Welcome To Social Media: Volume 1

Welcome to Social Media was created as a place for the Cleveland Social Media Club to share
educational materials designed to help individuals and businesses navigate the quickly evolving world of
social media. This is the first of what we hope will be many e-books offering social media tips and advice
to users of all skill levels. Please visit http://www.welcometosocialmedia.com/ for access to this volume
and future volumes.
Editor-in-Chief: Jim England

Copy editors: Heidi Cool, Jim England, Jeff Hershberger, George Nemeth,
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Project leader: George Nemeth
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Web site design and development: Heidi Cool
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ii Welcome to Social Media: Volume 1, June 2009 Social Media Club – Cleveland
INTRODUCTION—DEFINING SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS RELEVANCE
What is Social Media? ....................................................................................................................... 1
How Social Media Changed My Life .................................................................................................. 1
THE BREAKDOWN—ANALYZING AND EVALUATING SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Using Social Media to Better Meet Your Needs ................................................................................. 2
Conversation: The Catalyst for Connection ....................................................................................... 4
Micro-Media & The Future of Narrative ............................................................................................ 6
D ISCUSSIONS —FEATURED RECOMMENDATIONS , OBSERVATIONS, AND INSPIRATION

Social Media for the Working Mom or Dad ....................................................................................... 8
Social Media Makes Pepper Pike a Hub of Activism .......................................................................... 9
What Does Your Profile Photo Say About You? ............................................................................... 10
PERSONAL BEST PRACTICES—UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

Using Social Media to Help Your Job Search .................................................................................... 11
Using Social Media to Make Face-to-Face Connections ................................................................... 13
Writing Well for Social Media ......................................................................................................... 14
PROFESSIONAL BEST PRACTICES—SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE

Setting Goals to Plan Your Social Media Strategy ............................................................................ 18
Introduction to Measuring Social Media for PR/Marketing ............................................................. 21
Social Media and Social Change: A Guide for Nonprofit Organizations ............................................ 23
Promoting Events Via Social Media ................................................................................................. 25
TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS —THE POWER AND POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media and Presentation Technology ..................................................................................... 27
Privacy and Security in Social Media ............................................................................................... 30
Social Media Case Study: messy magazine ...................................................................................... 32
Things to Consider When Building a Social Media Web Application ................................................ 34
Welcome to Social Media: Volume 1, June 2009 Social Media Club – Cleveland iii
S o there is this online phenomenon that is
attracting troves of people to participate
in these online websites. They all claim to
be a part of a revolution called “social media,”
Everyone can convey meaning and information
to an audience. Everyone is an equal player
with equal ability to share his or her
perspective. But most importantly—when you
but what is social media anyway? say something, people can talk back. They
respond and discuss, and you respond and
It is easiest to begin with something we discuss. Instead of talking at your friends and
understand—media. Media is a means for
colleagues, you actually are talking with them.
communication. It involves a content medium—
like pictures, sounds, videos, or text—and it This discussion, powered by the Internet, allows
conveys meaning and information to an people to form online communities around
audience. Sometimes that audience is you, their interests. These communities have been
sometimes it’s your friend, or sometimes it’s freed from geographical and other limitations,
your crazy uncle who moved to Timbuktu. allowing people to work together in ways never
before possible. This revolution has
Take TV for example—someone decided to transformed the Internet into a medium of
make a TV show, chose you as the audience,
communities and conversations—social media.
and sent information to you through a box in
your living room. This is an example of Tim Gasper, CMO and cofounder of
traditional media as we have become CorkShare, is a senior at Case Western
accustomed to. Old media, like TV, radio, Reserve University, Economics and
newspapers, and even most websites are Marketing major with a web/tech focus.
unidirectional. They talk at you, not with you. His interests include social media,
blogging, music writing, and running.
However, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
represent something different—everyone can
make pictures, sounds, videos, or text.
My life changed in January 2008. In some ways, I think I have always been a social
media person. My parents always had
That's when I attended a forum at the newspapers around the house, while TV was my
University of Akron featuring David Tapscott, best friend. In college, I studied public relations,
the author of Wikinomics. In the course of an but I was heavily involved with radio and the
hour, I learned about social media and found a newspaper.
new career.
While working at Cleveland.com in 2000, I was
in awe of the techies because they had the
1 Welcome to Social Media: Volume 1, June 2009 Social Media Club – Cleveland
know-how to actually do the things that I Originally from Akron, the woman had moved
pondered in my head. By 2008, social network to Dayton years before Lock 3 Park was built.
tools like Blogger allowed me to turn my ideas She decided to come after watching the tour
into a reality. link her sister had sent from YouTube.
After seeing Mr. Tapscott's speech, I immersed This is the power of social media.
myself in social media and read books like David
While measuring tools, like Google Analytics,
Meerman Scotts' “New Rules For Marketing and
are a great way to measure online traffic, you
PR”.
don't always know if your social media efforts
In February 2008, I attended a seminar where I are really making an impact. But when you see
met Michelle Veronsky, author of the blog the results in person, as I did when meeting the
Foodie Critic, (who was a great help to me) and woman who had traveled from Dayton, the
Matt Dickman, who introduced me to Twitter. results are made real.
I took this information and used their advice for While winning the Emerging Leader Award from
a social media campaign for Lock 3 Park, the The Summit Awards for my Lock 3 Park
downtown entertainment venue for the City of campaign was great, there's nothing more
Akron. satisfying than hearing someone say “Thank
You” for your work.
From April to September, I was a social media
maven—with the focus of Steve Jobs and the That's the true meaning of SOCIAL Media.
swagger of Jay-Z.
Kevin Lockett is a social media consultant
I created a blog called lock3live.blogspot.com, in Akron, Ohio. In late 2008 he
where I previewed performances, posted successfully used Facebook in a social
pictures on Flickr, created viral contests and media awareness campaign to help bring
uploaded behind the scenes interviews via back canceled stations on Sirius XM
YouTube. I used Twitter to remind Tweeps radio. Recently, Mr. Lockett launched
about shows and MySpace to interact with Hirejam.com, a Web site dedicated to
performers. green jobs in the State of Ohio. Kevin can
be found on a variety of services
However, social media became real to me when including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook,
a woman walked up to me and said “Thank and email.
You”. The woman recognized me from the Lock
3 Park tour video I had uploaded to YouTube
Why are people wasting time on Facebook/ “get” social media. Socializing with others is
Twitter/Flickr/Ning, etc. when they should be only one of the reasons to use social media.
talking to people face to face? This type of People are turning away from newspapers and
question is asked a lot by people who don’t yet television and turning to social media to obtain
Welcome to Social Media: Volume 1, June 2009 Social Media Club – Cleveland 2
news, learn new things, and entertain each The more the consumer has the ability to
other with pictures, videos, music, and games. customize and interact with social media to
The reason this shift has begun is simple: social better meet their needs, the more gratifications
media can gratify certain needs better than will be obtained, and the more the user will be
older forms of media. dependent on that social media in the future.
Obtaining news through television or the
The uses and gratifications theory of newspaper does not give one the ability to
communications uses the media consumer
immediately interact with those that produce
rather than the media message as its starting the news. Social media outlets such as Twitter,
point, and explores a person’s communication however, allow the user to immediately
behavior in terms of their direct experience respond to a reporter and their audience
with the media. Individuals are not acted upon directly and hopefully receive a response.
by media and its message, they make a
conscious choice of what medium to use and Demassification
what messages to receive depending on how
No longer are we limited to socializing with
certain needs are met. These needs can be
those in our immediate surroundings. Through
broken into four different categories:
social media, similar interests, not geographic
1. The need for entertainment and escapism space, defines who we socialize with. Ning is a
2. The need to develop personal relationships social media site designed specifically to bring
3. The need to affirm or further develop a people together based on their similar interests.
personal identity through knowledge and There is a Ning community for almost every
interests type of interest. Being active in an online
4. The need of surveillance, or the community about something you are interested
understanding of the surrounding world in is much more gratifying than passively
watching a television program that you are only
We all use media to gratify these four needs. somewhat interested in. Additionally, interests
The type of media we choose to use depends define who we are, and social media allows us
on whether or not we feel our need is gratified to further express and develop our personality
by that media. The more gratification we with others.
receive from a particular medium, the more
likely we are to return to that medium time and Asynchroneity
time again. Some people are content using the The Internet has given the consumer more
newspaper to obtain information about their control over how and when to receive their
community, escape, and develop an identity. news & entertainment. Consumers now control
Others develop a personal identity through the when they decide to consume media. This, of
television shows they watch, and the personal course, includes social media. If you are busy,
relationships they feel they have developed do what you need to do, your social media
with television personalities. friends will be there when you have a free
Ask anyone who regularly uses social media moment. It is easy to catch up on the news of
why they do so, and every reason they give can the day, respond to tweets, or comment on a
be attributed to one of the four needs. By using friends’ picture when you have the free time.
the Internet and mobile devices, social media Socializing and consuming media on YOUR
has the advantage of utilizing four concepts that watch is far more gratifying than rearranging
that are unique to the Internet, making it a your entire day to fit a predetermined schedule.
medium that better gratifies the needs of the Hypertextuality
user:
Hypertextuality refers to the ability to create
Interactivity links to other web sites through pictures, words,
graphs, and keywords. This can create a non- JD Drake is a marketing communications
linear way of obtaining information online, like professional currently seeking
channel surfing on the Internet. Social media employment in the Northeast Ohio area.
allows you to share links easily with anyone you In 2008, following the publishing of his
want. Likewise, you are able to quickly see what thesis “Uses & Gratifications: How
several friends are interested in by following marketers can utilize emerging media to
links they have posted. Once again, you and better meet the needs of their audience,”
your friends are now in control over what JD received a MA in communications
media you consume and when you consume it. management – public relations through
John Carroll University. Prior to that JD
These four concepts are ways that the Internet earned a BS in television/radio
has made all of our lives a little easier, whether production - scriptwriting from Ithaca
it’s by obtaining news, being entertained, College. He then spent two years in Los
socializing with friends, or expressing our Angeles working on various television
personality. These are needs we all seek to shows including Malcolm in the Middle,
gratify on a daily basis. Social media has proven Boston Public, and the Jim Henson
to gratify all of these needs in a greater way Company. In his spare time he wrote and
than older forms of media. That is reason produced short films, television shows,
enough to believe that social media will and a full-length musical. JD currently
continue to grow as it meets the needs of more lives in Cleveland Heights with his wife.
and more people. He enjoys film, cooking, music, a good
References joke and Cleveland sports teams. You can
find him at johndaviddrake@gmail.com,
Littlejohn, S.W. (1999). Theories of Human Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter ( @JDDrake),
Communication (6th edition). Belmont, CA: Ning, FriendFeed, Del.icio.us, or his blog
Wadsworth Publishing Company. Ruggiero, T.E. potkettleblue.blogspot.com.
(2000). Uses and gratifications theory in the
21st century. Mass Communication & Society,
3, 3-37.
The term social media has emerged to provide a However, the challenge for marketers who wish
broad categorization for a collection of unique, to make effective use of social media lies in
Web-based tools for personal expression and recognizing that these technologies do not
communication, including blogs, podcasts, constitute yet another channel for the same
video and photo sharing sites, social networking tired message. (Every time I see a press release
sites, social bookmarking sites, and the latest disguised as a blog post I want to stab myself in
social media juggernaut, Twitter. the brain with a pencil.)
The rapid evolution and extraordinary What makes social media so uniquely powerful
popularity of these technologies has not gone as a marketing tool has far less to do with the
unnoticed by marketing professionals. technology than it does with an entirely
different approach to connecting with an Whether explaining or complaining, joking or
audience. That connection is defined by its one- serious, the human voice is unmistakably
to-one-to-one nature, a cascade of individual, genuine. It can’t be faked…Most corporations,
personal connections that stands in contrast to on the other hand, only know how to talk in
previous perceptions and definitions of the soothing, humorless monotone of the
audience engagement. mission statement, marketing brochure, and
your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same
Stop Selling—Start Talking
old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked
The problem—well, my problem—with markets have no respect for companies unable
“traditional” marketing communication is that or unwilling to speak as they do.
it’s so obviously fluffy and phoney and devoid of —The Cluetrain Manifesto, 1999
any evidence of genuine humanity. Yet in my
In 2009, despite the explosion in social media,
experience many marketing people seem to
how many businesses have evolved beyond
think that the audience won’t notice. The
communication that is official, artificial, and
audience notices. The audience has always
superficial? What those businesses fail to
noticed.
understand is that businesses don’t
communicate, people communicate. The use of
social media makes old-school faceless,
sanitized, “official” communication obsolete.
And the issue isn’t just about what’s being
said—it’s about who’s doing the talking.
Be a Mensch
A business is a collection of individual people, a
kind of techno-organic network within the
If anyone here is from advertising or larger global network. The use of social media
marketing—kill yourselves…There’s no tools allows individuals within one network to
rationalization for what you do and you are engage with individuals in other networks on a
Satan’s little helpers. more personal, and thereby more effective
—a performance by the late Bill Hicks, circa level.
1993
For a business, the power in social media
Despite its startling violence, that routine from centers on the ability to allow individual
the late comedian and social critic Bill Hicks audience members to tap into the thought
elicited enthusiastic applause in performances processes of the actual people behind the
in the early Nineties. At about the same time products or services a company provides.
the World Wide Web launched on a trajectory
that would do for long-established business and For that reason the conversation that connects
communication models what a very large comet a person from within the business to members
is believed to have done for the dinosaurs. of the customer community must be a genuine
reflection of the legitimate interests and
A few years later the authors of The Cluetrain passions of the individuals involved.
Manifesto brought into sharp focus the nature
of the dysfunctional relationship that emerged The pursuit of those interests and passions
between business and the newly networked rarely follows a straight line, and the creative
consumer in the early days of the Web. spark that triggers innovation might be wildly
off-topic. That’s the nature of human
conversation. The challenge for the business is
to get out of the way of that conversation in the conversation that is the catalyst for that
order to allow a genuine human connection to connection.
form, a connection based on mutual value to
A writer, editor, and social media
the individuals.
practitioner/evangelist, Bob Rhubart
Look at these two equations and let me know manages the Software Architect
which one has the most benefit to you: Community on the Oracle Technology
Network, the online community for
1. Message 1,000,000 to possibly reach 100 Oracle Corporation. In that role Bob uses
2. Personally reach 100 who influence 1,000 a wide array of social media tools,
who influence 10,000 who influence including a blog, Twitter, Facebook,
1,000,000 Friendfeed, del.ici.ous, and others.
—Redefining reach; the new marketing Before joining Oracle in June 2008, Bob
equation by Matt Dickman, 2008 was a senior product marketing specialist
for BEA Systems, where he was
That connection is unlikely to form if the people instrumental in driving the use of blogs
representing the business in the conversation as part of the BEA AquaLogic marketing
behave like an under-quota insurance salesman strategy. Before that he was director of
at a cocktail party. You wouldn’t want to get content and community for Flashline,
stuck talking to that guy, so don’t be that guy. Inc., a Cleveland-based enterprise
Talk shop, talk about projects you’re involved software start-up, where he spearheaded
in. Share your insight and expertise, but don’t the launch of the Flashline blog in 1993,
abuse your connections, and never, never, made extensive use of RSS as part of a
never resort to fluff. homegrown automated content
Each of us is an individual node in an ever- management strategy, and also
expanding global network. Social media tools developed a collaborative, wiki -based
allow us to create and manage our own product documentation process. Prior to
connections. The level and extent of that joining Flashline in 1999 Bob was a staff
personal interconnection is unique in human editor at Books.com, the very first online
history. That’s a tectonic shift in the business bookstore, founded in Cleveland in 1992.
environment, but businesses can survive the He blogs on social media and Web 2.0 at
resulting tremor if they learn to unleash—and Smallification.com.
trust—the individual voices within and learn to
participate in, rather than attempt to control,
Excerpts from “The Stories that Connect Us” messaging, status updating, and micro-blogging
(DesigningLife Books 2009) that reduce the richness and complexity of life
to sound bites.
Micro-media platforms are now dominating the
way we connect with people in our social Central to the conversation about the future of
networks. These are the media of text narrative is the question about the impact of
micro-media on our As the hyperlink has become a profound
capacity for telling metaphor in hyper-connected times, micro-
and listening to our media tools can become both serendipitous
stories. In the containers of hyperlinks and rich hyperlinking
realms of linguistics invitations through which we tell our stories.
and cultural
anthropology, Here are 5 easy things to do to increase the
power of your stories and leverage the
sound bites are the
opposites of possibilities of your connections.
stories. 1. Build your narrative portfolio
Storytelling is the Start creating a collection of your stories,
practice of building a portfolio of stories that have the
informational power to amuse others, endear them to you,
generosity, giving us meaningful insights into and engage them in topics you’re most
characters, understanding of contexts, and passionate about.
appreciation for how things unfold and come to
be. Sound bites are stingy tools, depriving us of 2. Turn experiences into stories
the richness of stories and giving us only crumbs The only stories you have are the ones you
from of an otherwise lavish meal. intentionally create. Start a journal where you
take your life experiences and craft them into
This being so, the logical conclusion on micro-
the structure of stories.
media is that it will be the bane of storytelling
and the sustainability of a narrative culture. 3. Lengthen your stories
In practice, micro-media is demonstrating two Use details, companion stories and vignettes to
observable trends. People who tend to be make any of your stories longer. Make sure
stingy communicators anyway, are using it in whatever you add increases the delight of
the way they naturally express themselves—in anticipation inherent in the fabric of the story.
sound bites.
4. Change your sharability footprints
At the same time, people who flourish in a Recraft some stories in ways that allow you to
narrative culture are using the same sound bites tell them to more people; decide which stories
as conversational hyperlinks to accessing all you want to stop telling and retelling because
kinds of stories they would never have heard they don’t add value to your connections with
without micro-media. People see a message or others.
posting from someone in the morning and later
that day, or the next, they run into the sender. 5. Tell every story better
This offers an instant opportunity to inquire into When listening to stories, ask any questions
the whole narrative and back story, something
that will glean more details and insights so that
they'd not have been able to access without
you can tell the story better than you heard it.
micro-media. The haiku brevity of micro-media
can do as much to spark a revolution or fan the Jack Ricchiuto is a writer and mentor
flames of inspiration as anything of greater engaging people in the kinds of
bandwidth or volume. Micro-media services are conversations that have the power to
already figural players in the instigation of create change. His clients are leaders,
business resurgences and new collaboration organizations, and communities seeking
opportunities among people who thrive daily in new approaches to leadership, strategic
the micro-media spaces. planning, project management, and
engaging people in collaborations based Zen (2003), Appreciative Leadership
on their strengths and passions. For 30 (2005), Mountain Paths (2006),
years, Jack's work with groups spans 24 Conscious Becoming (2007), and
industries and as many urban, rural, and Instructions from the Cook / Recipes for
virtual communities. Jack continues New Conversations (2008). In 2009 he
teaching and curriculum design with will release "The Stories that Co nnect
undergraduate, graduate, and post- Us." Jack’s undergraduate degree is from
doctorate programs in colleges and John Carroll University (1974) and
universities including Kent State and graduate degree from Goddard College,
Vanderbilt Universities. He has been a Vermont (1980). He continues teaching
leadership mentor to post-doc scientists and curriculum design with
at UC Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, and Tufts undergraduate, graduate, and post-
Universities. Jack's books include doctorate programs in colleges and
Collaborative Creativity (1997), universities including Kent State and
Accidental Conversations (2002), Project Vanderbilt Universities.
It is 7:41 on a Tuesday morning. The two oldest their offices. Others may be on their way to a
children have successfully made it on the bus, big meeting. As I type and read, and type and
and I managed to get them ready for school peruse, I imagine that a few of them might even
without threatening to take away their TV look like me: a tired mom with untidy hair,
privileges for the rest of their lives. Now I can wearing flannel pajama bottoms and an
get to work, except the youngest—who is this oversized nightshirt that used to say “Penn
close to heading off to kindergarten—wants to State” but now just says “enn Stat.”
do an “experiment.” This will require water,
paper clips, spices from the Lazy Susan and a lot The beauty of social media for a working mom
of my patience. (The scientific data for this or dad is that you can interact with peers,
clients, potential clients and influential
experiment is still being processed, by the way.)
members of the online scene without leaving
One more hour until she heads off to pre-school the comfort of your home. You can Tweet about
for three short but hopefully productive hours; a dynamic project you’ve just completed, and
however, I need to make some professional no one needs to know that you worked on it
connections right now. What to do… overnight and in-between your children’s play
dates. You can blog about the need for
Social media to the rescue! While the cumin
customer satisfaction in small businesses or the
and paprika are floating atop the water in my latest trends in interior design after putting the
daughter’s experiment, I am off to the baby down for a nap and making the three-
computer to Tweet, check my LinkedIn account year-old a hot lunch.
or work on an entry for my personal or
professional blog. Never before has it been so easy for work-from-
home parents to stay connected with people
Suddenly, I am in the midst of professionals
around the corner and around the world. Social
from a variety of fields. Some are already at media is an excellent way to keep your name in
the loop and land projects. It also can keep you You don’t have to charge out of the gates with
sane. Social media offers a chance to step social media. It has been a little over a year
outside of the home life you have worked so since I tapped into it, and I’m still discovering
hard to create, and the day-to-day shrieks and new opportunities. For now, I’ve chosen a few
squabbles that drive you crazy yet make you so outlets that are powerful yet relatively easy to
happy, and step into the “real world.” Social follow and maintain. As my free time grows, so
media encourages you to share your wisdom, will my level of involvement with social media.
pitch your ideas and make new and lasting
connections with other professionals. It also Start out slow. Spend ten minutes creating your
forces you to have grown up conversations personal profile on a site, responding to a blog
(even if some of them are only 140 characters or developing one of your own. Ten minutes of
long), and every parent needs that. “grown up” interaction can refresh your mind
after a long day with the kids, and it just may
As a writer, social media is extremely powerful land you a new contact or a chance-of-a-
for me. Not only does it allow me to share my lifetime opportunity.
musings with people I wouldn’t reach through
Diane DiPiero is a writer, editor and
traditional media, it also nudges me to write
proofreader who divides her ti me
more and often. So much knowledge, humor
and inventiveness are being shared that I just between writing articles for print and
crave to be a part of it. In many ways, social online publications and helping
media makes me a better, more well-rounded companies strengthen their brand
writer. These days, as my access to the “real through strong written communications.
world” is still limited, it also makes me a more Diane began her career in New York City,
social being. Social media doesn’t take the place moving to Cleveland in 1995 to become a
of face-to-face encounters, but rather augments freelance writer. Although still a social
media novice, Diane currently has three
them by offering new ways to personally and
blogs: www.dianedipiero.com/blog ,
professionally connect.
www.asiwaswriting.blogspot.com and
www.calledtobeasaint.blogspot.com/ .
Several months ago, when the movie version of Through the listserv, Twitter, email lists, texting
Sex and the City was opening around the and our own blogs, tens of women connected
country, women activists I knew through an across the country. A group called Mobilize.org
online listserv recognized an opportunity: lines helped set up people and procedures on the
and lines and lines of women would be waiting ground and, by the end of the day, we were
to get into opening night showings of the able to tell people that there would be real, not
movie—and be a ripe audience for voter virtual, humans at the movie theaters, ready
registration. and waiting to register one of the most sought
after voting demographics in 2008: women, to use Twitter, ning and other online
many of whom would be single and young. organizational tools to take action on the issues
that matter to us, whenever, wherever they
I had a window into this experience—and got to
happen.
contribute to making it happen—because of
other online social networking with which I had And I can contribute from my kitchen in Pepper
engaged for several months prior to this event. I Pike. Social media can turn any place into a hub
became a member of BlogHer.com—a of activism. All I had to do was participate and
community of more than 10 million men and make my interests known, and put my energy
women worldwide, according to the founders, into it when the opportunity arose.
and, as a result of posting comments and blog
entries there (often linking back to my own Jill Miller Zimon blogs at Writes Like She
Talks and co-blogs at The Moderate
blog), my ideas were noticed by a contributing
editor who, eventually, had been contacted by Voice. She provided 2008 election
a CNN booking agent for new names. And the coverage for Newseek’s The Ruckus,
BlogHer.com and from NPR’s election
BlogHer contact gave the agent my name.
night blogger war room. WE Magazine
As a result of my appearance on CNN, the BBC named Zimon one of 101 Women
and other outlets started contacting me for Bloggers to Watch (Fall ‘08). She is the
commentary on the elections and other political first blogger to be named Women’s
issues in 2008. Simultaneously, I was invited eNews Journalist of the Month (3/09).
into the previously mentioned listserv by the Zimon has provided commentary for CNN,
woman who had referred me to CNN in the first C-SPAN, BBC, Cleveland public radio and
place. The listserv includes very exclusive television and other outlets. Her writing
political and technologically savvy women, has appeared in and she has been quoted
many of whom are either in the federal by The Washington Post, The Plain
government or in other branches of Dealer, Campaigns & Elections, Quill, The
Washington, D.C. activism, all incredibly Writer and The Jewish Weekly among
supportive of each other, and, in turn, me. other online and print publications.
Zimon has a dual degree in government
I have now met many of them in person—at and sociology from Georgetown
conferences where we further scheme about University and a joint degree in law and
how to turn our passions—women, leadership, social work from Case Western Reserve
progress, change—into action. But we continue
University.
Haven’t we all been told about the importance engage with that person as a prospective friend,
of “first impressions?” When we look at customer, or even a date—depending on the
someone’s profile picture, we make a type of Web site on which we are viewing the
“snapshot” decision on whether we want to photo. Therefore, we need to consider our
photo in two ways. First, how do we want to be showcase our creativity where it will be
perceived—what do we want to say about appreciated.
ourselves? And second, who do we want to take
Social media is used by people of all ages and
an interest in us?
walks of life. Even though we want our friends
Keeping the first question to view us, we should consider all potential
in mind, do we want to viewers. Is it “safe” for our employer to see us
be thought of as a silly in that photo? Our next profile viewer might be
cartoon, an ugly beast, a a best friend or an enemy, a spouse or an ex, an
child, an animal, or a employer, an employee, a neighbor, a family
design? Some of our member, or a complete stranger. So let’s be
viewers will never meet smart and think a little bit about that image we
us in person so when they picture us in their display to the online world.
minds, they’ll conjure up whatever image we’ve
provided to them on our profile. Consider this Kathryn Eyring, owner of Knockout
an opportunity to present yourself in Marketing, provides on site assessments
and training to businesses to help
accordance with the reputation you are trying
improve their initial presentation or first
to build.
point of contact to the pub lic. Provides
Considering the second item, shouldn't we training for a wide variety of topics to
present ourselves in a way that will appeal to improve employee presentation to
our prospects? If we want to be a magnet for customers. Topics include projection of
professionals, should we display ourselves as confidence, posture, body language,
anything less than professional? On the other conversation skills, and more that all
hand, what if we are trying to reach an artistic lead to better customer relations.
audience? In that case, we might want to
While understanding the Internet’s role in the the job seeker’s chance of getting their foot in
job search has always been important for the door.
professionals, the emergence of new Web
technologies, such as social media, blogging and It is crucial in an already-tight job market to
social networking, has permanently changed understand the dangers of creating
questionable content that either you or your
the playing field.
friends can post online. One of the first things
At the heart of the matter is how your time is you should do is to fully assess how you are
spent on the Internet, and it can either be a viewed online. Search engines search dynamic
blessing or a curse. More and more, prospective sites like MySpace on a regular basis.
employers are using search engines such as
Google to do a sort of free background check on However, protecting your online reputation is
applicants. What they find could make or break only the first step. You will also want to
familiarize yourself with business networking more than 30 million users around the
and online profile resources that are regularly world.
used by companies. These can prove to be a  Naymz—This site allows users to build their
great deal of help. profiles and connections to improve their
Reputation Score.
In reality, many of the business networking  VisualCV—One of the newest online profile
tools are used primarily by white-collar sites where users can add resume-style
professionals. However, as the Internet has
elements and upload samples of their work
grown, many blue-collar industries are to create a fully interactive display to
embracing technology to find the best
present to employers.
employees. No matter who you are, building a
professional online presence will help you to As with all other dynamic Web sites, business
stand above competing applicants. networking sites are checked regularly by the
major search engines. Once you have
Ready? Let's get started. completed building your online profile, be sure
Just as you would work on your resume, to maintain it on a regular basis.
creating a generic online profile is done by
Being active on these sites, especially when
asking for the following information:
looking for a job, is vital. For example, think
 Work Experience—Company, job title and about participating in LinkedIn Answers by
noted accomplishments answering questions related to the field you are
 Education—School name, degree and major, looking into. Not only will this become an
extracurricular activities opportunity to expand your network, it will
 Skills—Depending on the online format, skills allow you to increase your value as a potential
may be added through the site’s automated employee.
system or by simply adding it to a form field
In that same vein, you should also consider
like you would experience or education.
creating an account on one of the social
Building an online presence can depend on your bookmarking sites, Digg, StumbleUpon or
network. Many of the professional networking Delicious. Bookmarking articles and sites tied
sites allow for users to connect with current and closely into your interest in the job market is a
former colleagues, customers, business good way to draw the attention of like-minded
partners and classmates. For that, you will want individuals and, potentially, get more job leads.
to familiarize yourself with the system’s
Blogging and micro-blogging are also great
connection invitation process.
tools. Wordpress.com and Blogger are easy to
Remember, the rules of face-to-face networking set up and use, and micro-blogging sites such as
also apply online. Courtesy is king. Don’t Twitter and Indenti.ca are even easier. If you
assume that you will be able to connect with are interested in pursuing this route, it is
your network automatically. To help this important that your content is updated
process, you will want to create a short regularly and that it paints you and your skills in
personalized invitation to e-mail to potential a positive light.
connections.
Finally, once you’ve found a new job, update
Here are examples of some of the most popular your profiles with the new information. In a
business networking sites available: volatile job climate, positions can easily go as
fast as they came, and again, any advantage you
 LinkedIn—At the moment, LinkedIn is the can give yourself will be beneficial in the long
undisputed king of business networking with run.
Bob McDonald is a career consultant that writer who is currently working on his
specializes in resume writing, as well as Stories from the Forester series. One of
helping people create an online presence the books, Flagrant Foul, was completed
that will help job seekers increase their in 2006, and he is working on finishing
visibility with prospective employers. His Volume I, which will include the stories
venture, TOG Solutions, also provides Dilemma (completed in 2008) and
creative and virtual assistant services to Unwritten (currently living up to its
organizations of all sizes. The TOG Blog name). He blogs about his many writing
on the site post regular articles about job misadvantures on the Quest for an ISBN
searching, software and training. blog, located on the Stories from the
Forester Web site, wwwflagrantfoul.com.
When not working on his business or his
own job-search prospects, Bob is also a
Spend a while on Facebook and it can begin to with someone, and you can see the value
seem like an acceptable substitute for face immediately.
time. Don't be fooled. Even if all you're trying to
do is have a conversation, studies have shown I've also gone to social events organized by
that our words convey only about 7% of our more specialized sites, like LinkedIn, the
meaning. The rest is tone of voice and body professional networking service. If you imagine
gestures. Besides, you might want to do more that professional networking is something you
than converse—how about sharing an ethnic only do when you're out of work, then you're
meal with an expert, or seeing a concert, or doing yourself a disservice. In addition to
even dating? So yeah, Facebook isn't finding possibilities for yourself, a conversation
over beers can lead to finding a job lead for a
everything.
friend, or a new business opportunity for a
Let's say you're new in town. How do you find valuable client. The LinkedWorking Cleveland
people to hang out with? A good starting place group threw an event at Rock Bottom and
is meetup.com. Meetup usually has a wide hundreds of people showed up!
variety of themed groups that meet locally.
(There's probably a film meetup group in every Dating is another application for social media
town.) Here in Cleveland, I'm a member of a that's hard to argue against. My wife and I met
wine tasting group, a blogging group, and a on match.com—in 1999. In this case, the social
couple other general-purpose social groups. If I medium of profiles and escrowed emails exists
could describe Meetup in a nutshell, I'd say that for the sole purpose of getting people together
it acts as a filter, bringing together all the face to face. Let's put that one in the "win"
people who are interested in meeting new column!
people. Just think of the last time you got the So find a way to put your interests or areas of
cold shoulder trying to strike up a conversation expertise to use. Do you exercise? Are you a
gardener? A hardware hacker? Google up a and is now in the semiconductor industry.
social medium that caters to your specialty, and His involvement with social media began
let serendipity happen! with many years in the geographically
far-flung "gated communities" of
Jeff has his Ph.D. in Materials Science, tabletalk.salon.com and www.well.com,
which means he gets to melt metal for a where he still posts. He is a cook and
living. He spent seven years as a staff wine lover whose burning desire is
scientist for the Department of Energy,
always to understand a little more about
working on efforts to improve the the world. He can be reached at
efficiency of the nation's trucking fleet, hershberger.jeff@gmail.com.
Each social medium has its own flavor. If the Brevity is essential in any form of online writing,
medium is the message, as McLuhan famously including social media. That’s because we read
said, then here’s a corollary to his axiom: every differently online.
social medium has unique formal factors that
Actually, according to usability expert Jakob
determine the length, depth and even the tone
Nielsen, we don’t really read at all. We scan,
and style of any message it is used to convey.
“picking out individual words and sentences”
To write well in social media, you must know rather than reading the text word by word.
your medium well and use it often, because (Nielsen, How Users Read on the Web)
every social medium forces certain limitations
on the writer. The 140 character limit of Twitter Looking for information on an electronic screen,
places an obvious formal constraint on the size we tend to be “mission-driven.” Whether we’re
scanning a news story online or checking email
of the message, but writers are equally (if not as
visibly) constrained by, for example, the rules of and twitter updates on a Blackberry, we’re
netiquette that prevail in online communities or scanning to find that bit of information that is
the tone of an established blog on which relevant to us in that moment.
they’re guest-posting. So any message sent via social media must not
only be relevant to the reader, it must be
Set against the unique nature of each social
medium, however, are three principles of good immediately recognizable as relevant.
writing that apply across the spectrum of social And the only way to do that is to keep it short
media: and get right to the point, before the reader's
1. Make it brief rapidly scanning eyes flit away.
2. Be as clear as you possibly can Revise, revise, revise
3. Be genuine and generous
In brief, there’s only one way to write briefly.
Make it brief You revise. You restructure sentences, look for
Omit needless words. synonyms, or rescale the scope of your
—Strunk and White, The Elements of Style message.
As Dennis Roth has said, “If it takes a lot of 3. If your message contains links, shorten their
words to say what you have in mind, give it urls.
more thought.”
Depending on your purpose, links are an
As social media’s briefest medium, twitter is an excellent way to give something of value to
excellent way to practice brevity, writes Mike your reader and bolster your own credibility.
Elgan in Put Your Writing on the Twitter Diet: Instead of including a long gobble-dee-gook url
in your tweet, instant message, or Facebook
Twitter imposes a 140-character limit on posts wall post, use a url shortener like tinyurl or
(including spaces and punctuation). Nearly
bit.ly.
every user I've spoken to about using Twitter
admits to constantly revising each post to 4. In a pinch, use texting lingo and
squeeze it into 140 characters. The habit and abbreviations.
skill of revising for brevity and clarity is one of
Using the abbreviations popular in texting and
the secrets to good writing.
IM can shorten your character count, but
If you use twitter regularly, however, you’ll carries definite implications for the tone of your
discover some shortcuts for shortening your message. Using 2 (to, too), 4 (for) B4 (before) or
prose. B/C (because) isn’t likely to reveal anything
more than your inability to shorten your prose
Shorten with shortcuts through revision. Almost anything else, though,
The web offers some advice and tools for damages your image (unless the image you’re
shortening your prose. aiming for is “sex-starved teenager with
sophomoric sense of humor”).
1. For phrases, look for substitutes.
Achieve Clarity
Dan Santow of WordWise provides a list of
common phrases that can easily be replaced by Don’t Make Me Think!
one word without loss of meaning. Some I’ve —The title of a bestselling book about web
found useful are: design by Steve Krug.
 at the present time: replace with now or Clarity is the quality of being clear or
currently transparent. In writing, clarity simply means
 for the purpose of: replace with for that there is nothing clouding your meaning,
 in order to: replace with to nothing that distracts the reader from your
 in spite of the fact that: replace with message.
although or though Remember that any online communication—
 with regard to: replace with about particularly short messages sent via social
 on an annual basis: replace with yearly media—must not only be relevant, it must be
 at this point in time: replace with now immediately recognizable as relevant.
 a large majority: replace with most
 be in a position to: replace with to or can Your reader should be able to see at a glance
 in the event that: replace with if that your message is relevant to them, without
having to think about it.
2. For shorter synonyms, look it up.
Poor word choice, confusing syntax,
Thsrs (The Shorter Thesaurus) at is a nifty tool.
grammatical mistakes and factual errors will
Type in a word and it will give you back cloud your message, making it less likely your
synonyms that are shorter, even if it's only by a
reader will see the relevance of your message.
character or two. It’s particularly useful for
twitter, where every character counts.
Review sentence structure and argument Along with writing short, easily digestible
chunks of text, you should also make good use
At the level of the sentence, clarity can
of boldface, lists and subheadlines. These
improved by:
elements help guide readers' eyes towards the
 Being careful where you place subordinate most important content, and make it easier to
clauses absorb large content.
 Avoiding multiple negatives —Writing Online: Best Practices
 Using the active voice
Proofread
 Breaking long periodic sentences into
shorter simpler ones Accuracy really does count.
 Making sure your pronouns, nouns and verbs
agree in gender, number, and case. Typos and misspellings turn some readers off
immediately and damage your credibility with
 Using the simplest words possible. Save your
big vocabulary for another forum. other readers who expect you to sound as if you
 Minimizing description and avoiding know what you're talking about.
metaphor. Make no mistake: everyone's writing contains
To promote clarity in a piece of writing as a errors sometimes, even that of English
professors and famous authors. That's why
whole:
copyeditors can make their living looking for
 Know ahead of time what you want to say. mistakes.
 Write out bullet points for yourself and stick
to them. So before you hit send, take a moment to look
 Give some thought to key words that your at your message with fresh eyes. If it's an
readers will find relevant. Use only those key especially important message — a tweet or
posting about your new online venture, say —
words rather than watering the message
down with synonyms. have someone else look at it. Or copy and paste
 Be straightforward rather than cute or it into a wordprocessing program with
clever. spellcheck.
There are some classic errors of usage that, for
Organize your message v isually
whatever reason, really annoy people.
You can strengthen the overall clarity of your Confusing “your” with “you’re,” “its” with “it’s”
message by starting with what’s most or “there” with “their” really pushes some
important. Jonathan Dube, the publisher of people's buttons. If you fear you may misuse
CyberJournalist.net recommends leading with similar-sounding words or homonyms, consult
the most important information, as journalists Brian Clark’s cleverly-named post, The Inigo
do. Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused
Words.
You can’t afford to bury the lead online
because if you do, few readers will get to it. Be genuine and generous
When writing online, it’s essential to tell the
Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity,
reader quickly what the story is about and why
they should keep reading—or else they won’t. simplicity, and humanity.
—A Dozen Online Writing Tips —William Zinsser
Unlike most other forms of online writing and
You can also make your message easier to read
by providing visual signposts like bullet points electronic communication, social media is
concerned first and foremost with people.
and subheadings.
Social media's primary function is to encourage
like-minded people to make connections, hold
open conversations, and participate in group Or I discover that you're also a musician, and
projects and crowd-sourcing. get to know a different side of you when I visit
your band's page on MySpace.
To write well for social media, your writing must
convey the genuine desire to connect with Or perhaps one day I read a blog post of yours
people. Especially, says Dave Walker, if your on, say, a new fair pay law proposed in
primary motive for using social media is Congress and I've also just read a post by
marketing: another blogger about the same topic but from
a different perspective. I tweet each of you the
Be genuine in your desire to talk to urls to one another's posts. Next thing you
people. know, we've started a twitter conversation and
Social media is social. You need to start, join assigned it a hashtag, and now dozens of other
and participate in conversations. Marketing is people are contributing to the conversation we
about talking at people; social media is about started about the proposed law. I start to follow
talking with people. a few of those new people on twitter and
—The One and Only Rule for Social Media discover one of them lives in Cleveland, or has
Marketing small children...
Your willingness to connect with other people There's tremendous potential for connecting,
must be conveyed in whatever you write in sharing knowledge and building communities
social media. via social media. All you need are the right
words to start.
Keep your audience in mind, more closely, more
intimately, than you normally would as a writer. Further reading:
Consider what you have or know that your  The Unexpected Trap of Writing for Social
readers could use and lay it out there in the
Media
most accessible, welcoming words you can  Writing Online: Best Practices
think of. In other words, saturate your writing  How Users Read on the Web
with what William Zinsser calls “humanity,”  Writing for the Web
Walker calls genuineness, and I’m calling  How to Ask Effective Questions on Twitter
“generosity.”  Do you Converse or Broadcast? How to Build
In its best application, social media is the (or Kill) Relationships on Twitter
equivalent of an outstretched hand, an open Lila Hanft has a Ph.D. in English and
invitation to start or deepen a relationship. three masters degrees in the humanities,
It really works, too. Let's say you and I are fine arts and social sciences. She has
strangers with mutual interests (we live in worked as a journalist, a
Cleveland; we both have small children; or we psychotherapist, and an English
both blog), I can start to follow you on twitter. professor. She taught writing, literature,
One day I reply directly to one of your tweets, film and women's studies classes at the
you reply back, and after a few exchanges, you college level for 14 y ears, until the early
decide to follow me on twitter. 1990s when she fell in love with the
internet and never wanted to work
I send out a tweet about a new post on my blog. anywhere else. She has been a content
You click on the link I've included in my tweet, producer for MomsOnline on
and read the blog post, leaving a comment. I go Oxygen.com; the senior writer at
to your blog in return and like what I read. You AGInteractive for the
friend me on Facebook, or I connect to you on AmericanGreetings.com, eGreetings.com
LinkedIn and we find we have mutual friends. and BlueMountain.com websites; and a
freelance consultant in email marketing, ramshackle home on East Blvd. i n the
SEO, and content strategy. Recently laid Cultural Gardens neighborhood of
off from the Cleveland Jewish News,she Cleveland, where she lives more or less
currently freelances as a writer and web harmoniously with her husband and two
consultant. She works from her young sons.
If you don't control your online presence,

someone else will.
When embarking on any new project or
adventure, it helps to set some goals. What do
you want to get out of the project? When it
comes to social media I think we all share a
primary goal: controlling our online presence.
Many people are hesitant to jump into the That being the case, your social media plan
world of social media. Some are shy while should include some way to present positive
others simply don't know what they'll do once aspects of yourself to the world. But how? Do
they join the fray. you start a blog? A MySpace page? Join
Facebook? That depends on your other goals.
The advice I give to each is to consider what What else do you want to accomplish online?
may happen if they don't get involved. In a day
when employers Google job applicants and the Secondary Goals: Acquiring knowledge,
charming lass you met at that party last week is meeting people, career enhancement,
searching the Web to make sure you're not a taking over the world…?
psychopath, you want to be in control of what People have various reasons for getting
they'll find. involved in social media. Some want to promote
The fact that you aren't posting about yourself a product or service. Others want to network
doesn't mean others aren't. Perhaps your name with professional peers and experts; some want
and your clever ideas about composting were to meet people with common interests and
posted in the meeting minutes of your hobbies, and others don't care about the social
neighborhood gardening club. Perhaps your last aspect—they just want a way to better filter
promotion was mentioned in the online version information based on user opinions. Social
of your local paper. Then again what if the first media can help with all of this, but it takes time.
thing that comes up in a Google search is your If you're just getting started you'll probably
wedding announcement…from five years want to start with just one or two secondary
ago…to the fellow you divorced when you goals. Typical examples could include:
discovered he was pawning your jewelry to  Discovering new music from those with
invest in a pyramid scheme? Is that what you similar tastes and buying habits.
want to the world to see? Probably not.
 Networking with others in your field—by These are all great starting points, so, using this
sharing tips and best practices—in order to approach, you should be able to find a strategy
present your expertise, gain new insights that will fit your needs.
from others, increase your knowledge base
and learn about career opportunities. Popular Social Networking Services worth
 Trading links and recommending Web sites considering
or blogs geared to your hobby, sense of Over the past year I've introduced several
humor, eating habits or other interests. friends to social media. Typically we discuss
 Finding people in your area with whom you their goals then I show them the services I use
can attend concerts, movies, gallery most frequently—so they can see how they
openings, lectures, etc. work. Then they go home and start
 Promoting your organization's products or experimenting. Once they get started I find they
services. usually develop a preference for one or two
 Recruiting new members to your club or services that best suit their needs.
association.
 Documenting an event or activity. My friend E is a classical musician who started a
 Conversing with like-minded souls about blog to share her knowledge and experience
your avocation or hobby. and to promote a recording project. Wanting to
both network with other musicians and
Choosing a social media service or promote both her project and her blog, she
strategy most likely to support these joined Facebook where she quickly found like-
goals. minded musicians. My friend J likes to share
There are thousands of social networks on the recipes, photography tips and humor on
Internet. Go to Web 2.0 listed 2,746 of them as StumbleUpon. I liked having long rambling
of this writing. The number will have grown by conversations with fellow Web designers—and
others—on the now-defunct Pownce, while
the time you read this. So where do you begin?
There may be a great new service starting today many of my colleagues preferred the brevity of
that will be perfect for you next year. But if you Twitter. With Pownce gone, I now spend more
time on Twitter because that is where I'm most
are just starting out, you'll probably want to
focus on services that already have an likely to find my Web design and social media
established reputation and user base. peers.
The easiest way to find a service or strategy No matter what your goal, the only way to
appropriate to your goal is to ask people you know which service will work best for you is to
know who are already using social media tools. experiment for yourself. Sign up, explore the
If you don't know anyone personally a group sites, and see where you feel most comfortable.
such as Social Media Club – Cleveland can be a In most cases it's not a question of whether A is
good place to start. Many of the people there better than B, it's merely a question of which is
are already experienced with social media and the best fit for you.
would be happy to tell you which services they Now it's time to set your own goals and start
use for which purposes. exploring. Here are a few places to get started.
Another good place is Google. For instance a  Blogging—You can host a blog on your own
search on social networking music pulls up Web domain, or use a service such as
Last.fm, a popular music recommendation site, TypePad or WordPress. Blogging is a good
Wikipedia's list of social networking sites, way to share your knowledge and gain
Mashable's Rock On: 12 of the Best Music Social valuable feedback from readers, though it
Network, and so forth.
requires a consistent investment of time and Once you've signed up and filled out your
a clear editorial focus. profile, read the FAQs and any user manuals
 Delicious—Social bookmarking (tag your you may find. Search Google to find how-to tips
bookmarks by topic and share them with and recommendations for the service you use.
yourself and others) These will give you a roadmap to learn the best
 Digg—Site recommendations (usually news ways to use the service as well as any user
and blogs recommended by the community conventions.
and your friends)
 Facebook—Connect with people you know Now that you know more about the service,
in the real world or join groups based on start using it. Make some posts, save a few
topical interests. bookmarks, favorite a song or whatever else is
 Flickr—Post photos and network with other appropriate. Look at other people's pages, then
photographers. follow their lead. After you've made a few of
 Friendfeed—Follow what your Friendfeed your own posts/comments/bookmarks, etc.
friends are posting on their other social then search out people with common interests
media sites while sharing resources in topic and follow or friend them. The posts you've
rooms. already made, in conjunction with your bio, will
 Last.fm—Music recommendations based on help them to decide whether to friend you in
your listening habits return.
 Linkedin—Business networking service on Keep in mind that not everyone will follow you.
which you can post your work experience, Some people return all friend requests while
get recommendations, demonstrate your others only return a few. That's O.K. there is no
expertise by answering questions in your social stigma or obligation involved in online
field and connect with peers. friending and you can usually still reply to
 Socialthing—Follow what your friends (from conversations started by people who've yet to
several other networks) are posting on those friend you back. This is a good way for them to
other networks. get to know you so that in time they may
 Twitter—Microblogging in 140 character reciprocate. Overall the social media
increments. This is good for sharing quick community is friendly and welcoming to new
ideas and links, asking questions and users. As you use the service more, people will
monitoring what people say about your learn more about you and your interests and in
organization or products. Twitter can also be no time you'll find people following you of their
a marketing tool when used with care. own accord.
 StumbleUpon—Site recommendations
based on your past preferences and what Now you should be well on your way to
your friends recommend exploring the world of social media. Enjoy!
Getting the most out of your social Heidi Cool is a freelance Web designer
networking activities and consultant with more than 15 years
experience in Web development and a
If you're just starting out it's easy to get background in marketing. Heidi has
overwhelmed. Just start with one or two worked in the fields of publishing and
services that sound appropriate to your higher education, most recently as
purpose. Make sure to fill out your profile as Webmaster of Case Western Reserve
completely as possible. Include a photo and a University. You can read more of Heidi's
brief bio in the space provided. This lets other musings on social media, marketing, and
users know you're a human and not a robot Web development on her Web
promoting the latest get-rich quick scheme. Development Blog.
“The main reason to measure objectives is not Like any campaign, you need to create some
so much to reward or punish individual goals from which you can measure your
communications managers for success or campaign’s results. Some possible goals include:
failure as it is to learn from the research
whether a program should be continued as is,  Communicate with customers, employees,
revised, or dropped in favor of another etc.
 Drive Awareness
approach”
 Have a Conversation
—James E. Grunig, Professor, University of  Crisis Communications
Maryland (From Katie Paine’s presentation,  Sell Products
Social Media Measurement for PR)  Launch a new product
 Influence public opinion
One of the hardest things for people to grasp  Cause Marketing; and
about social media is why it is worth their time.
 Promote an event.
In public relations, often when suggesting social
media to a colleague or a client, the answer I 2. Quantitative Measurement
hear is “How do I know it works?” or “What’s
Let’s return to the above scenario. Your boss
my return on investment (ROI)?”
probably expects you to provide him with a
It’s important to understand that measuring chart and numbers from your social media
social media is different than measuring a campaign. Quantitative measurement provides
traditional PR campaign. Times have changed. numbers, allowing you to chart your ROI. Some
We can no longer use circulation or impressions things you can measure quantitatively:
as the sole judgment of a campaign.
Activity
Here are the three parts to basic measurement Measuring activity allows you to determine the
of a social media campaign: number of individuals your campaign has
1. Define your goals reached. Activity can include visitor traffic,
frequency of visitors returning, video views,
Imagine this scenario: Your boss tells you that time spent on your site, number of program
it’s your responsibility to increase the year’s registrants, donations earned and demographic
sales of your company’s product. You convince data you may find. Google analytics helps
him to let you use social media, and you create measure activity and provides helpful
a funny new video, and upload it on YouTube. demographic info, including geographic location
Surprise! Your video gets millions of hits. A few of your audience. Compete also provides
months later, year-end sales arrive and aren’t relevant activity data, much of it free to users.
looking so good! In this case, your boss
probably won’t care about the YouTube hits; Participation
and instead will be upset that you did not Measuring how people are participating with
achieve the main goal, selling products. your campaign also provides quantitative data.
Sure people are viewing your website, but are Returning to the first scenario: even if your
they sharing it with others? Participation can video had millions of views, if it didn’t meet
include anything posted on your landing page your original goal and influence an audience,
from comments to ratings. Participation also who cares? It’s important to ask “Did your
includes how people are involved (online and campaign influence an audience’s perception?
offline) with your campaign. You can use Did it generate new ideas, or start
various search sites to determine how your conversations? Did it even influence your target
audience is participating: Are they linking to you audience?”
or bookmarking it on delicious or digg? Are they
tweeting, commenting or blogging about it? Is Conclusion
your company generating profit because of your There is no absolute guide to measuring social
campaign? media, and each project needs to be measured
differently. The more you use social media, the
There are numerous websites out there that
better you’ll understand how to measure it.
help to measure social media campaign activity
Every day, new measurement tools come out,
and participation. Besides the aforementioned
new white papers are published, and new
ones, it may be worthwhile to check out
“experts” claim to have answers to social media
webtrends, urltrends.com and socialmeter to
measurement. Look at how others have
measure how those are participating in your
measured their campaigns, and see how it can
campaign.
work for you.
3. Qualitative measurement
This is a very brief introduction on getting
Because qualitative measurement often does started with measuring social media. For more
not deal with specific numbers, it can be details and other tips and ideas on how to
difficult to conduct. This does not mean that it measure your social media campaign, including
should be ignored; qualitative measurement is some great case studies, I recommend checking
just as important. Some things you can do to out KD Paine. KD Paine’s entire blog is devoted
measure qualitatively: to social media measurement. She has given
numerous presentations on how to measure
Tone social media and you can follow her on Twitter.
It is important to measure the tone of your Also, visit the Social Media Metrics Wiki for
audience’s participation. Out of the comments various resources on social media metrics,
you receive on your blog, are most of them measurement and ROI.
positive? Are the twitter mentions of your
Melissa Koski is a graduate of Boston
brand simply complaining about your product?
College (B.A., Communications) and
Relevance currently works at Edward Howard, a
public relations firm based in Cleveland,
If you just use numbers when measuring your
Ohio. As an account executive, Melissa
campaign, you’re not measuring accurately. If
has worked for clients such as Synapse
your target audience for your new product is
Biomedical, BioEnterprise, Windstream,
young men, ages 18-23, how significant is it if
Wal-Mart, CFFA, DASMA and BP. A self-
Better Homes and Gardens’s blog linked to your
proclaimed “social media junkie,”
campaign? It is important to look at your target
Melissa takes an active role in Edward
audience when determining the relevance of
Howard’s social media initiatives. As one
your participation.
of the founding members of the
Influence Cleveland Social Media Club, Melissa is in
charge of the Events Committee.
In the late 1960s, the Internet began as a way And the best part about social media
for universities, researchers and the Defense marketing—it’s free. All of the platforms
Department to share data. Social networking discussed here are available online free of
tools began as a way for people to share ideas. charge. All that is required is time—time to
learn, time to post, and time to engage others.
According to eMarketer, in 2008 nearly 80 There are many social media opportunities; the
million people—41% of the U.S. Internet user ones discussed here provide a good place to
population—visited social network sites at least start. They are fairly user-friendly and are the
once a month. That represents an 11% increase
most popular with the general public.
from 2007. With that many individuals online
and participating in social networking sites, one Social Networks
would expect that social media marketing
Facebook
strategies would be incorporated into every
small business, corporation and nonprofit in Facebook, the free access social networking
America. Within nonprofit organizations, that is site, is what most people think of when they
not happening. Fear and apathy are the primary hear the term “social networking.” What began
barriers to using social media, according to Web as a way for college students to interact online
Pro News. has morphed into one of the largest and most
diverse social networking platforms available.
As a nonprofit communications and Facebook attracts individuals of all
development professional, social networking demographics, making it an ideal place for a
sites and social media marketing strategies are nonprofit to network with its supporters.
valuable tools to me. They are not to be
feared—they should actually be embraced. Nonprofit organizations can interact with
Facebook in one of two ways. One, nonprofits
Integrating social media marketing strategies can set up their own Facebook page. Rather
into a nonprofit’s marketing, public relations than providing information on a person, the
and fundraising plan will offer more nonprofit is featured. The manager of the
opportunities to: Facebook account can “friend” supporters, post
 Connect with constituents and supporters photos and video, and promote special events,
 Become transparent volunteer opportunities, and other fundraisers.
 Allow your supporters to connect with each Two, nonprofits can create a Facebook cause
other page. Once your cause has been verified,
 Raise money supporters can “link” your cause to their profile.
 Raise awareness of your brand and the Cause pages also offer the opportunity to raise
services you provide to the community money for specific programs or events.
 Share success stories One of the great aspects of Facebook is its
ability to create missionaries, ardent supporters
of your cause who actively recruit new people.
These missionaries have the potential to create Twitter has the unique ability to rally
wealth for your organization simply because of “tweeples,” the term used to describe avid
their influence within social networks and their Twitter users, to raise money for nonprofit
passion for your cause. causes. A perfect example is Twestival, a global
event on February 12, 2009, which brought
Online Communities Twitter users together to raise money for
Online communities are similar to Facebook in charity:water. Twestival was organized 100% by
that participants interact with each other volunteers who committed to hosting events
online. Actually, some of the online community for charity:water in more than 175 cities around
building sites, like Ning, physically resemble the world on the same day. Individuals could
Facebook. The similarity ends there. donate money through tipjoy, a Twitter
application offering simple social payments for
Online communities are created for a specific great people causes and content, or purchase a
purpose and have a specific theme. Members ticket to any one of the events. The result?
may or may not know each other in “real” life; Nearly $1 million raised entirely by volunteers
they simply joined the online community who spread a viral message.
because of a shared interest. Donate Life
Illinois, a nonprofit focusing on encouraging Next Steps
organ donor registration, created an online Before logging onto your computer and signing
community bringing together patients, up your nonprofit for all these services, there
recipients, families, advocates and supporters are a few things your nonprofit needs to be
to network and connect with each other. aware of when choosing to use social media:
Creating an online community for your
constituents and/or supporters is a great way Be comfortable distributing control of
for them to connect more fully with each other your marketing message
and with your organization.
Social media provides every individual with a
Twitter voice and the power to effect change.
Approaching social media armed with your
One of the newest social media tools is Twitter, nonprofit’s mission statement and talking
a way to post brief messages over the Internet. points will not lead to success with these
People choose to follow each other and their mediums. Allow your supporters to use their
“tweets,” the term used to describe messages voice to promote your cause, even if it differs
sent via Twitter. The catch—the message needs from your organization’s standard tag lines and
to be composed of 140 characters or less. messaging.
For nonprofits, Twitter provides a tremendous Listen more, talk less
opportunity to connect often with supporters of
your mission, to share current news or success Social media is not about disseminating a
stories, to remind supporters of special events message. It’s about connecting with people.
and volunteer opportunities, and to raise Take time to listen to what is being posted on
money. Some nonprofits use their brand as your Facebook page or your Ning site or what is
their Twitter profile (e.g. @CIFF or being “tweeted” about your organization and
@DonateLifeIL); others use members of their its services or programs. Discuss this internally.
staff (e.g. @SAJansky and @jf329). I personally Cultivating relationships one friend or tweet at
believe people would rather connect with a time will pay off in the long term.
people than brands, but that decision needs to
Be enthusiastic
be made by each nonprofit.
Consumers are more sophisticated than ever
and can identify a talking point or “corporate
speak” – even from a nonprofit. Be authentic in Stephanie A. Jansky is the Development
all social media communications. Answer Manager at MedWish International and
questions honestly. Accept criticism gracefully. the Social Media Strategist for the
Encourage controversial discussions rather than Donate Life Rose Parade float. Having
trying to stop them. worked in the nonprofit sector her ent ire
career, Stephanie is keenly aware of the
Take time communications challenges facing
Social media platforms may be free, but using nonprofits and believes passionately in
them well takes time. It takes enormous the effectiveness of social media
amounts of time to employ these strategies and marketing strategies. She is a member of
gain enough momentum to see tangible results. the Steering Committee for the Cleveland
Don’t give up. Build your support base on Social Media Club, the Cleveland MOTTEP
Facebook, Ning and Twitter slowly – as other Board of Directors and the Cleveland Plus
social media users notice your honest, Marketing Alliance Young Professionals
authentic content and your great cause, they Council. She also authors the blog The
will join you. Lake Effect.
As the number of people using social networks If budget permits, couple a social media
increases, so does the number of grassroots campaign with traditional event promotion
campaigns that leverage social media for event tactics, such as direct and guerrilla marketing,
promotion. Since many tools and applications media relations and/or advertising, to generate
from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are free, the maximum return on your investment.
cost savings—compared to traditional event
promotion methods—is a primary benefit. At the event, consider surveying attendees to
However, building relationships via social record the most popular mechanisms that
networks requires a considerable time generated awareness and interest in attending.
commitment. But, the payoff—credibility via Facebook
friend referrals—can be priceless.
These new methods of recruiting event
attendees still must abide by traditional rules to
achieve success:
 Target your audience appropriately
 Include relevant information
 Promote within a reasonable time period
(two to four weeks in advance for
established groups; at least two months for
relationships that need to be established)
 Execute the event well
On Facebook, create a fan page (similar to Leverage the event organizer’s Web site to
individual profile pages) to share information integrate all social media promotion activities.
with people with similar interests via a news For example, add a Twitter badge that
feed. From the fan page, create an event and showcases recent tweets from the event
post regular information such as updates, links, account to the homepage. And, post links to the
photos etc., to drive attendance. Facebook fan and event pages to encourage
visitors to join.
As the date nears, Facebook will remind those
who have RSVPed about the event. Event Target relevant bloggers with information about
organizers who have Facebook profiles can post your event and post comments with links, as
links to the event on their pages with the hope appropriate, to create a ripple effect of
of recruiting friends and generating word-of- awareness among their followers.
mouth publicity.
LinkedIn
Be forewarned that if you try to recruit fans and
send event invitations to Facebook users
outside of your network, you will most likely be
flagged for spam. Here are some Facebook
event etiquette tips.
After the event, post photos and videos to the
event and fan pages and tag attendees.
Twitter
On Twitter, create an account specific to an
event and post updates about progress in
planning the event and solicit feedback from Utilize LinkedIn to promote business or
followers, etc. Twitter is searchable by professional development events by creating an
geographic region and interests via Twitter event page or posing a question.
search. Increase visibility for your event outside
of your network by following tweeps who might Ning
be interested in attending. If they are a good fit, When established social networking sites
odds are they will follow you back and consider exclude a niche your event is targeting, Ning
attending your event. offers the option of creating your own social
network site, complete with blog entries,
If you use a Twitter aggregator, like TweetDeck,
discussion forums and event listings.
you can easily keep tabs on who is tweeting
about similar topics so you can engage them in Ning offers easy integration with other social
dialog and keep tabs on who is replying to your media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and
Twitter account throughout the day. blogs for posting related messaging, photos and
videos related to your event. Further, it’s fairly
During the event, create a hashtag for your
easy to add multiple events.
event and encourage your followers to use it
when discussing anything related to the event. YouTube and Flickr
You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word
Particularly for recurring events, a YouTube
with a hash symbol: #hashtag. For example:
channel and a Flickr group page provide visual
Need a ride to twestival Cleveland from the avenues to keep interested parties involved in
West side. #twestival. event preparation. At the completion of each
event, organizers can post videos and photos of
Blogs
event attendees to give a sense of turn-out and in media relations, guerrilla/viral
build excitement for the next event in a series. marketing and marketing
communications. She is available on
Christina Klenotic is a senior account Twitter both personally (@cklenotic) and
executive at Dix & Eaton with a specialty professionally (@d_and_e).
Speaking—plain-old speaking to an audience— from your storage or transferred from social

is the original social medium. You use your image-sharing sites like Flickr or Photobucket.
voice to inform, persuade, or entertain. If Your widget-based slideshow, in turn, may be
you’re good, you do each. If you’re really good, posted on your page at MySpace, Facebook,
you interact with the audience to help them get Bebo, Hi5, Friendster, or your blog.
what they want from you.
Animoto recently upped the ante. Animoto
Audiovisual aids are as old as speaking. Think takes your photos, combines them with an
cave paintings. Today, over one half billion audio track you supply, and creates a dynamic,
people use Microsoft Office PowerPoint™ to Flash-based, rendered video file for your
help tell their stories. By one measure, over 30 sharing. The website can also host your video;
million PPT presentations are created every one example is this 2009 Denver Twestival. (Be
business day. careful with Animoto and Facebook, however.
The app has been known to send a user’s
Increasingly, “slideware” applications, including
photoshow video to random FB friends of that
PowerPoint, Apple’s Keynote™, and others, user. It was part of Animoto’s now-questionable
have been embraced by social media, giving
viral growth strategy. They are working on it.)
your presentations longer life and wider reach.
And the lack of two-way interaction—a RockYou.com and Joggle.com are also entrants
drawback of many traditional presentations—is in this field, emphasizing the music- and video-
being addressed by social media as well. sharing aspects that younger users enjoy. Slide,
perhaps in response to Animoto, recently
Let’s look at the current intersection of social
introduced the ability to add music to your
media and presentation technology, starting
creations.
with simpler, more entertainment-oriented
applications, then on to sophisticated, business- It may be easy to dismiss Slide and other
oriented options. entertainment apps, but take note that
Slide.com was founded by Max Levchin. Before
The Fun Stuff
Slide, he co-developed PayPal and later sold it
Most MySpace users are familiar with to eBay for $1.5 billion. He was 26 at the time.
Slide.com. Billing itself as a social entertainment
The Serious Stuff
company, Slide develops widgets, or mini-
applications that users download and paste on Let’s assume your pre-existing PowerPoint
their personal blogs or social networking pages. slides are ready for sharing via a hosting service.
Chief among these apps is their Slideshow Where do you go from here?
widget. Source images may be downloaded
PowerPoint on the Web
Before social media was a recognized phrase, the Notes view. If printouts are necessary, the
presenters have been posting PPT files on full context—slide and script—can live on. Also,
websites. Web visitors needed either the colleagues benefit from having source material.
PowerPoint application or the free PowerPoint It leaves little guessing about what those
viewer installed. Security, however, was and is a awkward bullet phrases or pictures were
concern. Posting an unprotected PPT file to a intended to convey.)
public website lets users download a fully
authorSTREAM
editable copy. Presenters often resorted to
workarounds such as converting PPT to Flash or authorSTREAM is also an online service which
HTML, which remains a popular and viable allows you to upload PowerPoint files and share
option. (See How to convert PPT to Flash.) Later them via email link, embed them in social media
versions of PowerPoint offer a more reliable pages, or play on portable media players. One
“Save as Web Page” option over previous notable authorSTREAM feature works with your
versions, though not all PPT effects translate to recorded audio “Narrations” in your PowerPoint
web viewing. file. You can create a file in video format (MP4)
to upload and share on video sharing sites or
To find web PPT files using Google, add show on video-capable devices. One example of
“filetype:ppt” to your keyword search query. a narrated authorSTREAM presentation is Smart
Here is an example using the word “Cleveland.” Choices: Visual Decision Support. Like
SlideShare SlideShare, authorSTREAM lets viewers interact
with presenters via comments.
Started in September 2006, SlideShare is the
dominant website for sharing presentations. SlideSix
One writer described them as “the YouTube of Another entrant in the social presentation-
presentations.” Presenters can upload sharing community is SlideSix. Key difference
PowerPoint, OpenOffice, PDF, or Keynote files, here is that you can record audio and video
share presentations publicly or privately, and directly within the SlideSix management
add SlideShare shows to their blog, LinkedIn console. The media is embedded directly within
profile, or Facebook page. SlideShare shows can your online presentation.
also be “Slidecasts” which include an audio
track. And since February 2009, SlideShare Developer Todd Sharp is chief cook and
shows can contain bottlewasher at this independent, as-far-as-
embedded YouTube you-can-get-from-Silicon-Valley startup, a point
videos. One popular not lost on TechCrunch and their recent review.
SlideShare Mashable took kindly to SlideSix, too.
presentation
Others
recognized for both
visual style and SlideBoom, OnlinePRESENTER,
compelling content is InstantPresenter, PresenterNet, Speechi and
Shift Happens. Zentation also host your existing PowerPoint
files and enable web-based sharing. Adding
The SlideShare website permits viewers to leave audio, converting to Flash, and education
comments, just like blogs, and authors can market orientation are some of these packages’
respond. It also permits the author to include features.
comments about each slide, similar to the
Notes view in PowerPoint. The presentation No PowerPoint? No Problem!
becomes conversation; this is a huge advent in Big movers in social media slideshows have
online presentations. (I always remind and been software-as-a-service sites which let you
encourage PPT authors to type their scripts into create, store, and share, all online. Beyond
mere hosting, the promise of cloud computing presentation. If you have ever needed to
has everyone’s attention right now, and present, but display only web pages in
presentation authoring is at that forefront. succession, then share the sites via RSS, these
tools are for you.
SlideRocket
SlideRocket is slick. (Select and watch a sample.) Note: there is volatility in this market space.
Built on Adobe's Flex platform, SlideRocket Months ago, four additional websites would
gives you authoring tools, transitions, image have appeared in this grouping, but have not
and video manipulations, and charting and table served live pages for weeks.
creation. (If you have existing PowerPoint Last word: On Design
slides, you can import those to get started.) You
may also import your own fonts or pull in You might gather from sample slideshows
various elements into your presentation. Their above that current presentation design has
growing asset marketplace lets you browse and shifted as much as social media has in recent
buy content such as themes, stock years. Here is a trio of resources to find out
photography, cartoons, audio, video, etc. The more: Beyond Bullet Points, Presentation Zen,
free account option limits you from paid and slide:ology.
features like asset sharing and synchronizing for These books, and their authors and blogs,
collaborative efforts. For more, see this document this shift in thinking based on new
exhaustive independent review of SlideRocket research on cognitive processes. In part, they
by Robin Good at MasterNewMedia. are responding to the cries of Edward Tufte and
280slides the “PowerPoint is Evil” manifestos.
While still carrying the “beta” tag in its logo, While everyone agrees with Tufte’s final essay
280slides encourages you to jump right in to a words “respect your audience,” he would likely
working editor. After you take it for a spin, it’s concede that speaking the right story to the
hard to believe this all takes place in a browser. right audience, in their space, at their pace, and
280slides stores your shows, shares online, and engaging them via feedback is the best way to
imports as well as downloads to PPT. Another earn that respect. These abilities have been
nice feature: autosave and recovery. greatly enhanced through social media.
ZohoShow Tony Ramos is a designer and consultant
ZohoShow is the presentation app of the vast specializing in presentations and
suite from Zoho. While not as slick as proposal graphics. For three consecutive
SlideRocket, the interface boasts most of what years, he has been designated a
you might expect, clipart and all, from Microsoft MVP for PowerPoint for his
PowerPoint circa 2000. Take the ZohoShow contributions to the PPT user community.
tour. In 2003, he was the first to write a
weblog about PowerPoin t, now titled
Others "The Presentationist." His projects range
Empressr, GoogleDocs, OpenOffice Impress, from pro bono presentations to
PresentationEngine, Prezentit, Spresent, government contract proposals worth
ThinkFree Show, and Thumbstacks all let you $100B. A fan of Twitter, Facebook, and
create presentation via online resources and other social sites, Tony has been involved
tools. in computing since punch cards and
Fortran. Tony is a decent cyclist, a slow
Visit JingProject, ScreenToaster, WebSlides, and runner and a bad swimmer. He and his
Flowgram to see how web pages are wife and dogs live on Cleveland's west
supplementing or even replacing slides in side.
Social media is the most remarkable Choose a complex/unique password for
technological phenomena of the 21st century. your social media accounts
From using social networks to connect with
Many users of social media (and computer
friends and co-workers to promoting and
users in general) set the same password for
marketing a business, social media is the most
social media, email, online banking and other
popular technology used on the Internet today.
important accounts. Why do we do this?
Over the last three years, users of social media
Because one password is easy to remember!
have increased beyond expectations. For
The problem is that if just one of these accounts
example, Facebook alone reached 150 million
gets hacked or compromised, all of your
users in 2008, which would make it the eighth
accounts are compromised as well. To help
largest country in the world! Because of the
solve this problem, try using a password
amount of users in these social networks and
manager application like KeePass (free) or
the increasing usage, it's no surprise that social
1Password to automatically create complex and
media is becoming the biggest target for abuse,
unique passwords for each of the accounts you
scams and security threats.
use on various applications. That way if one of
What are the threats? your accounts is compromised, the rest of your
accounts are safe.
Many security researchers and privacy
advocates have determined that the top threats Set appropriate privacy and security
to users of social media are: defaults for your social media profiles
 Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking and sexual Every social network by default allows access to
predators the entire world because this is how social
 Phishing, scams and SPAM networks are supposed to function. However,
 Third-party applications used within social what if you don't want your profile indexed by
media major search engines, or don't want everyone
 Collection and aggregation of personal data on a particular social network to be able to find
 Impersonation and Cybersquatting you and view your personal information? For
example, limiting who can search for you can be
How can you use social media with especially helpful if you don't want future or
privacy and security in mind? current employers to automatically find your
Let’s face it, social media is the most valuable profile. In addition, having completely open
and useful set of applications and tools to profiles on social networks are what
network with others on the Internet. However, cyberstalkers and cyberbully's look for. Why
there are some simple guidelines that you make it easy for people with bad intentions? Be
should follow when using any type of social sure to check out the privacy and security
media application or network. By using these settings for each social media application and
guidelines you can still use social media the way network you use. If you are on Facebook you
it was meant to be used, but with safely and can check out the Facebook Privacy and
privacy in mind which will help mitigate the Security Guide I put together. By following this
threats listed above.
guide you can appropriately set privacy and spammers and criminals is to impersonate
security settings for your Facebook profile. people you may already have a relationship
with. This can even include celebrities and high-
Be careful installing third party profile accounts. Look out for strange messages
applications and/or behavior from people you are already be
Don’t install applications from sources you friends with. If their accounts exhibit strange
don’t trust. activity they may have been compromised and
could be trying to get you to become a victim as
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social well.
networks allow you to install third party
applications and widgets to your profile. These Read social media privacy policies
applications allow more interaction with your carefully
friends. For example, there are lots of
Limit personal information you share.
interesting applications that allow you to throw
virtual snowballs at your friends or "Super Social networks all have privacy policies and
Poke" them in Facebook. What you may not terms of use. Be sure to read these carefully.
know is that most of these applications will Most privacy policies indicate that you are
override your privacy settings even if you have giving the social network your personal
specifically changed your privacy settings. In information and they can use it basically for
addition, many of these applications are not whatever they want. This includes selling your
created by professional developers. These information to third-parties in some cases. The
applications are sometimes coded incorrectly reality is that social networks have no obligation
and can contain security vulnerabilities that to protect your privacy. For example, in 2005
could be exploited and expose your private when MySpace was sold to News Corporation,
information. The best advice is to only install each MySpace profile (21 million at the time)
third-party applications from well known was estimated to value around $27. That's 567
providers (for example, Amazon or Yahoo) and million dollars! The number of active users on
limit their usage. MySpace has increased to 110 million in early
2008! These statistics show that the more
Only accept friend requests from people information you share, the more valuable you
you know directly are to the social network. Remember, it's up to
As a general rule you should be very cautious you to read these policies and limit the personal
when accepting friend requests from people information you share if you feel you need to.
you either don't know personally or with whom
Be careful what you post
you are not currently doing business. A typical
method spammers and criminals use is to run Consider all information and pictures you post
automated tools to send millions of friend as public!
requests to random people on social networks.
Once these friend requests are accepted it Sure, those private pictures of you drunk were
makes it easy for criminals to start sending cool to share with your friends, but what if
unsolicited SPAM as well as attempting to send those pictures made their way outside of your
phishing emails to others on the social network. social network? Consider what you post about
yourself and others. For example, US
In addition, cyberstalkers use these same
techniques to exploit trust relationships Representative Pete Hoekstra recently sent
messages on Twitter to nearly 3,000 followers
between you and your friends.
while he was in Iraq and Afghanistan. He took a
Be cautious with people that you think are your lot of criticism from the US government and
friends. Another popular technique used by others that this may have caused a security
incident or endangered the lives of his party. currently works for a Fortune 500
Want another example? Go to Google and type financial institution as the security
in "site:dmfail.com" (without quotes) and you assessment team lead. In his spare time
will see lots of messages that were sent on he researches social media security,
Twitter that should have been private. Sure, blogs about security and is one of the co-
these were most likely simple mistakes, but it's hosts of the Security Justice podcast.
a lesson for all of us! Be careful what you post! Tom is also a frequent speaker on social
media security and other security related
Tom Eston is an information security topics. He is also the author of the
professional from Cleveland, Ohio. Tom Facebook Privacy & Security Guide .
messy magazine is an online literary / art / encouraging interactions between artists,

music / photography / whatever-that-issue- creative types and those just starting out.
needs-to-be-at-the-moment magazine. The
messy magazine has a Facebook group page
basis of the magazine revolves around theme-
and we use that to send messages, update
inspired work, spanning fiction and non-fiction
group members on events and submission
writing, reviews, previews, fashion, music and
deadlines and to basically just spread the word
visual work.
about what we’re working on. Since our
messy magazine is grassroots and non- magazine is driven by user content, we
traditional. We are grateful for social media frequently message and update the page so
tools that will help us promote our magazine that people can keep up on what is going on
and the wealth of artistic talent and just plain and when they should jump in, either to submit,
interesting people and events here in northeast enter a contest or check out an article, local
Ohio. We look forward to learning from the business or company that we recommend. Each
masters (most of whom are writing articles staff member also reaches out to their own
about much fancier stuff in this e-book) and personal networks on Facebook, myspace and
thank you for the chance to include this little twitter, and the response has been very
blurb about how we are using social media at favorable.
messy magazine.
In sum, we were four twenty-somethings with
At messy magazine, we are exploring the 9-5 jobs, Facebook pages and a huge
possibilities of using social media to spread the commitment to creativity as a force to drive
word about upcoming themes, special events economic development… and now we’re four
and also to distribute our product. We are twenty-somethings with an online magazine,
currently working on creating an open source the popularity of which is rapidly spreading
blog where our readers and friends can log on thanks to links on our friends’ blogs and
and write pieces to complement (or contradict) promotion through various social networking
our bi-monthly online publication. This sites.
interactive piece will help us to further engage
our audience and will help us to achieve one of We don’t always have a chance to be creative
our original goals of creating community and during the work day and understand if you
don’t either. We want to construct a friendly
online place for people to showcase their work
and build relationships. It’s our own social
networking vehicle- complete with great stories
and compelling visuals.
messy magazine is distributed bi-monthly from
Cleveland, Ohio. We welcome submissions from
all over the world (and have published work
from all over the country). We are currently a
paperless magazine. Why? Because printing is
expensive…and we really enjoy saving trees.
Our paperless format also allows us to promote
our publication online to a greater amount of
people. Print it if you want to. Send the link to a
friend. That’s kind of how we do things.
If you have given us your business card, you will
be added to our email list and we will find you
on Facebook and ask you to join our group. It’s
a not-as-stalker-like-as-it-sounds way of saying
we really want you on board for this- and we
want you to tell all of your friends.
Genna is one of the four individuals that
produces messy magazine from
Cleveland, Ohio. The rest of the team
includes Vanessa Aron, Lauren Kirk and
Michael Stidham. During the day, she
works for University Circle, Inc.
promoting the Greater Circle Living
Program to eligible employees in and
around the Circle. Genna also serves on
the Marketing and Development
committee at SPACES gallery and is
involved with the Great Lakes Urban
Exchange. Her interests lie in true
grassroots marketing and in promoting
Cleveland as a great place to live, work
and create. messy magazine was created
specifically to encourage creativity, both
artistically and in formulating ideas to
move Cleveland forward.
While developing our own social media web site Allow developers to build new features
at CorkShare, we found there are a few trends with an API
in the leading social media platforms that are
no longer just neat tricks, but essential
components for success. Any new platform has
the following features on their time line to
attract the user base necessary for a thriving
social media web application.
Enable easy content sharing across
multiple platforms
Tweetdeck
An application programming interface, or API,
allows outside developers to build products that
leverage an existing service. These community
software developers can test out and
implement new features of a service while
having access to an already established user
base. Microblogging service Twitter benefits
With the unprecedented reach of social greatly from an API ecosystem, with hundreds
networks and social media, information can be of API applications ranging from desktop clients
distributed virally and reach millions of people (TweetDeck) to photo posting (TwitPic) to
though blog posts, Twitter feeds, email, and iPhone applications (TwitterFon).
status messages. Why not incorporate this
network effect into your social media startup? By providing an API, you can crowdsource the
creative discovery of new features to the public.
Allow users to easily share and embed content If a user-developed API project becomes
from your service onto other web pages. Build popular and adds value to the overall
in features such as a one click "Post to Twitter", community, you can then make an offer to
or enable sharing through an external widget acquire and integrate the application. In July
like ShareThis. People are lazy; removing as 2008, Twitter acquired search engine Summize
many barriers to sharing content will help your for $15 million, thus integrating search
service reach more potential users faster. All functionality into Twitter’s core product.
the major players are including these features
(such as Digg’s recently released DiggBar). We
think you should too.
Provide mobile applications for portable Engage your community directly
access to content
Diggnation
Apple App Store for iPhone
Social media applications are a product, but also
If you build it, they will come. As seen by video more importantly a community. In order to
game juggernauts Nintendo and Sony, outside foster lasting relationships and experiences, the
developers can thrive in an open environment community must be thoroughly and
with direct access to paying consumers. consistently engaged. Twitter cofounder Evan
Companies such as Apple and Google are Williams uses his platform to converse with
allowing developers to write third party many other Tweeters. Digg cofounder Kevin
applications that add advanced functionality to Rose uses weekly online video podcast
our mobile devices. Web service providers Diggnation to engage his user base and discuss
should build apps in the emerging smartphone top articles of the week. Williams and Rose
market to enhance the user experience. stimulate active users to stay involved, causing
a unique culture and identity to emerge within
Applications written for the iPhone, Android, their sites.
and Blackberry platforms provide users access
to the complete feature set of their favorite Upcoming social media sites should learn from
Web pages, including uploading content from the successes of Twitter and Digg. Find activities
their mobile phones. This allows for arguably a for your users to participate in and engage with
superior experience than on a desktop or laptop them directly to build your brand and foster a
computer, as users can access the service at any greater sense of community. People want to be
time. a part of something bigger; give them the
maximum number of opportunities to
Provide users mobile access to your web service contribute and interact.
to remove barriers and increase the amount of
time users spend with your service. Mobile Moving Forward
applications will increase the popularity of your Let’s be honest: the social media startup scene
overall community through word of mouth. For is becoming increasingly crowded and chaotic.
example, an iPhone user can demo an installed For every success story, there are scores of
application to friends in public. failures. With limited resources and talent, it
can be overwhelming to compete against top
dogs such as Facebook or Twitter.
The key is to focus on your core competencies
while allowing the community to fill in the gaps.
Set up an API and let developers go to town.
Have the site spread virally by letting users
share content in one click. Get buzz with the
release of an iPhone app. But don’t ever slow
down, and don’t ever give up.
Jim England and Tim Gasper are
cofounders of CorkShare and seniors at
Case Western Reserve University .
CorkShare is a social media application
to visually share Web content including
photos, videos, links and widgets with
close friends and colleagues using an
easy and intuitive interface. Tim
(@TimGasper) is studying economics and
management with a marketing focus,
while Jim (@JimEngland) is studying
management with an IT focus.

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Welcome To Social Media: Volume 1

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Welcome to Social Media was created as a place for the Cleveland Social Media Club to share

Editor-in-Chief: Jim England

THE BREAKDOWN—ANALYZING AND EVALUATING SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

D ISCUSSIONS —FEATURED RECOMMENDATIONS , OBSERVATIONS, AND INSPIRATION

PERSONAL BEST PRACTICES—UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

PROFESSIONAL BEST PRACTICES—SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE

TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS —THE POWER AND POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

If you don't control your online presence,

Speaking—plain-old speaking to an audience— from your storage or transferred from social

messy magazine is an online literary / art / encouraging interactions between artists,

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