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Fans, Friends, Followers & Circles – Oh My!

Gloria Bell — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:29:14 +0000

Every day we hear from people who want to know to how to manage the constant input from their social media accounts. There is no one right answer for everyone. The only one constant for everyone should be one basic question – What are you trying to achieve?

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?

What do I work on first?

Gloria Bell — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:25:55 +0000

In both my consulting business and from friends, I get a lot of questions similar to this one…

“I came up with a list of 14 possible projects to work on yesterday but now I need to narrow them down to ones that will, well, work. When you have a list of projects, is there some equation you use to determine the priority?”

Although the process of prioritization comes naturally to some, it can still be a time waster for many. We can get so wrapped up in setting priorities and writing lists that we fail to take action and move forward with completing the things on the list. Since I can be as guilty of this as anyone, I work with a simple structure to prioritize those things on my to-do list.

1) Deadlines – obviously the soonest deadline gets the first attention

But for those items when deadlines are not a factor -

2) Try to alternate easy/short projects with a longer/harder projects. By allowing yourself time to do projects that you can complete in a shorter period of time you are consistently rewarding yourself with the feeling of finishing something. This feeling of accomplishment and completion are crucial to maintaining motivation when your to-do list is long and/or complex.

3) Try and determine which of the 2 or 4 projects you will enjoy doing the most. Put 1 or 2 of them at the top of the list and 1 or 2 of them at the bottom. You get to start with something you enjoy and have something else you will enjoy towards the end. It is the ages old carrot – stick method of motivation. Start with something you enjoy to motivate you and get your creative juices flowing and then accomplish other things by knowing there is a fun reward at the end.

So those are my tips on how to prioritize. How do you prioritize that never-ending to-do list?

It starts with believing in Philadelphia…

Gloria Bell — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:01:04 +0000

I ended up in a lively conversation this morning on Twitter about why tech companies are leaving Philly. It started with my comment to Technically Philly about their new feature “Exit Interview“. I applauded their efforts to look at why companies were leaving the city but also inquired whether they were going to look at how to get them to stay.

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?

Upcoming Events 6-28-2010 Edition

Gloria Bell — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:36:53 +0000

(Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive list. There are many more events occurring throughout the city and I encourage you to locate and attend the ones that appeal to you. These are just some of the events for the organizations that I am involved with. If you need help locating an event, please let me know and I’ll try and point you in the right direction.)

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!

Upcoming Events 4-16-2010 Edition

Gloria Bell — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:44:45 +0000

April 19 – Indy Hall National Mechanics Blood Drive 9 am – 3 pm National Mechanics 22 S. 3rd Street Give Blood – Save a Life – it really is that simple! Make your appointment today.

April 20 & 21 – 140Character Conference - The 92nd Street Y – Exploring the State of Now – This event is shaping up to being the largest worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and “we” the people.

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 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 28 – Entrepreneur Unplugged - 7 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.

May 1 - Marketing Camp Philly - 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 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!

Upcoming Events 4-5-2010 Edition

Gloria Bell — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:28:51 +0000

April 6 - NetSquared – Jenkins Law Library, 833 Chestnut Street, 12th Floor – Social Entrepreneurs, the Social Web and Social Change – a fascinating discussion featuring Garrett Melby, CEO of GoodCompany Ventures, Blake Jennelle, founder of Missioneurs, other local social entrepreneurs

April 7 – Sonatype Maven Meetup - Society Hill Sheraton – Sonatype Maven Meetup will focus on development infrastructure technologies, offering talks and workshops led by core contributors and package maintainers. Sessions in two tracks will cover tools such as the Apache Maven build and release manager, Hudson continuous integration engine, Nexus repository manager, Sonar quality server and other technologies widely used by software developers around the world.

April 8 & 9 – Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise - Society Hill Sheraton Discover what’s new and what’s next in enterprise technologies. ETE 2010 brings together pioneers across the spectrum to discuss the principles, practices, and products that are transforming IT’s ability to drive the success of the enterprise.

April 8 – Entrepreneurs Entourage CoWorking & Networking Day 10 am – 4 pm – Philadelphia Java Company, 518 S. 4th Street – This is a great way to network and work collaboratively with other Philly entreps and freelancers. Make new connections and learn more about coworking in Philadelphia.

April 10 -Drexel PRSSA Presents “Bizarre PR” – 9 am – 4 pm – Radisson Plaza – Warwick Hotel 220 South 17th Street

April 13 - Entrepreneur Expo 2010 - 6 – 9 pm Hamilton Hall, University of the Arts – Innovation on Display Join Philly Startup Leaders as we once again celebrate & show off the entrepreneurial spirit in Philadelphia! (@eexpo)

April 14 - Good Company Ventures Launch 5:30 pm – 7 pm – Blank Rome Conference Center
One Logan Square – 130 North 18th Street – Philly launch event about social entrepreneurship and mission-driven investment

April 14 – Philly Startup Leaders Happy Hour 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Ladder 15, 1528 Sansom Street

April 19 – Indy Hall National Mechanics Blood Drive 9 am – 3 pm National Mechanics 22 S. 3rd Street Give Blood – Save a Life – it really is that simple! Make your appointment today.

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

Hope to see you at some of these events!

Upcoming Events 2-27-2010 Edition

Gloria Bell — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:08:29 +0000

March 2 – NetSquared - 6 – 9 pm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney 50 S. 16th STreet – “Social Media & Crisis Response” This month’s Net Tuesday will be on “crisis response” (whether caused by nature or humans) and social media. (@phlnet2)

March 3 - A Mad Tea Party at the Rosenbach Museum - The Rosenbach is toasting Lewis Carroll and his Alice books at a madcap tea party. Examine the ﬁrst edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, meet Scott Hoyt, the director of the documentary, The Meaning of Tea, sample unique teas, and learn how to brew the perfect cup with Alexis Siemons, a local tea enthusiast and founder of the blog teaspoonsandpetals.com. (@teaandpetals)

March 4 – Screening of The Meaning of Tea - 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm Tbar 117 South 12th Street – An exclusive screening and the opportunity to meet the filmmaker of the documentary The Meaning of Tea

March 8 - 140Conf Philly Meetup - 5:00 – 9:00 pm – Manayunk Brewery 4121 Main Street – An opportunity to discuss the emerging Real-Time Internet and the effects on business. A monthly gathering for friends of #140conf to get together and discuss issues of the day.

March 10 – Philly Startup Leaders Happy Hour 6:30 – 9:30 pm – Midlantic Restaurant 3711 Market Street (@startupleaders)

March 11 - Coworking & Networking Day 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Tuscany Cafe 725 Walnut Street – This is a great way to network and work collaboratively with other Philly entreps and freelancers. Make new connections and learn more about coworking in Philadelphia. (@EntrepEntourage)

March 16 – Mission Mob 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Ladder 15, 1528 Sansom Street When startups and social entrepreneurs come together, amazing things happen. This is a happy hour with a mission for people on a mission. Bring your mission, your thirst to help other startup and social entrepreneurs and, well, your thirst.

March 17 – Social Media TownHall 7:30 – 9:30 AM The Hub at the Cire Center - This program will focus on the high-level opportunities and challenges of social media, which will include a discussion about the human resources, legal, marketing and risk management aspects of social media.

March 17 – PSL Fishbowl 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Connelly Auditorium, Room 806, UArts Terra Building, 211. S. Broad Street – PSL welcomes The City of Philadelphia CTO Allan Frank for a presentation and feedback regarding a vision for digital Philadelphia and an economic development model for the tech ecosystem. (@startupleaders)

March 25 - Twestival – Philadelphia – Old City (times & more details TBD) Join us for Philly Twestival’s “Search for Concern” – a Bar Crawl Scavenger Hunt! More details to be released soon. Twestival is a Global charity event held in hundreds of cities in the same 24 hour period to raise money and awareness for the same charity. This year’s charity is Concern Worldwide. (@phltwestival)

April 14 - Createadelphia 10 am – 2 pm Kimmel Center This is the once-a-year chance for job seekers and employers in the creative industries to gather together to network and explore full-time and freelance opportunities. (@innovationphila)

April 19 – Indy Hall National Mechanics Blood Drive 9 am – 3 pm National Mechanics 22 S. 3rd Street Give Blood – Save a Life – it really is that simple! Make your appointment today.

May 1 - Marketing Camp Philly - Where online & offline marketers share, learn & grow – Interested in learning more or sponsoring? Sign up here http://bit.ly/mktgcamp (@mktgcampphl)

May 24 – Spark Networking (location and details to be announced soon!) A conference for Philadelphia’s cutting-edge entrepreneurs. (@sparknetworking)

May 25 – Social Media Plus Summit – Philadelphia Convention Center – learn and discuss the future development of social media and the technology related to it. (@socialmediaplus)

Hope to see you at some of these events!

Upcoming Events 2-8-2010 Edition

Gloria Bell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:18:51 +0000

February 8 – Refresh Philly 6:30 – 8 pm 340 N. 12th Street, Suite 402 – Presentations on http://walkshed.org/ and CommonSpace: Sustainable Transit Visualization

February 10 – Philly StartUp Leaders Happy Hour 6:30 – 9:30 pm Midlantic Restaurant, 3711 Market Street Join us at the best networking opportunity in the region for startup entrepreneurs and their friends in the community

February 11 – Entrepreneur’s Entourage CoWorking Day - (Stay tuned for time and location details) Bring your laptop, do a little networking or just have a cup of coffee and a chat with us while we get some work done and build relationships.

February 17 – Philly StartUp Leaders Entrepreneur Unplugged 7 – 8:30 pm Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street Entrepreneur Unplugged is the series that brings successful local entrepreneurs on stage to educate, entertain and inspire the startup community. Ed Sullivan, founder of Aria Systems will be outlining an insightful and somewhat top-secret strategy for business success.

February 22 – M.A.P.P. (Making a Progressive Philadelphia) Happy Hour – Making A Progressive Philadelphia (MAPP) hopes to give out 20 grants – totaling $20,000! – this year throughout the city of Philadelphia. We can only do this with your help! …and join us on Monday, February 22nd, from 4-7pm, at CANTINA DOS SEGUNDOS (931 N. 2nd Street). The Cantina will donate 20% of Happy Hour proceeds to MAPP!

February 23 - PANMA - 5:30 – 8:30 pm 3711 Market Street, 8th Floor – Mobile App Development DeMystified – a look at what it takes to develop mobile apps for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and more (as well as a brief look at designing & optimizing regular web sites for the next generation of mobile browsers).

February 26 – Trend Camp – 6-9 pm Two Liberty Place, 32nd Floor, Offices of Buchanan, Ingersoll, and Rooney, 50 S. 16th St, Philadelphia – A user-generated conference where we explore What’s next. The community is the best tool available to predict, analyze, and create the future.

March 2 – NetSquared – 6 – 9 pm Location TBD – “Social Media & Crisis Response” This month’s Net Tuesday will be on “crisis response” (whether caused by nature or humans) and social media.

March 3 - A Mad Tea Party at the Rosenbach Museum – The Rosenbach is toasting Lewis Carroll and his Alice books at a madcap tea party. Examine the ﬁrst edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, meet Scott Hoyt, the director of the documentary, The Meaning of Tea, sample unique teas, and learn how to brew the perfect cup with Alexis Siemons, a local tea enthusiast and founder of the blog teaspoonsandpetals.com.

March 25 – Twestival - Philadelphia (location, times & details TBD) Join us for Philly Twestival’s “Search for Concern” – a Bar Crawl Scavenger Hunt! More details to be released soon. Twestival is a Global charity event held in hundreds of cities in the same 24 hour period to raise money and awareness for the same charity. This year’s charity is Concern Worldwide.

April 8 & 9 – Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise – Society Hill Sheraton Discover what’s new and what’s next in enterprise technologies. ETE 2010 brings together pioneers across the spectrum to discuss the principles, practices, and products that are transforming IT’s ability to drive the success of the enterprise.

April 13 - Entrepreneur Expo 2010 – 6 – 9 pm Hamilton Hall, University of the Arts – Innovation on Display Join Philly Startup Leaders as we once again celebrate & show off the entrepreneurial spirit in Philadelphia!

April 14 – Createadelphia 10 am – 2 pm Kimmel Center This is the once-a-year chance for job seekers and employers in the creative industries to gather together to network and explore full-time and freelance opportunities.

May 1 - Marketing Camp Philly - Where online & offline marketers share, learn & grow – Interested in learning more or sponsoring? Sign up here http://bit.ly/mktgcamp

Hope to see you at some of these events!

So who is your voice?

Gloria Bell — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:34:23 +0000

This post was inspired by a question that appeared on one of my email lists this morning. I have retained the content of the conversation but the names have been removed to protect the innocent.

Innocent #1: does anyone know where to buy pre-written tweets organized around specific topics? For example, say I want to buy 100 tweets about beer, or autos, or whatever, that I can download and then schedule through . Thanks.

Me: Why would you want to do that? It defeats the whole purpose of social media which is to be social and hold a conversation. As a social media consultant, I can tell you that anyone who would sell you that type of list or service is a snake oil salesman.

Innocent #1: Gloria, you’re right, social media is about holding a conversation. I’m looking for something to get the conversation started. Simple tweets that are relevant to my business and that my followers would find interesting.

Me: If your purpose is to get the conversation started about your business, then those tweets need to come from you and your business, not some generic service. People respond to people. People do business with people they like and trust. You need to be the one developing your company’s social media voice, not someone who knows nothing about you or your business. If you need assistance with that, it is fine to hire someone to help you find that voice and figure out how to use the tools, but not for someone to be that voice for you.

I’m sorry if I sound like i am preaching or on a soap box, but it is a subject that myself and most of the leaders in the social media community are very passionate about. There are people who are using the medium solely as a way to make money without keeping the spirit of the medium and the best interests of their clients at heart.

Innocent #2: God forbid someone actually make money on “_______” list.

Me: Not my point at all. I am all for all of us making money, but there is an ethical way to do it. That way means providing a good product or service, being honest and keeping our clients or customers best interests at the forefront of our minds. When you misrepresent yourself or your company, which is what “ghost tweeting” or “ghost blogging” does, then you are not being honest with your clients, customers or audience.

So my question to you is Who is your voice? Am I wrong to feel that the voice should come from the person or persons who know the business the best? What are your thoughts on buying a list of pre-written tweets?

Upcoming Events – 11-9-2009 Edition

Gloria Bell — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:38:26 +0000

Here once again is this week’s list of some of the fun, interesting, educational and exciting things things I’ll be doing over the next few months.

November 9 – I’m Giving Blood – Have you made a donation lately? Help the Red Cross continue to help save lives.

November 10 – The Ultimate Networking Event – Real world networking is essential for you to build and create relationships. Having the skills to network effectively in today’s challenging business climate, is critical and could make the difference between thriving or losing to your competitors.

November 11 – SMC Philly – Reality Check A panel leading discussion on the topic of the new FTC Guidelines for bloggers. What does this means for bloggers and brands connecting with bloggers? How does this affect your participation in social networks, like twitter and facebook? What do you need to know in accordance with the ruling and what are new best practices? Join Whitney Hoffman, Annie Heckenberger and Cecily Kellogg in this discussion.

November 12 – Social Networking for Your Small Business – Free Library of Philadelphia Learn to use social networking technologies to market your business and connect with customers. Join me in the discussion.

November 14 – BarCamp Philly – Philly’s tech, creative, entrepreneurial – Whatever you want it to be! Unconference

November 14 – Little Smiles Stars Ball - I won’t be at this one, but it looks like an awesome organization and a great charity.

November 16 – Bloblive – You know that great idea you have? We want to help you get it going! Come to the next bloblive, grab the mic and hit the crowd with your best elevator pitch. You’ll find advice and feedback from a roomful of people focused on trying to help your idea grow.

November 19 - Founder Factory - Founder Factory is set to inspire Philadelphia entrepreneurs, their mentors and advisors and angel and venture capital investors through real life case studies, examples and success stories.
Besides these stories, these successful entrepreneurs will advise three startups in a Fishbowl setting in topics such as go-to market strategies, value proposition, risks, funding and other topics

I am not personally involved in this group, but after reviewing their calender, I think maybe I should be! I encourage you to take a look at the events calender for the Philly Liars Club. ThePhilly Liars club is a group of professional writers who basically lie for a living, and their Truth Tour is a series of parties celebrating independent bookstores.

STAY TUNED FOR REGULAR UPDATES! Hope to see some of you at some of these awesome events.