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Another Facebook Change To Come – They control the platform!

It is certain, that if you want to have control over your web presence, then you cannot depend on Facebook. Why, because it will always be changing and it has complete control over the interface, look, and user interaction. With the recent Facebook Personal Profile update, this gave business a first hand look at what is to come with their Pages for business.

Today, I noticed a Tweet come across citing that Facebook made an “accidental” update that allowed business to see what their Pages will look like with this new integration. Mashable.com has a complete write-up about the temporary release, and from this article…this is what I gather. The first thing I noticed, just like the new personal profiles, no Tabs. Yes, the tabs are gone moving the navigation to the left hand column. So those of you using the FBML application, it is definitely noticed with the FBML icon next to the Tab name. BLAH. Many organizations have spent tons of time and money working on the creation of their Tabs and the interface that is revealed once you click a Tab.

It also looks like you can “Login” to the Page which brings the questions about how Administrators will manage the page. Along with this, it looks like a “Lightbox” feature will be added to the photos area for a slick way to flip through pictures in a “Slide Show” mode.

Regardless of these updates, that either enhance the experience or change the design for businesses, it is proof that business do not have control over the platform. The platform was built to provide a place for people to connect and share with an interactive experience. But with this comes the same experience as a new update from Microsoft Windows, Office, or any of their other products. You receive the update and the whole interface changes. But the difference, you pay for those Microsoft updates where Facebook is a free, online experience for individuals and businesses to engage in a single platform.

Would businesses be willing to pay for an more “Enterprise” level experience with their Facebook presence? Considering how much they spend in other areas of their online marketing message, I would assume they would consider paying…given the audiences that are interacting within the platform. Imagine the opportunity to have control of some of the rich code to create a more interactive experience within the framework. The same idea as WordPress and Joomla yet inside a platform where audience already exist. But this “Enterprise” level system could swing the balance away from the community driven roots of Facebook. This could give marketing engines a more controlling atmosphere where the experience is more about the marketing message and not the community experience.

So bottom-line…if you are an organization and you want to have “control” over the platform that contains your brand and your message, Facebook should not be your only outlet. But, really…Facebook is not really a “Website” for a company. Facebook is a community driven platform and if used correctly, can engage and connect people of like minds. So who cares if they keep on changing it…the people will stay hang out as long as they can connect; and business will just have to deal with it.

All of this is hypothetical, because the real release has not been made yet!

Read more by CLICKING HERE about what might be the “New” look of Facebook Pages on Mashable.com.

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Communicating Passionately and Methodically

How do we make information for our communities creative, usable, and easy to access? Thinking back to my academic days of User-Centered Design and Usability Testing Methodologies…it is all about AUDIENCE.

We have to find a focus! Seriously, we have to have a mission statement for the information we are trying to communicate. It takes a some time to sit down and write out a mission statement. The one thing that helps me frame this initiative is to identify three points.

1 – Who is the audience
2 – What is the purpose of this communication effort?
3 – How are we trying to reach this audience with this piece(s) of communication?

Not hard, but sit down and do this simple analysis. Take time to break down the audiences, list them all. Then, write out the purpose of the effort/initiative when communicating to these audience(s). next, how are you going to get this information to the audience. Take a few moments and see how each of these are inter-dependent. The method of distribution might differ from audience to audience and might even change your purpose.

Now use this research to write a mission statement for your overall initiative.  Explain it to yourself and say it out loud, imagine if you have to pitch this to your client.

OK…to make it usable, you have to know your audience. You have to live, breath, eat, sleep, smell, taste, etc…just like your audience. You have to know their pre-dispositions before your can communicate with them .So, take that little analysis above and list out each audience. Then for each one, write a complete description for each audience. Describe them in a way that you can paint a picture for your mother who knows nothing about these people. You want to paint that picture so you can almost see everything through their eyes.

Once you have done this little exercise, you should have a better understanding of your audience. Now, begin creating your piece of communication. Go through the creative process iteratively. Create static drafts of the design, rough drafts of the copy, story boards of the video, etc. Put together the first look.

Now, pull out that audience analysis you created previously, and ask yourself if you think they can see/understand this information. Use this as a litmus test. Then, conduct a simple usability test, invite individuals that represent each audience and let them interact with these “static” designs. You think of this as a focus group, but to me you are conducting a simple usability test. Let them play, ask questions, but do not predispose them .Do this on a global basis, looking at the overall communication initiative; and also do this very micro with a small part of the communication piece. RECORD THIER THOUGHTS. DO this either with note taking, audio recording, or video recording. Then…make changes based on the mission statement.

Now…create the piece of communication in a dynamic form. This means make the website, the Facebook page, the Blog, the Video, etc. Pull out the mission statement and audience analysis and compare the final dynamic piece and with this initial research. Find another group of individuals to come to review. Let them watch, interact, etc. with the dynamic piece of communication. Watch them as the interact. See where they engage and disengage. What their faces, their eyes, and their body language.

Does this make any sense. Is it too methodical. Well, you can make this as big or as small a process as you want. But ultimately, it is the purpose to come up with a creative idea, understand the audience, test with the audience, adapt, and launch. This empowers a community of creatives and audiences to engage in a process to learn and come up with a wonderful piece of creative!

Be passionate…communicate passionately…engage with your audience(s) passionately!

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Bobby’s 5 Links of the Week | December 12, 2010



Hello friends, here are my links for the week. As you can see…they include doctors tweeting, social media, medical social media, Elizabeth Edwards, and Leadership. I hope you enjoy and let me know your thoughts about any of these articles!

Why Teens Don’t And Won’t Tweet
December 8, 2010 | Michael Moore-Jones
I’m 16 and, unusually, I use Twitter quite a bit. I say unusually because perhaps you’ve heard that teens don’t tweet. This first came to light last year when a 15-year-old Morgan Stanley intern wrote a report [PDF] where he explained that teens “realize they are not going to update it,” and that “no one is viewing their profile, so their ‘tweets’ are pointless.” CLICK HERE to read more.

Elizabeth’s Legacy
December 8, 2010 | Meghan O’Rourke
It wasn’t her political career but the window she gave us into the reality—and illusions—of dying. CLICK HERE to read more.

People Consume Information Differently
December 9, 2010 | Bryan Vartabedian, MD
I learned this only recently:  people vary in how they like to consume their content.  For the longest time I managed the distribution of my blog content passively:  push it out on RSS and Twitter.  Then let the chips fall where they may. CLICK HERE to read more.

America has forgotten how to govern itself
December 10, 2010 | Thornton Kirby
I’m frustrated. Finally, after nearly a year of relentless campaign promises and bickering about everything except the real challenges facing our nation, this campaign is over. CLICK HERE to read more.

True Leaders Know the Value of Failure
December 12, 2010 | Stefan Lindegaard
A legendary story about Tom Watson Jr., who guided IBM in its glory days, bears repeating in any discussion about smartfailing. According to the story, a vice president who had lost the corporation $10 million on an experiment that failed was called to Watson’s office. CLICK HERE to read more.

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What can we learn from teenagers in this social life?



I recently read an article from a 16 year old about why teenagers choose Facebook over Twitter. The article is titled “Why Teenagers Don’t And Won’t Tweet.” It was rather fascinating to hear this teenager’s perspective. The one thing that I took away from this article is this…teenagers are social creatures and picky about their online friends. Facebook gives them the opportunity to interact exclusively with their friends. They can manage who sees what, who reads what, and how they interact with others. Teenagers are finicky little creatures. But what they want is real relationships. Twitter is so nebulous to their world, it is hard for them to grasp the mass audience of Twitter.

I know that each time I start a new semester at Clemson, I ask my new students…”What social networks do you use?” All use Facebook, and at a most two students per class (of 20) say they are using Twitter. The same amount that use Twitter have a blog. Teenagers just have a hard time with talking with a mass audience. They want to feel connected. They also have a limited attention span, thus not wanting to invest in another social network that does not bring immediate results. Facebook to them is easy, because they meet someone new, look them up on Facebook, look at their pictures, make an assessment, then decide whether to ask to become friends. They can keep in touch with friends when they move away or when everyone splits up to go to college.

Teenagers are picky. They do not want to share with lots of random people, they enjoy their networks. They enjoy interacting people that they have met in person and regularly interact with in physical space and not just a digital space. They understand the power of human contact. They look at relationships based on some level of trust, trust that begins in-person and extends to the digital space.

Lately, I have been feeling the need to trim down my list of people I “Follow” on Twitter and who I consider “Friends” on Facebook. I talked about this in my post “Fall cleaning, raking leaves, and cleaning-up the social space.” I think a lot of the social complexity and anxiety has come from the Twitter platform. I know I opened my account in the Fall of 2008. I had no idea how to get started? The Twitter “handles” or usernames were so weird to me. It was hard to find people you knew because people were creating weird usernames. I just used my real name @BobbyRettew. So, you started following people based on who your “New” friends were following. You would find someone, then go through the list of who they were following, and clicked “Follow”, “Follow”, and “Follow”.

The terminology of Twitter led to this whole idea of “Thought Leadership.” I will “Follow” you and what you say. Then terms like “Social Media Rockstars” started emerging, placing significance on those who had the most followers. So the natural thought was to go out, follow as many people as possible in the hopes they would follow you back. No real relationship building, just choosing to run through a huge mass of people like walking through the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport during the holidays. You could pass someone, but had no idea if you were following them. Why would a teenager want to sign up for something like this? I challenge each of you to go into a room of 20 plus teenagers and convince them that they need a Twitter account. It is like talking to a room of crickets…and fingers clicking as they tune-out and look at Facebook.

I have also been noticing many people mentioning that they are trimming back who they “Follow” and see as “Friends” online. We are not finding the “relationships” but rather noise. Why did we fall for the idea of friending and following people we did not know, all in the hopes to be followed back. Were we trying to build a sphere of influence or real relationships? Or are we just “push” marketers at heart spraying our information? Regardless…we have lots to learn from teenagers and why they choose Facebook…engaging with exclusive relationships.

Image credit: Los Angeles Times & Washington Post

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Bobby’s 5 Links of the Week | December 5, 2010



Hello friends, here are my links for the week. As you can see…they include doctors tweeting, social media, medical social media, ACC Basketball, and holiday fire safety. I hope you enjoy and let me know your thoughts about any of these articles!

Social Media and the Medical Profession
November 30, 2010
The professional standards of doctors and medical students – which are based on the expectations of the community and medical peers – form the cornerstone of quality patient care. They are taught and assessed from the first year of medical school, and are continually re-emphasised throughout medical training and practice. CLICK HERE to read more.


WOMMA 2010 – Every Picture Tells A Story – Make It Easy To Share
November 29, 2010 | via Twitter by Rod Brooks (@NW_Mktg_Guy)


The Legend Of Speedo Guy
February 9, 2009 | ESPN.com
The profile of Cameron Crazies’ legend Speedo Guy. This is for all of you crazy college basketball fans out there, especially those who love and understand ACC Basketball! This is just in time before the heart of the ACC Men’s Basketball schedule begins. Video courtesy of ESPN, Inc.


Phoenix Fire Department Fireplace Safety for the Holidays
City of Phoenix | Phoenix.gov & @TinaFightsFire

There’s nothing quite as cozy as a warm, crackling fire in the fireplace. But if you don’t take some simple safety precautions, that fire could turn deadly. More than 6,000 people end up in emergency rooms for injuries associated with fireplaces and fireplace equipment… and most of the injuries occured with children under five years old. CLICK HERE to read more.

Should Doctors Tweet Between Patients?
NOVEMBER 23, 2010 | Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Social media is just another form of professional communication. We should see it no differently than the telephone or email which, as we all know, are frequently misused.  To the uninformed, it’s assumed that social dialog is frivolous dialog.  But my social feeds are at the core of of my communication. CLICK HERE to read more from Doctor V.

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Disclaimer – A Social Media “Strategy?” Disclaimer



For those out there writing Social Media and New Media “Strategy” for clients…AND…for those who are looking for help with finding your way through this Social/New Media madness, I do not do the following:

1) Manage YOUR social media and new media accounts for you or your organization.
2) Update or communicate your message via Social Media outlets for you.

I believe in empowering the community within the organization with the tools and technology, and help you use these tools to become the true brand ambassadors. It does not make sense for me to deliver YOUR message, you know your message best. Now, I am not a full service agency with tons of AE’s, a big creative department, and tons of interns…I am a small business. The logistics of this business model does not make sense for me.

What makes sense, help organizations understand the the technology, how it works, where the audiences are interacting, and help/let you build your community around your message. I work with people that know their message best. I just help organizations look through a different lens and see how these technologies can benefit your current strategy and help create and measure the social strategy.

It does not make sense to me to convince a large organization that I can and want to Tweet, Update, Check-In, Message, and Blog on your behalf. I want to be a part of your team and work with your community to create best practices and communicate your message. I want to work with people who want to build a community of people around a message…OR…build the message around the community.

These technologies are only technologies…that is it. I makes no sense for me to take over your message…I just want to empower you with the right tools and knowledge to utilize these tools. It is about building a community, connecting with people. How are you going to connect with people when I am the one doing the connecting. OH…YEAH, that gives me control and allows me hold the purse strings of the client. No! I work with my clients as colleagues.

Now…it may seem I am bit of an idealist, but how can I…and outsider of an organization…really speak on your behalf. Maybe this post is a bit brash or sometimes screaming…but I seeing more and more noise. I can work with you to create messages, deliver these messages,  but not speak in real time via these channels for you. It just does not make sense to me.

The reason I wrote this…I am noticing more and more agencies/representatives speaking on behalf of organizations without being transparent via social/new media channels.

Final Disclaimer…the only time I do speak on behalf of the organization is only when it is absolutely necessary because of staffing or an “emergent” situation.

Maybe I am crazy…if so, let me know.

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What is your passion? How do you find the zone?



The creative zone can sometimes be so hard to find. It does not matter when we need to create, but if inspiration has not eclipsed to the point of transferring the epiphany to our actionable finger tips, then we have not crossed the creative chasm.

The other day, I was speaking to my class about writing passionately. It is hard to grasp this idea…to write passionately. To sit down and bring theatre to the fingertips…orchestrating what is singing in our heads as true articulation.  We have a hard time jumping over that creative chasm…finding the happy place, the place where we call the zone. That is why so many creatives have writer’s block or dead periods. We sometimes take days to begin a project…mainly because it has not come to full understanding in our heads…in our hearts. We have to believe passionately about the message, the project. We have to feel it to articulate it verbally, contextually, visually, audibly .

How do we find the passion…well we have to look within ourselves and decide what makes us tick. What makes us peek up from the normal hustle and bustle of life? We have to focus in on the things that take us away from the status-quo and invigorate the juices in our heart, the passion inside us. What makes us smell the breathe of life?

How do we communicate our passion? We have to find a way to focus the energy…and be able to articualte it so others can see it through our eyes. Some of us write, some of us take pictures, some of us draw. What ever the medium may be…we have to allow it to connect with our inner thoughts as an instrument to translate, so others can see our point-of-view. The other day I watched a very successful entrepreneur articulate a vision, not through words, not through a powerpoint, but by drawing a graph, his medium…he crossed the creative chasm. No other way made sense, until he found a piece of white paper and a Sharpe.

What is the one place where you can go…the one place you know you can find the zone. You know, when you are fully in-touch with your passion? Athletes have it when they get on a hot streak, hit the next 5 three pointers back, to back, to back…without even hesitating. That is the zone…the happy place. The place where we are fully in-touch with our abilities to articulate our passion for others to see. Mine is when I am driving with the windows down and the music blasting. I go to my creative place, the place where I am in-touch with my ability to see things clearly.

Where is this place for you? Where is the zone? How do you find it to release your inner passion for others to clearly see the world through your senses…that is when we tell our story. It helps us lead!

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Crossroads: Building a Community or Distribution Mechanism – A Self Examination


It is my humble opinion that there are two types of use of Social Media outlets, those who use it to connect with a community and those who use it as a distribution mechanism.

Building a Community
Wiki defines: “The word “community” is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.” We are human creatures and we feel the need to connect with other like minded individuals. We use technology as a means to connect with this community. This technology to socialize with a community is what I define as Social Media. They use these technologies as facilitators to exchange language, common discourse.

Distribution Mechanism
Using “Social” Media outlets to only push information as mass communication. No interactivity, just one direction flow of information. Open an account, and broadcast…no reciprocation. This can be on a global basis where a account is used specifically to broadcast information, or even on a very local situation where a campaign only delivers information over Social Media accounts, information one way for a finite period of time.

Can you do both and still be social…and it still be considered Social Media. Why should we define this? Well, because  we are users of this media…we should think about how we use it when interacting with a community. Think about it, do you get annoyed when someone continually updates their “Status” yet when you try to communicate…there is no response? Some even consider that Spam?

Wiki defines: “Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.” Do we spam the community each time we send out links, content, etc. without engaging in conversation within the community. Or is it when we broadcast over and over again, in bulk?

Marketers each day are beginning to include “Social Media(s)” as a distribution mechanism, another place to increase the SEO for their sites…is it all about SEO? Is it all about the massive homogenous linkage system we call the web to make Google happy on our behalf. Noise?

Now, I realize (that if anything) this is a self reflection to better understand an rationalize this medium. To better understand how we can use it more for the community engagement and less for the marketing, one-way pushing of information.

Social Networking Spam
Wiki also defines: “Social Networking Spam is spam directed at users of internet social networking services such as MySpace, FaceBook or LinkedIn. Users of social networking services can send notes, that may include embedded links to other social network locations or even outside sites, to one another. This is where the social network spammer comes in. Utilizing the social network’s search tools, he/she can target a certain demographic segment of the users, or use common fan pages or groups to send notes to them from an account disguised as that of a real person. Such notes may include embedded links to pornographic or other product sites designed to sell something.”

Do we Spam our friends everyday with our latest blog posts, our marketing links, our causes, our clients messages? It really does not feel like a conversation. I do it…write a blog post like this, and update my status so that I can share it with the world. I do it in bulk…because I update my status(s) multiple times in a week with a link. Do I create the noise that I am trying to resist?

Do we encourage our clients to use it as a distribution mechanism? Or do we eloquently phrase it so they feel like it is another touch point. Is this community really opting in to conversations when they freely click “Follow” or “Like”?

Sometimes I think we have to define and self examine our practices so that we better serve our clients and our community we so generously cherish. We are humans you know.

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Blogging is about K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple Stupid…and do it Passionately


Blogging…what an interesting topic to write about. There are so many people out there who have better things to say about this platform…but I cannot hold back anymore. I am hearing and reading so many people struggling with this idea. I have so many clients who want to blog, or have tackled the idea…and they are struggling. So what is blogging? Well, if I could define it in one post…then something is wrong. Blogging is a personal experience. Blogging is about community. Blogging is about writing with passion. Blogging is about letting the technology give us a platform to articulate our thoughts for public consumption, then connecting with those who share in that passion. Yes…passion.

Over four years ago, my wife started a blog as a journal. She kept it semi-private without sharing her full name and her location. It was her journal. It was her place to write about her mother fighting breast cancer and loosing that battle. Her writing was candid and raw. Her blog was also about infertility. You see, we have experienced three miscarriages. This was her tool to write and greave. She has pissed people off by writing candidly about family and personal experiences during this time of grief. She has thought about moving the blog and going completely anonymous. But, she has stuck to her guns, wrote with passion, and built a community of people who share the same thoughts. We could not have paid for a better therapist than WordPress.

She writes with passion and she writes with focus. She shares her inner most thoughts, experiences, and ideas. She did not spend money designing some beautiful blog. She did not spend time paying someone optimizing for the SEO. She writes with passion. She also reads with passion. She seeks out other bloggers to learn about them. When she sees someone new commenting, she goes to their blog to learn more about them. She uses her blog as her social space to build friendships all over the country…and she knows more about them than some of our friends right around the corner. She does all of this for free on WordPress.

We marketers spend so much time thinking about the number of clicks, whether this logo should be bigger or smaller, the right web URL, commenting system, etc. What we forget…write with passion. Find a focus for your blog and write with passion. Then, go out and find similar people and read what they are writing. Use commenting as an opportunity to take a genuine interest in people. If we are business bloggers, find that business focus and write with passion. Show something personal about you so people have something to connect.

Sarah also does something very interesting. She password protects certain posts, only allowing certain people to read certain posts. Talk about generating interest…she has more people asking for the password than I have hits in a day for my business blog.

We think way to much. We also think if we just set-up a blog on WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous, etc…that people will just come and money will start flowing. UHH…HELL NO. Blogging is about writing…articulating thoughts, your thoughts. Blogging is that editorial place to share opinions, facts, information….through our eyes. What is your passion…write about it! Write about it consistently! Then, go out and find others that interest you…read their blog. Comment with passion and be authentic. Do not worry about technology, let the technology be the provide the platform to allow your writing flow freely.

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Fall cleaning, raking leaves, and cleaning-up the social space.

Today…it was a day of cleaning. After a good weekend of social gatherings, thanks givings, and reflection…I spent time with family and less time with my online, social relationships. So, after the Christmas tree was picked…it was time to go outside and tidy up the yard for the winter season. I have three big oak trees around my house and a beautiful Japanese Cherry in my front year…boy do they shed some leaves. Time to pull out the rake and find the beautiful centipede underneath all those leaves. Thinking, raking, comtemplating…time to clean-up other areas as I move into the winter months, preparing for the New Year.

Social Media is just plain out getting noisy. It is about as noisy and overwhelming as those layers of leaves that needed to be raked. It is starting, well has become like a corporate minefield of noise. As more and more people, business, and applications dive into this new competitive playing field…it is becoming just as much like a machine as that corporate job I used to have.

Piles of leaves and a lots of raking to go…

Logging onto TweetDeck used to be fun. You could reach out to any person, anyone and more than likely get a response. Now, so many celebrities, corporate brands, big name CEO’s and people thinking they are celebrities have created noise and created the silos that these Social Media platforms were built to break down.

Now…the beating of the “man-chest” is about how many followers you have. These followers are not really followers, just people that have the opportunity to listen but not necessarily engage. They are like  those piles of leaves just hanging out and covering what is green, what is fruitful.

The past year has experienced a tremendous amount of  discussion on measurement and ROI…whatever the hell that means. We have lost the social…and yet implemented the business aspect of Social Media(s). Those who argue for the social, community aspect have sold out and are just as guilty as those they criticize…they are making a premium off speaking engagements and hefty social media retainers.

Disclaimer: Yes…I have a retainer with an organization to help with management of Social Media platforms. Yes, I get paid monthly. No, I do not Tweet and update Facebook on their behalf. It is their community and I just advise them on the best approaches and platforms to use to connect their communities. So, do I add to the problem…maybe, but trying to stay as pure as possible (whatever that means).

I need some water…and a new set of gloves.

I have totally locked down my personal Facebook account to people that I consider personal friends. I have un-followed one-third of the people I follow on Twitter a few weeks ago. I will do a cut list again. I am getting back to community. I am searching for a core community of people that want to grow both socially and professionally.

There are people on these platforms that used to answer questions, reply to mentions, and even carry a conversation…now they will not even answer a thought even when I ask with overly-nice tones. I used to tell my students that these Social Media platforms were a place that at anytime, you could have a conversation with a big corporate CEO…I barely believe that anymore. Reaching out in this space has turned into the same blackhole as trying to call them on the phone and getting an assistant or even talking to multiple customer service representatives at AT&T.

Social Media platforms are turning into true marketing platforms, another place to push information and less engagement. This is a rant, but I also think it is a sign in my mind that  it is time to re-define why I use these platforms and who that I really want to connect with daily.

I DO NOT BELIEVE WE SHOULD DELETE OUR ACCOUNTS.

A few months ago, I found tons of merit in Spike Jones approach to get rid of the noise; close his Twitter account for two weeks, then re-open and start over. I like this so much…this was his way of getting through the noise. There is a lot of it. A lot of leaves. See…these leaves used to be green. On some of the trees that had beautiful blooms. Now, after they have changed so many colors…they pile up in my yard. They have piled up in my Facebook account, my Twitter account, my LinkedIn account, and even in my contact lists. Raking is a good thing, pushing them to the street for the city to pick-up.

So how do we get through the noise? How do we rake-up for the winter and get ready for new relationships?

1 – Write a mission statement for each Social Media account. What do I mean, write out how you want to use each account. How you will communicate with each account; who you want to allow or engage with using these accounts; if you will use it for business, personal, passion, cause, or all the above; and how often you want to use these accounts.

2 – Apply this mission statement to the people you follow and who follow you. Seriously, who do want to connect with daily? Use this as a barometer when you follow and also when you clean out your account.

3 – Clean-up your followers and who you follow. Go through an CLICK DELETE, UNFOLLOW, or BLOCK. Have that mission statement beside you when you clean-up, clean-out, block, and add back in.

4 – Clean-out all those many applications that connect through your social media accounts. We have so many different applications that connect and re-connect through out platforms from TweetDeck, Hootsuite, TwitPic, Seesmic, TwitVite, Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc., etc. Clean out those you do not use…these are platforms you have granted access to your accounts. This is the same as allowing tons of different people and companies having access to your email and bank accounts.

5 – Pick the right platform for you. It is not necessary to use all the platforms if it brings noise to your life. By us creating and starting an account, barley use this account, and leave it live without closing and not using it…we bring noise.

6 – Find and engage like minded people. Treat this online, social experience the same as an in-person social experience.

To be quite honest, I wrote this for myself. I needed to articulate for myself what was necessary for me to continue using and engaging with these platforms.