Today is Day Two of the conference in NYC. 

Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land (SEL)

Effectively Leveraging Social Networking

Cindy Krum, Blue Moon Works MySpace (MS):

Her clients set up business MS pages, and they then exploit all of the MS features (bells and whistles) in order to get users of their product to interact “with the company,” meaning with the company’s MS page.  Logos, events, About Us info, etc., can all be shared with your friends.  Again, this must be for friends that you do not see more intimately than with a web site page, but less than real friends that you would see in person or call. 

I don’t want to be unclear.  A stranger would not care that I am going to see “The Brave One” (with Jodie Foster!) this weekend, but my close friends already know that because I told them. “Told” as in face to face or by calling.  So my MS page would, as I read it, tell just those people that are closer than strangers, friends, but not really close friends,  Do I want them all to come see the movie with my best friends and me? No….

If I see the movie and then “share” my comments about the movie with my network, is that a good use of their time – following my doings and musings?  I don’t think so.  Unless people have a one-time, specific question about alternative search engines, Absinthe, or wolves, my opinions really have no value, in my opinion.

One negative about MS – it is labor intensive.  It takes time and some talent to set up a really good page, and it needs to be kept current.  Oh, and by the way, don’t forget to set up and keep current your FB page, your del.icio.us bookmarks, and don’t forget to digg and Stumble everything that you like as you surf.  I think this explains the demographics of these places - you need to have plenty of time on your hands, i.e. people in High School or college.  The founders of SU and del.icio.us, millionaires, talked about what they would “read later on their BlackBerry standing in line at the store” and stored video pieces that they Never have time for.

I wonder if someone will comment to this post and admit that they have, like me, bookmarked so many articles to “read later” that I will never read them later.  In truth, even if I had the time, they are stale after 24 hours anyway.

Second negative. Cyberstalkers.  Is the profile that you are interacting with the actual person?  “Maybe and Maybe Not.”

Links from FB, digg, SU, MS, del.icio.us,  and all the others can add up handsomely, if you have that kind of time on your hands.  If you don’t, hire a teenager to do it for you – seriously.

Helen M. Overland, Search Engine Marketing

Marketing on LinkedIn.  Linked (LI) is a professional networking site.

AT LI, your first circle of friends may be limited to people that you really know well and trust.  Then you second circle, your friends of friends, is probably in the thousands.  Then there are the friends of your friends of friends…

See: LinkedIn answers; display your expertise by taking the initiate to answers questions that others have posted.  Be careful not to be “spammy” and plug your own stuff (like I did with our new Job Board…).

With LI, you can search/research potential business clients and/or partners.

As for SEO, all LI links “count,” so they can help your ranking in the search engines.  Have  friends and co-workers link to your web site.  LI users spend more time on the site than FB.

Dave McClure, 500 Hats

Facebook (FB):  The goal is to create a good, relevant network that can then provide you with access to other, (more) influential people.  Tagging is important, as it alerts others who have claimed that same tag.  The dubious premise seems to be that they will want to be in your network, and that they will want to read your content, just because it shares one of their tags or is “pushed” at them via a feed.

You can also create groups for defined activities, e.g. an altsearchengines group on an SMX conference group.  Then the people in your network can see the various groups that you belong to.

And everywhere is the explicit assumption tat you want to share, share, share everything you do with your network.  What I had for breakfast, what I read this morning, a post I just wrote, what I had for lunch, a cool link, etc.  If I tried to share “my fascinating life” with my real world friends, I wouldn’t have any.

The rules seem to be different in cyberspace with virtual friends.

Tip: Danny Sullivan,  “Have you tried HateBook?” [www.hatebook.com] Excellent.

Danny is now Twittering Live on Twitter that he is Twittering Live on Twitter.  I kid you not.  I seem to recall the Monty Python skit, “The Upper Class Twit of the Year.”

The Bottom Line:

If I write a blog post that I really want people to see, should I email them (so 2005), update my FB or MS pages?  Twitter my friends (Hi! Go read my cool post!!)?  Get it digged or Stumbled – bookmark it on del.icio.us?  All of the above I’m sure.

This means that I should budget my time this way – 75% researching and writing the post and 25% “leveraging social networks” to get people to read it and create links back to it.

*That* is what this conference is all about.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 9:24 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.