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Social Media Optimization…

Hello fellow Internet Marketers,

I thought I would take a minute to stop and let you folks in a little inside secret. That’s right, one that we’ve been keeping to ourselves, and have just recently begun to offer these services to our clients. Most people these days have begun to realize the power of Social Media. It took quite a few years for “SEO” to catch on, and now…has it ever caught on.

The Social Wave arrived a few years back, and our own team has spent a lot of time to master and grow our own presence on Twitter, Facebook & of course Youtube. In the process, we had advertisers that would ask us in passing if we knew of anyone who could help them with Social Media Optimization for 1 platform or another. So we decided that we would begin to service these clients…and we’ve been quite successful.

An couple of examples of our successful uses of Social Networking platforms, to give you an idea of how we used Social Media in our own efforts and then for that of a client in Spain.

For ourselves, we knew that outreach socially beyond SEO was necessary for growing our new brand under the name of AffCon2010. Our objectives were clear, awareness, visibility, engagement and of course adoption of delegates. In doing so, we used a combination of 3 platforms…Twitter, Facebook & YouTube. In Twitter, we were able to seed, track and target our market for the new trade show, along with populating the promo info we were pushing out in Twitter to Facebook. Couple that with a few well placed Video’s in Youtube that went viral and cross posting of those videos to both Twitter & Facebook…and I can tell you it was a resounding success with an amazing turn-out in Colorado this past June.

Now, for those who are interested in Video Optimization, I would highly recommend that you perk your ears up! We received permission to illustrate this to the general public from our client, he is not in our space…but is an independent filmmaker in Spain. For the last decade of his life, his passion has been: One world, One Vote! Over the last few years, a contest began sponsored by the State Department and Youtube called “The Democracy Challenge!” with the contest being hosted for logged in Youtube users over here at Youtube.

Now, this client had his own Youtube channel, however…we decided for this effort, we would create a new channel altogether to populate promo videos with. Knowing the client had spent the last 10 years shooting footage for his feature length movie, we knew there was no shortage of footage for promo videos to seed Youtube with. Knowing that not all of these videos would catch fire, but some would…we began our job to optimize the videos and the channel they resided in.

This being the semi-finals, he had already made the cut out of approximately 900 videos to begin with over a year ago…he had made the cut to the semi-finals. The voting commenced on May 15th and lasted until June 15th for logged in Youtube users and all they had to do was to visit the Democracy Challenge section on YouTube then select any of the 18 videos to the right and vote them up by clicking a Green Thumb, or voting them down by clicking a Red Thumb. Logged in users could vote once daily over the course of 30 days.

We had numerous promo videos that garnered over 80,000 views on Youtube. By the time we had been brought onto the project to help raise awareness and visibility to get the word out to come and Vote for: WORLD VOTE NOW(click here to see the winning video). Yes, Joel Marsden of Spain was one of the 6 Grand Prize Winners. “What does he win Bob?” Well, this is what was up for grabs:

* An all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood.
* Gala screenings of the winning videos in Hollywood, New York and Washington
* Exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry.
* Meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society.

With these winners receiving their awards, as in previous years, from Hillary Clinton while in Washington.

Once again, we used successful Social Media Optimization to help raise public awareness and to of course engage them while inciting them to log in at Youtube…and VOTE! Which they did.

For those of you who have similar needs, do not hesitate to drop me an email and we’ll be happy to have our team evaluate your needs for free. Feel free to contact me directly at: daron @ wmr.fm or you can buzz my office at 954-736-4170.

Congrats again to Joel Marsden, you deserve it after 10 years of hard work. Good luck!

Google Buzz Kills Personal Privacy

Google Buzz, as introduced, is a privacy nightmare for users. There is a lack of information on how information is used and shared, there is also a lack of instruction for users on how to control their own information. Here’s my short experience, the one I wish I outlined on Webcology yesterday.

When I first opened Google Buzz, I saw that I was auto-following ten people. I was shocked to find my auto-follow list included a journalist who has once previously tried to scoop me, workers at a former client, an ex-girlfriend and stunningly, my ex-wife. These folks were part of my initial Buzz stream. I rejected most of them immediately while noting to myself rejection notices might be sent to those I rejected.

I’m not entirely sure how Buzz made these connections but I am sure that most of them are ones I would rather be left in my shadows. I’ve always harbored the paranoid suspicion Google was tracking email connections but since that is sort of evil, chances are they wouldn’t go there. Heaven knows I would if I was them but I’ve never claimed to consistently opt against evil. The data available is simply too fascinating not to if you have the chance. The most unimpressive aspect of Google Buzz is that the connections Google perceived are so old. Many of them come from a part of my life I moved beyond almost a decade ago.

I have an extremely open life. I feel personally secure about my digital footprint and have cleared the majority of memorable skeletons from the closet of my personal life by either making those skeletons public knowledge or disavowing the vices and communities that created them in the first place.

Nevertheless, given the nature of social networks, the potential of exposure of a lot of information about my life to others is inevitable. Given the lack of control granted by Google or personal permission granted to Google by me, I’m shutting Buzz off before it does me damage. Clearly it can cause me professional headaches and personal heartaches. I need neither.

For the record, none of my sources appear to have been exposed but they easily could have been. That very much concerns me as I’ve promised perpetual anonymity to more than a few of them. As for my ex-wife, I think she’s a wonderful person. She and I have no problems with each other, at least none I am aware of. Though either of us would be happy to have a friendly conversation with the other, neither of us really want to know about the others day to day life. We’ve both moved on, and I suspect both of us would agree that is a very good thing.

For the most part, I gave up worrying about personal privacy sometime between the rise of the security-state after 9/11/01 and 8/19/04, the date of Google’s I.P.O.. Even so, Google Buzz has left me with a bitter taste and a desire to migrate my email usage away from the convenient but privacy porous Gmail system.

Google gives you a way to turn Buzz off. Scroll down to the bottom of your Gmail page. A small link on the second line from the bottom in very fine print reads, “Turn Off Buzz”. If you care about your personal privacy, do it now.

Bah Humbug! Yahoo to kill MyBlogLog in 2010

Three years after they bought it for $10 million, Yahoo is planning to shutter the popular blog-pollination social platform MyBlogLog. According to a story published in this morning’s ReadWriteWeb blog, sources at MyBlogLog confirm their project will cease to exist sometime in January 2010.

Built to display the faces and profiles of blog readers, MyBlogLog was one of the first social network platforms that saw nearly universal adoption amongst bloggers and blog readers. Capable of capturing valuable information about site visitors, MyBlogLog had a virtually unending number of other applications it could have been used for had only Yahoo devoted focused energy on further development. Instead, MyBlogLog was left to languish into dysfunction.

The loss of MyBlogLog might not be too spectacular, considering the meteoric rise of Facebook and Twitter however when it was first introduced to the blogging ecosystem, MyBlogLog was a means of virtually meeting those who took the time to visit your website or blog. Imagining the potential well of demographic information about actual site visitors, now lost, is heartbreaking.

For observers of Yahoo, the shutting down of MyBlogLog is just another sign of the waste inattention brings. For the last two years, Yahoo has been suffering the atrocities of atrophy. 2010 is likely to be an even more difficult year for the purple giant as it struggles to shed its skin as it moves towards its eventual absorption by Microsoft.

Goodbye MyBlogLog, it was nice to have sort of known who you were.

Facebook To Make Sweeping Changes to Privacy Policies

Facebook has committed to giving users more control over personal information on their social networking pages and as shared with third party developers. In reaction to and in collaboration with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Facebook will make sweeping changes to how personal data is collected, stored and shared with over one million application makers around the world.

The changes to Facebook’s privacy policies will be global. When fully implemented the next year, these changes will represent the strongest statement on personal privacy standards made by any social network or other Internet entity.

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner began an investigation into privacy concerns after a complaint by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, a computer-user advocacy group at the University of Ottawa. Facebook is extremely popular in Canada with nearly 12 million (1 out of 3) Canadians maintaining a personal profile.

The Commission found Facebook was not in compliance with Canadian Privacy Laws as outlined in Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. A report was released on July 16 giving Facebook 30-days to respond to the Commission’s recommendations with an action plan for compliance.

Instead of resisting, which would have been its legal right as a corporation registered in another country, Facebook decided to offer users more information about their privacy and to tighten personal controls over how user information is shared.

Today Facebook and the Office of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner issued statements suggesting collaboration between the Commission and Facebook on a set of privacy standards for social networks.

During its year long investigation of Facebook, the Privacy Commission was concerned with 4 key information policy areas covering third-party developers, deactivation of accounts, personal information of non-users, and accounts of deceased users.

In the case of third party application developers, permission for every category of personal information the application wants to access will need to be expressly given by users. Facebook users will be able to control which categories applications are able to access. Third party application developers will also have to offer a link to a statement outlining how personal information will be used by the developer.

“These changes mean that the privacy of 200 million Facebook users in Canada and around the world will be far better protected. This is extremely important. People will be able to enjoy the benefits of social networking without giving up control of their personal information. We’re very pleased Facebook has been responsive to our recommendations.”
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart

The changes to Facebooks policies will take a year or more to fully implement. They will also require a lot of resources from Facebook and independent application developers. A new Facebook API will need to be developed and developers will need to recreate their applications. The effort will bear benefits for Facebook users and, ultimately, for Facebook and its advertisers. Facebook’s privacy initiative is likely to become a standard for other social networking sites in the future as users demand protection of what they perceive to be private data.

Facebook appears to recognize this. In a press release issued by Facebook today, Director of Platform Product Marketing, Ethan Beard said,

“We strongly believe that the changes to the permission model for third-party applications will give users more confidence in Platform and will, thus, help ensure the long-term health and vitality of the ecosystem that has grown around Platform. We will be communicating regularly with developers about the changes and we’re going to take our time to make sure the outcome is something users understand and that developers have ample time and notice to adapt.”

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner has reviewed and accepted Facebook’s plan. Both entities appeared to have actually enjoyed the experience of working together. Elliot Schrage, Vice-President of Global Communications and Public Policy at Facebook was quoted in the same press statement saying,

Our productive and constructive dialogue with the Commissioner’s office has given us an opportunity to improve our policies and practices in a way that will provide even greater transparency and control for Facebook users. We believe that these changes are not only great for our users and address all of the Commissioners’ outstanding concerns, but they also set a new standard for the industry.”

LinkedIn Founder on WebmasterRadio.FM

Live, now, on WebmasterRadio.FM! Reid Hoffman, Founder and Chairman of LinkedIn, is on the Market Edge with Larry Weber.

He’s going to talk about the early days of LinkedIn, how social networking affects advertising and employee’s identities, where social networking will go in the future, and advice for venture capitalists.

As, a LinkedIn user and fan (it’s my favorite social network, sorry facebook!), I’ll be tuning in; so should you!

You can also catch the interview on demand at: http://www.webmasterradio.fm/Internet-Marketing/Market-Edge/LinkedIn-Founder-on-Social-Networking.htm

Steve Wozniak on WebmasterRadio.FM at 4pm!

Well, I am stoked!

Why you ask?

Because today we will be having the father of our industry, the creator of the pc, Mr. Steve Wozniak, the WOZ, himself, on WebmasterRadio.FM!

We will be running an exclusive 1-on -1 interview on the SNC 2008 SF Preview Show today @ 4pm ET/ 1pm PT.

Steve Wozniak talks about the Segway polo team, the WOZ challenge cup, and the Social Networking conference. He gives props to Digg, Reddit, and Facebook, and says the future of the social sites must… 

To find out, Tune in at 4pm!