Quick Background on Social Networking
I always laugh a little when I hear the term “social networking” and people refer to it as if it is something new. Back in the early days of the internet we called it “community”. The networking part of it all took place on bulletin boards, people had profiles and we all interacted in a community type setting, a screen with a list of topics and responses. When you wanted to learn more about something you clicked on his/her name and read what he/she had in their profile. The profiles were nowhere as sophisticated as what we have on social networking sites now, but it sufficed to get to know more about the person.  In the new age of social networking, forums, or message boards as they are sometimes called, are still a way in which people interact in the online world, but sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a host of other sites have expanded the profile fields so now you can tell everyone everything you want down to what food you feed our dog and made it easy to post updates, ask questions and interact with fellow friends, family, alumni and colleagues. The tools are also a lot easier, no longer do you need to be a geek and know HTML code, as long as you know how to use your mouse and keyboard, and even your cell phone device, you’re a publisher/networker.

Social Networking your Company/ Business
The first question one needs to answer when thinking about how to use social networking sites to promote his/her business is, “What do you want to accomplish by engaging the audience?”. Do you want to generate leads? Do you want to stay connected with current customers to make them feel closer? Do you want to sell your product? Do you want to expand brand awareness? Do you want to generate PR? You need to answer the “what do you want to accomplish” question before you start. With out that answer it’s hard to build an execution plan.

The next question is how much time are you willing to devote or how much time do you have to give towards the effort? Can you give it 15 minutes a day or only 15 minutes a week? Will you be doing the updating, will another person in your company be doing it, or will you share the responsibility? One thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is that you will only get out of it what you put into it. Social networking is not magic, you do not just post your profile and all the sudden you are “social networking”. Anyone that suggests that is the case to you please refer them to me, I want to learn the magic because in over fifteen years of doing it I never found it to be a build it and they will come. It’s a build it and nurture it, plant some flowers, shrubs and trees, keep them watered and mulch each season to keep the soil moist and futile, then add some new flowers from time to time.

I’ll add one suggestion to help you answer the “who will be doing the updating” question. It’s my experience that you need to be authentic, if you’re authentic people will follow and listen to your updates. If you come off as “corporate” or not personal, it’s unlikely you’ll enjoy great success unless you already have demand for your product and you’re offering discounts and things. But, if you’re building your business people want authentic. Let me give you an example. Another family member of mine started using social networking about two years ago when I suggested it. At first he wanted to build a “company” profile and build it from there. I saw what he was doing and strongly suggested that he open a site as himself, put some of his personal information in there and be Matt (substituted name to protect the innocent) from His Company Name. Then people would get to know him, trust him as and expert and then port the “expert” status over to his company. It’s hard to do it the other way unless your IBM, Microsoft or some other large institution. He’s enjoyed a great amount of success with this approach and has gotten many leads that have already led to signed deals. Let me give you one other example, Zappos has a Twitter profile and while that is popular, what is more popular is Tony Hsieh Twitter account. Tony is the CEO of Zappos, he is Zappos and Zappos is him, people want to hear from other people, not entities. Getting Tony’s Twitter updates makes him and the company feel personal because you can read and feel a person behind the name.

I think that is enough food for thought for now, digest it and in the next installment, assuming you have the answer’s to all the above, we’ll cover is, “What social networking site should I use? Should I use MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or another?

—

From: John Doe
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:10:13 +0800
To: Brandon White <BrandonW@TidalFish.com>
Subject: Re: Account removed at Fishing Message Boards, Saltwater Fishing Reports, Freshwater Fishing Reports!

Firstly, TidalFish.com isn’t my bank, it’s not my ebay account, it’s not 401k administrator. I’m sorry if you believe otherwise but it’s a web forum. One of millions. With identity theft as rampant as it is, I’m surprised you wouldn’t understand my desire to put as few personal details out there as possible. I don’t know you or anything about your operations so I’m not going to give you personal information. And before you jump to conclusions, I’m not implying that you would intentionally distribute this info.

I’m sorry if you’re confused about “official capacity” but let me set it straight for you. You’re speaking to me in an official capacity as the owner of a business. I’m speaking to you in an unofficial capacity as an end user. If I was speaking to you about contract info as CIO then I would be speaking with you in an official capacity. See the difference?

And lastly, I find this whole situation a bit condescending to the me, the user. Yes I’ve been somewhat short with you, but have only done so in reaction to your ridiculous self important rules and your attempt to excuse them. I’m sorry but I will not continue this communication.

Sincerely,
John

———

We do not consider registrations on TidalFish.com as a “random web account” and we do require personal details. We do that for a reason, we want accountability with users who interact in our online community.

As a side note, it is a bit condescending to be talking with an owner of a business who took the time to write you back and suggest that this email correspondence/exchange is not in an “official capacity”.

I would also point out that you again did not sign your name to your email, which is not only rude given my response to you, but also bad net etiquette. It’s actually disappointing to me that an IT person who is acquainted with the net and represents professionals like myself would interact in this way.

Brandon

Wow, I have to say I didn’t expect to get such a nice and professional email back. Acctually I didn’t expect any email back. Thank you for addressing all my concerns.

And about my email address, it’s anonymous for a reason. Since this would be a random web account I feel the need to use a few personal details as possible. And honestly, I never expected to communicate with people through this address. It’s just your “rejection” email came to this address and it was convenient when I went to reply. Had this email been in an official capacity, it would have been different. This is the first time this email has ever been scrutinized as there is usually never a live person on the other end.

Thanks again!

—– Original Message —–
From: “Brandon White”
To: “John Doe”
Subject: Re: Account removed at Fishing Message Boards
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:46:59 -0400

Hi

Thanks for the feedback, we always appreciate help improving our service on TidalFish.com.
Let me address your concerns and let you know how we have improved things:

1. The text about free email accounts was in caps, however your suggestion about it being in bold is an excellent one. We made the text bold and it is above the fold in the screen describing our rules which appear on the first page of the sign up.
2. We apologize that you feel offended by the email that you received saying you were notified twice. We are going to change that email as to sound less offending.
3. The ‘Optional” word you refer to I looked into and I can understand why you might have been confused. The text read “Additional Required Information (option)” The fact that it said “Additional Required Information” I would take to mean it is required. However, I understand how the “option” could confuse some people. The option referred to a back end option. The word option has been removed to eliminate any confusion.
   

As an I/T manager who deals with spam you would understand that I received your email with a lot of caution.

1. Your user name in your email is John Doe which sets off all sorts of red flags
2. Your email is coming from a free email account which sets off red flags
3. You did not sign your email with your name which sets off red flags
   

I have been running websites on the internet since 1992 and have seen about all there is to see in the way of the evolution electronic communication. Your feedback was excellent an we appreciate it, it helped make our service better. My suggestion to you if that if you are going to communicate on the internet and be considered legitimate is to use a paid/company/professional email address and sign your name to your email so the recipient knows who he/she is talking to.

Thank you again for the feedback!

Brandon

_________________________________________________________
Brandon C. White | Chief Angler
TidalFish.com | All fishing, all the time!

---

From: John Doe
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:42:19 +0800
To: Brandon
Subject: Re: Account removed at Fishing Message Boards

Brandon,

First off I’m not angry that you have added this hurdle to obtaining an account at TidalFish. As I know all to well how much spam you have to deal with when running a website or domain for a company. What I am perturbed about is that I don’t feel I was adequately notified of this requirement when I registered. I’m a I/T manager and know the value of keeping your users informed. I am sure that you had some kind of note to this effect on the first screen as you said, but if you have filled out as many forum, web, email, etc, registration forms as I have, you’d know that most people just plow through them. If you’re going to setup something special that requires an extra step on the part of the user, you need to use BOLD type and Large Font, maybe a blinking red sign (overkill I know but you get my point). Furthermore I feel offended that you say in your first paragraph, “it was explained to you” twice, as if you’re chastising the user. Very bad form.

Also, on another note, what I do remember of your registration page, you had two drop downs that were described as “Optional” dealing with Shirt and Pant sizes. Leaving them blank gets you an error that you haven’t filled out the form completely. Don’t know if you want to rectify that but it’s kind of confusing when you call it optional.

Well I’ll keep this brief.

Thanks

> —– Original Message —–
> From: “Fishing Message Boards
> To: John Doe
> Subject: Account removed at Fishing Message Boards
> Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:29:39 -0400
>
>
> Dear Orkinman,
>
> Unfortunately your registration at Fishing Message Boards,
> Saltwater Fishing Reports, Freshwater Fishing Reports did not meet
> our requirements for registration. If you registered with a free
> email account such as a YAHOO, GMAIL, HOTMAIL OR OTHER FREE EMAIL
> ACCOUNT it was explained on the first screen during registration
> that we require you to send an email to register at TidalFish.com
> with: 1) YOUR REAL NAME , 2) MAILING ADDRESS, and 3) EMAIL ADDRESS
> YOU REGISTERED. The information requested would have only be used
> to verify your account.  It was also explained that if we did not
> receive the above information in 24 hours from the time you
> registered your account, your registration would be treated as spam
> and be deleted, which your account has been.
>
>   We apologize for the inconvenience.  This procedure has become
> necessary because of the amount of spam accounts we have been
> receiving from free email accounts which has been polluting The
> TidalFish.com forums/message boards with spam messages which we
> then have to go in, find, and then delete. This whole process
> disrupts the fishing conversations and fishing reports that take
> place on the message boards.  If you just missed seeing this
> procedure and still wish to be a part of TidalFish.com please feel
> free to re-register. We welcome other anglers and understand that
> it is at times necessary to use free email accounts so you do not
> have to use your work or home email. Should you choose to use your
> work or home email, rest assured that we do not sell, lend or
> distribute your information nor does any spammer have access to
> it,in fact all emails are hidden and people must use a form if they
> want to email another member, which you can even opt out of that
> feature should you choo
>   se. At most you will receive two newsletters a month, usually
> one, from us letting you know about what is happening on
> TidalFish.com. You may even opt out of receiving these newsletters.
>
> Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and hope you understand
> our desire to keep our site spam free. We hope that you will
> re-register and become a part of TidalFish.com, we are sure as a
> fellow angler you will enjoy it.
>
> Brandon
> Chief Angler
> TidalFish.com