Let’s face it…engaging online isn’t always easy. Sometimes, things go wrong. Sometimes product updates don’t go as we plan. Sometimes there are issues. But, as with most things in life, honesty is the the best policy when it comes to communicating with your online community. If something goes wrong, let them know about it as early as possible. Communicate frequently with status updates about how you’re going to resolve the issue. Let your community know that you are:

1) aware of the problem; and
2) working to resolve it.

Just like in your face-to-face business transactions, engaging in open, transparent communication will help you build a strong,  credible relationship with the customers you serve and will help build an affinity for your brand. Failing to communicate can not only make it look like you’re hiding something, but also send a message that you just don’t care.

No one is perfect, when something goes wrong don’t try to hide it or ignore it. Who knows, by engaging your online community, they might suggest a solution that you hadn’t thought of.

Have an experience (good or bad) with a brand communicating or failing to communicate about an issue? I’d love to hear about it in a comment!

Cheers!

–Sean

Luckily, Facebook has made it easier for us to remove application updates like those from SocialCam, Yahoo! News, Pinterest, Washington Post, or SocialCam from our news feeds. For each application, there is now a dropdown in the upper-right corner that allows us to block any updates from that app. For instance, in the example below, I can choose the last option and ensure that I never see an update from SocialCam app again.

If this still doesn’t work, be sure to try removing the application from your Facebook permission settings. To do this:

1. Log in to Facebook
2. Choose the dropdown in the upper right corner of the menu bar, next to home and choose “Account Settings”
3. In the Account Settings dialog, choose Apps
4. In the Apps dialog, choose to remove the app by clicking the ‘x’ at the far right of the application.

Hope these help!

Cheers!

–Sean

Original article posted 11/15/11

I’ve been asked this question more than a few times, so I thought I’d pass it along here. If you hate that apps like Yahoo! News, Spotify, and the Washington Post are pushing articles into your Facebook timeline, there is a quick way to get rid of them. Within your timeline each app gives you the opportunity to hide a specific story, but doesn’t give you the chance to hide everything from Yahoo! News, the Post or Spotify.

To do that:

1) Log in to Facebook

2) Visit the application page for the app that is annoying you:

• For the Yahoo! News application page go to https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=90376669494  and follow the next steps below
• For Yahoo! News also block this application https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=194699337231859 by following the next steps below
  
• For Spotify notifications, go to this application page at https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=174829003346&ref=ts and follow the steps below
• For the Washington Post reader, go this application page https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=225771117449558 and follow the next steps below

3) On the left side of the page, click Block App.

4) Click Okay to confirm the block.

Blocking Yahoo News will keep it from showing news articles in your timeline

From now on, the Yahoo! News,  Spotify or Washington Post apps will no longer show in your news feed. The same holds true for any app like Farmville.

Hope that helps! Have any annoying apps that you’d like me to add to the list? Let me know and I’ll create a link that you can easily use to block the app.

–Sean

Incoming search terms:

• www intranetexperience com
• remove yahoo from facebook
• how to remove yahoo from facebook
• remove yahoo news from facebook
• how to get rid of yahoo on facebook
• how to remove yahoo news from facebook
• block yahoo news on facebook
• remove yahoo articles from facebook
• disable yahoo news facebook
• remove yahoo facebook

Never has social media been such a brilliant marketing and customer relation tool. As Facebook, Twitter and Google+ continue to grow year on year social media monitoring is now more crucial than ever to find out what your customers are saying about you, whether it be good, or bad.

These days if a customer is angry by poor customer service or a faulty product, they are more likely to vent their anger on social media than anywhere else. With Twitter accounts not unusually having hundreds if not thousands of followers, it is vital to solve the problem quickly and offer a sincere apology and a way to redeem your company’s reputation as soon as possible.

But how do you know if someone has posted about you?

There are many online tools for monitoring when people mention your company. A free application is Tweetdeck, which means you can write only one post and send it to all of your social media platforms at once and also let you see your mentions. However, this will not show you which mentions are positive and which are negative. To find this out you will need to invest in a social media analytics software package.

How do you deal with negativity?

Dealing with customers who have had posted negative comments about your company can be irritating, especially if you feel you did not do anything wrong. The key here is to never act defensive in your reply or use a rude, sarcastic or patronizing tone,  as this will only cause more bad publicity and in turn anger many more potential customers and put them off from using your firm.

Once an undesirable remark is made about your company the first thing to do is to set about issuing a sincere apology. Depending on how influential the angered person is may determine what sort of compensation is needed. A Facebook user with only a few personal friends and family members would not cause too much damage to your reputation so a written apology would probably suffice. A Twitter account with thousands of followers needs much more urgent attention and in this case company vouchers or a full refund may be required.

So, do I ignore positive comments?

No! Making sure that happy customers stay that way is just as important as stopping bad press. A simple “thank you” or “glad you were happy with our service today” will make the customer feel valued and much more likely to return to your business. Also, it is important that people see that a customer has been happy with you and if their friends see that you have engaged with your customers they may also be more inclined to take their custom to you.

By responding in a polite and timely way to the negative news as well as the positive, your company will surely grow as a result of it. Whatever you do, make sure you do not underestimate the power of social media for the progression of your company.

Still wondering whether engaging is worth it? These 7 reasons my help in your decision and plannning:

7 reasons to embrace online culture (social media)

This blog post was originally posted over at PopGoesDad. Thanks to Kurt for the invitation to Guest Blog.

I admit it…when I was in high school, I was a total metal head…and so was my mom.

It was kind of strange growing up with a mom who listened to AC/DC, the Scorpions, and M­ötley Crüe and there were some awkward explanations to my friends about why she often wore a black Van Halen 1984 tour t-shirt. But any downsides to having a rock ‘n’ roll mom were usually made up for by the fact that she not only listened to the music, but also seemed to understand it. Which helped her understand me a little better.

Hail! Hail! Rock And Roll!

During my teen years, the big issues facing parents were the topics of “sex, drugs and rock and roll”. Most parents seemed to (somewhat) understand how to have the sex and drugs conversations with their teens, but rock and roll was an entirely different story.

At the time, Tipper Gore and her Parents Music Resource Center were busy trying to blame all of the woes of the 80s and 90s on the “Filthy fifteen” and the bands that produced them. Parents who didn’t listen to rock didn’t have a clue how to talk to their kids about it. So kids were left to their own interpretations of lyrics and the music, which sometimes had negative consequences.

My mom was a little different, though, and she took a slightly different approach. She and I talked a lot about music and lyrics…more so than sex or drugs. Here stances on sex and drugs were pretty straight-forward:

For sex, it was – “Wait, but if you choose to…use protection.”

For drugs, it was – “Do them at your own risk. Your brain is yours to waste, but I won’t bail you out of jail for drug charges.”

Her stance on rock and roll was a bit more complex: “listen closely, enjoy it, understand it, learn from it. If you don’t understand it, let’s talk about it.”

So I did. I remember once asking her about the lyrics to AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” and we had a pretty good chat about revenge. The fact that she knew the song, knew the lyrics and was able to have the conversation put her in control and helped me better understand not only the music, but a concept that impacts teens every day.

So what does this have to do with social media?

I’m pretty sure that social media has replaced rock and roll as the complex issues facing parents, today. Too often, when I tell other parents that I’m the Director of Social Media for a digital agency, I get a blank stare and a request for clarification of what I do that goes something like “Does that mean you play on Facebook all day?” This is usually followed by  phrases like “I just don’t get that stuff!” or some nonsense like “it’s all about cats on skateboards or people eating oatmeal!”.

For those that do have some understanding of social media, I still hear things like “my kid spends way to much time on Facebook” or “I’m not sure how we’re going to handle this whole ‘sexting’ thing.” And then they stare politely at me, as though I’m expected to explain it all to them and clarify why their kids love Facebook and how to keep them from sexting.

My response in those conversations is generally the same each time. I start with a simple question. “Do your kids know what social media is?” The answer is usually “Of course!” because these are kids that have grown up with Webkins online, Club Penguin, and YouTube.

I then follow with “Do you know what social media is and how to explain to them what is and isn’t appropriate behavior online?” This one gets more challenging responses. Most parents have thought about the conversations that need to be had about online pornography and viewing inappropriate materials. So at least some thought is usually given to the topic.

Finally, I ask “have you had a conversation with your kids about what is and isn’t appropriate online and on their mobile device?”

Believe it or not, the answer is more often than not “No.” The fact that most parents haven’t had a “social media” chat with their kids tells me that:

a) They don’t see social media as an issue that warrants a conversation

b) They don’t understand social media well enough to discuss it

or

c) They recognize that it’s an issue, but don’t know how to address it

So if you have kids who are using the Internet, I ask you…which category do you fall into? Have you had “the talk”? Do you plan on it? If so, how will you approach it?

Don’t let your kids engage in social media alone…it’s a scary world out there on the Web and they’ll need all the guidance they can get.

It might be awkward to have the conversation, but I’m pretty sure it will be less awkward than finding out that they have posted naked photos on the Internet.

As always…would love to hear thoughts and similar experiences in comments!

Cheers!

**sex, drugs rock and roll sign image courtesy of Creative Commons license at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/5542175413/

**texting photo image courtesy of Creative Commons license via PictureYouth at http://www.flickr.com/photos/45688888@N08/5915484733/

–Sean

Too many folks get caught up in the numbers game when it comes to social media. They use numbers like “friends”, “followers” and…ewww…”Klout” to determine whether they are doing social right. The problem is, you can buy friends and followers online through your local black hat shopping cart and no one really knows what a Klout score actually means. Heaven knows that it doesn’t tell you whether you’re engaging in social media properly.

So, should you ignore the numbers? Maybe. Maybe not.

Just like any feedback from your audience, your numbers are an important part of evaluating social media success, but they aren’t your the only factors. For instance, take the poor chap in the cartoon above. He’s been tweeting like mad and is sooo proud to have tweeted for the 10,000 time. To what avail? Does anyone like his tweets? Is he one of those annoying Twitter Noobs who simply tweets what he’s eating, where he checked-in on Foursquare, and quotes from popular authors/politicians? In his 10,000 tweets, did he actually ever contribute to the conversation? Or are his tweets simply noise that are clogging up the Twitterverse?

I’m not saying that he should solely judge his effectiveness in the social space by his follower numbers, but if he’s tweeted 10,000 times and only 18 people have shown interest…I recommend he seriously takes a look at the time/energy he is putting into Twitter and determine whether the outcomes are justifying the time spent.

In fact, this poor soul is pretty representative of a lot of folks trying to get the hang of social media and he probably also has a blog where he publishes links to his online affiliate programs, reposts articles from other blogs (without permission, of course) and is packed with Ads. Why? Because he doesn’t have a clue as to how to become a contributing member of the social space. Trust me…the Web is PACKED with these folks!

Don’t believe me? Google’s Panda algorithm updates are targeting exactly these types of blogs and has already penalized thousands of sites.

So, what numbers should you be paying attention to? I like to focus on those that indicate some level of engagement and interaction. For instance:

On Twitter – I focus on retweets and lists. I love to see one of my articles getting a lot of retweet love. It means that my followers are enjoying my content and found it useful enough to share with their followers. I also love to see it when people add my Twitter handle to a list. It means they took the time to group me with others that tweet similar content to me. I have found some of my favorite authors because a Twitter follower added me to a list.

On Facebook – For Facebook, Likes are good…Shares are better! Likes indicate that someone enjoyed the content, but a share means they spread it through their social network similar to a retweet. To be honest, I’ll take a share over a Like any day!

On LinkedIn – For me, LinkedIn is about good connections! To be honest, I love that LinkedIn is now feeding me articles that are popular with those that I connect with. I find it a lot easier to find business-related articles since I limit my LinkedIn network to those that I really want to engage with professionally. I don’t just connect with anyone on LinkedIn, you have to offer business value to my career. So my number of connections and the interactions I have with them is the key number on this platform.

On My Blog – For my blog, it’s all about daily visitors. I don’t engage in Black Hat SEO to try to artificially inflate visits to my site. I engage in organic social media promotion, sharing my articles on platforms with those who I think would be interested in social media. I primarily focus on generating traffic from Twitter, Facebook, Empire Avenue and Google organic searches. Has it taken me 2 years to attract 1,000 visitors/day? Yes. Am I proud of the visitors who come to my site? ABSOLUTELY! Because they’re coming to learn about social media…not because I bought an online package that will “send 1,000 visitors to your site every day”.

So, it’s easy to sit back and say that social media isn’t a numbers game. But in a way, it is. You just have to make sure you’re focusing on the right numbers. Those that tell you that you’re contributing to the conversation and not just taking up cyberspace.

Have other numbers that you find meaningful? Think I’m full of bunk? I’m always up for engagement in the comments section! Looking forward to the chat!

Cheers!

–Sean

One of the more interesting ones that I uncovered was in the Facebook Terms of Use.

Periodically, someone in my Facebook feed will post a link to a Facebook Page about the “Keep Facebook Free Revolution” or “Stop Facebook from charging $4/month“. Until this point, these have all be hoaxes that tend to generate a lot of Likes and Shares, because people want Facebook to be free and get irritated when they hear rumors of Facebook proposing charges.

In fact, Facebook has done a pretty good job of reassuring users that they will continue to be free by posting it on their blog and by posting it clearly on their login page.

Will Facebook always be free for everyone? Their Terms of Use indicates otherwise.

Obviously, the tradeoff to Facebook being free is that they have to monetize the site through Ads. This means ads in your timeline and ads in the right-rail of the site. For the most part, I think users are okay with the ads, as long as they are targeted to their needs and aren’t obtrusive to interacting with Facebook. Up until now, however, Facebook has had the luxury of being a privately-held company, which means they aren’t beholden to the whims and fancies of public investors. With that about to change, I have grown more curious as to how they will handle the pressure from their public investors to generate revenue.

Which leads me to the nugget!

Buried deep in the “Special Provisions Applicable to Developers/Operators of Applications and Websites ” section of their Terms of Use, is a provision that says:

14. We do not guarantee that Platform will always be free.

Wait…what?

I just logged in and the front page of Facebook clearly indicated “It’s free and always will be.” Right?!? Free…always?!?

The disparity between the two likely lies in the target audience. By stating “It’s free and always will be.” on the front page of Facebook, the company is communicating to end-users that they intend to keep Facebook a free resource for general users.

The statement of “We do not guarantee that the Platform will always be free.” is more targeted at the development community, indicating that the ability to build apps that integrate directly into Facebook might come at a charge in the future. While game developers like Zynga (the makers of Farmville) and nearly every brand page out there currently enjoy the Facebook developer platform free of charge, this one line, buried amongst the legalese of the Terms of Use document, clearly indicates that these services could come with a surcharge in the future.

The question is how much, and whether brands and developers would be willing to pay to participate on Facebook. We know that social gaming accounts for a massive amount of time on Facebook, so if developers like Zynga found it more lucrative to publish their games elsewhere due to high charges by Facebook, would it also lead to a bleeding of Facebook users to other platforms? Who knows.

So, with that single provision buried in their Terms of Use, Facebook leaves a lot of questions unanswered:

• Will Facebook start charging for access to their development platform?
• If so, when will they start and how much will the charge developers, brands and publishers?
• If Facebook does start to charge, will the costs drive developers, brands and publishers to other platforms?
• If the developers, brands and publishers leave will Facebook users leave, as well?

While there hasn’t been any indication by Facebook that they’re going to start to charge developers any time soon, it could be something that we see arise soon after their Initial Public Offering (IPO), when the company becomes more beholden to their shareholders, rather than their users. I guess we’ll find out soon enough…

What we do know is that while Facebook is free for users, developers, companies, and organizations…it has become a huge part of our life, impacting how much time we spend eating, sleeping, and even caring for others. Would charging developers impact that passion? Only time will tell.

Have thoughts or questions? I always love to hear them in comments!

Cheers!

–Sean

This entry was updated on 04/07/12 with updated instructions on moving Facebook photos after the recent timeline update. Thanks to those who left comments, letting me know that the process changed again.

Cheers!

–Sean

With the rollout of the new Facebook timeline to most users, there has been a lot of confusion about how you used to do things in Facebook and how you do them now. For me, one of the most confusing has been the organization of photos.

Because I upload a lot of photos to Facebook from my phone, every photo lands in my “Mobile Uploads” folder (also known as an album) by default. In the past, I would go into Facebook and edit the photo and choose which folder I want the photo to live in going forward.

With the new Facebook timeline, there has been a LOT of confusion, with some people arguing that you can’t re-organize photos at all with Timeline. The good news is that is false. You can still organize your photos, it’s just a little different.

If you have tried to move photos around to a different folder, you have likely noticed that there is no way to do this by editing the photo. As seen in the image below, you can edit all kinds of image attributes like description, location, and who was with you when the photo was taken. Dropping down the little gear icon in the upper-right corner will even allow you to rotate the photo or set it as your profile photo. What it doesn’t allow you to do, however, is move it to a new folder.

So, once you have edited the photo, how do you move it to a specific folder? You actually do that by editing the folder information. So, to move the photo of my angry bird I do the following:

1) First, decide on which album you want to move the existing photo out from. You can see the full listing of your current albums by clicking the “Albums” link next to your name (see image).

2) Next, click the album where the image currently resides. In my case, I am moving an image out of the “Mobile Uploads” album and into a new one I have created.

3) Click the “Edit Album” link which will change the view of the album, giving you more control over the album and the ability to move photos.

4) Find the photo you want to move and locate the  small drop-down image in the upper-right corner. Click that and choose “Move To Another Album”

5) Select the new album and then click “Move Photo” and you should be all set!

Clear as mud? It’s a little awkward, but Facebook is still working out all the kinks of timeline and all the changes it brings. Hopefully, they will realize that this is a user-experience nightmare and will adjust the process to make it easier. In the meantime, I hope this tips helps you better organize your Facebook photos.

Know of a better/faster way or is this not working for you? Feel free to leave a comment!

Cheers!

–Sean

Incoming search terms:

• how to move photos to a different album on facebook timeline
• can\t move photo timeline
• mobile uploads folder timeline
• move photo from timeline to album
• move photos on timeline
• move photos to different album facebook timeline
• moving photos facebook timeline
• moving photos on timeline
• new albums on facebook timeline
• organising photos in facebook timeline

or

It’s not that I find the pain of employees funny, but the shortsightedness of companies in their efforts to ignore new technologies always makes me wonder what they are thinking. Over the course of my career, I have worked for companies ranging from small boutique shops all the way up to Fortune 500 and 100 companies and my experience has been that the bigger the shop, the more resistant to new technologies the decision-makers are.

Case In Point – Email & Internet Access, And A Fortune 100 Company

Flashback to 1996, when I was working for an up and coming division of a Fortune 500 company. I had a pretty heated argument with my Manager because I had requested external email access and Internet access, both of which required Vice-President approval. I was in the initial  stages of a company-wide asset audit and need to email third-party vendors. I was spending so much time on the phone with them going over spreadsheets on the phone that I need to be able to send email back and forth. But no….this particular company was nervous about email, Internet access, and how much time employees would spend wasting their time if everyone was able to email and/or surf the Web.

Flash forward to 2009, when every company realizes that email and Internet access are key tools for most back-office employees in the company to do their job. This same company issues laptops, email, and wireless access to all of their employees. Hmmm…slight change in position, eh?

What Generates The Resistance To New Technologies?

It would be easy to chalk this type of resistance up to age, but I think that would be short-sighted. I have found plenty of “more experienced” (the PC term for older) Directors and Execs that are interested in leveraging new technologies. I have also found plenty of younger (and not necessarily “less experienced”) folks who still tell me that they “just don’t get it” or that “social media is just about people posting high school photos or talking about what they had for breakfast”. Based on these experiences, I’ll attribute the failure to embrace these new mediums as either lack of education or fear of change. Some folks just don’t like the idea of trying something new. Instead, they’ll let everyone else try it and, if it works for others, they’ll give it a shot. Others, just haven’t had that light bulb moment when they realize the value. Now, don’t get me wrong, not everyone needs to be on the bleeding edge…but I firmly believe that organizational decision makers should strive to be on the cutting edge in order to stay ahead of their competition.

Every time I hear of companies blocking Blogging Sites, Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media sites, it makes me wonder what curmudgeon or poorly informed leader is calling the shots and what experience drove them to make the decision. Obviously, these folks don’t realize that a new generation of workers is entering the workplace and expecting to leverage tools like text messaging, Twitter, blogs, and Facebook. Why not just sit them in front of a typewriter and say “be productive”.

Messages like the following make me wonder just what IT Manager or Director made the sweeping decision that there can be no useful information in blogs, so let’s throw the baby out with the bathwater and block blog access:

Okay, okay…so I admit that by making sweeping statements like that, I’m being a bit hypocritical since I don’t know why this particular company blocked the blog, but my point is that there are too many stories of companies making sweeping IT and HR policies banning social media, instead of embracing it or encouraging their employees to use it responsibly.

What the executives at these companies are failing to realize is that more and more of their employees are reading and contributing to the Websphere via blogs, microblogs, forums, etc… and they are often shaping their decisions at work based on the most up-to-date analysis that they get from these interactions. In addition, by allowing their employees to position themselves as thought leaders and expand their sphere of influence, they could enhance their organizations position in the market, have happier employees, and maybe…even open up some new markets that might not existed without Social Media. Just look at Zappos as an example. An online shoe retailer that has blown the door off marketing and expanding their sales opportunities  and customer support through the use of Twitter.

In short, by ignoring new technologies like Social Media and Social Networking, companies are not only burying their proverbial heads, but are actively engaging in hypocrisy regarding their messages to employees.

My Five Hypocrisies Of Blocking Social Networking Sites

1) Smoke breaks are okay, but blog breaks, tweet breaks, and Facebook breaks aren’t

Just to be up front, I am a non-smoker. My goal, here, isn’t to throw stones at smokers, but to point out that employers allow employees to take breaks from work so they can breath toxic fumes into their lungs, so I’m not quite sure why employers would have a problem with an employee updating their Facebook status or reading the tweets/blogs of their favorite netizens. Short breaks during the work day energize employees and give them a break from their daily duties. Sometimes, employees use those breaks to learn something new that actually might relate to their job or the industry.

Even if they’re not learning, maybe their taking time to catch up with a friend or family member. I’d be curious if those same employers would prohibit employees from reading a book or calling their family on their break. Seems a bit illogical, right? Catching up on Facebook or reading a few tweets can be just as energizing to an employee as a phone call, a good read, or for those who prefer, a smoke.

2) Make good quality decisions using competitive information, but don’t leverage your online networks or intelligence tools

Imagine being in touch with news about your company, customers, or markets before the news breaks. There have been quite a few situations where folks on Twitter have reported news before the local or national news outlets. Earthquakes, plane crashes, even (ironically) the closing of the Rocky Mountain News are all news items that are being scooped by Twitter before being reported in traditional media.

As more news and events are reported first via social media, employees who have access and actively monitoring social media sites are going to be able to react more quickly. If employees don’t have access to these sources, they’ll be two steps behind their competitors.

3) Be a happy employee, but don’t be a social employee

Everyone wants to enjoy their job and, for some employees being social is part of being happy. Not just around in the break room or at the coffee pot with employees that they see every day, but also being social with peers and thought leaders in their particular line of work. Each day, I enjoy reading the updates of employees that I currently work with, as well as previous co-workers and even employees at competing companies. Many of these interactions broaden my understanding of the industry that I work in and eventually will come back to benefit my employer.

By blocking social media sites, employers are limiting their employees ability to collaborate with others in their industry. There is a lot of good information being traded through blogs, tweets, and forums. Each of these venues allows employees to learn more, share their perspective, and grow as an employee, all without a single dollar being added to your training budget.

4) Be creative and innovative, just use the antiquated tools we have given you

Often employers challenge their employees to find new ways to do things better, faster, and cheaper. In some cases, you don’t have to invent the tool that makes the change, you just need to determine how to make it work for you. Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile or the assembly line, he just figured out an innovative way to combine the two to redefine the industry.

Now, imagine two companies. One allows access to Social Media sites to its employees and the other does not. Company A has a marketing department that has come up with new ways to announce product launches using Twitter and Facebook and, in doing so, has increased product awareness by 5% over the last year. In addition, their product support team has begun interacting with customers in a whole new way using Twitter, Facebook groups/discussions, and LinkedIn discussions to identify suggested enhancements to their products and help resolve customer issues. In doing so, they have impacted customer satisfaction and increased recurring sales by 2% globally.

Company B, on the other hand, has blocked employee access to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and their leaders are scratching their collective heads trying to figure out why Company A is beating them to the sales opportunities and stealing their customers.

5) You are an adult and a professional, but no Facebook for you!

There are two excuses I hear most frequently when it comes to the reasoning behind blocking social media sites. The first is the protection of Intellectual Property or organizational intelligence and the second is that employees will just “waste company time”.

When it comes to protecting intellectual property, if a company is seriously using this as an excuse then they better have confiscated all cell phones and digital cameras from the workplace and ensure that all laptops are heavily encrypted in case they get lost or stolen. One company that I am aware of that blocks access to some social media sites also allowed their entire employee list, along with Social Security Numbers, to be transmitted via an unprotected MS Excel spreadsheet over email. The problem, here, wasn’t that the employee was trying to harm the company, but that they didn’t understand that doing so exposed the company to risk. The answer isn’t to remove their access to Excel or email, but to better educate the employee on the proper method of protecting corporate information.

In response to the “wasting time” argument, there are really two approaches. First, let your employees have a little fun. Let them explore new information, personal or professional. Teach them to use social media responsibly…just as you did with email. If you do, they will continue to grow as employees and professionals. Second, if they’re wasting excessive time on Twitter or Facebook, they were probably wasting excessive time on something else before social media came along. The way to address it is to remind them that they are employees of the company and, while some Internet usage is allowed, if it interferes with their duties, it might become an issue.

So to those of you who work for these Social Media Ostriches that choose to ignore the opportunities being presented and stick their heads in the sand by blocking your access…my condolences. I count my blessings each day that I work for a company that not only embraces Social Media, but actively works to develop its employees as thought leaders and encourages them to blog, tweet, and Facebook in a responsible manner.

To the Executives of the Social Media Ostriches…I’d shoot some snarky remark at you, but you couldn’t read it anyway, because this blog and my tweets are probably blocked from your network.

Incoming search terms:

• are zappos employees allowed to access facebook?
• banning social media hypocrisy
• new computer is blocking social networking
• social networking apps with ostrich icon
• traffic shareaholic com

Hopefully, these 1o questions can help you in the process of finding someone who really understands your business and can help formulate and execute a plan to engage with your community online.

1) How long have you been engaged in social networking and/or social media channels? Will you provide me with links to your accounts?

Believe it or not, online social networking didn’t start with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Plenty of social media professionals have experience that goes back to online bulletin boards, forums on CompuServe, Prodigy, and AOL, and online forums. Look for professionals who have been building online relationships for more than five years. Most social media professionals will be willing to share links to their profiles and it would be a good idea to look them over for professional activity. If your social media “expert” spends more time talking about their Friday parties and drops F-bombs frequently, think twice…

2) Are you familiar with any restrictions or limitations on social media activities that might impact my industry?

Every business and organization is not the same, so a one-size-fits-all social media strategy is generally a bad idea. If you’re in non-profit, you might want to look for a social media professional with experience in that sector. If you operate in a regulated industry such as pharmaceutical, tobacco, alcohol, finance, insurance, or a host of others….it would be a good idea to find a professional who has significant experience in your industry and understands any limitations or restrictions.

3) What are my competitors doing?

Any professional worth their salt will do some preliminary research before sitting down with you. If the person you interview doesn’t know (at least at a high level) what your competitors are doing, it might be a cause for concern.  IMHO, they should be able to give you insight on the way your competitors are using the major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

4) What social networks do you specialize in? Why are these networks right for my business?

Every social network is not right for every industry. Just ask anyone in the pharmaceutical industry how they could possibly engage in drug marketing on Twitter.  The reality is that most organizations can take full advantage of the networks out there, but if there are limitations, you want your social media professional to be aware of them.

5) What does “community management” mean to you? Do you include community management in your social media services?

Social media engagement doesn’t end when you publish your Facebook page or launch your Twitter account. Heck…creating those channel profiles is often the easiest part of the process. The community engagement/management process that follows is the more difficult (and more expensive) element. It’s important that you know how your social media professional approaches community management and what strategies and tactics they will use to interact with the members of your community (a.k.a your customers, members, employees, etc…)

6) Can you provide me with a list of client references in my industry?

Pretty self-explanatory. If they don’t have references….be cautious.

7) What is your perception of social media marketing and how will it help my in my business goals? How will we measure success?

This one forces them to explain what they perceive to be your business goals. Are you selling product or services? Are you attracting members to your professional organization? Your social networking approach should be tailored to your business goals and your activities should be measurable. They might not be hard metrics in terms of sales or conversions, but there should be some measurement involved, even if its the increasing the number of positive online interactions and reducing the amount of negative chatter around your brand.

8 ) How do you evaluate new social networks and do you alert your clients of new opportunities?

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube may be the juggernauts right now but remember the days of AOL, CompuServe, MySpace and eBay? Would you hire a social media professional who pitched engaging your customers on Prodigy? Probably not. My point is that social networks come and go, and your social media professional should be constantly evaluating new platforms and making recommendations on whether you should explore them.

9) What distinguishes you from your competitors?

Social media “experts” are quickly becoming a dime-a-dozen. There are thousands of self-proclaimed experts out there, but you need a professional who knows your business and cares about your success. Be sure that the person you engage as your company/brand representative knows what sets them apart from their competition.

10) Can you give me an example of a limitation of a social network that you have experienced and overcome or worked around?

Bandwidth limitations, API calls, character limits…social networks come with limitations. Beware of an social media professionals who have never run into limitations and don’t have experience overcoming them. If they haven’t run into limitations, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist but, instead, likely means that this so called “expert” hasn’t had the range of experiences you might need.

I hope these 10 questions are helpful! Do you have questions that you consistently use to find the best social media professionals out there? Feel free to share them via comments or tweets!

Incoming search terms:

• questions to ask a social media expert
• questions to ask social media experts
• social media expert guru
• bit ly
• what to look for in youtube guru review for your business
• what kind of social media question should i ask for a expert
• what is expert guru
• What are 10 question that I ask people about social network?
• Questions u can ask about social networks?
• questions to be asked to media expert

Honestly, I hope to back on Pinterest soon. As a social media geek, the site absolutely fascinates me!

However,  I did delete all my pinboards because I was uncomfortable with the way Pinterest was handling their approach to licensing of my original content and placing all the liability of any copyright infringement suits. Their original terms of use gave them an unrestricted, irrevocable license to use my materials in any way they chose…including commercially. I just don’t abide by that. I took the time to create my social media cartoons, Pinterest and other Pinterest users shouldn’t have the right to use/sell them without my permission, even if I do share them on a pinboard.

Click the image above to read the full email from Pinterest about changes to their Terms of Use.

And apparently Pinterest has heard the voices ranting against their Terms of Use.

In an email to Pinterest users this morning, CEO Ben Silbermann announced that the company is updating their Terms of Use to redefine how the company can use material protected by copyright in a commercial manner.

But is this enough to draw me back to Pinterest? It does resolve the issue relating to how Pinterest can use my original materials. If you recall, I had an issue with the original Terms of Use, which stated:

Member Content

We may, in our sole discretion, permit Members to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit Member Content. By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.

Under the new Terms of Use, Pinterest removed the language allowing them to commercially use any content submitted to the site. HOWEVER, the following licensing language still exists in the new Terms of Use, scheduled to take effect on April 06, 2012:

How Pinterest and other users can use your content. Subject to any applicable account settings you select, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify (e.g., re-format), re-arrange, and distribute your User Content on Pinterest for the purposes of operating and providing the Service(s) to you and to our other Users. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict Pinterest’s rights under separate licenses to User Content. Please remember that the Pinterest Service is a public platform, and that other Users may search for, see, use, and/or re-pin any User Content that you make publicly available through the Service.

Non-exclusive….royalty-free…transferable..worldwide. Yeesh! That’s quite a commitment! But keep in mind that a subtle, but very major change to the new language is that this licenses is restricted to use On Pinterest. So, while other users could create a beautiful pinboard of your original photos, they could not take them and sell them, nor could Pinterest.

Whew! Good change!

But, that wasn’t the only issue I had with Pinterest’s Terms of Use. I also didn’t like the fact that Pinterest absolved themselves of any legal liability by effective saying “if you upload it, you better have permission, otherwise the lawsuit is ALL on you!” Most Netizens aren’t up-to-speed on Copyright law, so I think there is a responsibility for social networks to do everything they can to discourage Copyright infringement.

While Pinterest has not adjusted the Terms of Use placing the liability on the user, they are rolling out tools to help report infringement and, hopefully, this will make it easier to get content removed. The onus, however, is still on the Copyright holder to locate their shared content on Pinterest and report it.  The indemnification clause in the Terms of Use states:

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pinterest and its officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any claims, suits, proceedings, disputes, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees (including costs of defense of claims, suits or proceedings brought by third parties), arising out of or in any way related to (i) your access to or use of the Services or Pinterest Content, (ii) your User Content, or (iii) your breach of any of these Terms.

Basically, “if you get sued for something you posted and didn’t have the permission to post…you’re on your own.” And remember, Copyright infringement is evaluated unders a standard of  Strict Liability so it doesn’t matter if “you didn’t know it was protected by Copyright law” or “didn’t mean to share something protected”. If you violate Copyright law…you’re on the hook, whether you meant to or not.

The interesting thing, here, is that Pinterest appears to be taking the approach that if they add an indemnity clause to their Terms of Use and they treat themselves as just the platform where the activity takes place, they’ll be able to claim the “safe-harbor” defense under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Not sure that worked out so well for Napster, so it’ll be interesting to see how Pinterest behaves when the first big copyright infringement lawsuit arises.

So, the good news is that our voices have been heard and Pinterest has made some changes. Now, you have to decided whether the benefits of Pinterest outweigh the risks. Personally, I’m going to go back to the site, but will only be sharing content that I have personally created. It’s not as fun as going whole-hog and pinning everything out there that I see, but until I”m comfortable that I won’t be held personally liable because I re-pinned something that was uploaded without author permission…I’m just not willing to risk it.

As always, this is just my $.02. It’s not legal advice and I’m not trying to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t use Pinterest. I just want to help folks understand the potential risks. I’m up for any comments/feedback/criticism.

Cheers!

–Sean

Incoming search terms:

• did pinterest change
• what r pinterest terms