More social-network Stories

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At first glance, 5050biz.com looks a lot like LinkedIn. So I asked the folks at 5050biz the obvious question: if I’m already on LinkedIn, as a lot of web workers are, what does 5050biz have to offer me? Read more »

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Am I the only one struggling with a consistent and coherent definition for the term “social media?” What is social media, who came up with the term, and who defines it now? Read more »

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The latest release of BuddyPress 1.2 now supports installation on single-user WordPress (version 2.9.x) blogs, which is exciting news as it means that millions of sites can now add social networking/community features to their existing blogs. Read more »

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When two hundred journalists got together recently for an “un-conference” on the future of journalism, it was hardly surprising that the results were documented, minute by minute, through notes, wikis, photos, audio, video, blogs and an amazing number of tweets. The organizers approached me to develop […] Read more »

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A good bio shares your experience, builds your credibility, makes a first impression and displays your personality. Having a great Twitter bio is important as it can make or break a person’s decision whether to follow you or not. Not only do you need to pay attention […] Read more »

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Social networking has generally been discouraged in the workplace, with many corporate IT departments blocking access to sites like Facebook and MySpace due to privacy concerns. But these efforts are becoming increasingly futile as our lives continue to converge with social networks, analysts at a Gartner […] Read more »

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Watching Chris Brogan of New Marketing Labs on stage for the first time at Izeafest 2009 made me pause. “Is this a conference about blogging, or have I been transported to a comedy club on ‘Best of Improv Night’?” I thought to myself. Even when “trying […] Read more »

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Qualcomm’sFLO TV is launching the properly-named-but-it’s-kind-of-a-boring-moniker FLO TV Personal Television device for those who want to watch television on the go. But do consumers want to carry around another device and pay another subscription to watch TV wherever they are? The FLO TV Personal Television plays […] Read more »

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I’ve been a huge fan of Second Life since I first “rezzed” (logged into the virtual 3-D environment) in March 2007, and have previously blogged about my own Second Life. Despite all the limitations and downsides of Second Life (and there are many), it has been […] Read more »

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I’ve been a little caught off-guard lately with some of the presumptions people seem to be making now on Twitter. Where did all these expectations, such as an expectation for a response to a retweet or a “follow back,” come from? Why are people coming to […] Read more »

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We don’t often give much thought to our bios, even though they’re actually important and a big part of everything we do online. They’re on the “About” pages on our web sites, in our profiles at social networks, and in pitches that we send out. Often, […] Read more »

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There is no doubt that Facebook is the 900-pound gorilla in the world of social networks. But recently I read a post about Facebook being better than Twitter for business, and I don’t think that’s always true. Granted, I recommend Facebook Pages to my clients, swoon […] Read more »

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In Wayne Dyer’s new book “Excuses Begone!“, he talks about how fear is one of the biggest excuses for people living an unhappy existence and not going after what they want. He suggests using the emotional opposite of fear (love) to combat the excuse. He says […] Read more »

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Yesterday, I read the Unconventional Guide to the Social Web, and although I found a lot of useful information in it, one thing has stuck with me since reading it. Your blog is your mothership. Don’t neglect it for lesser tools.

This is an important thing to keep in mind when marketing your business online. There are tons of ways to build a web presence, including a variety of social media and networking sites, but nothing is as important as your blog.

Maintained correctly, your blog is the one tool that will get you the most traffic, and it’s the tool over which you have the most control. If you set out with the intention of posting three to five times per week, within a year, you will begin seeing significant activity around your site. Within two to three years, you could easily be an authority in your particular niche.

But, how can you make sure that you don’t neglect your blog (or mothership)?

#1 Spend time there.

Visit your site or blog frequently (ideally, several times per day). This helps you stay connected with your vision for your business, and it also helps you stay in tune with the usability of your site, as well as find ways to improve it.

#2 Keep it updated.

It’s very easy to allow a month to go by without posting a single blog entry. Naturally, the frequency of your posts will depend on a number of factors, most important being your own goals for your site, but you should post on a regular and consistent schedule so that your site content remains fresh.

#3 Engage your audience.

Ask questions, make thought-provoking posts, and most importantly, monitor the comments on your blog. If someone replies to one of your posts, take the time to respond, and if you really want to impress the person, email him or her with a thoughtful “thank you for following” message. Read more »

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Paid tweeting is nothing new. We’ve all seen spam users and posts in our Twitter feed and our following list, but usually the attempts are painfully obvious and easily dismissed. A new venture, Sponsored Tweets, by IZEA founder Ted Murphy (the guy with the tongue, in […] Read more »

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ngmoco recently introduced a social gaming platform that was billed as the iPhone’s Xbox Live equivalent. Plus+ is meant to track players’ in-game achievements, rankings, and allow them to challenge one another to compete in asynchronous multiplayer battles. It’s a well-designed system, and it works well, […] Read more »

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Yesterday may have been when Apple hosted its quarterly earnings conference call, but the company’s financial performance was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic death of a worker at an iPhone manufacturing facility. The factory, run by supplier Foxconn, is located in the Chinese city of Shenzen. […] Read more »

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[qi:gigaom_icon_google-android] Google is looking to make future versions of its Android operating system more social, said Andy Rubin, one of its creators and Google’s vice president of engineering (platforms), at an event in San Francisco earlier this morning. The event was held with T-Mobile USA to […] Read more »

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In the current economy, business networking is more important than ever: We need to use lots of different techniques for finding clients. Social networks can be a great addition to our marketing toolboxes. Since I started actively using social networks (only a year and a half ago!), I’ve reconnected with old friends, and have gotten quite of bit of business that can be directly attributed to connections that were facilitated through these networks.

But social networks can also be great time-wasters, too. However, If you focus on the marketing aspects of the networks, the time spent using them can consist of, as Meryl says, “zero-guilt activities.” Here are some tips for using social networks as effective marketing tools. Read more »

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While it may not happen in a single 140-character line, Twitter opens the door for connecting with potential clients, building relationships, finding new employees and satisfying cravings for water cooler chats, all of which can lead to opportunities. Both new and not-so-new Twitter users often ask how businesses can benefit from the service. These stories illustrate how Twitter makes it possible without doing any icky hard selling. Read more »

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As social networks have proliferated, it’s sometimes hard to remember where one’s online identities may be found. And if you have a common name, as I do, people sometimes can’t tell which Charles Hamilton I am. (No, I’m not a rap artist!) Thus, there are a […] Read more »

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We have all learned that good news travels fast online, but bad news travels faster. Now, with social networks, blogs and microblogs, the speed with which bad news can travel online is staggering, as everyone can get in on the conversation almost instantly. What can any of us — individual, organization, company — do to handle a social media communications crisis? Read more »

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The best way to describe Blerp, now in open beta, is a social network that looks like it’s swallowed the entire web. Once you create an account and log in, the network is represented in a frame around your browser display, so every web site is […] Read more »

Subscriber Content

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Consumers and businesses are grabbing their movies, business software and computing when they want it, and storing it “in the cloud” when they don’t. Thanks to wireless networks and an increasing number of broadband-connected appliances, this means content can be accessed anywhere there’s a connection and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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[qi:_newteevee] Facebook has become such an integral part of life for more than 175 million people that little about the company really surprises me anymore. A few months ago, they became world’s largest online photo site. Today, Liz Gannes points out over at NewTeeVee that the […] Read more »

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The latest Nielsen U.S. video streaming numbers for February have 1-year-old Hulu at No. 2. Over the course of the month, the upstart site beat out Yahoo, in January after finishing higher than Fox Interactive Media (MySpace). Previously, those two massive portals had long rounded out […] Read more »

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Corporate social networking company Socialtext adds to its product lineup today. Building on the theories of collaboration and networking that Socialtext founder Ross Mayfield and I discussed previously, the new additions are intended to improve collaboration and teamwork by binding the “loose ties” in an organization […] Read more »

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Sometimes, analysis comes ahead of the news. Like today. Last night I posted my analysis of why mobile is critical to Facebook and its future. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook is in talks with Nokia, the world’s largest phone maker, to embed its […] Read more »

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Working as a freelance artist or musician can be a trying experience, at best. It’s still a field where, in general, the work speaks volumes and can more than make up for a relatively shallow C.V. But how best to show off your work, and make […] Read more »

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I’ve been looking for ways to better distribute my business contact information to others without the use of the traditional paper business card. Sure, I have really enjoyed handing out my varied and conversation-starting Moo cards at events, however, I’m often caught without my cards and […] Read more »

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Is “Social” already over? That’s news to me. Those immersed in web work may be sick of the (over)use of the word “social,” particularly if, like me, they’ve been working in the social media space back before anyone called it “social.” Read more »

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The brains behind the Google Android platform have announced the addition of 14 new members.  The Open Handset Alliance states these new members will “either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant codeto the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem throughproducts and services that will […] Read more »

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I’ve been using ShareThis on my blogs and recommending it to my clients for a while now. I explain to my clients that ShareThis is a “passive broadcaster” of their content, giving their blog and web site visitors handy tools to email posts or articles to […] Read more »

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I recently spoke with Ross Mayfield, founder of Socialtext, about his product – an enterprise-level group collaboration platform – and he shared some theories of collaboration that led to the development of the software. He spoke about the construction of a social network and how our […] Read more »

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I think I’m pretty “friendly” on Facebook. I currently have over 400 Facebook “friends,” and some are actually people who I actually would consider my friend in real life while others are just people I know but don’t know well. I have thought about unfriending those […] Read more »

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