Show The World Who You Are With One Simple About.me Page

If you’re tired of creating numerous social networking profiles on the Web and want just one a single page to direct people to, About.me has got you covered. Within a few minutes of picking a username and adding a short bio, you can have your very own About.me “splash page that points visitors to your content from around the Web.”

About.me is basically like creating a mini website all about you. Besides your bio, you can add a headline, upload an avatar picture, change your fonts and colors and allow visits to email you directly from your profile (via a contact form). You can also upload your own background image, but they also have preloaded images from you to choose from. Be warned that when adding an avatar picture, there is a noticeable distortion due to a decrease in quality.

One of the best things about About.me is that you can add your social networking profiles to your page.

For most services you can choice to either connect your account via OAuth (which will also display your latest updates) or just add a link to your profile instead. When adding Facebook, you can control what content will display on your page; you can choose to show our hide photos, updates and friends. Once your accounts are linked, it may take some time for your content to load – be patient. Once it’s loaded, other users will be able to click on the icons via your profile and open up a small window containing your updates, blog posts, etc. As you can see from my page, it’s a very clean and minimalistic page that really stands out.

After you’d added all your services and have arranged your page as desired, you’ll also want to check out the dashboard. This is where you can see statistics (views, clicks, links) for your page. You can also “use the tools in the Promote tab to let more people know where to find your About.me profile.” As you can see, my dashboard info below is empty because I just created it. Also, the Dashboard is currently in beta, so improvements are being made on a regular basis.

If you’re wondering about the Datastacks tab, it shows details about your activity and weekly updates. You can see how many combined and individual (by site) status updates you’ve posted. You can also see how many combined and individual (by site) friends/followers/contacts you have.

As  you can see, About.me was not meant to be just another profile page; it’s your own stylish web page that holds that directs people to all of your social networking hangouts.

What’s your About.me page link?

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Commerce Department, Ma’am. Privacy Division

I can see it now. The black screen, the ominous ba bum sound and then the words, Law & Order: Privacy Division. They’re federal agents who put their lives on the line every day so that you, the internet user, can surf without fear of being molested by targeted Old Navy ads and free lunch coupons on your birthday. Sure they’re making it hard for the small business marketer to sell his wares, but hey, that’s the way the browser cookie crumbles. Get over it.

So, maybe it won’t be on next fall’s TV schedule, but it may be coming to a computer near you, if the federal government gets their way. Yesterday, the Commerce Department released the Internet Policy Task Force Privacy Green Paper which is loaded with recommendations “aimed at promoting consumer privacy online while ensuring the Internet remains a platform that spurs innovation, job creation, and economic growth.”

The crux of the long report is that it’s okay for the industry to self-regulate as long as the government has the power to come in and slap them when they don’t do it right. Huh? That’s like asking someone to get you a coffee then docking their pay when they bring you a café latte instead of a café mocha.

There’s no question that privacy is an issue on the web. As the report points out, global transactions run around $10 trillion annually. More people than ever are working on the internet, many handling sensitive data, and then there are the kids who think nothing of providing personal information to anyone who asks. Yes, rules would be good. But making them voluntary kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

Here are the key recommendations from the report:

Consider Establishing Fair Information Practice Principles comparable to a “Privacy Bill of Rights” for Online Consumers

They’re looking to establish a reasonable set of principles governing how information can be collected and used. They’re also advocating more transparency when it comes to informing consumers of their rights. Those read and check privacy pop-ups that everyone checks but doesn’t read, aren’t cutting it.

Consider Developing Enforceable Privacy Codes of Conduct in Specific Sectors with Stakeholders; Create a Privacy Policy Office in the Department of Commerce

They want to establish a special government office to handle internet privacy. They’ll have badges and secret decoder rings and the right to shut down abusive websites in a single bound.

Encourage Global Interoperability to Spur Innovation and Trade

Basically, this is the ‘can’t we all just get along’ section which suggests we find a “practical means of bridging differences in our privacy frameworks.” It is a small world, after all.

Consider How to Harmonize Disparate Security Breach Notification Rules

I love the use of the word “harmonize” here. Makes it sound like the groups from The Sing-Off will be employed to go door-to-door to announce whenever Facebook accidentally sells their private data to a game company. Could work.

Review the Electronic Communications Privacy Act for the Cloud Computing Environment

Ah, cloud computing. Like harmonize, it makes it sound all sweet and fluffy. But this section is all about making sure that the laws keep up with the growth in location-based services. This is the one place where they really get tough. “As technology and market conditions change, ECPA continues to appropriately protect individuals’ privacy expectations and punish unlawful access and disclosure of consumer data.”

Punish! Now we’re getting to the heart of this thing. But as harsh as that may sound to you, the marketer, consumer watchdogs say it’s a gift.

In a recent press release, John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog had this to say;

“The Commerce report starts off on the wrong foot with the title, ‘Commercial Data Privacy…’ We are talking about consumers’ data and their right to privacy, not about a business commodity. This is an early Christmas gift to the data collection industry.”

I wouldn’t ever say that government involvement in anything is a “gift” but he does have a point. This lengthy Commerce Department report is all about how the US government wants to protect the people, but the whole thing sounds like a giant game of Mother, May I. Yes, Facebook, you may take two giants steps toward the finish line.

Want to read the whole report. Good for you. Go download a copy at http://www.commerce.gov/node/12471.

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De.licio.us Bookmarked for Closing

It appears as if one of the most popular social bookmarking sites (and pretty strong brand name amongst certain circles) has been marked for what Yahoo calls being ‘sunset’. In other words, it will be riding off into the sunset and sent to the glue factory. Never heard that one? OK, I’ll say it in simpler terms. It’s being shut down.

The slide below was displayed over at TechCrunch and shows other Yahoo properties targeted for sunset-land including Yahoo Bookmarks, Yahoo Buzz, AltaVista, MyBlogLog and a few more..

An update to the TC post pretty much put the final nail in the rumor and turned it into ‘fact’.

AllThingsD’s Liz Gannes is reporting that the products will be in fact shut down and that the slide does in fact originate from an all hands meeting at Yahoo, following yesterday’s layoffs. As if we needed more proof, Yahoo Product Manager Blake Irving has threatened to fire whomever leaked the slide.

The official response from Yahoo:

“Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond.

We continuously evaluate and prioritize our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months such as Yahoo! Buzz, our Traffic APIs, and others. We will communicate specific plans when appropriate.”

For the few of you unaware this is PR speak for, “We confirm.”

What I find most fascinating about this entire thing has little to do with what is or is not being closed down. Rather it’s this Wikileaks like culture that exists in the Internet / tech industry. Things that are obviously intended for internal use to convey information to people who are on a ‘need to know’ basis are just as likely to end up on TechCrunch as they are in a VP’s office at the company.

Yahoo is a publically traded company that has investors who could lose a lot of money if any of these leaks lead to further activity that negatively impacts the shareholder value. There are any number of consequences that could result from this kind of internal planning being made public but people don’t seem to care.

I have read others who have broached this subject and they talk about honor, class and integrity. It appears as if these qualities are in shorter supply than ever at companies these days. We are not talking about government secrets that get everyone in a tizzy about what was or wasn’t shared, what should or shouldn’t be shared and if there are lives in the balance. On some level, those actions can be justified to some degree (Note: I am not the least bit interested in debating the whole Wikileaks thing. It’s not anything that needs to be done in this forum. I’m just citing the example.)

As for employees (who are paid by a company for their services, which are to help the company grow regardless of whether it can really be done or not), letting these sensitive ‘documents’ out into the wild? I think it shows an extremely low level of class and a complete lack of integrity.

I mean honestly, other than to hurt the company and endear yourself to the tech media, what is the purpose of giving this information to outsiders? It’s all for personal gain and it does nothing but create the potential for greater harm to those who are actually trying to work to help the company succeed (even if those efforts appear to be very misguided). I think it’s pretty pathetic.

Look, I am not perfect. When I worked at bigger companies I could be found engaging in water cooler talk that was questioning or wondering what in the world was going on. I am not claiming piety here. But one thing I would have never considered was giving company data to outsiders. That’s just short-sighted, ignorant and mean-spirited, in my opinion.

But anyway, for today I am part of the machine that uses the information that has been passed along. Maybe I am just as guilty as the next guy on this one by sharing it further. That’s one I’ll have to work on myself now, isn’t it?

Google Includes Display in Renewed MySpace Contract

MySpace and Google Inc. will continue doing business together under a long-term deal that includes the Google Display Network for the first time ever.

Nada Stirratt, MySpace Chief Revenue Officer, has been widely quoted as saying,

“We look forward to participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange to increase yield across our display ad inventory.”

I’m sure it’s true. MySpace has been running down a rocky road of late and parent company, News Corp, is getting tired of waiting for the profits to roll in. A little over a month ago, News Corp president Chase Carey said that MySpace needed to start showing improvement over the next few quarters, not years. Certainly, keeping Google on board, and joining the display ad network will help, but it’s not the key to saving the floundering social site.

Google has been the house search engine since 2006, but the original deal had Google paying out hefty guarantees in return for little on MySpace’s part. Though the details haven’t been confirmed, the rumor is that this new deal will have no such guarantee. If MySpace wants the search paycheck, they’re going to have to work hard for it like everyone else.

Trouble is, in order to get people to search, MySpace has to get people on site and that’s not happening. Their recent attempts at turning the site into social media community for entertainment lovers haven’t done much to increase traffic or the site’s reputation.

Can anyone save MySpace? Google may be a search superhero but I doubt even they have the power to breath new life into this old space.

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Mall of America Runs a Twitter “Parking?” Party

Twitter parties are all the rage with social media moms, but this Saturday, Mall of America is taking that concept one step further with the “Big Secret Parking Party.”

Everyone knows the horror of holiday parking at the local mall, but imagine the nightmare at the biggest mall in the US! It’s enough to make even the jolliest person turn into the Grinch. So this year, for the first time ever, Mall of America will be rewarding their loyal Twitter followers with a VIP ticket to the best parking around.

The event is being run through EventBrite where batches of tickets are being released twice a day for a total of 96 spaces. To claim a ticket, a person must follow the mall on Twitter and provide their Twitter name. There are also very specific times for arrival and a print out of the registration is required.

Said David Haselman, executive vice president of operations at Mall of America.

“We want to reward loyal Twitter followers with something extremely coveted during the holiday shopping season – a close parking spot without the hassle of a time consuming search. We hope this service will be an added value as well as increase our follower base. Our goal is to find success in the event, which will allow us to build on it in the near future.”

The Mall of America is also offering a $25 gift card to the first five people who check-in per day on Foursquare between Dec. 20 through Dec. 23. And on Facebook Places, the Mall of America Youth Foundation will donate $1 each, up to $500 per organization, to VEAP and One Heartland now through Dec. 24.

This idea is a great example of how you can use online in order to increase off line sales. It’s all about offering something of value and at this time of year, there’s nothing more valuable than a no-hassle parking spot at the mall.

Want to claim your spot? Follow the #bspp hashtag @MallofAmerica.

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Too Much Talk Leads to a Few Less Followers

We know that most people choose to follow a business in order to get deals and coupons, but what makes them “unfollow?”  Last week, Smart Brief on Social Media polled their readers on this very topic and here’s what they had to say:

The majority of the people (44%) said they unfollow because they’re overwhelmed by too many updates. Along a similar line, 36.79% said they unfollow if the postings don’t add any value to their day.

Good information, if only we knew how to quantify it. For example, how many updates is “too many?” Certainly a Tweet an hour qualifies, but what about twice a day? I suspect that the ratio of allowable updates is directly proportionate to the value. If you want to offer me three different coupons in one day, then you’re not over Tweeting. Same if your posts are funny or informative. Where things get tricky is in the use of random posts. We’ve seen evidence that random works, particularly on Facebook. But does that mean that six random questions a day is better than one? I doubt it.

Let’s look at a couple of more stats from the poll.

Less than 10% of the people polled said they would unfollow someone who only talked about himself or acted irresponsibly. 5% packed their bags if the business wasn’t open to feedback and a measly 3.30% said they’d leave if there was no activity for weeks at a time. Clearly, under-communicating isn’t an issue.

What I wonder about is the psychology of “unfollowing.” Think about it. Clicking to disengage yourself from another person is an overt act, much more than following. It implies that you’re unhappy with the other person and most of us aren’t in to negative feedback. Given that, I’d say that for every unhappy person who actually clicks “unfollow” there are probably a dozen more who are sticking around to be polite. (Yes, there are manners in social media.) This means that you should be aware of your unfollows. Don’t just look at the number of people who joined up this week. Look at how many left. If a large number left in the same day, you can probably track it back to a particular spate of activity. Too much? Too random? Did you insult someone by accident?

Is this a lot more thought than you wanted to put in to your social media accounts? If so, stop Tweeting. Don’t waste your time tossing seeds into the wind. Social media marketing needs to be taken as seriously as any other aspect of your business because it has the power to bring you new customers but it also has the power to send them running to your competition, instead.

How many people unfollowed you this week?

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The 5 Critical Errors Most People Make When they Start Using Social Media for Business

For most businesses, participating in social media is unchartered territory. When there are no examples to follow, the only way to learn is to experiment. Over the last 18 months, I’ve been observing what’s worked and, more importantly, what hasn’t.

Here are the top five ways a business can alienate people and waste time using social media.

1. Use social media as a broadcast medium

The beauty of social media is that they permit a two-way conversation. They lets us communicate with individuals in a way that mass media cannot. Participating on social media is not the same as booking an ad space—don’t treat it that way.

For the first time in history, individuals have their own voice and platform and they’re not afraid to use the power that comes along with it. Use your platform to communicate with individuals and build community. It’s not only the “new” way to do things—it’s fast becoming the only way you should operate online.

2. Sound like a robot

When someone is considering following you or liking your page, they’ll check out your profile and what you’ve said first. If it’s repetitive, self promoting or sounds like an automated feed, people won’t feel a connection to you, and they won’t want to connect with you.

The increase in spam bots that are infiltrating social networks means that people are becoming more cautious. You need to use a human voice (more casual than corporate) if you want people to connect with you.

3. Only focus on work topics or yourself

Sometimes I feel like people forget about the social part of social media. It’s important to think about what interests your audience members have in common, and talk about them. For example, I know that my audience are women in business (or women who want to be), but they also have a universal love of design, travel, and organization.

Know what current affairs, movies, TV shows, music, magazines and other cultural activities your readers have in common. Ask their opinions about them. Start conversations.

Not sure what they’re into? One way to find out more about their general interests (outside your blog) is to look at profiles of people who follow you. Check out their blogs, and see what they’re talking about and linking to. Talk about what they like. You’ll find that if one person in your audience is into something, there are bound to be others who are too.

4. Grow your network too quickly

This one is self-explanatory, and relates to Twitter specifically. If you’re following 500 people and you have 46 followers, you’re trying to grow your network too quickly and you’re wasting your time.

Cull your numbers. Focus on connecting with the people who are following you first and then gradually add to your network.

5. Don’t start conversations

This is such a common pitfall. You start up an account and wait for people to start talking to you. No one does, so you give up and think, “this social media stuff is a waste of time.”

Don’t wait for people to come to you. Start conversations and dip in on conversations that you can contribute something useful to. Share a link and ask a question about it.

What are the things holding you back from understanding social media? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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