Category — Social Media

A lot of people that I follow on Twitter have been leaving updates regarding the recent disasters in Asia. Most have been reading about the 34,000 lives that have been lost in a 7.9 earthquake and some have been tweeting about the cyclone that took the lives of over 78,000 people.

It is sad and devastating and although folks are using social media tools express feelings as well as facts, Social Vibe is taking social media one step further to assist our fellow man in his time of need……

“Disaster Relief is a Cause established by SocialVibe to rally immediate support and provide timely financial aid following a specific disaster. Money raised for Disaster Relief will be distributed promptly to the SocialVibe charities working closely with the victims of both the earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar. We plan to split all funds raised equally between Direct Relief and charity: water, helping both to achieve their immediate goals.”

Sometimes when disaster strikes this far away from the US, we see it as sad but not as concerning because it’s not close to home. But the reality is, we are all affected by tragedy and disaster no matter what country or continent we live.

Social Media is truly becoming a valuable tool when it comes to mobilizing the consumer to support disaster relief and SocialVibe is setting the stage to be a leader when it comes to helping our fellow man. What are you doing to utilize social media and help your fellow man?

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and while families from all over the nation celebrated moms with brunches, flowers and a multitudes of hugs, RevolutionHealth was busy working with a team of public health officials, maternal health experts and consumer representatives to unveil momScore, a brand new interactive tool that presents moms and moms-to-be with relevant, comprehensive data about maternal health in their states. MomScore is the first of its kind, health index community, that provides nationwide state rankings for maternal health; which means, the health of women during pregnancy, during childbirth and postpartum. I believe there needs to be a renewed focus on the health of moms because a mom’s health has a very meaningful impact on the health of the whole family……

“Researchers believe that our rising maternal mortality rate is due to increasing levels of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. In addition, growing racial and economic gaps could contribute to existing prenatal care inequalities.”

MomScore has taken into account 10 attributes to determine each state’s rankings and RevolutionHealth has coupled these rankings with expert-led groups on topics ranging from parenting and healthy eating, to losing weight and de-stressing…….

“To determine each state’s ranking, the expert team weighed the attributes and each state was assigned a momScore from 0 to 100. Some states had better access to prenatal care, which is critical to ensuring a healthy delivery and pregnancy. Other areas had better paid leave policy and childcare services, allowing mothers time to bond with their child after giving birth and peace of mind when they return to work. Air quality was another important factor, since mothers and babies are especially sensitive to pollutants.”

The results speak for themselves, a mother’s health has got to become a priority in our nation and RevolutionHealth is using social media to accomplish that goal. Blogs, forums and communities are being used to encourage moms to take action to improve their own health as well as offering discussions on how the online community can improve their individual state’s momScore rankings. It saddens me to see the very nation I live in with maternal, infant and child health goals falling short. My own state, Missouri, ranks a mere 25th out of 51 states ranked. What is one to do? We can start by participating! Debate your state’s score, share your personal story, or respond to the community or simply leave a comment below telling us your thoughts about how momScore can really utilize social media to promote women’s health.

It goes without saying, that social media has become so mainstream that consumers are now demanding it when it comes to retail. Individuals have tapped into online conversations at such a fast pace that businesses are losing money to their competitors if they are not participating in the conversation.

A perfect example of this is the fact that more and more retailers are offering live chat as a way for shoppers to converse with their knowledgeable sales reps…….

“Live chat is basically an instant message between you and the retailer you are shopping with. The agent or sales rep on the other end of the live chat can help you find what you’re looking for or answer questions about sizes, colors, shipping and handling, return policies and a lot more.”

Not only does live chat help meet the human primal need that once drove people to the town square but it gives the consumer a chance to benefit in ways that otherwise might not be possible……..

“One of the most overlooked uses of live chat is to see if there are any free shipping coupons from that retailer. I was recently shopping on the Lands End web site and I didn’t want to pay for shipping. So I asked the live chat agent if there were any Lands End free shipping codes. She said that there wasn’t, but if I signed up for their newsletter she would give me free shipping on my order.”

Not every retailer is set up for live chat but if your favorite store displays the “Live Chat” button, don’t hesitate to use it. There’s no telling what you can get if you just ask for it!

This guest post comes from Darren Rowse. Darren is the blogger behind ProBlogger and a co-author of the soon to be released ProBlogger Book - a book about how bloggers can improve their blogs and make a living from the medium. Darren is the fourth in my series featuring the Top Social Media Dads.

4 Tips for Social Media Toddlers

My son is fast approaching the age of 2 (he’ll reach that milestone at the start of July) and watching him grow and develop is one of the most wonderful experiences that I’ve ever had.

It’s a period of life where there are such remarkable changes occurring on a daily basis. In the last year he’s:

learned to take his first steps and then progress to running

discovered an ability to communicate, first through gestures and sounds and then through forming those sounds into single words and more recently discovering that it’s more effective to put two or more words together

-discovered how to get his way to make others laugh (and get angry)

-started comprehending how to follow rules

-learned how to feed himself (well partly - it’s still messy)

-to make messes (and when he’s in the mood to clean them up)

The list grows every day. It’s very exciting to watch - although there are ‘those days’ where everything he tries seems to lead to tears and frustration.

So what’s this got to do with social media?

Social media feels like it’s been around for ever - but the realization that I had this week was that many of us are still learning to use it.

For me the journey started juts five years ago with my first blog. I added to my online presence in more recent times by starting to use Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and many other ’social media’ sites - but every day that I use them I come to the realization that most of us are like toddlers and are on a journey of discovery.

I’m a Social Media Toddler

It’s an exciting journey most days - but one that also has ‘those days’ of frustration.

So what can my little Son teach us about getting through our toddler years as social media users:

Experiment - one of the main things that my wife and I are attempting to instill in our young one is to encourage him to experiment and try new things. This happens in a number of spheres of his life including ‘new food’ (surely there’s only so many bananas and jam sandwiches someone so small can consume!), new skills, new words, new people etc.

The more experiments he does the more he learns he can do, the more discoveries he makes, the more mistakes he makes, the more experiences he has. The result of all this is growth, maturity, development and understanding.

The same is true with social media. Many bloggers that I come across tell me that social media doesn’t ‘work’. When I unpack this with them I find that most simply set up profiles on social media sites and never actually try anything on them. The more you experiment with mediums like Twitter and Facebook the more you’ll discover on what does and doesn’t ‘work’ in helping you to achieve your goals.

Develop What Works - when my son makes a new discovery in life he will become obsessed with it. If you’ve hung around with young children you know what I mean. This week his ‘thing’ is to say ‘Bye’ to things. Everytime he leaves a room he turns around to it and begins to say ‘Bye’ to everything in it that he can name. ‘Bye Light’. ‘Bye Chair’. ‘Bye Mummee’. ‘Bye Poo’ (when changing nappy), ‘Bye Wiggles’. ‘Bye Ball’. He’s obsessed with saying bye to things.

What’s he doing? He’s cementing in his mind that ability to recognize that he’s leaving something. He’s developing his vocabulary, ability to name things and he’s putting words together in ways that he’s never done before. He’s also being very cute (until you want to quickly leave a room and he insists on saying ‘bye’ to every item in it). He has made a discovery and he’s honing his skills with it and taking it to the next level.

As Social Media Toddlers we can learn a thing or two from this. Experimenting is not enough - take what you learn that ‘works’ and repeat it. If you ask a particular type of question on Twitter and get 10 times as many replies as normal, you might just be onto something. Try it again. If you use an add-on on Facebook that your friends respond to well - keep using it and finding ways to take it to the next level. If you write something on your blog and get a ton of traffic from StumbleUpon develop the idea in future posts and work out what it was about the original post that connected with people so you can draw on the lesson again.

Watch Others - alongside ‘experimenting’ on his own, I’d say that my son learns mainly through watching those around him. Sometimes I’ll be doing something (washing the dishes, working on my laptop, weeding the garden….) and he’ll have gone all quiet. At first I panic a little because he rarely goes all quiet unless he’s emptying the linen cupboard or using his crayons to redecorate his bedroom walls - but more often than not he’s gone all quiet because he’s simply sitting there watching me.

Ten minutes later I’ll find him studiously doing something that is his attempt at what I was just doing (smashing dishes in the pantry, using an old keyboard that I gave him while sitting in front of the TV or pulling out plants in the backyard). OK - so he doesn’t always get it right, but he is learning so much by watching and listening to those around him.

As Social Media Toddlers I think this is key. There are literally millions of bloggers, Twitterers, Facebook users and participants in the social media space. Many of these people are making incredible discoveries about the mediums everyday. Take time out each day to observe what they are learning and experimenting with and ask yourself how it might be applied to your own situation. While not everything that works for someone else will work for you in your situation - a lot is transferable or adaptable. Watch, learn and apply what others are doing!

Have Fun and be Free - I wish I could be 2 again somedays. My Son’s life is so simple, so innocent and so much fun. He doesn’t get bogged down on what others think about him, he enters into things with such energy and passion, he floats from one thing to another without feeling the constraints of having to do things certain ways.

So many of us as Social Media Toddlers seem to get bogged down by the way things should be done or by being concerned of how others will receive us - but perhaps we need to approach it with a little more with childlike abandonment.

You can follow Darren on Twitter here.

There has been quite a buzz in the blogosphere, as of late, regarding whether or not it is socially acceptable to submit your own content to social sites. Here are a few examples:

Should You Submit Your Own Content To Social Networking Sites? - The Dallas Business and Marketing Blog

Is Shameless Self Promotion Using Social Networks Acceptable? - Marketing Ninja

Let’s Be Honest About Twitter - Web Pro News

The idea of self promotion is not new, however the jury is out when it comes to whether or not it is acceptable in the world of social media.

Debbie Weil says you have to submit your own stuff because a Technorati ping and an RSS update is just not enough anymore to get the attention your blog needs. You have to notify the Twittersphere. Unfortunately, some Twitterers don’t agree with letting your Twitter followers know you have a new blog post and feel it can polute the Twittersphere……

Then, there’s the “thumbs up” on StumbleUpon. Known for bringing huge amounts of traffic, Stumble Upon is a place to discover. But is discovery the same as when someone asks you to Stumble something? Aaron on the web says submitting your own content for others to Stumble can be a form of what he calls, “stumblespam”…..

“Isn’t the entire point of StumbleUpon to share interesting content with your friends, not to promote your own content using strangers?”

Everyone has their own opinion of self submission etiquette and Nick O’neill, from the Social Times blog, explains self submission in a way that clearly explains why people submit their own stuff:

“the social web is for building brand you. The techniques used to build brand you could be to simply write a blog post once a day or alternatively to write each post and tell as many people about it as possible in the hope that they’ll tell their friends.”

I agree 100% with what Jack Spirko, from the Dallas Business and Marketing Blog says, “To me social networking has a greater future if we judge the content rather then intent“. Is it really that important who submits it? If you like it, you can Mixx it, Digg it, Stumble it, Sphinn it, or whatever. If you don’t, then by all means don’t vote for it and move on!

What do you think about self submission? Should we or should we not submit our content to others, social sites etc.? I would love to know whether or not you think it is a good or bad thing to do and if so, why?

I may own the Social Media Mom domain name but certainly there are some moms that are setting the stage in social media while maintaining motherhood at the same time and I have chosen, what I consider, to be the top 5, and I have featured them in this month’s roundup.

In no particular order, here are the top 5 Social Media Moms for March 2008:

1. Shana Albert - aka TheNanny612 - Shana blogs about her love of social media on Social Desire, and Collective Thoughts. She also has 3 busy children that she blogs about every once in a while and sells pre-school aged curiculum on her e-commerce site. Shana is one gal that I seem to see everywhere online whether it’s Sphinn, an interview somewhere or just Stumbling she is constantly finding great things to read and write about in the social media industry. She is also a great e-friend that I hope to meet in person someday!

2. Wendy Piersall - aka eMom - Wendy is very passionate about helping parents achieve success. She uses her awesome social media skills to maintain her blog, raise 3 children, and teach people to become entrepreneurs while maintaining a life balance. Is this even possible? Wendy is a perfect example of the answer to that, and you only need to read her blog to realize it. She compares her blog to raising a child and calls her readers “family”. She writes about growing pains and re-branding in a way that proves her knowledge and expertise in social media.

3. Debbie Weil - aka debbieweil - Debbie is a corporate and CEO blogging consultant. She is an established author and blogger. But even more rewarding than social media, Debbie says, her kids are her greatest accomplishment. Her oldest daughter is a doctor, her middle son is a lawyer and her youngest daughter is a marathon runner, chemistry researcher, and jewelry designer. She is the epitome of a stay at home mom turned career woman when the kids were out of college. She is a wonderful example to someone like me, who has been solely raising kids for the last 14 years, and is just now getting my career on.

4. Liz Strauss - aka lizstrauss -Building relationships that last takes care. Whether it be with family or in business, Liz Straus is definitely a mom that is able to identify, connect, and form relationships using social media. Her trick? “Relationships are everyone’s business, and every business is relationships,” explains Liz. She does a great job helping others reach their future by utilizing her blog, events and through her telephone sessions. Every bit the mompreneur, Liz is a successful and outstanding social media mom that I look forward to meeting someday.

5. Jennifer Osborne - aka jennosborne - Jenn is a very passionate person. She is passionate about social media and even more passionate about her 3 kids. She balances her work as a social media strategist at Search Engine People, and family, by making sure that when she is at home, her computer doesn’t come out till everyone is in bed. When her family’s needs are met Jenn will spend a couple of hours Stumbling. One thing I find extremely unique about Jenn is that she has made a conscious decision to not participate on Twitter. She does not want to take any more time away from her kids by adding one more social networking platform to her life and I commend her for her self discipline and having her priorities in order.

Moms everywhere are networking, engaging, and extremely interactive and these 5 moms have chosen to take their skills to the next level while maintaining a balance of work and family. I hope you will take some time to check out their blogs, follow them on Twitter and even Stumble some of their favorite sites.

Are you a mom participating in social media? Let me know what sites you are using to network and how you maintain the balance between work and family. I’d love to hear from you!

My family and I are really trying to reduce our carbon footprint. So much so we traded in one car for a hybrid. It is amazing the kind of mileage it gets and I am always happy saving money on gas as well as saving the planet. It got me thinking, though, how can we use social media to save our planet? Well, Chris Brogan has found a way…

“Thank you to Fred Wilson for turning me on to the really cool product, Eco-Safe. It’s a way to save an entire post to PDF, email it to a friend, etc. How cool is that? Save paper: use a PDF.”

Social Media Mom is out to change the world using her own unique voice. By placing the ECO-SAFE Merit Badge on my blog, I am using my voice and empowering others to participate in environmentally friendly behaviors on the web……

“Websites displaying the “ECO-SAFE Merit Badge” are providing environmentally friendly printing alternatives for their website visitors. As a collective group of people who use the Merit Badge, we are actively reducing the staggering number of web pages printed daily. Our live total of papers saved today is now at: 21,115 Let’s do better - place the Merit Badge on your site today.”

Israel, over at FatManUnleashed has started a new social media site dedicated to all things health related. Evidently, Health Ranker has been live for about a month and has been welcomed with open arms……….

“Having been health blogging for about 9 months now, I noticed that were was a huge void in the health news sector. Despite the multitude of social media news and voting sites available, there was not one dedicated to the health niche. I have become increasingly frustrated with the current “big dogs” in social media news sites, so I set upon making my own.”

Israel has certainly tapped into a market that the social sites seem to have been neglecting and from the looks of it, Health Ranker is on its way to becoming one of the more popular of the voting/networking sites in the health news arena.