To quote TD2.0S: “Words like ‘listening,’ ‘feedback,’ ‘community,’ ‘engagement’ and, of course, ‘conversation’ all mask the fact that somebody is trying to sell something. It may not be a product or service, but users are being sold. On a perception. On a corporate ideal. On a brand … The reality is that individuals don’t have ‘conversations’ with companies. Companies provide products and services. They provide support. Yes, many will ‘listen’ to your feedback and some do thrive on becoming a part of your lifestyle but make no mistake about it: a brand like Proctor & Gamble is not your ‘friend.’”

Sobering stuff. I love social media, think it works extremely well and see it as the future of PR — and business in general. Maybe I have my rose-coloured glasses on and hear birds tweeting over my shoulder? Rex Hammock is already talking about “expecting a major ‘bust’ in the prefix ’social-’ in a couple of years.”

More from TD2.0S: “Under law, it may be that a corporation shares many of the same rights as human beings but it is not a human being. It’s not going to buy you a beer. It’s not going to go be your wingman at a nightclub. It’s not going to be the best man at your wedding. It’s not going to hug you when you have a bad day. Social media proponents would have marketers believe just the opposite. They want marketers to become corporate Nosy Nellies, listening to every ‘conversation’ individuals have online in hopes that it can be turned into ‘an opportunity’ to have a ‘conversation’ (read: sell you something or influence your perception of them).”

Now, that puts me — and other social media advocates who work in PR — in a tricky situation. Part of my job is to help clients grasp the concept of social media, embrace it (only if it is right for them, sometimes it’s not) and, yes, listen to what people are saying about them. Let’s not beat around the bush … that is one of the goals. Monitor their reputation and brand perception online, wherever it may be. Money changes hands for that service.

But, if you can get past the “it’s not personal, it’s business” position that TD2.0S is taking and bear in mind that, yes, brands do want to make some money at the end of the day, isn’t it better for them to be listening and engaging with their customers at least a little, if not a lot? It’s a great step in the right direction.

Consumers are not stupid; they are seasoned receptors of marketing messages way before social media came on the scene. They’re used to it and can spot insincerity a mile off. Our role is to make the connection and initiate the latest way for “sellers” and “buyers” to talk to each other.

Then the rest is up to them.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada (Twitter: johncarson)

Someone followed me the other day; I visited their blog and saw a post about Twollow; so I tweeted them and asked if they “Twollowed” me; they said yes, and it was because they had used social media as a tracking term.

That’s cool, but if I had tweeted “… the mayor wanted to be more social, media were there to cover the event …” then would that “Twollower” (love all these new words!) have been disappointed in adding me, only to get no value and discard me, a fact only brought sadly home to me once I got my Qwitter alert.

I’m wary of using a service like this that might grow my Twitter network using quantity instead of quality.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada (Twitter: johncarson)

I’m not interested in matters of law, per se, but am interested in seeing what people think they can get away with online, using social media and other tools, so this looks like an interesting reference point to get an overview of the legal aspect of all the 24/7 interactions swirling around us.

Cybersquatting (registering a domain name — usually linked to a company name — in the hopes of selling it at a profit) has been the subject of some contentious court battles in past years. How does that translate to Twitter and other social networks? I grabbed johncarson early, but now that more companies are embracing social media and setting up brand profiles, what’s to stop someone grabbing Coke, Pepsi and so on? (Haven’t checked, sure they’re already taken by legitimate company representatives.)

I could grab johnatcoke or johnatpepsi and pretend to tweet on behalf of that company. Social media “veterans” (of the last 12 months or so) would spot that in a heartbeat and set off the scam radar, but others might be duped. How many variations of misrepresentation are happening, or just around the corner? How far can we trust these identities?

This is a comment on a blog post this morning that puts some stuff in perspective: “Here in India many companies, let alone senior employees, have yet to establish an Internet presence. For small companies it’s understandable, but these are big multi-store organizations with no online presence at all (not even a page with phone numbers) so if you want info then you have to actually go to the store.” Source.

So, once all those organizations start to get online and establish their websites, blogs and Twitter accounts for branding purposes, there might be slim pickings. I remember someone tried (and then changed their mind) selling their Twitter account and all its followers a while back, citing it as a mini-business ready for the highest bidder. I think Twitter is too personal to be commoditized in this way.

Someone is holding socialmedialawyer.com at the moment; could be a good investment …

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada (Twitter: johncarson)

LinkedIn (LI) has always had a staid reputation since it launched in 2003, the year I joined it. Working for a tech publication back then, it was necessary to check out as many new start-ups as possible for story ideas and the people behind them. It was cool to see what was coming around the corner. “Social media” was just a very valuable domain name back then.

I remember critics saying LI was “boring” — after all, who wanted to join a site full of desperate people posting their resumes and looking for a job? That wasn’t the point. The success of LI stems from the accessibility factor; how else can you get “face time” with some top CEOs, gurus and other specialists, for free?

Here’s seven ways to increase your LI presence and use the service to its fullest:

1) Be an open networker. It’s great to link with people you know or have worked with, but if that’s the only reason you use LI then it just becomes a giant contact book. Request links from people in your field that you’d like to know. Do some research, source their e-mail and don’t forget to …

2) … write a personal invite note saying the reason you want to link to them. Don’t be lazy and use the default LI invite template. It shows a lack of respect: if you can’t be bothered to offer a mutually beneficial reason to be connected to that person in the 10 minutes it takes to write a personal note, what does that say about any future relationship? First impressions DO last.

3) Don’t lie about your work history, credentials or achievements. By the very nature of LI, it takes minutes to check those out with the network by asking for referrals and recommendations.

4) Make full use of the Question & Answer section, a very undervalued part of the site in my opinion. You can spend hundreds of dollars organizing focus groups or attending executive seminars. Ask a pertinent question on LI, seed it to your network (or open it up for general consumption) and you’d be amazed at the free advice that comes back, from top-notch people, usually in hours, or even minutes if it’s a hot topic. That’s a gold mine of expertise just waiting to be tapped into. And, it goes without saying, if you see a question that you can offer some specific insight into, then jump right in. You aren’t “giving away stuff for free” … on the contrary, eventually you might become a “Top Expert” or, at the very least, others will request connections with you based on your answers and request more info = instant professional relationship or new business.

5) Update your status on a regular basis. Similar to Facebook / Twitter, you can write a short sentence on what you’re up to. There were limited options at the start like “is working on …” or “is reading …” but now it’s more flexible and you can type in what you want. I have personally got some very useful approaches from adding updates such as “researching Canadian mompreneurs” or “sourcing experts in discount brokers” as part of my PR work.

6) Ask for recommendations. [Today’s post was actually inspired by this one, just wanted to elaborate a little on other LI tips.] No matter what people say, no matter how humble they are — everyone has an ego. It’s good to be praised for doing great work, hearing a “thank you” or seeing a client’s brand become successful because of what you did to help them. It validates your professional skills and justifies the fee you charge for that work. So, why is it taboo to ask for a recommendation? A few words from a client or former colleague is huge, leads to more business and establishes your credibility. LI is perfect for that, so use it!

7) Join a Group, or better still, start one and manage it. The great aspect of LI is that you can congregate with professionals with similar interests, businesses, skills and so on. The greater aspect is that you can also join Groups with people who have nothing in common with you, but whose alternate views or ways of doing business can open your eyes to ideas you would never think of. There’s a lot of social media groups I joined, one I manage and others — such as tech start-ups in Israel, for example — that offer a whole new perspective on business from another part of the world. (It is up to the discretion of the Group manager whether they accept your application or not. Again, write a personal note requesting membership, and state what you can bring to the table, it goes a long way.)

Follow those seven steps, respect your connections and LI will be an invaluable part of your social media strategy, without costing a penny.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada (Twitter: johncarson)

People are commenting on how the company has screwed up by not doing its market research more thoroughly in the first place to anticipate such a huge — and possibly — long-lasting negative reaction to its product alignment with new moms. The bigger issue is why a lot of people didn’t realize this groundswell of protest was building at the weekend until it was too late to engage those bloggers? It seems that Motrin wasn’t monitoring them properly.

Companies will always make mistakes online (human beings run them after all) but it’s how they recover that will be the real social media trial by fire.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada (Twitter: johncarson)

GCI Canada helps out Little Geeks, and they are holding a Silent Auction on Tuesday, November 18 at the Mill Street Brew Pub. Please come out and bid on some great items. Unfortunately, this has been postponed until a future date.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Action! Did Star Wars or E.T. make more money? Who played the dropout in The Breakfast Club? Was The Terminator or Rain Man released first? Cut! That’s a wrap.

Ever wanted to Live Like a Movie Star? Play Dell’s movie trivia game and win one of four great prizes: A Beverley Hills shopping spree and celeb makeover; a High Rollers party weekend in Las Vegas; a ticket package for a Warner Bros. movie premiere in 2009; or a Richard Petty driving experience and DVD package.

http://flick.winwithdell.com/EN/

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

In fact, there are sites I really do trust, but would still never give them my Twitter or LinkedIn login details. Once they have it, you’ve lost control. And that’s not a good thing when personal brands are becoming so important in social media. Reputation is the new currency. Without the former, you won’t be getting any of the latter.

Twitterank is the latest talking point. No point going into the pros and cons of these grading sites — you either love them or not — but the bigger question is, from a realistic viewpoint, would someone on Twitter have more credibility to you if they had a “rank” of 87.6 as compared to someone else with 56.2? For all we know, depending on the algorithm being used to work out that “score,” the higher-ranked person could be an idiot with a thousand spammers following him/her = sooo popular. Not.

Anyway, in the spirit of helping people out, today I’m pleased to announce the launch of EgoGrader Beta 1.1 (if you never got an Alpha invite, it means you weren’t popular enough, sorry). It’s easy. Just send us $50 and we’ll tell you how great you are. And, for the Pro version, throw in a bottle of whisky and we’ll tell you that you’re even greater than the last person who asked.

Hold on, phone’s ringing. “Hello? TechCrunch?”

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

So, job titles in this social media day and age. Chief Engagement Officer? Not new, but has a nice ring to it. Social Media Manager? Hmmm, not so good — no one in social media wants to feel like the conversation is being “managed” or “guided,” however subtle.

More specialists are being sought in this field as companies feel the urge to jump on board, listen to their communities and get involved. What is an apt title though? Social media will be here for a while, but if not, and there’s a new fad on the scene next year, who wants a job title that might be out of date in 12 months? Is it better to be specific when calling yourself a Social Media Specialist to ensure you are relevant for the here and now, or do you play safe and plan ahead, go a bit more generic, say Digital Media Specialist? [My current title was picked for me, full disclosure.]

In the past, everyone knew what the CEO, President, Vice President and intern did — the titles were in daily use, and everyone got used to the hierarchy. But now, there are more Conversation Analysts, Community Managers and Social Media Strategists around. Can people pick and choose their own, or will the market level out and we all agree on titles?

Be realistic, choose wisely … or you could be yesterday’s Senior Vice President of Space Invaders.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

That opening line always piques my interest. Like Mark Evans, I too got a SocialMinder invite from a trusted contact. But, the minute it asked me for my LinkedIn password … I clicked off and moved on. No way I’m plugging that into a third-party site.

Anyway, glad I didn’t. Evans wasn’t so lucky, as he explains here. B.L. Ochman is not a happy camper either.

For the record, one of my Twitter contacts posted this, so make up your own mind on whether to try it out or not: “The invite-a-friend page is VERY explicit that emails will be sent 2 the friends that U choose. U don’t have to send them.”

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada