When was the last time you “Buzzed”?  If you’re anything like me, you can’t remember the last time you logged on to Google’s attempt at a social media service. All evidence indicates that while Google Buzz does have its users, it doesn’t have anywhere near as many loyal users as Facebook or even Twitter.  Mashable noted back in April that 89% of the traffic on Buzz is automated.  That percentage is way too high.  Here’s another piece of evidence that Buzz isn’t a big hit:

The image above is clipped from the Techcrunch website.  As you can see, the article has been shared on Twitter 235 times.  It’s been shared on Buzz exactly once.  It hasn’t been shared many times on Facebook either, but that site doesn’t have quite as much tradition of sharing news articles as Twitter, and Buzz obviously wants to be more like Twitter.  Mashable, meanwhile, appears to have removed its Buzz share icon entirely … replacing it with one for Digg.

When it was (hastily) launched back in February, it seemed like it might be a good idea.  It seemed Twitter-like, without the limitation of 140 characters.  And, the integration with Gmail ensured it would get off the ground quickly.

However, I think it was actually the strengths I mentioned above that ended up keeping Buzz from being a huge success.  First, while the integration with Gmail did automatically bring the service millions of users, I think people realized they didn’t want close integration with their email.  Who wants an email every time something is posted?  Also, the fact that the service is similar to Twitter may be the other factor that kept it from being a Twitter killer.  We already have a Twitter … why do we need another one?

I’m planning to remove the Buzz share icons from EndGamePR.com and replace them with ones for Digg.  I’ll likely do the same for my client sites.  Honestly, I haven’t seen any evidence that the Buzz icons are being used.

What about you?  Are you using Buzz?  Are your friends and co-workers using it?

Before I explain my educated guess, let’s back up a bit and get everyone caught up.

There have been rumors for a while that Google is working on a new social media site.  Those rumors yesterday seemed to be confirmed in an article on Techcrunch.  The site is said to be called “Google Me”, and while Google seemed to have Twitter in mind when it created it’s Buzz service, Google Me is said to directly target Facebook.

Assuming all of this is correct, it means Google is trying to create a Facebook killer.  Will it succeed?  Obviously it’s too early to tell, but I’m going to go out on a limb anyhow.  If “success” is making a serious dent in Facebook’s dominance of the social media market, then I believe the answer is “no”.  Here’s why:

1. Google hasn’t yet shown that it can succeed in the social media space.  Buzz was Google’s best shot so far, and in my view it’s been a relative bust.  It’s hard to call it a true bust because Google can claim millions of users, but those numbers are a charade because the service is tied into Gmail, and Gmail users almost automatically signed up when the service became available.  I don’t see any signs that a huge percentage of those users are actually USING Buzz.
2. People’s lives are tied into Facebook.  Not only that, but their friends’ lives are tied into Facebook.  For Google to draw any significant number of Facebook’s more than 400 million users away, Google will have to demonstrate not only that Me is better than Facebook, but also that Me users will be able to find their friends there.
3. We don’t need another Facebook.  We already have one.
4. A large number of Facebook users have been pretty ticked off by Facebook’s well-documented privacy screw-ups, but those users haven’t left yet.  You could say it’s because there wasn’t an alternative, but I say it won’t matter because of point #2.

I’m not saying Google shouldn’t make the attempt.  Google has its own very successful advertising system in place that it could easily port to a Facebook-like site, so it makes a certain amount of sense to try to find new places to show those ads.  However, in my view Google is best at providing services, not destinations.  I am a a Google services “fanboy.”  I use Google Search (of course) and its daily alerts, Gmail, Google Voice, Google Reader, and Google Docs.  But, if you’ll excuse a reach on an analogy: Jjust because I like my cell phone provider, doesn’t mean they’re the best company to also provide my daily news.

Truth is, despite the fact that my profession is public relations, until a relatively short time ago I (and most of my peers) didn’t actually deal with the public all that often.  My job, and the job of most of the vast majority of PR professionals out there, was to either solicit media coverage, handle incoming media inquiries, or to manage the media in a crisis.  In each case, we didn’t take our news directly to the public. Sure … we would sometimes organize an event that was open to the public, but in most cases the main reason for the event was actually to draw news coverage.

It’s no secret that the world has changed due to the social media tools we now have at our disposal.  Now we can blog, we can grow an audience on Facebook or Twitter, we can create our own online videos, and we can even distribute our news release directly to the public rather than politely asking reporters to write about it for us.  While taking this news directly to the public, we’re actually communicating with them one-on-one in a way that wasn’t possible just a few years back.

While the media is still an important tool for disseminating news from my clients, it’s hardly the only way to go about it.  Now, it actually makes sense to call our profession PUBLIC relations.

Note: Part of what got me thinking about this was a blog post from colleague and friend Jon Newman, on how PR can capitalize on winning the “battle” over social media within organizations.  Good read.  Check it out here.

If you look on the EndGame PR services page, you’ll see a pretty long list.  There’s a reason for that.  I want to be able to do everything I can to help my clients.  I’m talking about not only social media, social networking and traditional PR tactics such as media relations, but also search engine optimization (SEO), web content creation, and even web design.  Imagine these skills and tactics as part of a never-ending “circle of life”.  Quality media relations campaigns can equal links back to a web site, which helps search rankings, which in turn can help a social media audience find you, which in turn can help you promote your quality web content, which can add links back to a web site, which can help SEO …. lather, rinse, repeat.  All of these strategies and tactics work well together, and should not be stuck in silos, as they are in so many organizations.

Perhaps the best part of thinking about PR in this way is that you’re not reliant upon one single tactic. If your media relations campaign isn’t going as well as expected, perhaps another portion of the “circle of life” will kick in and help you.

While I’m not suggesting that all PR professionals should know what a 301 redirect is or what to do with the .htaccess file (I do, but I’m a geek), they should know the basics of SEO.  They should also know how (or have access to someone who does) to create a basic web video.  They should also have the writing skills to be able to write an entertaining and thoughtful blog post.  Feel free to judge whether I possess that last one or not .. I won’t assume.

I am going to assume, however, that most everyone reading this knows at least a little bit about social media.  You ARE reading a blog, after all.  Not near as many have knowledge of the SEO basics.  Here are a few, with an example at the end of how the circle of life works:

• Keywords: The basic strategy for figuring out which keywords to use is to think of what words you WANT web searchers to use on Google in order to find your content.  Then, work those words into your title and copy (in a natural way, please .. no keyword stuffing).  If you want to get more precise about which keywords to use, try playing with the Google Keyword Tool.  Most important, however, is that you include those keywords in the headlines and copy of your news releases and other online content.
• Backlinks are king: One of the most important things you can do to improve your site’s search ranking WITHOUT digging into web site code, is increase the number of other sites linking to your site.  From a PR perspective, this can be done two ways.  First, create original content that people will want to link to.  In other words, people will enjoy it and want to blog about it or post about it on Twitter or Facebook.  Another tool in the SEO PR toolbox is online news release distribution.  Check out my sort-of-annual review of online release distribution sites for more information about this.
• Promote your content on social networking sites: Obviously this isn’t ALL you should be doing on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and all of the others, but it’s one of the things you should be doing.  Obviously, the more people who know about your unique content, the more people who could potentially link back to it from their sites.  See?!  Circle of life!

What it comes down to is that PR pros need to learn everything they can about these tools, even to the point of teaching themselves a little bit of HTML and even how to use CSS.  These skills come in handy much more than you would expect, and can improve the service provided to clients or employers.

And, don’t blame me if you walk away from this blog post humming an Elton John song from a certain Disney movie.  That’s your problem, and I accept no responsibility for it.  It’s less annoying than Hakuna Matata, at least!

Previous to the last handful of days, when I discovered something and then submitted it to StumbleUpon with a review, it would receive anywhere from 50 to 200 “views” by StumbleUpon users.  My network was growing on the site, and I was starting to stumble more and more content, including (of course) content that I didn’t write or own.  Essentially, I was doing what I suggested in my previous blog post.  In fact, I was sure that I wasn’t using the site improperly because I received this review of my previous StumbleUpon post from a community manager at the site:

A truthful and well-thought article from someone who understands StumbleUpon and how to properly use it.

Then … the bottom fell out.  I discovered a client article last weekend, and it received only one view.  I figured it was a fluke, because that’s happened before.  Then, I discovered and reviewed a client news release from PRWeb.  It received 12 views, which is well below average.  I still wasn’t worried, though.  The next three articles I discovered, stumbled, and reviewed received only one view each.  This included the post I wrote here about the new Facebook Weekly Page Updates, which was well received elsewhere.  Now I knew something was up.

These five stumbles I mentioned came from four different domains and covered four very different topics.  So, it’s obvious that StumbleUpon isn’t including my articles in their list of sites that can be stumbled, regardless of what they are or where they come from.  I posted a question about it on the StumbleUpon help forums, which received this answer:

Monica, Official Rep

StumbleUpon’s recommendation engine is built on complex algorithms that monitor user activity and connections to determine what users see while Stumbling. StumbleUpon does not disclose specifics about our recommendation engine, but you can see an overview of how it works here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/technology/.

StumbleUpon users may occasionally add their own content to StumbleUpon without running into system restrictions. Ultimately though, StumbleUpon’s Terms of Service prohibit use of user accounts to promote specific domains.

If you wish to promote your content on StumbleUpon (if most of your discoveries come from the same domain or a limited number of domains), you may do so with StumbleUpon Advertising: www.stumbleupon.com/ads. StumbleUpon Advertiser accounts allow you to actively and legitimately promote a site to a targeted audience within our community.

Hope this helped.

This is pretty much the answer I expected, because this is the answer they give anyone who questions why their service isn’t working for them.  I understand StumbleUpon’s desire to keep their site from being spammed, but it appears they’re willing to shut out users who are submitting quality content from different domains that isn’t selling anything or even showing advertisements.  Meanwhile, if you go to their site or use your StumbleUpon toolbar to stumble randomly, you’ll find a lot of useless junk. Yes, I was promoting my content and my client’s content.  Imagine how quiet and boring other social media sites would be if they shut out people for doing that.

So … what now?  I’ll probably stumble and review this post, and that will be it.  If you have a one-off blog post that you want to submit there, you’ll likely receive some views, but woe onto you if you submit the same domain to StumbleUpon more than their undisclosed limit.  They’re sticklers over there, I tell ya.

Unlike other social bookmarking sites, such as the aforementioned Digg, Delicious, and Reddit, users of StumbleUpon don’t have to be looking for your content to find it.  I’ve often thought this was the downfall of trying to use Digg to help visitors find you.  Unless your content is tech-related or involves someone falling off of a donkey and hurting a sensitive part of the body, posting to Digg is often like whistling into the wind.  StumbleUpon is different.  In fact, the whole point of the site is finding random content that you didn’t know you were looking for. You click a button and “stumble upon” a site.  It’s much like channel surfing.  StumbleUponn can help you find random content that’s been submitted, or you can have it help you find random content within a category. Obviously, it’s an outstanding time waster.

StumbleUpon’s strength is it’s lack of the cliques found on Digg and other sites.  On other sites, it can be hard to generate interest unless you’re already well known.  In other words, if you’re well known already, you’ll get plenty of “Diggs”. Thing is, if you’re well known already, you don’t NEED Diggs to help people find your content.

So, what’s the strategy for using StumbleUpon if you’re hoping to generate interest in your site or your other content?  It’s pretty simple.  First of all, submit your content to StumbleUpon.  You can go directly to stumbleupon.com to do it, or you can download a toolbar for your browser that will help you.  Then, review others content.  Don’t give random reviews that are not well thought out.  Find good content relevant to your own, and write good reviews.  After doing a couple of reviews per day, if your content is good you’ll find that more people are reviewing and finding your content.

Pretty simple.

Happy stumbling!

When my wife and I moved into our last home, the previous owner of the house left behind a dresser.  It was in acceptable condition, but it was horribly out of style, so I ended up using it for tool storage in the garage.  This old dresser made its way to our new house, where it soon became the bane of my wife’s existence.  She finally convinced me recently to get rid of the old dresser and replace it with high metal shelves that use our limited space better.  The dresser is a very low and wide one (six feet wide at least) and wouldn’t fit into our car, so I decided to take it apart and cut it into smaller pieces that could more easily be taken to the dump.  Upon taking out the drawers, I made a discovery.

Under one of the drawers I found stacks of papers.  They included letters to girls (never finished or mailed), letters FROM girls, greeting cards, information about applying for college, report cards, a book of matches, an empty carton of cigarettes, some high school newspapers, a folded Styx poster, a picture of a guy with a mullet (the former owner of the dresser?), and two pay stubs.  After looking through the papers, I found that they belonged to a teenager named Randy, who lived in Missouri in the mid 1980s.

Understandably, I was excited about my find.  Being a child of the 80s, it was much like digging up a time capsule.  Reading through the letters, I felt like a combination historian/voyeur.  I even started to make plans to use social media to locate the owner of these treasures. My good friend Jeff Kraus suggested I start a blog to find the guy. I thought it would be a fun social media experiment (I bet you were wondering how social media played into this blog post!)

Unfortunately, the fun took a dark turn when I found a small stack of papers with information about teen suicide.  I told myself that it was possible the materials were left over from a health class in school.  Then, I looked on one of the pay stubs, and found Randy’s social security number (how times have changed!)  I hopped on my computer, went to the social security death index, plugged in the number, and found out Randy died in November of 1994.  I don’t know the cause of death, but given that he was born in 1967, it was certainly premature.

So, we’ve finally come to my quandary. With the information I have (Randy’s high school, age, where he lived, etc.) there’s a chance I could use social media to find someone who knew him.  The question is — do I try?  Do I try to find someone who might want these letters and other materials? If a brother or child of yours died prematurely (perhaps at his own hand?) and someone randomly found some of the remnants of his life, would you want them? Is it ethical to reveal details about a person (whether deceased or not) to the world via social media, just because you’re trying to find them or their family?

Let me know in comments.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

The article, Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook, has some great stats about the growth of the number of Americans 44+ on Facebook.

According to Deloitte data, 2009 was the year that social media bloomed for Baby Boomers, with nearly 47% of them actively maintaining a profile on the social web, which is up 15% from 2008. Further driving home that 2009 was the year of the social BB is the fact that from 2007 to 2008 there was barely a measurable change — just 1% — in that demographic’s adoption of social media.

For another quirky finding, take a look at the percentage of “Matures” — individuals between the ages of 63 and 75 — who use Twitter regularly. Seventeen percent is actually quite high when you compare it with the percentages of the other demographic groups. Also of note is that nearly all the Senior social media users (90%) have picked up Facebook as a new hobby.

Fact is, Facebook is actually BETTER for people who are older than those who are 21 or 22-years-old.  Why?  Let’s take a look…

• Facebook is fantastic for sharing pictures of kids and grandkids.  What do people love to do more than show off pictures of kids and grandkids?  I say “not much”.  People 44+ are more likely to have kids and grandkids than 20-somethings.  The 21 and 22-year-olds only have pictures of parties to show off, and sometimes it’s best to keep those to yourself until you’re 44.
• People who are 44+ have had plenty of time to get over grudges with people from high school, and are interested in reconnecting.  In fact, by that age they’re probably interested in connecting with anyone from their hometown, particularly if they don’t live there anymore.  The 21 and 22-year-olds still have fresh wounds and grudges are are still very much active.
• People who are 44+ simply have more time on their hands.  If you’re 21 or 22, you’re still going out at night, perhaps dating or hanging out with friends.  Most people who are older than 44 are pretty much done with that.
• There are more adults in the U.S. who are older than 44+ than any other age group.  And, that age group has more of the wealth.  What they want … they take.

I’m not quite to the 44+ age group, but I can see it from where I am.  I us “old folks” should just declare that we own Facebook.  Those kids can keep texting.  We don’t want it.

This isn’t a complete textbook on Twitter, nor was it meant to be.  It’s merely some information to get you started.  Whether you’re just learning, or you’re a social networking pro, please be sure to follow me on Twitter, at @stevemullen!

A Primer on Twitter

While Twitter and Facebook have some similarities in what they’re used FOR (at least when it comes to business), the atmosphere at each is very different.  Using Facebook privacy settings, you can control who sees your posts.  On Twitter, everything is out in the open for all to see.  Additionally, there’s the 140-character limit to deal with on Twitter, which means posts are usually limited to a sentence or two and a link.

There is really only one type of Twitter account.  When you sign up, you have the ability to post a short bio about yourself and a link to a web site.  People tend to make the mistake of not filling these out.  They’re missing an opportunity to promote themselves that no one will begrudge them.  Advertising yourself in Twitter posts on a regular basis is generally a no-no, so plug away in the bio!

When you follow someone on Twitter, their updates show up in your “stream”, which is the list of your posts seen on the Twitter site when you click on “profile” at the top of the page.  When someone follows you, your posts show up in their stream.  There is NO obligation to follow someone back if they’re following you, but the fact that you don’t follow them back doesn’t stop them from being allowed to follow YOU.

There IS a way to protect your Twitter posts so that they’re not seen by everyone, but I don’t recommend using it unless you’re a minor (in which case you really shouldn’t be on Twitter anyhow).  The way it works is that new followers have to request to follow you, and you have the opportunity to approve or deny them.  I don’t understand why you’d want to do this on Twitter, and I never ask permission to follow anyone.  It seems very anti-Twitter.  If someone is particularly bothersome, you can unfollow them, and they probably won’t bother you.  If they’re REALLY bothersome, you can “block” them, and they won’t be able to see any of your posts or message you in any way.  If someone gets blocked by enough people, their account will be deleted from Twitter.

When considering Twitter, think of it as a giant all-inclusive networking meeting.  People are having all kinds of conversations, ranging from sports, to business, to industry news, to simple goofing off.  Whatever you want to talk about can surely be found on Twitter.  Joining in is simple.  On the Twitter website, hover your mouse pointer over the post you want to respond to, and then click on “reply”.  This will populate the form at the top of the page with @username.  Then, just type your message in 140 characters or less.  Putting an @ symbol in front of someone’s name on Twitter indicates that you’re talking to them.

Twitter has developed its own terms … some would say its own language.  Here is some Twitter terminology:

• Tweet: One post on Twitter.  If you say, “I just tweeted that”, you’re saying “I just posted on Twitter about that.”
• Retweet: Copying a tweet from someone else, and posting it on your account.  This has the affect of alerting your followers about the post.  It’s a way of rewarding a person who tweets something useful, witty, or simply interesting.  To retweet something, type “RT”, then the original poster’s username with an “@” in front of it (i.e. @sleep_better), and then their original post.
• Tweeps or Tweeple: Your friends on Twitter.
• Hashtag: A way of categorizing posts on Twitter.  To utilize hashtags, simply put the “#” symbol in front of a word. For instance, in every post I write about my area, Richmond, Virginia, I include the hashtag #rva.  Anyone who knows this hashtag will then be able to easily search for posts about Richmond.

Finding followers in Twitter is different than Facebook, mainly due to the lack of stranger anxiety and the fact that everyone can see your posts.  The first thing I always recommend to people is to write a handful posts.  When you start following people, they’ll check out your posts.  If there aren’t any, then they won’t be likely to follow back.  Also, if you write about your favorite topics, this alone is likely to gain you a few followers.  People out there have searches set up to automatically follow people who talk about certain subjects.  You’ll be amazed how one post on something like real estate can lead to a bunch of real estate agents following you.

The next thing to do after writing a few posts is to have Twitter search your email address book, just like Facebook does.  Then, do some searches for people in your area.  Try to figure out if your area has an established hashtag, and do some searches for that word.  You can also do some simple keyword searches (with or without the hashtag) that indicate your interests.  If you like golf … search for “golf”.  You’ll find golf enthusiasts, people giving information on how to play better, as well as some golf courses.

A note about spam: You will find significantly more on Twitter than on Facebook.  This is largely due to Twitter being more open than Facebook.  Remember that you’re under no obligation to follow someone back if they follow you.  If it smells like spam and looks like spam … then it probably is.  Either that, or it’s a legitimate business person who has no idea that he or she shouldn’t post a mess of advertisements on Twitter.

After doing some hunting and following people in your area … keep posting.  Followers will find you … I promise.

This isn’t a complete textbook on Facebook, nor was it meant to be.  It’s merely some information to get you started.  While you’re learning, please be sure to become a fan of EndGame PR on Facebook!

When you’re done reading this post be sure to read the sequel, A Facebook and Twitter Primer, Part 2!

A Primer on Facebook

The general idea of social media, whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, on a blog, or somewhere else, is to provide something of value that people want to consume — whether it’s an article, blog post, video, audio, or something else.  Before launching a social media presence, think about what you’re going to do with it.  That may tell you which site is best suited for you, or that none of them are.

There are a few different types of Facebook presences:

• The first type is the simple individual account. This is what you get when you sign up for the first time.  It’s primarily good for networking with people you know, and keeping in touch with old friends by becoming their Facebook “friend”. People generally don’t like to network with strangers on Facebook because one of the primary activities on Facebook is posting pictures of your kids, grandkids, house, car, vacations, etc. When you become a “friend” of someone, unless they’ve tinkered with their privacy settings, you can see all of their pictures and news about kids, grandkids, vacations, etc. People get nervous about showing these things to people they don’t know. I call this “Facebook Stranger Anxiety”. The other two types of Facebook presences (charted below) solve this stranger anxiety problem, but you MUST have an individual account to create either of the other two.
• The second type of presence on Facebook is a Facebook Fan Page. While it looks like an individual account, it allows people to network with a company or cause without the administrator/owner of the page having to reveal pictures of his kids, grandkids, etc. to complete strangers. People who have elected to become “Fans” receive all news updates that posted on the page.
• The third type of Facebook presence is a Facebook Group. For a variety of reasons, this is great for private organizations, but not great for publicizing a business.

Finding “friends” for an individual account on Facebook is relatively simple. With 350 million registered users, surely you know SOMEONE on the site! When you sign up, you can have Facebook hunt through your email address book and look for people you email who are already on the service. Additionally, you can search on Facebook for your high school, college, organization, or anything else, and surely find people you know. Once you’ve made a few friends, look at who they’ve “friended”. Chances are, you have a mutual friend.

When I launch a Fan Page (whether for myself or a client) the first thing I do after I’m finished is invite all of the “friends” from my individual account. The idea behind this is to start seeding the page. People who are friends of these friends may then learn about the Fan Page, and join as well.

What you post on Facebook depends upon what type of presence you’re talking about. On an individual account, if you’re not using it for business purposes, you can post anything you like. On a Fan Page, it’s best to stick to the topic. It’s NOT a place to advertise on a frequent basis.  That sort of thing will cause you to lose fans quickly.

The important thing to remember about Facebook is that it’s meant to be a community, while Twitter and LinkedIn more closely resemble networking events.  If you go to Facebook expecting that if you shout the loudest, more people will hear, you’ll soon learn that you’re using the wrong strategy.

Cliche’?

Sure.

True?

Absolutely.

Back in February, users argued with Facebook so much over who owns the material they post on the social networking site, the site was forced to amend the privacy settings it had just changed.  That change in privacy settings probably didn’t slow down Facebook’s exponential growth, but it left a lot of users with a bad taste in their mouths.

Now, it sounds like we’re having another round of issues with Facebook over privacy.  Recently, the site changed its privacy settings again, and asked all users to review them.  The site made recommendations on what settings users should utilize, and some are suggesting that if users take those recommendations, their personal information (pictures, videos, status updates, etc.) will be LESS private than before.  For an example of some of the reactions from the web, we go to Jason Calacanis, who suggests the company has turned evil:

Facebook proved again this week that they are either the most unethical or clueless internet company in the world. An amazing accomplishment since Facebook is also one of the most promising, and certainly fastest growing, internet companies of all time. Perhaps I’m being hyperbolic (who me?), or maybe they are a little of both, but the fact remains they screw up on important issues almost as if it’s a “best practice” to do so.

More negative reaction, this time from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Although sold as a “privacy” revamp, Facebook’s new changes are obviously intended to get people to open up even more of their Facebook data to the public. The privacy “transition tool” that guides users through the configuration will “recommend” — preselect by default — the setting to share the content they post to Facebook, such as status messages and wall posts, with everyone on the Internet

One suggestion is that Facebook wants more of this material indexed by its own search engine, as well as by Google, which will draw even more users to the already massively colossal social networking site.

I’m not going to begin to guess at Facebook’s motives for this change.  I will, however, speak to their execution.  It was done very, very poorly.  I walked myself the other day through the changes, and made sure everything stayed the way I originally had it set, because I knew that pictures of my kids, vacations, etc. were protected from viewing by everyone except my friends.  What Facebook should have done was give a clear explanation of what each user’s current settings meant, and what Facebook’s recommendations would change.  They didn’t really do this, or if they did you had to go digging a little for it.

Truly, it seems more people are losing trust in Facebook.  The minute that happens, you can expect to see more people doing what Dan Gilmor did.  He deleted his account.

Hat tip to Ragan’s PR Daily Newsfeed, which helped me with the research for this post.

I’m surprised at the number of people who have 1,000+ followers, but haven’t filled out the basic information that Twitter allows.  In fact, when I see an account with a mess of followers but no details, I automatically assume they’re playing the Twitter Numbers Game, and don’t follow the person.

Below are a list of five tasks that I feel are required for a successful Twitter account:

1. Upload a profile picture: If I see a brown square with two circles and a line, I know that’s not you and I wonder what you’re hiding.
2. Fill out your bio: How am I going to learn about you if you don’t tell me?
3. Provide a link: This is a chance to market your website.  Why pass that up?
4. Start posting BEFORE you start following: When I get a follow notification, I actually check out the new follower’s profile.  This gets time consuming, but I feel like it’s good courtesy.  It also keeps me from following people wholesale, which leads to having to unfollow people later.  When I check out a profile and it only has a couple of posts (or worse, doesn’t have ANY posts), I don’t follow back.  I suspect a lot of people are like this.  Before you start following people, write at least 5-10 posts so people know that type of Tweeter you are.
5. Get a custom twitter background: Anyone who has been on Twitter for a while can spot a generic Twitter background.  If you don’t have the graphic skills necessary to make one yourself, go to Twitbacks and get a free one.

Happy Tweeting!

PS – Once you’ve completed these tasks, follow me!

Somewhere in June [...] Twitter stopped growing, at least according to Compete. The same thing happened to Facebook (Facebook) at the exact same time; at first we’ve attributed the traffic numbers to the summer slumber, but now that Compete’s numbers for September are out, there’s no doubt that both Facebook and Twitter are no longer growing, at least in the eyes of the (admittedly US-centric) Compete.

Be sure to click over to the article, and check out the charts.  They paint the picture pretty well.

So, what does this mean exactly?  That’s unknown at this point, but there are several possibilities.  One is that it’s a blip on the growth chart.  That’s unlikely, as it’s a three month slowdown.  Another possibility is that it’s due to summer and vacations.  Unlikely also, since the slowdown (or even reversal) extends into September.

The final (and I think most likely) possible explanation is that we’re reaching the saturation point (at least in the U.S.) for social networking.  Most of the people who were going to join … have joined.

When you think about it, the saturation theory makes sense.  I frequently teach classes and lead workshops on how business owners can use social media and social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.  I always ask how many in the room use each site, to get an idea of how much explanation will be needed.  Generally, about 75-95% in the room use Facebook.  How many more are really going to sign up?  No product is ever going to have 100% penetration, even within its target demographic.  For example, there are plenty of people who don’t use email much or at all, even though it’s been an accepted business tool for more than 10 years.

My informal polls usually show 25-50% of the room using Twitter.  There’s obviously a lot of room for expansion, but will Twitter ever get significantly larger?  The site concept isn’t as easy to “get” as Facebook, and many people don’t like condensing their thoughts into 140 characters or less.  Many people will never be comfortable on Twitter.

So, if the saturation theory is correct … what’s next for these sites?  For Facebook, there aren’t many worries.  The company is profitable and 300-million users is nothing to scoff at.  For Twitter, the news isn’t as good.  The company is not making a single dime of its own money, despite their recent move to start posting ads on the site and recent infusions of venture funding.

While Twitter’s user base (estimated at 13 to 15-million) is quite healthy, if it stops growing, bad things could happen.  The most damaging scenario could be that a new competitor seeps in, starts growing, and becomes the “next big thing”.  Remember FriendFeed?  It was a big dog on the block once upon a time.  Then, Facebook came along.  Now, Facebook owns FriendFeed.

Several attendees requested a copy of my slide presentation, so I’ve posted it here.  Thanks for inviting me!

I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Twitter.  I’m not going to stop using it.  It’s not THAT bad.  However, my frustration level is definitely rising.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is auto-direct messages from people who are thanking me for following them and at the same time trying to promote their website.  That’s a gripe for a different day.

The reason for the frustration I’m talking about in this post is the number of people who seem to think there are shortcuts to using Twitter.  These are the people who blindly follow thousands of people, or pay one of these “get thousands of followers in just a few days” services to do it for them.

These people just don’t get it, and it seems like there are more of them than ever.

They don’t get that I can choose not to follow someone who obviously isn’t following me for my content or conversation.  It’s obvious that someone who is pushing alternative medicine from India (for example) and has five Twitter updates and 5,000 followers doesn’t really care who I am or what I’m posting.  I generally post on Twitter about PR, social media, and occasionally sports or some random stuff about my life.  This alternative medicine salesman in India is just using me in a numbers game, and I’m not participating in the game.

They don’t get that having 100 Twitter followers who actually read your Tweets is MUCH more valuable than 1,000 who are completely ignoring you.

I’m taking a pledge:

I do not auto-follow. I will not sign up for opt-in Twitter advertising. If you follow me, I will follow you back if your Tweets are relevant to me, you are posting interesting links, you seem like an interesting person, or you are local to me.

Who’s with me???