WebRev Blog

Mashable had a great post over the weekend, listing the factors that make a tweet credible, according to researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University.  The data seems to confirm what we discussed  last week pertaining to networking and reciprocation, regarding the idea that there is a trend away from "following" or subscribing to a bunch of people online just to grow a network.  According to this study, this practice can actually be a detriment to perceived credibility, at least according to this study.

So what does work?

According to this same study, it appears some of the old-fashioned methods of gaining credibility may be seen as more valuable, especially in their fancy new "new media" clothes.  

At the top of the list of items which increase one's perceived credibility online are peer review and demonstrating that you are a subject matter expert in your field, along with backing your data with credible references.  These concepts have always been important in the fields of academia, literature, science, and journalism - whether in print or online.  Increasingly, they are finding their place into new media, and (at least indirectly) into the search engines, which are an important lifeline for young researchers.

Which brings us back to your website, your blog, and your social networks?  How can you increase your online credibility? 

1) Network with other industry experts.  Link to their quality content when it makes sense to do so.

2) Establish yourself as an expert in your industry by being the go-to place in your market niche.

3) Make sure the sources you link to are high-quality credible ones.

4) Be current in your delivery, but make sure your grammar is correct and your graphics are professional

What are the ways the people you follow online convinced you that they are credible?

In this ever-changing world of social media, it's important to keep up with what the "cool kids" are doing online. Or are the "cool kids" spelling that with a "k," now, as in "Kool Kids?"  I don't think we're supposed to call them "groovy" anymore, but I have noticed a resurgence in the term "hipsters," thanks to the occupy-everything movements. 

Well, whatever you want to call them, it's a good idea to keep up with the techniques that work.  Back in the good ol' days (circa 2009-2010), it was considered rude or in bad form online to simply use a social networking profile as another one-way broadcast medium.  Only huge corporations with established name recognition like Coca-Cola or people who were just impossibly cool like Hollywood stars could get away with having gazillions of followers or friends and not really following anyone back. 

However, as people tried to gain name recognition by "mutually following" everyone on the web, they found that their networks became full of people who were doing the exact same thing, and no one was really getting a lot of benefit out of it anymore.

Mashable started a good discussion on this over the weekend, specific to Twitter, but the concept also applies to Facebook or Google Plus or Pinterest, or whatever industry-specific social network you might be using.  It's important to remember what the PURPOSE of your social network is.

So what is the purpose of your social network?  Is it to drive traffic and links back to your blog? Is it to target your prospective customers, and give them a convenient way to communicate with you?  Is it to actually develop a meaningful relationship with old friends from school? Is it to build your online reputation so a Google search for your name returns positive results in your current job search?

As you can imagine, the people you will want to include in your network will be different depending on your primary reason for social networking.  If your only goal is blog traffic and links, then probably the old method of gaining as many followers as possible will work for you.  If you are trying to build direct communication with your potential customer or client base, you might want to limit your "mutual" following to people in that demographic.  If you're social network exists for personal reasons, you might want to increase your privacy settings, and network only with people you know personally.  If you're wanting your online profile to look great in a job search, you'll need to maintain a public profile, and be very careful about what photos and comments you let those old friends from high school tag you in  ;-) 

Those who have been reading my posts on the WebRev blog for a long time know I seldom use exclamation points in my titles.  But today is an exception, because I'm pretty excited about this new little toy I've found. 

No, I don't even get paid to endorse this product.  I wish I did, because I think it's going to be a pretty big deal.

We talk a lot here on WebRev about protecting and monitoring your online reputation.  Mashable did a post this weekend about How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates, explaining that according to a survey done by Reppler.com, the majority of recruiters surveyed looked at Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIN to screen out potential job applicants before they even called them in for an interview.  These interviewers were looking for things like poor communication skills, inappropriate behavior, and discrepancies between information given on the resume, and information given on social networking profiles in regard to job qualifications and experience (Infographic HERE).

So, I clicked on the link to Reppler.com, and was amazed at the information I was able to get about my online profile for free.  I did let them check my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN profiles, and felt the results were accurate based on what I have (and have not) been posting recently to those profiles.  You can sign up for e-mail updates daily, weekly or monthly.  I would recommend daily if currently seeking employment, and less frequently if not.  You can receive alerts about security and privacy "red flags," (e.g. if an app you've posted to your wall is known to have security risks), or "inappropriate content," (e.g. if a friend posts a link containing offensive language to your wall).  My overview is the first image shown above as an example.

The drop-down under "My Networks," is very interesting, and shows how many of your friends overlap between the social networking sites, how many are on each one, and what types of content they've been posting. The "My Impression" drop-down is the most informative, giving a tag cloud of your most-used words, a graph of your "likes," and suggestions for improving your online image. I've posted a screen shot of part of mine above as an example.

This is a very interesting and useful site - check it out!

Is this thing on?!

By now, perhaps you've seen the most popular grandparents on YouTube (above).  They were trying to video-cam with a beloved granddaughter, but didn't realize they actually had turned on the camera.  Beloved posted the resulting video on Youtube (isn't that precious), and as of the writing of this post, they have received over 6.5 million hits (with the help of the national news organizations).

Fortunately they didn't say or do anything on the video that was damaging (just very funny), but I have had friends who forgot their webcams were on, after they stopped using them, and some of the stories are a lot more embarrassing, or potentially humiliating.  This happens to be one of my greatest fears, so I never kept a webcam connected when I had the option.  Now that the video cameras are installed on most laptops, I keep a piece of electrical tape over the lens.  This tape will not damage the lens, can be easily removed, and keeps anyone from at least getting video if I accidentally turn on the camera (They could still get audio, of course, but oh, well). 

That photo wasn't for you!

It seems like once or twice a month we hear about some movie star or political personality whose private photos have been leaked to the public.  In some of the case, of course, a skeptic might wonder if the photos were leaked intentionally to drum up publicity for a diminishing career,.  For the rest of us, however, who really don't want the world to see our most embarrassing photos, the key is not to store those photos.  Just don't.  Photos are like secrets - they will always find a way to surface.  Keep those memories in your heart, and get rid of the photos.  That's my advice.  For those who think this is bad advice, at least don't store the photos on your "smart" phone, or any other blue-tooth enabled device.

Reply all...yikes!

By now most of us are familiar with that sinking feeling you get just right after you write a cleverly sarcastic e-mail in response to a more serious e-mail - intending to only send it to your one friend on that e-mail list, but hitting the "reply all" button instead.  Oh, you don't know that feeling?  Well, it's a terrible feeling.  It can be avoided by not using reply all.   That probably sounds obvious, but what I mean is get in the habit of always hitting "reply," or "forward."  Reply all usually ends up adding a bunch of people to your e-mail address book you didn't want on there anyway, so it's in your best interest to avoid using that feature whenever possible.  Plus, not being in the habit of using the "reply all" button will reduce your chances of using it by mistake. You can also reduce the chances of the people you e-mail mis-using the reply-all button by sending your mass e-mails using the "blind carbon copy (BCC)" option.  Even if your friend accidentally hits the "reply all" button, the e-mail will still only come back to you.

The above comic is from the Joy of Tech blog, and I got it from Mashable.  They've covered generally just about every type of avatar out there - in a mostly tongue-in-cheek manner. 

You probably know by now that you're going to need an "avatar," or profile picture for just about every social networking site on the web.  I personally recommend a good headshot for most business-related social networking, but many people are uncomfortable posting a photo of themselves, either because they don't like the way they look, or just because it feels too "vain," to self-promote.  Others have security or privacy concerns with posting their own profiles. 

Whether you choose to post a photo of yourself, or some other type of graphic, here are some things to keep in mind when choosing a social networking avatar:

If you have security or privacy concerns with posting your own photo, please DON'T substitute your own picture with one of your kids or pets.  They are more vulnerable and make easier targets than you do. 

Remember that your avatar is the way people will quickly recognize you and find your posts on the various sites.  DO choose something fairly unique to you, easily recognizable.  DON'T "change it up" every couple of weeks.  This just confuses people.

DO use something that represents you or your business.  DON'T use a celebrity or political figure.  This is technically illegal (it's a type of impersonation, even though it's seldom prosecuted because most people realize this is either done by fans or as satire).  It's also a common tactic used by spammers - who aren't planning to stick around under that profile very long, and are too lazy to come up with something original.  Finally, it shows lack of personal self esteem - not a good image to project if you're networking for business purposes.

DO be a square.  Many of the networks actually require you to crop your image to a square one, and a square one will work even on the networks that allow other shapes.  Having a good square image on-hand will save you time and frustration when you're signing up for a new site.

Finally, although this should be the most obvious, I'm amazed at how often I see this being done - DON'T use the site default for your avatar.  This screams, "I'm new to the Internet," which, in 2011 is not an image you want to project.  Take a few minutes to develop an avatar that works for you, and that you would like to use for a long time, and then use it.  Just do it. :-)

From time to time I need to start a new online profile from scratch, either for a client or for a new project of my own.  Did you know that it is possible to be on the front page of Google and the other search engines in 24 hours or less?  Here are a few simple steps to quickly get an online profile up and running.

1) Choose a unique name. If you choose a name already in use by someone good with SEO, or a common name already in use by a lot of people, there will be too much competition.  Choose something unique - even if you need to choose a unique spelling for a word everyone already knows.  Choose something short, so that people will be easily able to search for you on the search engines and social networks.

2) Sign up for Facebook, and customize your Facebook URL for your new online profile. Adjust your settings to make your new profile "public," so that people and the search engines can easily find you.  For a business or project, create a page; for a person, create a profile.  Facebook ranks  very high on the search engines, so this will show up almost immediately.

3)  Sign up for Twitter, and use your new profile name as the new Twitter ID.  Just as with Facebook, make your new profile public, and make a few relevant tweets.  Both the profiles and the tweets show up quickly and rank high on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

4) Purchase a domain name, and point it to your blog or website.  If you're a WebRevelation customer, Tim Short will take care of this for you, of course.  Make sure your domain URL matches the name of your blog for optimum digital profile management.

And there you go! You're well on your way to good online profile management in 24 hours or less.  Keep in mind that online profile management is not the same thing as optimizing your site to get traffic from the search engines (that requires a few extra steps).  The purpose of online profile management is making sure that when people search for you or your project by name they will be able to find you and good information about you and what you're doing online.