Andy did a wonderful job! Even more information than I though we would cover in 1 hr! And, so many more social networking opportunties than I realized! Thanks, Andy! Votes: +0

Andy: You demonstrated an easy style atop your deeply ingrained experience growing up on the web and helping businesses embrace the web in your various positions, including your current company. Great info! Cheers, Bob Votes: +0

Joe -

I was able to identify some recurring questions, which have also appeared in previous presentations. The most interesting where:

1. How much time do you spend with these tools per day? Rather than spend dedicated time, I have incorporated chatting, messaging, friending, blogging, etc into my daily business routine. Going to include information comparing time spent on phone, email, organizing and demonstrate how I have supplemented these practices with quicker, less formal dialogue.

2. How do you spark interest on your own site? This is something I brainstorm everyday at ZocaloGroup, so I plan to include suggestions on providing engaging (and informative) content. Ask questions, organize contests, experiment with live technologies, etc.

3. How do you deal with negative sentiment? Depending on the situation, I typically ignore. Look at Shel Israel's battle with Loren Feldman during the summer of 08 for an example of what happens when you continue to stoke the fire.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will be happy to answer to the best of my ability. Thanks for sharing Joe.

Andy Angelos Votes: +1

I did not want to make the presentation about different outlets, but I am glad you were able to learn something new. I typically experiment with new services out of curiosity, but ask myself the question "What is my objective on this site?" If the answer is not definite, I choose to remove from professional activities. My core group of tools include the Google Suite (Spreadsheets, Forms, Mail, Reader, Books and advanced Search tools), Twitter, Skype, MSN Messenger, Facebook, and Tube Mogul.

Andy Votes: +0

It's great to have a presentation done by someone who, like me, grew up in a world connected by the web. Indeed, we've found many social networking sites bring business to our studio and to many of our clients (many of them are in the music industry). There seem to be more bands than just individuals on MySpace sometimes! I was in college when Facebook first started up and have seen it transform into a part of everyday life. These networks are indeed great ways to make connections on a more personal and direct basis between suppliers and consumers.

That being said, there is a head-spinning number of networks you can be a part of and they seem to be getting more robust on an almost daily basis. Facebook, for instance, began as simply a personal profile with minimal communications abilities between friends. It has now become a place where you can get constant updates on people, advertise a product, set up an identity for a business and even make a network within the larger Facebook network for people with the same interests or consumers of the same product.

I guess the fact that these outlets already exist with a substantial user base, it begs the question of when it is appropriate for a company to extend their own website to have a standalone and isolated social network of their own, such as is provided by JomSocial or Community Builder. If you're a company trying to build a fan base while not turning people off, are you better off just starting a profile on a major social network and finding people there to congregate and converse or should you run the risk of having people join yet ANOTHER social network and spread their attention span even thinner.

I think these are important things to factor into your web design plan. If you're doing a site for a well established brand with a large fan/user base and great deal of pride in their purchase, a unique social network might work well. If you don't have those things, watch out and don't spread your resources too thinly. Votes: +1

I was aware of MySpace and Facebook, did not realize all the rest. I was not aware of all the opportunities available. Votes: +0

Thanks for the comments Patrick and Tom. There are a mind-boggling number of sites hoping for success similar to the billion dollar valuations of YouTube and Facebook (commonly referred to as "Me-toos" or even "Me Threes"). However, paying attention to the more successful sites is important for marketing purposes. Different communities have different focus areas, and thus are valuable for different objectives. Locating the appropriate outlets is important and I recommend using the search engines like Icerocket, twing, search.twitter, etc to identify the most relevant. Votes: +1

Hi great presentation. I wasn't aware you could use facebooks to kick out your RSS feeds from your Joomla site. I'll have to check out your other suggestions too. Its great that this stuff can be automated and save me from logging in at 10 different sites after I make a post to my blog! Thanks again! Votes: +0