digisqueaks

your digital shadow

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // online, social media

Brian Solis, blogger at PR 2.0, never ceases to produce interesting posts. Opening my RSS reader today, I came across one titled Casting a Digital Shadow; Your Reputation Precedes You. Not the most information-intense article, but a good overview of keeping your online identity in check. He gave some great examples of people being fired from jobs (or not being hired) because of information or photos they had posted on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social networking site. He states in the post that CareerBuilder.com recently completed a study in which

The professional network asked 2,500 hiring managers whether they
search Facebook or other social networks to discover information about
prospective employees. An astonishing, but not unexpected, 38-percent
of respondents said yes. In comparison, only 22% of hiring managers
acknowledged searching social networks in 2008.

He later cites another survey done in 2006 where 77% of job recruiters had used search engines to do background checks on candidates.

I’m always so surprised when I see Facebook friends post pictures of themselves wasted at some party or complaining on and on about work when I know their employers are just as experienced in social networking as they are. I’ve stressed that they should be aware of the backlash their posts could have, but they say, “Oh, they’ll never see it.” Or even better, “They don’t care.” I don’t bother going into it, but inside I’m screaming, but what about that boss 5 years down the road? What you post on the internet is there…forever. Even when you delete things they are often archived or cached. The last boss I had openly said that he’d checked out all of the job candidates on Facebook before he hired me.

If you’ve never given thought to how your online identity can affect you or your think anyone warning you is feeding you bull, do yourself a favor and check out Casting a Digital Shadow; Your Reputation Precedes You or do a simple search for similar articles.

why have a facebook fan page?

// June 26th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // design, media, mobile, online, social media, technology

Lately, I’ve been talking to more and more small businesses that express that they aren’t getting out to enough people. They are starting to realize that more and more people are turning away from phonebooks or newspaper ads and to the internet for their business searches. Recently, I was at a local conservation commission meeting and they had expressed that they did not receive the crowd that they had wanted for a trail opening. My boyfriend asked, “Did you advertise?” They said they had posted it on various billboards, in newspapers, and in mailings. We both admitted that neither of us had seen a single ad that they had distributed. I added, “I probably would’ve noticed if I had seen it on the computer.” Slowly, more local businesses are realizing that people are turning to the internet for nearly every need: news updates, television shows, conversing, finding sales, etc. Having a website always sounds like a good idea, but some small businesses are hesitant. They think that they don’t have the funds, the time or knowledge to make updates, or doubt the importance of such a thing. But it is important. More than ever. I think, for those that are hesitant, a very good step that small businesses can take is to either set up a Facebook Fan Page, or pay a small amount to have one set up. Why? You ask. I’ll show you.

A Few Statistics For You To Consider

• There are more than 200 million active users, with 100 million of them logging on at least once a day. More than 66% of Facebook users are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic of users is those 35 years old and older.
• The average user has at least 120 friends. (This is especially useful when you consider the term, ‘viral marketing’. When a person becomes a fan, everyone of his/her friends sees that they are a fan. Each “John Doe became a fan of Suchandsuch” has a link, “Click to become a fan.”)
• More than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, videos, etc.) are shared each week.
• Facebook is currently translated into over 50 languages with 40 more in development.
• Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications.
• More than 10,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect sites since its general availability in December 2008.
• More than 30 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices.
• There are more than 150 mobile operators in 50 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products.
• Internet users do not need a Facebook account to see Facebook Fan Pages.

(Stats from public Facebook Factsheet.)

What Can You Post? How Customizable is it?

Facebook Pages are almost entirely customizable. The only parts that you cannot change are items that you wouldn’t want to change because users are very used to seeing the standard elements (profile photos, “the wall”, different boxes, etc.). At the start you have the standard tabs: Wall, Info, Photos, Discussions. You also have Reviews and Events. Of all of the tabs and boxes, the only ones that must remain are Wall (where interactions take place) and Info (website, hours, phone, etc.). You can add as many as you’d like and customize anything as you’d like. For example, on my Facebook Fan Page I have the Wall, Info, Extended Info (services, payments, etc.), Photos, Hello! (welcome page) and Boxes (with blog info, Zazzle store, etc.).

More and more applications are being built that can simply be added to pages. For example, do you sell your crafts through Etsy? You can display items from your store right through an Etsy app. Do you sell shirts, mugs, or bumper stickers on Zazzle? Display them with the Merch Store app. Want to accept donations right on your Facebook Page? There are apps for that as well.

There are also apps (Extended Info and FBML) that allow users to insert HTML, Markdown, or Textile code to included photos, galleries, Flash, videos, etc.

Administrators and users (if allowed) can easily post photos, videos, and comments. Administrators can also send updates which go out to all of their fans.

Have an event coming up? A sale or customer appreciation barbeque? Simply create an Event with time, place, photos, description and allow users to RSVP right through Facebook. Users can also ask questions on the Event page and comment with suggestions. Any users that are sent the Event will receive a reminder of the Event several days before it happens and will continue to see it until the day of the Event.

Several Ways To Get The Word Out

• After June 28, 2009 small businesses will also be allowed to get a vanity URL. For those that don’t know what this is, it’s a custom link to their page, for example facebook.com/companyname.
• Don’t like the facebook.com in there? Make a subdomain with your own hosting and send people that way. List it on your business cards, newsletters, or newspaper advertisements. For example, I use facebookpage.mepriestley.com for my Facebook Fan Page.
• When you publish your FB Page you have the option to “Suggest to Friends.” They will automatically get a link to become a fan. Once they become a fan, all their friends will see that they are fans. If you have a group of people that are friends (say classmates of Oxbow Highschool) will see your company in their sidebar and it will say “5 of your friends became fans of YourCompany. Become a Fan.”
• Use other social media or internet means. Link your FB Page to your Twitter account. What about your LinkedIn account? No idea what I’m talking about? You could also send out an email newsletter and include the link.
• Finally, Facebook gives you the option to “Promote Your Page with an Ad.” This works much like Google Adwords. Facebook ads are Pay-Per-Click. For each click you get, you pay a small fee.

Finally – Why not? It’s free! Another good point that I’ve read in the articles below is that, your competitors are joining. Whether you like it or not, there are companies that are joining and users are listening and interacting with them. Where are you?

Not convinced yet? Just do a few searches for Facebook on Google, or turn on the news to see what an impact it is having. Here’s a few articles for you to consider if you are so inclined:
1. Is a Facebook Page a Complete Social Media Strategy? by Adam Ostrow – Mashable
2. HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook by Dan Schawbel – Mashable
3. 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence by Steve Coulson – Mashable
4. Is Social Media Making Corporate Website Irrelevant? by Adam Ostrow – Mashable
5. Facebook Profiles Will Appear in Google Results Next Month by Pete Cashmore – Mashable
6. What Are the Top Performing Brands on Facebook? by Adam Ostrow – Mashable
7. How Charities Are #FindingTheGood With Facebook Pages by Alison Driscoll – Mashable

(Why are all my links from Mashable? It’s the “Social Media Guide.”)

Clay Shirky – on how media is changing history

// June 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // applications, miscellaneous, mobile, online, plugins

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, speaks on TED about changing media. I’ve posted his talk above: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can change history.

The talk itself is very interesting. I was a little surprised at how much time was spent on how media affected a few isolated events. The talk repeated the same message that I’ve been reading in articles all over the internet lately. That’s the idea that media has gone from a one-to-one relationship to a one-to-many and finally to the many-to-many relationship that we have today. At one time people could talk to one another. Then TV networks, radio show hosts, or columnists could reach out and deliver a message to a broader audience. Today millions of people can literally communicate with millions of other people with all sorts of different messages. Not only can a person talk to a person, but an organized (or unorganized) group can interact with another group thousands of miles away if they’d like to. Shirky states that we have had the “largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

Shirky mostly touched on Twitter and a tiny bit on text messaging. I didn’t actually catch any mention of Facebook. I think it’s just assumed that it’s included as one of the biggest networks that people can communicate through. I thought one specific quote was especially interesting.

These tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring. It isn’t when the shiny new tools show up that their uses start permeating society, it’s when everybody is able to take them for granted.

It seems that this is entirely the case. Most people are still acting like Facebook is a brand new network, when really it’s been around since the beginning months of 2004. It just seems new and exciting because everyone and his brother is now a member. Or Twitter. Twitter is already three years old. It wasn’t until the end of 2008 or early 2009 that Twitter really started being dropped in conversations. In either case, both networks are now mentioned daily, if not hourly on news stations and throughout personal conversations.

As Shirky says,

The question we all face now is how can we make best use of this media even though it means changing the way we’ve always done it?

As I had touched on in a previous post, Social Media -- Where Is It Headed?, more and more people feel the literal need to get involved. This of course leads to what Shirky touched upon -- more and more of the “producers” of content are amateurs. Every second, people are connecting to new networks and adding content to those to which they already belong. Are we going to hit a breaking point? How are we supposed to filter this media, or are we?

social media – where is it headed?

// June 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // applications, mobile, online, tech

Social media seems to be transforming not only the internet, but the world, bit by bit. Within the last few months it seems that you cannot turn on the morning news without hearing the words tweet or Facebook. In everyday conversations I find myself referring to these technologies without even meaning to. Many times I am speaking to people who have absolutely no interaction with the internet whatsoever. As I describe my internet explorations, many people are amazed at how connected everything is and how easy it is to accomplish things with various programs. Others could care less and think that it is crazy that people would want to share as much as they do. Both my explanations of these technologies and the articles I have read lately make me wonder if we will take it too far. Most likely, I think we will.

Every time I sit down to update my networks, I am surprised at how long it actually takes. Between posting photos, posting videos, publishing blog posts, updating statuses…not too mention actually generating the photos, videos, and posts. As always, the more work something takes, the harder people try to figure out a way to make it quicker. Such is the case with the our new social media commitments.

Brian Solis, principal of an award-winning Public Relations and New Media agency writes a number of excellent articles on social media. One in particular, The Social Media Manifesto: Integrating Social Media Into Marketing Communications, is especially valid for this post. Surprisingly, even though it was written two years ago, it seems to precisely describe our current relations on the internet.

Monologue has given way to dialog…Content is the new democracy and we the people, are ensuring that our voices are heard…Those who participate will succeed – everyone else will either have to catch up or miss the game altogether. Engage or die.

Of course that is in regards to marketing. Companies will most certainly go under if they don’t grasp this new technology. But even in a broader scope, I think everyone is starting to feel this pressure, little by little. The more they have pressure, the more they will want to interact or feel left out. More and more I’ll find myself say, “Have you heard from John Doe? I saw his pictures posted on Facebook, seems like he’s having a good time.” If they aren’t already on Facebook, the reply has gone from “What’s Facebook?” to “Man, I really need to join that soon.”

But what if people don’t have the time? It takes too much effort…or it’s too confusing to them. What happens then? It seems that companies are taking care of that. Continue Reading