Misusing Social Media in America’s Legal System

When Rod Blagojevich began his corruption trial, he was admonished by the judge to refrain from tweeting.  Since that time, I’ve been thinking about other social media behavior that’s probably a bad idea in the legal system.

Most normal people consider encounters with the legal system to be embarrassing or simply a pain to deal with.  Sometimes they’re both.  Despite this prevailing attitude, some people don’t stop to think before they tweet, update Facebook or check in.  Please don’t be like the three examples I’m about to tell you about.

1.  Checking in to court is a bad idea.  A friend of mine has a nasty little court problem she didn’t want to broadcast to her network, but she still wanted to check in on foursquare for the points.  Even though she didn’t broadcast the check ins, the second time there, she became the mayor and that did get published network wide.  Ooops!  Unless you want to explain to your friends and family why you’re in the District court, don’t check in.

2.  On the other side of the law is a Detroit juror who couldn’t wait to find the defendant guilty.  She updated her Facebook status saying,

it was “gonna be fun to tell the defendant they’re guilty.”

Now she could be facing jail time for contempt!  How did she get exposed?  The defense attorney’s son was looking up all the jurors and found Ms. Jons Facebook account unprotected.  I don’t know what was more foolish…discussing the case or not using the privacy settings on her account.  We don’t always think before we post something, but we can certainly limit the number of people who see it.

3.  Don’t tweet about going to jail.  Unless you’re an up and coming rapper who needs the street cred, don’t tweet about your jailhouse experiences.  Arguably mentally unstable, Amy Steele blogs about her ex-boyfriend who now has a restraining order against her.  When she decided to leave a voice mail to him, the police wound up at her door.  She tweeted,

Spent last night in the clink. Thanks for finding a phone call threatening Brian Schofer. 11:48 AM Aug 27th via Twitterrific

Later,

pretty sure i’m going to prison as even my mom blames me not the a-hole who took out restraining order. guess it solves my issues. #fb about 8 hours ago via TweetDeck

You can read more about Ms. Steele here and the full NSFW or for the easily offended version here.

Hopefully, you won’t have any the problems these case studies did, but if you do, now you know what not to do;

1.  Don’t check in at court or jail

2.  Don’t post jury information until after the trial is over

3.  Don’t tweet about your legal problems.  For that matter, you probably shouldn’t tweet about medical or relationship problems either.  Save that for the face to face.

Old Spice Parody Slide Show

Download the slide deck to see the animations…

View this document on Scribd

Why I No Longer Care About Foursquare Points

In a blog post, Foursquare reminds us how mayorships work, writing that “you need to have checked in more days than anyone else over the last two months (60 days), so only one check-in per day counts.” Earlier this year, the service also introduced some new features to prevent so-called “gaming” of the mayorship system, an increasingly important issue as more brands begin to offer real world rewards for checkins.

via mashable.com

After complaints from friends, I’ve finally decided to quit checking into my house or my work. At first I notified everybody of all my check ins, then I got unfriended. Then I decided I’d still check in to those places just for the points, but not tell anyone. Then I realized the utility of checking in for points just wasn’t worth it.

Now I only check in when I’m actually out and about and I do it for the mayorships. I noticed Radio Shack has a foursquare offer, 10% off just for checking in and 20% off for the mayor. Those are the levels of discounts they used to give employees and stock holders.

Foursquare now has a tool that will tell you when you’ll become mayor of a venue. No more visiting bogged down third parties for that info. Cool!

Utah SEO Company Turns One

On August 18th this blog and my business reached a milestone.  We’re one year old!

We’re not where I’d like us to be, but nevertheless, its been a fruitful year.  Let me tell you how.

First of all, the first year of web traffic brought in slightly over 45,000 unique visitors.  On average that’s 3750 visitors a month.  Not too bad for hardly spending any money on marketing.  That’s purely organic search and word of mouth.

Secondly, we’ve learned a lot about SEO, social media and marketing over the year.  I’ve been able to develop a big network and teach as well.  Last August and September all I did was write…working at home by myself.  Last week I gave a speech in front of 200 people.  What a difference a year makes!

Thirdly, we’ve been able to make a lot of great business contacts through personal networking, referrals from satisfied clients and utilizing social media.  For me, this has been the most rewarding aspect of the last year.  Last August I felt like I didn’t know anybody, now I feel I know everybody.  Of course that’s not true, but you get the point.  I enjoy connecting two possible business ventures together and facilitating mutually beneficial relationships.  I also like being part of them as well.

So after a year, some goals have not been met, but things I never even thought of have.  I’m looking forward to the 2nd annual Utah’s Top Blogger contest in October and it looks like we’ll have prizes and a nice dinner/lunch for the winners.  My joint venture with Janet Thaeler is still growing and we’re putting out great content each week.  I look forward to a year of the Web Marketing Weekly Show in February.  I’m also looking towards getting a little bit better organized and stable so the business can be grown and we can move strongly into years two and beyond.

To everyone who reads this blog or has been involved with the business as a referer, supplier and especially a client, I thank you and look forward to an even better second year.

Ignite Salt Lake 5 Observations

Wow!  I just finished my first Ignite style presentation.

That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done.  I speak a lot in public with usually little worries.  What makes Ignite different?

First of all, you only have 15 seconds per slide.  The audience can usually tell you’ve screwed up if you’re talking about purple dinosaurs when the current slide has yellow cows.

Second of all, there’s an audience!  A typical Ignite audience has hundreds of members.  Kind of hard to ignore when you’re on the stage.

I bit off more than I could chew.  I tried to present a story that took years to develop in only 5 minutes.  That’s what I promised and technically I delivered it, but not with any grace or finesse.  Lesson learned.

Please don’t heckle at Ignite!  Sadly, I invited a guest that saw fit to provide commentary during the 15 second slide and ask questions.  Really?  Wrong format.  Leave questions at Ignite to Twitter addresses clearly provided to be answered outside of the time limit.  Thankfully the heckler didn’t ruin any presentations.

Don’t try to cram too much into your presentation.  While some people rushed(moi) other people took a much slower approach.  Frankly, that was refreshing.  Ignite is about presenting an idea quickly, but it shouldn’t be about cramming a square idea into a round hole.  I feel guilty of that to a certain extent.

The best presentations were those that allowed plenty of room for error with the slides and ad libbed on the verbiage. 

Still, the preparation and focus required to even complete this silly 5 minute presentation was worth attempting.  I learned a lot.  I might even try again…

Here’s the link to my video and the slide deck.

Boise St. coach bans Twitter

Boise State coach bans Twitter postings by players

BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Statesman is reporting that Boise State coach Chris Petersen has banned players from posting on Twitter for the duration of the football season.

Petersen says posting on the social networking site is a distraction the team doesn’t need as the Broncos enter the season as favorites to win another Western Athletic Conference title.

About a dozen players have been regular users of Twitter, but they tell the Statesman they understand the Twitter ban.

Safety Jeron Johnson says he’ll set aside his Twitter habit because it’s time to focus on football.

via ksl.com

Don’t know how “right” I think this is. It’s like the coach telling players they can’t talk to their friends. Certainly not tweeting at practice, games or in class would be appropriate. It goes without saying that talking about practice or plays should be forbidden, but banning Twitter? Coach Peterson might as well take away their cell phones too!

SEO Results?

SEO results or something else?  Does it matter?  Comments?

Unofficial Foursquare Specials

This is day 13 of fourteen days of foursquare.  We’ve written about the ways real businesses are using foursquare to impact their marketing.  Many of the examples mentioned have been big, national companies.  It takes time to get an officially programed mayor special or badge through at foursquare.

The good news, is you don’t need one!  Create a special and add it to a “tip” on your foursquare profile.  Customers may already be doing this for you!

One of the first specials I ever saw was a user generated tip for Kobe Sushi by my house.  Wednesday nights are half off!

When I set up the mayor special for Fats Grill and Pool, we didn’t go through “official” channels.  I added the tip to the page and iPhone users can see it when they check in.  Another user added they have free pool during the day.  You don’t need official channels to be effective on foursquare.

Pounder’s Grill is a local business that does have an official mayor special and that can help.  They also engage in a number of social media platforms, so it’s not surprising they’re such a great example of local social media use.

Besides Starbucks, Iceberg drive in is the only other local business I’m aware of with an official offer.

Why be official?  Be unofficial.  Create a great offer that people will talk about.  Create great service that makes people come back over and over again.  Create a great product that people will buy no matter the price!

Sometimes a special isn’t even necessary.  If you’re aware of a badge that exists, make sure your venue is tagged appropriately.  People will check in and share just because of that.  Is your restaurant Zagat rated?  There’s a badge for that.  Is your venue a boat?  There’s a badge for that too! 

The more you know about foursquare and social media is the more you should know being “unofficial” is part of it.  Be yourself and your business will do well with social media.

Ignite Salt Lake 5

Ignite Salt Lake 5 is coming August 18th and I’m excited to be on the speaker’s list!  Many of you know I do presentations and classes locally, but the Ignite experience is completely different.

Unlike a regular presentation where the speaker has  a bit of time to make the speech, Ignite style talks are extremely regimented with only 20 slides being allowed, with 15 seconds per slide.  The total presentation is 5 minutes!

My topic is “How I got involved with the stupidest man on Earth and emerged unscathed (mostly).”  It’s a lesson in many things including reputation management and Internet transparency.

Tuesday night was the speaker’s dinner and orientation.  I learned a few things and met a bunch of people I’m eager to hear their talk!  Everyone is passionate about what they’re speaking about so I know this will be a great round of speakers.

I attended the event in March and was really pleased with the event.  So much so that I aspired to present myself.  When new speakers were solicited, I knew I wanted to be a part.  Thanks to help from Janet Thaeler, we came up with a winning idea that I’ll be presenting in a few short weeks.

Attending Ignite Salt Lake is free.  Be sure to get to the State Room early as the venue fills up quickly.

Foursquare for Real – Day 10

Interesting enough, the teens who are active online are also social in other parts of their life. They are not nerds whose social skills are slowly eroding as they type away at their computers. These teens have active social lives and they are engaged in many ways (listening to music, reading newspapers, etc). They also buy more and like to share what they purchase with their friends (a brand’s dream come true, right?)

Here are some key points from the study:

• online influencers more likely than the average teen to participate in social media activities, such as updating their status at least once per day or sending 3,000 texts per month
• they also spend more time socializing and influencing their peers offline – in other words overall they are more social than their peers (going to parties, hanging out with friends in real life)
• teen influencers were surveyed from the myYearbook community and are defined as the top 15% most active an engaged on that site
• 97% spend 2 hours a day on social networking sites and 91% have more than 500 friends on those sites
• teens aged 15 to 17 are the most engaged online

Here’s the kicker (that could be bad for Foursquare): they’re not hip on checking in. According to the study “only 16 percent report using a mobile application that allows them to check in at a given location, such as either Foursquare or Gowalla.”

via newspapergrl.com

This actually doesn’t surprise me, but it may surprise a lot of you. Certain social media sites just don’t work with teens because of technology. Myspace is the place for kids and then they move up to Facebook when they enter college. Teenagers and young adults don’t use Twitter…or foursquare for a couple reasons. The biggest is most of them can’t afford the smartphones and data plans required to run them. When those prices come down, look for higher adoption rates.

The second reason I suggest is those kids that can afford smart phones won’t because their friends aren’t using Twitter and foursquare. Assuming the most social kids that age are female, factors like this will certainly come into play – http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123726&page=1. Regardless of gender, if your friends aren’t on a social network, even if you are, adoption rates are going to be low. It isn’t fun to be Mayor of a place when there’s no competition.

A few months ago the reality of this hit me quite hard. I went to a Social Media Club event that was hosted at Cottonwood High School. When I checked in, there was a Mayor, but they had only checked in a few times. It told me that high school students recognized foursquare existed, but they didn’t care. Hand every kid a smart phone and I guarantee the competition increases.