Whether your goal is to stay connected with your friends and family or it is to increase sales for your company, the question should always be the same.  All decisions on who to connect with, how often to post, what to post about should all be directly related to what you are trying to achieve or put another way – what do I want out of this network.  Keeping this simple question in mind will make sure that you are always taking actions on your social media account that help filter out the noise.

No matter what your purpose in social media might be, having a purpose or a plan will help you keep the flow of information under control.  For example, this is how I navigate the constant connection requests and keep the influx of information under control on my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and now Google+ accounts.

First, each account serves a different purpose for me.  I respond to friend/follow/connect requests differently based on the role each account serves in my overall “plan”.

Second, I got over the “I have to be liked by/connected to everyone” feeling.  That feeling that encourages us to accept or seek out every possible friend request and connect to everyone we ever encounter in our personal or professional lives.   It is a feeling that we have to let go of or we will find ourselves overloaded with connections that we can not manage.

I break down my connections on each of these networks into specific categories based on my goal for that network.

LinkedIn is reserved for my professional connections.  I only accept or initiate connections with people I know well enough that I would recommend their work.  These are people who I either know personally, have worked with or know enough about their work through other trusted connections that I would write a recommendation for them.  For me, there is an implied recommendation in that connection on LinkedIn so I am very selective about who I choose to associate myself with on that network.  LinkedIn is my professional social network.

Facebook is a more varied but carefully monitored and constructed collection.  My Facebook friends are a mix of family, personal friends, high school friends, members of the tech, entrepreneurial and social media communities (especially in Philadelphia) and professional connections.  The one thing that all of these people have in common is that I have a personal relationship with all of them.  We have either met in person, have spent time together offline or I have spent enough time communicating with them online that they are more than just an acquaintance.  I care about the pictures of their kids, puppies and kittens.  I want them to share in both the personal and professional portions of my life that I choose to share.  I may share professional information, links, etc… on Facebook, but it is not my professional network and I do not want it to be.  That is what I use LinkedIn for.  That is why I do not accept every friend request from people in my profession.  Also why I will not participate in applications like BranchOut.  While I may have professional contacts as friends on Facebook, it is not the place I use to manage my professional network.  Facebook is the place where I connect with people I would invite to sit down around my kitchen table.

Twitter is my window on a big, wide, wonderful world.  It is a medley of friends, family members, colleagues, personal and professional acquaintances, potential business partners and clients and more.  However, I do not follow just anyone and do not allow just anyone to follow me.  I review each and every new follower looking at their bio, location, at least the first page of their tweets and any followers we may have in common.  I block the spammers and the questionable.  I follow back those that I find educational, entertaining and those  I am likely to have an actual conversation with.  Twitter is the network where I have my “arms” the widest open.

And now we have added Goggle + to the mix.  I am still figuring this one out.   Does it become restrictive or do I leave it wide open?  I am still not sure.  I can see the pros and cons to both approaches.  The biggest advantage I see to G+ is the Circles feature, which will allow me to restrict certain posts to specific groups.   However, as someone who only posts things that I do not mind the public seeing, I am having difficulty figuring out how this will fit into my patterns of behavior.  I am going to have to spend more time in G+ trying different methods and combinations to see what works best for me, but I will sort it out.  It will have a place in my plan. I will find my set of “rules” of how and whom to connect to.

One of the other keys to managing all of these fans, friends, followers and circles is be flexible.  Make changes when you need to, add and drop connections as it feels right to you.  Do not let anyone tell you what is “right” or “wrong”.  Just be open to learning from others.   So, how do YOU do it?  How do you manage all the fans, friends, followers and circles?

So what are some things we like?

Passion blended with creativity

Things that help businesses grow

Things that bring communities together

Things that help people

And the candle on this birthday cake of goodness – Effective uses of social media that do any or all of those things.

The inaugural entry in our Things We Like series is a campaign developed by the creative masters at Red Tettemer + Partners.  They have hit a trifecta!  A social media campaign that is creative, is helping a business (their client) grow and is helping people (college students).  Check out the Under Armour Ultimate Intern Team program.

Does it get better than this?  Simple, clean, straightforward, fun and giving a few lucky college students the opportunity to have “the most memorable summer of your life.”   It reaches the demographic where they like to communicate – on Facebook.  It is fun without being goofy.  It is intriguing. It tells you what you need to know, but holds back just enough to make us want to fill out the application to find out more and get to have the fun they are promising.  And it is all wrapped up in a solid marketing principles.

Definitely a +1 in the Things We Like category.  Head on over to Facebook and give them a Like – They deserve it!

Someone I respect responded that the way to get them to stay was more tech companies, that there was not enough in Philly.  As a member of the Philly StartUp Leaders Leadership team, I know better.  There are plenty of tech companies in Philly.  They just do not get the attention they deserve.  The counter was that because there was no Google, Amazon or HP in Philly that we will never be a good tech city.  There will never be a large pool of talent or the competition to keep salaries high.

I disagree.  There is a tremendous pool of talent in Philadelphia.   I also do not think we have to have one of the “big” companies in the area to become a world class tech community.  There are plenty of companies across the spectrum – startup to big – in Philly.  We just have not done the best job getting them the attention they deserve. Which in turn means they do not get as many resources, support or funding.

So how do we fix that? I have some ideas, but  I would really love to hear your recommendations.

My #1 – Start supporting this city and this community in what we say.  The more we continue to talk about what is wrong instead of how to fix it, the more everyone else (meaning the world at large) will believe it.  Until we quit being our own worst enemy and looking down on ourselves.  Until we quit talking about how much better New York, the Silicon Valley or other places are than Philly.  We will never be anything more than we are right now.

To make others believe we are better, faster, stronger, smarter, we have to believe it first ourselves.  And we have to start telling everyone else, all the time.

So what is your #1 solution on how we get Philadelphia’s tech community to be more than it is right now?

Philly has become the unofficial “Camp Town” From BarCamp to TrendCamp, HigherEd Camp to HealthCamp, Philly has been drawing the best and the brightest in many different fields all sharing and exploring the newest and current trends, information, apps, and discussions. Whether it is looking forward at TrendCamp or looking at the now at NewsInnovation Camp, the wellspring of unconference format events in Philadelphia (21+ in the last 3.5 years – a full list is below) is a testament to the vitality and growth of the creative and technology communities in the City of Brotherly Love.

For the as yet uninitiated, an unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. The format consists of multiple sessions of attendee generated content. The participants are the speakers, discussion leaders and sharers of information. (see barcamp.org for more details)

The central message in the tremendous growth of all of these unconferences is that the community wants to come together. They want to share. They want to learn from each other. Which brings us to the question – who gets to decide what gets shared, how it gets shared? What is the etiquette? And most importantly, how do we as a community get the most of out of these gatherings. A few tips gathered from participants at the recent BarCamp Philly gives us some insight on how to maximize the experience as individuals and as a community.

1. Be open-minded – Realize that not everyone is going to like the same things, but that sometimes we learn best from those who have different viewpoints and experiences.
2. Don’t hog the stage – Don’t do the same presentation at the same events over and over. Rather than present, lead a discussion and let everyone learn from each other. Better yet, encourage someone new to the community who is knowledgeable on the same topic to present. Give someone else a chance to share their expertise.
3. Get outside your comfort/knowledge zone – Attend a session or camp on a topic you know nothing about. Expand your knowledge and grow your circle of connections.
4. Get involved – Present, lead a discussion, volunteer, ask questions, be a sponsor.
5. Get others involved – Be a community builder by encouraging others to get involved. One of the greatest things about the camp experience is meeting and learning from new people.
6. Exercise the rule of two feet – Not getting what you were hoping for out of a session? Don’t sit and heckle, quietly leave and find one more to your liking.
7. Relax – the day is not about selling anyone anything and it is not about cramming as much knowledge and networking as you possibly can in to a single day. It is about opening ourselves and our minds to possibilities, insights, information, and people.
8. Remember the Golden Rule – Do onto others and you would like them to do onto you. Be polite, courteous and respectful to the session leaders and other participants.
9. Make it about the Community – Show support for other groups in the community by attending and helping spread word about a camp you might not normally go to.

What would your tips be?

Alphabetical Listing of Philadelphia area Camps (If any are missing from this list, please feel free to let us know)

• BarCamp Doylestown
• BarCamp Harrisburg
• BarCamp Philly
• BlogPhiladelphia
• CodeCamp
• DrupalCamp
• EdCamp
• FailCamp
• FlashCamp
• GiveCamp
• HealthCamp
• HigherEdCamp
• MarketingCamp
• NewsInnovationCamp
• NTCamp (New Teachers)
• PodCampPhilly
• Real Estate BarCamp
• SearchCamp
• Social Media Camp
• TrendCamp
• WordCamp

I posed a question that seemed to be on the minds of many of the local bloggers I know -
The current Philadelphia revenue regulations require that anyone conducting business and receiving revenue in the city of Philadelphia is required to have a Business Privilege License.  An issue that arose among the blogger community is not the requirement to have the license and pay taxes on actual income.  The issue is the “recreational” blogger who does not blog for income.  They may place an ad on their site and charge just enough to cover hosting and domain renewal costs.  They are now being told because they receive revenue (the payment for ad placement) that they are a business and are required to have the Business Privilege License and pay taxes.  Obviously because it is a break-even financial arrangement, they will not owe any taxes, however, they are now being required to buy the Business Privilege License which likely amounts to much more than the amount they are charging for their blog ads.  Is this issue being looked into?

The city indicated that, because of situations exactly like this one, they are looking into the relevancy and applicability of the Business Privilege License.  They made no promises that change would come, but they are considering options.   They genuinely seemed to have had their eyes opened to some of the differences in conducting business in this new creative economy.   That the old ways of regulation and collecting taxes have to be re-evaluated to better apply to how a large majority now do business.  It is a start.

Several other freelancers and business owners asked questions and expressed their frustration with the current tax system and the complexity of starting a business in Philadelphia.  To the city officials credit, they listened and did their best to explain the current system.  The city gets props for showing up on “our” (the tech community’s) turf, National Mechanics (as opposed to say a stuffy room in City Hall), for listening to the questions and complaints and for, at least appearing to, trying to understand the issues and questions.  No one got the answers they wanted last night, but anyone who came expecting instant results was being unrealistic.   As I said to KYW’s Robin Culverwell,

“The fact that they called this meeting tonight, they’re willing to come out, they’re willing to take questions of any kind is a positive step forward.”

While it is not the first time and I am sure will not be the last, Technically Philly, I respectfully disagree with you.

On 7/27/2010 Technically Philly contributed an article to their partner, Philly Mag’s section The Philly Post – ” Philadelphia’s 10 Most Influential Twitter Users“.  The premise of the article was their view of not who the are the most followed Philly Twitter users but who are the “must-follows”.  As a Technically Philly reader, an active member of Philly’s tech and social media communities and a self-admitted Twitter addict, I was intrigued.  Till I read their list.  Of the 10 people on the list there is 1 musician, 1 techie, 1 serial entrepreneur, 1 athlete and 6 newspeople/journalists. While I don’t disagree that the people on their list are influential.  I follow almost all of them myself, but to consider them the 10 MOST influential Philadelphians on Twitter.  I don’t think so.  Technically Philly and I have different definitions of influence as evidenced by our Twitter convo on the subject -

June 29 – PANMA – WordPress Demystified – 5:30 pm – Huntsman Hall, Room 240 -  3 new speakers discussing the WordPress platform and demonstrate how you can take advantage of it today for building your next generation site.

June 30 – Social Media Day Philly – 7:00 pm – Field House 1150 Filbert Street – Social Media Day presented by Mashable – A day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming a social dialog. Celebrate Social Media Day Philly by attending our Philly Meetup sponsored by Chevy on June 30 at Field House. The party starts at 7pm, with some free beverages, great beats, awesome people, and a sweet version of quizzo using Twitter called…(what else?)…TWIZZO.

July 6 – Philly Net Squared - 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Jenkins Law Library, 833 Chestnut Street, 12th Floor – Podcasting, video sharing and more…Audio and video content on the web.

Hope to see you at some of these events!

May 12 – Philly StartUp Leaders Happy Hour - 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Ladder 15, 1528 Sansom Street

May 17 – Mobile Monday - Mobile Marketing and Advertising with PHIMA (Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association)

May 19 – PSL StartUp Love Triangle - 7 pm – 9 pm   Gershman Hall -Room 100, 401 South Broad Street     Several startup enablers (dreamit, founders institute, indy hall and a couple of angels that we’re working to add now) introduce themselves and their models.  Three early stage startups (approved by the enablers as being of interest) present their pitches.  The enablers then pitch each of the startups regarding how they are the best solution for that startup, and present their advantages over the other models in this particular scenario. Startups each choose which pitch sounds best to them, for their own needs. Crowd votes on the best solution overall.

May 24 - Spark Networking 8:30 am – 6 pm – The Hub Cira Centre, 2929 Arch Street – A  conference for Philadelphia’s cutting-edge entrepreneurs. Spark is an interactive entrepreneurial conference that focuses on developing business ideas and vital business relationships where ideas, connections and passions are exchanged in a creative environment.

May 25 - Social Media Plus Summit – Philadelphia Convention Center -SocialMediaPlus will be the Mid-Atlantic’s largest business summit for professionals interested in learning about the latest in Social Media and web 2.0 technology.

May 25 – PANMA – Web Security DeMystified – 5:30 pm – 8 pm – Jon M. Huntsman Hall, Room JMHH F-90, 3730 Walnut Street   We’ll discuss why web security is important for both your school blog and your bank, give examples of where you can go wrong, and cover best practices on how to keep your web applications secure (it’s not as hard as you think!).

June 4 – 6 – Philly Give Camp - Microsoft Office in Malvern PA – Donate your time and skills to a local charity by creating software solutions that will transform the way they in turn serve others.

Hope to see you at some of these events!

April 27 – PANMA - 5:30 – 8:30 pm Jon M. Huntsman Hall, Room JMHH G55, 3730 Walnut Street – HTML Demystified – We’ll help demystify HTML5 as well as provide real-world insight into how to begin using aspects of the language today and what resources to dive into to get started.

April 28 – Entrepreneur Unplugged - 7:00 – 8:30 pm – Hamilton Hall, 320 South Broad Street – Entrepreneurs Unplugged is back, with Brad Blumberg leading our group through the intricacies of selling innovative technologies to existing markets resistant to change.

April 29 – Social Media Club Philly -   6 – 8 pm - Temple University Center City Campus 1515 Market St., Room 621 -  This next meeting is a throw back to SMC meetings of the past. Here’s where we strip down and get back to the basics: sharing. This will be an open forum, roundtable meeting. No speaker and no topic EXCEPT social media. We’ll take turns going around the room and sharing intel on favorite new tools and platforms, what we’re working on, key learning’s from things we’ve done and share best practices.

April 30 – Coworking with Entrepreneur’s Entourage – 10 am – 4 pm – Chapterhouse Cafe, 620 South 9th St – Coworking is a great way to get a change of scenery from your home or corporate office and hang in the presence of some of Philly’s brightest entrepreneurs.

May 1 - Marketing Camp Philly - 9 am – 5 pm – University of the Arts, 211 S. Broad Street – Where online & offline marketers share, learn & grow -traditional and interactive marketers will converge to discuss relevant 21^st century challenges and trends in the marketing industry. MarketingCamp Philly is a conference/unconference for the marketing community as a whole and will attract thought leaders from various marketing disciplines (@mktgcampphl)

May 4 - NetSquared – 6 pm – 9pm – Friends Center, 15th & Cherry – Social Web Sampler – The Sampler will be an opportunity to address how various social web tools can help YOUR nonprofit or social action cause.  Blogs.  Wikis.  Mapping.  Facebook.  Podcasts.  Photo sharing.  RSS.  Videoblogging.  Mobile applications.  Twitter.  Tagging.  LinkedIn.  Digg.  Meetup.  And so much MORE!

May 17 – Mobile Monday - Mobile Marketing and Advertising with PHIMA (Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association)

May 24 – Spark Networking 8:30 am – 6 pm – The Hub Cira Centre, 2929 Arch Street – A  conference for Philadelphia’s cutting-edge entrepreneurs. Spark is an interactive entrepreneurial conference that focuses on developing business ideas and vital business relationships where ideas, connections and passions are exchanged in a creative environment. (@sparknetworking)

May 25 – Social Media Plus Summit – Philadelphia Convention Center -SocialMediaPlus will be the Mid-Atlantic’s largest business summit for professionals interested in learning about the latest in Social Media and web 2.0 technology. (@socialmediaplus)

June 4 – 6 – Philly Give Camp - Microsoft Office in Malvern PA – Donate your time and skills to a local charity by creating software solutions that will transform the way they in turn serve others.

Hope to see you at some of these events!