"Solutions Out Loud™ - Network Solutions Podcast for SolutionsArePower™" - 4 new articles
Can You Keep Your Personal Persona Separate From Your Business Persona Online? (No.)Over the Christmas holiday break, I was trying to do some writing for my personal blog. And I was having a hard time of it — it’s gotten trickier for me over the years. I’m a not an over-sharer by nature, and then on top of that, throw in the couple of years I’ve been blogging for The Man (in one form or another). Dealing with lawyers (gosh bless ‘em) is enough to make any blogger a little oversensitive — even paranoid. But they exist for a good reason. When you remember that everything you say, write, or post online, has the potential to live forever, attached to your name, only a quick Web search away, the question isn’t “Are you paranoid?” but “Are you paranoid enough?” (Example: “Seriously, you have no privacy. Get over it.“) Topical Tripwires: High-Risk, Low-Reward When you’re blogging in support of your small business, you’ll probably want to stay away from the Big Three topics: Sex, politics, and religion. (Maybe sports, though depending on where you are, that may be a subset of any of the big three.) This is not to say you should be an opinionless, humorless robot… it’s just that expressing opinions on divisive topics that have no relevance to your business is a high-risk, low-reward proposition. Don’t do it unless you’re really sure it’s appropriate to your business: If you’re a sex shop, talk sex. If you run an indie coffee shop and you cater to crunchy hippie types, you can probably talk your crunchy hippie politics. For everyone else, it all depends if you’re willing to live with the consequences. If you’re in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose your customers, go wild and talk about whatever you want. This, of course, is not a new thing, it’s just that the Internet makes it easy to find the stuff you post on your personal time. When I lived in New York City, I used a roommate finding service (this was way, way before Craigslist). Later, a local newspaper revealed the fact that the proprietor, who seemed like a nice enough guy, was also a Holocaust denier. If I had known this beforehand, I would have taken my business elsewhere. Anyway, all that stuff, while important, isn’t the reason I have trouble blogging sometimes. Staying away from topical tripwires that’ll get you in trouble is pretty easy, once you get the flavor of it. I Support Cat Suffrage The more insidious censorship is self-censorship. This is because it involves vanity: How is this going to make me look? It’s about positioning, and personal branding — what will people find when they search for me, and what will they think of me when they see it? For example, say you search on my name, and on the same results page as my insightful, even trenchant, commentaries on social media, you see that in my personal blog postings, I also firmly believe that cats should have the right to vote. Will that change your opinion of me? That’s a relatively benign example. The major risk is that your silly throwaway blog entries distract from the “important” blog entries that are more about what you’re about. The point of all this is that, if you’re a good transparent and authentic small business blogger, you’re posting under your own name. And unless you set up an alter ego for your personal persona online that’s completely isolated from your business persona, there’s going to be some overlap between the stuff you post when you’re on the clock, and the stuff when you’re off the clock. And because there’s no disclaimer in the world that will fix this, invariably, this means you start edging towards always being on the clock. Again, it’s probably always been this way — it’s just that the Internet puts your personal life on the same page as your professional one. I’m still struggling with this particular dilemma — I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Network Solutions interviewed by Shel HoltzOur very own Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami here at Network Solutions was interviewed by Shel Holtz. Here is a summary of the episode “Shashi Bellamkonda joined Network Solutions—which once held the monopoly on dot-com domain registrations—as a customer service representative. His use of social media in all of his jobs led to his appointment as the coordinator of social media efforts for the company. In this interview, Shashi shares with Shel Holtz how he coordinates with other departments, how social media has been used to improve the company's reputation, the metrics applied to his efforts, and a variety of other topics related to organizational adoption of social media. ” Please go here to listen http://cli.gs/TVNeaA Tech Talks-part 1: interviewing Digital Sisters founder & community tech leader Shireen MitchellShe’s been called a Heroine in Technology We met recently to discuss small business mindsets toward social tech, networking online and off, the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer…and then some. On the right tech: what small business should know Knowing which technology your stakeholders use is critical. When it comes to engaging communities in so many instances, using social media technology itself is great but those tools prove powerless if they are not also used by your actual community.
But if that community does not have the experience or skills to participate online then basically what’s the point of that particular tool or social media campaign? On getting too stuck on certain tools On staying connected: online networks impact offline collaboration
On the ‘Alert Factor’
On her must reads Want more technology resources? Don’t walk but run to read fellow Solutions Are Power blogger Joe Loong’s series ‘Fake your way to being a social media expert‘. Join us for more…and soon! Advice on building a startup from Simeon Margolis, creator of Utterz/UtterliHis bio on his personal blog is one line – "Entrepreneur trying to make it in the mobile world". Many may know Simeon as the "Maestro of Utterz". Utterz, the micro voice messaging company, was an idea he had that was launched by RPM Communications, the firm he was working for at the time. In the second part of this three part interview, the impact of micro-messaging tools like Utterz/Utterli and Twitter on the business community and events like the 2008 election. Here is the transcript of that conversation: Steve: I would like to switch gears a bit and talk about entrepreneurship in general. Since you are now officially a serial entrepreneur with your new venture in stealth mode, it would be good to get some perspective. Having been through many business cycles and with the economy in a tough spot these days, do you feel it is a good time to start a business? Steve: One question I get from people thinking about starting a business is "do I need a business plan"? I tell them that if they are a freelancer and selling their skills, they don't, but… if they are planning to grow a business that they can't run without one. What is your philosophy on this type of thing? Steve: I would like to get a "Top 5" from you. Since we are facing some tough economic times ahead for possibly the next 12-18 months, what are the Top 5 things you would recommend new entrepreneurs running a business should do to weather the storm? Related Interview Posts: More Recent Articles
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Keep a civil tongue.