Now that Tweetdeck is integrating more social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Buzz, Foursquare, MySpace), I’m guessing there will be a name change soon. Ideas? Take this poll!

Click here for the results so far.

If you haven’t heard, the past few weeks have not been good for Facebook.  They’ve made a number of changes in how the privacy settings work, and have not been completely clear in explaining the changes. They’re not respecting people’s privacy.  “Facebook changed the rules and this information was unexpectedly shared with perfect strangers. That is, simply stated, a profound invasion of privacy.” (Gizmodo, 5/10/10). Rather than reshashing all of the issues, I’ll direct you to a few articles:

Facebook: The ‘Evil Interface?’
10 Reasons To Delete Your Facebook Account
Facebook keeps crossing lines and the last one may be a line too far
(Thanks to Derek Peplau for the list of great articles)

People are in an uproar about this. There’s even a formal revolt for people to quit Facebook on May 31st.  I understand why people are mad.  Facebook hasn’t been clear about what they’re changing, and people don’t trust them to keep their data safe.  I agree that Facebook should have some backlash for this, as they are not keeping promises made to consumers, and are playing around with potentially sensitive information.

So What?

On Facebook, I do protect my privacy (unlike on Twitter).  I only friend people I know, I put people I don’t know very well into lists so they don’t see certain things (status updates, photos of my nieces) and I don’t use my real birth year or high school graduation year to protect against identity theft.

But as someone who is also VERY public with my online life through my blog, Twitter and LinkedIn, my question is, what should I be worried about? (note that I’m NOT asking why is it wrong that Facebook is doing what they’re doing.  I get that they are wrong). What are the risks to me? In the worst case scenario that ALL of my data is exposed, what’s the problem?  I see a few possibilities, none of which concern me enough to quit Facebook:

• Facebook’s advertisers have more information to target me with –> I don’t really care about that, if I get ads that are more appropriate for me
• People will see photos of my nieces –> OK, not great (and my brother-in-law would not be happy), but not the end of the world
• People see information about my work history –> It’s all very public on LinkedIn and my website anyway
• People will see my private status updates –> I’ve probably posted something similar on Twitter anyway!

So, is it just me being naive, or are there other security risks I”m not seeing?  Identity theft?  Using my information in a way that could harm me?  I’m really trying to understand this, so comments, as always, are encouraged!

(Photo credit: Facebook Trash)

You may have noticed that Facebook made a change this week from calling the action of joining a Facebook page “Fan” to “Like.” What does this mean, really?  Nothing!  It’s really just a name change.  Instead of clicking “Become a Fan”, you now click “Like.”  In Facebook’s words, “We believe this change offers you a more light-weight and standard way to connect with people, things and topics in which you are interested.” (from their FAQ).  As an example, here’s how it looks:

So, why don’t I like “Like”?  There are a few reasons:
 

It’s Confusing

“Like” is being used here in a very different way from what people are used to.  I feel that Facebook is taking a very common word that means something specific to people, and already has a common way it’s used on the internet, and they’re changing it.

For example, on YouTube, to show that you like a video, you click on the “Like” button.  That doesn’t mean you’re “joining” that person’s YouTube channel, you’re just saying you like the video.  VERY different from how Facebook is using Like.

Even within Facebook, “Like” is used in different ways.  For example, you click “Like” on a status update or on something someone has done on Facebook.  But you’re not “joining” anything, you’re just indicating you like it.

Here’s another example… see the ad to the left.  What is the “Like” button there?  I would assume it means I like the ad, but it actually means that I’m joining their Fan page.  VERY unclear.

And, I saw this at the bottom of a ReadWriteWeb article:

What do you suppose that “Like” button does?  I clicked it, and I’m still not sure if I became a fan of their page (because I already was) or if it’s just showing my support of the article.

Call To Action

The “call to action” for getting someone to join your Fan page used to be ”Fan us on Facebook” or “Become our Fan on Facebook.”  What is it now?  ”Like us on Facebook!” “Become a liker on Facebook!”  That really sounds silly.  And, while this is just semantics, it’s important, as this language is used EVERYWHERE!

Research

I really wonder if Facebook did any research on this. Their rationale for the change says “We believe…” — did they really make that change on what THEY believed?  Or did they ask consumers?  The old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” keeps coming to mind.. were people really complaining about “Fan”?  Do people feel that “Like” is more lightweight?  Will it change their actions?  I’d like to see that research, if they actually did it.

What do you think of this change?  Is it confusing to you?  Do you “like” it?

Most people who know me, follow my blog or talk to me on Twitter know that I’m not a big fan of cross-posting, where people post updates in one social network and have it automatically post to other social networks. If you missed my post, check it out “To Cross-Post or Not to Cross-Post.”  So you won’t be surprised to know my opinion is the same when it comes to Foursquare,  a location-based service where people “check-in” at places they go to.

With Foursquare, you can set your preferences in a few ways: so it automatically tweets or posts an update to Facebook (called “updates” throughout this post), so it updates when you become a Mayor/earn a badge (doesn’t update very frequently) or so all your activity stays solely on Foursquare.  For people who are out and about a lot, they may check-in up to 10-20 times a day. So that means if they have their settings set such that each Foursquare check-in updates, 10-20 tweets and Facebook updates per day appear!

My hypothesis was that the majority of people on Twitter and Facebook do NOT like seeing Foursquare updates on Twitter/Facebook.  I don’t.  If I wanted to know where someone is, I would probably connect with them on Foursquare, so I can see where they are in that application, and I don’t need to clutter twitter with constant messages such as “I’m at Starbucks” or “I’m at Trader Joe’s.”  I occasionally like seeing if people are at a special location (i.e. Fenway) or become a mayor or earn a badge, but not for every check-in. To prove or disprove my hypothesis, I ran a poll — results are below:

As you can see, the poll doesn’t exactly support my hypothesis.  But, when looking at the comments, I could easily reclassify 5 (or even more) of the Other votes based on the comments to be “Dislikes”, which brings Dislikes up to 58%.  It makes the point I was trying to make, but not by as much of a landslide as I was expecting.

So, the question is… as someone who posts ALL (or close to all) of you check-ins to Facebook/Twitter,  why do you do it?  What do you get out of it?  Do you not get the same benefit from just checking in on Foursquare and letting your connections know your status there? Knowing that 25% of people dislike it, will that change actions?  And, for people who like seem the stream of check-ins, why do you like it?  Do you not find it to clutter your Twitter and Facebook stream?

I’m pleased to announce, that in addition to my Marketing and Social Media consulting business, I have now launched a new venture called WebinarListings.  Through hosting a few of my own Webinars (online seminars), I noticed that there was no central website for hosts to promote their webinars, or for people to find out about them.  So, I created one!  Today is the beta launch of my site, and it will eventually be FULL of a variety of Webinars for all interest areas (business, health, technology, etc), in any part of the world. Right now it happens to be focused on marketing, social media, technology because that is where my connections are, but that will soon change. Webinars are a great way to learn new things right from your computer AND are free most of the time.

So, if you’re interested, I invite you to check out the site, and connect with me in any way you choose (many options below!), especially by signing up for the weekly newsletter.  During the beta period, the more traffic and registrations/followers I build, the more interest hosts will have to list their webinars with me… so I’m counting on you! If you hear of any Webinars being put on, please pass them my way so I can contact the host. And feel free to tweet, blog, facebook update, talk, or spread the word in any way.

I’m also running an introduction promotion for this week only (through the 14th) — use promo code “intro50″ for your Featured Webinar listing and get 50% off your Webinar.

I’m really excited about this, as it is really putting to use the skills I have in social media, marketing and Webinars. I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes me!

WebinarListings contact info:

Let me know what you think!  I’ll take all the feedback I can get.

Are you wondering why I’m writing a post about how to cross-post, when I JUST wrote one about how I’m not a fan of cross-posting? Well, for starters, some of these tactics are temporary, meaning you turn them on and off for each update, so it’s not just a flow of ALL of your updates.  And, second, I thought it would be helpful to have all of this in one place to keep track of it! And third, to me, even some of the “permanent” cross-post tactics (such as Blog to LinkedIn) can be useful. So, if you do decide to cross-post after reading my post here’s how:

Twitter to Facebook Profile

• Individual updates
  • Tweetdeck Desktop – Add your profile to your Tweetdeck account by clicking on the plus at the top of the screen.  Once your account has been added, you can toggle each account on and off by clicking on the account name.
  • Tweetdeck for iPhone – Go to the settings page and add your Facebook account.  When updating  your status, select your Facebook account.
  • Selective Tweets – Install the Selective Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, any Twitter update you make with #fb, will also update your Facebook status.
  • There are many other mobile and desktop applications that do this, such as Seesmic Desktop, Hootsuite, and many more.
• Permanent
  • Install this Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, EVERY Twitter update you make, will also update your Facebook status.  CAUTION, this can be annoying to your Facebook friends.

Twitter to Facebook Fan Page

• Tweetdeck Desktop – see above.  Hootsuite and Seesmic also do this.

Facebook Fan Page to Twitter

• Individual updates- There is currently no way to update Twitter from your Facebook Fan Page on an individual update basis.
• Permanent 
  • Install this Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, EVERY update you make on your Facebook Fan Page, will also post to Twitter.

Twitter to LinkedIn

• Tweetdeck Desktop – see above.  Hootsuite also does this.
• Adjust your settings in LinkedIn.  Once you’ve added your Twitter account, you can choose to have all or some of your updates flow to LinkedIn.  Again, I CAUTION  the use of permanent update cross-posting.  For individual updates to flow to LinkedIn, simply use #in or #li when you update your Twitter status.

LinkedIn to Twitter

• This functionality is built right into LinkedIn now, so each update you make on LinkedIn, you can select if you want it to also post to Twitter, by checking the check box below your update.

Twitter to Blog

• Add a widget to your blog that displays your recent tweets by installing the “Twitter for WordPress” plugin on your blog. Your tweets will stream into a widget on the side of your blog, similar to mine on the bottom right.
• You can also install the Wibya toolbar (see mine at the bottom of this page) which shows your Twitter updates.  If you want to know more about the Wibya toolbar, take a look at my post on the topic.  Another similar toolbar is the Meebo Bar.

Facebook Fan Page to Blog

• This is possible using the Wibya toolbar or the Meebo Bar.  See above.

Facebook Profile to Blog

• This is possible using the Wibya toolbar or the Meebo Bar.  See above.

Blog to Twitter

• Twitterfeed - You can easily automate the posting of your blog to Twitter by setting up a feed on Twitterfeed.
• Ping.fm – Newly added feature allows you to add your feeds to be automatically sent to a variety of social networks.

Blog to Facebook Profile

• Create a Facebook note for each of your blog posts by following these instructions: In the “Applications” menu (in the bottom bar), choose “Notes.”, under “Notes Settings,” click on “Import a blog” and enter your feed address.  For more detailed instructions and screen shots, see this post.
• Wordbooker – This is a WordPress plugin that imports your blog posts to Facebook.  The difference in this versus using Notes, is that your posts get a separate area on your profile, and any comments are imported back into your blog.  (Thanks to @tpapi for the suggestion!)
• Ping.fm – See above

Blog to Facebook Fan Page

• Wordbooker – see above
• Social RSS – Install this application on Facebook, and your blog posts will feed directly as updates to your Wall.  You can also create a box that will show your posts in a box on your Fan Page.  See WebinarListing fan page for an example.
• Ping.fm - See above

Blog to LinkedIn

• Install the WordPress application on LinkedIn or BlogLink onto your LinkedIn profile and have all your blog posts flow to your profile.
• Ping.fm - See above

Not possible at this time (if you know of a way to do these, please let me know in the comments!):

• Facebook Profile to LinkedIn
• Facebook Profile to Twitter
• Facebook Profile to Facebook Fan Page
• Facebook Fan Page to Facebook Profile
• Facebook Fan Page to LinkedIn
• LinkedIn to Facebook Profile
• LinkedIn to Facebook Fan Page
• LinkedIn to Blog

You may also be familiar with Ping.fm, which allows you to update 50 social media sites at once.  You just post it once, and it updates the sites you choose.  So, obviously this is a great way to cross-post.  A few weeks ago, Seesmic acquired Ping.fm, so the Ping.fm functionaility will be incorporated into Seesmic in a few weeks, making it a great option to cross-post.  Ping.fm is currently incorporated into Hootsuite as well.

Did I leave anything out?  I plan on keeping this updated over time, so please let me know if I have missed anything!

Last week, I found out about a really cool new toolbar for websites called Wibiya. I asked them for a beta invite and they said it would be launching to the general public soon (I guess I wasn’t special enough!), and sure enough, I was notified about it today.  So, what do I think?  Well, considering I was inspired to write a blog post about it within 15 minutes of installing it, I’d say I like it! :-)

So, what is Wibiya?  If you’re viewing this post on my website, just look down at the bottom to the pink bar.  If not, here a screen shot of it broken into 2 parts.

What it does essentially is bring your social media components (and a few other things) all to one place, and a place that is available everywhere on your site.  People can do the following right from the toolbar:

• Facebook
  • update their status (with automatic link to your site)
  • become a fan of your Facebook page
• Twitter
  • see your tweets
  • follow you on Twitter
  • tweet (with an automatically shortened link to your site)
• Blog
  • subscribe to your RSS feed
  • See your recent posts
• Search your site
• Chat with others
• Message your site visitors
• Translate your site into different languages

…all without leaving your site.  There are also a bunch of other apps, such as photo galleries and YouTube integration, that you can easily install.  What a great way to give people the functionality they want, without forcing them to leave your website and you never get them back.  Sure, most of these tools are available with other WordPress plugins, but it’s great to have everything in one place, so you can fill your site with more good content.

In addition to all of this functionality for your site visitors, you get analytics too!  So, as soon as I posted on Twitter, I could see how many people were visiting which pages, and where in the world they are.  What a great way to get instant feedback, to see if people are driven to your site.  It also shows you overall stats for the past 7 days, including assumed bounce rate reduction, and new RSS registrations.

As I said, I JUST downloaded this 1/2 hour ago, so I’m still poking around.  But, overall, this is a VERY cool app… a definite BUY recommendation from me! Oh, wait, it’s free.  :-)

What do you think? Have you discovered anything I haven’t mentioned above? Any downsides you see?

I’ve noticed a lot of people automatically cross-posting from one social media site to another lately. They have all their Twitter updates feed to Facebook, all their LinkedIn updates feed to Twitter, or all their Delicious tags updating Facebook. I’ll say right off the bat, that I find this frustrating (especially when it comes from savvy marketing people). Why? Because each of these audiences is different, and each tool is used differently. You wouldn’t take a Coke ad that was specifically written for a Golf magazine and put it in Vogue, would you? No, because the audiences of each magazine are different and the brand’s message may be slightly different for each audience.

Similarly, each social media tool has a different audience, is used differently and has a different culture. For example, for me, I view each of these sites as follows:

• Facebook – connecting with friends; not very businessy (when talking about personal profiles), updates are a few times at most a day
• Twitter – connecting with people with similar interests (for me, mostly marketing and social media), somewhat businessy, updates are frequent (sometimes up to 20-30 times/day)
• LinkedIn – connecting with people in order to network, very businessy, updates are infrequently used (starting to catch on though)

Given the above, if I cross-posted all my Twitter updates to Facebook, I would be doing a few things — I’m pushing my business stuff on my friends who probably have no interest in it, and I’m doing it at an overwhelming pace given the culture on Facebook.  In addition, I’m using lingo that my Facebook friends don’t know, such as RT, @, #, etc. Why would I want to do that??  It’s blatently ignoring how people operate on Facebook, why they’re there, and overwhelming their stream with posts that they probably have no interest in.  They have signed up to be my friend, not necessarily to hear about all of my business interests.

So, do I think there are some posts that work as cross-posts?  Absolutely!  And, that’s why there are a few applications that allow you to choose when it’s appropriate to cross-post.  For example, applications like Selective Twitter Status (use the hashtag #fb in a tweet to send it to Facebook), or using the hashtag #in in a tweet to send it to LinkedIn, choosing “Facebook” on TweetDeck or Seesmic when you want to update Facebook, or clicking the checkbox on LinkedIn to send you update to Twitter.

So, what about posting your business updates to your Facebook profile? While it’s a little off the topic of cross-posting, the concept is the same to me.  Have your friends signed up to hear about your business by being your friend?  No.  So, if you find yourself with over a quarter of your Facebook updates (a good benchmark to me) to be about your business, maybe it’s time to consider a business Fan Page so your friends can opt-in to receive your business updates.

The risk you run with not keeping these audience/culture factors in mind, is people will hide or unfollow you, and then they’re not seeing ANY of your updates. For example, I hide many people on Facebook because they overwhelm my stream, and unfortunately that means I don’t see any of their updates anymore. Update 4/30/10: LinkedIn has now added a “hide” option, so even more reason not to cross-post, or you’ll be hidden and never be seen again!

So, my final message is this… think about your audience and the culture before cross-posting!

What do you think?  Is it OK for people to automatically cross-post?  Why or why not?

I am pleased to report that I have accepted a new full time job! I will be the Director of Marketing and Social Media at Second Time Around, which is a consignment retailer with 19 stores in 8 eastern states (MA, NH, RI, ME, CT, VT, DC, NY).  Second Time Around (STA) recently got venture capital funding from Generation Equity Investors, so is slated for more growth in the coming years.  I got my offer on July 16th, which oddly enough is the one year anniversary of me being out of a full-time job.  What an odd coincidence!

As with any rapidly growing company I know I will be wearing many hats, but my overall responsibilities will be branding, strategy, social media, internet marketing and general marketing materials.  Second Time Around is already on Twitter (impressive!) (each store has its own account… @STAThayerSt, @STANeedham, @STASohoNY, etc.) and Facebook, but there is a lot of upside with these, and with the website.

So, how did I get the job?  I really WISH I could say I got it through a connection I made on Twitter.  Then maybe people would start believing that Twitter has merit and isn’t just about reporting when you go out for a cup of coffee :-)  But, although I did have many job interviews and leads from Twitter, this wasn’t one of them.  It was from old fashioned in-person networking.

I posted my resume on a site called Jewish Jobs back when I first lost my job.  Lisa Colton, the founder of Darim Online, was looking for someone with my background for some consulting work, so we started talking.   (Update: Lisa reminded me that she actually DID find me first on Twitter… go Twitter!) We kept in touch over a number of months, talking about how we could work together.  Then on June 17th, I got an email from Brian Colton (Lisa’s brother-in-law), a partner at Generation Equity, saying they were looking to fill a marketing position at their latest venture, and Lisa had given him my name.  One month later, on July 16th, STA offered me the job.  And, yesterday, I attended an all day offsite with the new Board of Directors.  My first official start date will be August 24th.

I am so excited for this new opportunity.  It is a great combination of an established company (the first store opened 35 years ago), and a start-up environment with the new infusion of capital and the growth plan.  I will be able to leverage my marketing skills from my consumer products background, but also my new social media skills.  There is a huge opportunity for STA with social media, and they are believers in it, so I am looking forward to implementing some creative ideas.  Overall, I think this is a place where I will be able to make an impact, which is one of the most (if not the most) important qualities for me in a job.

My next post will go more into my thoughts about this past year and what I learned.

Thank you to everyone who helped me this past year.  So many people touched me, and I could never have gotten this incredible job if it weren’t for you.  So, thanks.

Note: This is a version of a post I made on the Wall Street Journal online blog on June 17, 2009.

A few months, I was asked a question by a potential employer that I couldn’t answer “What do you think of what we are doing in social media?” I couldn’t answer it not because I didn’t know what he meant, but rather, that I hadn’t actually looked it up. Although social media is the area of marketing I am most interested in, I was still stuck in my old ways of researching a company… by looking at their website.

Doing thorough research of a company is one of the most important steps in preparing for an interview. Not that they will necessarily ask you the direct question that I got asked, but because it gives you the opportunity to bring up what you have researched, or just have a better understanding of how the company operates. Realizing this, put me into action to change the way I now research companies.

Here’s what I do now.

• I search for the company’s fan page on Facebook. I look what they have posted, and what their fans are posting about them. I do the same for YouTube.
• I find their corporate account on Twitter, and again, see what they are tweeting about. I also search on an application called Twellow, to find employees of the company, and see what they are writing about.
• I find their company profile on LinkedIn, and look up the profiles of some of the people I might be working with or key executives, and definitely the people I will be interviewing with. I find at least one item about a person that I have in common with them, so I can bring it up in the interview somehow.
• I do quick searches for the company and key people on Hoovers and Zoominfo. Other good websites include: Vault, Glassdoor, Lexis Nexis, Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. Of course, there’s a good old search engine on the company’s name, or coupled with key words such as “good” or “bad.” Through looking at these sites, I also try to understand who the company’s major competitors are.
• Of course, I still look at the company’s website, and at a minimum, read the About Us section, the press section, and overall what the company has been doing. If they have a blog, I read the first few posts.

Spending the time doing this extensive research has really helped me better understand the mindset of the people and the company I’m interviewing with. Yesterday, I was asked in the interview what I thought of a company’s website, and I could give a very thorough analysis.

What do you think?  What are your preferred methods of researching a company prior to an interview?