To join or not to join (WebWorkerDaily)

An interesting article (that I agree with) on WebWorkerDaily:

“We all need to make choices about how we spend our time, and you should not feel pressured to join a social site just because other people have joined. Think about how you want to spend your time and decide whether or not you want to spend less time on another activity to make more time to participate on Twitter or Facebook. There’s no need for everyone to join.”
- Dawn Foster

Link to article: To Join, or Not to Join: That Is the Question
http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/08/05/to-join-or-not-to-join-that-is-the-question/

Booked Solid Friday with Trish Lambert and Lou Bortone: Brand Or Be Damned! (July 24)

Why Communicating Your Personal Brand Is More Important Than Ever

Date:	Friday, July 24, 2009
Time:	2:00pm - 2:30pm Eastern
Location:	DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN: http://bit.ly/JFj9O

Description

Do you have a brand? Do you know what it is? Can you clearly communicate your brand?

Join Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach Trish Lambert and personal brand expert (and Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach) Lou Bortone as they talk about the importance of a strong personal brand. They will go from soup to nuts as they establish what exactly is a personal brand, then go on to discuss how to get that brand out into your market FAST through strategies that include social media and online video. It will be a value-packed half hour, no doubt about it!

Lou Bortone grew up in the TV industry and has been involved in all aspects of the entertainment business for more than 20 years. After working in television and radio in Boston, Lou landed his first entertainment industry gigas National Promotion Manager for E! Entertainment Television in Hollywood. Later, Lou rose up the ranks at the Fox Kids Network, eventually becoming a Senior Vice President at Fox Family Worldwide, then a division of Fox. Today, Lou is a writer, producer and online branding consultant who teaches entrepreneurs how to build breakthrough brands on the Internet, with services such as online video branding, brand coaching and creative support. Lou also produces a weekly unique and light-hearted videoblog called LouTube. www.LouTubeVideos.com

Lou’s website is at: www.OnlineVideoBranding.com

This episode is hosted by Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach Trish Lambert, whose site is www.successinsweatpants.com

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN: http://bit.ly/JFj9O

Or listen by phone Friday 2PM Eastern: Call-in Number: (347) 327-9030

Join this spirited discussion about how the Book Yourself Solid system can help you achieve business success, even if you hate marketing and selling!

Book Yourself Solid Radio is a webradio show inspired by the bestselling book by Michael Port, focusing on helping you get more clients than you can handle... even if you hate marketing and selling!

Hosted by Certified Book Yourself Solid Coaches Trish Lambert and Davender Gupta, they interview fellow Certified Coaches to help you succeed in filling your business.

The show takes place every Friday from 2PM to 2:30PM Eastern

Check out the latest guests, listen to the show or download podcasts of past episodes at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bookyourselfsolid



Event Facebook page:
http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113029006462


(Also check out the new Facebook Fan page for Book Yourself Solid Radio at
http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Book-Yourself-Solid-Radio/100307116509

70+ Non-fiction authors to follow on Twitter (from Mashable)

Mashable, the Social Media blog, has an interesting list of 70+ non-fiction authors to follow on Twitter:

http://mashable.com/2009/05/22/twitter-nonfiction-authors/

This is what I like about Twitter - the "mindcasting" dimension, being able to follow the ideas and discussions of smart people.

For Twitter beginners (and more advanced users), pick and choose 20 or 30 faves to follow from this list, and you will have some great content to retweet and to comment on!

What is your currency?

Jay Deragon, on his blog "A Relationship Economy", has been exploring the idea of relationships and knowledge as "currency".

Social media is redefining the idea of currency, because of the value we create through our relationships and the sharing of knowledge.

He posts an interesting video discussion with David Bullock (http://www.davidbullock.net)

Posts:

How do you define currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3943

Do Relationships create currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3924

Is Knowledge Currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3941

Hmmm... food for thought here!

Distinctions between Facebook and LinkedIn

I've been getting questions lately from my clients about the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn, two major social networking sites. This is how I distinguish between the two:

- Facebook: Informal network, encourages personal connection through games, photos, videos, links, other entertainment. Promoting your products, services and activities is permitted and encourages through Group Pages and (in a different way) Fan Pages. The links between you and your Facebook Friends range from strong (you know the person well In Real Life) to weak (you did not know the person before they friended you on Facebook and you would not recognize them on the street).

- LinkedIn: A formal, professional network for business and career networking. Little if any personal information is acceptable. Your profile reads like a resume. No selling of your services, activities or products is allowed. The connections between you and your LinkedIn contacts are strong, meaning that you know your contacts In Real Life and you have worked or collaborated with them, or can otherwise provide a credible testimonial as to their professional performance. Mainly for business-to-business connections.

Personally, I recommend that solopreneurs be simultaneously on Facebook and LinkedIn, and to keep a consistant positioning between both networks. On Facebook, please maintain a decorum, it's okay to loosen your tie a bit but don't take off your shirt.



Go ahead, friend me on Facebook: http://profile.to/coachdavender
and see my profile on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/coachdavender

Chill out. Facebook is not The Borg.

It's interesting to follow the storm of debate around Facebook's proposed Terms of Service. To believe the reports, Facebook is the Borg ("Your content will be assimilated, your stuff is now ours. Resistance is futile.") But is this hysteria justified?

Some personal observations about this issue and Facebook in general:


- Facebook has now reverted to their previous version of the Terms of Service, which obviously was satisfactory for everyone who is complaining. But how many of them have read those original TOS? (Can you find them on your Facebook site?)

- Lawyers write contracts and agreements to primarily cover their client's backside (not necessarily to protect the client's clients). When was the last time you read the fine print of your cell phone contract, insurance contract, internet provider contract, blog provider, bank terms of service, etc... even the computer operating system you are using? I'm sure you will find plenty to gripe about!

- Something Facebook has done really well: they have opened this whole issue to a general discussion. (Facebook page: http://is.gd/jVZn ) Conversations build trust, and trust is the main currency of social networks. I wish more companies would do this.

- This shows how "closed" a social network Facebook is (and other platforms are). I read someone saying that "Facebook is the new AOL". Facebook is not the internet, it's a private playground and by stepping into it, you play by their rules.

- Facebook still has a bias towards partying college students (obvious when I set up events: no way to identify networking events or teleclasses or seminars, etc, but a dozen ways to describe a party!) So they have some growing up to do, in order to adapt to their new, older and more serious audience.

- All this said, I am a big proponent of Facebook. It is a great place to connect with people, exchange ideas, build a tribe. It is one of the most stable and popular social media platforms out there. If you are a solopreneur and not yet on Facebook and Twitter, I highly recommend that you jump in now!


Friend me on Facebook at http://profile.to/coachdavender
and on Twitter http://twitter.com/coachdavender