WebRev Blog

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. :-)

There are avenues springing up on the web, for retailers to get their customers to network on their behalf.  In the good ol'days (circa 2005), you had to rely on getting lucky and having one of your posts or videos go viral to really make social media pay off directly.  (The true rewards are somewhat intangible and difficult ot quantify.)  But now, you can benefit for spamming your friends' newsfeeds.

Just for the record, when I start seeing "spammy" posts show up in my friends' Facebook or Twitter feeds, I block the app when that's possible.  When that's not possible (i.e. on Twitter), I either "hide" that person ( on Facebook) or "block" them if necessary on Facebook and the other sites.

I don't need to know what products my friends like, and now that I know they're most likely either getting paid or at least receiving free or discounted merchandize in return for recommending the services, their recommendations are meaningless to me.

While I would like to think that this is going to be3 a short-lived "fad" in social media, I remember the blog roll, and some people are STILL doing that in spite of evidence that it actually hurts their blog traffic.

So, one of these new companies capitalizing on the astro-turfed "word-of-mouth" trend which is getting some attention this week is  500Friends.   The concept is that companies can spend a portion of their advertising and marketing budgets on rewarding happy customers for "social actions," (tweets, Facebook updates, etc.), because everyone knows that word-of-mouth usually tends to skew negative.

The problem with this is that no one really has 500 "friends."  If he has 500+ connections on a social network, he's probably a really good networker, but it is unlikely he knows those 500+ well.  And it is unlikely that those contacts added him to their respective feeds to hear about what soft drink or online travel agent he uses.  If his tweets get too spammy or off-topic, they simply aren't going to read him anymore.  He'll be dropped from lists and feeds, and may not ever really understand what happened.  More and more of the social networks are now giving your friends a way to ignore someone without actually dropping him as a friend, so it's hard to know who is really paying attention and who isn't.

My advice?  Enjoy your favorite retailers, wear their T-Shirts, and it's even fine to occasionally tweet your undying affection, as long as your friends can tell you're just sharing your unsolicited joy - not getting paid or rewarded for spamming them.   

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

Do you remember your first answering machine?  I remember ours.  It looked a lot like the one above, posted on Flickr by Target Man 2000. I say it was "ours" because we had ONE for the whole family.  We only needed one, of course, because we all shared the same phone.  But this answering machine was the key to FREEEEEEDOMMMM!

That's right - there was no more waiting at home by the phone for someone to check in - the machine would get it.  The machine was the first thing we would check when we got home - or finished dinner- or came inside from playing outside (we used to do that).

When I got older and had my own place with my own phone that answering machine was my friend.  It let me know if anyone (read "that special someone" - whoever that was at the time) was trying to reach me.  It would tell me if I had any missed calls, and when I did get a special message, I could save it on that cassette tape for all of eternity - just to hear that wonderful voice over and over.  Well, until I found another voice I liked better, but I digress.

That machine gave me control over my social life.  If I just didn't feel like talking to someone, I could choose not to without being rude.  And they did the same to me.  In fact, after a while, I got where I would actually HOPE that some of my "friends" would not pick up so I could just leave them a quick message on their machines without having to have an entire conversation.  Uncomfortable messages were often left on the answering machine - both to avoid the awkwardness of saying what needed to be said in person, and also so that the actual message could be "documented" and played back accurately later (it helped with the he said / she said disputes). 

Your outgoing answering machine message was very important, and it told people a lot about you.  New couples would celebrate their shared domiciliage by recording a message together.  They were so cute.

So, anyway, I was reading this CNN Tech article by Mashable's Pete Cashmore, 10 Fascinating Facebook Facts and What they say about Us. Interestingly enough, people are using Facebook now to get the control over their social lives that we used to seek with our answering machines.

Facebook now allows us to maintain contact with people who annoy us - without actually having to talk to them.  We check Facebook as obsessively as we used to check our answering machines.  Parents keep track of who their kids' friends are on Facebook, now, instead of screening the answering machine.

Yes, Facebook is the new Answering Machine.  I wonder what will replace Facebook?

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

 So I'm doing maintenance on a client's Twitter account, working away at a leisurely pace, unfollowing old accounts and those which declined to follow back, minding my own, when BAM! The above error appeared at the top of the page, and I couldn't do anything else under this account on Twitter.

An hourly usage limit?!

I had never heard of such a thing, so I did the obvious thing - I Googled the error message.  Seems other people are getting it, too, and even Twitter doesn't know why.  Well, that's somewhat of a relief.  Twitter does have some anti-spam limits in place, but the people who are getting this "hourly limit" message aren't meeting those.  Some are using third-party applications, and some are just using Twitter directly when it happens. 

An hourly usage limit for legitimate users would just be funny, and will most likely never be imposed by Twitter or any other social network (this would be counter-productive).  Hopefully Twitter will get this resolved soon.  I did eventually get back in, and finished what I was doing on my client's account.  While we're on the topic of Twitter limits, however, here's those anti-spam limits.  You'll want to avoid these if you're setting up a new account in order to avoid appearing to be a spam account:

• Direct Messages: 250 per day.

• Updates: 1,000 per day. The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are counted as updates.

• Changes to Account Email: 4 per hour.

• Following (daily): Please note that this is a technical account limit only, and there are additional rules prohibiting aggressive following behavior. You can find detailed page describing following limits and prohibited behavior on the Follow Limits and Best Practices Page. The technical follow limit is 1,000 per day.

• Following (account-based): Once an account is following 2,000 other users, additional follow attempts are limited by account-specific ratios. The Follow Limits and Best Practices Page has more information.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

The 3D virtual worlds are giving many people who have great vision but (in some cases) not so much dexterity the ability to create amazing works of art - beautiful, inspiring, silly, funny, etc..  KoinUP is a showcase for art created by users from all of these various virtual worlds (Second Life, Blue Mars, Movie Storm, World of Warcraft, etc.).

In most cases, users have taken either in-world photos, videos, or screen shots of their own avatars in sims they or others have created, then manipulating those photos or videos with photo or video editing software.

There is also a social networking component to the site, in that users are able to join groups, make friends ("contacts"), vote ("favorite") each other's work, and comment. 

I've included above a widget showing off some of the work from the "Evocative Landscapes" group.  There are many other groups focusing on avatar design, fashion, story boards, sims, color, humor, and much more.  Whether you're an artist, or just appreciate art, this is a great place to go see what is now possible in virtual 3D.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

I finally stumbled on how to do something that I've been seeing people do on Facebook for a while, now.  While "tagging" your friends in photos and notes is a rather straightforward process (just use the "tag" menu), doing the same in posts is not.  I had read the instructions, but still didn't understand how to do it.  When you "tag" someone, that person receives a notice from Facebook telling him or her that they've been tagged in your post, link, video, photo, or whatever.  It's a way of sharing things on your own wall, while still notifying your friend that you're sharing something with our about them.

To tag a friend in a post (status update, or video), you'll need to type the "@" sign in the post entry box, then the first couple of letters of the person's name on Facebook.  A drop-down menu will appear, so that you can easily click on  your friend's name.  That person's name will then appear as a hyperlink to his or her profile on your post, and your friend will receive a notification from Facebook of the tagging.  Note, that this feature does not work in the comments thread.

An example is shown above of the process.  Have fun!

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking.