Blog Archives
Facebook’s New Features
With spring around the corner, Facebook has come out of the gates with some changes throughout their site. Overall, I feel the changes are a step forward for the world’s most popular social networking site but there are some drawbacks. Here’s a quick snapshot:
Re-Designed Home page
As Rafe Needleman identified in this post about the new home page launch, Facebook definitely caught on to the popularity of the Twitter-esque stream as a way of facilitating contact with all of your friends. Here’s a quick overview from Facebook on the various new features and purpose behind each change.
The group segmenting in the news stream is definitely a nice bonus, especially for those that use the site for both personal and professional purposes. I agree with Rafe that the lack of an auto-refresh in the news stream is a drawback. I’m sure this is no small feat to accomplish with 175 million users, but it would be a nice integration if they really are working to replicate Twitter. In addition, the home page seems to be lacking easy links to pages and causes, which I miss dearly (maybe it’s just me, any insight here would be greatly appreciated! UPDATE: Thanks @kaitlinolson for opening my eyes to the toolbar at the bottom of a user’s profile.)
Re-Designed Pages (Public Profiles)
Lee Aase did a nice overview post on the changes to Facebook pages earlier this month. Most notable is the shift to pages now looking and functioning more like profiles. As Lee notes, the status update addition is a huge step forward as the previous restriction around utilizing “updates” to communicate with fans has been fairly useless since no one ever checks their updates link.
Group Renaming
Nick O’Neill posted about Facebook’s removal of their previous restriction on changing group names back in February. Being able to change group names now enables you to ensure you are optimizing the searchability of your group at any moment. I frequently see groups created with obscure titles and administrators scratching their heads when no one joins the groups. Changing group names to incorporate keywords can make a world of difference in helping others find your group. In addition, Neil reports that Facebook has lifted the previous messaging restriction cap of 5,000 members which adds more utility to groups.
Your thoughts on these recent changes? Fan or not a fan?
-Scott
Avoid The Facebook Phone Trap
Chances are good that you’ve seen a group on Facebook pop up explaining how the creator has lost or had their phone stolen. The group description usually mentions how the individual needs all their friends to join the group and post their phone number. In most cases, these groups are left open for anyone to join.
Some groups and creators are undoubtedly legit. Phones are in fact lost and stolen and no one can blame someone for wanting to use Facebook to reconnect with friends. After all, Facebook has become the Great Connector and a testament to how how valuable it can be to keep our contacts in the Cloud.
That being said, an open group means that anyone who posts his or her phone number is leaving that number up for anyone to see. Why is this dangerous?
As much as we’d like to think that Facebook is a clean, 100% safe zone, it’s also one of the largest social networks around. Thus, there are likely users mining Facebook for key data such as phone numbers at any given time. Phone numbers can be used by telemarketers and spammers alike to send you text messages. Sad, but true.
Here is a prime example. “Michelle” (I’m not totally convinced it’s Michelle that started this group as no admins are listed) has created an open group requesting numbers. 23 of her best friends have not given a second thought to making their phone number completely public. What does this equate to for Susy Spammer looking for phone numbers from a key Illinois college demographic?
Goldmine.
How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook
1) BE SMART – Use common sense and remember that “public” and “open” really do mean you’re allowing full access to 150 million users. There’s going to be some bad seeds in there.
2) BE PROACTIVE – Whether it’s a group or your own profile, take action now to get your privacy settings right. Here’s a great Facebook privacy tips list, use it!
3) KEEP ON TOP OF NEWS – It would behoove you to stay on top of any scandals or other dangers arising on Facebook. If not for you, for your kids, co-workers, boss, clients or other new users checking out this “Facebook thing.”
-Scott
*Kudos to my old co-worker, Nate, for this post idea. You can reach Nate anytime on his cell at…
Your 6 Step LinkedIn Strategy
2009 will be an interesting year for everyone. It’s hard to say how the current economy will ultimately impact the PR/Marketing world, but now is the time to continue building your professional network.
LinkedIn is my “go to” business contact database. As of October 2008, the site reported having more than 30 million users, covering more than 150 different industries. This survey from September 2008 shows that the majority of LinkedIn users are executives and consultants or “decision makers.” Not a bad place to seek out some new business contacts and job opportunities.
As with any social networking site, you’re wise to do some groundwork and have a strategy in place instead of just signing up and never touching the site again. Here’s six steps I recommend for making your LinkedIn presence worthwhile.
Polish Your Profile
Go ahead, brag a bit. Treat LinkedIn like your online resume. List your current position/description but also be sure to include your past positions, education info, groups/affiliations, awards and specialties.
In addition, be sure to include links to your website, blog and Twitter profile. You may also want to consider adding in one of LinkedIn’s applications such as the WordPress application which provides an RSS feed from your WordPress blog directly on your profile.
Make sure your profile is in “full view” and tailor your profile URL to your name. LinkedIn tracks well in search engines and this will likely rank high under your name search.
Connect
LinkedIn makes it easy to search your current email databases to find existing contacts on the site. They are also stringent about making sure you only connect to people with whom you have had some type of contact or affiliation. Take a look at weekly digests that LinkedIn sends out to see who your contacts are connecting with as opportunities for you to also connect.
Join Groups
There are a ton of them. I believe I’m currently part of 26 different groups. Search around and find the ones that are most relevant to your industry or interests. Most groups usually require the group administrator to accept your request, which can take a couple days. Search through the other members of these groups and see if there are others to connect with.
Start & Respond to Discussions
Group discussions are a great way to begin networking and meeting like-minded professionals. Users will pose a variety of questions and on message board threads so you can build off the conversations of others.
Don’t use this solely to plug yourself or your company!
That’s not the purpose. It’s fine to provide a link to a relevant blog post you may have done on the topic or to include your Twitter handle as part of your signature, but as with all social networking, make sure you focus your response on contributing to the question posed. It’s also a great opportunity to suggest another contact, company or link that may help provide a solution.
Provide Recommendations
More and more college students and junior staff members are joining LinkedIn. Have an intern or member of your team that has done a stellar job on a project? Give them a recommendation! It will help bolster the individual’s profile and serve as a professional endorsement for their future career.
Be sure to check out Jason Alba’s post as well as Chris Brogan’s tips on writing LinkedIn recommendations. Hint – you’re not signing a high school yearbook here.
Stay Consistent
Is LinkedIn going to get your agency a new client or find you a new job overnight? Maybe not all the time but it does happen quite frequently. It is a fantastic resource for making new contacts, maintaining an online rolodex and analyzing/assessing other companies. Do you need to be on the site everyday? Nope. Check in once or twice a week to answer a question, write a recommendation or make a new contact. The long-term benefits will be worth it.
Hope this helps!
-Scott
*Note, I’ll be back to posting middle of next week. Out to Park City!
