All this social media stuff can certainly get you tied in a knot or going round and round in circles. Especially once you start adopting other methods for posting or linking various tools.

I had my blogfeeds set up to update at my Facebook profile regularly.

Then I joined Twitter and found I could use Twitterfeed to feed my Twitter account from my blogs.  So I linked those and then discovered Facebook had a Twitter application which I added.  Which is both good and bad.  My Facebook profile was now getting duplicates of my blog feeds – direct from the blogs and direct from Twitter.  So I disabled the blog feeds at Facebook as it only needs the information once.  But Twitter wasn’t updating my LinkedIn account so I needed to look at that.

Enter ping.fm – easy enough to set up but wouldn’t allow multiple custom URLs (my blogs) but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Ping.fm will feed all these places but doesn’t pick up the feeds.  Which meant I had to physically enter posts at ping.fm and I didn’t want to have to log into yet another place – defeats the purpose if you’re spending all day just posting and nothing else.

So, what did I do to untangle this mess I’d gotten myself back into?

I revisited Twitterfeed and discovered it would feed ping.fm. I’d not noticed that before but perhaps that was because I wasn’t looking at the time – or perhaps it wasn’t available.  Whatever, it is now and I have noticed it. So, to me it made sense to set things up like this:

All blogfeeds > Twitterfeed which in turn fed Ping.fm.  That then fed Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin which kept my status updated at each place without duplicating information.  Mind you, I will keep revisiting and updating as there is always new tools being developed!

A recent conversation with a client set me thinking.  They wanted accounts set up at various social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc and have everything automated (rss feed from blogs, automatic responses, etc) so that they could literally ‘set and forget’ the tools. This isn’t the first client who has requested this – I’ve had others ask for it too, thinking that engaging a Virtual Assistant to set things up for them and do occasional maintenance was all that is needed.  I don’t agree.

It made me realise that they didn’t understand the reason why these tools exist.  They’re not for automatic promotion of business services and products to generate quick sales, but rather to facilitate networking, relationship building and over time, may generate business. In fact I know they do because I’ve seen it happen for me and know others personally who have had that experience too.

In this day and age of instant gratification and quick responses, people tend to forget that some things need to have a seed planted, nurtured, watered and carefully grown over time.  And networking is one of those things, irrespective of what vehicle or tool is used. What do you think?

Regular readers will know I’ve been doing posts about various social networks. There’s a lot of good things about them but there are some things you need to be careful about too.

I was reading SpeakerNet News recently and saw a quote about the use of Facebook and Twitter and how you conduct yourself there. Now, may I say, that I think it is always important to conduct yourself professionally, or in the manner you would always want to be perceived.  No use in behaving one way in one place and different in another and not think anyone will notice.  They will.

Anyway, let me share with you what Rita Makana Risser has to say:

Peter Shankman reports on a speaker who twittered on his way to speak to FedEx in Memphis about how he would die if he had to live there. He showed up to a hostile audience! Be aware that what might seem cute or funny to your pals can be an insult to your audience or meeting planners. It might be a good idea to limit posts on politics to groups that share your political views. A political posting on Facebook by one of my friends for all her friends to see caused quite a bit of discussion ­ and not the good kind. Whether or not you want to use Facebook for business purposes, meeting planners and corporate types are looking at us wherever we show up, and making decisions based on what we post. You can have a business page on Facebook as well as a personal page, and that’s what I have done. Your personal page is for real friends and family; the business one is for everyone else.

I think what Rita says makes a lot of sense, don’t you?

Twitter, Facebook, behaviour, social networking

For the second time in a month I’ve received a message on my wall at my Facebook page saying that my photo had been seen at a site.  The first time I clicked on it unawares and immediately my antivirus program (Trend Micro) warned me of a problem and wouldn’t let me view the page.  I went to the guy who posted a message on my wall and saw there were heaps of wall messages he’d left within a few minutes – a sure sign something was wrong. I left a message for him to say he had a virus and also sent a personal email to him.

I then removed the wall notice from my Facebook so that no-one else would click on it – important you do that!

This morning one of my clients left a similar message and I immediately contacted her and her VA support to advise that one of them had a virus and it had infected the Facebook profile.

I’ve researched articles on it but haven’t found any fixes – just best to keep your antivirus program updated every single day.

Internet News – Facebook Attack

Now Public – Facebook Virus Attacks Again

Reuters – Koobface Virus

And even UrbanLegend is confirming there is a virus.

Facebook has told members to delete contaminated e-mails and has posted directions at www.facebook.com/security on how to clean infected computers.

I have a free online virus scanner (owned by Trend Micro which is the program that saved me from grief) at my site at http://www.acs-webhosting.com/ in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

My Virtual Assistant forum was having a discussion about the benefits of using Facebook for networking.  Some were of the opinion it was just for family and friends and couldn’t see the benefit and others were using it for business or both family & friends and business.  I joined in the conversation as I recently found it very useful for a family matter and don’t know what I would have done had I not had Facebook to assist in this matter.  This is what I posted and I’d love to hear how Facebook may have assisted you in a time of need.

I didn’t want to bother with it earlier this year as I thought it was just a young person’s networking tool and many still see it that way.  However, when the Pastor (in his 50s) at my church started encouraging members of the congregation to join and connect with him I did so out of curiosity.  I began connecting with others in our church and developing friendships because I could see their daily comments on what was happening in their lives and could join in the commenting.  And I’ve been able to have direct contact with my Pastor rather than going through his secretary which means I can have personal email discussions with him via Facebook.

I connected with my daughters and although at first I was concerned they might think I was ‘spying’ on them, I’m so glad I did.  One of them was Miriam, our beloved daughter who recently passed away. If I had not been connected to her in Facebook I would have had no idea how to contact her friends to tell them of her death or her funeral.  She never kept an address list – Facebook was it. It gave me an opportunity to let them know daily what was happening by posting messages on her wall and it made my husband and I aware of friends we didn’t know she had. Some were overseas and only found out about what happened because of their Facebook connection with Miriam.  I will not underestimate the value of a tool like this any more.

I am more connected with other family members of mine and Graham’s – our brother-in-law, nephews and cousins in other states.  And some friends I’d lost track of I’m now reconnected with. It is a very powerful friends tool and I don’t use for acquaintances at all – but close family and friends.

So, just on a personal level Facebook has had an effect on my family in a very important way and now I’m exploring it for business I’m also finding that it’s been useful for connecting with others and staying in touch with what they’re up to.  What about you?  Has Facebook helped you?

Over the past 12 months I’ve written about the use of various tools for networking.  I did a series on LinkedIn and also on Yahoogroups.  And now I want to do one on Facebook.

As time passes I find that my own thoughts on which are worthwhile tools for business to use online changes considerably – perhaps because the tools themselves change and evolve and become more popular amongst the very networks that I spend time with.  At any rate, I finally succumbed to joining Facebook several months ago and used it only for personal contacts – family, friends, people from my church.  But then one of my clients told me about Mari Smith and the use of Facebook to develop Fan Clubs and promote your business and so, in doing the research for her, I ended up creating a new Facebook profile for my business contacts.

So, I plan to share with you my tips on setting up a Facebook profile for your business.

First – there is a difference between a regular Facebook profile and having a Facebook Page.  My business one here is a Facebook Page and if you scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Advertising you’ll actually find on the right-hand column that you can set up a page.  But you’ll note the address is still a bit cumbersome and too long to give out to people, so what I did was purchased a domain and then forwarded it to the Facebook page address.

So why not go experimenting to see what you can do and I’ll give you more hints and tips soon about setting up Facebook for your business?  Once you do I’d love to be given your address so I can become a fan of your Facebook page.

Facebook page, Facebook profile, domain registration, social networking