First, this excellent quote: “For something to gain traction these days; it must be online to matter to anyone at all.” (That was from a blog post entitled Has Social Media Become Our Number One Input Source?)

I think that’s right on the money. If something is not online, it’s not linkable, post-able, search-able, share-able, or tweet-able. With no digital record of it, it may as well have not happened at all!

And second, from the last few seconds of the popular viral video series Social Media Revolution: “The ROI of social media is your business will exist in 5 years.“

Taken together, these seem to suggest: your company, organization, school, or nonprofit must be online — or die. Certainly some food for thought!

(By the way, just in case you don’t know, it’s pronounced “Google-plus,” a name which reminds me of the Glee episode in which the school principal mistakenly pronounces the name of current music artist Ke$ha as “Key-dollar sign-ha” rather than the correct pronunciation of “Keh-sha”.)

Anyway, though I haven’t joined, I’ve been watching closely and reading up on Google+ and what it means. Here are some articles I’ve come across that may shed some light — they have for me:

• A great little comic (“You should join Google+!” “What is it?” “Not Facebook!” “What’s it like?” “Facebook!”)
• Privacy & Google+ (a nice “infographic” with 6 helpful tips)
• Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook (the New York Times article which asks if anything can unseat social media giant Facebook)
• Don’t Look Behind You, Facebook, Google+ May Be Gaining On You (which highlights that Google+ gained 25 million users faster than any other website in history…including the exponentially-growing Facebook)

You should be, because LinkedIn provides a place to display your professional credentials online (on a website you can control) that will likely be a top search result if someone “Googles” you. It also serves, as Forbes recently noted, as “a kind of passive invitation to recruiters and potential employers.”

In fact, the big news about LinkedIn this week is that it now offers an “Apply with LinkedIn” button, so you can apply for a job posting online with the click of a button, submitting your LinkedIn profile for consideration. (No old-fashioned resume and cover letter needed!) The convenience benefit for you is obvious—and the benefit for companies who are hiring is a simpler means to screen candidates, because “LinkedIn profiles are uniform and easily searchable.”

5 Tips To Maximize Your LinkedIn Presence

All that being said, you may want to take your LinkedIn to the next level. Here are 5 tips to make sure you’re taking full advantage of the site…all things I’ve recently learned:

1. Find out who has been viewing your LinkedIn profile. What? You didn’t know you can do this? I didn’t either, but yep, I was thrilled to discover, you can! (It’s a feature that everyone wishes Facebook would offer, but alas, does not.) LinkedIn, however, does! On your LinkedIn homepage, you’ll see how many people have viewed your profile in the last 90 days, and how many times others have searched for your name.
   • To try it: Just go to your LinkedIn homepage. (Click Home in the top navigation bar.) Who has viewed your profile will be listed on the right sidebar. (You may notice some people are listed, while others have the more ambiguous “Someone at Company X,” meaning they have tightened their visibility settings. Control how you appear to others by changing your visibility setting.)
2. Keep up with relevant industry news. LinkedIn recently launched a new “News” service called “LinkedIn Today,” which aggregates headlines from around the Web according to what is most likely to be of interest to you, based on what stories people in your professional network and industry are reading and sharing. As the New York Times explained in a blog post, “LinkedIn is hoping that by tapping your own network and your peers in the industry, it will do a better job at cutting through the clutter.” And my personal experience confirms that; the news stories provided to me so far have been on point with my interests!
   • To try it: Just click on News up in the top navigation bar, next to More. (You may already be getting these in email from LinkedIn, too. I am…)
     
3. Post a question on LinkedIn Answers, or share your own expertise by answering someone else. Have you tapped the expertise of the 90+ million on LinkedIn yet, or shared your own knowledge, building your online reputation and expanding your network? LinkedIn’s Answers enables you to post your professional dilemmas, both large and small, and then reap the benefits of crowd-sourced knowledge, much like Yahoo! Answers, but for grown-ups with serious queries about the workplace.
   • To try it: Just click on More up in the top navigation bar, then Answers.
     
4. Update the skills you list on your profile with the buzzwords recruiters are looking for. LinkedIn uses algorithms to identify common phrases others have used to describe similar expertise on their profiles, and the top trending search terms. So, you can make your online resume glisten with search-engine-optimized goodness! (And maybe freshen up your content while you’re in there; it’s looking a bit stale.)
   • To try it: Click on the More menu up in the top navigation bar, then click on Skills. Enter an area in which you have expertise. LinkedIn will show you the profiles of others who have that type of expertise, so you can see how they list it on their profiles. It also lists related skills, current job openings seeking people with that skill set, and companies working in that arena!
5. Customize your LinkedIn profile by carefully adding relevant applications and your website(s). You can make your profile more unique by customizing it. For example, I linked my LinkedIn accountto my SlideShare account, so my LinkedIn displays my most recent presentations. You could also link your blog(s), your Twitter account, your Amazon reading list, your upcoming trips, and more. Another great thing you can do is customize the websites you list on your profile so instead of the blah “Company Website” that appears by default (pictured below), you change it to say something interesting about yourself and the link destination to really pique people’s interest.
   • To try it: To add applications, click on the More menu up in the top navigation bar, then click on Applications and browse the selection.
   • To customize your listed websites, I refer you to my friend with tons of expertise in social media, Marijean Jaggers, who explains how to in her blog post, Edit Company Website. (In my case, I followed her tip and renamed my blah “Company Website” link to this blog to the much more intriguing-sounding McSwain-Starrett.com. Thanks, Marijean!)

So, for example, by owning the domain mcswain-starrett.com, and having consistent URLs on Facebook (facebook.com/mcswainstarrett), Twitter (twitter.com/mcswainstarrett), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/mcswainstarrett), and Slideshare (slideshare.net/mcswainstarrett), I’ve made it easy and convenient for people who are looking for me to find me. I also protect my own personal “brand name” by making sure no one else can purport to be me!

It’s no different for organizations.

Why Vanity URLs Matter

Ever see a company promote “Find Us on Facebook!” only to notice their URL is something like facebook.com/pages/Company-X/82704784072?

Um, doesn’t exactly promote their credibility, does it? Even if you didn’t know about vanity URLs before reading this post, I bet you still had a sense that the link should just be facebook.com/CompanyX, right? It just seems a little more credible, huh?

So, don’t have yours reserved yet? Don’t wait! Real-world reasons why you should, ASAP:

1. The best choices for your username on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube may already be taken! With every passing day, the chances increase that you’ll be shooting for second or third choice. (This happened to an organization I work closely with just this week. While they spent days arguing over the second-best username to request on Facebook—their first choice was already gone—that one got taken too!)
2. There may already be a confusing array of similarly-named or duplicate entries on such websites, each purporting to represent your organization. (I am dealing with this at my work right now—we are going through a name change—and trust me, similarly named accounts just make for confusion!)
3. Someone may have even taken your exact username—knowingly or not—and may be interacting with the world as if they are you! (I’ve seen this happen before, more than once. Organizations end up trying to convince the squatter to release their rightful username back to them, or battling the bureaucracy of a social media behemoth like Facebook to assert they are the legitimate owners.)

Don’t let this happen to you, or your organization. Protect yourself from someone hijacking your good name—your brand—and snag those vanity URLs! (See how to request your username on Facebook.)

How to Request Your Username on Facebook

The way to set up vanity URLs on each website is different, and I can’t document here how to do it everywhere, but you can easily search the “help” of most websites and figure it out. Since practically everyone is on Facebook, though, and they make it easy:

1. While you are already logged into Facebook, simply go to facebook.com/username to reserve your vanity URL(s).
2. For your personal account, you can use a username that is suggested for you, or check the availability of another one. You probably want this to be your real name, perhaps with a middle initial or nickname if you have a very common name.
3. If you happen to be an administrator for a Facebook public profile page for your business, organization, etc.—and it has more than 25 fans who have “Liked” it, according to Facebook rules—you can also check availability for and request a vanity URL for your organization(s), too.

For both, just remember to choose very, very carefully. I’ve learned this the hard way: once you select a username, Facebook doesn’t allow you to change it again, ever!!

My sessions were on helping the girls understand the importance of protecting themselves and their futures online. We discussed:

• how their name is their brand and must be protected,
  
• the dangers of “sexting” and cyber-bullying,
• what you should and shouldn’t share on social media sites,
• the evolution of Facebook privacy settings, and
• how to detect online scams and recognize fraudulent phishing emails.

I was very impressed with how tech-savvy the students were; they asked great questions and were pretty engaged. (Of course, mine was the only session that actually encouraged them to spend time on Facebook and Twitter!)

All in all, it was an excellent week! Check out the news coverage of the event and “Like” WIIT on Facebook to stay abreast of plans for next year’s workshop! Below, my presentation to the girls, on SlideShare:

Today I just had to share this excellent article, “7 Cures for Nonprofit Writer’s Block,” by my old employer, the Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC). CCMC offers fantastic resources to assist the third sector: its goal is helping nonprofit organizations use media and new technologies as tools for public education and policy change.

Anyway, the article is chock-full of great tips for blog posts, media pitches, and more! Another plus: there’s also a free stock photo image search as well.

The summer camp will be an effort to get more girls interested in information technology careers, which are often lucrative and have a lot of job security. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that by 2016, 5 out of the top 10 fastest growing jobs relate to IT (see the WIIT FAQ page for more info on that).

Most IT jobs require good skills in communication, problem solving, creativity, human interaction and collaboration–the kinds of skills most often attributed to women. Yet girls are still under-represented in computer science and mathematics courses in college.

“IT is for Girls” aims to change that by getting high schoolers interested in technology early, and giving them other female role models in IT-related jobs.

During the weeklong camp, various female leaders will serve as “Tech Divas” and instruct the girls on an impressive variety of cool, tech topics:

• building and repairing computers;
• creating animations and video games using MIT’s “SCRATCH” software;
• designing webpages;
• developing Android mobile applications using Google AppInventor;
• creating video from storyboard, to filming, to editing;
• exploring cybersecurity topics;
• investigating 3-D data visualizations; and
• producing music in “computational hip-hop.”

It’s looking like I’ll be doing a session on smart social media use and cyber security, as well. “IT is for Girls” is scheduled for Monday through Friday, June 20 thru 24, and I can’t wait!

…Facebook isn’t going to go away anytime soon. The site is more entrenched than just about any other technology we use. It’s easy to go to a new search engine—just type Bing instead of Google—and there’s nothing stopping you from switching your brand of computer or cellphone. You can’t switch over to a new social network, though, unless your friends do so as well. Sure, this could happen…but Facebook seems to have hit a critical mass. Not only does it have a huge number of users (more than any previous social network), but its audience is spread across every demographic…and they’re ferociously committed to the site (nearly half log in every day). It also shows no signs of slowing its growth—and the bigger Facebook gets, the harder it becomes to switch to a new platform. If a storm of criticism surrounding its privacy practices and its frequent, confusing redesigns haven’t done anything to stem its growth…I’m not sure what could push Facebook off the main stage in the near term.

Amen! Even the world’s most popular website, Google, which announced it is launching its “+1″ social media service this week, is still playing catch-up to the ubiquitous Facebook “Like.” So, if Google is modeling itself after Facebook, then you know for sure: Facebook is here to stay!

Just wanted to recommend this excellent article, Big Opportunities for Small Businesses in Facebook Pages Redesign which summarizes what the changes are, and what organizations should be doing to maximize their Facebook Page’s presence.

For me, one long-awaited feature Facebook has finally rolled out is what the author calls “Voice” — the ability to respond to posts and make comments on individual’s page and other organizational Pages on Facebook as your organization, not yourself. That alone can greatly increase your exposure!

I particularly like her suggestion to add the “Like” button to your website or blog if you haven’t already. In fact, in the spirit of practicing what I preach, I’m going to add that on my own blog. Right now!

Social media is a terrific tool, full of possibilities for richer communication, connection, and other positive forces. For example, social media is credited with having a significant “compounding effect” on the recent Egyptian revolution.

And a recent poll by Harris Interactive found that:

• 40% of American adults say they have gotten a good suggestion for something to try via social media;
• another 15% have made a connection regarding a new job opportunity; and
• 9% have gotten a lead on a new apartment or house.

Yet this same study also found that 43% of American social media users say they have “been offended by posts, comments, or pictures” they have seen on social networking sites.

That probably doesn’t surprise you in the least. Like most things in the world, despite all its possibilities for good, social media is fraught with potential for misuse and abuse too. It can, as they say, cut both ways.

…And the Potential for Evil

Case in point: not too long ago, the New York Times published an excellent piece, Parents Struggle with Cyberbullying, which explains how social media and text messaging have enabled old-fashioned schoolyard bullying to escalate to levels never before seen: “a dark, vicious side of adolescence” that was always there, but now “enabled and magnified by technology.”

Worsening the problem is the fact that many parents are bewildered by the many different social networking platforms and the proliferation of mobile devices and smartphones. Many are finding that they “have to be much more techno-savvy than they want to be,” the article points out, simply to keep up with the dangers their children face online — dangers that come not just from creepy predators, but now even from the unkindness of friends and acquaintances.

The article notes that the meaning of the word “friends” has changed. Now, “friends” can type cruel things about your child on public websites or send your kid harassing text messages late at night, saying things that they would never say to your child’s face. The anonymity of the Web makes it easier for culprits to hide.

Social media has been found to have both positive and negative effects in the higher ed setting, too; that’s why colleges and universities are now examining how to draft official student social media policies.

In Summary: With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility…

That famous quote from Spiderman seeps appropriate here. Simply put, when using social networking sites (or when allowing your child(ren) to do so), keep both eyes open. Clearly state the expected positive behavior: “be respectful, be careful, be responsible, and be accountable!”