Here’s a truism that Facebook PR is not sure how to readily admit. There really aren’t 350 million members on Facebook. Take my husband’s grandfather as an example. He’s an 89-year-old guy who doesn’t really have his passwords all in the same place, nor does he have an acute sense of hearing to realize that when his grandchildren say “hey grandpa, I’m making a Facebook account for you!” he should respond with “Oh, I already have one.” Consequently, the guy has three Facebook profiles, all of which were created for him by three different members of his family.

Got any family members who boast more than one Facebook profile? You’re likely not alone. Now consider your industry. I have several friends who have both a personal profile and a business profile. These are users who like Facebook but find it rather difficult to merge the personal and professional into one cohesive online identity. I’m sure the internet marketing industry isn’t alone in this regard.

Let’s now consider the hundreds of profiles that you’ve seen that don’t identify a person at all. Surely you have been befriended by those people representing “WWW [yourdomainhere] COM” or “Green Seo.” These are individuals posing as entities who assume personal profiles. You know, Facebook actually prohibits these types of accounts in their Terms of Service, but Facebook’s staff doesn’t actually act upon these infractions, apparently. With over “350 million members” on Facebook, it’s too difficult to isolate all of the rule breakers.

These examples above illustrate a typical usability question faced by Facebook users (well, except for Grandpa). Despite the fact that Facebook has the most customizable privacy settings of all social networks (though we could argue with their effectiveness in a whole other post), people don’t like maintaining a “business” identity on the same profile as their “personal” (fun?) identity.  As a result, relationship-building becomes a challenge.

The Facebook Friending Dilemma

One of the questions I get asked very often is how employees are supposed to cope with incoming friend requests from their clients, bosses, and individuals they have a working relationship with through their place of employ.  While there’s no clearly defined rule (it’s a question of personal preference), I usually urge the person not to be resentful or offended if the relationship gets ported over to a professional network or other public space (such as a Facebook Fan page).

I actually practice what I preach.

See, I’m one of those Facebook users who have been on the service since February 2004, which is quite a long time considering Facebook was open to about three schools at the time that I signed up.  Back then, my Facebook friends were mostly connected to me via my neighborhood through religious affiliations or though college or primary school.  There were no business colleagues on my friends list.

In due time, that started to change as I built face-to-face relationships with co-workers and then started building friendships in the industry.  It helped that Facebook became an open network that invited everyone in.  It was both exciting because I could know more about my business partners but scary because I would have to start ignoring Facebook friend requests in order to be true to my reasons for being there: to build strong interpersonal relationships with people who I actually know and who really matter.

How I Use Facebook

Facebook, to me, is about maintaining real relationships. With every single individual I am connected to, I want to feel comfortable responding to a status message or a photo update. And if you’re my Facebook friend, you should feel comfortable doing the same. However, many people connect and forget. That’s not how I want to use the network, and that’s why I won’t accept your friend request.

A few weeks ago, jwz posted a great piece on how to access Facebook via a feed reader. To keep on top of friends’ happenings on the network, I subscribed to the relevant updates. I now have status updates in my feed, and finally, I can see both happy and sad news. It has helped strengthen that friendship bond;  I can now easily keep in touch with friends and those who are serious about using the network to keep their peers in the know about what is happening to them every day.

I posted about how I network on Facebook (among other networks), over two years ago, but I have over 700 pending Facebook friend requests from people I do not know. Many of these incoming friend requests (with the exception of possibly 0.05% of the requests) have no introduction, which I personally find a social media etiquette misstep — especially when I have no idea who you are.  For the others who took the effort to connect, I am thankful that you thought of me, but if I don’t know you, I hope to get to know you in the future. We’re just not there yet.

Much has changed in the last 2 years.  I’m now constantly neck-deep in social media projects, am working with amazing people, and I’m passionate about the people I work with and the work I do.  Facebook has become more open than ever and everyone has decided to join. In fact, I noticed substantial changes in my friendships on Facebook, so I decided to update the Facebook charts I prepared in 2007 to provide an updated look of my friendship breakdown for January 2010.

As I prepared these charts, I unfriended a handful (52) of Facebook friends, especially some who befriended me when I was more accepting of Facebook relationships (before it was saturated with people I didn’t know). Why?  We never got to know each other, and nothing happened after that initial friend request.  Facebook has facilities that help foster real friendships, and when these facilities are ignored in the context of the friendship, the relationship does not feel genuine. If you befriended me in the last 2-3 years and have done absolutely nothing to maintain that friendship, you were axed.  It’s not you and it’s not me; it’s us.  There was nothing between us and the relationship dissolved.

Today, my 1,508 Facebook connections are broken into the following categories:

• Extra-curricular Programs refer to friends I met on vacation, through summer programs, or though other related activities.
• Neighbor typically refers to those living nearby but may also be affiliated through religious organizations.
• Industry and social media connections are further broken into additional categories, as seen in the charts below.

Consider the difference between my friendship circle in 2007 (graph featured below).

My industry (internet marketing/blogging) connections (who are 99.7% of my pending friend requests) have saturated the space, and more of my co-workers have signed up. (It might just be that I’ve been able to work with more amazing people.) I removed all my “Random” connections for reasons specified earlier. Digg is now part of social media and will be explained in the final chart.

Let’s look at the industry and social media subcategories.  First, here’s the breakdown of industry colleagues that I currently have on Facebook.

As you can see in the chart above, I further broke down my Industry peers to explain the origination of these friendships.

• Some of these friends have mutual real-life friends (outside typical industry connections).
• Many of them (more than half) were individuals I met at search conferences, but other conferences (SXSW, events that Mashable was involved in in the capacity of host or media sponsor, and the first IZEAFest) also represented my Industry connections. With regards to Search Conference, I refer to Search Marketing Expo, PubCon, and Search Engine Strategies, but I also met a few people at Affiliate Summit.
• Some friendships originated through work-related communications that lasted a long period of time, so a relationship developed, was enhanced, and was solidified with the acceptance of a friend request.
• Other industry connections that have simply flourished since the very “early days” of social media.  I may have met these individuals by chance (long-standing relationship) or through the blogosphere or forums.

In nearly all of these cases, I have met my friends face-to-face.

The chart above illustrates the breakdown of the “social media” friends.  These are friends who have no direct ties to the industry, but in using social networks, we’ve formed close bonds and friendships.

• Digg is by far the largest; as a former “top user” of the service, I built strong relationships with employees and users of the social news site.
• There were other typical social networks in this grouping as well, including Flickr, FriendFeed, Kirtsy, Mixx, Plurk, StumbleUpon, Tip’d, and Twitter.
• I also consider bloggers who have forged real-life relationships with me to have connected via social media.  This is different from forums/blogosphere of the previous chart because they are not connected to me in the search marketing or social media capacity.
• Both “IRC” and “Forums” that I reference relate in this chart to the pre-social media days. And yes, IRC does refer to Internet Relay Chat.
• In the early 90s, I was involved with AOL both as remote staff and as a participant, so I still maintain friendships that originated from these old hubs.
• (In case you’re wondering who Craigslist is, he’s a guy I sold an elliptical trainer to a few years ago.  It turns out that we have several mutual real-life friends.)

These friendships are a mix of people I’ve met face-to-face but also consist of individuals I have just communicated with for such a long time that we’ll easily hit it off when we actually meet in person. There are only a small number of individuals I have not met in person on this list.

As you can see by the breakdown, Facebook is about real relationships, and when I look at your name, I want be able to justify that friendship.  Facebook is an extension of the real world in the virtual space.

Evaluate Your Connections

Knowing who someone is when seeing their profile without having to look at their place of employment or common friends is important.  If you have Facebook friends that you can’t place from a hole in the wall, it might be a good idea to purge.  It’s totally up to you.

When you connect with someone on Facebook, ask yourself, What do these online connections signify? Are you establishing a friendship so that you will do something with this individual in the future, or are you simply establishing a friendship just because you can?

Why LinkedIn Makes More Sense than Facebook

If the prospect of friendship makes you feel antsy, especially from individuals you are not comfortable letting in, it’s not awkward or rude to suggest that the online relationship be established elsewhere.  LinkedIn is the likely choice because it is a “set it and forget it” social network. There’s not much you can do with the connection once it’s confirmed. On LinkedIn, once you’re connected, that’s usually it. Someone might request a recommendation of you or contact you via messaging facilities, but you can’t do much to deface update your colleague’s profile or build upon that relationship in the confines of the social network.

On Facebook, however, there are hundreds of opportunities to upload pictures, comment on statuses, tag people in notes — and yet, among business professionals (outside of overt “no-no” marketing tactics spam), that kind of activity is typically ignored. Many business people just don’t do anything with Facebook with their business colleagues. That’s why I consider Facebook a personal network for real friends. Knowing someone online (or offline) doesn’t grant you an “in” to their personal space.

If You Insist Upon Using Facebook

Let’s face it. Facebook has its pros. (LinkedIn does too, and it’s a terrific professional network.) I’ve decided to create a public Facebook page to be updated regularly that broadcasts what business colleagues are often looking at me for anyway: social media news. The public page is one of two Facebook pages (the latter being for my book) that I plan to maintain to share fun social media information and tidbits. The profiles will both feature different stories — and they won’t be about me.

For a little bit of history, I created a fan page for myself when Facebook first launched its Fan pages. It was an experiment in personal branding and a way to have fun to connect with people I otherwise may never know. The page mostly was stagnant for awhile, but after Facebook’s page redesigned that made it look like I was talking to myself, I decided to kick it up a notch. Neil Patel provided several compelling reasons as to why I should. I recently invited some actual Facebook friends who I thought would find the information therein interesting — I hope you saw it as a way to connect in the professional sense (and nothing else — thank you Curtis)

I must emphasize that my Facebook page is not about me, but it addresses this age-old debate about how to — within Facebook’s Terms of Service — handle the personal and the professional. Since most people who want to connect with me on Facebook know me in a more professional capacity, I will be using my Facebook page to engage them professionally. (As it is, my personal page is mostly about my kid anyway. Would you really comment on those updates? Sure, some of you might…)

Looking Ahead

If I don’t connect with you right now, don’t take it personally. One day, I hope to meet every single person who added me as a Facebook friend in the last few years (and those who continue to do so) face to face. I want to put a face to a name and build a relationship that will last. Those are my goals for my current set of friends and I hold everyone to the same expectations. All friend requests will remain open indefinitely, because I’m hoping one day to get to seal the deal and make the friendship a reality.

Until then, connect with me on LinkedIn or on my Facebook page. I’d be honored to have you join me.

[ Want to Friend Me on Facebook? Please Use My Public Page or LinkedIn Instead is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

This post is a little personal in nature, but I’m sure if you read through the end, you’ll enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed telling it. In fact, I’ve been meaning to tell this story for nearly two years.

In the last few years, I’ve taken the liberty of doing more than just blogging — I’ve been trying to get to know the people who have inspired me most (and that list isn’t cumulative!). I don’t necessarily expect to meet with those folks immediately; often, these powerful relationships are formed online, and I then try to learn what I can about the blogger himself/herself and follow up, normally at a conference or industry event. I do my best to put a face to a name — a face that I can see beyond just a digital format.

But sometimes there are surprises in every single meeting.

I decided one day to read more about self-improvement and marketing blogger, Jonathan Fields (and author of Career Renegade). The date was December 12, 2007, and I was excited to hear that Jonathan was a New Yorker like me. According to his blog’s “About” page at the time, you could find him simply by screaming his name in the very large Bryant Park in Manhattan. You know, with 8 million people living in NYC, you’d think this is no big deal, but there’s more to the story.

I dropped him a line. “You live in NY? I didn’t know that,” I said. But I added, “I passed Bryant Park last night on the D train,” noting that I don’t quite live in Manhattan, but rather, the Bronx. Jonathan’s response was still possible, but not necessarily that unexpected: “Me too!” With Bronx being a big borough in NYC, we went more granular. “Too funny,” he responded when I told him we lived in the same neighborhood in the Bronx. And then we found out we live on the same street.

…and in the same apartment complex, one floor above the other.

If that’s fate or irony or whatever, I don’t know, but in my experience of using the Internet for work and pleasure for over 15 years, that is one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me. I’m finally meeting bloggers that I’ve admired for some time in my very own backyard. In a city of 8.3 million.

I once said that social media mimics real life relationships. But take it a step further: your online interactions can translate into something incredibly powerful offline. Nineteen months later, Jon and I are great friends, and we make an effort to meet up every so often.

If nothing else, I hope this story has inspired you to reach out and to value the relationships you forge online. You never know who you’ll meet, and it could form a deep and meaningful friendship that never would have been possible if you don’t make that effort. In the end, the bond between those immersed in the social media sphere is a bond that exists nowhere else.

[ The Importance of Networking on the Internet is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

Many of you have asked where I’ve been over the past few months.   I recently wrapped up writing a book on social media marketing for individuals to large businesses entitled The New Community Rules (Amazon link) and the book is slated for a late June/early July release.

But in even bigger news, two weeks ago today, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Announcing… David Jacob Weinberg!

Little David (who is named after my beloved Grandpa David) has been a bundle of joy so far (and a handful as well, but when are newborns not?!).

Thank you to all my internet friends for your outpouring of support (especially in light of the tweet I sent less than an hour after my son was born); I did so while the doctor was yelling at me NOT to use the phone … but who am I to listen when I was so excited to share such news? And in case you are wondering, my good friend Sam has set up a gift drive, a totally unexpected but appreciated gesture. Thanks Sam — and thanks to those who have contributed!

Hopefully we’ll see little David on social media sites in the upcoming months.

[ Announcing the Newest Social Media Prince is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

This is a sponsored post by Sears but the thoughts within are mine and mine alone.

As a blogger, you have the potential to reach a tremendous audience. As an individual, perhaps a company or an entrepreneur who is looking to spread the word about a new product launch, you have the potential to keep marketing costs down by reaching out to bloggers and having them talk about your product. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is through blogger outreach, which typically includes more than just sending out your press release: give the blogger the opportunity to try your product. Send them your book. Or your beanbag chair. Or give them full download rights to your new software product without restrictions.

You can do something else entirely. As part of the Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish campaign by the Sears department store, I had the opportunity to participate in a shopping spree to help me or someone else realize our dreams. The idea behind this initiative was that I was given a $500 Sears gift card to “Grant a Wish” for myself, a loved one, or charity. At the same time, I was to photograph my experience in the store.

At first, I had no idea what to do. I was recently moved by “The Secret Millionaire” and wanted to realize the dreams of someone who may not be able to buy anything at all — so I decided to make sure my own purchases included gifts for young children.? After walking up and down the halls of the whole department store, my husband and I finally settled on gathering a shopping cart full of toys that we will end up donating to cancer-stricken children just in time for the holidays.

I also found myself being fascinated by the number of tools available for the DIY (do-it yourself) enthusiast.? I ended up buying a much needed tool that will hopefully allow me to remove stripped screws so that I can free up a trapped IDE hard drive in an external case.? Seriously — Sears has aisles upon aisles of drills, drill bits, and other thingamajigs that I wouldn’t even know how to use.

Still, though, I’m happy that I was able to use this experience to give to those less fortunate.? It’s such a perfect time to consider gift giving (and wish-wishing) for those who you may not know.? I’m sure it will put a smile on someone else’s face.

Giving Back, Contest Style

Do you want to make a wish for a special someone in your family or perhaps a few people at once? With IZEA’s help, you can also help realize the dream of someone you love or care about. Check out three possible three gift packages that I’ve crafted to make that happen:

The Family Fun Package
- Casio 8.1MP Digital Camera EX-Z80 (link)
- SanDisk 4GB SDHC™ Memory Card (link)
- Casio Leather Pouch Case for Exilim S and Z Series Digital Cameras (link)
- Emerson CDG Karaoke System – iPod Compatible (link)
- Fisher-Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio (link)
- Harvard Electronic Single Shootout Basketball (link)
- HoMedics Bubble Spa Footbath (link)
- One For All 8-Device Learning Upgradeable Universal Remote (link)

The Camping Package
- Kenmore 596 square inch 3 Burner Gas Grill with Side Burner (link)
- Craftsman 4 pc. Barbecue Gift Set with Bottle Opener (link)
- (2) Coleman Hibernation Sleeping Bag (link)
- Craftsman Toolbox Cooler (link)
- (2) On The Edge Marketing Folding Chair (Flame) (link)
- Northwest Territory Dome Tent (link)

The Pamper Herself Spa Relaxation Package
- Conair Double Sided Lighted Mirror (link)
- Conair Foot Vibes™ Massaging Slippers for Women (link)
- HoMedics Therapist Select Shiatsu Message (link)
- Rosetti Handbag Ring Tote (link)
- Relic Flap Checkbook Clutch Wallet (link)
- Metaphor Beaded Satin Clutch (link)
- Colorworks Fantastic Beauty Fan (link)
- Royce Leather Travel & Grooming Kit (link)
- 1/2 ct t.w. Diamond Composite Stud Earrings, 10K white gold (link)
- Seiko Ladies Calendar Day Date Watch with White Dial and Two-Tone Link Band (link)

There are three ways to win one of the above packages:

• Leave a comment on this blog. Let me know the name of the package you are most interested in.
• Use Twitter! Simply tweet out the following message: “RT @tamar please grant my wish to win the #Sears (package name) – tweet to win your own wish http://urlbrief.com/5ead6c”
• If you’re a blogger, write a post about the contest and link back to this post.? If you proceed down this route, make sure to leave a comment here letting me know that you did.? Include the URL to your post.

You can enter up to three times (each Tweet, comment, or blog post counts as a single entry). The winner will be chosen at random and will receive the package s/he selected.? The contest ends on December 23rd, so be sure to get your entries in ASAP. Please be sure to read the official rules for more information about the contest.

Good luck!

[ Contest: Make a Wish for Someone Else this Holiday Season (and the Power of Blogger Outreach) is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

Many tech geeks will often say that their first forays into cyberspace began with a 300 baud modem and a BBS. I’m a little younger than that (finally, I can say that!), but I was an early adopter of social networks from when I first opened my 3.5″ floppy of Promenade (later to be called AOL) and signed up to use the service.

I used Prodigy, but I never was a fan of the randomly generated alphanumeric username and didn’t stick around. On the other hand, my first ever interaction on AOL was with someone who was separated from my social network by only one degree. I was 12 at the time, it was 1993, and AOL cost $5.95/hour (after a flat rate of $9.95 which included 5 hours of online usage).

One morning before school, I logged onto AOL and joined a chat room for the very first time. It was around 6:20am (and it was also 1993), so the rooms were relatively empty with the exception of two other chatty gentlemen. One was 50 (as a twelve year old, I actually remember saying “you’re old!” to him and receiving a shocked response), and the other didn’t live further than 20 minutes away from me. Ironically, he and I attended the same school (though he was double my age) and we even had the same teachers. At that point, I already knew I had a future of doing something online, though as a sixth-grader, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. (Fortunately for me, while I never met that guy, I met other online friends in real life, as AOL was also safe at the time. Early adopters are typically normal people; the network hadn’t been infiltrated by people looking to exploit young children until the momentum grew.)

My first social “network” was also on AOL. I became a big fan of playing games (bingo especially) at a little hub on AOL called RabbitJack’s Casino, which was considered a unique community within the AOL borders with a close-knit group of people from all walks of life. By the time I was fifteen, I had encountered a more diverse crowd than most kids my age. I still even keep in touch with a few special individuals from those days.

I spent time on AOL as remote staff, growing my connections online (and some interestingly would later become colleagues) until I dropped AOL entirely to focus on my studies. That was almost a decade ago.

Fifteen years have passed, and while much has changed technologically, the concepts that animated web users back in the old days remain as relevant as ever. Social media was always social, just not with that funny name. Forums existed well before I was born, after all. They evolved into sites with graphical interfaces. Whereas everything used to cost money (my highest AOL bill was $267.48 in 1995), advertisers are now paying for programs so that we can use them and enjoy the applications without shelling out a dime, and web services providers are seeing the value of being free for users by monetizing their sites instead with ad revenue. At the same time, the concept of “free” is empowering individuals to become publishers, as any individual can now harness free software online to create his/her little on place on the web. Blogs are the new medium for a person to talk about areas in which the individual has exhibited some level of expertise or even to articulate thoughts on subject matters that interest nobody but a small group of people. The freedom is now in the hands of any consumer with an internet connection and computer.

Traditional media is being rejected as individuals are now often heard (and sometimes rather loudly) when they speak. Radio is being listened to online, and podcasts are popular among technological savvy folks. Whereas one needed an expensive VHS cassette recorder in 1993 to create a home video, even $40 cell phones (or digital cameras) can capture quality images and video that can be placed online for a much larger audience than ever before. It’s no surprise that everyone’s aiming for their fifteen minutes of fame (though they are possibly risking their futures because of that desire). Watching real television online, too, is becoming increasingly more mainstream.

Fifteen years ago, the Yellow Pages in our house was torn and tattered from frequent use. I was recently cleaning out a cabinet in my apartment and tossed out a 2005 Yellow Pages that was in pristine condition. Today, search engines answer the questions that phone books needed to solve a decade and a half ago. Today, Facebook or MySpace will help you locate lost family or reunite with old friends. Today, you can pull up a map online and print driving directions instead of phoning your desired destination for directions (and then writing each individual step on paper). Today’s printers are also faster and more reliable than the dot matrix printers of the nineties.

Today, you’re not viewed as a geek when you say that you spend a lot of your time online. In 1999, when I graduated high school, my last will and testament in my high school year book was “to have an online wedding.” (I didn’t.) Today, nearly all of my high school friends are online, and most of them maintain Facebook or MySpace accounts.

Computers are getting smaller, cheaper, and more efficient. Our family’s first computer (which wasn’t net-equipped) was an Apple IIgs which my father purchased in 1987. The first computer which I could actually call my own was that little IBM PS/1 PC I received at age 12. The cost: over $4k for a 386SX/25mhz with 170MB of hard drive space, 2MB RAM, a 2400 baud modem, and a 13″ monitor. I’m typing this blog post on a $750 Dell Inspiron 700m laptop (which I purchased nearly 3 years ago) which is lighter than the keyboard I used in 1993 and sports a high resolution despite its 12″ screen size. Beyond a little notebook computer, more and more people are starting to take advantage of mobile technologies, particularly within their cell phones, to create and produce content. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a full blog post on my Palm Treo (though I don’t recommend it); the Palm Treo has a 2GB miniSD card in its slot, which is 12 times the size of that hard drive I was using in 1993.

Fifteen years ago, scanners were few and far between, but that’s what you needed in order to get your photographs to display on your desktop. Today, digital cameras can be had for as little as a few bucks. Fifteen years ago, optical media was virtually unheard of and the first consumer-friendly CD-RWs supported up to 650MB of media (for a hefty cost). Today, high-definition data means that one can store up to 50GB of data on a single optical disc of the same exact size. Zip drives are now obsolete; the latest trend is the pen drive (which makes for some great schwag).

I also have a confession to make. Fifteen years ago, h-t-t-p colon slash slash was foreign to me. (I still slap myself on the forehead when I recall tossing out a magazine from the Compuserve days that featured the best websites of that time.) I simply didn’t know what http:// meant, as the protocol sounded so … strange. For me, it was all about keywords and about navigating to content on AOL. (It was faster for me, anyway.)

Old technologies aren’t dying down; they’re just expanding. Twitter is the new chat room, but IRC still remains a popular choice behind services like Ustream and Y! Live. Email is still email (but doesn’t cost $0.25 to send like it did on Prodigy in the early nineties), but now it can be sent and accessed on mobile devices with the click of a button. For the younger generation, IM is replacing the phone, but for those who can’t break old habits easily, the phone is also moving to the computer through services such as Skype.

The technology landscape is changing, but old themes still remain relevant: the internet is a social place that will allow individuals to engage with others and establish new relationships on a common ground.

I just shared my own story about how I got here. When and how did you make it into the lovely World Wide Web? Feel free to add your story to the comments or in your own blog post.

[ Fifteen Years of Online Social Interactions is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

After months (and I mean months) of planning, the blog redesign for techipedia is finally live.

This wouldn’t have been possible if not for a few people, so I’d like to thank them for their awesome work.

First, thanks to designer Patrick Winfield of 10e20 for the excellent graphic design work. Pat was very patient, and as you can tell, he did an excellent job. Also, thanks to Chris Winfield for giving me a hand on this project.

Second, the backend coding, for the most part, was handled by web developer Cesar Serna, who also did a fantastic job.

Thank you so much for your hard work!

I know there will still be some tweaks that will be made in the upcoming days, but I’d love your feedback on the new design.

[ Techipedia Redesign is Finally Live is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

As I was traveling on my last of three conferences, Chris Kieff tagged me on the 4×4 meme that’s going around. The idea of this meme is somewhat like previous memes, but it’s four times full of fun. You’re given four questions and you need to provide four answers. Then, you need to top it off by tagging four people. Here goes…

4 Things I Have Done in the Past 4 Years

Clearly, the past four years have been the most enjoyable years of my life. Here’s why:

1. Just over three years ago, I got married to a wonderful guy named Brian.
2. I’ve traveled more than ever before. Brian and I celebrated our honeymoon in London. I went to the West Coast for the first time to attend search engine conferences, with trips to Seattle, San Jose (twice!), and Las Vegas.
3. I started writing for some of my favorite blogs in the industries and topics I’m most passionate about.
4. I started a blog about my schwag addiction (okay, this was just a fun tidbit I couldn’t pass up!)

4 Jobs I’ve Had

1. Right after college, I worked for a few months in tech support at a forex company in the Empire State Building. I remember working there on Thanksgiving Day and having a super awesome view of the Macy’s Day Parade.
2. I then worked for several months prior to my marriage as a private investigator. It wasn’t the kind of job that requires spying on cheating husbands, though. As a PI, I researched trademarks and products that may have had conflicting names with existing trademarks and I reported on the findings. It was actually a very interesting line of work.
3. In college, I worked as a student network technician and a Unix systems administrator. I still find IT interesting, but I’m much happier doing what I do now.
4. What is it, then, that I do now? You could call me a blogger of many hats or a social media maven or Internet marketing consultant. I really don’t know, and that’s what makes what I do so exciting. The answer changes everyday!

4 Websites I Visit Daily

1. My first stop every day (and numerous other periods during the day) is my email, which is hosted on Gmail or Google Apps.
2. I consume my news via Bloglines.
3. I dabble in social media sites, particularly Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. (The other site? Not so much.)
4. Depending on the day of the week, I’m working on some sort of blog, so you can imagine that I visit many blog backends daily. (If that answer doesn’t suffice, I can assure you that I visit Google at least once daily.)

4 Favorite Foods

1. My favorite restaurant is Sara’s Pizza in Miami. They have pretty darn good pizza, but my favorite dish is their calzone, which is filled with black olives, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, sauteed onions, and green peppers. Miguel Lopez took a picture of me and the meal when we met in September.
2. I absolutely love kreplach in chicken soup (or even in vegetable soup — I can handle it anywhere!) Kreplach are like wontons, only with a much doughier outside and tastier meat inside. If you go to Mr. Broadway in Manhattan, ask for the soup. It’s awesome.
3. I’d probably say that my favorite cuisine is Indian, but probably because I never get too much of it. Prior to Austin (where I had to go outside the city in order to get Kosher food for SXSW), the last time I ate Indian food was in 2003. On that note, thank you to Jane for taking me out there to ensure I had something (great) to eat!
4. I’m a sucker for sweets, particularly if milk chocolate is the primary ingredient. Brownies, Kit-Kat, and Reese’s Cups are three of my favorite chocolate foods.

Now it’s time to tag 4 people…

1. Jane Quigley
2. Barry Schwartz
3. Jason Falls
4. Brian Solis

You can answer any of these questions: 4 Jobs I’ve had, 4 Favorite Foods, 4 TV Shows I DVR, 4 Movies I could watch Over & Over, 4 Places I’ve been, 4 Places I’ve lived, 4 Places I want to go, 4 Music Artists I’m listening to now, 4 All Time Favorite Musicians, 4 Shows I have been to, 4 Cars I have owned, 4 Things I have done in the past 4 years, 4 websites I visit daily, 4 places I’d rather be right now, 4 People I think will respond, 4 Things I look forward to this year, or 4 Underrated conversational topics. Enjoy!

[ With 4 Days Before Blogger Social, I Bring You the 4×4 Meme is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

Awhile ago, I used Twitter to talk about one of my favorite cold remedy vitamins, Airborne. It was then that two friends suggested Zicam to me. When stocking up on medication for the winter months, the high recommendations of Zicam had me buying the oral mist.

On Sunday night, after a rather interesting Superbowl XLII, I felt the onset of a cold. As most of these cold medicines suggest, you should take the medicine at the first sign of illness. I immediately thought of my Zicam and was eager to try it out to kill the cold before it really gets bad.

Monday morning, to continue to fight off whatever this may be, I took the recommended dosage of Zicam a second time. I went on my day realizing that I had lost the sense of taste. I ate leftover nosh from the game: really spicy salsa and chips. The spiciness did not impact me. I had some Hershey Kisses. The chocolate taste was dull, as if almost not there.

For the entire day, I discounted the idea that anything would be wrong (and that it was really a cold, after all). I left it alone until late at night when the problem continued to persist. I decided to search for “zicam tastebuds.” I figured that I couldn’t possibly be the only one with this temporary (or so I hope) loss of taste. The first result alarmed me.

It was a link to a class action suit that impacts Zicam users who have lost their taste (and/or smell) by using the spray.

Normally, I’m one who fights for strong reputation management. Now, I’m a victim. If I did this search again, I can’t say I’d want that #1 result to go anywhere. Apparently, Zicam is ranked for numerous health-related concerns and I feel that the results belong where they are. The result I was looking for was relevant to my needs and is certainly something that people should know about.

For all I know, Zicam isn’t out to change their rankings. But if they were looking to make a change, I think that reputation management offerings should still exist. Personally, this is one case that I’m biased about, as it really hits home. In the past few months, I’ve dealt with companies who are unfortunate victims of bad links in Google, but those links refer to incidents that are years old (and are even resolved). The pages, however, are not removed from the Google search results because the site owners often want to be “bought.” (“Pay me some money and I’ll remove the page.”) Poor rankings kill businesses, and negative rankings destroy trust. In those cases, I strongly encourage reputation management services — but I can’t say I agree with it all the time.

The Question: What Would You Do?

What would you do if you have a client who wants you to change their rankings but their mission conflicts with your interests? What if they are trying to push down rankings that you feel are important for public safety? While I’ve asked a doctor for his opinion on my particular case (and he said it happened to him too!), if I lost my sense of taste forever, I’d want other people to know about the dangers of the medication and not to have someone who is paid off to push the results down so that people who are doing solid research will be misled.

What is more important to you? Top dollar or public safety? I’d love to hear your thoughts about these particular cases in the comments.

Update 12/11/08: I was watching TV on Monday night and saw a Zicam commercial for the first time. Sadly, since Zicam is an over the counter remedy (for now), there was no required disclaimer for side effects. There was not one mention of the possible loss of smell or loss of taste reported on numerous websites by real people (who have no relationship to one another and simply want to report on a fact and not a myth). In fact, it seems that the company does not want to acknowledge that its chemical compound may actually really have a negative impact on a small fraction of individuals.

In reputation management, you need to own up to your mistakes. If Zicam has had hundreds of complaints about loss of taste or loss of smell, they are obligated to give a warning on the package, in promotional materials, and where any consumer may stumble upon the product. Instead, though, they are choosing to remain silent. I hope that if there’s anything you can take away from this article, it’s to be unlike Zicam. Own up to your faults and mistakes. By taking a proactive stance about a flaw you have within your product offering, your constituents would be better educated about the possible risks, and chances are, these negative reports about your product would not have reached the Internet anyway because the warnings would have been staring the consumers down in the face.

Update June 19, 2009: It looks like the FDA has finally taken notice, as per SoCal Wife. Now why is it that there are still naysayers in the comments?

[ Zicam and the Reputation Management Fiasco is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

How do you leverage different social networks? I am fascinated by the amount of social networks that I’m part of, but better yet, I’m intrigued to find that I assume different “personas,” at least in terms of choosing friends (and using the networks), on each social site. Are you the same?

Allow me to explain:

I first embraced social networking in the late 90s when I joined SixDegrees.com. I was pretty liberal when choosing my friends, but the social networking phenomenon didn’t take off and SixDegrees died. They had a great idea, though, and it finally became popular in the last few years.

First (Real) Stop: Friendster

In 2001, I took the plunge into Friendster, and as an early adopter, I befriended just about anyone I had some sort of association with and reciprocated every friend request. I have 148 total friends on Friendster at this time, and as you can tell from the chart below, a lot of them are “random” in the sense that I don’t have a clue who they really are.

Friendster made it easy for not-so-genuine people to become friends with real people. For example, one of my Friendster aliases is Times Square. That doesn’t typically fly elsewhere (Facebook will kill the account), but Times Square on Friendster required 2 accounts at the time because I maxed out on the initial 500 person limit. I had many friends just like that. Most of the other random individuals are all from various parts of Asia, where Friendster is still quite strong.

The High Point: Facebook

In 2004, I joined Facebook and my behavior changed drastically. I became a lot more conservative in choosing my friends in Facebook (as broken down in the chart below) with a few exceptions because Facebook is starting to blend in with my social media enthusiasm. I’ll admit (a little secret of mine) that I initially befriended a few folks I admired on TV (specifically, 2006-2007’s Beauty and the Geek) but since I have no personal connection to the guys, I deleted the non-genuine contacts. That said, of the 919 friends calculated in this pie chart (a number that has since grown), I actually have a connection with all of these individuals in some capacity. Surprisingly, while the number is quite high, I actually am pretty conservative about my friend selection on Facebook and decline requests from unknown folks regularly. It comes with my social media maturity, I suppose.

To answer some questions, Industry connections are those I know through the search industry (primarily) but I have not yet met in person. Industry colleagues are those I have met in person (typically in a casual atmosphere or at conferences). Social media connections are those I know through a variety of online forums, the blogosphere, Twitter, and the like (but I generally don’t befriend someone immediately; I still give it time). I needed to differentiate Digg from social media because they actually are part of a distinctive community (and as you know, I’m very passionate about Digg so it really did deserve its own category). Extracurricular programs combine summer programs, vacations, and related activities. The only Random person (hence 0%) is another girl named Tamar Weinberg. I couldn’t help it. (By the way, I promised I’d deliver this breakdown and I did.)

As you can tell, my college friends win out (which in a way is surprising because I joined Facebook after I graduated). However, I suppose getting the initial internal and private college beta push really made Facebook more alluring to that particular crowd. Interestingly, I generated this list (which was a combination of manual labor plus FriendCSV) and learned that the first adopters are all associated with me through college. The last adopters of Facebook (as indicated by the Facebook ID numbers which I believe are generated sequentially) all seem to be in the industry. While this isn’t anything substantially groundbreaking, I propose this question: why is it that many marketers are not embracing the technology earlier? If nothing at all, the early adoption can get you more acclimated with the service (and an expert at it when everyone else jumps on the bandwagon). You know, my friend Dave McClure is kind of like that. (And if it’s not worth it to you, there’s always that opportunity to disable that account.)

The Irony: MySpace

Okay, so in my previous paragraph, I mention that you should be an early adopter of social networks. However, I joined MySpace in 2006 to network with individuals who refused to use Facebook and to return to my liberal ways of accepting a lot more friend requests than I normally would. I used to have over 200 friends (mostly musicians and blind friend acceptance requests) but I truncated the list (due to spam, primarily) to 46. Below, the pie graph:

Quite honestly, I don’t feel that I’ve lost out by not taking MySpace more seriously. I just don’t think there’s a lot to do with it. Granted, some companies use MySpace quite efficiently, but I feel that it targets a different demographic.

The Professional’s Network: LinkedIn

Finally, as far as LinkedIn is concerned, it’s a bit of a mix, though it makes sense. LinkedIn is a industry tool. That’s why the majority of individuals who have networked with me there are in the Industry Colleagues category. The chart below accounts for my 200 connections.

In the end, I guess there are two social networks that I take seriously: Facebook for keeping in touch with everyone who has somewhat of a personal connection to me, and LinkedIn for business opportunities and for networking with colleagues. The rest just don’t fit within serious networking (and I rarely visit either network), but the ride has been fun. And this all relates to how many times I visit each social network as broken down below:

• Facebook: once a day (or more, depending on activity)
• LinkedIn: once a week or once every two weeks
• MySpace: once every six months
• Friendster: once a year?

Closing Thoughts

I’d turn this into a meme, but you know how I feel about that. I’m curious, however: for those who have the chance to answer this question, how do you leverage different social networks? Do you draw the line somewhere? Feel free to let me know how you respond and I’ll link it to this post.

Update: Here are the responses I’ve gotten thus far:

• Jon Kelly from SureHits talks about Facebook and LinkedIn
• Pamela Lund shares information about her Facebook and MySpace networks

[ How Do You Network on Different Social Sites? is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

I’ve been tagged against my will by Jane and Jason in one of the latest memes: do you respect media snackers?

Well first, what the heck is a media snacker? Watch this short video to see:

Here’s the transcript for the video-phobes:

Media Snackers. What’s it all about? Well, you see the world has changed and it’s not turning back. Media snackers are young people. No longer is there a set menu of mass media delivered at specific times and to the masses. Print, radio, [and] television is now “push the red button and go interactive,” “text in your request,” or “let us tell you a story.” The internet and technology ownership has changed everything: digital TV, mobile phones, iPods, weblogs, instant messaging, [and] social networking. The media landscape has shifted from the linear to one of many layers consumed by creative and empowered individuals. Young people of the new WWW generation snuck in whenever, wherever, and on whatever they like. Crucially, their expectations have changed. Everything is multi: multi-screens, multi-channeled, multi-conversations, and multitasking. Totally connected groups are average sharers, creating as much as they can consume and using free sites to display it all. Whereas before when computers were only found in banks and offices, media snackers have access at home, in school, or in libraries — all for free. Remember visiting arcade centers to play games? Media snackers play at home and against the world. How about taping your favorite tunes off the radio? Media snackers simply download them from the web and carry their whole music collection with them. Previously, to have a mobile phone, you needed a large bank account. Media snackers just have pockets. Media snackers are young people.

The chain, sparked by Jeremiah Owyang, talks about the evolution of technology and how people need to pick and choose their media, which can be consumed easily.

Do I respect media snackers? Of course I do. I snack on media all day long. Whether it’s Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, Facebook, Sphinn, LinkedIn, blogs, blogs, more blogs, and even more blogs, you can find me looking for the most pertinent content that aligns with my interests.

Is it hard to snack on so much media at once? I would say that you need to find out what works for you. The attention economy is playing tug of war with our minds and we need to figure out what we want, when we want it, and how we want it. But before I engaged in so many social media spheres, I certainly wasn’t as well-rounded as I was prior to my participation. Now, it’s a matter of sifting through the necessary and weeding out the unnecessary. As the landscape changes, so does the content.

I respect media snackers very much and find myself having some of the most interesting discussions with them. I find them blogging about the coolest innovations or discoveries. All in all, media snacking has opened the floodgates of information, but fortunately, at the end of the day, we’re in control of what we want to read and how we’re going to digest the information.

I’m actually going to deviate from the norm and tag people for this one, since I’d love to hear from Barry, Maki, Ben, Lyndon, Andy, and Eric. My friends, do you respect media snackers?

[ Hi, My Name is Tamar, and I am a Media Snacker is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.