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	<title>Danny Brown &#187; social networking</title>
	<atom:link href="http://dannybrown.me/tag/social-networking/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://dannybrown.me</link>
	<description>Smart Marketing - Social Media - Building Brand Loyalty Through Community &#38; Engagement</description>
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		<title>The Business iPod Mix</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/09/21/the-business-ipod-mix/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/09/21/the-business-ipod-mix/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:05:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[branding your business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=8310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was going through my iPod tunes over the weekend, adding some new ones and building some new playlists.
Looking at the tracks, I saw there&#8217;s no real genre that stands out as a favourite &#8211; there&#8217;s everything on there from hard rock to R&#38;B, Motown to 80&#8242;s pop, classical arias to hip hop. Quite the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="border: 0pt none;;  float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3559/3366332068_c354212e9e_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Tinitus" width="192" height="240" />I was going through my iPod tunes over the weekend, adding some new ones and building some new playlists.</p>
<p>Looking at the tracks, I saw there&#8217;s no real genre that stands out as a favourite &#8211; there&#8217;s everything on there from hard rock to R&amp;B, Motown to 80&#8242;s pop, classical arias to hip hop. Quite the mix.</p>
<p>Instead of being fractured, it makes sense for me to have so many different styles on there &#8211; I&#8217;m sure it does for you as well.</p>
<p>It all depends on how the mood takes us at any given time.</p>
<p>For instance, if I&#8217;m driving in the summer, it&#8217;s time for hard rock, windows down, full volume. But if I&#8217;m melancholy or introspective, it&#8217;s Marvin Gaye and Ella Fitzgerald time. Different sounds for the need at any given time.</p>
<p>And that should apply for us in business as well.</p>
<p>We shouldn&#8217;t be concentrating on just one area all the time. Sure, let&#8217;s be strong where our strengths are, but does that mean we need to limit our knowledge to these strengths?</p>
<p>People aren&#8217;t satisfied with the one-trick pony anymore, no matter how strong or sturdy that pony might be. Agencies and organizations are having to adapt to offer an umbrella service. PR, marketing, creative, customer service, sales, design &#8211; couldn&#8217;t they be available from one source (or at least have an option to offer more than one core strength)?</p>
<p>Think about what you offer at the minute, and what you don&#8217;t. Can you build on that? Can you learn what you need to know, so that you can offer multiple practices instead of just one? If not, how easy can you learn? It doesn&#8217;t matter if it&#8217;s online or offline, you can find the solution:</p>
<ul>
<li>Webinars</li>
<li>Forums</li>
<li>User groups</li>
<li>Networking events</li>
<li>Workshops</li>
<li>Social learning</li>
<li>In-house or on-site training</li>
</ul>
<p>Think about what you&#8217;d like to see as a customer. Are you happy with having to go to 5-6 different agencies to get core skill sets at each one, or would you prefer a solution where everything could be under one roof? Or at least half the current amount of solutions.</p>
<p>Even if you don&#8217;t have the time to take onboard the new skills you need, why not outsource but keep it under your banner? Search for freelancers that you can call on for projects that need a specific expertise. Nurture relationships, build portfolios, treat as equals &#8211; you never know what could come from it, and it opens your own business up to many more possibilities.</p>
<p>Having a favourite band is normal. Having a favourite type of music is normal. But just think of the amazing sounds you could be missing out on if you don&#8217;t mix up your iPod every now and again.</p>
<p>Is it time for you to freshen up your business playlist?</p>
<p><small><a title="Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="../wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" border="0" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="jakevol2" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8587222@N08/3366332068/" target="_blank">jakevol2</a></small></p>
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		<title>Define Your Digital Footprint &#8211; Lacing the Shoes</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/09/14/define-your-digital-footprint-lacing-the-shoes/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/09/14/define-your-digital-footprint-lacing-the-shoes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:40:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=8215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whether you like it or not, you already have a digital footprint that you can&#8217;t fully control. People are talking about you; dissecting you; and making decisions about you every day of the week.
You don&#8217;t even have to be online to have a digital footprint &#8211; people and businesses that don&#8217;t have an active web presence [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="border: 0pt none;;  float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/3109798585_b4990ab12b_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Colourful night" width="160" height="240" />Whether you like it or not, you already have a digital footprint that you can&#8217;t fully control. People are talking about you; dissecting you; and making decisions about you every day of the week.</p>
<p>You don&#8217;t even have to be online to have a digital footprint &#8211; people and businesses that don&#8217;t have an active web presence  are being talked about. By their customers; their clients; their past and futures. So if all this talk is going on and you&#8217;re late to the party, isn&#8217;t it already too late?</p>
<p>Not necessarily.</p>
<p>But it is time to define your digital footprint so you can at least help guide what you&#8217;d like to be found. In this first part of a  series, I&#8217;m going to look at how you can define a strong footprint. Upcoming posts will look at tools you can use, how to connect strongly, how to react and converse with negative footprints, and more.</p>
<h3>Who Are You?</h3>
<p>There are a ton of ways for you to define your digital footprint, but let&#8217;s face it &#8211; unless you know who you are and who you want to be known as, any kind of defining could turn out  worthless. If you don&#8217;t have a strong signal of <em>you</em>, everything else is just guesswork. So how do you make a strong you?</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Be consistent.</strong> Wherever you are online, make sure you&#8217;re not confusing anyone. While the likes of <a id="aptureLink_myFEfCOadv" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter">Twitter</a>, <a id="aptureLink_kFinJTI8dQ" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook">Facebook</a>, <a id="aptureLink_WBSx7UVCxO" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin">LinkedIn</a>, <a id="aptureLink_pruLbHfrtu" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/squidoo">Squidoo</a> and other popular networking sites appeal to a different audience, that doesn&#8217;t mean you have to be completely different on them. Adapt to the community; make the conversation fit the space; but keep a sense of you while doing it. Is it a business approach you take? A more personal one? A mix of the two? Find a voice and run with that.</li>
<li><strong>Claim your space.</strong> Think of a glass of scotch or bourbon. Pour it neat and it&#8217;s a strong colour. Add water, and it&#8217;s not just the taste that&#8217;s diluted &#8211; the colour is too. Think of your digital footprint as the scotch, and networks where you&#8217;re active as the water. If possible, try and grab the same username on each profile you&#8217;re active on. If this isn&#8217;t possible, it can be better going for a derivative as opposed to numbers &#8211; so, @danny_brown on Twitter as opposed to @dannybrown18275. This will keep your name strong and prevent it from being diluted.</li>
<li><strong>Be recognizable.</strong> As much as what you say and how you say it will help define your footprint, the way you look will help define how you&#8217;re viewed. It&#8217;s true &#8211; first impressions do count. Use an avatar that states who you are &#8211; personable and fun if a personal account, business-like but approachable if a professional account. A good choice is an informal head shot or a clear, smiling face. You could use a brand icon, but why not show the human face with a small brand banner across the bottom instead? Either way, being easily recognizable on first viewing is something to aim for.</li>
<li><strong>Start walking.</strong> If you want to create any kind of footprint, digital or otherwise, you need to do one simple thing &#8211; start walking. Online, that just means start talking. Talk to people; talk with people; join discussions; post a blog comment; write a blog post (there are a few options available if you don&#8217;t like the idea of a full on blog, which I&#8217;ll look at next time). No-one will know you&#8217;re around unless you walk up and say &#8220;Hi&#8221; &#8211; so walk on up and introduce yourself. Set yourself a clear direction and start that journey; just don&#8217;t be afraid to ask for directions along the way.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are just the early steps that you can take toward defining and identifying your digital footprint &#8211; but they&#8217;re important ones nonetheless. Get the early steps right, and the rest of the path might become just that little bit easier to navigate.</p>
<p>In the next post, we&#8217;ll look at what tools are available to help you plant your footprint and maintain it, and the platforms that may be more beneficial to you than others.</p>
<p>In the meantime, what have I missed? What would you recommend when it comes to setting up your digital footprint?</p>
<p><small><a title="Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="../wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" border="0" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="G a r r y" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31533886@N00/3109798585/" target="_blank">G a r r y</a></small></p>
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		<title>The More We Connect, The More We Lose Touch</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/06/11/the-more-we-connect-the-more-we-lose-touch/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/06/11/the-more-we-connect-the-more-we-lose-touch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=6311</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” – Ricky Nelson.
It’s been an interesting last 24 hours. Abusive emails, character attacks on Twitter and questions about my ethics. Just another day in the life of.
Time is an interesting commodity.
On the one hand, we love it when time passes quickly so we can see [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial;;  float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/joshua.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="240" height="258" align="right" /><em>“You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” – Ricky Nelson.</em></p>
<p><em></em>It’s been an interesting last 24 hours. Abusive emails, character attacks on Twitter and questions about my ethics. Just another day in the life of.</p>
<p>Time is an interesting commodity.</p>
<p>On the one hand, we love it when time passes quickly so we can see a new movie, or buy a new product, or see a new date. On the other, we complain there’s never enough time in the day.</p>
<p>Online connections simply increase this problem. As we connect with new people on new networks, our availability factor goes down.</p>
<p>You don’t mean it to; you try avoid it; but it’s a simple fact that as we connect with more, the less we can offer. This may be less time for people you used to converse with more; less time for generic conversations; and less time for things in general.</p>
<p>Sure, you can use <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2009/05/21/better-twitter-and-roi-with-topify-seesmic-desktop-and-bitly/" target="_blank">tools to help you manage your</a> time better. Yet at the end of the day, the tools are only as good as the person using them, so perhaps I need to brush up on my time management skills.</p>
<p>Yet the attacks/criticisms that came my way over the last 24 hours would probably have come regardless of time management, by the nature of them. The suggestion of “having time for some people but not for others” being the main theme.</p>
<p>Again, it comes back to where to try and divert your time. While this isn’t an excuse as such, a lot of my time at the minute is taken up by:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://12for12k.org" target="_blank">12for12k</a></li>
<li>Legal clearances for promotional materials for this month’s charity</li>
<li>Conference calls with charity partners</li>
<li><a href="http://netchangeweek.ca/2009/social-mastermind-social-media-for-social-change/" target="_blank">Social change events</a></li>
<li>Client projects (since all 12for12k efforts are free of charge)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you add in personal time, offering help where possible to people asking for advice and <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2009/05/12/availability-factor-ten/" target="_blank">residency issues in Canada</a> to name just a few, you might see where I can get sidetracked.</p>
<p>As I say, it’s not an excuse but an explanation. I appreciate the connections we have and I’ll try my best to manage them as best I can and help wherever I can. However, there will be times that some people and actions slip through the cracks.</p>
<p>So, here’s a suggestion.</p>
<p>If you’ve sent me something or asked me something and I haven’t responded in a couple of days, send me a nudge. Failing that, email me – <a href="http://dannybrown.me/contact/" target="_blank">my contact details</a> are on this blog, or <a href="http://pressreleasepr.com/contact-press-release-pr/" target="_blank">my website</a>, or on <a href="http://twitter.com/DannyBrown" target="_blank">my Twitter background</a>. I’ll try my damnedest to respond.</p>
<p>And if I haven’t replied straight away, please don’t take it personally.</p>
<p>With regards the ethics question, I certainly don’t always make the best decisions but I always believe that whatever they are, they are for the right and ethical reasons. Of course, it’s anyone’s prerogative to doubt this, but I’m happy to live with my decisions.</p>
<p>How about you? Are you finding yourself with less time for the stuff that needs more time? How are you managing your conversations?</p>
<p><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="../wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" border="0" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a href="http://jdavis.info" target="_blank">Joshua Davis</a></p>
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        The Business Of Music II - A Look At The Artist-As-Entrepreneur
        
        
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      <span>(HuffingtonPost)</span>
      
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		<title>We Are The Supercool</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/03/27/we-are-the-supercool/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/03/27/we-are-the-supercool/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:15:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumer voices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=4993</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are the supercool.
That&#8217;s not a smug or ego-stroking statement. It&#8217;s more a statement of celebration.
Why are we supercool?
We&#8217;re the conversationalists. We&#8217;re the network communities. We&#8217;re the end user champions. We&#8217;re helping to transform business into the way it&#8217;s meant to be played.
We&#8217;re the brand evangelists that the brands are listening to. We&#8217;re not the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="border: 0pt none;;  float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/67/170500174_d15d6c5541_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Happy Cloud" width="224" height="153" />We are the supercool.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not a smug or ego-stroking statement. It&#8217;s more a statement of celebration.</p>
<p>Why are we supercool?</p>
<p>We&#8217;re the <a href="http://sethsimonds.com" target="_blank">conversationalists</a>. We&#8217;re the network communities. We&#8217;re the <a href="http://chrisbrogan.com" target="_blank">end user champions</a>. We&#8217;re helping to transform business into the way it&#8217;s meant to be played.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re the <a href="http://ariwriter.com" target="_blank">brand evangelists</a> that the brands are listening to. We&#8217;re not the mouthpieces; we&#8217;re simply the words. But the words are being heard. We&#8217;re the provider <em>and</em> receiver of the eyeballs.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re the <a href="http://davidhenderson.com" target="_blank">new storytellers</a> and the old story sharers. We have a mass media appeal with a core media approach. We&#8217;re here to help and educate; we&#8217;re here to be helped and be educated. Our stories are the ones that are helping shape our needs and the people, and businesses, that want to meet them and meet us.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re no longer me; we&#8217;re now <em>we</em>.We&#8217;re no longer I; we&#8217;re now <em>us</em>.</p>
<p>We share; we learn; we teach; we absorb; we support; we offer; we respect; we build; we talk. Most of all, we <em>converse</em>.</p>
<p>We are at the dawn of the conversation age.</p>
<p>Isn&#8217;t that reason to be supercool?</p>
<p><small><a title="Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" border="0" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22017189@N00/170500174/" target="_blank">Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton</a></small></p>
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		<title>Small Business Not Ready for Prime Time &#8211; Yet&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/02/01/small-business-not-ready-for-prime-time-yet/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/02/01/small-business-not-ready-for-prime-time-yet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media best practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media for small business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=3937</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a guest post from Elaine Young, who I have had some great conversations with recently about small business and social media. Elaine has some interesting views on why so many small businesses aren&#8217;t using social media, and I asked her if she&#8217;d share them with you.

2008 was the year that Twitter saw adoption [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-full wp-image-3950" title="eyteach" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/eyteach.jpg" alt="eyteach" width="130" height="97" />This is a guest post from Elaine Young, who I have had some great conversations with recently about small business and social media. Elaine has some interesting views on why so many small businesses aren&#8217;t using social media, and I asked her if she&#8217;d share them with you.<br />
</em></p>
<p>2008 was the year that Twitter saw adoption grow at an astounding rate. Facebook surpassed 150 million active users and blogging become what seems to be a social norm. But does that mean small business is now ready for the social media revolution?</p>
<p>Facebook launched in 2004 and Twitter started in 2006. Blogs have really only started to grow from “personal journals” to effective public relations tools in the past two years, and widgets and applications have only really been in strong play this past year.</p>
<p>So while 2008 may have seen a surge in growth in the ways in which the different social technologies can be accessed and connected, that doesn&#8217;t mean that small businesses are ready to jump in.</p>
<p>Why? Because they don’t know how to <strong>effectively use social media for their business</strong>.</p>
<p>I consider 2008 the year of &#8220;social media euphoria&#8221;. A group of early adopters started playing – yes, playing &#8211; with the different tools that had become available. The power though, as we have discovered, is not just in the tools themselves but in two things:</p>
<ol>
<li>The ability to <strong>CONNECT</strong> the different tools to one another.</li>
<li>The ability to <strong>CONNECT TO</strong> and <strong>COMMUNICATE  WITH</strong> the right people using the tools.</li>
</ol>
<p>In this discovery process we are organically developing the best practices that small businesses can turn to. We have some interesting case studies.</p>
<p>For example many individuals are writing about how the Obama Campaign proved that social media was the reason for his overall success. While the campaign certainly leveraged the tools that were available, we need to be cautious in making broad statements about a campaign that used ALL media available and had the right message at the right time.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.twellow.com/" target="_blank">Twellow</a> you can see that there are a total of 179,550 individuals in the US that have Twitter accounts.</p>
<p>When you zoom in on the visual you see that California has a lot going on and so does Texas. In Vermont there are 310 people with Twitter accounts. In our little Vermont microcosm, you can see that there are some businesses here, but most of them haven’t posted in weeks, let alone months.</p>
<p>There is an inherent need for small business to understand the ROI behind all of this. Even when human resources aren’t stretched tight, the small business has to be very strategic in how they approach their marketing. If the majority of their target market aren&#8217;t yet using these tools, what is the business case for them to jump in and take time to learn these tools? Particularly when they change at the speed of light (or so it seems).</p>
<p>So how do we move from early adopter frenzy to a <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2008/11/13/how-to-take-social-media-into-the-mainstream/" target="_blank">small business-friendly</a>, strategic adoption rate of social media?</p>
<p><strong>We early adopters must work out the kinks and start formulating “best practices”. </strong>We are already figuring out that “selling” via Twitter is not the way to go – but connecting is. Blogs help to build credibility and Facebook – well we still are trying to figure that one out!</p>
<p><img style=' float: left; padding: 4px; margin: 0 7px 2px 0;'  class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3952" title="lijit" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lijit.jpg" alt="lijit" width="120" height="86" /><strong>We must show how to measure the ROI of each tool. </strong>We have analytics for websites, we have stats for blogs and we have more companies such as <a href="http://lijit.com" target="_blank">Lijit</a> working on measuring your social media “reach”. Let’s try these out and see how they work.</p>
<p><strong>We must educate.</strong> Singing to the choir feels really good, BUT it doesn’t help spread the word outside of our own circles of influence. That is the power of a tool like Twitter, coupled with Twellow – we can now find people who are active with the tool who might influence and educate in different ways.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t fall into the trap that “only the young” use these tools.</strong> As a college professor who works with 18 – 24 year olds every day, I find more often that they get involved with RSS and tools like Twitter not because they want to, but because I introduce them to the tools as an assignment.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t lose sight of <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2009/01/27/taking-it-back-to-basics/" target="_blank">the basics</a>.</strong> As experts we all must remember that the foundational best practices (such as target market analysis) should not be forgotten and are even more important during this time of innovation, connection and reshaping of the media landscape.</p>
<p>With this focus, we can make 2009 the year that began the legitimization of social media for strategic use in the small business world.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Dr. Elaine Young is an Associate Professor of Marketing and e-Business Management at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. She teaches courses in Internet-Marketing, Marketing Management, Social Media, Technology and Society and Computer-Mediated Communication. You can <a href="http://champlainprofessor.blogspot.com" target="_blank">read more at her blog</a> or connect with <a href="http://twitter.com/ejyoung67" target="_blank">Elaine on Twitter</a>.</em></li>
</ul>
<p><em>If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/DannyBrown" target="_blank">subscribe to my RSS feed or via email</a> to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).</em></p>
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		<title>Is BubbleTweet The Coolest Twitter App Yet?</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/01/18/is-bubbletweet-the-coolest-twitter-app-yet/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/01/18/is-bubbletweet-the-coolest-twitter-app-yet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:06:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bubbletweet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Sherman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter video bubble]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=3467</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Now and again you come across something that&#8217;s just so cool you wonder why no-one did it earlier. Tonight I found one, thanks to Kevin Sherman &#8211; bubbletweet.

Allowing you to record a video snippet and then have it displayed on your Twitter page for any new followers or visitors to see, bubbletweet is simple and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Now and again you come across something that&#8217;s just so cool you wonder why no-one did it earlier. Tonight I found one, thanks to Kevin Sherman &#8211; <a href="http://bubbletweet.com" target="_blank">bubbletweet</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bubbletweet.com/index.php" target="_blank"><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3474" title="bubbletweet" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bubbletweet.bmp" alt="bubbletweet" width="317" height="82" /></a></p>
<p>Allowing you to record a video snippet and then have it displayed on your Twitter page for any new followers or visitors to see, bubbletweet is simple and fun &#8211; always a good combination.</p>
<p>It also has a lot of potential for both personal and corporate branding. Imagine being able to tell followers your latest news or information, but instead of tweeting it you can say it?</p>
<p>It also offers a further personal touch to the already social Twitter experience &#8211; giving your followers a look into who the person behind the bio is.</p>
<p>Since bubbletweet uses a custom URL to host your video message on, the best way to use it is as a link from your blog, website or email signature. Once your visitors have seen the video and the bubble window closes, it then reverts to your normal Twitter URL so you control its use.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve seen this application used on blogs before, but not Twitter. It&#8217;s a great little tool and I recommend you check it out, as well as <a href="http://www.bubbletweet.com/showBT.php?id=g0pub" target="_blank">Kevin&#8217;s Twitter profile</a> for an example as well as other apps he&#8217;s created, while I disappear to record my own message. Look forward to seeing yours.</p>
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		<title>The Social Media Goes Gonzo Blog Carnival</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2009/01/13/the-social-media-goes-gonzo-blog-carnival/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2009/01/13/the-social-media-goes-gonzo-blog-carnival/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:19:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media blog carnival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media goes gonzo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=3233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Welcome to a first for me (and many others, it would seem). The Social Media Goes Gonzo blog carnival was suggested to me by fellow blogger and provider of invaluable information Kilroy_60.
Host of numerous carnivals himself, this is the first social media one and he asked yours truly if I&#8217;d be interested in hosting it. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1986" title="sm-goes-gonzo" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sm-goes-gonzo-300x225.jpg" alt="sm-goes-gonzo" width="300" height="210" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Welcome to a first for me (and many others, it would seem). The Social Media Goes Gonzo blog carnival was suggested to me by fellow blogger and provider of invaluable information <a href="http://kilroythegonzopapers.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kilroy_60</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Host of numerous carnivals himself, this is the first social media one and he asked yours truly if I&#8217;d be interested in hosting it. So, here we are.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The idea behind the carnival is to take you on a journey through the social media blogosphere, and introduce you to people that you may never have read otherwise.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Since I&#8217;m making this up on the fly (oh the fun!) I can only hope it comes out okay &#8211; don&#8217;t be too harsh on me! So, without further ado, we&#8217;re off!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><em><strong>Let Me Take You On A Journey.</strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Much has been made of how impersonal social media can be, due to its inherently online bias. Yet where else can you <a href="http://www.litmanlive.co.uk/2008/11/reaching-500-twitter-followers-does-it-mean-anything/" target="_blank">celebrate 500 Twitter followers with a cake</a>? Of course, making sure you read the Fine Print can help avoid cries of <a href="http://blogs.gcigroup.com/fineprint/2008/10/28/you-left-me-you-really-left-me/" target="_blank">&#8220;You left me, you really left me!&#8221;</a> when you lose Twitter followers. Although you could always try out another <a href="http://taylor-and-associates.com/taylors-internet-marketing-blog/9-social-media-sites-for-local-networkers/10/27/2008/" target="_blank">9 social media sites for local networkers</a> if Twitter causes too much pain.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And that&#8217;s the great thing about social media &#8211; <a href="http://www.netregistry.com.au/blog/?p=90" target="_blank">the whole web is your home page</a> so you&#8217;re never truly alone. This opens up a whole new way of <a href="http://www.rachelmarek.com/blogging/virtual-socializing/" target="_blank">virtual socializing</a> as well as networking. From <a href="http://geetarchurchy.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/talking-to-journalists-on-twitter/" target="_blank">talking to journalists on Twitter</a> to taking on things like <a href="http://collazoprojects.com/2008/08/15/voces-de-mompox-an-update-the-dollar-challenge/" target="_blank">the dollar challenge</a> to help kids in Colombia enjoy a better education, our voices are being heard like never before and making anything possible.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Of course, not everyone is convinced. There are still questions like, &#8220;Okay, <a href="http://www.forwriteabouteverything.com/2008/11/18/social-media-rocks-but-is-it-good-for-business/" target="_blank">social media rocks &#8211; but is it good for business?</a>&#8220;. It&#8217;s a fair question but one that can be answered fairly easily &#8211; yes, it is. If you&#8217;re willing to listen. This will help you avoid <a href="http://blog.scope.is/marketing_safari/2008/07/6-common-mistak.html" target="_blank">6 common mistakes companies make in social media</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">A slightly more difficult question to answer is <a href="http://cherrycomcast.com/beheardblog/?p=108" target="_blank">why cheating is okay in social media</a>. Let&#8217;s face it, no-one likes cheaters &#8211; but are there lesser cheats than others? Perhaps &#8211; you decide. After all, <a href="http://kilroythegonzopapers.blogspot.com/2008/10/life-we-live-comes-from-choices-we-make.html" target="_blank">the life we live comes from the choices we make</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Interactivity is another area that both individuals and businesses can benefit from with social media. Did you know, for instance, that it&#8217;s helped <a href="http://justincaseyouwerewondering.x.iabc.com/2009/01/07/product-ambassadors-blog-helps-solve-customer-issue-immediately/" target="_blank">product ambassadors help solve customer issues immediately</a>? Of course, offers of help are just one facet of social media &#8211; many are simply happy <a href="http://gettysburgblog.com/do-you-brag-about-your-gettysburg-trips/11/26/2008/" target="_blank">bragging about their Gettysburg trip</a> to their online buddies. Personal and professional &#8211; it&#8217;s all there. The connecting factor is the sociability of it all.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Yet with all this socialness, are we in danger of opening up just a little too much? Or is that the point? <a href="http://thecaffeinatedblog.typepad.com/the_caffeinated_blog/2008/11/what-is-tmi-in-social-media.html" target="_blank">What is too much information in social media</a> anyway? I guess it boils down to if <a href="http://www.timjahn.com/blog/11/03/2008/are-you-worried-about-numbers-or-people" target="_blank">you are worried about numbers or people</a>. If it&#8217;s numbers, information isn&#8217;t really important &#8211; but if it&#8217;s people, it opens up yourself that little bit more and helps build that all-important relationship.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-full wp-image-3273" title="relationships" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/relationships.jpg" alt="relationships" width="163" height="220" />After all, at the end of the day, relationships are what social media is all about. It&#8217;s why you have people so passionate about <a href="http://mindfrenzy.com/mindfrenzyblog/?p=104" target="_blank">stopping the automated messages on Twitter</a>, as it feels so impersonal. It&#8217;s why we all help in <a href="http://growingbolder.com/blogs/technology/computers/growing-bolder-twitters-224773.html" target="_blank">growing bolder Twitters</a> so they can enjoy the experience more. We want to be social; we want to build relationships.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">A great way to do this is via a blog, and it can be fun as well. From just starting out and <a href="http://www.essentialprose.com/write-create/raising-a-baby-blog-what-does-your-blog-want-to-be-when-it-grows-up" target="_blank">raising a baby blog</a> to the other end of the age scale and <a href="http://www.jonathancrossfield.com/blog/2008/09/what-johnny-cash-teaches-us-about-blogging.html" target="_blank">discovering what Johnny Cash can teach us about blogging</a>, bloggers are fostering relationships every day with their readers. Bloggers can share milestones, like <a href="http://thelivesandtimes.blogspot.com/2008/12/year-in-my-little-corner-of-blogosphere.html" target="_blank">a blog&#8217;s first year in the blogosphere</a>; they can share advice on finding your identity, like offering <a href="http://www.dailyaxioms.com/2008/12/5-tips-for-standing-out-online-if-you.html" target="_blank">5 tips to stand out online if you are John Smith</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Discussing the <a href="http://runnerinsight.com/2008/12/31/state-of-the-blog-123108/" target="_blank">state of the blog</a> with your readers is another great way to foster your relationship with them. Asking what they like, what they&#8217;d change &#8211; it&#8217;s letting them be a part of it. And being a part of something helps you solidify <a href="http://starkreporter.typepad.com/stark_reporter/2008/12/this-year-i-significantly-expanded-my-involvement-in-social-mediaall--my-social-mediaaka-new-media-activity-stems-from-a-p.html" target="_blank">your place in the social media universe</a> and that of your blog &#8211; and if you&#8217;ve already invited your readers to jump on board, it&#8217;ll be a place already filled with friends.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Business blogs are becoming more popular too for their ability to build company/customer relationships, and not just in traditionally office-based occupations either. For instance, the combination of <a href="http://www.heavyequipmentschool.com/?p=599" target="_blank">heavy equipment and social networking</a> may seem strange at first, but should it be? There are all types of businesses, so shouldn&#8217;t there be all types of business blogs?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And that&#8217;s the beauty of social media &#8211; there are no boundaries because of &#8220;tradition&#8221;. Instead, it&#8217;s adaptable to what you&#8217;re already doing. You don&#8217;t need to say,<a href="http://www.scotlandseoblog.co.uk/2009/01/06/goodbye-seo-hello-social-marketing-i-think-not/" target="_blank"> &#8220;Goodbye SEO, hello social marketing&#8221;</a> if you&#8217;re a search engine specialist; instead, use both together to strengthen results. Scholastically, <a href="http://www.commcognition.com/blog/social-media-connect/" target="_blank">social media can connect professors and professionals</a> to further mindsets between the two. Flexibility is its strength.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It&#8217;s true that, to some, <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2008/11/27/social-media-is-a-language-of-its-own/" target="_blank">social media is a language of its own</a> &#8211; like anything, it&#8217;s not for everyone. But if you&#8217;re even just the slightest bit curious to learn <a href="http://www.litmanlive.co.uk/2008/11/more-about-that-thing-called-social-media/" target="_blank">more about that thing called social media</a>, you can be sure there will be plenty of hands to guide you along the way. After all, just like this blog carnival has been, it&#8217;s a journey we can take together.</p>
<p><em>My sincere thanks to everyone who made this maiden voyage of the social media goes Gonzo blog carnival possible: <a href="http://twitter.com/litmanlive" target="_blank">Michael Litman</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/johncarson" target="_blank">John Carson</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/Allen_Taylor" target="_blank">Allen Taylor</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/kimota" target="_blank">Jonathan Crossfield</a>, <a href="http://www.rachelmarek.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Marek</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/geetarchurchy" target="_blank">Matt Churchill</a>, <a href="http://matadornetwork.com/" target="_blank">David Miller</a>, <a href="http://collazoprojects.com/" target="_blank">Julie Schwietert Collazo &amp; Francisco Collazo</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/TeresaWrites4U" target="_blank">Teresa Hall</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/shannoncherry" target="_blank">Shannon Cherry</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/JGoldsborough" target="_blank">Justin Goldsborough</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/KariRippetoe" target="_blank">Kari Rippetoe</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/drewgneiser" target="_blank">Drew Gneiser</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/timjahn" target="_blank">Tim Jahn</a>, <a href="http://runnerinsight.com/" target="_blank">Vision Runner</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/jotoole4" target="_blank">Jared O&#8217;Toole</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/marcmiddleton" target="_blank">Marc Middleton</a>, <a href="http://www.scotlandseoblog.co.uk/" target="_blank">ASM Development</a>, <a href="http://www.heavyequipmentschool.com/" target="_blank">Andy Klebacka</a>, <a href="http://kilroythegonzopapers.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kilroy_60</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/hjortur" target="_blank">Hjortur Smarason</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/zoewesthof" target="_blank">Zoe Westhof</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/Machione" target="_blank">Anthony McCune</a>, <a href="http://jacsdiary.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jacki Brown</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/sbradley3" target="_blank">Sam Bradley</a>.</em></p>
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		<title>Why 2009 Is Going To Be YOUR Year</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2008/12/30/why-2009-is-going-to-be-your-year/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2008/12/30/why-2009-is-going-to-be-your-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[encouraging greatness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Online Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=2837</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Life can be the hardest journey to take. Setbacks, walls to climb, obstacles to overcome, broken dreams - life isn't easy and at times it can seem impossible. Yet as life can hold us back, so it can surge us forward as well. For every stumbling block there are a hundred helping hands to guide us past these blocks and onto greatness. How will you get there?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zemanta-img">
<div>
<dl class="wp-caption alignright" style="margin: 1em; float: right; display: block; width: 250px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/62202285@N00/2087955921"><img title="The Little Queen of my Wild River!!! / La peti..." src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/2087955921_7f7ea4354b_m.jpg" alt="The Little Queen of my Wild River!!! / La peti..." width="240" height="240" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd zemanta-img-attribution" style="font-size: 0.8em;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/62202285@N00/2087955921">Denis Collette&#8230;!!!</a> via Flickr</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
<p>You offer me hope.</p>
<p>You continue to amaze me (in the best way possible) with your ability to negate all the naysayers that doubt there&#8217;s still kindness in the human race.</p>
<p>You prove the positive nature of mankind is alive and well. And you do this on a daily basis. You are the heart of the future.</p>
<p>Why? Simple.</p>
<p>On Twitter last night, I mentioned that I wanted the community I share space with to write this blog post. I made a simple request: &#8220;In one line, how will YOU encourage greatness in 2009?&#8221; And you didn&#8217;t let me down &#8211; not by responding itself, but with the content of the responses.</p>
<p>These are the responses.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/haverhill01835" target="_blank">@haverhill01835</a> &#8211; &#8220;Don&#8217;t just listen to people, hear what they say.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/3keyscoach" target="_blank">@3keyscoach</a> &#8211; &#8220;Encouraging entrepreneurs to take their vision and put it into action on daily basis.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/cognac" target="_blank">@cognac</a> &#8211; &#8220;Goodness follows Greatness. Be good, do good in 2009.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/tmonhollon" target="_blank">@tmonhollon</a> &#8211; &#8220;Help make work and writing fun through creativity and play.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/sbradley3" target="_blank">@sbradley3</a> &#8211; &#8220;Good is the enemy of greatness. Never settle for good. Never be afraid to start over when a good idea is not enough.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/marinabroker" target="_blank">@marinabroker</a> &#8211; &#8220;I will always sell the best spot!&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/juliebonnheath" target="_blank">@juliebonnheath</a> &#8211; &#8220;My motto for greatness is what my drama teacher taught: Professionalism is attention to detail.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/LaughingCrow" target="_blank">@LaughingCrow</a> &#8211; &#8220;I will spend more time with my children, help and inspire others, and spread ripples of compassion.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/isCool" target="_blank">@isCool</a> &#8211; &#8220;I will be the change I seek.  No one else can be that change.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/russell_cook" target="_blank">@russell_cook</a> &#8211; &#8220;Greatness will be achieved when we  give all we have to a purpose greater than ourselves.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/abarcelos" target="_blank">@abarcelos</a> &#8211; &#8220;Using our talents (we all have them) to influence and help others in positive ways personally &amp; professionally.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/KatieKrafka" target="_blank">@KatieKrafka</a> &#8211; &#8220;I will encourage greatness by REPORTING greatness!&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/ShayRockhold" target="_blank">@ShayRockhold</a> &#8211; &#8220;I will encourage greatness in others by being their constant cheerleader and (when applicable) coach.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/ScottHepburn" target="_blank">@ScottHepburn</a> &#8211; &#8220;Elevate your less &#8216;connected&#8217; followers instead of fawning over A-listers&#8230; you&#8217;ll be amazed at what happens.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/greytblackdog" target="_blank">@greytblackdog</a> &#8211; &#8220;Act on the inspiration that I find everyday. The results will show up everywhere in my life, including my writing.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/SternalPR" target="_blank">@SternalPR</a> &#8211; I will light a fire under people who lost a job and encourage them to find the entrepreneur spirit in a way that changes the world for the better.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
<p>My own motto? Be interested in others. Genuinely interested. Encourage growth and assay fear. Be the rope for others to climb on.</p>
<p>I look forward to continuing to learn from you all in 2009 and thank you, and everyone I&#8217;ve connected with, for making this year the one where I really grew. If it&#8217;s true that we&#8217;re all in this together, I can&#8217;t think of any other people I&#8217;d rather be in it with.</p>
<p>Now it&#8217;s your turn &#8211; how will you encourage greatness in 2009? I&#8217;d love to hear your plans.</p>
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		<title>The Growing Elitism of Social Media</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2008/10/22/the-growing-elitism-of-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2008/10/22/the-growing-elitism-of-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:05:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[effective social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online personas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=645</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Social media and Twitter go hand-in-hand as two of the leading lights in the world of Web 2.0. Both offer excellent opportunities to build relationships, share advice and help bring the online world together in a way that many non-users could fail to grasp. Lately, however, there's been a growing trend of "me too" malaise creeping in. Is this the start of the social aspect of social media taking a downward turn?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/elitism_v2medium.jpg"><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-medium wp-image-654" title="elitism_v2medium" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/elitism_v2medium-300x234.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="234" /></a>Recently I questioned whether we were <a href="http://dannybrown.me/2008/10/17/are-we-turning-into-social-media-snobs/">turning into social media snobs</a>. This wasn&#8217;t an attack on social media <em>per se</em> &#8211; more a valid look at whether certain people in the social media arena were beginning to try and wield a little too much (and possibly unwanted) influence over the medium.</p>
<p>However, perhaps even more disappointing than snobbery is the elitism that seems to be creeping into social media as well. While they may share certain characteristics, they are two different beasts.</p>
<p>Instead of the &#8220;do as I do&#8221; approach I discussed in my snobbery post, there&#8217;s a growing trend of &#8220;I want to feel more important than you&#8221; elitism that&#8217;s becoming more apparent.</p>
<p>A good example is the Twitter phenomenon. At its heart, it&#8217;s an excellent tool to not only make new friends and potential <a href="http://twitter.com/PressReleasePR">business contacts</a> &#8211; it&#8217;s also a great way to see a microscopic snapshot of someone&#8217;s life in nibble-sized chunks. The fact that Twitter only allows you 140 characters to say your piece means you have to use that space wisely. This can lead to some very inventive and humorous comments.</p>
<p>Yet lately Twitter has become nothing more than a virtual brothel for people to either whore themselves out or to come across as a &#8220;look at me, I&#8217;m great&#8221; type of person. As a fan of social media and all it can offer, I find that sad and a little disappointing.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be the first to admit that I&#8217;ll notify my fellow Twitter users/followers of a new blog post &#8211; but then, that&#8217;s fairly standard for pretty much everyone on Twitter.</p>
<p>Where the application is losing its appeal (for me) is the amount of people that shout out about how many followers they have, or how many more they need to reach 500, or 1,000, or something similar. When did Twitter become a popularity contest? Isn&#8217;t that what MySpace is for (and one of the reasons Facebook is starting to take over from the Fox-backed networking site as the most popular)?</p>
<p>Maybe it&#8217;s just me, but I can see from your Twitter profile how many followers you have, or how many people you are following. That doesn&#8217;t interest me &#8211; and judging by the reaction of some of <a href="http://twitter.com/micromagnate">my friends</a> who have stopped following certain Twitter accounts, it doesn&#8217;t impress them either.</p>
<p>Instead, tell people about excellent sites or <a href="http://kilroythegonzopapers.blogspot.com/">blogs they should be checking out</a>. Tell them about tools they can use to make them more effective in either their online brand building or improving their social media awareness.</p>
<p>Constantly mentioning you have so many followers often emits an air of superiority that no-one really enjoys and can lead to them unsubscribing from your updates. Which kind of goes against all that social media stands for, no?</p>
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		<title>Taking Social Media into the Real World</title>
		<link>http://dannybrown.me/2008/10/21/taking-social-media-into-the-real-world/</link>
		<comments>http://dannybrown.me/2008/10/21/taking-social-media-into-the-real-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social conversations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dannybrown.me/?p=615</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The world of social media has opened doorways to a level of interactivity that was previously unheard of. Strangers come together to offer advice, help and knowledge to enable everyone to be more successful in both their personal and professional lives. Yet offline we're still an inherently anti-social race. Shouldn't we be transferring our social media openness into the real world?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/social-media.bmp"><img style=' float: right; padding: 4px; margin: 0 0 2px 7px;'  class="alignright size-medium wp-image-622" title="social-media" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/social-media.bmp" alt="" width="238" height="182" /></a>The weekend just gone was a bit of a milestone for me, as I celebrated my 40th birthday. As well as getting into that &#8220;life begins at&#8230;&#8221; era of my life, I had an absolutely amazing weekend, thanks to my wonderful wife and great family and friends who threw me a surprise party on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Yet one thing that stood out amongst all the wonderful things that happened at the weekend was an example of how &#8211; as a race &#8211; we&#8217;re still pretty anti-social, despite all our protestations that social media is bringing us together. Perhaps this may be the case in the online world, but offline we&#8217;re still pretty lacking in social interaction (or so it would seem).</p>
<p>What caused me to think about this was something that happened while I was away for the weekend. My lovely wife took me to Niagara Falls for a break, and it was truly amazing, awe-inspiring, majestic &#8211; all these words and more that I would have thought were being over-expressive had I not seen the Falls for myself. So yeah, the Falls were simply amazing.</p>
<p>While we were there, we had some time to kill on the last day before catching our train, and so we did a bit of walking. After 2-3 hours, we thought it&#8217;d be nice to relax and have a break. So we found a food court with a bunch of empty tables and sat down. This is where I found myself wondering how social we really are.</p>
<p>While my wife was at the ladies room, this elderly lady came in and bought herself an ice cream. She looked as if she may be about 70-80 years old, and she was by herself. She had a wedding ring on her wedding finger, yet as I say she was alone. And that got me thinking.</p>
<p>Was she alone because her husband was simply at home having a restful day? Or was she alone because her husband had already passed away, and she was simply whiling away her time? If that was the case, did she have any family? Did she have any friends that she could spend time with? And if so, why weren&#8217;t any of them with her now?</p>
<p>This led to another train of thought &#8211; perhaps she had no-one to turn to. Perhaps she was at that age where all her friends had either passed away as time caught them up, or were infirm and in an old people&#8217;s home. This thought saddened me.</p>
<p>Every day, I talk to strangers that I&#8217;ve never met via the likes of Twitter, or FriendFeed, or even via comment boxes on blogs. I discuss everything and anything with people on the other side of the world, and don&#8217;t think twice about starting a conversation with them. Yet I couldn&#8217;t strike up a conversation with a lonely-looking old lady who may have really appreciated the company.</p>
<p>Have we really come so far as to only communicate via technology now? Has the art of real conversation died, or is it still there? Do we need the facade of technology to allow us to open up to people?</p>
<p><a href="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/friendship.jpg"><img style=' float: left; padding: 4px; margin: 0 7px 2px 0;'  class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-623" title="friendship" src="http://dannybrown.me/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/friendship-262x300.jpg" alt="" width="189" height="216" /></a>I couldn&#8217;t help but think of that lady on the way home, and of the missed opportunity to offer some company for even just a short while. I&#8217;m sure it would have been easy enough for my wife and I to ask if anyone was sitting beside her and strike up a conversation &#8211; but we didn&#8217;t. And I feel bad about that.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s the thing. The next time I&#8217;m in a similar situation, I&#8217;m going to strike up that conversation. I&#8217;d rather be gently refused than to not speak at all. After all, it&#8217;s easy enough on Twitter &#8211; surely real life should be the same?</p>
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