Social Media

Breaking Social Media Stories:

Stay in the Loop with Twitter Lists

Jul 29 2010 Posted in Twitter by Dina with no comments yet.

Twitter lists are a powerful tool you can use to sort the accounts you follow based on whatever criteria you desire, but they are also a wonderful way to quickly keep abreast of updates from entire groups of users by watching the lists made by other people. Whether it’s your best friend’s list of actors and actresses who tweet regularly or an official Twitter list of famous cyclists for the Tour de France, you might be surprised what lists have in store.

Official Twitter lists are especially useful. Any Twitter list that was created by the Twitter account “verified” is an official list of verified accounts. These are accounts that Twitter has confirmed belong to the high-profile people who use them, such as celebrities. (The alternative is false accounts created to deceive people or fake identities which, sadly, continue to fool many tweeters.) The verified account presently contains 20 lists, but one list, @verified/verified-accounts, covers all Twitter-verified users and currently includes 500 accounts.

If you’re looking to brush up on your day-to-day political savvy the @verified/politics list at present follows 60 verified politicians from around the world. You can keep up with the latest news from the White House as easily as news from the Massachusetts governor or the Secretary General of the League of Arab States. (Because of its diverse and global nature, this list often includes tweets that are not in English.)

Another list, @verified/charity-ngo, keeps up with 23 Twitter-verified charities, allowing you to follow those accounts with confidence – and know that their activities are not likely to be fraudulent or suspicious.

The next time you want to get in the loop with a sport you love, keep up with technological news, or get savvy about celebrity goings on, consider starting with the Twitter verified lists rather than performing individual searches for people who might interest you. You’re less likely to run into scammers and frauds, and more likely to discover entire groups of people who can fill your time line with tweets that are entertaining, educational, and relevant to your interests.

Tags:

Charity, Cyclist, list, microblog, Politics, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, time line, tour de france, Tweet, Twitter, twitter list, verified

Wheat Thins Latest Brand to Launch Consumer-Driven Ad Campaign

Nabisco features product-friendly tweets in ads

Jul 28 2010 Posted in Twitter by Dina with no comments yet.

On the heels of the wildly successful Old Spice commercials and video responses to comments left on Old Spice’s various social networking outlets, Wheat Thins manufacturer Kraft Foods/Nabisco rolled out their own socially driven ad campaign this week.

The ads, which began running Monday, feature tweets mentioning Wheat Thins crackers in a positive light. Every tweet featured results in a surprise visit to the tweeter to deliver a gift that fits into the theme of their tweet. The tweet is clearly displayed along with the tweeter’s Twitter username at the beginning of the ad.

It’s the latest in a growing trend of involving social networking in advertising campaigns, and it’s proving effective. According to Marketing Daily, the combined efforts of Wheat Thins YouTube channel and Facebook page have drawn over 600,000 video views in the past three weeks.

The first ad begins with a tweet from user Tabitha who wrote, “AAAHHHH … I’m outta Wheat Thins … Mi life is officially over!”. “The Crunch is Calling” Wheat Thins team then arrives to meet Tabitha and presents her with her gift. In her case, it’s a warehouse pallet of Wheat Thins left in her driveway.

Since Tabitha’s ad only began airing on Monday it’s too early to determine the long-term effectiveness of this social strategy on Wheat Thins sales. However, the early figures from the YouTube channel and Facebook page are very promising. As is the fact that Kraft Foods/Nabisco has jumped on the bandwagon of embracing the social in social networking. Score one for social media buffs!

Tags:

ad, Advertising, commercial, Facebook, kraft foods, Marketing, nabisco, Old Spice, social, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, wheat thins, YouTube

What We Can Learn from the Old Spice Viral Campaign

Jul 24 2010 Posted in Featured News, YouTube by Dina with 1 comment.

The company that produces men’s grooming products under the label Old Spice, P&G, has done what millions of social media marketers have only dreamed of doing: converted a video campaign into a viral sensation, and that viral sensation into sales. Lots of sales. In fact, PRWeek reported this week that the campaign, which stars football player Isaiah Mustafa, and its related commercials served to increase Old Spice Body Wash sales a whopping 107% last month.

We reported about the Old Spice campaign earlier this month, but in a nutshell here’s the idea:

Old Spice commercials starring Mustafa as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”, the epitome of manliness, began airing during the Superbowl. Since then they’ve picked up steam on television, and have been simultaneously broadcast on Old Spice’s YouTube channel – now the most popular sponsored YouTube channel on the site.

On July 13th the first of an innovative new wave of viral video marketing hit YouTube when Old Spice’s advertising agency, Wieden + Kennedy, began producing video responses to comments left on the brand’s YouTube channel and videos. A staggering 186 short video responses were filmed by Mustafa in the same style as the commercials, causing the entire channel to go viral. In tandem, Old Spice’s Twitter following jumped an astounding 2700%.

What can we learn from Old Spice’s success, and how can we replicate it for our own marketing campaigns?

The answer to both these questions is one I have repeatedly stated here at IndyPosted: embrace the social in social media. Don’t just talk at people, talk with them. A one-shot video may appeal to an audience, but a conversation keeps the audience. Conversation, whether it’s comments on a video, video responses, retweets and tweet replies, Facebook comments, or just comments on your blog post, is a major way a marketer knows that his or her content is reaching people. And it’s a major reason for people to return.

It’s unlikely that every marketer is going to have the resources to do the same thing on the same level as Old Spice did with their viral video campaign – and because it was such a success, mimicry would be poorly received (most people would recognize a too-similar campaign as a copycat). But at its foundation are mechanisms that are available to every YouTube user, mechanisms that should be leveraged in creative and engaging ways.

Old Spice has taught us a few golden rules for YouTube marketing:

If you are bold enough to produce videos for your brand, then you should be bold enough to produce video responses to replies (particularly if someone goes to the trouble of video responding to your original video). Even ten to fifteen seconds to thank someone for a particularly worthwhile comment go a long way.
If you are tuned in enough to read your comments, you should be tuned in enough to reply to them. It’s easy to respond to YouTube comments just by typing your replies into the comment box – your camera need never be on.
Never, ever take your following for granted and rest on your laurels. Keep producing new content to keep them coming back.

All credit and kudos are due to P&G for going out on a limb with such an unprecedented campaign, and for pulling it off with such panache. It should warm any social media lover’s heart to know these efforts worked so well, and actually advanced the field of social media marketing in the process. There is nothing “old” in Old Spice’s new media marketing ideas!

Tags:

advertisement, commercial, Isaiah Mustafa, Marketing, mustafa, Old Spice, old spice body wash, p&g, Social Media, social media marketing, social network, Social Networking, superbowl, Video, video response, viral video, YouTube

Stats: Twitter Usage in America in 2010

Jul 22 2010 Posted in Featured News, Twitter by Dina with no comments yet.

Jason Keath has culled highlights from the recent Edison Research “Twitter Usage in America 2010”, which examines the reach of the massively popular microblogging and social networking site, and analyzes the behavior of the site’s users. Here’s a synopsis.

While the widely reported number of Twitter users is over 100 million, only 17 million Americans actively use Twitter. The reason for the discrepancy is the prevalence of spam accounts or multiple accounts created by one person.
Most Twitter users don’t actively update their accounts; they observe the time lines of the users they follow without posting to their own.
The percentage of Twitter users who are African Americans in the United States is approximately 25%.
The percentage of Americans who know what Twitter is has jumped from a mere 5% in 2008 to an astounding 87% in 2010. It’s safe to say Twitter is a household name!
Compared to other social networking sites, three times more Twitter users than users of other services follow brands.
Compared to other social networking sites, a higher percentage of Twitter updates come from mobile phones or mobile devices.
Despite this, only 7% of Americans are familiar with location-based social networking.

What do these figures tell us? Most importantly, they tell us that while Twitter is nearly off the charts in name recognition, it’s actual usage pulls in much more conservative numbers. There are fewer genuine Twitter accounts than first meets the eye because of dupe accounts used for spamming. And those that do use their accounts for real, use them mostly to hear, rather than be heard.

As a marketer, the most intriguing fact is the attention Twitter users pay to brands that are represented on the site. This report backs up any social media expert who encourages businesses to get tweeting in a hurry, because the Twitter buzz – despite fail whales, bugs, and the ongoing war with rival social network Facebook – is at an all-time high.

Tags:

Facebook, fail whale, Location Based Services, microblog, microblogging, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, spam, Statistics, Twitter

10 Brilliant Quotes About Social Media

Jul 20 2010 Posted in Social Media by Dina with no comments yet.

Social media: it’s everywhere. You’re either on the bandwagon or you’re living in the Stone Age. Love it or hate it, it’s revolutionized the way we market and the way we communicate. Here are some of the most brilliant and insightful quotations about social media from around the ‘net.

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin of Seth’s Blog

Mr. Godin is often a font of invaluable advice. Here he’s dead on target. If you have any hope of keeping up with other people in this increasingly fast-paced world, the postal service (which requires extra time to write correspondence, steadily growing expense for postage, and occasionally obscene delays in delivery) just isn’t going to cut it much longer. People have caller ID and use it wisely when it comes to telephone campaigns. And if you’re looking to market your brand in this day and age you can’t rely on your mama or papa’s advertising tactics. Heck, you can’t even rely on your older brother’s tactics. Things are changing that quickly. Embrace them!

“This is no longer a gimmick. This is how the American people want to receive their news and want to hear from us.” – Nick Schaper, new-media representative for House Minority Leader John Boehner

Even politicians are acknowledging this is the way forward. Reaching out via social networking allows them to efficiently access their constituency – and indeed, the entire world – in a way never before possible without tremendous effort, expense, and unpredictable results.

“Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” – Brain Solis of FutureWorks

It’s very important to recognize that the social in social media counts for a lot. It’s easy to be impressed with the technology of a new feature when Twitter releases new bells & whistles to enhance your tweeting experience. It’s not so easy to withhold judgment until you see how people actually use them. And it’s the people who drive every single aspect of social media. Understand people, and you have a major leg up in social media marketing.

“There’s a reason there’s only one Times Square and only one Las Vegas. We don’t want to be swimming in ads.” – David Spark of Socialmedia.biz

“Think like a publisher, not a marketer.” – David Meerman Scott of DavidMeermanScott.com

Traditional ads and ad fads are dying and dying fast. Nobody wants to be screamed at by flashing banners or booming voices congratulating them on winning an Apple iPod. Many people do little more than scan print ads – if they even notice them. But a company that shares substantial content and slips in an ad in the process, or grows its brand by establishing itself as an authority through publishing sound material, is going to get places a lot faster than a company that relies on old advertising tricks. End of story.

“As social media, or whatever you want to label it, becomes more prevalent, there will be blunders. We’re in experimental mode right now.” – Steve Hall of AdGabber

It’s OK to be a newbie in social media. We’re all newbies, in a way. Even social media experts are discovering new tactics and angles every day. There’s no one guaranteed way to market successfully through social media, because it is such a personal medium that’s eternally in flux, as new technologies and standards emerge all the time. Don’t be afraid to strike out at first. It’s vital that you take the swing. Even the biggest and best in the social media spotlight had to find their way to the pinnacle by working it out as they went along. Don’t be discouraged!

“Those who ignore the party/conversation/network when they are content and decide to drop in when they need the network may not succeed. It’s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take – not to give. Therefore, be part of the party/conversation/network before you need anything from anyone.” – Jeremiah Owyang of Web-Strategist.com

This is as straightforward a concept as can be. But if you need a concrete example, imagine you’re in a department store (and for the purposes of this example, imagine you’re into perfume and make-up…). Are you more likely to appreciate a sales clerk who grabs your wrist and sprays you with potentially offensive perfume, or a sales clerk who gently engages you by offering a free makeover? Do you like the aggressive salespeople who are clearly working on commission more than a knowledgeable member of the support staff at the customer service desk?

You don’t want to be the sales clerk chasing people down with noxious perfume for the sake of a sale. You want to be the cosmetics clerk who contributes meaningfully to the shopping experience by being present, being patient, being polite, and being persistent. And by persistent I don’t mean not taking no for an answer, but persisting in keeping a smile going and making small talk like you genuinely care. Or be the expert at customer service who knows just where to direct a customer when he/she’s looking for a product, which leads to a sale. Contribute to the community regularly and in a positive manner, don’t just use the community when you need it.

And you can be both an expert and a regular Joe. You can position yourself as someone who, through good communication with others and/or publication of strong content, knows enough to trust when it comes to needing a product or service. You can also position yourself as a real person and not just a marketing ploy by proactively answering questions, offering advice, spicing it up with opinion, and generally keeping an active presence in the community. The time will come when someone wants that free makeover…

Or, if you ask nicely, the time will come when someone wants a spritz of perfume without being accosted. (I speak from personal experience, as can anyone who’s ever been to Macy’s in Herald Square.)

“You need to clean out those old sources of your social-media diet that are no longer nourishing, dust the cobwebs off those old connections to keep them polished and valuable, and clean out the dirt from the corners of your social life where you haven’t ventured in months.” – Eric Fulwiler

Along the lines of the previous quotation, this reminds us all that there’s no point having a social network in which we’re not social. Contribute regularly and make sure your contacts know they’re being seen and appreciated.

“As a general principle, the more users share about themselves, the more others in the community will learn about them and identify with them.” – Matt Rhodes in Social Media Today

Remember – sociology and psychology, not technology. People are the power in the powerhouse that is social media. Be an authentic person, even if you only present a professional face on social networks (rather than your private life). Gain trust organically, the old-fashioned way – by letting people get to know you!

“Quit counting fans, followers and blog subscribers like bottle caps. Think, instead, about what you’re hoping to achieve with and through the community that actually cares about what you’re doing.” – Amber Naslund of Social Media Today

It’s OK to pat yourself on the back when you hit a million fans, but what’s the point of having a million fans if you don’t know how to utilize them? Fans, followers, and subscribers are your audience. Your audience is your potential patronage. Set goals and listen to the way people respond to each tactic you employ while trying to achieve those goals. Stay fluid in your methods. Adjust based on how your audience reacts. Eventually you will accomplish what you need to accomplish, even if it simply starts with a single sale. [Quotes via Mirna Bard]

Tags:

Advertising, Marketing, psychology, quotation, quotations, quote, quotes, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, sociology, Technology

Chicago Museum offering $10000 Cash to Social Media Freak for a “Month at the Museum”

Jul 19 2010 Posted in Featured News, Social Media by Mark Leevan with 4 comments.

The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, wants to conduct an experiment on a social media freak. They want to put the freak on display in a cube and see what interaction develops

They are launching a global search for a “curious, adventurous, outgoing” person to live in the museum cube for thirty days and tell the world about the experiment via social media outlets: blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, ultimate hands-on learning experience. We hear so often from guests that a single visit here changed their lives. We’re curious to find out what spending an entire month here can do.

“The individual selected through our intensive judging process will have full run of the Museum and will be free to go places and do things nobody has done before, like sleep in the U-505 submarine or 727 jet, or maybe lay back in the human-sized hamster wheel. Then he or she will tell the world daily about the experiences through a blog and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.”

said Rob Gallas, MSI’s vice president and chief marketing officer.

“You don’t have to be a future Einstein to take part in Month at the Museum. Lacking basic science knowledge is not a deal-breaker,” Gallas said. “Any fun-loving, curious individual with a positive attitude who is excited to embark on this adventure and ready to share what he or she learns should apply, regardless of their own basic science knowledge.”

The museum of science and industry is huge, covering 14 acres. The Museum dweller is expected to hang with visitors. When the doors are locked and it’s just the cube dweller and security, imagine the fun!

“We hope the winner of Month at the Museum will truly immerse himself or herself in a new environment, soak up knowledge and amazing experiences, and leave transformed in some way,” said Gallas. “And, above all, have fun!”

Photos courtesy: Museum of Science and Industry

You can fill out your application for the position here: Month At The Museum.

Tags:

727 jet, Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Contest, Cube dweller, Rob Gallas, Social Media, U505

Facebook Set to Reach 500 Million Users

Jul 18 2010 Posted in Facebook, Featured News by Dina with no comments yet.

Social networking giant Facebook is on track to reach 500 million users this week, the company projects. Facebook plans to celebrate with a new feature called “Facebook Stories”, a site within the network that highlights user anecdotes in 420 characters or less (the maximum length for Facebook status updates) about how Facebook has affected their lives. The company is currently accepting submissions for their Stories feature; stories that receive the most Likes could be included in the final product.

Last summer Facebook reached the 200 million user milestone, indicating they have more than doubled their reach in the space of a year. However, there is much speculation in social media circles about the validity of the user count. Many experts assert that Facebook’s numbers are artificially inflated by single users creating more than one account. Reasons for this include having multiple accounts for personal and business use; owning multiple accounts in order to get ahead in certain Facebook games; and “starting over” with a new account if an old one gets out of hand.

Thus the argument is whether Facebook will reach 500 million users or 500 million accounts; the company seems to take in good faith that it’s 500 million unique people using their site. Either way, it’s a milestone worth celebrating.

Tags:

account, celebration, controversy, Facebook, facebook stories, milestone, Social Media, Social Networking, user

Google to Phase Out YouTube Accounts

Jul 14 2010 Posted in Featured News, YouTube by Dina with no comments yet.

Today Mashable reported that Google will soon phase out all YouTube accounts that either preexist the implementation of behind-the-scenes technology linking Google accounts and YouTube accounts, or have not taken the step to link the Google and YouTube accounts manually.

There are two types of YouTube accounts at play:

1. YouTube accounts that were created before Google owned YouTube. These types of accounts are soon to be deleted if they are not linked to Google accounts.

2. YouTube accounts that were created after Google bought YouTube. These types of accounts are already linked between Google and YouTube and will not be affected.

A Google account, in this case, is a master account that’s used for any Google service such as Gmail. So if you have a Gmail account, you’re ready to be linked to your YouTube account.

I tested the process by linking my YouTube account, which was created before Google bought YouTube, with my Google account that I use for Gmail. It took a few clicks and a password confirmation; that was the extent of it. I am now linked and my YouTube account will survive the coming phase.

It’s not clear when Google will begin a widescale campaign to make users link their Google and YouTube accounts. The process for linking accounts is quite user friendly, fortunately. And the reason for all this? Strongest amongst Google’s arguments that linking the accounts is a good idea is the notion that Google’s systems are more secure, keeping your YouTube experiences safer.

Tags:

account, Gmail, Google, Safety, security, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, YouTube

LeBron James to answer fan questions on Twitter

Jul 8 2010 Posted in Featured News, Twitter by Dina with no comments yet.

Earlier this week we reported that LeBron James has officially landed on Twitter, amidst anticipation of his announcement of which team he’ll play for next season. While it’s looking unlikely he’ll use the social network to break the big news, he will be utilizing his already extensive Twitter outreach to answer questions answer questions from fans during his prime time special The Decision, which will be on air on ESPN tonight (July 8th) at 9pm ET.

It’s a bold decision for James, who is brand new on the Twitter scene, to jump straight into the chaos that often can be celebrity Q&As. However it’s a smart move, since he has been a trending topic on and off for some time now. Clearly people on Twitter have a lot to say about him, and he’s reaching out to those people in precisely the right way.

To add your question to the queue you’ll just have to add the hashtag #lebrondecision to your tweet. [via Mashable]

Tags:

Basketball, ESPN, hashtag, LeBron James, NBA, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, trend, trending topic, Tweet, Twitter

The Big No: Mixing Business With Pleasure on Twitter

Jul 6 2010 Posted in Twitter by Dina with no comments yet.

With a casual social outlet like Twitter, it can be incredibly tempting to mix business with pleasure in your actual tweeted content. While it may seem like you’re contributing something personal and authentic to the Twitterverse if you intersperse your business tweets with your day-to-day goings on, ponderous thoughts, or status updates, you’re actually doing yourself a tremendous disservice.

If you position yourself as an expert or leader in your industry, be it a do-it-yourself guru or a popular whole foods market, you should maintain a professional presence, period. Your followers are potential customers. Would you tell a customer who walks into your brick and mortar office or store all about your daughter’s dance recital or your recent colonoscopy? Of course not. You’d talk business and if anything else, rely on the old standard smalltalk about weather or sports – cliché as they are, they’re cliché for a reason. They are frequently used because they’re minimally disruptive to your business talk. (Note: do not bother with such small talk on Twitter. It wastes bandwidth and wastes people’s time.)

Your Twitter time line is no different. You should be talking about what you know that is of value to your readers, and potential patrons, in order to position yourself as a solid source of information. You want to be the go-to guy for people searching for what they need in the vast sea of tweets. The more authoritative and valuable your messages are, the more people are likely to trust you. They’ll also want to follow you because you’re relevant to what they’re seeking – not because you have a photo of a kitten with a butterfly on its nose.

(There is one exception to this rule, and that is if you’re positioning yourself as an expert in something wherein your personal life is decidedly relevant. For example, a fitness expert who tweets mostly fitness tips but occasionally shares a status update about completing a long bike ride or enjoying a nutritious meal is still tweeting pertinent information, and practicing what he/she preaches.)

Here’s how best to maintain your business presence on Twitter:

Tweet frequently but not too much; don’t swamp your followers with too much information. Pace yourself. You’ll also find you can stretch your material much better this way, reducing the amount of time you have to spend thinking up unique and useful things to say. If you run out of all your ideas in an hour, what will you do for the rest of the day?
Resist the trending topic siren’s call. As much as you’d like to capitalize on a trending topic to draw attention to yourself, you won’t be impressing your followers if you jump on a bandwagon in a way that’s disruptive to your content. Just because Justin Bieber is always on fire doesn’t mean your construction company will benefit any from cramming a Bieber-related tweet into your time line. Wait for the day when lumber’s trending – or even a forest fire that you can somehow turn into a lumber, and thereby construction, related tweet. It’s OK to be creative, but it’s not OK to be random.
Keep it on topic. Look at it from your readers’ perspective. If it’s not valuable and relevant it shouldn’t be said. If you’re dying to tweet personal tidbits, create a second account and use that solely for your down time.
Get involved when someone reaches out to you. You should make it a habit to check your @ replies multiple times each day, and read your direct messages. If someone re-tweets your messages, thank them. Engage in conversation; that makes you far more of a “real” person than any amount of personal tweets every could.
Keep your profile fresh. Make sure any links you include are functional and pertinent to your time line. Include a photo of yourself or your business establishment. People prefer to see the person behind the words, rather than a default image or a random picture pulled off Google Images.

These are all very basic rules you may have come across before. But have you resisted the temptation to mix your Twitter business with social networking pleasure? Think twice before you interrupt your coffee shop’s business time line with a Mark Gormley video, no matter how epic he may be.

Tags:

Business, expert, follow, followers, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, Tweet, Tweet-A-Watt, Twitter

What Your Plurk Karma Can Teach You

Jul 5 2010 Posted in Featured News, Social Media by Dina with no comments yet.

For many social media buffs, Plurk‘s karma feature is a judgmental annoyance. But for the savvy, it’s a tool by which you can gauge your social media behavior, and learn how to utilize social networking tools most effectively.

In a nutshell, Plurk’s karma feature analyzes your Plurk usage and scores you based on a number of simple, but key factors. For example, you receive negative karma for not plurking over a long period of time (inactivity). You also receive negative karma if you plurk too much (spamming). You gain positive karma if you plurk regularly with quality content. (In other words, link spammers will quickly find themselves struggling to keep a decent grade.)

For a long time now power tweeters have been using Twitter grading applications to determine how effectively they’re using the Twitter service. Twitter grades are usually based on follower-to-following ratios and the number of tweets the user has posted. Plurk’s system is more complicated, but in essence, more useful. It helps you learn just the right amount of participation and type of participation in social networking that gets you noticed and appreciated. In social networking, the “too much of a good thing” rule always applies.

Ultimately if using social networking as a marketing tool you want to reach your audience with quality content, but you don’t want to overwhelm them. Followers on any social media site find few things more annoying than an entire time line junked up with messages from a single user, especially if they contain nothing but external links. If you’re looking to follow a vegan guru, who are you more likely to trust – the expert who plurks a few handy tips and recipes a day interspersed with the occasional link to a vegan product or service, or the expert who plurks nothing but links to various vegan products without sharing any substantial knowledge?

While Plurk’s karma is very much based around the basic rules of using the Plurk service, at its core are guidelines you should keep in mind when using any social networking site. Chiefly, these guidelines are:

Don’t let your account go inactive for long periods of time. Maintain your presence or you’ll lose it.
Contribute content that will attract readers to follow your time line. This is very basic. More followers = a wider audience.
Contribute content that’s likely to spark conversation. On Plurk, responses to your plurks increase karma. On Twitter, re-tweets and @ replies gain you more exposure. Conversation is key to successful social networking.
Don’t swamp the site with too much content. Plurk recommends limiting daily plurks to no more than 30. You may find that even 30 is too much. If you don’t have something worthwhile to say, don’t say it; don’t talk just to hear the sound of your own voice.
Keep an active profile. Plurk awards karma for simple tasks like updating your biography or your picture. People are more likely to follow you if you present yourself well.

Hopefully just reading these rules you can see how they apply to all social networking. How does your current social media behavior compare? Would you pass the positive karma test?

Tags:

karma, plurk, Social Media, social network, Social Networking, Twitter

Breaking Social Media Stories:

Tags:

Nabisco features product-friendly tweets in ads

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Tags:

Indyposted Pages

Write For Indyposted!