PR 101

I have been active in social media for about a year.  I have also sat at the (digital) feet of Simon Ford, a man I consider a true social media expert, and learned a lot. I am active on over a dozen sites – ranging from Facebook to Squidoo. I range over another dozen at least once a week.

Now, that’s all well and good. I know I am not unique in my use of social media. One thing that makes me unique is my age – I am 55-years-old. I don’t how many other baby boomers do as much as I do with social media.

I bring up age for a reason: Mrs. Cole raised a polite boy, one who knew his manners from an early age. Just as there are (or at least I hope there still are) rules for conversations, there are also social media rules. Ignoring some social media rules will only get your marked as a boor, ignoring others will get you marked as a spammer and ignoring still others can cost you a job. In some instances, if you are really stupid, it can get you sent to jail.

So here, in about 800 words, are Mrs. Cole’s son’s rules for using social media sites. I cannot cover them all, but I will hit the high points. Most of the rules are universal.

One thing – there is no privacy on the Internet. It is the price we pay for connectivity. Nothing ever really goes away. It is on the ‘net somewhere. The rule I always use is that if I would be embarrassed for my family to see it, I don’t post it.

There two general rules I want to tell you first, although I hope you already know them both.

• First, social media sites are not a popularity contest. You have already graduated from high school. So don’t try to add followers just because you think it’s cool to have a lot of followers. Followers, and those you follow, should be people with which you have things in common. Hopefully, you are on a site to talk, debate, learn and share information. It is almost never cool to push yourself. If you post something that attracts attention, others will repeat it. It is like all social media – third party endorsements are the best.
• Second, no spamming. You should not be using social media lists to sell the latest scheme for anything. As Social Traffic Inc. CEO Doug McIsaac says: “if you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, why would you do it to others?”

Oh, I am going to assume you know about the sites I am writing about. There will be no explanations of which sites do what.

Let’s start with the rules for Twitter:

• First – use your real name, or some variation thereof. I follow people with real names; I usually won’t follow @stonerchick88 or @studman. Why aren’t you using your real name? What do you have to hide? And, if you use a dumb nickname, I will assume one of two things: you are about 12-years-old, or you are spammer. In either case, I am not interested.
• Second, post a link and a bio. Again, I assume if there is no information, you are hiding something. As a side note, if your link leads me to some get rich quick scheme, I will block you. Pictures, while not required, are also nice. I like to see to whom I am talking.
• Third, tweet at least once a day or so. If you ask me to follow you, and you have not tweeted since George W. Bush was president, I am not interested. It means you have nothing to say.
• Retweet what others have to say, it ‘s common courtesy.
• I don’t give a damn what you had for breakfast, or if your dog has gas.

Facebook

• I know Facebook is a little more, how shall I say, homey. People do talk about breakfast, flowers, and their dog’s intestinal upsets. That’s fine. Just don’t get upset when I ignore that.
• For all you students out there, do not, I repeat, do not, post pictures of you smoking a joint at that wet t-shirt contest. Potential employers check Facebook before making hiring decisions. You think they are going to hire you if they have pictorial evidence of you doing something stupid? And don’t gamble on taking everything down in your senior year. Nothing is ever secret on the Internet. The rule of thumb is if you want Mom to see it, don’t post it.

LinkedIn – this is my favorite social media site. You have to be adult to be on it. It’s rules are strictly enforced by both its moderators and it members. Still, there are rules, including:

• Complete your profile. I have picked up clients because people have read my profile.
• Generally, it is common courtesy to link in with someone who asks. Contacts are at the heart of LinkedIn, so honor the requests.
• If you join a group, it is good manners to comment on discussions and answer questions. That’s what linking in is all about. It is a discussion group, after all.

If you really like what someone is doing, recommend them. It tells others that this is a good person.

YouTube – This one is pretty simple. Don’t post any videos you don’t want a future employer to see. Just like Facebook, employers check YouTube. Of course, we have all read the stories of people committing a crime. For some unknown reason, they feel the urge to record it and post it on YouTube. I personally think the sentence should be doubled because of the stupidity of it all.

There are a number of other sites – Digg, Squidoo, Technorati, and FriendFeed to name a few. The basic rule for all of them is showing some respect for others. And be yourself, but don’t be a jerk.

Thanks for reading. Next week, I will be talking about the do’s and don’ts of media training.