Sharon O'Dell

Sharon O’Dell is Certified in Social Customer Care

Sharon completed a certification course given by SOCAP and WOMMA in August, 2010 and is now certified in Social Customer Care.  Her name is contained in the List of Graduates with an active hyperlink to her Certificate. Sharon intends to use this certification to help clients integrate their Customer Care departments into Social Media.

“I benefitted by  learning directly from well-known Brands such as Coca Cola, Intuit and Omaha Steaks, which was an amazing experience.  I now have the skills necessary to assist my clients in knowing the correct way to implement their own programs.”

This great infographic will help you define where on the spectrum your friendships are, and help you grow them to the next level.

(Click image for a larger -easier to read view)

Thanks to Mike Auaraz:  http://www.mikearauz.com/images/spectrum_friendship.jpg

Do you use Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, or the endless list of Google services for your business?

How many of them are “free”?

Now, define “free” for me.

For YEARS I have been telling my clients, friends, family…even strangers who start up conversations with me about the Internet [while I am wolfing down a Panera Fuji Apple Salad and doing my online College classwork] that there is NOTHING FREE on the Internet.

Immediately, they disagree and come back with an entire list of free services, as I did above.  Sometimes I smile and continue to eat and work…other times I explain what they give up for those “freebies”….and sometimes – if they are REALLY interested – I tell them the true cost of those freebies (data centers, datalines, staff, legal review, coders, testers, etc).

Anything you get for FREE has a price.  The price tag for the services that I listed above is YOU.  You are the price tag.  YOU are their target for behavioral marketing, search, and other services those listed businesses actually sell.

I believe we have all gotten far too used to the “freebies” on the web, we have all become “comfortably numb” (thanks Pink Floyd) to their real cost, and then when someone takes away your “assumed right” to privacy, you scream.

It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee – either pay for a similar service where you have the right to your privacy, or assume YOU are the price for free use of their service.  Those, really, are your choices.

Really hard.

If you have been to a seminar on Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Facebook Marketing, Blogging, or anything else that is made to look SIMPLE to do…and 48 hours later you still have not done it….

then you just may have

“Magellan Ship Syndrome”.

What is that?

It’s when seeing is not believing.

Magellan explored many islands without opposition.  The theory is that the natives did not attack Magellan as one would have expected them to do upon the arrival of  his big ships with a bunch of strange looking creatures on them.

Why?  The natives did not know what they were looking at – they had absolutely no point of reference.  In fact, they were so taken by what they saw, they laid down their spears and brought their canoes ashore. Watching the big ship with huge billowing sales was so far from any experience they had previously had, that they were in awe, welcoming Magellan and his crew, and treating them like Gods.

Lucky for Magellan he got out of town before the Natives were able to discern what he was really doing, and what would follow!

I’m Just SAYIN! that is why there are College Degrees for this stuff!

Quoted Source:  Stephen Simon, Producer

Business Insider had a great article today on Facebook’s new Open Graph Initiative.  According to Facebook’s Founder,  Mark Zuckerberg stated that “the power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalized web that gets better with every action taken.”

To it’s opponents that means that Facebook now has the ability to “connect the dots” where developers lay the groundwork for it to do so.  Thus, if you are on one of the “early adopter” sites like Orkut or FriendConnect, what you do there will be ‘added’ to your Facebook activity.  The more and more sites that sign on for this graph initiative, the more you are tracked for what Facebook calls “actionable intelligence”.  That is a marketing term for “hey we know what you are doing, when and where, and now we can deliver ads and information that reflect your interests even better!”

This is behavioral targeting at it’s finest, IF it works according to Facebook’s plan.  This article claims that Facebook may have just found a way to surpass Google.  I would put the brakes on that thought.  Think a little harder and you will recall that Google is poised to bring FTTH (fiber to the home) in the U.S..  In the U.S.,  I would say that Google definitely holds the trump card.  Facebook may be able to get ‘actionable intelligence” from it’s users from all over the Internet via this new initiative; but Google can “own them” at their home.  Touche!

Second, as Facebook begins this effort, they have International Privacy Laws to contend with that will have a direct effect on any global ability.  Just because you have it in your EULA or Terms of Service doesn’t mean that it will be upheld around the world as approved.  It also doesn’t mean that countries like China will permit you to do this, or won’t want the information for their own use.  Trust me, there is more to come on this subject!  Just ask Google.

The closing thought in this article was the most funny one:  ”Bonus conspiracy theory: former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer (and genuine, great guy) Chris Kelly is running for California Attorney General.

California’s Governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ahnold was The Terminator.

Circle. Complete.”

What do you think?

Leave a reply below, I would love to hear from you!

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-may-not-be-skynet-but-it-is-getting-smarter-and-thats-bad-for-google-2010-4/#ixzz0lqLFGL00

Google still has the #1 position, but steady continued growth by Facebook could erode that standing.  Facebook grew by 80% from Jan 09 to July 09, and another 8% from July 09 to Jan 10.  Facebook grew 105% in 2009, and took the number one position among social networks for the first time in May 2009.

Despite Google’s firm hold (for now) on the #1 spot, Facebook garners more attention.  In January 2010, 11.6% of all time spent online was spent on Facebook, compared to 4.25% for Yahoo and 4.1% for Google.

I think this is a strong indicator of the economic downturn. People and businesses who previously shunned social media as a strong tool for marketing and growing their businesses are now flocking to the site in an attempt to create conversations with “friends” and “fans” to increase the awareness, as they hope for conversions.

What do YOU think!?

Source:  http://bit.ly/bto06H