CHCS Blog - Social Networks

News You Might Like

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:42:00-0700

We spend a lot of time keeping up with trends. We publish articles that may be of interest to our customers. Check them out at:

Also, check out Charlie's writing at WebWorkerDaily.com.

Finally, don't forget to follow us on:

Let us know if you find this information helpful!

Take Charge of Your Business Listing on Google and Elsewhere

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:49:00-0700

I don't know why this isn't better known, but Google has a service called Local Business Center, at which you can claim your business listing, and ensure that it is correct. You can even create online coupons!

I recently wrote about Google Profiles, a similar service for individuals. In another article, I included links to creating company pages on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Yelp. (Note to LinkedIn: Please respond to my inquiry about getting rid of listing for an employee that isn't ours!)

Take a few minutes to check out these links. It's always worth making sure that your search results are correct.

Why Twitter 101: Publish Your Own Headlines

Sat, 09 May 2009 08:52:00-0700

A lot of people still don't "get" Twitter. That's understandable, because although it gets a lot of attention, it's not often explained.

Twitter is what's called a "micro-blogging service." In other words, it's a way to publish whatever you want, but each message is limited to 140 characters. Other people can read what you write on your Twitter page (ours is http://twitter.com/chcs) or they can "follow" you, which means that your messages, called "tweets," become part of their Twitter feed, where everyone's messages are displayed together. There's much more, of course, but that's the basic idea.

The messages tend to fall into several categories.

Status updates. What's going on in people's lives, like "going to a movie," or "the dog ate my homework."
What people are thinking about. "Feeling cheerful," or snatches of song lyrics.
Information about news events. Eyewitness information and reactions. These can be "tagged" with a particular subject line, so that they can be searched for.
Pointers to other plces on the web, like articles, photos, and blog posts. When this blog article is finished, I'll probably post a tweet telling people where it is.

So who do people choose to follow on Twitter?

People they know.
Celebrities.
People who have interesting things to say.

So what's different about Twitter? Interestingly, not much. It's more about how they've put the pieces together.

The limited length isn't new; SMS and instant messaging have that as well. But those are one-to-one communication, not broadcast.
Telling the world what you're thinking about isn't new; Facebook and LinkedIn also have that (although you could argue that Twitter did it first). But Facebook and LinkedIn are social media, in which people communicate with people they know. With Twitter, anyone can follow anyone else who has a public page. Thus, Twitter isn't really a social medium in the same sense as Facebook and LinkedIn are.

Is reading Twitter feeds important? No. Is it a time-waster? It can be, although you can control what you see and how it's displayed. Is it fun and interesting? Mostly yes.

Is posting to Twitter important? Twitter can be a useful tool for individuals and organizations who have a story to tell or a product to sell. Think of your 140-character tweet as a headline. When written well, it can be used to entice visits to your web site or blog; at very least, it keeps you at the top of people's minds so that when they need your services, they'll think of you.

Does Your Organization Need a "Ghost Poster"?

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:24:00-0700

Most businesspeople are used to networking, and to communicating with clients postally or electronically. (If "postally" isn't a word, sorry -- it should be!) I think we understand that current and potential customers are more likely to use our services if they hear from us once in a while. And many clients appreciate receiving information, if it's carefully chosen to be of interest to them.

It's never been easier to connect -- through the social networks, through blogs, and through services like Twitter. In fact, it's so easy that even the boss can do it! I spend a bit of time each day reading the general press, the trade press, and news sites, looking for information that might be useful to me and my customers. And once in a while, I'll write a blog entry, or just share a link to an article.

Since you're reading this, you may already be doing something similar. But if you don't have the time, or if you know someone who could use some help making their organization more visible, please contact me and I'll be happy to help be a "ghost poster" for your organization!

Google Profile Search: Erosion of Privacy or Marketing Tool?

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:17:00-0700

If you've ever searched for a specific person's name on Google, you probably know that, in the past, it often hasn't worked very well. Google wants to change this, and compete with Facebook and LinkedIn while they're at it.

In order for searches to work, the person you're searching for has to set up a public profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, and now Google. Some people worry, understandably, about the privacy implications of this. I have argued that business people will probably find it worthwhile to give up a little privacy in return for visibility that can be positive for marketing purposes. It's a matter of being careful about what information you choose to make public; all of the sites I've mentioned have good tools for controlling what is displayed, and to whom.

If you decide to set up a public profile on Google, here's how you do it. First, decide which email address you want associate with the profile. (The email address itself doesn't need to be public, but that address is how you will log in the future to make changes.)

If you want the profile to be associated with an email address @gmail.com, log in at http://mail.google.com and click on Settings, then Accounts. You'll see an option that says Google Account settings. Click on the link, and you'll be taken to a page headed [Your_Name]'s Google Account.
But wait! If you don't have an email address @gmail.com, or if you'd prefer to use a business or personal email address that you already have, you can still create a Google profile. You can do this by registering your chosen email address as a Google Account--see instructions. Once you have done that, go to https://www.google.com/accounts/ to create your profile.

Now that you have logged in to the Google Account Settings page, look under Profile. Click on the link that says Create Your Profile. Fill in the information, especially the About Me and Contact Info sections. Note that the information on the About Me page is public, and will display in Google searches, so be careful what you add. The Contact Info data is not public, unless you specify otherwise.

When you are ready, click on the big blue button at the bottom of the page that says Create A Google Profile. You can always return to this page and make changes later.

It will be interesting to see how useful, and how widely used, Google Profile Searches turn out to be. After all, they aren't social networks, and don't have the features such sites have. But I wouldn't be surprised if Profile Searches become popular, since most people turn to Google for most searches.

For more information, see the articles in the Google Operating System and All Facebook blogs.

The beginning of the end for the social networks?

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:36:00-0700

Are we seeing the beginning of the end for Facebook and the like? It's hard to believe, as they're still growing by leaps and bounds.

But people are fickle, and it's happened before. Some of the earlier social networks (Friendster and MySpace come to mind) have stagnated and are not cool any more.

Facebook and Twitter have both had problems recently: Facebook's redesign and the kerfuffle over it's terms of service; Twitter's ongoing reliability problems and, just yesterday, a virus (technically a worm).

These sorts of problems are probably inevitable. When a site depends on its users to create content, there are going to be users who will misuse their authoring capabilities to spread spam or malware, for financial reasons, or just to show off their technical prowess.

And the social networks do compete with each other. There are over a hundred of them now, but no one has the time or desire to participate in all of them, so each network will try to come up with features to attract users to their site, rather than someone else's. In fact, many sites have figured out ways to import content from, and export content to, other networks.

This situation is a natural outgrowth of the preferences we've been taught in older media. We're used to advertising-supported modes of entertainment. The subscription model hasn't worked on the web, and isn't likely to.

So we've brought together user-generated content, advertising support, and a boom mentality where technical controls are minimal. The perfect conditions for the coming together of Murphy's Law and Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crap").

As I see it, it's not evident that social networks will go the way of the pet rock. But it seems to me that a lot of sites will disappear, and only the strongest will survive. It will be interesting to see who makes it to 2010.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Spend Time on the Social Networks

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:12:00-0700

A friend asked me why I am active on the social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. So here's what I came up with. Thanks, Eleanor, for the idea!

10. Social networks are fun.

It's enjoyable to find out what friends and colleagues are doing. In the last few days, I've seen announcements that friends are getting married and have gotten jobs. I would have found out about these things anyway, but it was fun to be among the first to know.

9. I need to keep up with the latest trends.

The web is changing very quickly, and my clients often ask me what's happening. So it makes sense to experiment with the various social sites, even if some of them turn out to be less than useful.

8. Some social networks help me connect with the under-30s

Many of my younger friends don't use email much, if at all. So connecting with that generation is why I originally joined Facebook, before it has grown explosively in the last few months. (Of course, now that us old folks have discovered it, the kids will go elsewhere, I'm sure.)

7. Social network tools allow me to respond quickly

My web development company has always been able to update sites quickly, and we have the conent-management tools to let our clients do the same. But it's very easy to post to social networks. That can be a two-edged sword, but quick and careful responses are almost always a good thing.

6. I can target different audiences

Each social network has a different personality and a different audience. Since I know who my connections are, I can tailior what I say accordingly. I do use tools like Ping.fm that allow me to post to many places at once, but I use such tools sparingly.

5. I can connect to groups with common interests

Places like Facebook Groups, Ning and Biznik allow me to create and participate in networks for people with common interestes. It looks like Facebook is having a huge impact on the political process. I am less impressed so far with Biznik, aimed at small business owners, as well as the "walled garden" social networks offered by many alumni organizations.

4. It's an efficient use of my time and budget

A friend warned me when I joined Twitter that it could be a major time-waster. I havn't found that to be so, because I've found a system for managing electronic communications that works well for me. In fact, I feel that since joining the social networks, I've gotten more results per marketing hour spent. And I haven't felt the need to pay for the "premium" (paid) membership levels offered by some networks.

3. I can reconnect with people

In today's economy, we're all looking for value, and we'd like to work with people we know and trust. I've reconnected through social networks with folks I'd lost touch with, and some have become customers. Others are, well, just good friends...but that's great, too!

2. It's the next generation of networking

Business networking groups -- chambers of commerce, community groups, service clubs, and the like -- have been around for a long time. I still participate in these, since they do one thing that the web-based social networks don't do very well: introduce me to new contacts. But that is changing. LinkedIn in particular has an excellent system for referrals and introductions. I'm lucky, of course, in that I can do business anywhere.

1. Social networks keep my name visible

Just being a member of social networks is not enough: I need to be active, so that my name comes up. Thus I change my status, write notes, and answer questions, whenever I feel that I have something useful to add. People don't need a new or updated website all that often, but when they do, I hope they'll think of me.

Are Facebook Fans Not Receiving Updates?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:01:00-0700

If you have manage a Facebook Public Profile (formerly a Facebook Page), your fans may not be getting updates from you. Have some of the pages you are a fan of been hidden?

Managers of public profiles can use other tools to reach fans, like the "Send An Update to Your Fans" option, but I suspect that many fans won't appreciate too-frequent updates.

It's evident that Facebook is still tweaking their new system. And a lot of people are saying that they don't like it. So we'll see what happens.

UPDATE (10 hours later): That didn't take long. I got the following notice this evening:

Pages are now a part of News Feed

From now on, posts from Pages you are a fan of will show up in your News Feed. You can hide their posts by clicking the ‘x’ in the top right corner of the post. If you would like to see posts from Pages you connected to in the past, click here.

Empty Your Inbox!

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:31:00-0700

Managing email, social networks, and other electroniic communications is a must for me, and for most of the folks I talk to. Macworld has an excellent series on how to manage email. (Their techniques work on other computers, too.)

If you missed my earlier post on this subject, here's the link. How do you manage electronic communications?

Maintaining Privacy on Social Networks

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:58:00-0700

A few weeks ago, the AllFacebook blog published an excellent guide to privacy settings on Facebook. Today, PC World has published a similar guide to privacy on LinkedIn.

But social networks change quickly, so keep an eye out for announcements like this. Please let us know if you find any other useful tools. We'll be happy to share them.

The Fall of MySpace

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:08:00-0700

A colleague of mine recently announced that he was "poking MySpace with a stick...and a full suit of gothic platemail, merged with an insane combination of a hazmat and astronaut's suit. Also, gloves." The humor is compounded by the fact that he made this announcement on Facebook.

MySpace has long been the largest social network, only recently been overtaken by Facebook. But Facebook claims that it's growing by 700.000 users a day, and my young friends have deserted MySpace in droves.

So I got on my protective gear and explored MySpace again, for the first time in a while. From a technical perspective, MySpace is quite sophisticated. It has many features that Facebook doesn't, and it has seemingly dealt with some of the privacy issues that plagued it for a while.

But what it doesn't have is activity. Among the 97 MySpace members it found in my address book, only a few seem to be actively using the service. The rest haven't logged in for weeks or months. Even friends who have accounts for business reasons seem to have given up on MySpace. And there are only a handful who don't also have accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn -- But those who do have Facebook and LinkedIn accounts seem to use much more.

I hven't yet had a chance to ask my friends why they've stopped using MySpace. Even three years ago, my high-school and college friends were telling me that MySpace was "not cool." No doubt, privacy and spam have a lot to do with it, not to mention the ads that are obnoxious even by the standards of social media sites. (If you must explore MySpace, use an ad-blocker!)

But in the end, I think too much customization has killed MySpace. As a web designer, I cringe when I see MySpace pages that are horribly laid out, have unreadable color schemes, and are larded with auto-starting music players. Even kids that are used to being bombarded with television must be thinking "this is too much."

Of course, now that Facebook has been discovered by the old fogies, it's probably only a matter of time before the kids go someplace else.

Social Networks More Popular Than Email

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:02:00-0700

This is big news: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and their kin are reaching more people than email! Add that to the news of huge upheavals in the newspaper business.

I would argue that we're seeing the biggest change in the media landscape since the rise of cable television in the 1970s, or perhaps, even, the demise of network radio in the 1940s.

How can you take advantage of these changes? I think that it's incredibly important to:

Have a well-crafted, attractive web site that can be changed very quickly as circumstances warrant, and
Maintain and update presences on the social networks that can drive traffic to your web site.

Our customers seem to think so, too. People are realizing that they must have excellent web presences in order to survive and thrive in this economy. Let us know if we can help you!

UPDATE: In a related story, it's being reported that Facebook is generating more traffic to websites than Google.

UPDATE 2: American spend 6% of their total online time on Facebook.

To See or Not to See: Staff Photos on Your Web Site?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:25:00-0700

Should photos of you and your staff be included on your corporate web site? Many say yes, especially those providing services where personal service can help your company stand out from the crowd.

Real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and insurance agents have been putting their pictures on business cards for many years. The theory is that people are more likely to do business with you if they know you, and that pictures help current and potential clients remember you.

To this point, my company has not posted pictures of our staff, although we may reconsider. But if you do decide to post photos, we recommend either:

Action shots showing your staff at work, or
Professionally-shot images, preferably with something a little more exciting than the standard head shot.

Digital cameras make it easy to take your own pictures, but I've seen too many amateur pictures that make the subject look as though they're in a police lineup. So in today's environment, make sure that you look good in your web presences -- your web site, social networks, and blogs. The cost is minimal and the results may surprise you.

How Much Should Your Customers Know About You?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:56:00-0700

Thanks to Facebook, some of my customers know that I am sometimes online in the wee hours. And they can see some not-so-flattering pictures of me. Nothing unprofessional, mind you, just me showing my age. (My young friends think they're a hoot.)

In spite of the occasional controversy, people are giving up their privacy voluntarily, in ways that would shock George Orwell. But businesspeople have always had to give up some privacy and talk about ourselves in order to develop business relationships. That's what chambers of commerce and the like have always existed to foster.

We are now blurring the lines between personal and business life further. We are telling the world what we are doing and thinking, through status updates on Facebook and LinkedIn, and on Twitter.

Is this a good thing? Like many people, my first reaction to Twitter was, "I really don't want to know about my business colleagues' pets." I am interested in their professinal activities, and it's nice to know that everything's okay during a natural disaster.

But as time passes, I'm discovering that people who use Twitter and status updates wisely are giving me a window into how they think -- information that may make me more likely to do business with them. Of course, I'm also seeing posts I consider offensive. Those folks won't get my business.

So I'm now of the opinion that while my participation in social networks should definitely be kept professional, a little personal information can help current and potential clients know me better.

But I need to be mindful of my audiences. In the case of Facebook and LinkedIn, I know who can read my posts, and I write them accordingly. Facebook's demographic is still much younger, although that is changing rapidly. Twitter is more problematic, as I've set the account to be open, so I need to be more careful.

And I get annoyed with people who post too often, and who always post identical comments to a number of social networks. While I do like services such as Ping.fm that allow me to post to multiple networks easily, I use these sparingly.

For me, then, effective communication on social networks is like effective communication in any setting: know your audience, stay on message, and, while a little personal information can help build relationships, don't overdo it.

Facebook is Great, But Watch What You Say

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:12:00-0700

Facebook has grown amazingly. Even a few months ago, there weren't too many people over 25 hanging out there. Now that's changed, and it can be a great tool for professional and business development.

CHCS has published a company page on Facebook. We'll be adding more information there soon.

But since Facebook is an informal community, you may be tempted to post things that you wouldn't want colleagues and potential employers to see. So it makes sense to use Facebook's privacy settings. All Facebook has published a great guide.