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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!

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Networking, Social Networks, Twitter by Kathie Thomas
6 Comments »

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?

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Networking, Social Networks, Twitter, Yahoogroups by Kathie Thomas
3 Comments »

As most readers know, I’m an active member of LinkedIn.com and have made many connections there and lots of friends – old and new.

I recently received yet another invitation to connect from someone I don’t know and who obviously hasn’t read my profile.  It amazes me that people won’t look to find out a bit about the person they’re sending an invitation too, and in most cases, the invitation is one of those generic, unedited invitations that blatantly show the sender is more into collecting numbers rather than true connections.  Although, in some cases, particularly when I see their network is less than 20, it can indicate they’re brand new and are still learning, in which case I often give them some pointers and suggest they come to this blog to read the LinkedIn category for tips.

The latest inviter responded to my question of why he wanted to connect with:

Networking is getting connected with people whom you don’t already know which is the point of linkedin. Whats the point of networking with people you already know…

I asked him if he had read the rules? LinkedIn actually tells people they should only be connecting with people they know personally and besides, networking is all about relationships – it’s not about numbers, it never has been.

It did make me wonder who he had been listening to though, before he sent a blanket invitation to someone he doesn’t know.  And without even reading my profile (which might have saved him some trouble if he had read it).  There is a school of thought to connect first and get to know later, and then there are others like me, who like to be wooed just a bit, simply by letting me know they’d read my profile, or had seen me somewhere and was interested in knowing more about what I do and could we connect?  And in that invitation they should also tell me something of themselves.

The majority of people I’ve connected with have been those I’ve gotten to know through LinkedIn discussion forums, or via Answers, when they have seen my response to something, or I have seen their’s.  Perhaps they answered a question I asked and they helped me. Perhaps we were involved in something else together.  Or perhaps someone they know also knows me and have forwarded an introduction.

If people are more interested in growing numbers rather than growing relationships, you have to wonder why they’re in the networking game in the first place.  I mean, how does it benefit them?

I’d much rather a smaller number of true connections, people I’ve gotten to know, rather than a large number of people I know nothing about and most likely never will.  How about you?

Tags: LinkedIn, Networking by Kathie Thomas
5 Comments »

I get quite a number of invitations these days from people I don’t really know.  I don’t mind connecting with them however I do ask first where they found me and why they want to connect?  Obviously they haven’t read my profile before sending the invitation otherwise they would know that’s a requirement for me to connect.

Why do I do this?  Well, I want to feel there’s some kind of personal connection first.  I also don’t want to be counted as a number as I know that many, particularly LIONS, are prone to do.  Quality not quantity is something I’m seeking in the way of connections – will there be a mutual benefit for us both to connect?

If I know and recognise the name as someone I’ve chatted with before I will accept and then I’ll give them suggestions on how to do an invitation and send them here to my blog to check out the LinkedIn category.  But if I don’t recognise their name I wait for their response and often those responses can be funny or even indignant.  Some don’t respond at all.

Why would a response be indignant?  They seem to expect that because we had a minor connection via an email about 3 or 4 months ago I would remember who they are.  Perhaps they don’t get much email but I get 2-300 on a daily basis because of the nature of my business and also the groups I belong to online.  Why would I remember someone who might have answered a question at LinkedIn or responded to a forum message?  It would be different if we actually did business together in some way but usually it’s one of the former.

So, if you’re new to LinkedIn I encourage you to look at personalising your invitations (you can click on edit and change the text of what’s being sent) and make sure you read through the profile of the person you wish to invite first.   You can get penalised by LinkedIn if you get too many “I Don’t Knows” against your name.

Oh, and if you have copied someone else’s email that says something about ‘please do not mark IDK’ then I suggest you don’t do that.  It’s almost as bad as a blanket invite being sent.  If you can copy and paste someone else’s message, you are also capable of writing your own personal message.

Tags: LinkedIn by Kathie Thomas
2 Comments »