Word of Net

In the age of the digital revolution, online presence is everything to business. Unfortunately, for many businesses, getting online ends the process. Once you set up that Twitter feed, or Facebook page, the work stops. You may check back, watch your followers grow and leave interesting updates but that covers the interaction with social media.  However, a lack of follow-through when a customer raises a question or issue can quickly undo all the goodwill you created by plugging your brand into the internet.

The Orbitz Omission

Last week, my grandfather suddenly started declining. I took a rush flight to South Carolina to be with him and my family. Two days later, he passed away. My plans to go to a conference the upcoming weekend quickly disappeared. My boyfriend took care to cancel all our plans. The conference refunded our tickets. Southwest put our miles towards another flight. But the hotel… the hotel became a problem. We booked our room through Orbitz. Orbitz refused to give us any kind of break on the hotel, even with proof of a family death. So my boyfriend relieved his outrage on Twitter. With a flurry of negative tweets suddenly on their radar, Orbitz responded to us, wanting to make amends. However, despite a quick Twitter cover-up, they never did anything to fix the situation.

Just Not Enough

Obviously, a large company like Orbitz has a twitter presence, but just responding to a few angry tweets, wasn’t enough. The problem required more effort. While the apologetic tweets were thoughtful, they did nothing to solve the problem, which was having to pay for a trip I could not make, on top of expensive last-minute flights. Sentiment on social media in the end, means very little.

Negativity Can Only Be Overcome with Action

Social Media can be powerfully negative to your brand without you monitoring and reacting to each issue independently. If Orbitz had changed its tune and found a way to work with us, that small action could solve multiple problems. At this point, neither of us will use Orbitz again. And we, both significant influencers among our peers and colleagues, will advise others not to use their services either. We’ve both already written reviews of our service. These negative words are powerful and can impact a brand directly. A small action would overcome the flood of bad press this business received in just one day.

This is a lesson that even small businesses can learn from. Social media is a great way of creating dialogue. But just like real life, not all dialogue is happy chitchat, issues come up and then need to be dealt with. So when it happens, and it will happen, be prepared. Remember, swiftly and purposefully taking action against a problem often creates more goodwill among your followers.

I'm sure you've seen the commercials: "T-Mobile, the number one 4G network" or "Verizon with the fastest 4G phone". We hear 4G everywhere, but few of us understand it means anything other than FASTER. While 4G sounds better and faster, those companies aren't being quite honest with you. So let me reveal to you a few truths, and also the lie.

Truth: 4G is better

Its true, 4G is better. 4G stands for Fourth Generation, meaning its the fourth generation of technology used by wireless phones. The first generation started in Japan in 1979, and has since expanded to today with the adoption of 3G in 2002. While 3G gave us the ability to send multimedia and lightning text messages, 4G comes with the promise of even more multimedia capability.

4G would run on a packet switching network, which would mean that information is transferred in chunks, regardless of type, in other words your text and images can be simultaneously sent. 4G will have higher, scalable bandwidth requirements and overall better support for multimedia input.

Truth: 4G is faster

4G will be significantly faster when it comes to data rates (how quickly data is transferred to and from your phone). 3G systems must offer a peak rate of at least 200  kilobits per second, kbit/s (NOTE: most 3G systems actually go much faster than this). 4G systems will have a peak rate of 100 Megabits per second, Mbit/s. A megabit is 1000 times faster than a kilobit.

Lets use this example: The average 4 minute MP3 song is 4MB. It takes about 3 minutes to download this song at 200 kbit/s, the required 3G speed. It takes only 30 seconds to download this song at 1 Mbit/s. But 4G, at its peak speed, should be 100 Mbit/s. So essentially, no time at all. You can see where 4G isn't just fourth generation, its over 4 times as fast, too. (You can find out more about download speeds with this calculator.)

Lie: You (can) have 4G

Now, while all this speed and multimedia capacity sounds fantastic, there is the one lie in the mix. No one has 4G. That's right, all those commercials claiming the best 4G network, don't actually have 4G. What they have is more like 3.9G. In 2008, the International Telecommunication Union's Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) put forth the IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications)-Advanced requirements, which are the international standards for 4G.

While "Pre-4G" systems, such as LTE (a term you may have seen attached to certain phone models which stands for long term evolution) have been on the market as early as 2006, they do not fully comply with IMT-Advanced. Two 4G systems do exist in developmental stages, "LTE-Advanced" and "WirelessMAN-Advanced" but neither are available currently.

So how do companies get away with using the term 4G? On December 6th, 2010, ITU-R announced that evolved versions of 3G could be considered 4G provided:

a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

No doubt, 3G has drastically improved in the past few years, however it is not yet the 4G promised to us. While you wait for the golden 4G moment of availability, stay educated about the branding terms that mobile companies use. As you market yourself and your company, these changes can make your online efforts more effective as it becomes easier to browse online, download apps and even read emails with multimedia components.

It's a mistake we've all made: Vista Print. How can you say no to cheap printing and all the reduced rates? You order stickers or a box of cards--just once, mind you--and then the damage is done. Vista Print has your email and they will never desist.

The emails (Bad idea)

If you've ever used Vista Print, you know exactly what I mean. They show up at least once a week, and sometimes once a day. The titles of the emails tend to be pretty creative, usually they'll have your name in them and often will have nothing to do with printing. These emails are kinda random and annoying and usually aren't at all something you need. Its spam, really.

The twitter response (Good Idea)

It was from one of these emails that I discovered VistaPrint had a Twitter account. I got one of their marketing letters with a title like: "Kat, You are the Greatest!". It was a rough day and I thought one of my lovely friends had sent a pick-me-up email. I was sorely disappointed to realize it was just VistaPrint spam. So I complained on Twitter. Well VistaPrint does a great job monitoring Twitter for their name because within ten minutes I got a reply from them apologizing for the confusion. I was impressed at the speed of their response and the fact that the account user took the time to chat with me.

The Lesson

Regularly search Twitter for your business name and relevant topics. Social media gives you the chance to instantly gain a relationship or, as in Vista Print's case, improve your reputation. Doing this can immediately create a positive impact. It can also repair damage.

The Conclusion

Marketing has many facets. When reviewing your business be sure to look at every area. You may have great social media presence but your branding could use some work. Take the time to regularly review. Build on the things you do well, but take the time to improve on what you don't. Marketing is a constant process. However, for the areas that might need a little work, keep a strong Twitter presence with quick response. A little tweet goes a long way.

What is LikeJacking?

LikeJacking is a specific kind of spam virus that appears on Facebook. It is malware that hijacks your "likes". This is not new technology, it was previously called Clickjacking, but Likejacking refers exclusively to the malicious technique used on Facebook.

A Likejacking worm shows up as a somewhat innocuous, but sensational piece of online content (a video or a link). It often has an over-the-top headline such as: "Girl gets OWNED by Cop who reads her Facebook" or "BOOBS" or even "Dad walks in on daughter...". When you click to get more information on the enticing phrase, the link takes you to a page outside of Facebook. It will usually look like a blank page that says "CLICK HERE FOR MORE". Once you click, that page downloads the malware into your Facebook.

The virus essentially tricks you into "liking" this page. Why? So more people click and download the virus. Once you've clicked and infected your Facebook, it will show up on your newsfeed and display to your friends the same sensational headline... leading them to click and continue the cycle.

So what happens if you've accidentilly downloaded a LikeJacking virus? Keep reading and I'll tell you how to clean your account. But first, some technical stuff for you nerd-types (or feel free to scroll down to get straight to the un-Jacking techniques).

Where did LikeJacking come from (aka What's the technical stuff)?

Wikipedia says that the original LikeJacking malware was written by a Black Hat World user with the handle: thefish2010. Black Hat World is an forum about SEO practices that are less than acceptable (using techniques such as spamming, keyword abuse, and generally things we do not condone on this blog). Good SEO is called White Hat, bad is Black. Tactics in the blurry area are often referred to as Gray.

This link you click that creates the false "like" is actually using a hidden iFrame or DIV tag to follow your mouse, which in turn reposts the message on your account. This specific kind of malware is a Troj/IFrame-ET meaning a Trojan which uses IFrames. Trojan malware works just like the original concept of the Trojan horse, it looks safe, so you invite it in, only to lead to disaster.

How do you get un-Jacked?

Fortunately, getting un-Jacked isn't particularly difficult.

1. Delete the page from your "Likes and Interests". You can do this by going to "Edit Profile" on your page, then go to "Show Other Pages" and "Remove Page. Or Edit your "Account" in the top right hand corner. Go to "Edit Friends" then "Pages" and then hit the deletion "X" next to the offending page.
2. Delete the update saying you like the page from your recent activity on your own feed.
3. All done!
4. P. S. Easiest way to avoid this in the future? If an outside websites says >>CLICK HERE<< Don't do it.

Note: Most of this information was gathered from Sophos, who you should follow on Facebook for up-to-date warnings on malware. Sophos says that Facebook is the MOST AT RISK social network. Check them out, and stay safe on Facebook.

You probably started to notice it a while back: you started recieving more emails from Facebook. Conversations you never got involved with were suddenly filling your inbox, cluttering your smartphone  and generally obstructing your regularly-scheduled messages. Suddenly, groups you joined years ago are clamoring obnoxiously for your attention and some you never even opted-in for. How did this happen?


In October, Facebook restructured its famous "groups." They added a ton of new features including group-only, as well as an offline email address so members can stay in touch. However, along with these additions came the annoying email messaging and the removal of the opt-in feature. Now, anyone you have as a Facebook friend can add you to their group, with or without your permission. Then, whenever someone posts to this group, you'll get a message. (Read about how this caused Matt Zuckerberg some personal issues he didn't foresee.)


You may not have noticed these changes in October. But now Facebook is only allowing this new style of groups to exist. Old groups are required to make the switch to the new format or be deleted (archived is the word Facebook likes to use). The archiving process started sometime in the last month and group admins are now getting emails alerting them to upgrade. And your inbox might start reflecting those changes.


Many people have complained about the changes to groups (specifically the constant emails). So let's quickly go through the ways to stop the stream-of-consciousness filling your inbox.


There are three options to shut-up your groups. We will go through each one:

1. Silence a particular group (you can still read messages on Facebook, but won't get alerts).
2. Leaving a group.
3. Changing your settings for all groups.

You must, unfortunately, be logged in to Facebook to access any of these changes (aka, no unsubscribing from your email). Log-in and let's begin. We'll start with muting a group.


Look at your home page (the news feed). See the list of groups to your left?





Mouse over the most bothersome of the groups and select it. Then click on the "Edit Settings" link.





Or, for quicker service, just click the x that appears when you mouse over the group.





This will not delete the group, it will bring up the "Edit Settings" box.





The most important section here is "notify me when". You can pick what you are notified for (for the least amount of interruption, select "only posts I am subscribed to"  without emails you are only notified in Facebook). But also make sure to uncheck the email alert box.


From here you can also edit how this group shows up on your page and if you receive group chat messages. (You can also use this to access ALL of your group notifications but we'll get there later.)


Leaving a group permanently is even easier. Select the offending group. On the right sidebar, under the member list and a few other options you'll see "Leave Group" with a cute picture of an open door.





Click it! Facebook will give you a final sales pitch and ask if you aresure, so make sure to verify your escape route.





Note: if someone added you to this group without your permission and you leave the group, they can never add you to another group. The same does not hold true for groups you joined before they upgraded.


Finally, how to change all your settings at once. You can reach you notification settings by editing a single group's settings (see #1) and selecting the "edit your notifications notifications" link in he edit pop-up box,





or select "Account" from the top right corner of any Facebook page.





Click "Account settings".





This will take you to your basic settings. There will be a horizontal navigation bar with different tabs. The third one will be "Notifications".





Be prepared, this page is long.





To the right there is a list of where you can "view settings", click the third section labeled "Groups".

Here you have some limited options to stop unnecessary emails. But notice there is a link "change email settings for individual groups" giving you the option to edit all your groups at once.





This will let you stop postings by checking or unchecking all of the groups you've joined or been added to.





When you're done, make sure to select SAVE at the bottom of your screen!





It should be noted there is not option to stop all group messages. In other words, you will need to update your setting for every group you are added to. (Unfortunately.)


I hope this helps control some of the madness and give you a little hyperspace peace!

Klout managed get a hold of $8.5 million dollars in new funding this past month. A big congrats to them, but some of you may not have used Klout or know how it can be helpful to you right now.

Klout is a free social media analytics tool. It measures your internet influence. Klout started with Twitter and has recently added Facebook to the websites it analyzes. (Klout's team promises Linked-In is upcoming as well, to complete the trifecta.)

So how does it work?

Klout  rates your social media profile on a scale of 1 to 100. It rates for different things including your reach, your influence and your engagement. A number of factors go into these numbers. Klout (with your permission) measures your clicks, comments and responses. Overall, Klout measures over 35 different factors for each area it gives a rating to.

But Klout doesn't just give you a number. It describes your online personality: socializer, explorer, activist, pundit, broadcaster are all examples. You can see what you are and what some of your top friends show up as, too.

Klout also tells you a little about your top followers. Who influences you? Who do you influence? And finally Klout analyzes your content. What you tweet and talk about with others.

Keep it in Perspective

While Klout can be a great tool for discovering more about your network and your influence, Klout can be scary for two reasons.

1. Your score can be scary. Don't worry if you're not tiptop in your network. Social media is a long term process and a simple score can't explain everything you do. Don't let it take over your head, its just an algorithm.
2. How Klout determines influence can be scary. Klout works with a lot of numbers and metrics that may or may not pan out in real life. For example, this article about how Klout shows Justin Bieber to be more influential than the President of the United States. While Klout responded that online, Bieber can shift more people into action, as an influencer of human events at large, he probably can't compete.

So take a moment, go check your Klout score and see how well you add up in the world of social media.

Only a few short years ago online industry experts spent their time debating whether or not Twitter would make it. Some argued that "microblogging" was merely a fad. Others bemoaned Twitter's lack of sustainable business model and still others thougth social media of all kinds would die out in a year.

Now we see Twitter everywhere. Even those who don't use it still hear the jokes and references in traditional media and listen to their peers mention it in casual conversation. Twitter went from a geeky tech trend to an across-the-board game changer; in less than 5 years.

So now, in 2011 we see how far Twitter has come and what to expect of it in the next 5 years.

Still Growing

Here are some stunning numbers from Twitter's birthday blog post last week.

• It took Twitter a little over 3 years to get to a billion tweets.
• Now it only takes one week to add an extra billion tweets.
• The average number of new Twitter accounts added each day averages around 460,000. The number of new users on the network continues to grow exponentially.
• Twitter continues to expand on mobile, with a 182% increase in the past year.

Small Businesses Take the Lead

Small Business Statistics from eMarketer.

• According to a report from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, the amount of small businesses using Twitter has doubled in the last quarter.
• This means 1 in 5 small business have a Twitter presence. While other social media sites like Facebook, take precedence, Twitter has started expanding rapidly in the past year for business.
• Almost half of all small businesses plan to increase their social media efforts including Twitter.
• The younger a business is, the more likely it is to be on Twitter. Businesses under 7 years old have the highest Twitter penetration.

Twitter Continues to Fumble for Complete Control

Even 5 years in, Twitter still seeks complete control of its platform. When Twitter first started to gain momentum, a number of bloggers voiced concern over Twitter's lack of sustainable business plan. There was no obvious monetization scheme. Investors kept putting capital into Twitter... but where was the ROI?

During this time, Twitter allowed 3rd party apps to expand their user base. Good and bad twitter desktop, mobile or browser apps spawned across the internet. Over time, many of these became solid, reliable tools, while Twitter's self-branded tools remained somewhat inconsistent. Even Twitter's logo and design was picked up by individuals and resold for personal profit, instead of money that could have gone back to Twitter investors. Twitter lost control of its brand.

However, now Twitter wants to regain its mastery. The company released a statement to developers telling them to stop building client apps. They claim consistency, but I suspect it has more to do with branding control and money. Ryan Paul wrote a thoughtful and detailed article about what this could mean for Twitter's future.

Overall, Twitter continues to reign supreme in the world of microblogging. A phenomenon once seen as a childish past time is becoming the fastest growing business marketing tool online. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people decide to open a Twitter account from all corners the world. Way to go, Twitter. You have overcome adversity and naysayers, best of luck in the years to come!

This week eMarketer published a study about the most compelling corporate blogs. Followed directly by iMediaConnection running a headline article titled "5 agency blogs you should be reading" by Michael Estrin. It seems that though many online marketers have "moved on" from blogging to bigger and better social internet outlets, these two media giants still think blogging deserves our consideration.

Blogging is the foundation to any online effort. It gives a personal touch to an impersonal sale pitch (your website). It creates an opportunity for interaction that is available to the public  in most any format (including your ebook reader). Estrin describes a corporate blog as a chance "to testdrive a company's... persona". In a previous post, I describe your blog as "getting coffee" with your reader.

Let's quickly discuss 3 reasons you should have a blog:

1. Optimization: New, expanded text and keywords will never hurt your website.
2. Introduction: Think of your blog as a handshake with potential clients. This is your chance to show a little of your best before they do business with you.
3. Foundation: A blog is a place you can build from. Social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook should always connect back to good solid content that shows your expertise.

Its fun to post, and tweet and check-i , but a blog should never be forgotten as part of your online marketing. Its also the best place to start a more engaging online effort. Hands down: It is still the best way to truly connect with your target audience!

I was delighted to give a presentation for the Dallas Area Romance Authors last month. I talked to them about blogging and even a little about social media.

Here are some snippets of what we talked about:

What is blogging? - Blogging is just writing/journaling in a public forum

Why is important? (Specifically why is having an online presence for writers
important) - Writers need to have a community. Meeting in person, having a review group is great but having you work always available to lots of different sources is only something you can do online.

Where to blog: Deviantart, other writer communities, Facebook, actual blog. There are lots of writing communities but its also great to start your own, more eyes can see you and also you can connect and form your own community.

How to blog: Etiquette - the golden rule still stands. You like comments? Give them. You want links? Link to others.

Wordpress: I suggest starting with a free wordpress blog to get started. You can always get a personalized domain later and lots of snazzy add-ons but for basics Wordpress is the most SEO and user-friendly.

Fears: Other people taking your work - A couple of ways around this. First of theft does happen online. Fortunately it doesn't happen terribly often. If you're really concerned, don't post anything you plan to publish, or post just sections. Little bread crumbs about your work can really get people intrigued.

Blogging can help you

*         Gain an audience - one you didn't previously have access to

*         Improve your writing skills -  Just like journaling you are exercising those writing muscles. Also you have plenty of critics to help you improve!

*         Help you stay on track with your goals - it helps to be accountable. Having readers will force you to connect on a regular basis and stick to what you promise.

*         Promote your published works - Once you've written something feel free to shout about it on your blog! Publish reviews or cover art. Tell people where to buy it. Create a splash page promoting it if you are using wordpress.

*         Getting involved in an online community - Once you start updating regularly find some other writers you trust and connect with them. Create a little circle of people helping one another.

Paid blogging - Paid gigs exist out there. They don't pay a lot (some time $10 an article) but it can be a great way to earn a little cash doing what you enjoy.

We also talked about social media, specifically about how Twitter works and how to connect better using it.

This is the list of blogs and Twitter handles that I have. If you are part of DARA feel free to email me or put your information in the comment to keep the list updated.

Non-DARA people: These are wonderful, talented women. If you enjoy romance take a minute to check them out!

• Raquel Rodriguez: http://raquelrodriguezauthor.blogspot.com/
• Kathy Ivan: http://www.kathyivan.blogspot.com/
• Sandy Wills: @sandy_wills http://sandy-wills.livejournal.com/
• Sally Felt: @Sallytex http://sallyfelt.com/
• Wendy Q: http://wendyquest.blogspot.com/ http://wendyquest.wordpress.com/
• Nile Landry (Dren James): http://nilelandry.wordpress.com/
• Jennie Bryant: http://www.jenniebryant.blogspot.com/

Friday, June 25th I published my first ebook. The book is call "The Internet is Blue: How Democrats are winning online and what Republicans can do about it". The book sounds (and is) aimed at a political audience but I think that plenty of markets could still find it a useful read. So I wanted to write a post about it here, to let you know what its about and how you can get it.

Why I'm telling you about Politics

About a month ago I decided to combine my professional and political presence on the web. I'd been doing it on Facebook for almost a year, and since I volunteer and openly speak about my beliefs I decided I might as well let it extend into all areas of my online life. Many marketers say never talk politics in your business space. I used to agree, but as I'm obviously political, I figure its best if people know up front. That way if my beliefs bother or offend them they know not to work with me up-front, instead of finding out about it later.

Plus, this book is less about politics and more about understanding your market and how to reach them online.

Why I wrote this book

This particular ebook came out of a discussion with my grandfather, who was very ill and expected to die from cancer at the time. I was upset after reading multiple emails from Republicans which I thought sounded like spam. (These emails can be found at The Internet is Blue.) I complained to him that politicians don't know how to market. My grandfather suggested I write a book about it. So I immediately set out to write the book. My grandfather is doing much better now and the book is dedicated to him.

How this ebook relates to online marketing

This book mostly shows three things:

1. What Republicans have done wrong online (examples)

2. What Democrats have done right online (case studies)

3. What Republicans can do to fix things (action plan in nine parts)

Each of these sections deal with specific areas of online marketing in the realm of politics. Most topics are touched on from design and messaging to social media and web development.

What YOU can get out of this book

Many companies do the same things things wrong as the Republicans, ignoring important demographics, valuing the sale over the customer or even not being willing to pay for exceptional web development. We can all learn something from Obama's whirlwind online campaign. And of course there's the discussion of up-coming trends at the end of the book as well. If you are a developer or even just a business interested in doing better online marketing, there are plenty of great tidbits of knowledge in this ebook. (Or course, if you are interested in politics then you should certainly get a copy!)

Where you can find it

Hopefully I've sold you on my book, now, here's how you can get it.

The ebook is for sale at TheInternetisBlue.com for $15. Right now it is only available as a pdf from the website but we should soon be releasing a print copy as well as a version for amazon.

If you are press or a blogger who would like to review the book, please contact me directly.