Archive for LinkedIn

    Is there a social media rebellion in the works?

    Posted by: patrick | Comments (5)
    Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

    I read this great article last week about how people are popping a (virtual) cap in their own social media heads. Specifically it proposes the idea of going on hiatus every now and then – maybe a weekend here and there.  The entire point is brought home with this last paragraph. I have kept this in my draft email box all week and read it over and over. It is just a thought I really enjoy to absorb, and something that those of us that are extremely well connected online need to take to heart:

    “As a communications tool and feedback loop, social media is a powerful thing. But as a time-waster, it has lifted the art of spending endless hours on nothing you can recall later as being useful or important to an entirely new level. Yes, I’ll be tweeting away next year. But hopefully, less prolifically. Like Helliker’s brother Keith, I find talking to people so much more rewarding than tweeting at them.”

    Please take a look and let me know what you think in the comments below.

    Click here to read the original story

    Categories : Attitude, Facebook, LinkedIn, Networking, Twitter
    Comments (5)

    Free is awesome, but free dies

    Posted by: patrick | Comments (3)
    Monday, November 23rd, 2009

    I am all about the free stuff on the internet – especially in terms of online video and other tools considered to be in the sphere called “Social Media”. I’ve got free accounts all over the place. Ustream, youtube, flickr, etc. If I don’t have it and it is cool I’ll get an account in 30 seconds. Call me a sucker and I’ll agree with you – I am a sucker for anything free. And you should be too.

    But heed my warning of the free model apocalypse: Free is awesome, but free dies

    For the longest time I have been preaching that as cool as all of these free tools are, don’t bet your farm on them. Paid twitter accounts are coming ( I said it a long time ago ). YouTube is turning off the faucet to their free API. And you are going to see more and more of this in future. If a company provides a strictly free service online they will eventually crash and burn.

    It all eventually comes down to being in business, and part of being in business is making money. Period. Oh you might find some situations where someone has a loss leader, or they can funnel cash from a serious venture into the fun free one. But if all they have is free – make sure you can live if they up and disappear one day. Consider pumping money into a business than runs on the Freemium model – get a paid account and support some of the kick ass work that the company did to build such a cool service.

    Make sure you have a mental note as to what to do if something you use that is free disappears. Got video on YouTube? Make sure you have a local copy and you can jump over to Vimeo if needed (Yes also free). Ideally look into what it takes to eventually host your own video someday. Due this same risk management for anyplace where you get a good chunk of your free traffic. You know the old adages: Don’t take anything for granted, and don’t place all of your eggs in one basket.

    Now go out there and mooch off of as much free stuff as you can get your hands on.

    Categories : Facebook, LinkedIn, Online Strategy Excellence, Online Video, Twitter, Your Website
    Comments (3)

    Your LinkedIn Opinion: Would you find this offensive?

    Posted by: patrick | Comments (3)
    Thursday, April 16th, 2009

    I connect with people all of the time on the big three LI, FB and TW. When I connect to you on LinkedIn it means I like to have you as a connection, but I may not necessarily want to get constant updates from you – especially in my email inbox. That is my own private space, and I only let a few lucky people in there.

    I just had a very interesting incident happen to me. A couple of hours ago I received an email from a network member on LinkedIn. This was not to a group – it was specifically to me and several other people.  As “newsy/informational” as it looked it was definitely an ad. Red lights and buzzers go off in my. No thanks. The response I sent (via email, because that is where it came from was as follows:

    “This is not what I wanted when I signed up for linkedin. Please remove me from any of your future mailings.”

    The person I sent it to knows someone who knows my cell number. I get a call basically telling me that the original sender took offense to my response. He thinks that by being connected to me he should be able to email me whenever he wants. That is what a connection means to him.

    What do you think ? Would it offend you to receive what I sent above?

    Categories : LinkedIn
    Comments (3)

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