Earlier this year I had a conversation with Tyme White about twitter and personal branding that had stuck in my head ever since I got off the phone with her. She brought up the fact that I had a lot of twitter followers but where or how would I stay connected with those followers if twitter goes down (fail whale) , twitter gets purchased by google & closed like Pownce or their business model just doesn’t work and everyone leaves the community. We talked about how some people who I admire like Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuck have huge online followers despite twitter. Robert has a large following and readership on his blog before twitter and the same for @GaryVee but we do know they both have used twitter to extend their brand.

Towards the end of his article he disclosed his plan on how to extend his blog. Everyone will take a different approach and should do what makes them feel comfortable. However some thought should be given about how what you do today impacts you tomorrow.

It is easy to build a Twitter audience (Facebook, MySpace…you get the idea). It is much easier than a blog because the tools are there to quickly send friend requests – which most people accept. Send out enough you’ll have people subscribed to your content. However, how many of those people are actually reading or are interested in what you are saying? It is common for people to only read what Twitter displays the moment they log on…they don’t scroll back to see what they missed. Same thing goes for a blog. Just because your FeedBurner stats state you have X subscribers doesn’t mean all of them actually read your content. Just because you have X amount of subscribers to your blog doesn’t mean everyone subscribed actually reads your articles.

That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t use third party services. They can be a great compliment to your site. However, if you have more subscribers to a third party site than you do your own site that might work against you in the long run. If those sites ever went out of business, blocked access to your profile (who often does that happen on Facebook?) or even worse had technical difficulties and lost your friends list what would you do? How screwed would you be?

Another problem is overextending yourself. If you are spread out amongst too many services it makes it very hard for people to follow you – to catch all of your content. Imagine telling your readers go to Facebook for this, MySpace for this, my blog for his, Twitter for that. I had a profile on Pownce but it is gone, update your records. My work record is on LinkedIn, I have Yahoo, AIM, MSN, ICQ and Skype – add me! See what I mean? It’s information overload on one person. Add more people and the odds are they aren’t tuning in as you’d like them to.

With my own audience I don’t put anything in between us. It’s me and them. That’s how we roll. For me, it works out. Sure, we drive each other crazy sometimes but I know they are reading what I say. Not necessarily expressing their honest opinion (we’re working on that) but they are reading and interacting with me. Not via Twitter or anywhere else but my site, my email, my IM…me.

I answered Wayne’s question in the comments section of his article. Head on over if you want to take a peek. Remember – social media sites are tools. Use them wisely.

One of his employees, who he is friendly with, needed work done on a floor in the house. The employer knew a friend that could help and keep it cost effective. Long story short, the employer and the floor repair person went to the employee’s house to fix the floor. The employer introduced the floor repair person to the employee, and the floor repair person was showed the problem, finances were discussed and the work started being done. The employee was cooking and went to attend to pots on the stove while the employer and the repair person dealt with the floor.

Eventually the employee went back to the room where the work was being done and it was empty. Looking around the employee found them in the living room laughing at YouTube videos. Scarlett Takes a Tumble is kinda funny, you know (and she’s a GREAT sport about it)? Going a long with it for a minute the employee laughed but wanted the floor fixed and tried to subtly remind the repair person to get back to work.

In which the employer said something like, “Oh, you mean like you surf the internet and talk on the phone using company equipment on company time?”

Ouch! But you have to admit – BOOYAH!!!

I always suggest this type of scenario (if they can set it up) because it is 100% effective. Never had an employee yet say the person they hired to come to their house (or someone misusing their stuff) should actually be using their computer. It doesn’t happen, yet they are the first to tell the person to go back to work. When my client mentioned he was going to the employee’s house I said “Do it!”. Use the computer, watch TV, talk on the phone…do the same thing and see what happens.

Because seriously, when employees do that SOMEONE pays for the loss of time and resources. It’s not free. Bank of America is laying of 30K-35K employees over the next three years. I laughed when I saw that. I feel bad but BoA was lax. I know of employees who spoke on the phone (long distance by the minute charges) for hours a day. And in one case it took at least two years for them to catch up with it. How do I know? Because that is how long it took for them to call my house and question why my number was on their phone bill. Very surprised my number was residential.

If you’re one that wouldn’t be cool with the repair person watching TV on your time, perhaps you shouldn’t being using your employer’s resources. Sure, everyone needs a break but don’t abuse it.

Just like every vote counts, each case of abuse adds up.

Not warped actually. I’ve been told many times the business owner didn’t think anything bad would happen to them (and that’s why lawyers will always have customers). Why? I have no idea. Like they are exempt from bad things happening or something. I’ve had people argue with me about editing comments when the law in their state says if they edit they will be financially responsible if someone sues. Yet these same people 1) can’t afford the fight and 2) would be the first in line looking for free help if something went down. What comment is worth taking potential unnecessary financial burdens?

Let’s look at an example of someone not thinking. Designer Carter Bryant lost the right to sell Bratz dolls because he thought of the idea while working for Mattel. He started the Bratz empire in 2001 – it took a long time for the legal system to catch up with him. Business school 101 will inform you that there is a huge conflict there – he came up with the concept while working with the company that would turn into his competition.

Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that the Bratz line was created by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel. The jury also ruled that MGA and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the same jury found that Mattel would have to be paid US $100 million in damages.

The manufacture of the dolls must stop immediately and the dolls have to be removed from shelves after the holiday season. 1500 jobs potentially down the toilet. Because he didn’t think.

Why do I say that? Because if he thought about it that tidbit – that he came up with the idea while working for Mattel – would never have seen the light of day. He would have saved up his money, quit, waited a decent amount of time and then launched his business. Yes, he would have made a reasonable effort to make sure Mattel couldn’t touch him. But who would think Mattel would come after him?

Duh. I mean seriously. Duh. No brainer. Please. Just like Hasbro wasn’t going to protect their rights…right?

If you are attempting to do something that makes money think about what you’re doing and ensure you’re treating your business like a business. You’d be surprised how many of the big boys didn’t think their businesses would become as big as they are.

Our goal is to become the matching and recommendation technology of the internet. Our focus is on leveraging machine learning techniques to improve consumer and business user experiences with large corpora of data. We live in a world of too much information and we’re trying to create the solution.

Wait, to sit on a throne they would have had to successfully release Persai and have fame. Lemme rephrase that…Sure is easy talking shit when you haven’t done a damn thing yourself yet.

I honestly can’t fathom what they are developing that Google couldn’t drop kick in 30 days or less. Simply because Google is sitting on all that information already. And Microsoft. And Yahoo. And Amazon…wow, this could be a long list. No reason not to try though, more power too them. I’m sure they’ve thought this all out and Persai will be damn near perfect once it is released. As much shit as they talk on Uncov it has to be. Ted had some words to say about Guy Kawasaki, of Truemors fame(?), having tips on a successful startup. Check it:

Just got done reading Kawasaki taking shots at what seemed to be uncov in Entrepreneur magazine. Some quotes: “the blogosphere trashed Trumors, but that’s good for us” and “some blogger kid who needs to move out of mom’s house and start dating”. I just LOLd the trash talk but what I don’t get is this incohert advice he’s spewing. Tips on building a successful startup: “hire a coder from the midwest” WTF?

See, Persai has to be on point. If not, that would make the them worse that Kawasaki. Let’s face it Kawasaki had his fame and is slowly fading (IMO) but he had success and many people still respect him. The Persai guys would be failing right out the gate, but they’d have their professional freedom and that’s all that matters, right [kyleshank.com link no longer active]?

I’m starting a company for the professional freedom and not much else (trust me we’re riding ourselves into the ground). I want to build great products and dream up solutions. Money would be nice but it takes a back seat to professional happiness.

Guys talking smack about Web 2.0 companies. Persai is in production but once launched will (hopefully) change how people use and manage content. They are in the Bay Area. It’s taking forever to be released. Boring blog. Fits the Web 2.0 profile so well they started backing away from the term.

Good luck. You’re gonna need it.

For instance, a person who searches for information on cars is likely to be sent an auto ad, Coleman said.

Traditionally, Yahoo’s advertising targeting have focused on customer demographics or geographic location instead of behavior.

Advertisers will pay more for placement of the right ad at the right time at the right place, said Coleman, who emphasized that the targeting would be done anonymously based on behavior.

I have some questions:

1. Do I have to be logged in for this tracking to take place or is it done by a cookie?
2. How do I opt out?
3. Will users be informed this behavioral tracking is taking place?

This isn’t about giving the user a better browsing experience. This is about Yahoo charging more money for ad placement. What companies don’t seem to get is that users don’t care whether or not it is done anonymously or not…we don’t want it happening at all. WSJ reported that Yahoo has sold out their front page advertising for months in advance.

I detest greedy companies.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with services like Match.com or eHarmony, but if this is happening (Yahoo is getting sued too) I bet it is because people are waking up and realizing they can easily meet people through their blogs, and have a better chance of success because of shared interests. For me the internet helped me:

1. Meet new people online all the time.
2. Meet the coolest people who ended up being my bestest friends.
3. Stumble over the fact that the fiance I thought died was alive.
4. Help people – I enjoy doing that.
5. Network – speaking of networks, I got it 9rules – Woot!

Is it that far of a jump to think I might meet the man of my dreams online? Ok, I don’t have a man of my dreams. I’m a geek, which means I’m smart, which means I know better than to have a preset idea of the “perfect guy” because I will miss out on the man who might be perfect for me because he doesn’t match the stupid ass idea I have in my mind. Hence – it’s a blank slate…makes life much easier. I have two preferences – I prefer the guy to be taller than me, so I can wear my heels (and lay my head on his shoulder) and he must actively use a computer. Other than that, if he’s bald, that means less time in a mirror primping. If he’s fat, the sex will make him lose weight. If he’s broke, where this is a will there is a way. If he lives in Alaska we’ll compromise on place to live. Hurdles are made to be jumped over, right? I’ll either jump over it or knock the sucker down.

I know quite a few people who met their loves online, many had to relocate to be together. Distance is only as large as one makes it. The couples I know who met online and got married around the same time as couples who dated traditionally always outlast the traditional couples. I have yet to encounter a couple who met online that divorced before the traditional couple. I think the reason why is because online couples learn to efficiently and effectively communicate. They have to otherwise the relationship would never get off the ground in the first place.

Anyway, “if” the fake dates and personal ads are true, companies are doing this because of the onslaught of blogs. Who needs a middleman when you can do it for yourself?

See, years ago I put a picture of myself online, on AOL matter of fact (everyone was doing it because AOL was big back then) and the worst possible thing (ok maybe not the worst) happened. Several people decided to be me (okay more than several) and man, did that cause some headaches. Men where talking to women who thought was me, but it wasn’t and was irked when they came across me and my then fiance, so I had to prove I was me. Men were pretending to be women (yeah me).  And let’s not forget the wives who thought their husbands was doing stuff behind their backs with me…and it wasn’t me. For a while I felt like I was on Jerry Springer – and I detested it. Getting the picture taken off AOL was a pain. The worst part was that people who knew me ended up being sucked in because…well, they knew me. All that headache over a plain picture. And it took months to get it all straightened out. Between that and stalkers coming to my home I was done with the “connecting” thing.

So yeah, I’m shy about pictures and openly “connecting” to people. I’m getting over it because one should not let one bad experience (ok several bad experiences) rule their life, right? But when I see some of the stuff people put on their profiles I ponder if I want to be publicly connected to them. If I accept some and deny others – then it will cause issues, yaknowwhatimean?

Sometimes it is best to be neutral – meaning don’t publicly “connect” to anyone. Less drama that way. And when I say “connect” I am talking about personal sites more than business purposes where people do not seem to think about the personal impression they are making.

They mention Peter Whitney who was fired for his blog:

Like a growing number of employees, Peter Whitney decided to launch a blog on the Internet to chronicle his life, his friends and his job at a division of Wells Fargo.

Then he began taking jabs at a few people he worked with.

Lesson : I never write about anyone or say anything I wouldn’t say to the person’s face. I always let people know when I write about them, even if I mask their identity. This simply lesson keeps me out of trouble.

Peter is quoted in the article:

“Right now, it’s too gray. There needs to be clearer guidelines,” says Whitney, who has found another job. “Some people go to a bar and complain about workers, I decided to do it online. Some people say I deserve what happened, but it was really harsh. It was unfair.”

Lesson: Never compare what is said privately to a group of people to what is published online for all to read. That’s like comparing apples to oranges.

One point mentioned in the article is IBM’s blogging policy:

The guidelines state that employees should identify themselves (and, when relevant, their roles at IBM) when blogging about IBM.

“You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM,” the guidelines state. They also say bloggers should not use “ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc.” and that they should “show proper consideration” for “topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion.”

I think that’s fair if a blogger must blog about work. The part that interests me is the point where the blogger should idenify themselves. Will IBM fire an employee who writes about IBM anonymously? See, I’d change that to must identify themselves and their position if the blogger must talk about their job. If an employee was anonymously writing about work once found, they’d be fired.

That sounds harsh doesn’t it? Perhaps it is but is easier to do something stupid when your name isn’t attached to it. When a blogger’s name is attached to every word written it makes a blogger think twice, perhaps three times before pressing the submit button. This isn’t a bad thing. Once a blogger publishes something it’s out there. Someone has a copy of it, guaranteed. Most bloggers don’t realize this. A large number of bloggers honestly believe their words will not be read…and that is what gets them into trouble.

Lesson: Before publishing anything to a blog read it over with the forethought that anyone (and I mean anyone) can read it. The boss, the wife, the kids, the next door neighbors, the potential future boss – anyone. If it passes that test, usually it won’t get a blogger into trouble. All the people who I know of that have been fired (and there are unfortunately hundreds now) failed that one lesson. If they thought “what if my boss or my co-workers read this?” they may have still published it but it wouldn’t have been a shock they were fired.

I agree 100% about getting to know a blogger and a personal blog is a good way to do that. However a business blog can do this as well. If you posted nothing about your personal life (Robert) I would still have an idea about what type of person you are because it comes through in your work-related posts.

I also agree 100% that a business blog has the potential to give a small business a lot of power. The internet made it possible for a small local company to become a global company. Blogs give small businesses the power not only to show off advertise their company without directly advertising. Interacting and please their customers is the best word of mouth advertising there is.

But as I wrote earlier a blogger (business or personal) needs to understand their niche crowd and the product that is being blogged about. Robert, you work for a company that makes products for both business and personal use. Again, that’s unique. So yes Robert, you should have an interest in the personal and business lives of the people you are interacting with. The better you understand them the better you can interact with them.

The key thing I think you’re missing Robert is that everyone doesn’t have the experience that you do in knowing what they can get away with. You know what you can and can not say. Most bloggers start off blogging with the assumption their words will not be read. 99% of the time this is what gets them into trouble. They said something months ago in an attempt at humor when no one was reading their blog that gets them into trouble today. They might have matured since then, changed their outlook:they may have even changed jobs. But their posts are archived, cached and the words can not be taken back.

This is what businesses are terrified of – a blogger not thinking things through and writing something that can result in a loss in sales or even worse, degrade the faith their customers have in the company. It is very easy for a blogger to do and extremely hard for a company to fix.

This is why I strongly urge bloggers to keep things separate because most bloggers aren’t thinking in terms of the future. Especially if the blogger starts talking about their job on an already established blog. If the average blogger looked back at their posts with the viewpoint of “what if my boss read this” I am willing to bet that most bloggers would feel uncomfortable or there would be something in the blog that might get them into trouble.

This is not including the fact that most companies prefer that employees keep their personal lives to themselves, if only to ensure and maintain objectivity. Robert if you open your blogroll you’ll find that the average blogger doesn’t want their boss reading their blog and most business owners (bosses) don’t want too much information about the personal lives of their employees.

Since I’m open minded I want to hear other opinions on the issue. What do YOU (reader) prefer – everything all in one or niched blogs? Do you want to hear about how the cute the cat is when you’re really interested in technology? Leave a comment here, email me, leave me a voicemail on Yahoo (Tyme2BReal), write about it on your blog and send a trackback.

Just for the record – everything on one blog doesn’t work for my readers. It’s too broad. I have people reading this site that are extreme geeks to people who don’t have computers at home on my personal site. Not Too Geeky hopefully will apply to the in-between crowd – people wanting to learn about technology. If I put everything on one blog I would irk a lot of people.

I’m changing the name of the feeds to the blogger’s name. If the name isn’t on the blog then I’m putting it in a temporary category to make a decision on later. In the realm of personal blogs there is usually a nick name of some sort if their real name is masked (and there are good reasons to do this contrary to popular belief). Here is the big decision:

Any business related blogs need to have a name, if not, it’s getting tossed. There has to be something that I can identify the blogger by. An example, MultiCultClassics (who isn’t on my blogroll because the site doesn’t have a feed no matter how many times I talk about them) writes anonymously but has the nickname HighJive. In my blogroll I’d add him (if he had a RSS feed) as HighJive: MultiCultClassics, or something like that. So let me be clear, you can write anonymously with a nickname…I don’t have a problem with that.

Why am I doing this? As I mentioned in my podcast I’m going to be interacting more with the community. I stopped commenting and writing while I finished a long time goal and now that I’m done, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. This morning while I was sorting my blogroll someone contacted me on Yahoo and they said “Hi! This is X” and I didn’t even try to act like I knew who he was, so I confessed and asked “Who are you?” When he said his blog, I immediately knew who he was. That’s backwards to me. I should recognize the name before the blog.

So I’m warning you, if you have a blog and don’t have anything to distinguish yourself from the other couple thousand I read, you’re getting tossed. If you don’t care about yourself enough to distinguish yourself I’m not going to pick up the slack.

Oh and one more thing since I’m going through blogs:if you have a FeedBurner feed and no optional feed, you’re getting put in a temporary category. When FeedBurner goes down that can mean an additional 500 items to read. If FeedBurner feeds are in a separate category, when FeedBurner goes down, I can mark that entire category as read when it comes back up. Nothing personal but when I go through my blogroll today, I want to read it today. I don’t want to read yesterday’s stuff tomorrow. If your site is up and FeedBurner is down, you missed out. If you said anything meaningful I’ll hear about it from another source.

As more blogs come online and blogrolls expand, people will begin making similar decisions as I am. Make sure you don’t get tossed.