Social media

Before you think about suing a blogger…

….you might want to read this:

Libel in the Blogosphere: Some Preliminary Thoughts by Glenn Reynolds. It’s a free download. Only 14 pages long.

Although the paper was written in 2006, it is remarkably current.

Full disclosure time. Yes, I have a biased and vested interest in the idea of not suing bloggers. Take my comment with whatever size grain of salt you wish.

The biggest issue to consider is the pushback you may receive from the rest of the blogosphere if you even threaten a blogger.

A few minor points are that most bloggers don’t have enough of a deep pocket to make litigation worthwhile and you can probably get a near instantaneous correction with a polite request.

Back to the major issue.

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Jim Ulvog

Don’t quite understand those LinkedIn endorsements?

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

They haven’t quite made sense to me. Probably because of a complete lack of previous effort on my part.

Well, David Albrecht has a post that opens the door. Check out LinkedIn Endorsements and Accountants. He gives some background on the endorsement feature at LinkedIn. He thinks it is a good thing in terms of providing a basic level validation of your skill sets.

His comment: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

An illustration why you should gain control over your name on the ‘net, both through buying domain names and reserving your name at social media sights

Check out the web address www.senatorfeinstein.com. The address forwards to a blog.

You would think the blog is related to the senator from California, right?

Not so fast.

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Jim Ulvog

5 warnings on how technology can trap you

There is danger in letting any vendor have too much control over your life. That warning applies doubly so to software and double again for social media.

I have five different ways to tell this story. 

A simple change in rules or pricing can devastate you.

That big ol’ company can dump a software that doesn’t have enough customers for them to bother with but is mission critical to your operations. 

If some of those little things happen, you will suffer.

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Jim Ulvog

Don’t let your social media platform control you

There is danger in letting any vendor have too much control over your life. That warning applies doubly so to software and re-doubled for social media.

Don’t let your marketing be controlled by Facebook or MySpace or anyone else that can wipe you out with a rule change or by fading away.

Many businesses build their entire marketing campaign on Facebook. I even made that suggestion. Nonprofits can do the same.

One rule change can wipe out years of marketing.

Mark Schaefer explains the risk in his post, A cautionary tale: Putting your business in the hands of Facebook.

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Jim Ulvog

Always remember that anything you post in social media could one day be revealed to the world

Today’s lesson is that no matter how you set your Facebook settings, someone else could reveal your membership in groups.  Remember every day that anything you post in a social media space could eventually become public.

Say, for example, you are out-of-the-closet at college but your parents don’t know. You join a choir and the choir director announces your membership in a group whose very name announces your sexual orientation.  The public announcement of your membership to all of your Facebook friends is the first thing your parents know of your previous secret.

That’s the very short version of the story in the Wall Street Journal – When the Most Personal Secrets Get Outed on Facebook.

You are not the customer

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Jim Ulvog

Ideas for using social media in crisis management

Deloitte Australia has a good list of tips for the social media aspects of managing a crisis. Planning beforehand is key.  It’s better to do some planning before you have a disaster, but life sometimes gets in the way of planning.

If you find yourself in a mess, their ideas will get you started.  If you want to do some planning, they have some good ideas.

A few key thoughts:  (more…)

Jim Ulvog

The price of free apps is not zero

You may not hand over money for that cool app, but you might pay in other ways.

Like handing over personal information.  Or perhaps the personal information of your friends.

An article in the Wall Street Journal, Selling You on Facebook, reports on their research into the data obtained by a variety of Facebook apps. Many apps look for personal information, sometimes including your political or religious beliefs.

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Jim Ulvog

Three skills for living in a social media world

There will be three career fields in huge demand in the social media world. That is the idea Mark Schaefer presents in his blog, {grow}.

I discuss this in my post Three Skills for Living in a Social Media World at my other blog, Outrun Change.

At an individual level, I think these three careers point to skills each of us need to develop if we wish to function in a world dominated by social media.  The career fields and individual skills are: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Where to start on a social media policy? Simple starting ideas.

(cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)You and your staff are using social media.  That’s not going to change.

If you haven’t done so, it might be wise to offer some guidance on how to use all the great tools that are available.

A good place to start is a short discussion in the CalCPA September 2011 article on using social media for recruiting. (more…)

Jim Ulvog

You probably should check your LinkedIn privacy settings

(cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update)

Looked at my settings.  Much to my surprise, I found out I had opted-in to have my name and photo included in ads for products. Might be worth checking your settings.

First tidbit – social ads.  Technique of using your photo and name on ads shown to people in your network for items that you have recommended or followed.

Second tidbit – you have to opt-out of social ads.

How?

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Jim Ulvog