Social Fresh Wrap-up

One of the cool things about an edgy conference is collecting all the cool business cards. Here are the best ones I rounded up today.

Spike Jones reminds me a little of Chris Rock -- he comes at you all bombast and challenge and interrogation. But like Rock, he makes you think, and surprises you by making you feel.

Jones is one of the guys behind Brains On Fire, the innovative Greenville, S.C., marketing company known for its empathy-based grassroots approach. His loud -- and very thoughtful -- presentation closed Social Fresh, the social media conference that brought nearly 250 to uptown Charlotte today.

"Everything you've heard today is crap," Jones began, "if you don't have a strategy." The crowd, looking to better use social media for business, heard they should create "movements," not campaigns.

"This past election one guy ran a campaign and the other guy ran a movement," Jones said. Connecting with people's passions beats trying to sell them something, he said. See Jones speak in the video below.

Quotable quotes:

-- "Business on social media right now is like teen sex. Everybody wants to do it, but they don't know how. Then they finally get to, and they're disappointed." -- David Armano, Social Fresh keynote speaker, of of Dachis Corp.

-- "Well, I'm unfollowing him on Twitter." -- Jones, during his talk, when he asked if another panelist was in the crowd, and the person had left.

Live from Social Fresh

Businesses need to outgrow the "gangly teen-age" phase of social media and adopt best practices to best use the booming communications media, said top experts at the Social Fresh conference today in uptown Charlotte.

About 230 have packed the Social Fresh conference at the Holiday Inn, including reps from Bank Of America, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and others. Walmart sent three from its Arkansas headquarters.

Keynote speaker David Armano told a spillover crowd that businesses on social media today are like teenagers experimenting with sex: They don't know what to do, and then they're disappointed when they finally get to do it. Armano closed his talk by telling businesses to look beyond this teen-age phase. "It's time to grow up," said Armano, of Dachis Corp., a new social media consulting firm founded with $50 million in venture capital.

Charlotte's Kathleen Hessert -- famous for teaching Shaquille O'Neal to tweet -- told a crowd that knowing how to post on social media and knowing the right way to represent your company are two entirely different things. Below, see a video of Hessert, who runs the consulting firm Sports Media Challenge from her six-person office at N.C. 51 and Carmel Road.

Other highlights:

-- Bank Of America's Andres Echevarria told me he believes social media can help in "flattening the organization" so expertise can be shared throughout. "Tech guys aren't necessarily the most social people. So they can share knowledge and get a little chance to be in the spotlight."

-- Idek.net, a url-shrinking company in Raleigh is getting lots of buzz for the analytics it can provide. One tip they've discovered: Thursday at 2 p.m. is the best time to tweet -- big audience coming back from lunch, but not that many actually tweeting. Want to get rewteeted? Post then.

-- Carey-based David B. Thomas of software company SAS gave tips on using LinkedIn for business -- and specifically getting a job as we emerge from the recession. Use your expertise on LinkedIn to show you are a thought leader in your field, he says. Don't just go hat-in-hand.

Give us your stories as they happen

Give us your stories as they happen.

There are so many ways to reach us at The Observer now. We'd like to throw those portals wide open, and make this a public conversation as news breaks. That's what my new beat is.

A public conversation that breaks news

Not just writing about Facebook and Twitter. Reporting with them, on what you care about. Using the tools to connect with you, as news breaks. In other words, I'm listening. Social networking is a conversation, not me blasting you with what I think you should hear. 

Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube -- and, yes, blogs -- journalism is now a pro-am game. What you report, I'd like to highlight. Pass me that baton. The fact is, I have some reach, and I'll give you credit. 

Why is a social networking columnist a good idea?

Display advertising in newspapers has dropped 25% over the past five years. Facebook advertising made $500 million last year, as users topped a quarter-billion, and the social networking company grew to 900 employees. Newspaper staffs, including my newspaper staff, have been cut due to revenue struggles. Using social media to add to our reporting, readership and revenue only makes sense. 

Here's what I want: Your stories, opinions, and requests. That line of communication is open, as never before. 

If you have a story, let me know. On Twitter, Facebook, or here. 

Tweet on, you dissenters

The more people hate Twitter, the more we should tweet.

And blog, and Facebook and YouTube... This free-flowing river of information is threatening to tyrants -- and truly annoying to reasonable people, as well. The real-time Web is also a new voice of liberty, dissent, self-expression and, yes, our right to be annoying.

The strange motivation behind Thursday's attacks on LiveJournal, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and apparently even Google makes clear that these social media sites are powerful sites of expression. Tyrants and oppressors hate that. Good. 

Facebook is now confirming what a Web traffic-tracking expert told The New York Times yesterday: That these attacks were aimed at one political blogger. Russian groups tried to take down the social media world to silence the critic who uses the name Cyxymu online. 

He has actually criticized both sides in the Russia-Georgia conflict, and his tweets are pedestrian and tame. His LiveJournal account, however, has been seen as a news hub for Russian critics. And the cyber attackers might have been simply showing the world that they can do this kind of thing. For excellent detail on all of this click here. 

I don't know if he supports good causes or not, whether he says great or terrible things, and I don't have any opinion about that conflict. But Cyxymu, you have a powerful voice, and it deserves to be heard. I don't know you, or how to pronounce that tangle of alphabet that is your name. But this tweet's for you. Follow him here. (President Obama now does.)

That makes the great social media meltdown, which lasted all of two hours, with lingering effects, stunning, bizarre and important.

That these attacks were able to have significant success against Twitter is troubling and points out significant security vulnerabilities. But this also points out the power of political dissent these sites now carry. Twitter's role in the Iranian election dissent has been clear. (To see what Time magazine says about that, click here.) Apparently repressive powers elsewhere now fear social media enough to launch intense efforts to squelch it. 

In other words, this was no joke -- and neither is social media. The pop culture obsession with Twitter and Facebook, and the resulting backlash, are only part of the story. I have written that Twitter and Facebook are "annoying fads." They are -- in one aspect. The current craze will not last, and it is as irritating as any pop culture trend, maybe moreso. I have also written in the same breath that "they are pioneering, hugely influential portals into another era. Before our eyes they are leading to new and better forms of social dialogue. And the impact they are having on how we relate to one another is nothing short of revolutionary. Pay attention: This is the biggest change in communications -- in freedom of speech -- since desktop publishing."

Thursday was further proof of that. Conan O'Brien viciously mocked the Twitter shutdown last night, parodying Twitter as carrying only nonsense about what Ashton Kutcher eats for lunch. How's it feel to be really wrong, Conan? Anytime oppressors are shutting down voices of dissent, something important is going on. 

Hackers hit Twitter and Facebook

Somebody shot Twitter out of its tree this morning. And the Internet pranksters also took a shot at Facebook.

Twitter was shut down for nearly three hours this morning, from around 9 to noon, by a Distributed Denial Of Service attack, meaning an automated bombardment by hackers. During that time, Facebook struggled mightily with error messages, and the company has revealed that its problems were also the result of a DDOS attack. The Facebbook problems might have also been compounded by an influx of traffic due to Twitter's problems.

Later in the day, some Twitter users still complained they could not access the site. Twitter reported on its blog that it was still recovering from the bombardment of automated messages and requests.

This was the biggest shutdown in Twitter's recent history, or since the 25 million strong micro-blogging social media site became popular. It's not know who launched the attack. Because of its automated nature -- bombarding the site with more messages and demands than it could handle -- it could have been carried out by an individual or a large number of hackers.

For the company's comments on this, you can find the Twitter blog updates here.

Over at Facebook, users complained of problems -- "transport error" messages appeared to be rampant during the morning. Many functions were slow or are not working. For about an hour, many users complained they could user neither site.

There were signs earlier of the spammer attack at Twitter. The social media blog Mashable reporteda huge wave of spam from compromised account yesterday. And Twitter's Top Trending Topics before the site went down were: Tweets Created and Twitter Zombies, further suggesting the possibility of a hacker bombardment.

This brings into sharp focus how reliant we have become on the social networks. Do we need Twitter and Facebook? Or do we just like them? The melodrama of this morning will likely be remembered for how users reacted to the surprising and disorienting void in their routines. And the disgust and sarcasm of non-users must also be noted.

It also brings up the question of how vulnerable the social networks are. If both have been hit by hackers in a simultaneous prank, is this a serious problem?

Twitter backlash by Marines, NFL, ESPN?

It had to happen. Twitter has grown too fast, and become too much of a buzzword, not to suffer some backlash. But it is happening in censorship from organizations, and that is wrong. 

This year, the blurty microblogging site has rocketed from more than 5 million users to around 23 million, a staggering increase of traffic. With that has come public attention: Google shows 121 million hits for a search of Twitter -- three times the number for today's "it-girl," Megan Fox.

And Twitter deserves to be taken down a notch. It is an annoying fad, as I blogged two weeks ago. It's growth will level off, and many will abandon accounts.

But it also represents a revolutionary change in how we communicate and live, and its contribution is both valuable and irresistible. As Time magazine said in a cover story, Twitter is changing the way we live. Twitter as we known it now is an overblown and, yes, somewhat out-of-control fad. It is also a powerful and very positive initial foray into a kind of dialogue that may prove to be as important as desktop publishing. You might not like Twitter (and sometimes I don't), but dismiss it at your peril.

It's disheartening that the unavoidable backlash is coming in the form of censorship by the Marines, the NFL and a media organization, ESPN. No, we don't want Marines getting shot while tweeting from the battlefield. But soldiers stationed overseas away from family and friends also desperately need to stay in touch to keep their morale up. No, we don't want football players tweeting from the end zone, but the NFL already has a policy against use of computers, phones and PDAs during games. No, ESPN's policy is not as restrictive as first reported, but it still constitutes a gag order at a media outlet.

The genie is out of the bottle. A clampdown on our immediate and far-reaching dialogue is not just impossible, it misses the point. Controlling the message is not the answer. Learning to use the new tools responsibly within your organization is. Opening up the dialogue finds the answers we all need. To say some information just shouldn't get out, as the Marines have said, is perfectly understandable -- as it was in World War II with the saying "Loose Lips Sink Ships." But calling social networks "proven havens for malicious actors," as the Marines did in their news release, makes Facebook and Twitter the enemy, and they are not.

The enemy of organizations is not the opinions of its employees, but the poor communication within those institutions that makes members' statements seek outside attention. "Tell us first" heads off a lot of embarrassing protest. "Use your heads" prevents a lot of dumb statements. "You may be demoted or fired for leaking sensitive information" puts the responsibility on us, not the mediums themselves.

The Marines' "malicious actors" are the same jerks who shout nasty things in public places. 140 characters haven't changed the power of harmful statements. Free speech will always be full of things that shouldn't be said. Wise leaders tell their employees not to say those things to the public, whatever the medium, and make clear that wild and irresponsible statements in any form will not be tolerated.

The most important point: This annoying fad will pass. But this historic and valuable change in the way we communicate cannot be stopped. 

 

Protect your privacy on Facebook

The recent uproar over Facebook using our photos in ads pointed out just how much personal information we have handed over to a company where the average age of employees is 26. Facebook denies any wrongdoing, but you should be in full control of your photos and information. As with most privacy issues, this one can be controlled with Facebook settings. To change this particular setting, go here.

But how did we get here in the first place? A year ago, many older Americans cited privacy as their main concern about joining Facebook. Since then, 150 million people, many of them older, have joined the giant peephole.

What changed?

Emily Nussbaum of New York magazine wrote a story called "Say Everything" a year ago that described the biggest generation gap since the early days of rock 'n' roll. One on side, kids who show everything. On the other, adults who are horrified by that. (The story, featured in "The Best Technology Writing 2008," begins with a 20-something saying, "Yeah, I am naked on the Internet.")

The graying of Facebook tells us that many new users are those same adults who were just on the sidelines warning the kids about telling too much. There are now more people over 55 on Facebook than there are high school students.

It would be nice to report that our newfound confidence in Facebook and other social networks is well-earned. That social media is growing in its ability -- and willingness -- to protect our information. The opposite is true. A new study from Cambridge shows the competition among social networks has pushed them to ignore and even hide privacy issues in an effort to grow users base and explore advertising. 

The answer, as is often the case, is caveat emptor. (That's Latin for watch your backside.) As I mentioned above: 

Privacy is not a big generalized abstraction; it's the privacy settings on your Facebook account. 

And this is where the dangerous part of the generation gap truly exists. For while many of us adults have gotten past our privacy fears, not enough of us have actually addressed them. Many young people are, in fact, smart enough to hide their party pics from potential employers. (The Facebook party pic at right of British celeb Kelly Kelly, on the left, caused a tabloid sensation in Britain. She didn't mind, but do you want a photo of yourself in this situation viewed by your church members or boss?) But the recent converts now gleefully posting their innards online might not have learned how to hide what strangers don't need to see. If you have a sinking feeling in your gut, read this guide to Facebook privacy settings now. Top tips: Hide certain photos, remove yourself from Facebook searches, and make sure no one can tag you in an album. 

If what you're worried about most is identity theft and money loss, you can look into the idea of getting a credit freeze. Find more information here. 

I'm glad more adults are exploring Facebook. I hope they fully explore the privacy settings first.