Several times over the past few months I have received some ridiculous communications via Twitter from freelancers or small businesses who obviously are new to Twitter and have clearly decided to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon in an attempt to utilize the tool to find new clients. The reason I say these exchanges are ridiculous is because they have been asking me – a web designer – if I would like to hire them to do web design! Not asking if they can assist me or if I need an outsourcing contact, but flat out asking me to hire them to design a website!

Here’s the probable scenario:

• 1. A freelancer or web design agency reads an article or two about social media monitoring and decides to set up some way to monitor certain keywords on Twitter, such as “design” or “web design” or “redesign”.
• 2. As tweets show up mentioning something about web design, the person (or automated tool) monitoring them immediately sends a response, asking how they can help with the project.
• 3. If they’re lucky, the person behind the original tweet will respond to their request and send them contact info, and a new lead is born!

Sounds like a good plan, right?

Unfortunately there are a few missing steps that are key to this working correctly, especially on a social media platform such as Twitter.

I have written a few articles about how I have learned to attract clients on Twitter (you can read one here and another here). I would not say I am an expert by any stretch, but I have had some pretty phenomenal success for my one-man web and graphic design business. One of the things I have found interesting in the discussions I’ve had with others is that many people have expressed their inability to attract clients using social media. Over and over I have told them that they need to stop trying to sell their services and instead try to make real connections and relationships. Herein lies the problem with the above scenario as well.

Thanks to yet another misguided attempt at engaging me as a client for web design recently, I have written this post to help identify some critical steps that are sure to result in failure if you are trying to use social media to drum up business. My hope is that it will provide some much-needed guidance for those that are new or considering diving in, while simultaneously aiming to rid current social media enthusiasts of the annoying, hard-sell marketing spam that is making its way onto our platforms.

Make Your First Contact An Attempt At Selling Something

I don’t know anyone who likes to buy something from a salesman whose initial contact is riddled with desperation for the sale. Even when we walk onto a used car lot, we know we will get bombarded and everyone involved is aware of what is taking place, but a successful salesman will build relationship and rapport before pushing the sale.

A great way to drive potential clients away is make sure they are aware that you only see them as a potential client. Hitting them with an attempt to sell something on your very first contact with them makes the statement loud and clear. It’s akin to a door-to-door salesman trying to work their way into your house. Does anyone ever let those guys in or buy anything from them?

Do NOT Research Your Potential Clients Before Contacting Them

Taking an extra minute or two to check out a potential client’s profile and/or the context of the conversation your monitoring has discovered may save everyone involved some wasted time, aggravation and possible embarrassment for your business. Why in the world would you attempt to sell me the same service I provide for others? Had any of these newcomers taken that extra step to read my profile bio they would have seen that I am a web designer and moved on, rather than exposing themselves with an embarrassing lack of knowledge or time investment.

In the recent debacle I had tweeted about how I just recently updated my portfolio. Someone responded with encouragement, at which point I replied that next would be a redesign of my own site. This is when the culprit jumped in, probably because they were monitoring the word “redesign”. Rather than taking a minute or two to go back a few tweets and determine the context of their keyword usage, they asked me if they could “help” me with the redesign. Needless to say, it was a waste of their time, plus I blocked them and reported them as spam. I doubt that is what they wanted to accomplish, and it could have been avoided with a little extra effort on their part.

Make Sure 100% of Your Communications Are Sales

I don’t make a habit of reporting people for spam simply because they try to sell me something. In this case, I went to their profile to see what they were about, only to discover that every single tweet was an attempt at making a sale. Once I saw this I made sure to report the spammers, not to get them in trouble or to be mean, but because social media is about being social, and they obviously did not get the memo.

Engagement and relationships are the foundation of trust in social media. Those that succeed in using it for marketing have found the balance of interacting with others combined with self-promotion. Most will tell you to give a large majority of your time to generating real connections and engagement, and then a small percentage to marketing. Doing the opposite will get you ignored.

Treat Your Potential Clients As Targets, Not People

Every time I read an article or hear about “reaching your target audience” or “targeting a specific demographic” I wince. I get this image of a laser sight pointed at my forehead. It’s not just an uncomfortable feeling. The terminology itself implies that as your potential client – your target – I am not a human being but a number. A trophy that you desire to mount on your wall of success.

Personally, I like my head resting squarely on my shoulders, thank you, and not mounted on a hunter’s wall. I don’t know of anyone who prefers to be thought of as a target instead of a human being. If you are looking to fail miserably as a social media marketer, drop any pretences of being a real, live, compassionate human being who genuinely cares about the person you are communicating with and you will accomplish your mission.

How To Succeed?

Obviously, if the above points are keys to failure, why not try the opposite if you truly desire to succeed in using Twitter to drum up new business? Sure, it takes a little more time to get to know people and become personally involved with them, but the benefits will usually go far beyond a few new clients.

I have found countless new friends via Twitter, and these are friends who I learn from and engage with almost every day. Some have turned into clients and others have sent potential clients my way. The majority are simply good people who have become a welcome addition and enrichment to my life experience. For me personally, that end result is a true success, not the number of clients I have found.

Why not give it a shot?

There. I said it. You know where I stand and hopefully have an idea how you personally would answer the question in the title of this post. Now why am I asking it?

This past week on two separate occasions I have been confronted via Twitter regarding my personal policy about who I will or won’t follow. In both cases the parties in question wondered why I did not follow them or others back because they believed I should since they were following me. I have written about this before so I don’t want to rehash it completely, but apparently I need to attempt to make very clear my own stance for those that have questions. My friend @mistygirlph also had a similar issue and wrote about it last week, which leads me to believe there is still a need for the discussion.

First off, I want to make it clear that I try to be the exact same person online as I am offline. I am not so arrogant as to think everyone should do the same. It is simply my value system and it is how I operate. In my “real life” I befriend and build relationships with people who share common interests or for some reason or another I gravitate toward. A good sense of humor, a creative streak, a unique personal fashion style, a particular taste in music – these are just a few of the things that may draw me toward someone that I meet, and may be the catalyst for the beginning of a friendship. Online many of the visual elements do not translate, but those that come out in interactions become even more obvious.

Online I tend to follow or friend people who share common interests (web & graphic design, freelancing, social media, SEO, art, music) or who capture my attention with something they’ve said, an interaction we’ve had or who simply displayed a good sense of humor or a positive approach to life. These are the people I’m interested in engaging with, and these are the people I follow or friend on social media channels and in real life.

I don’t see any point in following someone solely because they followed me. There are plenty of people who follow me that I have absolutely nothing in common with, other than the fact that they may be interested in some of the resources I share. There are also those that follow me who are spammers, bots and those who are more concerned with their follower counts than life itself. Why in the world would I automatically follow these people back and flood my streams with information that I am not interested in?

I am not on social media channels to build my numbers, or to constantly watch them. I don’t go through the list of people I am following to see who is or who is not following me back. Who has time for that? And why? To me that would be like going through my phone bill each month to see if my friends are calling me as much as I call them, and then refusing to call those who were not keeping up.

I follow and friend people for the value they add to my stream – resources, laughs, interactions, quotes, and more. That value does not change whether they are following me back or not – it’s still valuable to me. Does it make me sad or hurt if I find out that someone I interact with or follow and enjoy is not following me? Honestly, sometimes it might for a second or two. But then I remember that everyone uses social media in different ways, and their decisions of who they will or will not follow really have very little to do with me or even possibly their opinion of me.

There are people I respect or admire that I do not follow or friend on Facebook because to me their status updates are noise (Bible verses, quotes, etc.) But that absolutely does not mean I’m not interested in them as a person! My true friends know how I feel about them and would laugh at the thought that not engaging with them on social media would mean a rift in our relationship.

The two who confronted me last week had some things in common:

» They pay a lot of attention to their follower numbers
» They believe that following someone is an act of kindness that should be reciprocated and it is rude or arrogant to not return the ‘favor’
» They believe that everyone else should use social media in the same way they do

When I first started using social media I did get caught up in the numbers of followers or friends I had obtained, but I eventually stopped focusing on the numbers and started paying attention to the people. It was at this point I truly began finding the value of social media and the global connections that can be made. What’s baffling to me is that neither of these people are newcomers to social media and both have large follower counts, yet they are still so concerned about who is following them or not.

If I took this approach in my day to day life, I don’t think I would have any friends. Conditional relationships are flawed from the beginning, and eventually they will fail because someone will not live up to the other’s requirements or expectations. We’re only human, and we need acceptance, tolerance, celebration of differences, freedom and forgiveness if we are going to not only coexist, but thrive as a society. Should not these same values be applied to our online relationships as well?

The element that is most disturbing to me of all of this is their expectation that everyone should follow their rules and do things the same way they do. While I fundamentally disagree, my disagreement dictates that I embrace their freedom to hold firm to this belief. In other words, my belief system says that everyone should be able to do whatever they want however they want, as long as it does not harm or endanger anyone else. I think this is a real life necessity, or else we would all be robots dressed in the same clothes, saying the same things, voting for the same laws and living the same boring lives. However, you are completely welcome to disagree with me, as far as I’m concerned. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Ah freedom.

Now back to the original question: should social media relationship rules be any different than the rules we have for our daily lives? I don’t think they should, but it is obvious that others do, and I celebrate their freedom to live however they desire. I guess I just wish they didn’t feel the need to confront or insult someone who thinks differently. What do you think?

Last Thursday I was taking part in a weekly discussion among designers called DCTH (Design Community Twitter Hours) and this question came up: When do you draw the line between pro-bono & just helping for free? A very interesting discussion followed and it got me thinking about my own experience with offering my design and web services pro bono or for free. In this post I want to share some of those experiences with you and how they have influenced my business approach as well as the impact this has had when I began applying it to my social media interaction.

As the discussion progressed it became obvious that many designers, including myself, have gotten burned in the past by offering free, discounted or pro bono services. Because of these abuses the general response was to avoid doing free work altogether, and pro bono only in the case of a cause you believe in supporting or for the tax benefits.  While I completely understand the concerns, and I have had instances where my generosity has been taken advantage of, I was distraught to think about the cynicism that our self-serving society is breeding. Is it not better to give and give and then give some more, even when some take advantage of it, rather than discontinue giving altogether? I believe it is, and my experience supports this theory.

When I first started designing websites I was doing it on the side for a little spare money. But I was also offering my services to small churches in an effort to provide for them something that most could not afford. At the time I was working as a Pastor, and I believed it would be an important “ministry” I could offer to other churches to further our universal goal or reaching the world. Whenever the opportunity arose, I would design a church’s website with the understanding that if they could not afford to pay me anything it would be my donation to their ministry. I didn’t have much money at the time and I saw this as a way I could tithe, something I believed was important.

I only designed 2-3 sites for small churches for free, and not once did I ever feel that I was taken advantage of in the process. Instead, one of the most remarkable things happened. Shortly after I finished designing one of the first church sites, a successful Christian recording artist came through town. I went to see his concert and was captivated by his music, spirit and talent. When I got home that night I went online to check out his website and was extremely disappointed to find a very poorly designed site. I decided to email him, and told him that his website was nowhere near as exciting as his music. I suggested that he allow me to redesign it to give him something that represented the dynamic personality of the artist and his music. Within a few days I had a signed contract for the redesign that resulted in over $10,000 of work for him during the next year. This was my first major client, and the lesson I walked away from that experience with has never departed from my approach to business.

Call it karma, the law of reciprocity, the provision of God, the universe, whatever you want. All I know is that I have discovered – over and over again since then – that the more I give to those who are in true need, the more it comes back to me tenfold.

Since that first experience I have had a number of clients that I have offered reduced rates or free services to, strictly because I believed they were not trying to get something for nothing but were genuinely working within a restricted budget. In those cases I made sure that I didn’t completely devalue my services, and insured that I still provided for my family on some level (the main reason I do the work I do). In every instance it was really a judgment call on my part, based on my discussions with the client.  And in almost every situation the small amount of time I gave away or discounted resulted in a significantly larger paying job coming my way, directly related to the freebie or just randomly crossing my path. Either way, I have built a successful track history of giving my services away and consequently receiving much more than I have ever given.

Did I make some mistakes? Absolutely. In fact, just recently I had someone who I offered discounted services to because he assured me our “partnership” would result in a large number of referrals for future work. (Have you heard that one before?) So far I have yet to see a single referral, and as the small project progressed it didn’t take long to realize I had made a mistake, since the client continued to ask for much more work than originally agreed upon without paying anything extra. Of course, I stuck to my guns and strictly provided only what I had undercharged him for, so when all is said and done, I didn’t lose out entirely. I just did more for less money than I normally would make. Although the experience does leave a bad taste, it didn’t really have any other lasting results or impact. So even in this case I have to ask, was it really that bad? I can think of much worse.

In the past year, as I have dived into the ocean of social media, I have adapted this approach to the new context and the results have been even more amazing. While I have heard others around me saying how they have seen little or no increase in clients and business through Twitter, my own experience is radically different. Although I don’t have exact numbers, I know that I have attracted well over 20 new clients through Twitter and social media related connections. But most importantly, most of these connections have come directly from helping someone else out for little or no payment. I have helped people set up WordPress blogs, install plugins, troubleshoot problems, tweak their websites and more, and in turn these people have sent real paying clients my way. They don’t send them to me with the uinderstanding that the prospects will get free work. They send them to me because they have learned that I am a trustworthy, well-intentioned person with talents that they have experienced.

I didn’t ask them to give me anything. I didn’t offer to help under the condition that someday they would need to somehow pay me back. I just saw their need and offered to help. There is a beauty and joy in giving assistance to someone without expectation of anything in return. In most cases, I have saved them hours of frustration by doing something in 15 minutes that they had no idea how to accomplish. I looked like a hero to them, but for me it was a small amount of effort to bring a smile to their faces. Is there something wrong with this? I don’t see the down side.

Some might say that by giving away or discounting my work I am devaluing the work of others in the same field. I sure hope that is not the case as this is definitely NOT my intention. But I have to consider the possibility and be mindful of it in how I handle these situations.

Still others might say I am being far too naïve or idealistic in my approach, and it is only a matter of time until someone takes complete advantage of my generosity in a way that financially cripples my freelance business. I definitely am aware of this possibility and I want to make clear that I am not trying to tell every young freelancer to go out there and replicate my methodology. Because I have been doing this for a number of years, combined with my own life experience and understanding of people, I may have a better ability to make those judgment calls than someone younger or less experienced. So please “don’t try this at home” without some type of clear understanding of your own abilities in judging others’ personalities.

Here’s the bottom line for me: helping others can be a win for everyone involved, even if no payment ever comes my way. Helping others is a better approach to life and to business than chasing after the almighty dollar. Helping others breeds an attitude of generosity, compassion, and community unlike anything else. Helping others is, in itself, its own reward.

It is possible that opportunists will read this and try to get something for nothing from me. I’m okay with that, because most of the time I can discern the motives behind a request for assistance. Regardless, nothing will keep me from doing what I can to contribute to growing a society and community that gives unconditionally. I believe that if everyone did this our world would be a better place. What do you think?

Spend a few minutes browsing through recent headlines about social media and you will most likely be left with the impression that all of the networks are in a fierce competition with each other. Facebook is the king, with more paticipants than any other. Twitter recently boasted that its users are posting an average of 50 million updates a day. Google Buzz burst onto the scene and the pundits immediately pitted it against the others in comparisons and contrasts. The list goes on and on, with countless also-rans and quickly-developed newcomers waiting in the wings, all hoping to compete for your membership and usage.

Zoom in and take a closer look within the individual social networks and you will witness users clamoring for significant increases in followers and friends, regularly checking numbers and trying a myriad of techniques to grow their counts to what those who are paying attention might call ‘respectable’. Tools that rate, rank and grade feed the frenzy and give us all the ability to measure our success in order to insure that we are doing things ‘correctly’.

A few weeks back I got involved in a conversation on Twitter in which another user (identity to remain anonymous) was tweeting complaints to TwitterGrader (a tool that ranks users based on an algorithm that goes beyond simple numbers). This person was upset because they have almost twice as many followers and updates as I do, yet TwitterGrader listed me in the top 5 in my city while leaving him somewhere further down the list. I told him it really didn’t matter and that this whole thing is not a competition, to which he responded vehemently, “EVERYTHING is a competition! LIFE is a competition!”

Really? Is that the world we live in?

Competition can be healthy. It can drive us to become better at the things we do and stimulate innovation and inspiration. But when competition and comparison become the primary motivation behind our existence in any context, they become a dangerous and potentially deadly force that, when peeled back, reveals the depths of insecurities that bind and can eventually destroy an individual, relationships and society as a whole.

Why does our society choose to immediately assume the course of comparison and subsequent competition? This is a question that I believe needs to be examined and a methodology that could be changed, but it can only be done by the uprising of the individual. Unfortunately the current majority contributes to and is influenced by the competitive nature rather than questioning and rebuking it, so it would appear a hopeless cause to appeal to those who desire true independent thought and a thriving society of individuality. Still, I am an idealist, so I have to at least try and believe that there are others who would take steps toward the true freedom that can be found when comparison is set aside and competition is reprioritized to a healthy level.

When Google Buzz came out a couple weeks ago, the media dubbed it a potential Twitter and Facebook “killer”, and for days everyone – including me – talked about the tool’s various elements and how they compared to the “competition”. Finally, it appears even Google tired of being placed in a competition they never asked for, and came out with a statement that essentially removed themselves from the comparisons and proclaimed their understanding of Buzz as its own individual niche, rather than yet another similar status update tool.

What a concept! Standing up as an individual. Producing an original idea. Taking an approach on a path that perhaps has never been travelled exactly the same way before. It is this spirit that births greatness. It is the mother of invention and the motivation for genuine creativity. It is the power of freedom laced with high potential for failure, but isn’t a life without risk and possibility of disappointment really just plain boring?

I’m not suddenly singing the praises of Google Buzz. Don’t get me wrong. But I am very pleased to hear Google stand up to others’ attempts to place them in a cage bout with other networks in the social media realm, taking hold of and proclaiming their own ideas and hopes and thought processes for Google Buzz. Isn’t that something we all should be doing?

Take a look around. Where in your life are you comparing yourself to others? I would be willing to bet for most of us the answer is a number we find ourselves suddenly uncomfortable with.

Examine your social media usage. How many times a day or a week do you check to see how many friends or followers you have on your network of choice? When you meet someone new in social media, do you classify them by the amount of followers or perceived influence they have? How often do you use some tool to check your ranking amongst the millions of others in social media circles?

I am guilty on all counts. Far more than I care to admit. But I guess the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? The second step is to determine what we are going to do to begin changing this state of affairs.

Facebook and Twitter and Buzz and Flickr and Digg and all the others are competing for us. They each want us to update our status on their network more often than we do anywhere else. Why? So they can add us to the multitude of numbers that eventually translate to revenue, and the better they are than their ‘competitors’, the more income they can generate. Is there anything wrong with that in our capitalistic society? Not in my opinion. But I absolutely refuse to be pandered to and ‘targeted’ solely for some organization to add me to their numbers. You and I are more than numbers, and we have brains that enable us to be more than lemmings or sheep that follow mindlessly whenever those with a bullhorn of influence shout directions.

YOU are an influencer, if you choose to be. All it takes to be a leader is to have someone following you. Our modern society gives each and every one of us the ability to be leaders and influencers, yet for some reason so many choose to relinquish this right and move to the sway of the masses. Will you accept the challenge to break free from the bondage of comparison and speak your mind, your passion, your individuality in a way that contributes to the evolution of our society, both online and off?

One could say that comparison and competition date all the way back to the original sin. According to the story, Adam and Eve were tempted by the thought that they could become better than they were – that they could be gods instead of just ordinary humans. They compared themselves to another and decided they were not good enough if they settled for staying the way they were. But who they were was what they were created to be. Who they gave in to trying to become was a fatal, comparison-driven decision that changed the course of their lives forever.

Can you stop looking around at others and find fulfillment in who you are as an individual? Can you embrace your character and begin pursuing your own dreams without glancing in the rearview or to either side for some measurement of success or approval? Can you identify yourself as a leader and influence those around you to do the same, until we look up one day to realize that we are surrounded by leaders who each have a significant, powerful and irreplaceable role to play that contributes to the evolution of our society?

It seems a tall order. But, by comparison, isn’t it far better than the alternative?

Maybe I’m alone in these thoughts, but in the past week since Google launched Buzz – the new Gmail-integrated social media tool that purports to combine the best elements of Facebook and Twitter into one place – I have become exhausted with the headlines, with trying it out for myself, and most importantly with the incessant hum of social media ‘experts’ telling me how I MUST start using Buzz if I am going to succeed in my social media strategy.

All of this has driven me to a bit of self-examination in my social media usage, which in the end seems to be the only foreseeable positive result of the whole debacle. This post is not as much about my annoyance with Google’s attempts to corral me into using Gmail and Buzz in ways that I never realized I couldn’t live without as much as it is about being reminded why I am involved in the social networks I have chosen, a closer look at my social media ’strategy’, and a challenge for all of us to stay true to ourselves and avoid being swept up in the latest craze.

To start, I’ve already written about my frustrations with Google Buzz, which you are welcome to read here. Countless others have also expressed their less than positive reaction, as well as a significant amount of uproar concerning the privacy violations, which Google appears to be trying to resolve as quickly as possible. But for some reason Mashable, one of the most respected go-to sites for all things social media and a place I visit often, has from day one all but crowned Google Buzz the new king of social media tools, putting out an unprecedented amount of Buzz-related articles in the last week, most of which are singing its praises and telling us how to best utilize the tool in every aspect of our lives. I even saw an article on CNN by Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable, titled “Why Google Buzz will be a hit“. I started asking friends if they thought Mashable was getting paid by Google!

Regardless of whether or not Google Buzz will catch on and be utilized by the world in ways that neither Facebook nor Twitter has is yet to be seen. And although I have turned off Buzz in my Gmail because of its annoying attempts to lure me into another social media time-sucking vacuum, I am not at all closed to the possibility that I too may someday use it should my friends and family find it their tool of choice. But all the hubbub made me stop and take a look at my own social media usage combined with my own painfully insecure and selfish desire to avoid being one that has missed out on the newest, shiniest toy on the market.

What is it that makes us feel this way? When the Nexus One Google phone was released, I simply HAD to have one, even though I had only upgraded my phone to an Android-based model just 2 months earlier. When I started using social media, I had to set up my accounts in all the recommended places in order to have a well-rounded and complete social media’ strategy’ for my freelance business. I just bought a Kindle last night to fulfill my geeky book reading dreams, feeling so ‘late’ for taking this long to make the purchase.

Sure, we live in a capitalist and consumer-driven society, which has contributed to the breeding of generations who can’t seem to get enough. But why do I allow myself to succumb to the popular consensus of what I must or must not do in so many areas of my life?

When it comes to social media, it seems more and more that many of us are fighting a battle to keep it ’social’ and out of the hands of those who are trying to utilize social networks for marketing and selling and spamming. But when I look in the mirror I cannot deny that I have used social media for some of these same purposes myself at times, and although the benefits for my freelance business have been overwhelming, the social aspect – and the stumbled upon new fascination with it – has become my number one priority. My ’strategy’, as it were. I have discovered and developed numerous new relationships and friendships, far beyond the number of clients, through social media. Isn’t that what the term ’social’ is all about?

So why then would I want to add another ‘weapon’ in my social media arsenal in the form of Google Buzz? If anything, I need a tool that trims down the various places and websites I choose to visit in order to maintain and grow these online relationships. I don’t need to keep another browser window open for Gmail and Buzz in hopes that I will develop yet another group of followers to engage with. I don’t need to buckle under the pressure of competing for a respectable number of contacts, friends or followers to strengthen my influence and enlarge my brand.

What I need is to continue to get better at giving and sharing and interacting with others who have similar interests, interesting viewpoints and intelligent discussion. I am still learning how to do that on Twitter and Facebook, and I enjoy it this way. Maybe Google Buzz will open that door for someone who doesn’t feel comfortable in the Twitterverse or Facebook land (are there really any people on earth who don’t use these social networks but instead would prefer to socialize in Gmail and Buzz?)

For now anyway, I refuse to allow you to taunt me with your next big thing, Google. Nice try but no thanks, Mashable.

I need to focus my energies on what I’m already struggling with juggling, thank you. Not to mention my real life friends and my wife and children. Seriously. How many ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ can one man have real, meaningful social relationships with anyway?

Today is my son’s 12^th birthday.

It seems like only yesterday that he was without a doubt the cutest toddler on earth, and since he is the youngest in the family it is definitely with much melancholy that we approach the incoming teen years with him, never to steer another through the early childhood years again. From day one he has been his Mom’s “baby”, the youngest and only son and more-than-willing recipient of all the benefits that are a part of that special mother-son bond. So it is probably most difficult of all for my wife to watch him grow into a young man. Still, we are proud of who he is becoming, and it is part of this that I want to share with you in a simple but profound lesson I have learned from him.

In recent months my son has begun taking an interest in how he looks. He started showering regularly – even daily at times – and he started having an actual hairstyle instead of the bed head he had previously championed. Simultaneously he started asking for specific types of jeans, shoes, t-shirts and other clothes, putting together a consistent personal style. It seemed to happen almost overnight, so quickly in fact that one day while shopping I asked him about his new interest in fashion and his personal appearance.

“So what do you call your style?” I asked. “Is it ‘skater’ or ‘emo’ or ‘urban’ or something else? I’m not sure how I would classify it.”

Without a second’s hesitation he looked me in the eye and said, “Awesome.”

I didn’t catch it at first. “What? What’s awesome?” I queried.

“My style,” came the reply. “My style is awesome.”

I began to laugh out loud. Not at his expense, but completely intrigued and amused by his quick wit. Then I began to marvel at the sheer brazen confidence he had displayed in his one word answer. After pondering the exchange a bit more I realized that my 12-year-old son had summed up one of life’s most important lessons in a moment’s time, and that it is also a lesson we who interact on social media need to be reminded of and share with others. The lesson is this: be yourself.

Simple, yes. But far too often I am witness to others on social networks and in life working diligently at trying to figure out the best way to fit in, or asking what the “proper” or “accepted” way of doing things is supposed to be. It smells distinctly of high school popularity contests, where the “cool kids” dictate what is “cool” to all others outside their circle, and the masses follow blindly like mindless lemmings.

This is a soapbox I have stood upon before, and will most likely visit a time or two again in the future, but it is a reminder I know that I need for myself, as well as one that others may have not yet heard.

Be yourself.

Don’t look to others to tell you what’s “right” or “wrong”. Use your own intelligence and common sense to determine your own behavior and methodology. Sure, engage with others and share thoughts and questions to aid in your quest for your own personal approach, but don’t mechanically follow others’ recommendations or rules simply because it seems to be what the majority is doing.

Every human being is unique. You are the only one exactly like you and there is a reason for that. If you relinquish your individuality to be replaced by a supposedly more acceptable or popular personality, you are not only missing out on all the potential of your own life experiences, but you are removing your personal contribution to the fabric of our global society.

Think about it. What if some of the greatest heroes of our history had chosen to succumb to the status quo rather than step outside the box, against all popular or known thought?

Yes, your contribution to social media and to life in general may not be one of such epic proportions, but how will you ever know the full potential of your life’s impact if you choose to live someone else’s?

Be yourself.

Make mistakes. Try again. Get laughed at maybe. But be yourself.

In social media, being yourself may or may not breed the results so many claim to be invaluable. You may not get thousands of ‘friends’ on Facebook or ‘followers’ on Twitter. You may not end up with internet fame. But at the end of the day, I can’t imagine anyof those things being better than knowing you have been true to who you are.

Suppose someone asked you who you are, how you do things, what your personal approach to social media – or more importantly, life – is. How would you answer? Would you rattle off amounts of friends and followers as measurement of your theoretical success? Would you proceed to explain how you have mastered the accepted and ‘correct’ etiquette with hopes of someday achieving the nirvana of social media – and life – popularity?

Personally, I would find that response disappointing. I would much rather run with the pack of proudly proclaimed individuals who swim upstream, bucking the system in an effort to influence and improve it, never settling and always reaching. I want to hang with and be one of those who, when asked who I am and what I’m about, will reply, without hesitation and brimming with confidence, “Awesome. I’m all about awesome.”

Wouldn’t you?

I’m proud of my son. This post, and more importantly every moment of my life, is dedicated to him and my entire amazing family. Happy birthday, Noah. You are awesome.

The other night my wife and I went to our eldest daughter’s high school basketball game to cheer her on. We took our regular spot up at the top of the bleachers so we could lean back against the wall rather than slouching on the hard wood for the entire game. As we settled in, we noticed a few parents from the other team had the same idea and were setting up camp about 15 feet away. We commenced with the standard smile and nod acknowledgements and then turned our attention to the beginning of the contest. What transpired over the next hour inspired a range of emotions, from anger to frustration to disappointment. And I’m not talking about what happened on the court.

From tip-off to final buzzer, the opposing team parents spent the entire game berating the referees, complaining and shouting about what they perceived as terrible officiating and one-sided foul-calling. From their perspective every call that went against their team was wrong and apparently an offense to humanity itself. Of course, every foul called against their opponent was, in their expert and superior opinion, a “good call” and they made sure to shout loudly about how the refs “finally got that one right” and how it was “about time”. In between shouts, the parents would turn to each other and talk about how awful the referees were doing, not once pausing from their abuse and name-calling to say anything positive about anything.

About halfway through the game my wife and I started discussing these parents and how their terrible attitudes were ruining our experience. We considered walking over and asking them to keep it down, but quickly determined that, given the blatant display of their lack of ethics and possibly even intelligence, this action would only inspire them to increase their volume and intensify their resolve. Instead we decided to turn our focus on the game as best as we could and tune out the stupidity that was occurring on our left. It was a struggle the entire time and by the game’s end we were almost more excited about the escape from the gym than the fact that our daughter’s team won.

Yes, I know referees are seldom anyone’s friend at a sporting event, especially if your team is losing. And I know it’s not uncommon to look for someone to blame for the loss other than the team itself. But this was a high school basketball game, not the Super Bowl. The ramifications of the outcome have little more effect on those involved than a celebration with friends or a momentary disappointment that most of the kids would overcome by the time they changed out of their uniforms. Shouldn’t these parents be supporting and encouraging and cheering on their kids – the ones they supposedly came to watch – rather than polluting the atmosphere with their negativity and exampling poor sportsmanship to the impressionable kids in the gym?

The experience brought to mind some things I have been thinking about in other contexts, which brings me to the point of this post. Yes, we live in a world where most of us have the freedom to express ourselves, our emotions, our personal preferences and so on to our heart’s content. But how we choose to use (or abuse) these freedoms will most likely have some type of impact on those around us.

We have a responsibility to the community of any context we find ourselves in to influence it in a positive way, or at the very least to do our best to refrain from impacting it in a negative way.

Here are some communities I am a part of that some people are negatively impacting along with some simple suggestions for ways to improve.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I am a pretty active member of the Twitter community (and sometimes Facebook.) These arenas are often abused by spammers, over-zealous marketers, self-professed “experts” and others who may think they have good intentions but fail to realize how their actions impact others’ experience. There are countless blog posts (including several of my own) that call these community members and their practices out with reminders that social media is supposed to be social – an interaction among people building relationships and connections based on sharing and communication – and not the broadcasting, self-serving platform they attempt to make it. So I won’t regurgitate but just ask that we all think about how our behavior on social networks impacts those around us. Use whatever social media influence you have to help and encourage others – not just try to sell your product or services.

FREELANCERS

I recently started writing for FreelanceFolder and it has raised my awareness of some freelancers’ attitudes that clients are lucky to have them. A few go so far as to continually berate their clients publicly and treat them as incompetent jerks who have no clue. Personally, I am grateful for my clients and I’m indebted to them giving me the ability to live the freelancer’s life – working from home, freedom of schedule, and more. Every time I read or hear about another “stupid client” I cringe at the thought that a potential client may also take this in and change their mind about hiring a freelancer at all. I’m not suggesting rolling over and taking the abuse that someone may delve out so that you as a freelancer can get that elusive paycheck, but think about how you talk about others and your responsibility to the freelance community. Being a freelancer gives us great freedoms but it doesn’t give us the right to trample on another freelancer’s ability to be hired by that client you may have had a bad experience with. I suggest finding ways to share your bad (and good) experiences that encourages healing and growth rather than recklessly venting.

DESIGNERS

This is very similar to the previous point but worth mentioning. There are numerous client horror stories, hilarious YouTube videos and more depicting clients who know nothing about design telling web and graphic designers how to do their job. I confess to sharing some of these myself. But while this happens far more often than most of us would like to encounter, is it really necessary to beat these people to a pulp and go to great lengths to make sure everyone knows how stupid we think they are? When I step back and look at the damage this does to the reputation of the design community I am disappointed. I have tried in the past and will continue to endeavor to do my part to find ways to bridge the gap between designers and clients that encourages teamwork, productivity, mutual respect and constructive communication. Isn’t that a better prospect than to breed a reputation of prima donnas and designer divas who are far too artistic and talented and superior for anyone else?

BLOGS

I just started this blog in June so I don’t profess to be much of an expert. But one of the ongoing trends in design-related blogs is the roundup lists. Again, there have been numerous discussions and bog posts about this so I will avoid rehashing it here, but while I am not a huge fan of the lists I realize their importance and I use and share many of the great resources that some of these lists provide. However, there are definitely a few design blogs out there that decrease the value and appreciation of lists in general because all they do is put a bunch of screenshots up of the same resources that other lists have shared with little or no original content or input of the author’s own. It seems that the primary intent of these lists is to increase website traffic and generate advertising income, rather than to provide a quality resource for the blog readers. I suggest to bloggers that we examine the value we are attempting to provide for others as we create our posts and strive to avoid being motivated solely by the almighty dollar. The community as a whole will be better off.

CONCLUSION

The list of communities that we are all a part of goes on and on. Local, global, musicians, sports fans, religious, and so on. It probably doesn’t take you long to examine your particular communities and identify those members that are impacting them negatively and positively. Think about these people and how their actions have affected you and your participation in your communities. And then I encourage you to look at your own actions and the influence you have had in your various contexts. Do others see you as self-serving, yelling and screaming at the refs all game long? Do the things you do and the way you behave make others want to leave the gym altogether? Or are you a part of cultivating a community and its reputation that is attractive and magnetic, spurring growth and a desire among others to join and be a part of something truly powerful, progressive and positive?

Let me start this off by saying that I have not made use of Twitter’s new “List” feature because I don’t use the Twitter web interface nearly as much as I use Tweetdeck (here’s a great article explaining Lists). At first glance it seems that the new feature is very similar to Tweetdeck’s “Group” feature that enables me to create groupings of specific people who I wish to organize their tweets and perhaps watch them a little more closely than others or for particular reasons. After doing a little research there is one apparent difference: lists are public. My groups in Tweetdeck are not.

I believe this is not just a good expansion of the social networking capabilities of Twitter, but it is also very strategic. I would be willing to bet that the geniuses behind Twitter, while creating a very useful addition to their already powerful and revolutionary tool, have also taken into consideration one of the driving forces behind its popularity: the competitive human nature that pushes for social media status and measurable success.

Think about it: all those endless discussions and articles and tweets and blog posts about the fallacy of chasing numbers, belittling the belief that he who dies with the most friends and followers wins. And yet we all do it. (Oh come on now. Be honest. When was the last time you looked at your follower count on Twitter or the number of friends you have on Facebook? Yeah, me too.)

Do you think it’s an accident that the location of the number of lists you are on is right in line on your profile with the number of followers you have? It’s visible for all to see. And it is another way for others – and ourselves – to measure our success and Twitter “popularity”.

I’ve already noticed this new statistic is showing up in tweets supporting this line of thinking:

So now we are not just looking at the number of followers someone has to make determination of their Twitter “worth”, but we’re looking at the amount of lists they are on too?

Yes, I encourage you (and myself) to ignore the numbers and just be who you are. It is a challenge we all face, but hopefully we will instead embrace ignoring statistics and pursuing real relationships with genuine people.

But I have to wonder if the masses are being manipulated a little bit here. It’s in our nature to compare and compete. Is Twitter counting on this to continue its growth by integrating these types of statistical measurements in the development of new features? I wonder. What do you think?

Last night I went to my daughter’s first Freshman Chorus concert. Of course, my little girl’s voice stood out among the pack, but the beautiful sound of angelic voices blending perfectly together was wonderfully soothing and enjoyable, even though the majority of the songs they were singing were remarkably antiquated and, in my opinion, emotionally sterile. As a musician myself, I am admittedly a bit of a snob, but this was more about a lack of connection with and passion for what the songs were about. Each selection, including the big finale splattered with corny unison hand claps in what I guess was an attempt to display enthusiasm, left me disappointed for my daughter’s personal musical progression. Afterward we discussed the differences between singing well and singing with a passionate desperation from the depth of your soul. This is a perpetual rant for me, and one my family is probably exhausted with. But every time we sit through an American Idol show, or hear another sticky sweet pop song on the radio, or encounter anything else that pits passion against perfection, I can see that they get it, and that’s important to me as their father. If there is one thing I most want my children to carry with them throughout their lives, it is an intrinsic understanding that the pursuit of their passion is primary and that without it they will not only never be completely content, but they will also fall short of giving the world their very best.

At this juncture you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with the title of this post. Don’t worry. I didn’t use the title to lure you here to listen to me rant about musical integrity and passion, or how proud I am of my children. The point is this: whether it’s your own personal endeavors, or your business pursuits, or your new social media strategy, I believe you can only get so far on just doing it well. Without real, personal, passionate human interaction, your end result will always be limited.

Keep in mind that I do not consider myself an “expert” in social media by a long shot. I have had some success, but I have only been using social media since late March of this year. So I am only drawing on my own social media and life experiences to come to these conclusions. Still, I have some insight that I believe provides a solid foundation for this thought process.

Recently I have taken on the task of social media management for some of my clients. This means that I have set up their accounts on various networks and have initiated strategies to get them connected with potential customers. Of course, at the end of the day the client wants to see measurable results:

»   Are people clicking on my links?

»   Is traffic to my website increasing?

»   As traffic increases, are sales increasing?

This is the simplified expected progression I am seeing businesses of all sizes adopt as they dive into what they see as the potential gold mine of social media. Unfortunately, the most difficult concept for people to grasp is the most glaringly obvious missing element from this equation: human engagement.

Build a website, giving 24-hour access to your product and/or business. Hire someone or personally set out to grow your social media following. Drive traffic to your website. All of this should equate to increased sales, right?

Wrong.

First and foremost, if what you’re selling isn’t selling offline, what makes you think it will sell online? Second, just because more people are visiting your website, why should that translate to more sales? Third, if your increased site visitors are interested in your product, and somehow have decided to consider buying it from you instead of anywhere or anyone else, but they are unable to come into contact with a live human being before purchase, what do you think the odds are that they will finalize the deal?

When my older daughter’s A/C stopped working a few weeks ago, we took her car into a local repair shop. After she paid $130 to retrofit the A/C, we drove away expecting cold air to blow strongly from the vents. Never happened. We took it back in, only to find out that now it needed a new compressor, to the tune of $600! Needless to say, we began calling around and through a Twitter friend’s recommendation found a mechanic that would perform the same service for about $250. This gentleman was incredibly friendly, honest and caring on the phone, as opposed to the strictly business attitude of the previous organization. Even if he was charging the same exorbitant price, guess who we would choose?

I am capable of growing a social media following quickly, with quality, relevant followers and friends who have similar interests as you or your organization. I can increase and drive traffic to your website using social media almost overnight. Recently I grew a client’s Twitter followers to 250 in 5 days, without using any automation and without following ridiculously large amounts of people in hopes of a portion of them following back. These followers were people who’s bios, hashtags and tweets were deemed relevant to the client’s business. The traffic statistics for this client’s website increased dramatically, reaching 7-10 times their previous numbers. But at the end of the first week, the client was left wondering why they saw no increase in sales.

What is missing from the picture? I believe what’s missing is a human being who communicates a real passion for their product and connecting people with it. Not just for the income, but because they believe what they have to offer will genuinely make the customer’s life better. How many times have you chosen to buy something from someone or to frequent an establishment because of a genuinely friendly or passionate customer service representative?

Ironically, I am passionate about connecting with people through social media, and helping others to do the same. I have grown my own following relatively successfully over the past months, but in the end I never really set out to grow a following. My social media “strategy”, if you will, has been to connect with others with similar interests in hopes of education, interaction, sharing knowledge and experience, and, of course, increasing my exposure to potential clients. Every single one of these things is happening, and most far beyond my initial expectations. This leads me to believe that human engagement is not only vital to the success of a business or individual’s social media strategy, but the lack of it could prove to be fatal. At the very least, it is a major business fail.

At the end of a trail of links and blog posts and sales pitches and ecommerce checkout pages, if there is not some element of human contact, will you make the purchase for which the business has invested in social media? Or would you even consider visiting their site without first at least chatting with a representative via phone, Twitter or Facebook or wherever you found them and getting some kind of connection with a genuinely passionate person that helps you feel like more than a targeted demographic?

I would love to hear your thoughts…

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook are presumably aware of the seemingly endless stream of quality resource links I provide (an average of around 150 per day). I have developed a few methods to incorporate my own online reading, research and education into my social media management routine to make it one that invites and enables others to discover valuable links on a variety of topics. I share my interests in social media, technology, web and graphic design, web development, freelancing, and art. Without even really trying I have created my own “niche” with widespread reach, thanks to my own personal needs and interests being simultaneously broad yet specific. I have learned to intermingle the spewing of links with real interaction and engagement amongst those that I follow and those that are following me in a way that really fits my lifestyle and provides reciprocal value that is priceless for me. This combination has literally changed my life both professionally and personally in ways that I consider significant improvements. I have explained in previous posts the impact this has had on my site visitor traffic, increase in clients, and my own personal education, so I won’t go into that here. But I do want to share with those that are interested some of the key transferable principles and tools that I have learned to use so far in my foray into social media.

I realize not everyone wants or needs to become a link-spewing maniac, nor do we need a plethora of people who are flooding social networks with many of the same resource links over and over. But I believe there are some simple steps anyone can take, regardless of your “niche” or interests, to find some ways to provide unique and valuable resources to your followers with little or no adjustment to your own daily routine. Let’s face it, Twitter and Facebook (and others) are very seldom used to answer their questions, “What Are You Doing?” or “What’s On Your Mind?” They have become vital information networks. So why not give your followers and friends more than what you’re having for dinner, or trying desperately to drive them to your latest blog post, or hanging out and talking about whatever is going on? There is nothing wrong with these things, but I have learned that my personal interaction is enriched by the sharing of my own online discoveries, which then connects me with others who also have some similar interests.

Whether you share 5 or 500 links a day, here are some basic tools I use and approaches I take that you may find helpful. These methods can work with any type of topic or interest, so don’t worry if you’re not into design, social media or whatever. Just apply them to whatever you are about and they will work just fine! I realize that there are numerous other ways to accomplish these things, so please feel free to share your own tips and routines or any questions in the comments so we all can learn from each other.

THE APPROACH I USE

Of course I have to bring my idealistic mindset into the social media fray. I don’t start much of anything without unleashing my analytical thinking and asking some basic questions. Why am I doing this? What do I hope to accomplish? What am I willing and unwilling to sacrifice to achieve success? What are my time restraints? How can this best contribute to the pursuit of my life goals?

I would strongly suggest that you ask yourself these questions (and any others you may have) before you dive in. It is very easy to open the floodgates and let social media swallow you whole, taking over your life, your schedule, your thoughts – everything. So before you let that happen, take stock and determine the best possible way to make minor adjustments to your existing schedule and/or routines. For instance, I was already using a RSS Feed Reader to keep up with my favorite websites, blogs, news and more, checking it primarily in the morning but at times throughout the day during breaks so I could stay on top of the latest happenings. In order to incorporate this into my social media usage I just spend a little more time reading a bunch more feeds and always keep an eye out for those articles and posts that I think will be of the most interest to my followers. I’ll share more about this process in a minute, but you get the idea. Make adjustments as often as possible, only making complete changes when you establish that it’s absolutely necessary.

Here are some other philosophical approaches I have for sharing links in social media:

»  When sharing links, think of their appeal, uniqueness, value and how others might find them useful even if they aren’t that meaningful for you. Your experience or knowledge may deem that tutorial unnecessary, but for the beginner it could be a gold mine!

»  Do your best not to flood everyone else with your links. Spread them out so people have time to discover them and are not annoyed by only seeing your avatar in their stream. (I push this a bit, often spewing a link every 5-7 minutes. But for my situation that’s what works. Find what works for you and your followers.)

»  Determine beforehand the type of ‘crowd’ you will attract with the links you share, then do your best to remain consistent. If you become a primary resource for a specific “niche” your consistency will become a part of your value.

»  Manage your time. Yes, it will take extra time to be a link-spewer, but it really shouldn’t become your primary focus in life. Set a schedule if you need to, or even use time-tracking software to keep yourself in check.

»  Do your best to share only the most recent resources, posts, etc and try to avoid duplicating what others have already shared, at least without crediting them somehow. Don’t share blog posts from last week that have already had 2,000 views and clicks.

»  Remember that social media is supposed to be social. Don’t spew links and then walk away. Don’t use scheduling software to book your day of updates and then walk away. It is not a platform for your agenda. It is an amazing way to connect with people from all over the world who have the potential to enrich your life in countless ways. Let your links be a way for others to connect and engage with you based on common interests. They can’t converse with you if you’re only spewing and not listening. Ever tried to have a conversation where only one person does all the talking?

These are my own thoughts and guidelines. They may also work for you or you may disagree. I don’t ever profess to be an expert, so please feel free to make your own guidelines. Determine your own philosophies. But whatever you do, make sure you have a plan.

3 TOOLS I USE

Google Reader – My Morning (Afternoon and Evening) Newspaper

Every morning I get up before anyone else in my house, feed the cat, start the water boiling for coffee, and then sit down at the computer. I check and answer my email, then I check my RSS feeds. For many of you using RSS feeds may seem foreign, and this is neither the time or place to go into the countless feed readers that are available. I simply use Google Reader. I use a lot of Google’s tools, and it’s simplified because I already have an account so the setup is quick and intuitive.

I subscribe to over 300 feeds. Most have been acquired by visiting different design blogs and subscribing to them. A few are Google news search feeds I have set up. Every morning there are anywhere from 50-200 new items in my reader.

This is my modern day morning newspaper.

It has been a part of my routine for awhile. But now, in order to share valuable resources throughout the day:

»  I don’t hesitate to add a blog or website’s feed to my reader while visiting, knowing that they may provide quality links in the future.

»  I leave the Reader window open always. It refreshes itself and I am constantly aware of any new items.

»  I keep an eye out for anything and everything that my followers might find useful, even when it may not be for me.

»  I skim most articles, determining if they are worth sharing. If I think I will want to look at them more in depth, I save them to my Delicious bookmarks and read them later.

»  I check in more often. Usually every 3 hours or so.

Bit.ly – My URL Shortener of Choice

I have a bit.ly account primarily to see how many clicks I get on my blog post links. But the tools are remarkable. Real-time analytics on every link as well as related aggregate links. I won’t go in-depth into using bit.ly, but it’s pretty simple to sign up and set up your account. Once you have an account, you can use your API key to connect it to your Twitter app of choice. I use Tweetdeck and occasionally Seesmic desktop, both of which I have connected to my bit.ly account. This means I get analytics on every single link I share!

bit.ly Browser Sidebar Bookmarklet

The other bit.ly tool that has become irreplaceable for me is the bit.ly Browser Sidebar Bookmarklet. You simply drag and drop this little button to your browser toolbar and now whenever you’re on a website you just click the bookmarklet button and it opens a little sidebar that gives you not only a bit.ly link you can copy and paste, but you can also post to Twitter and Facebook directly! The sidebar also shows you how many times other bit.ly links to the same website have been clicked. This is helpful to see how much traffic it has already received and lets me know if I am one of the first to share it.

bit.ly sidebar up close

In other words, you can click on a link in your feed reader, read the article, click on the bookmarklet, and then post a link to the page on Twitter and Facebook without ever leaving the site or the browser!

Last.fm + FoxyTunes – My Online Radio Station That Shares Easily

I am a musician and a HUGE music fan. I listen to almost anything (that takes at least a little bit of talent and has at least a dose of passion.) And I love to have music playing nonstop while I work.

So why not share some of my favorite songs, as I listen to them, with those that are following me on Twitter?

I have used Blip.fm and Pandora, but Last.fm works best for me. First, they seem to have the broadest mix of related artists. I love to hear artists and songs that I’ve never heard before, and Last.fm is really good at selecting artists and songs related to my choices. Second, Last.fm seems to be about finding and listening to good music more than anything else, which is a priority for me. Yes, you can make it a social network within itself, but if all you want is good tunes, it works great for just that. Third, Last.fm works with FoxyTunes, a Firefox extension that enables me to see the song and artist in the taskbar of my browser along with the ability to one-click post to Twitter what I’m listening to at the moment. FoxyTunes works with just about any music player, including iTunes, so you can listen to and share whatever you want!

FoxyTunes in the taskbar

Keep in mind that most people don’t want to see what you’re listening to every 3.5 minutes. I avoid using the autopost feature and just try to only share my most favorite songs when they come on. Unfortunately, I have been guilty of posting a multitude of songs in a row while tweeting nothing else. I would advise against this, as I have received complaints in the past. Do your best to show some restraint and keep from flooding Twitter with your own personal DJ. At the same time, I have had people follow and/or interact with me often based on the song I was listening to and shared at the time. So there are definite benefits to inviting your friends and followers into your listening experience. It gives them another way to connect with you and to know a little bit more about you.

CONCLUSION

So now you have some insight into how this maniac goes about “spewing” links throughout the day. If you take nothing else away from this I hope you would at the very least remember to keep from radically changing your life to become a link-spewing maniac. Instead, I challenge you to find ways to make minor adjustments that enable you to become a valuable resource and information provider in social media. The more we share knowledge and resources with each other, the more we all will grow.

If you have any questions or comment, leave a comment or email me. If you are not already, would you consider subscribing to this blog so you don’t miss any future updates? You can either subscribe to the RSS feed in the reader of your choice or you can receive the blog updates along with my Delicious bookmarks in your email inbox by filling out the simple little form at the top right of the page.