The news of Kanye West disrespecting poor Taylor Swift on stage which resulted in Taylor Swift crying back stage was spread like wildfire on all the major social networks.

Before Kanye or his PR management team could control the fire and backlash, the news had spread so rapidly that no response from Kanye’s camp came until hours later from Kanye’s blog.

Could of Kanye spoke out and responded to his actions portayed on T.V before it got out of control?  Before we determine that lets recap for a moment for anyone who has forgotten or hasn’t had the opportunity to watch what happened at the M.T.V VMAs last night.

Photo credit AP

Taylor Swift had won the award for Best Female Music Video and went on stage to accept her reward when Kanye West bursted on stage, grabbed the mic and proclaimed that Beyonce had the best video of all time.  This of course left Taylor Swift stunned and motionless while MTV cut away the cameras leaving Taylor Swift a no show on her award speech, which btw was her first ever VMA award.

The Twitter Attacks

Soon afterwards, the Social Media retaliation mob started in full effect most notably with the celebrities voicing thier opinions about Kanye West which @Ijustine proclaimed over 300,000 Tweets in just one hour about the Kanye incident.

Well incase no one knows, Kanye West doesn’t have a Twitter account due to the fact he went on a rampage removing all imposters of his name on Twitter and has proclaimed he will never use Twitter.  More could be read here on his own blog.

Kanye did however blog about his apology hours later.  The only problem with a blog is that its only seen by the Blog Followers/Subscribers and is not an instant broadcast like Twitter is.

*Update*  This blog article has since been removed.  Just another reason why Kanye needed a Twitter presence.

The Social Media Rule

This is Social Media 101 folks.  Social Media is used to keep your online brand management under control and to monitor effectively.  Without having a proper online management, Kanye was left without a Voice to correctly address the problem and provide a solution.

Having a Twitter Account Kanye will benefit you by:

• Increasing Brand Awareness & Online Presence to of course gain more exposure for your ego driving force there Kanye.
• Increasing Reputation Management to handle the misunderstood press releases and news media out there.  Also provides you a way to voice your own side of the story straight

Instead you get attacks like these from various Celebrities on Twitter.

Kanye should rethink his Twitter presence

So Kanye we all know how much you love to voice your opinion but to really ban Twitter and not use this great Social Media tool in your online management and PR arsenal is such a waste and your PR manager should be fired.

For a person who loves to show how much of a voice he really carries ironically doesn’t have one in the Social Media sphere.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Why Kanye West Should Of Had A Twitter Presence At The VMAs

Engage & Connect

So now you have all thje major Social Networks in your portfolio…Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIN, now what?

The biggest common mistake out there is when people sign up for Social Media and are not active on there or better yet develop a stasis lock and waits for something to happen.  This isn’t dating and in which dating rules apply you have to make sure the time is right before you make the first move.

There is no waiting for the perfect time to make the first move, anytime is a good time to make the first move.

Why Make The First Move?

The worst thing you can do is just have your Social Media profiles just sitting idle, collecting dust.  It will be a waste of time and conform to the myth that Social Media is a waste of time.

• Be Proactive

Don’t be afraid of rejection or feeling scared to engage people.  Quite often or not you will find most of the time that people on Social Media networks are generally receptive and engaging when you first contact them

Contacting people first opens up a Social Engagement and shows the recipient that you are providing value on your Social Media profile and validating that your not some spammer or non-active user.  What people hate the most are Spammers and users who just sign up for Social Media profiles but don’t provide value or any updates.  It’s like buying a Nintendo Wii because everyone is buying one but just showcasing it to the world without actually opening the box and playing with the system.

How To Maske The First Move?

Facebook / LinkedIN

• Join groups that fit your interests and niche – If you like surfing, then search for Surfing groups.  Find groups that can benefit you by networking and sharing the same interests.  An added bonus when joining groups, you will make new friends and it’s ok to friend request people in the same group as long as you indicate that in your message.

• Comment on your friends status updates often – Don’t wait for them to comment on yours, you make the 1st move.

• Friend new people – Proactively try to find new people to friend whether it be the ones Facebook suggest, Groups or manually searching.  More exposure the better and you can’t go wrong with a large network especially now since Facebook allows you to customize & label your feed stories so it won’t be too much noise in your streams.

• Facebook chat – Try often to just Instant Message someone on Facebook just by saying hi, this will open up conversations.

• Suggest a friend

• Wish Happy Birthdays

• Become humble and ask questions – Ask questions often, often we see self indulged narcisstic marketeers that get no respect because they are all about them them them and not enough of letting other people take charge in conversations.

• Join Q&A discussion threads – This tactic gets quite often overlooked but it’s so easy to do, especially in LinkedIN.  Find Question & Answer boards and actively answer questions or ask questions on here.  The point is to engage the community so they can either respect your authoritative responses or help you out and both ultimately providing you with meaningful relationship building.

Twitter

• Follow new people – Find Twitter directories like Twellow or Wefollow and again follow your niche and community, by reaching out to follow them first you can start building your follow empire and community.  Waiting for people to follow you will be the long and hard route so why not take the proactive approach.

• Ask open ended questions – Again often on Twitter people who don’t ask questions arent really engaging correctly and will have a hard time building quality relationships.  Try asking open ended questions and see how the responses are and more than likely great conversations will come about.

• Engage Twitter comments with full replys Just because you reply does not mean your actively engaging in quality manners.  Don’t be lazy and show some decency by replying back with full engaging replys so hopefully you can build quality relationships down the road.

• Retweet The art of retweeting is just to acknowledge the influence and authority of your friends on Twitter.  They will highly appreciate your Retweet

• Follow Fridays It may be a fad but theres a reason behind this madness, its to promote your friends and also become the influencer to your current followers,  The more quality people you recommend the more influence you gain.

• Recommend Friends Start promoting your friends and recommending ones that you admire, chances are the recipients will greatly appreciate that since you are adding value to them.

So like AT&T’s old slogan used to be “Reach out and touch someone”

Post from: Social Media Vision

This isn’t a date – Make the 1st move in Social Media

The growing topic on Twitter and the Blogosphere is how Online Marketers are becoming very bitter with the increase competition in Social Media Marketing.  You may have witnessed statements like “Everyone is a Social Media Expert” or “I hate how everyone thinks they are a Social Media Marketer”

Put Away The Social Media Hatorade

There seems to be a lot of animosity going on lately but the Top Social Media Strategists in the Web 2.0 world doesn’t seem to care to be affected by this battle.

The truth of the matter is this and its quite simple really.

“Social Media Marketing is the new standard and instead of fighting it, we must embrace it or be left behind”

Embracing Change

Remember back then in the DOT.COM boom where supposedly have a Dot.com business will make you MILLIONS & MILLIONS of money for everyone!!!  Well of course we found out the hard way just because we got online does not mean it’s instant cash.  Keep in mind everyone back then was gunning for a dot.com business, it was a race more or less.  Back then, entrepreneurs were hating on the competition and wanted to be the first to win the race.  However, the race and dot.com business bubbled and simmered down and now everyone is online.

The same concept applies to this day, who cares if everyone is using Social Media Marketing tactics.  Guess what, this is starting to become the normal practice and eventually everyone will use Social Media Marketing tactics in their business.

This is Business 101 folks, instead of being paranoid and bitter about competition.  Embrace competition and find ways to improve yourself and focus on how to be successful rather than pouting and complaining because your Mother is right, “It won’t do you any good”.

So what can we do while the Marketing Revolution shifts and starts conforming the entire world to this new change?  Instead of whining about the competition lets focus on these aspects, shall we:

• Start building your online presence in full affect to get a head start from your competition who hasn’t signed up on board with Social Media Marketing yet.  We are at an advantage while most people are afraid to embrace this new change, why not start building a great gap in your head start before your competition wises up and hops on the bandwagon.

• For your current competition who use Social Media Marketing now, constantly learn and read new things on how to improve your current marketing methods,  You can never learn too much.  Also, learn from the best even if it’s your direct competitor.  Just like Microsoft and the great painters in the world, they steal great ideas, upgrades it, and make it their own.  Sometimes to be successful you have to mirror the best but make it your own.

So let’s all put away the Social Media Hatorade and re-focus our efforts on how to be successful instead of focusing on things we can’t change.  Social Media Marketing is here to stay and we can either embrace it or be left behind.  Whats your decision?

Post from: Social Media Vision

Put Away The Social Media Hatorade

Is Social Media a fad?

Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?  We are definitely in the Generation Now and you have to be oblivious to believe that Social Media is not the new precedent in marketing.  The powers of Social Media below…enjoy!

See Social Media Poll

Statistics from Socialnomics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think

Post from: Social Media Vision

The Social Media Revolution: Statistics show Social Media isn’t a fad anymore

Social Media Scene Kids

This is a Fun Post I am merely writing about due to the fact of “Web Stereotypes” out there, it came about when I overheard people discussing about how they dislike “Group A” so much and how they can’t stand “Group B” in a local Starbucks.  So In my head, I was thinking wow those adults are Scene Kids, I chuckled a little bit and thought I would write a fun post about it.

What is a Scene Kid exactly?  While there any many variations and definitions of the “Scene Kid”, to sum it all up is simply a term used for Teens who follow the “scenes” or “trends” thus making them seem cool by association.

Whether its a current music scene, clothing trend or attitude style, the point is forming a common clique of unique individual friends trying to seem like they “Don’t Conform to the Norm” and they do things “Uniquely”, thus making them appear an outcast snob.

Social Media profiles are mainly dominant with the Adult Generation so the term “Kid” may not apply here but applying the same perception of “Scene Kids” can be found in alot of Social Networks out there from what I see.

Cliques & Labels

Regardless in any community, there will be cliques and in Social Networks, cliques are surprisingly abundant.  If you notice on Twitter for instance, you can pretty much tell who your Followers are in a category of Tweets.  Some could just Tweet about Art & Design, others are your Video Gamers and Coders, while maybe some are just your Typical Bloggers.

There are even Twitter Directories like WeFollow.com that strongly suggests all Twitter users to label or categorize themselves on there.  So in essence Labels, Cliques and certain stereo types are not new to the online world.

However, the Social Media Scene Cliques out there are becoming more and more popular.  It’s funny you can go to a local Tweetup and point out all the “Mommy Bloggers”, “SEO Heads” and the “Internet Marketers” all in one fell swoop.  Lately there has been some beef with the Mommy Bloggers and the so called “True Bloggers” calling out the Mommy Bloggers as sell outs.  Also lets not forget about the so called “True Bloggers” getting called out as sellouts too with the whole K-mart contest.

Regardless of where you stand on certain cliques and groups, there out there and many are sticking to their groups and niche streams where users on Twitter may not follow-back or even try to find new people to follow if they are not in a certain niche.  Now you may call these Twitter users snobs but I call these users Social Media Scene Kids because no matter how cool they think they are by sticking with certain cliques they are actually limiting their Twitter community and sphere.

—————————————————–

Celebs – These guys are the exception to the rule because they mainly are known to be snobby because of their fame and craft.  However keep in mind Celebs can become Scenesters too when they just join to be cool like Ashton or if they just joined because everyone else is doing it but hasn’t updated their account in months.  (They mainly follow other Celebs, News and close friends)

SEO – The famous SEO Heads.  These Twitter users talk nothing but shop on SEO and how cool they are when they find new SEO white and black techniques.  They will occasionally talk about blog headlines and Art designs but rarely go off topic on their craft.  (They mainly follow Tech, Business & Internet Marketers/Social Media)

Bloggers  - The main core of the Web 2.0 & Social Media world is of course the main stream bloggers.  Regardless if you are a mommy blogger, pro blogger or even a news blogger, you make up the most % of Twitter users.  The followers & friends can vary largely but some bloggers still stick with other blogger networks.  The Blogger Scene Kids out there hate being sold to by Internet Marketers & SEO guys.  The love finding fresh, new Articles so they can read and Retweet to friends.  (They tend to follow the Social Media Rockstars, Internet Marketers, Bloggers, News/Aggregators, Tech, PR)

PR -The PR scene kids are popping up more and more lately.  The PR online users are in Journalism, Marketing and of course Public Relations.  A vast majority out there are recent graduates or currently in school learning about the PR business through Social Networks like Twitter and LinkedIN.  Now many users may have witnessed that the PR users rarely follow any other crowds besides their own niche.  These guys are hard working individuals but can clearly miss the big picture of Public Relations and that is to be involved everywhere in the community. (They tend to follow other PR professionals, Journalists & Celebs)

Twitter – The Twitter fans are hardcore fans.  They constantly debate against Facebook & Myspace.  They often say things like “In before Oprah“, are avid Tweetup members and love to boast about the latest and great Twitter Apps out there.  Its kind of hard to establish whos a Twitter Scene Kid because Twitter is becoming so mainstream but the true Twitter heads will definately let you know they are one. (They tend to follow Tech, Social Media, Bloggers)

Designers – I personally love these guys because they tend to be open in who they follow and follow back but just like the SEO guys, they love talking about their own craft.  The graphic artists rarely follow other mainstream bloggers and could care less in retweeting a blog article on Social Media however they love cool and interesting articles like Design, Themes, Music and Tech.  (They tend to follow Designers & Tech)

Marketers – The Marketers are rarely Scene Kids due to the simple fact they will follow everyone and friend everyone that will at least listen or view thier business.  These guys are your main hustlers on the net ranging from E-books, MLM MArketing, Get Rich Quick and any other online business that you can think of.  Sad to say the true “Marketing” professionals have been shifted to either PR or Social Media.  (They tend to follow everyone)

Social Media – The Social Media scene kids are arguably the most common trend out there.  Social Media is the new hype in the online world out there as many variations and classifications can be implemented in this class.  There has been an increasing number of so called Social Media experts and gurus out there which makes the Social Media scene kids #1 in becoming scenesters.  Reason being behind this is due to the simple fact they want to be surrounded only by other Social Media like minded individuals, read information solely on Social Media and the ability to re-tweet other Social Media users on Twitter. (They tend to follow Social Media Rockstars, Bloggers, PR, News)

Tech – The classic Geeks & Nerds of the online world.  The Tech geeks really love Tech stories with occasional stories of Social Media, Art & SEO.  Anything cutting edge or computer related will grab these guys attention and with that you do have Scene Kids where they believe they are superior to the rest of the online world.  These are your classic Tech nerds where they will put you down for not knowing about a certain subject.  Within this group there are min sub groups that are in conflict as well.  For instance the Digg heads vs the other Social Bookmarks and event he most famous MAC fans vs PC fans.  Expect this group to be the most in conflict with other users (They tend to follow Tech, Seo, Social Media & Design)

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Media Scene Kids

Card.ly

I wrote a post a while back on MeeID a simple web ID profile similar to Retaggr.  Well now there is a new entry in the mix, Card.ly is a new online web profile that displays all your contact information and social profiles into one unique looking online profile link.

Card.ly is a site thats main purpose is to allow you to have your own mini business card profile, without needing to have any design or programming skill. We will host it for you also. Most parts of the site are free as well.

The Features:

• Personalized link to establish more of an online presence and exposure - http://card.ly/examplehere
• Emebedablle option to display on website and blogs
• Simple and Elegant with many designs to choose from
• Free & Premium designs available
• Perfect link for your 1 stop shop on your Twitter Profile to be your online hub to all your other services and sites you own
• Add any link you can think of

With all the VCards out there and even Facebook, Card.ly is still a solid simple choice for your online hub of profiles.  I especially have seen it very popular on Twitter profiles recently instead of people placing their Facebook or other links.  Definitely grab the personal vanity url if you are into SEO and exposure if anything else.  Enjoy!

Post from: Social Media Vision

Card.ly the new player in the online business card profile

Power Twitter 1.0 Review

New Firefox Addon Power Twitter just released a new version 1.o that is making headlines all over the Twittersphere lately.

Narendra Rocherolle over at 83 Degrees created this Firefox Addon found here.  (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9591)

This new Addon allows Twitter users to use some strong features within Twitter to become more of a Power User for Twitter.  Most recent famous Twitter Stars that associated with Power Twitter were Techcrunch, Problogger and Twitter founder Biz seen below.

The Hype

The Features

1.  Twitter Search Improved

Power Twitter enables a better call-to-action with the new location of the Twitter’s Search feature.  Not only is the main search feature moved to the sidebar but also you can search within a Twitter user’s specific timeline if you click on their profile.  This is a great feature that makes searching for content more accessible.

2.  Tweet History 

With Power Twitter installed you can now mouse-over a user’s profile picture in your Twitter stream to showcase a Tweet History of that user.  This is really effective feature because you can now keep track better of previous Tweets from your favorite Twitter friends.  I find this extremely necessary when you have more than 300 friends to follow.  This option may not be as organized as Tweetdeck’s group feature but still does the trick in keeping up with your priority friends on Twitter so you won’t feel guilty in missing a Tweet.

3.  Facebook Status Updates

This is a cool new feature where you can see your friends on Facebook status updates.  You can’t really respond or update your own Facebook status with this new tab in your sidebar but does keep you in the loop with your Facebook updates which might be handy.

4.  Embedded Pictures and Videos

Now this feature is really handy because now your Twitter stream will show you the Videos and Pictures that are linked on Twitter now instead of seeing the shorten URLS.  You maybe familiar with this type of set-up with Facebook wall posts that show you the automatic pictures and videos embedded in the profile.

5.  URL Improvement

URL’s are now showing the URL titles instead of the shrink URL links.  This removes the masking of the shorten urls so you might get  better picture in what you are clicking to.

6. Reply Feature Improved

If you ever used Tweetdeck, you may of noticed you pick up better detailed Reply messages in the client than the web browser.  The reason behind this is due to that Tweetdeck scans for all @(your username) regardless at the beginning, middle or end.  The web browser only shows the @ replies that only begin with your username, not showcasing Retweets or other conversation elements.

7. Web Browser Tool

Finally another feature of the Power Twitter is that this is just an add-on to your current Firefox web browser.  This is not a software client you need to download and install.  Some people may not like software clients and thus is why you may want to choose Power Twitter.  Another reason why web based is a good option is because many corporate computers will not let you download any software but will let you install addons to current software like Firefox.

The Complaints

With any new up and coming Twitter Power Apps there will be complaints and cons.  Below are a couple I have found.

*Multi-Platforms

Power Twitter is only made for Firefox toolbar and is missing support for Mobile, Mac & other web browser users.  They are missing a huge opportunity here.

*Options Menu missing

Power Twitter needs to have an options menu to configure because I sometimes want certain features like the URL expansion disabled or the Video/Picture removed.  People like Twitter because its very clean and having the Videos and Pictures keep auto-populating in the Twitterstream can clutter and slow down immensely.  Also with with the URL expansions, I would like to sometimes ReTweet with the shorten url attached but when you copy in Power Twitter mode you get the title formation instead.  Very, very aggrovating.

*Software Client Option 

This is simple.  Have an option of transferring these features to a software application like Tweetdeck.  Some users hate using the browser to Tweet.

*Extremely Laggy

Last but not least, Power Twitter has very delayed load times when loading the Power Twitter features on every refresh and new page on Twitter within the browser.  This may improve in the future or may not.   As of right now this is considered a slight hassle because the load time is not huge but is noticeable.

So there you have it, the Pros & Cons of the Power Twitter Tool.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Becoming A Power Twitter User With New Firefox Addon Power Twitter

Online Branding

What is an Online Brand? A Brand is the association connected to product, service or person and an Online Brand is taking that same establishment but developing it for the Online world.

Branding is a way to be remembered and have impact upon perception.  It’s also another way to claim separate identities and claim ownership.  The best example of this is back in the day Cowboys would brand their herd with their own signature trademarks to claim as property and to establish from the rest of the packs out there.

So why would you need an online brand?  Well it’s quite simple you need to..

• Establish your Online Identity
• Set yourself apart
• Claim ownership of your Identity
• Build awareness and recognition
• Exposure

To get started in your online presence and branding the easiest way to begin is to claim your online identity first

Hey Zero Cool what is your handle?

You may of noticed with my Blog image header that its a picture from the movie Hackers.  Most notable was the Online Handle “Zero Cool” from the movie.

Hackers for example have a way of standing out or becoming known in the online world by their calling name or Online Handle.   An Online Handle is a username/nickname or online username that is used when referring to oneself other than their real name.

AOL is another big hit example where Screen Names took off and once again pushed online users to develop an online id other than their real names.  Screen Names took off with unique handles too during the Punter & Prog Age in claiming online territories.

Blogs, Social Media and Social Networks like Twitter all require a Username of some sort and by now more than likely you have a couple user names floating out there.  

The best way to develop a nice and consistent online branding is to have a conisstent user name throughout your Social Media sites out there.

Below is an Online Tool to check your Username throughout all Social Media websites.

Usernamecheck.com

Website usernamecheck.com is a simple site that searches over 65+ different Social Media websites out there to see if your online username has been taken or is available for use.

This is a great tool to seize the opportunity in shutting out your competition or claiming your online identity ownership.  After setting up your profiles in these Social Media websites, I would suggest in also staking your claims below

• E-Mail domains like Gmail, Yahoo & MSN
• Gamer Profiles like Second Life, MMORPGS
• Instant Message clients like AIM

Be creative –  Be unique.  You will find that it will be harder to claim ownership in online profiles if its a very common name and it will important more than ever to claim ownership early.

So go out there, develop an online identity and stake your claim in the digital world.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Media Online Branding & Establishing Presence With An Online Identity

What is Miissenger

Calling out all Wii Heads, now there is a place where Wii gamers can have a Social Networking platform for their Mii Avatars.

A Wii Mii Avatar is the 3d image of your online game user profile.  There are millions of customization for your Mii Avatar.

Missenger’s Statement is 

“Miissenger is social networking website offering Wii admirers an user-friendly place to exchange Wii codes. By adding your friends’ Wii codes to your Wii address book you will enable your Mii’s ability to ‘mingle’. You and your friends’ Miis will be able to visit each other’s Mii Plazas and form Mii Parades.”

SMV Review

Missenger is a great hot new idea where fellow Mii users can interact and have an online community to share and network.  Tons of new Mii are added on a daily basis.

Expect this simple concept to take off with the ever so-popular Wii console.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Mii’s New Social Networking Site For Wii Gamers

Qwitter Tool

Qwitter is a Twitter tool that e-mails you whenever someone un-follows you on Twitter.  The e-mail will tell you what your last tweet post was when the follower last followed you.

The Pros of Qwitter

Before I get into the reasons why you should not use Qwitter, let me just point at the developers over at Qwitter (Contrast I.E) are brilliantly smart and have developed other web apps like ReallyTinyUrl & Exceptional.

Below are some reason why you may want to use Qwitter…

• Qwitter is for you… if are manically obsessed with your social status and have a fear of not being popular.
• Qwitter is for you… if you are anal about measuring results even if they are useless statistics.
• Qwitter is for you…if you have been called Vane, Conceited, Big Ego and Narcissistic.
• Qwitter is for you…if you live for Drama & Negativity.
• Qwitter is for you…if you want to be dangerously self conscious on what to write about, thus preventing you from being you.

As you can see Qwitter is not for everyone….

The Cons of Qwitter

• Qwitter is not a good measuring tool.  There are many other reasons why a person may unfollow you and to always 100% assume that they stopped following after a certain tweet is a little far-fetched.

• Qwitter is not to be used as a guideline to become a better Twitter user.  You may use Qwitter to measure on what not to do in the Twitter world but I have a better solution.  Read the The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook by Tamar Weinberg.

• Are you worried about your popularity and want to gain more Twitter followers? Well take the advice from Lisa Hoffmann with her article Want more twitter followers? Fuhgetaboutit.  The art is to not focus on the past but to focus on the future.  Don’t worry so much on the formula on gaining new followers, success will come in time if you keep doing what your doing, which should be interacting.

• Negativity is a poison that spreads.  Stop surrounding yourself in negative news and focus on the positive things like being more active in replies, link recommendations and having great conversations.  Allowing yourself to be always remind of negative news will put you in a negative mood and rename your Twitter handle Negative Nancy or Debbie Downer.

The last testament to the reason on why not to utilize the Twitter tool Qwitter is from a famous poem  quote by the late Thomas Gray

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

Post from: Social Media Vision

Why You Should Drop Twitter Tool Qwitter Like A Bad Habit