The easiest way to protect your privacy online

May 4, 2012 by
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I never worry about online privacy. As a result, I don’t spend any time reading articles about the subject. I don’t have to mess around with settings or permissions. And I’m never worried about “that photo” making the rounds.

I have a very simple rule of thumb that makes all of this possible:

Don’t post anything online you don’t want anybody to see.

Everything I post online is family friendly. I don’t care who sees it. In fact, I post it because I want people to see it. So please come and look, re-post, link, and have at it.

Of course there are times when someone else posts something I may not be crazy about sharing. But while I may think I look fat in that photo you caught me in, I know I’m not doing something inappropriate so I’ll be okay.

Look at the online world as an extension of the real world, because that’s exactly what it is. Be careful in thought and deed, mind your P’s and Q’s, and never have more than two drinks when there’s anyone with a camera nearby.

Yes, things may be a little boring, but you’ll never have to worry about online privacy. That is, of course, until Google figures out how to get their camera truck into your bedroom.

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Filed Under: Image, Productivity, Social media, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

My political views finally revealed (not)

April 17, 2012 by
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When I first got stated on Facebook, one of my “friends” posted an incendiary political comment on my wall. In response, friends with opposing viewpoints took him on. Back and forth they went, telling each other in heated tones who was right. Others joined in. Soon, a full blown flame war was taking place.

It was great theater.

I let the two sides go at each other for while and I stayed out of it. No way was I going to get involved in that mess.

And then it really got ugly.

The original poster starting insulting people. Despite repeated requests by the majority to curtail the invective and stick to the issues, he continued his name calling. The more he was asked to tone things down, the worse he got. I had no choice but to remove him as a friend.

Even though this was an extreme situation, it reinforced the notion that discussing politics in public is not a good idea. Unless you are certain that everyone in “the room” is of a like mind, you’re just asking for trouble.

If you’re a professional or in business, your political views should not be posted on social media. Why risk alienating half of your friends and followers? Even when the discourse is civil, political postings provide an insight into your thoughts that can drive a wedge between people who might otherwise get along just fine.

I have political views. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel like posting my opinion about one thing or another, or re-posting what someone else has said.

I’d be nuts to do it.

So I bite my tongue. And save it for a private conversation.

It’s called being in business.

I have many friends on the other side of political aisle. We like each other. We do business together. We can talk about almost anything.  But not politics. We don’t go there.

In business, you can’t go there.

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Filed Under: Communication, Personal development, Social media Tagged With: , , , ,

LinkedIn: The number one social media platform for attorneys

April 16, 2012 by
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I’ve said before that if you’re new to social media you should start with Twitter. Reason: you only need to fill out one paragraph of information to set up your account. Your profile on LinkedIn, by contrast, requires more effort.

LinkedIn is important for attorneys because it serves as a sort of online CV. In fact, many professionals link to their LinkedIn profile precisely for that purpose. Your profile helps prospects and other professionals quickly assess what you have done for others and thereby see what you can do for them.

As LinkedIn develops, it is also becoming a platform for meeting and engaging others. Their forums are a great way to find and connect with other lawyers, as well as prospective clients and referral sources (or employers).

And LinkedIn is all about business. Unlike Facebook, you won’t have to wade through photos of your friend’s kids or cats, or listen to updates about their most recent meals. In fact, one writer is predicting that LinkedIn will survive Facebook precisely because it is dull and business-like.

But while LinkedIn may be considered dull, your profile need not be. You aren’t limited to posting only the facts about where you have been and what you have done. You can add personality to your profile, and well you should.

As much as your capabilities, people want to know about you, the person. Give them a sense of what it would be like speaking with you and working with you:

What motivates you to do what you do? What kind of movie or book character do you identify with? What is your mission?

If you don’t yet have a LinkedIn profile, don’t let the volume of information requested, or its importance, stop you from getting started. Fill in the basics today. You can add more tomorrow. You can use this brief tutorial on optimizing your LinkedIn profile as a starting point.

A lawyer’s bio is the most important part of his or her social media profile and web site. Use it to tell people your story, not just the facts. Facts tell but stories sell.

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Filed Under: Communication, Image, Networking, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to get your tweets re-tweeted

March 28, 2012 by
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I am not an expert on twitter. So when an expert says something, I’m inclined to listen. But sometimes, what an expert says doesn’t feel right to me. Case in point:

This article quotes a social media expert (a professor–hmm, maybe that’s the problem) who says that every Tweet should include:

  • One @ mention (This makes it more likely that someone will read the Tweet)
  • One hash tag (Makes the Tweet more searchable)
  • One link: (Links represent value and value is more likely to be shared)

I agree, we should make an effort to include these in Tweets, but all three? In EVERY Tweet?

If I Tweet a link to my latest blog post, who am I supposed to @ mention? I don’t know about you, but it kinda bothers me when someone mentions me for no apparent reason other than to get me to read something that doesn’t necessarily pertain to me.

I think a better rule of thumb is to do what’s natural. Tweets, like any social media message, are meant to communicate, and that should be the operative rule. If you force these three things into every Tweet, you may write the “perfect” Tweet but find nobody is reading it. As one comment to the post put it,

“Ick. I’m afraid that if you include one of each of those in every tweet, I for one will not follow you! I prefer the people I follow to be original, not simple link factories or repliers to someone else’s thoughts.”

The article has some good advice on the best times to Tweet, best practices for link placement, and other expert tips. But here’s this expert’s advice: don’t listen to any advice without having your BS detector in the on position.

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Filed Under: Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: ,

Guy Kawasaki on social media and SEO

March 5, 2012 by
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If you’re like me, you (a) want more search engine traffic, (b) you don’t know much about SEO, and (c) you find the whole subject to be overwhelming and frankly, boring.

If so, you may like what Guy Kawasaki said about the subject in a recent interview:

My recommendation for SEO is very simple. It’s Write Good Stuff. In my mind, Google is in the business of finding good stuff. It has thousands of the smartest people in the world, spending billions of dollars to find the good stuff. All you have to do is write the good stuff; you don’t need to trick it. Let Google do its job and you do your job.

Relax. Don’t worry. Write what people want to read. They’ll find you.

Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them find us. When I can, I put key words in my blog post titles and body, but I don’t contort myself to make that happen. Yes, I want you to find me but more important to me (and you) is that when you do find me, you get value out of what you read. It means you’ll come back and read some more and you’ll tell others and they’ll come, too.

SEO is not the only way people find things on the Internet. Word of mouth is very powerful.

On the subject of social media, Kawasaki says many entrepreneurs want to hire consultants and formulate a plan before they get started. He has different advice:  just dive in. Set up a profile and “just have at it”. You’ll learn more by actually doing it.

I subscribe to a few blogs that write about SEO and social media but to be honest when I get to their posts my eyes glaze over. Most of the time I don’t read them. I use that time writing.

If the growth in the readership of this blog is any indication, I’ve made the right choice.

Write Good Stuff. People will find you. And hire you.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Attorneys: are you spending too much time on blogging and social media?

February 8, 2012 by
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The big knock on blogging and social media is that it takes up too much time. And so many attorneys give up on it before they see any appreciable results. Many others never start.

It takes two things to be successful marketing online:

  1. You have to know what to do, and
  2. You have to do it long enough to see results.

You can’t just throw up some content or tweets and expect the world to come rushing to your (virtual) door. You need to know the fundamentals. And you need to put in some time and effort.

But you don’t need to take courses or read countless books. You don’t need to keep up with the latest plug-ins or stake your claim on every new site. Read a few blog posts, watch a couple of videos, and you’ll be on your way. The real learning comes from the doing, as this post clearly shows.

How much time do you spend on blogging and social media? Now, how much time do you spend reading about blogging and social media, or thinking about it and wondering if you should? What if you traded in some of the reading and thinking time and used it to actually write a blog?

Blogging and social media (the doing part) don’t require a lot of your time. It’s not the quantity of time that’s paramount, it’s the consistency. A few minutes a day, every day. Do that for six months and you’ll be amazed at what can happen.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Productivity, Social media, Social media marketing, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

For attorneys getting started with social media

February 3, 2012 by
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If you’re new to social media and you don’t know where to begin, Twitter is a good place to start. Why? For one thing, there are fewer things to do to get up and running. You choose a name, fill in a few blanks, and you’re good to go.

Another reason is that there are lot of other attorneys on Twitter, as well as people who connect with them. You can follow a few attorneys, watch what they do, listen to what they are are talking about, and get a sense for how things work. Some (many) of the people you follow will follow you back. All of sudden, you have people to talk to.

If you’ve been on Twitter for awhile and you’re ready to dip your toes into the power-user pool, this excellent article can help. You’ll learn about setting up lists, searching for people to connect with in your local market and finding information you can write or talk about. You’ll also learn how to connect with people and engage them in a conversation, which is why we’re on social media after all. And you’ll learn some of the requisite posting etiquette so you don’t embarrass yourself. (I’m just saying. . .).

Twitter is a lot more powerful than you might assume when you first start using it. It’s worth exploring some of the things it can do. It may not turn out to be your favorite social media hangout, but it’s a very good place to start.

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Filed Under: Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: ,
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