Barbara Walters Price

Using Google to Find People on Twitter

I work in the business valuation profession and I've haven't found many valuation professionals active on Twitter. (See my Business Valuation list on Listorious. I will be updating it quarterly.)

However, there are many using Twitter and it can be a source of good information if you know who and what you're looking for. The search function in Twitter is good but limited. That's why I was glad to have found this post, "How to Find People on Twitter Using Google" from Twitter Power System Blog.

This post shows you how to:

• Search for Twitter users based on their name
• Search for Twitter users on the words used in their profiles
• Search for Twitter users based on the location in their profile
• Search for Twitter users based on the words used in their tweets

For example, when searching for business valuation professionals on Twitter from Google, in the Google search bar, I type:

site:twitter.com intitle:”on twitter” “bio* * business valuation”

There are more tips included in the post. If you use Twitter or are interested in following people in your profession, check this out. 

When Can You Fire an Employee for Social Media Misbehavior? (or When Can You Be Fired ...?)

Kashmir Hill has an entertaining and informative article on Forbes entitled "When You Can and Can't Fire Employees for Socia Media Misbehavior."

After summarizing some pretty interesting actual examples of socia media misbehavior (or is it?), she links to an August 18, 2011 National Labor Relations Board report written by its acting general counsel about the seeming rules of the road for employers and employees regarding social media use.

Kashmir's article states:

After a deluge of employee complaints about firings and discipline resulting from their social media use, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a report about the many cases in order to shed some light on when employers screwed up and when they didn’t. As you know, the Constitution doesn’t apply to private employers, so employees can’t claim the right to freedom of speech. But all private employers must respect their workers’ right to “protected concerted activity” — in other words, the right to talk among themselves about their horrible working conditions. This right is not limited to union workers; it applies for all private employees....

Last year, the NLRB got lots of media attention for bringing a complaint against an ambulance company for firing a driver who had complained about her bosses on Facebook. That seemed to be a wake-up call for employees who hadn’t realized that they didn’t have to be part of a union to be able to contest firings for badmouthing their bosses, says a NLRB spokesman.  The NLRB’s general counsel put together a “Report Concerning Social Media Cases” [pdf] (via Above the Law) because the agency has been getting so many inquiries from employers and employment lawyers about what exactly the rules are when it comes to social media. 

The report itself begins with:

During my term as Acting General Counsel, I have endeavored to keep the labor-management community fully aware of theactivities of my office. It is my hope that this openness will encourage compliance with the Act and cooperation with Agency personnel. As part of this goal, I continue the practice of issuing periodic reports of cases raising significant legal or policy issues.This report presents recent case developments arising in the context of today’s social media. ...

I hope that this report will be of assistance topractitioners and human resource professionals.

Read the article first and then download the NLRB's report and read that to say up-to-date on your rights as an employer or employee when it comes to social media. 

How to Change the Order of Your Groups in LinkedIn

Maybe I'm a member of too many groups on LinkedIn (I am a member of 31 groups), but from the profiles I see every day, being a member to, say, over 15-20 groups is not that unusual. While I am a member of many groups, there are about 2-3 that I participate in and about 5-6 others that I pay attention to for marketing/industry intelligence purposes. The others I check in with as appropriate. Therefore, the default alphabetical listing of the groups has always frustrated me. I'm not frustrated anymore because I found the answer.

You can specify the display order of your groups. Let's walk through how to do it.

Under your name at the top right, choose Settings

 

Choose the tab "Groups, Companies & Applications"

 

Under "Groups," choose the first item, "Select your group display order"

You'll see a page with your groups listed in alpha order. Reordering is cumbersome from here but doable. Decide which group you would like to appear at the top of your list and then click that up arrow next to the numbered box. HINT: this up arrow moves the group to the #1 spot, not just up one notch. From here, choose which group you would like to appear second and place a 2 in the box, and so on. Depending on the number of groups you belong to, you might have to play with it a while but it does work. You see here a few of my groups and their order.

Another useful tool is the option to display between 1 and 10 groups in the navigation on your page. I've chosen 6 as you can see here.

After you're finished, hit Save.

Then, from when you click the "Groups" menu item, you'll see the groups as you ordered them. Remember, I chose to see only the first 6 and here they are.

So, that's how you do it. I hope this was helpful to you. If you have any LinkedIn hints, let me know.

101 Awesome Marketing Quotes via Hubspot

101 Awesome Marketing Quotes

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LinkedIn Messed Up, Then Fixed It, and Is Still Worth the Effort

I blogged on August 10th about LinkedIn "pulling a Facebook" on us and posting our data to third party advertisers. That was followed by instructions on how to opt out. 

On August 11th, the "internets" was abuzz with protest about it.

Today, August 12th, LinkedIn announced a change to this privacy issue in a blog post entitled "Privacy, Advertising, and Putting Members First."

In this blog post, after telling us ...

• that they told us way back in early June that this is what they were planning to do and how to opt out ("In early June, we announced changes to our privacy policy — including the new ad format’s opt-out policy — ahead of the first small test of these social ads."), and then ...
• telling us again that they reminded us ("We also reiterated the same during the launch of social ads, explaining how members could opt-out of sharing their recommendations with their network."), and then ...
• in case we didn't notice what they had already told us, they told us visually ("For those members who may have not read this on our blog, we included a banner ad on the site that contained a link to the new documents, including a summary of the changes, and links from which all members could easily access their account settings.")

So, the good people at LinkedIn told us three times. To be fair, their second link (the launch of social ads) provided not only a text description but a visual example. They did tell us. Nobody listened, or maybe nobody cared, until people started seeing their pictures in ads. Now, they have fixed it and we won't have our pictures in ads.

Hopefully LinkedIn has learned a lesson about privacy - even if you tell us you're going to put our pictures in ads, don't.

The Platform Still Works So Don't Let This Hiccup Sour You on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is still a valuable platform for professionals. I believe it is the best platform for professionals. An August 9th article in Forbes by Susan Gunelius (Study Reveals How Professionals Use LinkedIn), affirms LinkedIn's usefulness.

In terms of how frequently LinkedIn users log in and actively use the site, 2 out of 3 members use the site at least a few times per week or more. Specifically, 35% of users access LinkedIn daily and 32% access the site a few times per week. Another 16% log into LinkedIn a few times per month while 8% log in whenever they get an email from LinkedIn.

Compare that to the 2% of users who log in monthly or the 6% of users who access LinkedIn less than once per month, and it's clear that LinkedIn users are satisfied enough with the user experience that they actively return and want more. Just 1% of respondents to the Lab42 survey indicated that they never access LinkedIn. That's a rate that a site like Twitter would love to have!

Yet, as the article notes, LinkedIn is now a public company and has revenue goals to meet. The recent Social Media Advertising kerfuffle might be one of a string of missteps. I hope not because it is a useful platform and one on which you should have a presence.

LinkedIn? Not You Too?

Yesterday I posted about LinkedIn's new "Improve your Profile" tool. It's a handy and easy tool to help walk you through completing your profile. 

Today, I discover that they've pulled a "Facebook" on us, or as Steve Woodruff of Connection Agent puts it:

"Apparently, LinkedIn has recently done us the 'favor' for having a default setting whereby our names and photos can be used for third-party advertising." 

For those of you who would NOT like to participate in this, there is a way to turn off this default setting.

• Click on your name at the top right corner of the homepage and choose "Settings" from the drop down menu
• Select "Account" (#1 below)
• Then, select "Manage Social Advertising" (#2 below)
• Uncheck the box labeled "LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising" and hit Save.

 

LinkedIn Just Made It Easier to Update Your Profile

LinkedIn's blog today announced the "Improve Your Profile" tool as an "easy way to optimize your LinkedIn presence."  I checked it out and it seems to be a handy and easy way to help you complete your profile.

To access, click on "Profile" / "View Profile" or "Edit Profile" from the LinkedIn menu. You should see the "Improve your Profile" button at the top right (see the screenshot of my profile below). Click that button and LinkedIn will prompt you to complete any incomplete information (and there is a checklist on the right which highlights your recommended steps). My profile was pretty complete so it prompted only one question for me, yet it will be helpful to me as a CMO as I work with our professionals to complete their profiles. 

It is imperative that your LinkedIn profile be complete and up-to-date. LinkedIn is the most popular socia media network for business people. When other professionals ask me if and how to start in social media, my immediate recommendation is LinkedIn.

It doesn't take long to complete your profile (hint: always include your phone number and email address so people can easily contact you) and is a great way to highlight your experience.

If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, visit www.linkedin.com and create one.  If you already have a LinkedIn profile, check out this tool to make sure your profile is complete.

Online Branding ... Yes, It's That Important for Professional Services Firms

Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D. of Hinge Marketing posted "Why Online Branding Matters." It's an easy and insightful read. Lee begins the post with:

Online branding may be the most important marketing concept that you never think about. Granted, you may spend your brainpower thinking about online marketing and how you can generate more leads, but online branding is the Cinderella of the digital world.

He then goes on to define online branding and follows that with the question: Why Should You Care? He answers that with this piece of spot-on advice:

This one is actually pretty easy. Let's start with your professional services brand. As I have blogged about before, your firm's brand can be thought of as your reputation times your visibility. The greater these factors, the stronger your brand:

    Reputation x Visibility= Brand Strength

So what is the first thing you do to check out a potential new vendor or business partner? Visit their website? Google them? Read their LinkedIn profile?

Your online presence is arguably the single most important factor shaping people's impression of your firm's reputation and boosting it's visibility. (emphasis mine)

Lee then gives you five places to start to strengthen your online brand. Every managing partner and CMO of a professional services firm should take a few minutes to read Lee's post and then review your online branding efforts. It will be worth your time.

 

Good Overview of Google+

I've got to say that I'm pretty interested in Google+. It seems to solve many of the frustrations I have with social network platforms - both personally and professionally. The idea of "circles" is wonderful and sorely needed. 

This short presentation from Ben Gaddes provides a good overview of Google+.  

What Google+ Means for Marketers

View more presentations from Ben Gaddis

More resources on Google+ (from Jay Fleischman at Legal PracticePro):

• Google Launches Google+ To Battle Facebook (Mashable)
• Google Plus Sparks – Staying Up To Date On What Matters To You
• Google: Plus Or Minus? (Geoff Livingston)
• Google Plus: Is This the Social Tool Schools Have Been Waiting For? (ReadWriteWeb)
• Sorry Guys! I Love Google Plus, but it’s Destined to Fail (BuzzOm)
• Google Plus (Google+): The Painful Realization (Social Media Today)
• How to invite friends to join Google Plus
• How To Invite People To Google Plus (Tutkiun!)
• How to mention someone in the Google Plus
• How To Video Podcast Using Google Plus Hangouts (Phandroid)
• How To Blog With Google Plus (Chris Brogan)
• How To Share Google Plus(+) Posts On Facebook And Twitter? (Buzzing Up)
• Google Plus Tips And Shortcuts (Local SEO Guide)

The "Dark Side" of LinkedIn

This post is courtesy of Richard Warner, ASA, AVA. Rick is a business appraiser and the editor of the American Society of Appraiser's Business Valuation E-Letter (to which I contribute 3 - 5 columns a year).

As editor, Rick also contributes content. I thought his June 29, 2011 piece was both interesting and educational and I repost it here with his permission.

The "Dark Side" of LinkedIn

So I’m a pretty frequent user of LinkedIn.  More than a “casual” user, but not so much of a user that I’ve felt compelled to “upgrade” my membership.  I’ve added a fair number of contacts (more on that later) and I’ve joined a few of the discussion groups.

If you’ve ever followed some of the threads on the discussion groups they run the gamut from being focused and on point to taking a discussion of the cost of capital and turning it into a discussion of Mom’s apple pie at Thanksgiving.

Recently on one of the valuation related discussion groups there was a nice little discussion going on regarding some legitimate topic.  People are contributing solid comments, opinions, tidbits, and the like.  From somewhere out on “la rive gauche” comes, let’s call it a dissenting opinion, that pretty much says, “you’re all idiots, and I don’t think that much of your mother either…”.

Well, that was pretty interesting.  I’m not sure who polices these groups if anyone, but the response from the other contributors to the group was pretty good.  Enlightened even.  Who knows if the alleged “fire bomber” was even a legitimate person – there’s really no way to know, but the point is the group self-policed itself and kept on truckin’.  I liked that.

I’ve seen other comments from individuals (that I know are real) who may have stepped over the line of decorum in some fashion.  Other members stepped in, gave some advice (which I can tell has been taken to heart by the alleged offender) and again, life as we know it on LinkedIn continued.

So why should we care about what is said on a LinkedIn discussion group?  Well, we should keep in mind these are public groups, and our comments are recorded in some fashion, and maybe we want to consider what our comments would look like if replayed to us in open court.  Ouch.  I suspect that there are some clever attorneys out there who now include a review of LinkedIn discussion groups as part of their due diligence prepping for a cross examination of an expert witness.

I can see it now.  “Mr. Warner, did you really ask/answer this question on LinkedIn as follows….?”

What about how we manage our LinkedIn contacts?  When I first started using LinkedIn it was all about quantity.  Can I get to 100 contacts?  How about 250?  Can I reach the hallowed land of 500+ contacts?  But should these “contacts” be more than an electronic rolodex stored in the cloud somewhere?  I think so.  Just as a relationship is more than keeping a person’s business card on file, I think (and this is strictly a personal opinion) that contacts on LinkedIn should be more than just the result of “accepting an invitation” to Link In.  I should be able to send a message to each of my contacts, with a legitimate question, and in a reasonable amount of time expect an answer.  In other words, my LinkedIn contacts should be part of an “active” network, or they should not be part of it at all.

Well, enough said on LinkedIn.  By the way, I don’t “tweet” and all my friends on Facebook are family.