!  And here's why...

I wasn't planning to make a living on eHow.  Writers are never well paid, and on such sites, even less so.  But at the time, I wasn't doing anything else (this blog came out of my eHow adventures not before).  I had read on several websites that the part-time income potential was good.  So I figured - what the hey... how hard can it be to write a How To article anyway.  I wrote one - How to Get Your Social Networks Up and Running in 30 days or less.  And it was wildly popular with people I was connected to in my social networks.  I thought - wow - if other social networkers are reading my social networking How To - maybe I'm on to something here.  But, the kicker was I had read that you have to write a lot of articles to see a decent income on eHow.  So I thought, ok, I'll dip my toes in the waters and see where I stand.  I wasn't about to invest hours upon hours of my time churning out quality How To articles for pennies, and I wasn't about to resort to writing some of the How To nonsense that floats around eHow (like How To Screw in a Lightbulb or How to Bake a Pie... I kid you not).  I've always wanted to be a writer, but only if I could maintain some sense of professionalism and standards.  So I came up with a few social media related topics and ended up writing 19 articles in one weekend.  That was back on August 11.

Jump forward to today.  I know I said I wouldn't say how much I'd earned, whether bad or good, but there's no other way to say this - I earned zero.  Yup.  Zilch.  Nada. Nothing.  I went back and looked at my total article views - 1200+ - that has to be a decent number for the first month of a new author.  I checked the articles - all running ads, some of them premium.  Ok.  I know from feedback I've received from some who've read my articles online that there were at least a few people who checked out other sites via the ads.  No, I didn't tell them to click on the ads.  I didn't even know them at the time.  So, I inquired with the "helpful" support people at eHow central via email.  Hey, says I, what's the deal here?  Their reply? 

Hi,
Thank you for your email. There is no flat fee for articles on eHow. However, we do have an algorithm that determines the earnings on the site. Please check out our Terms of Use to get more insight on how earnings are generated. Some factors to consider: -Quality of the article -Topic of article -Timeliness of the article Hope this helps.

Best,
eHow Team

The topics were timely.  Social Media.  No doubt about that.  So they're saying the quality of my articles was poor??  I'm no Joyce or Shakespeare (and if I was I wouldn't have started on eHow in the first place) but they've got at least as much quality as some of the other How Tos on there (where the authors reported making money in their first month on such things as How to Change a Tire).

In fairness to eHow, they do have a cryptic algorithm and they don't promise anything.  And the hardcore, write every day types, are always on a constant quest to write 100 articles here, 1000 articles there (bet that generates a lot of quality...).  But everyone doesn't have to be at the top to get paid do they?  If 19 quality articles with decent popularity can't get a penny, where's the compensation in that?  And where's the incentive for good writers?  It's not there, obviously.

So, what's the deal with eHow??

I don't know.  But I won't be writing for them again any time soon (if ever).

On the plus side, it led me to start writing this blog and I've made some wonderful friends along the way - so for that, thank you eHow!

So today, as part of my tweeting for charity campaign, I was asked by a new friend at one of my local charities to write a little bit about Social Media strategy and how to go about developing your Social Media marketing strategy.

Even it you're not an MBA, I'm sure you know about the traditional marketing 4p's - Product, Price, Place and Promotion.  These 4ps can easily be applied to any Social Media marketing strategy and implemented without too much trouble (it will take a lot of hard work and diligence on your part, though).

Product:

The product can be a traditional product (like a new iPod), an organization or company (like the Red Cross), or a personal brand (such as yourself or your neighborhood reading club).  You should have a clear picture of your mission/vision, your objectives, and your long-term strategic goals.  If necessary, get your decision making group together and write these things down, if you haven't done so already.  Contrary to popular belief, there's not much difference in social media marketing whether you are a corporation, a charity or an individual.  All you need is know-how.

Price:

Is there a cost associated with your Product?  If not a direct dollar amount, is there some thing that you want from your new followers - i.e. joining your club, supporting your cause, or something along those lines?  Maybe you're just a person trying to brand yourself and your name online.  Then perhaps what you want is increased visibility and credibility.  Know what you want from your Social Media marketing campaign. Only by having a clear picture of what you hope to gain - will you then see clear results!

Place:

For Social Media marketing, the "place" for your campaign will be the Internet, of course.  You should have an idea of who your audience is - or if you're just starting out, who you want your audience to be.  Check out the places that they frequent online.  You might have to ask around to find out where you're target market "lives" online.  Are they traditional business types?  Check LinkedIn.  Interested in the Apple Jet Set?  Better start tweeting. Is your target market international in scope?  Try Ecademy, Xing, and Orkut.  Once you've established the "places" that you need to target, then you're ready to move on to the final phase.

Promotion:

Obviously, the first step is to have active accounts on all of the social networks that you hope to target.  Make sure that you include relevant data about your organization or product with links to your website for all pertinent details.  Your senior executives and the PR person at your organization/company should have links to your most important social networks embedded in their email signatures.  If you're working on your own personal brand, then include your blog/website and links to your own personal networks (ie http://twitter.com/aglobalbridge). ; One great practice that I personally use is to include a link to my blog in my replies to all messages that I receive on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the others.  This always generates a good bit of traffic for me.

Now you've got to get the word out to your target market or your audience.  You'll need to "work the room."  Get to know the people that show interest in your organization, brand and/or product.  Make regular status updates and post all pertinent events on your social networking pages.  Join related groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, use Twitter to follow people who are experts in your industry, and network, network, network.  Go to local Social Media events in your area and get to know others in your community who are active on the Social Media circuit.

By using the principles of the 4p's, which is just good business sense, you can drive your cause/organization/personal brand to the next level!

Ok, so we're all social networking.  Socializing here, friending there, tweeting away...  But the question of the day (the week, the year even) is do you Social Media?

With the advent of Know Your Mojo, it's worth taking a closer look.  Know Your Mojo is the new Yahoo app that will run through your Twitter history and give you a tweeting profile.  I'm a Matchmaker - hooking people up to links that supposedly they will find interesting.  Don't know if that's true, but I aim to please.

A lot of people say they've got the Social Media thing down pat.  There's an expert for every single angle of Social Media usage that you could possibly think of - but I'm not so sure about the so-called experts.  I have a lot of contacts on various social networks that have never bothered to ask me a single question.  Like - hey, how are you?  Or, what do you do?  Or, at least, glad to connect (I don't mean the bot automated responses - those don't count). Everyone's happy to sell you something or refer you to someone who does, that's a really good way to make friends.  And, while you're at it, send them to a linking page that's one long paragraph of "real life" testimonials with red highlights about how wonderful you and your product are...  Let me know how that works for you.

I'll admit, as your social network expands, it's extremely hard to keep up.  But it's worth it.  Trust me.  If you really have a network that's too large for you to keep up, you should either a) be big enough to hire someone to do it for you OR b) scale back!

I have some contacts on Twitter who have 10,000 followers or more and yet they've managed to reach out to me directly, in some way, shape or form.  These are the people I'll think of following (outside of Twitter) later on, down the road.  These are the people I'd trust to sell me something.

Now, I'm no power player.  I'm not even an old-timer.  But I do know a good socializer when I see one.  And, you'll learn who the really good networkers are.  They're personable.  They know something about you and they bring it up when they contact you online.

You're busy.  I know.  We all are.  But just like in real life, you'll only get out of your social networks what you put in.  So, how do you go about building more quality relationships and go from social networking to being a real Social Media user?

I use the following plan: 

a)  make a new connection each day, on each network in which I'm active;

b)  reach out to a current connection each day by reading their profile and sending a direct message to ask about them, not to sell anything;

c)  take time each day to learn something new about a Social Media tool that I haven't tried to use yet;

d)  read the current news on Social Media companies, tools, and power users every day (think Mashable, Slashdot, Copyblogger, and the like);

e)  refrain from correcting your contacts publicly online, no one likes a know-it-all, plus it's bad manners.

In less than two months, I've gone from almost no contacts to 400+ on Facebook & LinkedIn, 120 followers on Twitter, 300+ on Ecademy and a variety of connections on a slew of other social networks.  And I've managed to stay away from most of the "connections for hire" spots online, the one exception is opennetworker.com which I joined for a month.  That sent my invitations on LinkedIn through the roof.  I still have 732+ invitations to connect that I haven't gotten to yet.  If you're one of them, I apologize but I'll get to you soon - I promise.

You're thinking - that's a lot of work.  Well, yes and no.  It does require a good deal of focus and prioritizing, and it's not common practice yet.  But, if you want to convert your social networking contacts into Social Media friends and clients.  You need to do it!  Start today.

... Ok, it's late.  Start tomorrow.

BTW - if you're one of my contacts and you feel like I haven't reached out to you, well, drop me a line!  I'm an open book.

Word of Caution - I use the common sense rule of thumb - if you're connected to someone that you would have to stand in line to see in real-life, then you might want to wait for them to "approach" you first.  You don't want to seem like a celebrity hound, do you?

If you've frequented the hotspots of Social Media blogging lately, as I have, you'll notice the usual trend.  Dismisal by the technology heavy-hitters of any newcomers to the playing field.  Often it's done in jest, oh just kidding, you know...  But as with all things techie and fun, the true Techies don't like having to share their playground with "the rest of us."

I've often referred to myself as Techie Lite - I know more than many of my family and friends (with the exception of my brother) but much less than any self-identified Geek.  I can change a hard drive and wire a basic network, but I'm not a Geek.  I'm not an expert.  I'm just a gal blogging about things that interest me.  I'm an aspiring entrepreneur.  I love computers, love technology, love to write and love to socialize.  So here I am.

Is there a place for people like me in the vast new world that is being called Social Media?  I think so.  Of course, that gets back to the heart of blogging.  We all think we have something important to say.  Success is when a bunch of other people agree with you.  Social networking really isn't new (I was networking online in the 90s in a variety of venues), but it's new for a lot of folks.  Social Media is more than just technology, that's the whole point.  When someone tweets to his network about losing his job, he's less concerned with the underlying technology and more concerned with making an emotional connection to those who care.   Social Media is about allowing us, as a human species, to connect with each other on a deeper level even as our world becomes more and more wired!

Recently Wayne Sutton, of SocialWayne.com, wrote a blog post about Why People Hate Self-proclaimed Social Media Gurus.  And I agree with his post wholeheartedly.  However, I think the real trouble lies in the disconnect between the Techie Jet Set and the Entrepreneurial Jet Set.  True techies are anti-establishment (in the good sense), worship Apple, had 3g before you or I knew what it was, and they were using web 2.0 long before we were socializing through Twitter.  Meanwhile, the Entrepreneurial bunch won't touch a product until they've answer the question "what will this do for me and my bottom-line."  Techies tend to be introverted.  Entrepreneurs tend to be extroverted.  Of course, some of the most successful Internet ventures have been started by those who manage to strattle the fence between a love of all things OS-driven and a love of Napoleon Hill!  Anyway, I've noticed that very few Techie blogs are free of advertising.  In the end, no one minds making a buck, do they?

Techies need to be more welcoming of those who hopped on board the coolness train, and business-types need to be more mindful that, for some, technology is a passion not a dollar sign.

Maybe they'll all just pick up their marbles and go home.  But they should remember, the true fun in playing is enjoying the environment.

Social Media and Social Networking are all the buzz.  The job market may look bleak in some corners of the world, but for Social Media, not so much.

A search this morning of Dice.com turned up over 234 job postings relating to Social Media.  How about a job as a Business Analyst - Social Media?  Or what about working as a Strategic social media marketing expert?  And, if you're in the IT business already but focused more on hardware or networks, why don't you look at other options in a computer-related career?

At over 732 related job postings, Monster has the monster list - including a Social Media Specialist for an online education/curriculum company or a job as a Social Media Manager for a major technology company.  Hotjobs had over 179 Social Media job postings.  While, Careerbuilder boasts 390 such job listings.  SimplyHired is another great place to search for jobs, since it links to job postings from a variety of locations on the web, including the ones I've just mentioned.

Here's a pretty good blog post on certain key jobs in the Social Media realm.  However, the field is so new that I couldn't get good data for you on expected pay/current salary ranges.  My guess would be that employers are flying by the seat of their pants in this area.  If you can sell yourself and you know you stuff, I would expect you to make a pretty penny!  Don't quote me on that though, times are tough, just go get a job.

Jobs are posted all over the country from Raleigh to Boston to Silcon Valley to Iowa!  Need a job?  Maybe you should consider switching careers!

BTW - Social Media or social media?  What's your take?   Did I mention I need a good editor?

Ok, I confess.  I need an editor.  Quick, fast and in a hurry.  I find I'm suddenly doing a million things (on first draft, I wrote nillion, that's the Mommy in me coming out). Trying to find my niche in this vast, vast world that we call the Internet and I'm networking in every social network you can think of, writing online content, trying to keep up with the sudden requests that I've gotten to expand my presence in various ways (and I'm excited, thrilled to do that!).  But, I'm going to need some help (I do have four kids and a husband, you know).  So:

WANTED - One great editor.  Must be proficient in English, HTML, and all other languages (I don't know any others very well, except for basic French so take your pick).  Must have a love of social networking and social media topics.  Must like, in this order, the Beatles, Heirloom Tomatoes (if you can grow them, that's all the better), Fawlty Towers, Cannonball Adderly, Real Simple, Arrested Development, and Guinness (by the pint, thank you very much).  Must have great patience for a Piscesean, California born type.   Knowledge of Fay Weldon novels a plus!  Pay is minimal but the company is rich. (When I say company I mean me, my wonderful self, and I, and my ability to carry on a half way decent conversation, not a "company" as in inc., ha ha.).

Any takers?

Next up, I'll need a good salesman to pitch an online radio show that I want to start and help me find potential sponsors.  Topic - Around the World in 80 Ways - how I travel the world through my many social networks.

My, my, it's been quite a day.

From the Facebook - FriendFeed acquisition talk (see my post from yesterday) to the latest news that Google is planning to shake things up  with it's search rankings with a secret technology called Caffeine!  That's sure to make the hairs stand on end for more than a few SEO experts and keyword dominant sites - what will they do?  Wonder what they're talking about at the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo in San Jose this week?

Twitter had yet another attack today!  What the heck is going on there?  Wouldn't you think they would have stepped up security after last week's attack?   If it is really that easy to take Twitter completely down (read the article at Mashable.com), and it was completly down for awhile there.  What does that mean for one's social media marketing strategy?  You wouldn't advertise in a newspaper that couldn't guarantee whether their paper would print this week or not.  Would you?  I don't think Twitter is singular or key to an online marketing strategy.  If it was, Google, Facebook, and Yahoo would no longer be the dominant players online.  But some of us (and you know who you are) have become Twitter addicts, tweet, re-tweet and repeat.  What to do, what to do?

The latest reports from consumers are that they are shopping for more deals and better bargains, using what?  You guessed it - their social networks!  Read more about it here at the KDKA website out of Pittsburgh.

More later this week!

Of course, THE talk today in the Social Media world is the weather.   What, no? 

Ok, it's all about Facebook's acquisition of FriendFeed and whether Facebook is hot on the trail of Google.  Perhaps. But first they need to surpass Yahoo, which will happen, I have no doubt.  Keep in mind - Facebook is the number 3 player in Internet rankings (according to Alexa) while Google sits firmly in the numero uno spot.  With the number of vistors to Yahoo having dropped 0.8% in the past three months, while Facebook has increased it's numbers by over 20% in the same period, I don't think Facebook faces much of a challenge there. 

I'm not the expert, but personally I think the FriendFeed acquisition is an excellent business strategy for helping Facebook continue to do what it does best - Social Networking.  Frankly, I don't think it's going to make a dent in the Google market share.  Google is not a social networking platform and no one goes onto Facebook to search the web for data.  If you know anyone like my mother or my husband, you'll know that there are still a whole lot of people who use the Internet daily but don't have any interest in Facebook.  Facebook will have to overcome that mindset if they truly want to make a dent in Google.

In the game of Internet dominence, where search engines reign king, it's a long way from the number 3 to the number 1 spot!