Last week, I went to a presentation sponsored by the North Shore Technology Council about social media. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I got the impression this group was a bit more into traditional markets, so the presentation on social media might have been a bit too high level for me.
While my impressions about the group were right (pretty much no one had heard of twitter, and only two people had blogs, including myself), I was very impressed by the presentation, which did an excellent job of balancing introducing this subject to the group but also explaining its usefulness.
One of the presenters was Chris Brogan, so I added him on Twitter and Google Reader and have been enjoying his updates. His most recent one was on personal branding, and a part of it advises creating accounts on the big social networks.
What he hasn’t touched on yet, though, is making sure you manage your reputation on those networks. Here’s what I mean: If you are trying to brand yourself on the web as a professional and (dare I say) respectable resource, you might want to think twice before Digging or favoriting a some people might consider in bad taste.
Personally, I have a fairly thick skin, so I find quite a lot of the top items on Digg humorous. But I am very careful about digging a story that could offend others, simply because I know not everyone shares the same sense of humor as I do.
Tags: social media
Hi Jon, and thanks for the shout out. The point I think you’re making is that we can’t just do whatever we want once we strike out into these social networks. Interesting point. I haven’t really thought much about what I’ve chosen to Digg or not, but I can see your point. Interesting. Maybe that makes its way into the strategy for the third part of the series. Or, um, 3rd not counting the bonus I just put up.