I love how social media has brought friends, families, neighbors, school buddies, business associates, and colleagues back into one community again. I love the fact that millions of people are able to keep up with what’s going on in the lives of those we care so much about in “real” time. I love finding the “special” friends I thought I’d never see again. It’s been healing. It’s been rewarding, it’s been invigorating and I’m grateful that Social Media has given us the tools and technology to tip-toe back into our past – to laugh, share, and discover as adults many of the unanswered questions – that we tend to bring into our present.

Flashing forward to the now, and the future… there’s more “techno” love flowing “live” on a daily basis with real relationships being forged online and off. People who share similar dreams, goals, interests, causes, likes, dislikes, humor, are flowing into the Social Media channels right, left and sideways which is creating an incredible world of opportunity for those who know how to use Social Media effectively – and who build their communities and tribes around relationships, trust, and integrity.

Social Media is here. It’s now, and it will continue many years into the future. Embrace it. Don’t fear it. It is our future. It’s the way. It’s World of Mouth, And it’s here to stay!

“I get by with a little help from my friends.”
- John Lennon

This serves as a belated Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone in my past whose come back into my future (You know who you are!) To all of my new friends. And, to those who I’ll call my friend in the future! Make sure you’re on my email list, and if this post touched you in any way, you have something to say! Post a comment below, and share the love! I appreciate you!

All you have to really understand is that people use Facebook for many different reasons. Some use it to connect with those “long lost friends,” while others use it to move themselves forward in their respective business ventures. Some combine business and pleasure. Then, there’s the people who thinks Facebook’s a popularity contest and they set about to “collect” as many people as possible so they feel better about themselves.

The most important thing to know is that YOU determine how you want to use Facebook – then YOU get to decide whether or not you’ll accept friendship requests from people you know – or don’t know.

If you’re on Facebook to network with like-minded people through the “friend finder” – you’ll increase your chances of someone accepting your friend request if you take the time to type a short message to say “hi,” and why you’d like them to accept you.

If you’re on Facebook to connect with those long lost friends and family members – take the time to type them a short note. If you’re a gal, they may not be able to identify you with a “different” last name if you’re married now. And boy does everyone change in 10, 20 or 30 years – they may not recognize you from high school, until they pull out the yearbook and look for your name. So, make it easy for them. Get the picture? It’s really no different than picking up the phone and saying “Hi, how are you, remember me from high school” or going to a networking event, and saying “Hi, it’s nice to meet you…” It’s just plain old common courtesy.

Out of all the social platforms, I believe that Facebook is a great deal more intimate than Twitter, Friendfeed, Linked In or Plaxo just to name a few. That said there are certain things to keep in mind when you use this platform.

7 “Common Sense” Tips To Keep In Mind On Facebook:

1. Reserve friending on Facebook to people you know, like and trust. Facebook is not a popularity contest.
2. If someone doesn’t respond to your friend request – don’t take offense. They’ve simply established their own reasons for using Facebook and are sticking with it.
3. Every comment you post on the wall is public – if you need to vent, whatever you vent probably will get back to someone, someday.
4. Use Facebook’s Direct Message feature to share personal information such as phone numbers, addresses etc… or when you feel the need to do some major big time venting one-on-one or with a small group of friends.
5. Type the way you talk, but be mindful of your tone. Some people may not be able to tell if you’re joking or being sarcastic. (Sometimes very difficult to translate in the written word)
6. Watch your language, and your content – especially if you’ve friended younger users. The internet and your friends have the memory of an elephant. Everything you say and post online is being archived – forever. Not to mention the fact that what you do and say is also a reflection of your personal brand. If you type in all caps – that’s the same as shouting online. Take it down a peg. It becomes really annoying to other readers.
7. Don’t friend other people’s friends unless you know them – this has given many of my female friends the “creeps” – especially if the request is coming from a guy. (Do I need to tell you that these repeat violators are no longer on my friends list – didn’t think so)

Photos, Photo-Tagging and Post-Tagging

This is another place where common sense prevails:

1. Never upload pictures or tag friends in photo’s that could get them into trouble.
2. If you’re not sure whether to post a compromising photo – don’t! Be considerate!
3. If someone untags themselves in a picture – respect their decision. Hey, they may not think it was the most flattering picture of them, or they’re just plain not comfortable in sharing their lives openly with others – yet!
4. Do tag people in your posts when you’d like to thank, or mention them in a complimentary post. Public acknowledgement is always a good thing.
5. Know that when you “post tag a photo” or “photo tag a post,” the same post will also appear on the “tagged” person’s wall.

To Post Tag: Type @ First Name and wait for a drop down menu of your friends to appear – choose the fried you want to tag, then add the next.

To Post tag a photo – go to the photo album. Click on the person’s face and choose the friend or friends one at a time from your drop down menu.

Of course, we’ve seen it all. People tagging people in posts, or pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with them – or the post. They’ve done it for one simple reason: more exposure. Well, you can probably get away with that if you do it sporadically, but remember – your friends are the one’s who are in control of their space – not you. If you post too many times in a day… or start ranting about stuff that turns them off – All they have to do is click delete – and “poof” you’re gone from their list forever.

The Bottom Line: There’s absolutely no substitute for manners, common sense and courtesy in the virtual world. Game on! Have fun with Facebook!

This collaborative effort is a savvy use of Social Media marketing. Just imagine how many lives will be touched, changed and impacted with this single piece of work (not to mention the image building a brand equity that each contributor will receive when read by millions of people around the world.)

Download it now, and read it for yourself. it. Spread the word, and pay it forward!

Oh yeah… One more thing…Let me know what you think of Pages 68 and 71!

The cleanest, flexible and most customizable WordPress theme I’ve found.

After fighting the concept of blogging forever, I finally got smart during a recent social media mastermind course with the “infamous” Perry Belcher who opened my eyes to the ginormous importance of having a blog – especially a self hosted blog – in social media. (A topic of a future post )

So, after spending hours looking through and testing all the free WordPress themes and developer designs – I finally decided on Frugal.

I bought it, downloaded it, played around with it (and got self-educated on using WordPress after living in a Dreamweaver world) so I would have everything at my fingertips when I was ready to tackle the project. Then, right before I was ready to officially “launch my blog,” Frugal went and got better than ever! What’s more, Frugal is right in line with my “Keep it simple, keep it clean design philosophy.”

Here’s just some of the Rockin’ “Awesome’ benefits of having Frugal in your arsenal:

• Fully customizable for the developer and complete novices with no coding required.
• Users have to power to fully control their website and or blog.
• Incredibly clean look and feel – fully customizable for your color scheme.
• Static Home Page with fully customizable layout options
• Full font options
• Margin and padding options
• Page navigation with sub-navigation
• Categories and sub-category navigation
• Users can create different page layouts using the new “CMS Template” with it’s own sidebar set. (Great for more traditional web design)
• CMS Page hooks that allow you to include/exclude other site features in these pages
• Full blown SEO action
• Custom widgets and hook options
• Plus, the ability to add footer links
• And it’s fast! (Did I say it was fast?)

Go see what you’re in for now, and leave a comment below to let me know what you think! (BTW you’re lookin’ at Frugal 3.0 right now in its simplest, yet ever so desirable form)