It was our first time – blogging!

We would like to complete this blog episode with a short flashback on the last two weeks in which we were real bloggers for the first time. We made some life lasting experiences that we would like to share with everybody who thinks about starting a blog.

The challenges: setting up a blog and market it throughout the different social media channels is said to be very easy – well, we can tell you it isn't. We experienced a pretty hard and rusty start...
The questions you should ask yourself: "Do the preferred media for advertising accept my blog-address? Didn't I use too many characters for my URL address? Are there other blogs with the same topic? Could I use them as a guideline? Do I have enough time for starting all my advertising campaigns on the media platform I want to deal with? Is setting up an account and a profile on a certain media platform really worth it? Do I have enough knowledge about technical aspects such as basic programming and HTML usage?" If you can answer all these questions with YES, go for it!
Furthermore, make sure you can fully stand behind your blog topic. We experienced that we actually branded ourselves during these two very intensive blog weeks by permanently posting status up-dates and messages about our blog "Brand Yourself on Social Media". We actually were applying second order branding – almost as complex as Web 2.0, don't you think so?
Over the time we bothered all our friends on Facebook, Twitter, via e-mail and so on by bombarding them with links and invitations to our blog. Now we are wondering what the consequences are regarding our reputation will be...
However, we probably put more meaningful status up-dates, messages and links on Facebook and Twitter than many others – that may compensates.

So far our experiences. Once again, many thanks to our followers! We might be back one day on a voluntary basis. It's never too late to start blogging:


Stay tuned and do not exaggerate – neither on social media nor on blogs. And never forget: "Social media is like teen sex: Everyone wants to do it. No one actually knows how. When finally done, there is surprise it's not better." True!

'It wasn't me!'

That's easily said, but who will believe you when it is you making destructive comments on weblogs, accumulating huge amounts of debt or even committing crimes? Branding yourself on social media is a powerful tool to reach in a short period of time many people, to promote yourself and share all kind of information!But be aware of the information you share! Before you even realize it, you are dealing with identity theft.

We often share information on the web without thinking. We share our names, email addresses, education and working background, credit card information and so on. The consequences of identity theft are diverse but mostly profound. The most harming form occurs when someone pretends to be you in order to disrupt your life. This can take the form of stalking and provoking or even steeling your social media identity for financial purposes. In the latter case, your identity is used to buy stuff on your credit card or open new accounts on your name. And it doesn't stop there.. What if someone commits fraudulent crimes in your name? It ruins your whole reputation and cancels out further professional and personal opportunities. It doesn't even look hard to steal someones identity. Have a look at following example:

It's an example of a guy who, while developing a ranking algorithm for Twitter, Twitterank, discovered how easily account information could be obtained. This example was an innocent one, but shows again how easily private information can be abused on social media.

Is there anything we can do in order to protect ourselves against identity theft through social media?
Some recommendations:

- If possible, use always your full name when doing the registration on social media sites. This in order to prevent someone else acting in your name.
- Limit sharing personal information to what you think is really relevant
- Create a free Google Alerts account for your name. Every time your name will pop up online, you will be warned by email.
- Boost your online reputation. Create a blog and provide content that indirectly boost your reputation. Look for search engine optimization in order to be sure that when your name is googled, good things about yourself (your brand) are found first.
- In case you discover someone using your identity, contact immediately the administrators of that social media platform in order to put things right!

And of course always keep in mind: anticipate, anticipate, anticipate! Once your reputation is damaged, whether online or offline, your reputation is lost!

Google social search - be more visible!

By launching google social search, google pays even more tribute to the importance of social networks. Social search is a feature that gives you content edited by members of your social networks as the search results. Why can that be helpful? In some cases, it might not be so relevant to you what the general search produces for you search request. Information your peers and colleagues share about this topic can be more helpful, for example because you trust their opinion or know you have similar interests. Finding a friend's blog about, for example, his Africa trip, can be of more value than getting a list of travel agencies and general travel guides.

So, how can that help you to improve your self branding in social media? We've talked about the organization of your profiles and what to do and what to avoid in former posts. Once decided which networks may help you boost your career, add those to your google profile. Now everytime someone in your networks searches for a topic you have written about in your blog, online CV or on twitter, you will appear in the social search results. That gives you an even greater chance to position yourself as an expert of your field of interest. Also people who are not aware that you are the person to ask will be lead to your profiles like this. Furthermore, social search can make it easier to find out who to contact if you're interested in a certain company or job position. Just type in the company name and get results of the contacts who might have exactly the kind of knowledge that will make your application better than others'.

Let google employee Matt explain to you how it works:

Is Facebook too American for you?

There is no doubt among social networking theorists that cultural differences have an impact on how people use social media. This is also one of the main reasons why networks like facebook generally succeed in Western countries while they have difficulties in penetrating Asian markets.

Some people explain it through the fact that websites like Facebook mainly correspond to Anglo-Saxon cultures (U.S., UK, Canada, etc.). The editors of www.thoughtfarmer.com share with us 5 interesting key learnings that they made during the implementation of cross cultural social media strategies for international businesses.

According to them, Asian users said that platforms like facebook "looked North American". They enjoyed more muted pastel colors and anime-style emoticons, a look that seemed equally foreign to North American eyes.

Compare Mixi, Japan's #1 social networking site, with Facebook. Mixi uses muted tones and illustration. Facebook uses primary colors and is primarily text-based with photos.

Another cultural difference is the widely used photo sharing function. Korean and Japanese users were uncomfortable with posting pictures of themselves at their personal page. Instead they prefer to use avatars or pictures of pets. They could not state definite reasons for this preference. Expectations around privacy, perhaps, or a culturally-ingrained sense of personal modesty?

In North America and the UK, most people don't hesitate to share photos of themselves on their profile. In Asia, it's more common to use an avatar. Judging from some of the profile photos we see, avatars may be the way to go. This implies that no platform will succeed worldwide with a "one size fits all"-approach. It will be interesting to see if platforms like facebook will accomplish to learn from local copycats in order to accomplish their expansion in Eastern markets.

Do you tweet after sex?

Do you check your social media sites first thing in the morning, first thing when you're done with breakfast, first thing you sit down in the bus and get out your iphone, first thing you open your notebook in class, first thing...? Do you give status updates when you go to the toilet, or do you share your break-up with your twitter followers before it has even happened? Do you have many friends on facebook who you don't even know in real life? Yes??? Well, you might be social media addicted. To get more confirmation, take this quiz to see how addicted you are:


But don't worry. You are not alone. It has become so evident since you have internet access everywhere and all the time. Even more, you can carry around facebook, twitter etc. on your cell phone. According to a survey conducted by retrevo, many people - especially young people - use social media also in situations where they should focus on their "real" lives (one would suppose). See how many answered they tweet/text/check facebook often:


But is this addiction? Or does it just represent how our lives are today? On the website stopwritingonmywall.com, the Social Media Addicts Association (S.M.A.A.), you can confess your addiction, look at other testimonials, sign the petition "say no to social media" and buy T-shirts of the association. Of course, the association embraces social media to get awareness. While looking at the ads on the website and watching the video, it becomes clear that actually this association is part of a viral marketing campaign for the Sony Vaio. Sony pokes fun at the social media addiction phenomenon. Vaio - "Perfect for social media addicts" is the slogan. However, this topic is also discussed more seriously. Certainly, social media becomes a problem when it really starts affecting your real life. Once someone prefers spending time tweeting, blogging and adding virtual friends over talking to the people around him - such as family, friends and colleagues - there's need for action! Most of those discussing steps against social media addiction are against going cold turkey.

Start reducing gradually:
1) Go through your profiles. On which of them do you spend the most time and which are important to you? Delete those you are not interested in, let's say one per day.
2) Go through your friends lists. Are there people you don't talk to anyway, people whose status updates you never read? Delete them and don't accept new friends just for the sake of having a long friend list.
3) Having reduced the sites and people to deal with every day, you can use the time you spend on social media with those activities you really like. Then you can introduce a schedule. Make fixed times where you are allowed to use social media and don't deviate from it.
4) Tell someone in real life about everything BEFORE posting it as a status. Then you might think twice if that update is really needed.
5) Get other hobbies!

So, we hope you only read our blog because you are actually interested in what we're writing about and not just to satisfy your addiction! I have to go now, I think I got a facebook message...

RANTS ON... social media revolution

Is social media just a fed or something bigger? Is our society on the way to one of the biggest changes since the industrial revolution?

Some facts show: Don't treat social media lightly.

• If Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest in the world.
• 96% of the generation Y have joined a social network already.
• Social Media has overtaken porn as number 1 activity on the web.

It is scary but the truth. Social media is growing faster than every medium before. While the radio needed 38 years to reach 50 million users Facebook needed 9 months (!) to reach 100 million users. The society changes its everyday behavior. The web rules people's life. It is more important to have friends on Facebook than meeting new ones in real life.

So by having a depper look on all these facts we should be aware of the power social media platforms have. We should be careful in handling and using them. Also TV and radio was and is used for propaganda by dictators and politicians. Having fun with social media is for sure not bad but we all should add a more critical view and think about the changes that are going on...

This video shows impressive facts about the social media revolution:

Is there a difference between online and offline social etiquette?

In today's social media age the border between public and privacy gets more and more blurred. Privacy often becomes an illusion. Nonetheless, in my opinion there is not much of a difference in the social behavior rules for online social media compared to the offline world. To illustrate this we tried to come up with five golden rules of social media etiquette. We could also call them "netiquettes":

1. Listen
Listen first before speaking - meaning be aware of the context. Listening gives you a better sense of not only what people are saying but also how they are feeling. In virtual spaces where there are no visual cues, good listening skills become a powerful asset. Listening also helps you map out your current social media footprint or measuring your marketing campaigns over time. Additionally, keep in mind that you don't know everything, and you can learn from others if you take the time to listen.

2. Be nice
Although this sounds quite trivial, being nice is often not respected. You can call us old-fashioned but we think it should not be so difficult to just treat people as you would like to be treated from others as well.

3. Be real
Because of the anonymity the Internet allows, there is little to no accountability online. Authenticity is the most important for any good and valuable social media behavior. Just be yourself, you'll have far better and more long-lasting positive results than if you try to be someone - or something - you're not. And do not forget: One always meets each other twice - and in today's virtual world even more. Furthermore, cheaters never win! And once everyone sees you for the cheater you are, you can't un-ring that bell. Therefore, be accountable, people will respect you, whether they agree with you or not.

4. Add value
While entering a social media platform try to start any online conversation with the aim of adding value. Before adding a post to a platform, ask yourself: How is this providing value to the conversation or the community? 5. Pay attention to language issues Improper, inappropriate or bad language may, in the worst case, lead to a permanent ban from a forum or group. It is also important to remember people from other countries may be participating in the conversation and language barriers may be an issue.

This short video also explains our "netiquettes":