A work at home mom discusses social media and networking.

The guys over at Common Craft have done it again with their clever and informative video analogies. Recently, I had a chance to watch their newest, “Social Media in Plain English“.

Take a look:

What do you think? Does Common Craft do a good job of analyzing how social media works? Does it show, in plain English, how businesses are using social media to improve awareness and open communications? Does this video do a good job at explaining how the sharing of opinions and ideas lay the foundation for success in business today? What say you?

Rumor has it, that Starbucks free Wi-Fi will start today in most US Starbucks stores. According to The Zatz Not Funny Blog, Dave has seen the corporate memo dictating a June 3 launch……

“Earlier today the manager approached me (unsolicited) and said the system was configured a few days ago and they’ve confirmed it works. I saw the back of the store memo and the manager says they’ve got signage behind the counter ready to go in conjunction with the June 3rd launch..”

This is very exciting for me. I have been asking at several of my local Starbucks when they were expecting their free Wi-Fi service to start and no one seemed to really know. Evidently, patrons will need to buy a Starbucks Card and use it at least once a month to receive two consecutive hours per day of blissful, Chai lovin’, internet access. Sign me up!

I recycle. I drive a hybrid. I conserve energy. I am really trying to be part of the solution and not the problem on our planet, and now, even web hosting companies are jumping on the “green” bandwagon to provide environmentally guided hosting.

Elizabeth, over at Able Reach, has put together a list of 22 environmentally friendly web hosting companies that are going green. This list is surely not complete so if you know of a hosting company that is doing something specific to save our planet like giving carbon credits, using renewable energy or solar power, hop on over and leave a comment.

And Media Temple, if you’re listening, what are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?

After serious thought, and reconsideration of her goals, Kimberly Bock, aka SpostareDuro, has changed “Learning SEO Basics - Search Engine Optimization for the Curious Newbie” to “Learning SEO Basics - Supporter of Ethical Marketing”………..

“I am on the lookout for marketers / bloggers that are actively involved with charitable organizations, environmental causes, and endeavors that are of benefit to the welfare of humanity, including marketers blogs that are focussed upon ethical marketing. Regular activity in something as simple as Facebook causes where games are played for free is a good and fun way to contribute as well as make terrific friends.”

Kimberly has been an inspiration to me. Whether it be the environment, animals or an overall world in need, she continually promotes the changes she wishes to see. Unfortunately, some don’t see it that way.

I recently wrote a post regarding SocialVibe, a social site designed to bring consumers and brands together for various causes, and some of the comments I received led me to the conclusion that some may not really believe that marketing and ethics can co-exist………..

By saying, “most international corporations are not your friend if you’re in for charity and good will”, is to assume that companies are appeasing their consciences by exploiting others with one hand as they give liberally with the other and that is pure ignorance.

The Marketing Man notes that “ethical marketing” can be a core operating value and explains it like this:

“According to a recently released white paper on that subject, ethical marketing is a model of ethical interactivity between businesses and consumers that includes seven practices – notice, choice, access, contact, security, horizon and intrusiveness.”

Essentially, it’s not that the companies are bad, what it boils down to is intent and social media does a great job in allowing the bullsh*t and truth to be revealed. Not only theirs but mine as well. Are we in it for ourselves or for others? How am I, as a consumer, using my blog, my business, or my social media tools to make the world a better place? I can tell you that Kimberly is on the right track. She is using her blogs to build a network of marketers that wish to be included in a community that is green minded, ethically secure, and positively rooted in online pursuits. Does that include you? I hope so because “the best contribution to marketing isn’t requested of someone else. It’s given”. What’s your contribution?

This guest post comes from Jim Stroud. Jim is the founder and CEO of The Recruiters Lounge and the tenth in my series featuring social media dads.

The Popularity of Expletives

I was watching the movie - “Akee lah and The Bee” the other day. It is a very charming film about a young girl in her pursuit to win a prestigious spelling contest. I highly recommend it. It is rated PG and for the most part, is family-friendly. However, I had a few moments of discomfort over some of the expletives being used by some of the characters on the film. To be sure, I am not a prude. If I were watching a film about the Mafia or some intense action film, hearing such language would have gone unnoticed. But to hear them in a “family” movie, I was a bit taken a back.

So then I began to wonder, “Just how popular are expletives in the English language and what regions of the world tend to use these words the most?” (These are the type of things that Social Media Dads ponder? Well, I do.)

In case you are unsure what I mean, here is a definition of the word expletive.

ex-ple-tive - [ek-spli-tiv] curse: profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger

So, I did a bit of research. I went over to Google and used their Google Trends tool to see how many of Google’s users are searching for expletives and how often they are cited in the News. The results were surprising! For my study, I chose four expletives that I believed were commonly used in movies. (So as not to offend anyone, I am not spelling out the full words, but blocking letters with an asterix.) Those four words are: Sh*t, F**k, As**ole and D*mn.

In terms of internet searches:

• By far the “F” word was searched for the most and by a wide margin.
• The second most popular was Sh*t.
• The third most popular was D*mn.
• The fourth most popular was As**ole.

In terms of how many times these expletives were referenced in the news, a different result is revealed.

• D*mn was the most popular.
• Sh*t was the second most popular.
• The “F” word was third most popular.
• The fourth most popular was As**ole.

Here is a chart detailing the results:

I also thought it curious as to what regions used these words the most. Here are the results from that survey.

• The “F” word was searched for the most in India
• Sh*t was most popular in Australia.
• D*mn was most popular in the United States
• As**ole was also most popular in the United States.

I am very curious to hear your thoughts on this. How often have you heard these words in common use outside of Movies and Television? (Hearing these words in rush hour traffic does not count.

Follow Jim on Twitter here.

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?

Okay, so I’m not on Facebook “all” the time, just enough to buy back friends from Brian Wallace and poke various people but Equals has come out with a new application for Facebook called Party Line for those that do live on Facebook……..

“The app, entitled Party Line, enables users to have group phone chats free for up to 15 minutes.

Facebook users can also dial 877- BUZZ ME from their mobile phones, and Equals will dial out and add users to the Party Line. Equals lets users have an unlimited number of Party Lines–your Top Friends, classmates, family members, and those random friends that you don’t know in real life and only through Facebook.”

This application is great for those quick meetings with say, a group of virtual assistants or work at home employees, scattered throughout the country. One quick and easy call allows you to delegate tasks and plan events at a moments notice.

This guest post comes from David Wallace. David is the founder and CEO of SearchRank and the ninth in my series featuring the top social media dads.

Getting Your Kids To Speak Your ‘Social’ Language

My oldest daughter is a TV and movie fanatic. She and her roommate have amassed quite a collection of DVDs and have a long list of television shows that are regular watches for them. As a parent, I would typically view such an obsession as being a time waster but in all reality, she could be out doing much worse things. She also has the talent of being able to write, which she does very well. As someone who struggles with writing, having to work very hard at it, I find myself envying her talent often.

So, instead of giving her the usual parental scorn of not wasting all her time watching other people’s lives, I decided to encourage her to profit by it. How? By blogging of course!

She already writes on her MySpace Blog as well as a Blogger account she has, however those posts are mostly comprised of her current feelings or interesting things she has come across. When I proposed that she engage in celebrity blogging and that she could earn revenue from it, she was very interested. I told her that I’d set up a Wordpress blog, host it on our company server, throw AdSense on it and she could blog away. I pointed out that a lot of people are making decent money off their hobby blogs these days, not only with AdSense but additional advertising opportunities that pop up as blogs gain exposure.

She is currently searching for a unique and snazzy domain name. Unfortunately, everything she has come across so far has been taken. Being anxious to get her started, I registered her full name as a dot com and hope to get a blog going soon. That way I figure she can at least start and so long as she finds a different domain within 6 months, we won’t lose too much time in getting the blog (or blogs) established and drawing in traffic.

As a search and social media marketer who is also a blogger by profession, her interest in blogging thrills me. For so long, my children (all three of them) have really not understand “what Dad does for a living.” They know I spend lots of time in front of a computer but have never really grasped anything beyond that. My daughter is beginning to understand.

Even my son who is about 3 years younger than my daughter is beginning to show an interest in what I do with regards to search marketing. He is currently reading Jennifer Laycock’s “Small Business Guide to Search Marketing.” My youngest, who is a licensed cosmetologist, has yet to show any interest in search or social media. However, I am confident that one day when she gets the desire to market herself online that she will get the bug as well.

It is refreshing to see my children begin to expand themselves from being strictly limited to MySpace and AIM. Blogging seems to be a good first step in getting them to speak my “social” language. Now if I can only get them interested in Facebook and Twitter.

You can follow David on Twitter here.