LinkedIn can be like training wheels for business people who are new to online social networking.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Familiarity + Control. A feeling of control + familiarity can make someone new to social networking feel safer at LinkedIn than, say, jumping in to the “rougher terrain” of FaceBook and Twitter. The concept of “online resume” is grounded in the familiar, increasing the comfort level of participation. The executive who posts a profile has control over the content and the connections and recommendations he or she accepts. No one is likely to get past the gate if they say something negative or unflattering!

Where the Training Wheel Metaphor Ends. I’ve met with business people who are extremely connected on LinkedIn — they’re using this tool, and using it well. Other social networking sites hold little interest for them. FaceBook and Twitter seem frivilous and even dangerous. This is where the safety “training wheels” metaphor ends — these executives may have started tentatively on LinkedIn, but they have put their focus boldly on building and strengthening relationships within this powerful network.

Starting in Rougher Terrain… I’ve also met with seasoned business people this year who started their online social networking on FaceBook — usually at the behest of their adult children! Many of these people, surprisingly, have never even heard of LinkedIn. When I did a brief demo of LinkedIn to an executive who had been regularly interacting with his family on FaceBook last month, he exclaimed, “My Goodness! It’s Like FaceBook for Business!”

Different Entry Points. People have entered the world of online social networking from many different perspectives! Many I have talked with usually start with a technology (LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc.) instead of a business objective. They enter, play, gain experience with the technology, and then the synapses start to spark  — “Hey! How can I use this to grow or strengthen my business?”

Where did you begin your online social networking journey? How has it grown? And how have you strengthened your relationships over time?

Have you left your training wheels behind? How are you navigating trickier terrains?

Every few years or so, a new online technology insinuates its way into popular culture. In 2003, I kept reading and hearing about “blogs”. In 2007, the world was all a-”Twitter”. FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube — these social media channels are all part of the pop culture landscape.

When I hear these terms to a major extent, I begin to play the part of a cultural anthropologist. I immerse myself in these online cultures, in order to better understand them. With degrees in Sociology and Telecommunication, I’ll note that I’m not an anthropologist. I only play one online. But my interest and background in Sociology and Telecommunications compel me to participate in these online cultures.

I began blogging in 2003, and immersed myself in a Twitter experiment in 2007. I have a YouTube channel, with over 25 videos, one of which has over 350,000 views and a 4.5 star rating with over 580 ratings. I also play at FaceBook, FriendFeed, podcasting, LinkedIn and a few other online channels where I can connect with people and ideas. I learn through experience.

Today, I hear much buzz about lifestreaming — and so with great fascination, I began a one-month lifestreaming experiment at bergells.com. Instead of posting here at my blog — for the entire month of July, I posted at my new Posterous lifestream. For me, this has represented something of a bend in the flow, or the stream of content.

photo credit: Steve & Jemma Copley

But, let’s back up. What’s a lifestream? If we search Google Definitions,  we get:

Lifestreaming is the practice of collecting an online user’s disjointed online presence in one central location or site.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestreaming

How does that look? Let’s say you blog. And you’re active on FaceBook. And Twitter. And YouTube. And Delicious. And maybe a couple dozen other social networking sites….

That’s the “disjointed” part of the above definition. Lifestreaming attempts to bring it all together, in one online home base.

How?

At the moment, I see two different online approaches.

1. Bringing it all in. If you already have a home base — say, a blog  — you can bring in all of your other online activities through a widget or plugin. Every post you make to Twitter or FaceBook, for example, can be “streamed in” with plugins like the SimpleLife WordPress plugin, which lets you aggregate your lifestream as a widget (sidebar) or separate page.
2. Pushing it all out. Lifestream platforms like posterous or tumblr allow you to easily post content. When you post, you can choose to cross-publish this content to dozens of online services — and it all happens automatically. For example, every post that I publish at my posterous lifestream can update my Twitter and FaceBook Status. If I have a video attached to my post, Posterous  can update my YouTube Channel. If I have an image, Posterous will post it to FlickR. Posterous can instruct Delicious to bookmark the post — and so on. In this way, Posterous positions itself as the centralized “hub” for your online content.

Of course, when I write that there are two different approaches, I’m bound to discover a mashup of the two. For example, Steve Rubel of PR firm Edelman abandoned his popular MicroPersuasion Blog. Over 5 years of blog posts remain archived online for your reviewing pleasure — but Mr. Rubel tells the world that blogging feels “old”. And that publishing today is all about the “flow“.

I’ll admit — I’m fascinated with lifestreaming. In one short month, I’ve found enormous benefits to posting at Posterous. I’m not ready to abandon blogging quite yet — but I suspect the time will come.

Already, I find — through cultural immersion — that Mr. Rubel has a point. Blogging does feel “old”. The technology backbone makes it easier to post at Posterous than through Blogger or WordPress (yes, I’ve tested it.) The sheer connectedness of lifestreaming to other online networks feels like the beginning of pulling disjointed ideas and communities together. It feels more holistic.

If that sounds new-age, hippy-trippy, I suspect that’s because it is. Don’t forget, I’m new at this lifestreaming business. I have only slightly over a month of it under my belt. To learn more about lifestreaming, I ironically recommend the following blog posts:

• Blogging Versus Lifestreaming
• The Future of Blogging Revealed
• Should People Kill Their Blogs in Favor of Lifestreaming?

What about you? What are your thoughts on lifestreaming v. blogging?

A student asks a wonderful personal branding question. I’ll paraphrase:

“How can you project a personal brand online without coming off as arrogant? If all you do is go online and brag about yourself and how wonderful you are, doesn’t that make “arrogant, self-absorbed, narcissistic jerk” a big part of your personal brand?”

photo credit: probabilistic

To help answer the question, let me give you an example. Let’s say you’ve decided to project a personal brand that embodies the characteristics of  “Smart. Funny. Friendly.”

How to Erode Your Personal Brand. So, what can you do to erode your personal brand online? Well, you can persistently repeat, “Hey, I’m smart. I’m witty, too. And I’m a terrific friend.”

Because, you know, that’s not smart.

And it’s not funny or friendly.

It’s jerky braggadocio.

What to try instead. So what can you do to positively project your chosen brand characteristics of smart, funny, and friendly? Why, you can publish posts that are — well, smart and funny! You can point to others’ posts that are witty, as well. You can also interact with your community in a tone and voice that exudes friendliness.

How it might play out. So let’s say that’s the personal brand building strategy you decide to deploy. You publish smart and funny posts. You point to other people’s smart and funny contributions. You keep a consistently friendly, positive, and upbeat tone. Over time, perhaps other people in your community will come to appreciate your contributions. You may find them saying,

“Hey. You’re smart. You’re witty. You’re friendly.”

After all, your personal brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what other people say it is!

Bottom line? Don’t repetitively tell me what your brand characteristics are. Demonstrate your brand through consistent thoughts, images, tones, and interactions.

How else do you build — or erode — your brand?

When it comes to using social media for business, I often run into two camps of people. One camp views social media as a threat, and another camp views it as an opportunity.

• Those in the threat camp have an alarming tendency to put knee-jerk policies into place. “No employees will be allowed to have FaceBook or LinkedIn profiles. Absolutely no Twittering. If you blog, use a pseudonym, and under no circumstances will you identify yourself as an employee of XYZ company.” (Yes, really. Well, pretty close, anyway!)
• Those in the opportunity camp also have an alarming tendency to hurl themselves zealously into a zillion different social media activities, without any thought to potential communication, brand, employee, or reputation implications. “We just  learned how to get 2,000 new followers every day! We’re popular!” (Well, popular with spammers, anyway!)

Those in the middle. Fortunately, I also come across folks in the middle of these two extremes. I meet a growing number of business people who understand that social media represents a huge opportunity for their organizations. They are also concerned about how reckless use of social media may lead to a damaged reputation or brand. They realize that without policy for acceptable use, it can be a major resource drain.

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

The Social Media Balance Challenge. These smart business people invest in growing their organization’s social media literacy. They realize a major shift is fundamentally changing the way they do business. They know that social media isn’t just a marketing thing,  it’s not an HR thing, or a customer service thing — it’s an “everybody” thing. Appropriate social media use needs to be embedded into every aspect the the organization.

Here are 8 ways the smart organization proceeds with using social media for business:

1. They listen before they talk.
2. They do not participate in goofy social media marketing schemes.
3. They update their HR and communications policies to include appropriate employee use of social media channels.
4. Their brand guides include an employee section on appropriate tone and image to use in social media channels.
5. They build real relationships through authentic conversations.
6. They outline consequences for employees when they fail to live up to policy guidelines.
7. They do not outsource social media activities to marketing agencies.
8. They invest in employee training (after all, employees need to know more than how to use the technology, many also need communications training!)

Undoubtedly, there are more activities than the 8 listed here. What else does your organization do to successfully navigate the sometimes tricky tributaries of social media channels?

So. Are you a Twitter artist?

Twitter is a new medium. No question.

And like any medium, people can use it to create art and build community.

photo credit: Torley
What’s up with this image?
Think 1922, Paul Klee.

It’s no coincidence that Twitter came to be in an era of economic uncertainty.

Many use this simple new tool to build a community around ideas and emotions. They’re reaching out to others. They’re expressing themselves. They’re creating new social groups.

These people are the Twitter Artists.

When centralized mass media outlets cherry-pick stories to tell us how others are feeling, we are often led to believe these outlier feelings are mainstream and normal.

But when we read first-person narratives of the life that occurs in between the big stories, we tend to see a more finely nuanced portrait.

Twitter artists provide this nuance. Tweet by tweet, they create a portrait. Their perspectives provide a balance.

Are you a Twitter artist? Or do you know someone who is? Who are they?

(I really want to know! Please comment…)

Here is this week’s most oft-asked question:

“In social media, how do you separate your personal life from your professional life?”

photo credit: Kelly Hau Photography

The questioners explain that they thought LinkedIn was professional and FaceBook was personal — but now that people are using FaceBook for professional reasons — what is one to do? (And what about separating Twitter accounts: one for personal, one for professional?)

The answer: Think in terms of your “personal brand.”

What is your brand personality? Quick! Name your three personal brand attributes. Don’t know what they are? Find your personal brand attributes with an easy exercise! In branding exercises, we know that “your brand is what people say it is.” Find out what your customers, prospects, and markets are saying about you — that’s your personal brand. Balance this with the image you’d like to project to the world.

When you know your personal brand attributes cold, go to FaceBook. (Or LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, your blog, et. al.)

Before you post hastily, ask yourself,

“Is the content I’m about to post consistent with my personal brand attributes?”

If it isn’t, don’t post!

Your brand is what people say it is. You may not like it, but when you participate in social media, you have a personal brand.

Choose to present your brand wisely! Future employers are listening. Your customers are listening. Your prospects are listening.

Represent!

Be yourself!

Be your best self.

When you’re interested in buying something online, you become an information junkie!

But where are savvy internet shoppers going to search for purchasing information? Google — or Twitter?

This 3+ minute video explains an important social media trend for customers and companies. You may not be searching for product information and reviews at Twitter yet — but many people are. And many people will.

It’s all about trust. What does your gut tell you: to trust interactive, social comments from real people and friends– or static corporate promotional content that you find on web sites?

I posed this question on Twitter and FaceBook. Specifically, I asked, “Are you more likely to ask Google or Twitter when you’re looking for purchasing information?”

Not surprisingly, those who are not active on Twitter answered “Google!”

What about you? Where do you turn when you look for online purchasing information? Where do your customers and prospects look for information? (Are you there?)

And what will the future hold?

How can you make your LinkedIn Profile a little more friendly for people — and for search engines?

It’s easy.

Don’t use the default “My Website” or “My Blog” when entering the address of your website or blog!

Instead, use “Other” — and type in short and descriptive “anchor text” that tells your audience more precisely where the link is leading them.

Here’s a 1 minute, 12 second video that shows you exactly how to make your profile a little more search engine — and audience friendly.

If the above video isn’t loading fast enough, you can watch it at YouTube.

All at once, I am flattered + horrified.

Flattered, because a public figure asked me to manage her online reputation.

Horrified, because she wanted me to “ghost write” her blog content, accept social media invitations, and interact with her fan base.

Without (much of) her involvement.

The horror!

I have nothing against ghost writers. After all, I write speeches and design presentations for others. It’s a collaborative process. Framing, shaping, editing, and polishing always goes on behind the scenes.

Collaboration is a huge part of ghosting. Without collaboration, it’s not really ghosting. It’s sort of like fiction. But not the good kind of fiction that leads you to deeper universal truths. No, social media fiction of this nature is completely made up junk — with no social value.

photo credit: Sérgio Savaman Savarese

I  asked my would-be client about her motivation for getting involved with social media. What are her goals? If the goal is to grow or deepen her fan base, perhaps reaching out to fans through various social media plays can help. Or if the goal is self-expression  — maybe social media involvement can provide a vehicle and an audience for creative ideas.

Or maybe not.

But neither of these goals is likely to be achieved through “faking” relationships and stories.

So I made my “no ghost posties” position clear in my pitch. Crystal clear. Transparent, as the social media types say! But my would-be client pushed back: if I wouldn’t do it, she would have to find someone who would.

My arguments about the value of authenticity and truthfulness seemed to fail. Perhaps one argument hit a nerve — the likelihood that she would eventually get caught. Imagine it: a publicist pretending to be a client might ghost-post about how groovy her new nail polish looks. But at the exact same moment, the client is actually getting a traffic citation. Something as simple and inevitable as a simultaneous Twitter/Arrest would definitely brand a public figure as a fake and disgrace.

Getting arrested? No big deal.

Getting outed as a liar on YouTube, FaceBook, or Twitter? That’s hard to live down!

So when it comes to social media, what’s an appropriate role for the publicist? I asked pals on Twitter to share their insights. Here’s their Twittery response:

Perhaps Twitter pal Charity Hisle said it most succinctly: “Set-up, Monitoring, Advice.”

That’s it. In essence, those are the only 3 appropriate social media publicist roles.

1. Set up. This can include developing a social media strategy and response framework, as well as navigating the client through technical set-up and initial content creation (profile pictures, resumes, background, schedules, etc. “Publishing Data” as Dennis Stevenson put it. But definitely no character or voice pieces… )
2. Monitoring. Listening and responding to online buzz is a huge part of social media publicity. The publicist should stay on top of breaking stories that can impact the reputation of the public figure. That’s where than can offer…
3. Advice. A great publicist will put a client’s reputation first and recommend effective practices for navigating the sometimes tricky tributaries of social media channels.   Embracing and engaging an online fan base requires authenticity: anything less is likely to be a disaster.

Where do you stand on the ghost-post? How many times have you interacted with a public figure online and thought, “I wonder if I really connected with person — or just their army of advisors?” What’s your trust factor when it comes to public figures and social media? Who have you connected with that seems authentic — and who falls into the “fakin’ it” column?

Here is a 6 second audio file. Please listen carefully.

You’ve probably heard this six-second message before. I just added “more cowbell” to make it less annoying / more beautiful.

In case you don’t have speakers, here’s what the six-second message says,

 When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press pound for more options.

You likely hear that loathsome message every time you roll into cell phone voicemail. You stare vacantly into outer space while listening to this insipid bit of weirdness.

It’s just so wrong, for so many reasons.

American productivity diminishes during that six seconds. Our collective level of stupor raises.

When I’ve finished recording, I can hang up? Really? It’s not like I was planning to just hold on the line indefinitely!

I’ve probably heard that six second bit at least 39 times today. Add it up. It ain’t cheap. Who profits from this?

If you pay by the minute, the cell phone company is lapping up some lavish coin — on both ends of the phone line. Your productivity is diminished. Your intelligence is assaulted.

How can we make this nonsense go away? Or make it optional? I can put it on the end of my voicemail — if I really want it.

But I don’t, because people who call me are smart enough to disconnect after leaving a voicemail. (Note: they don’t “hang” up anymore. What’s to hang?)

Archaic, inaccurate, annoying…

Who’s with me on this?

Or am I totally off base?