Does Social Media Make Us Anti-Social?

“We are accessible 24/7,” Elliott says. “Having a cell phone in your pocket you can be called or texted or video chatted at any point. With Facebook you are updating all time. You have friends on Facebook that you have never met, and they know more about what’s going on in your life than your mother does who is not on Facebook.”

Norine puts herself out there in a way that would make the most avid Twitterer or Facebook addict suffer an attack of shyness.

via cnn.com

I view this as more of a publicity stunt than anything else, but it does raise the question of how beneficial social media is. I’ll admit sometimes I’m drawn to check emails and Facebook updates even when I’m with people. However social media doesn’t replace social contact.

Social media tools are simply ways to get us in contact with more people in real life. They also allow us to stay in contact with or “catch up” with people who aren’t physically close to us.

Even if you’re a complete introvert and use social media to connect more than you normally would, isn’t that an improvement? From a business perspective I think this hits home the concept you need to be where your customers are. On which platforms can you really shine? That’s where you need to be.

What is the Value of Twitter?

I’m still amused when I talk to someone about Twitter.  Even this week I heard, “Isn’t that where celebrities talk about when they’re going to the bathroom?”  Sure, but it’s a place to get answers in real-time.

In the example above, I had a question that was answered by an industry pro within 60 seconds of me asking it.  Because of the person’s credibility, I didn’t even question it and went directly to implementation.  What’s the ROI on saving time?

Last week I asked a question about telephone tracking numbers.  Within five minutes a company that sold telephone tracking numbers replied with a link to customer testimonials – social proof.  Very smart.  I didn’t choose that company, but they may suit my needs better in the future as my current project grows.

Janet Thaeler wrote about her experience using Twitter to find a movie theater for an event she put together.  Because Jordan Landing responded on Twitter, they got the business, plus some pretty major local media coverage.  What’s the ROI on that?

Twitter is a lot of things, but the value I get from it is being able to find information in real-time and meet new contacts.  Sounds like some pretty good value for a business, doesn’t it?

Winners Of 2010 Utah Blogger Contest Announced

Utah Internet marketing company SEO by Swaby is pleased to announce the winners of its Utah’s Top Blogger contest for 2010.

PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 10, 2010 – Utah Internet marketing company SEO by Swaby is pleased to announce the winners of its Utah’s Top Blogger contest for 2010. This announcement concludes the month long contest that asked visitors to judge local blogs based on frequency of posts, quality of posts and the sense of community of the blog.

The winner of the contest is Connor Boyack, with Holly Richardson, Chad Waite, Nicole Warburton, and Eric Ethington as finalists.

This was the second Utah blogger’s competition and participation has grown significantly. “It was a much more spirited competition this year because there was a political election that fueled audiences.  We were very happy to see the number of bloggers interested in the contest grow as well as recieving 5 times as many votes as last year,” said Nigel Swaby.

The final list of nominees included:

Connor Boyack – Connor’s Connundrums
Holly Richardson  – Holly on the Hill
Chad Waite  – Daily Derbi
Nicole Warburton –Women Only
Eric Ethington – Pride in Utah
BenJoeMarkland  – From Where I Sit
Stephanie Nielson – NieNie Dialogues  (2^nd year in a row)
Jesse Stay – Stay N’ Alive (2^nd year in a row)
Phil Windley – Technometria
Misty Fowler – Saintless

The nominee list included a variety of Utah bloggers from various backgrounds including journalists, tech oriented writers, Internet marketers, real estate writers, infamous bloggers and “mom bloggers.” For additional information on the Utah’s top blogger contest, please go to https://seobyswaby.wordpress.com/utahs-top-bloggers.

The winners were honored at an awards luncheon at Pierpont Place in downtown Salt Lake City. The top 5 winners were given prizes. Sarah Buhr of Salt Lake City’s Big Star PR was also a sponsor. Previous finalist Janet Thaeler (Newspapergrl blog) was a co-host.

Tune in to The Web Marketing Weekly Show www.webmarketingweeklyshow.com for interviews with some of the winners.

# # #

Utah’s Top Blogger Wrap Up

The Utah’s top blogger contest isn’t quite over yet.  Though voting has ended, the official announcement won’t be made until Wednesday the 10th.

Congratulations to:

Connor Boyack
Holly Richardson  
Chad Waite  
Nicole Warburton 
Eric Ethington  
BenJoe Markland  
Stephanie Nielson  
Jesse Stay 
Phil Windley  
Misty Fowler

These are the top ten finalists of this years contest.  We will be having an awards luncheon on Wednesday November 10th, 12 pm at Pierpont Place in downtown Salt Lake.  We’ll announce the top 5 prize winners and hand out the prizes.

Please join us for a live podcast at 2 pm where we’ll broadcast the official announcement.

Salt Lake Tribune Changes Commenting System

Beginning Nov. 1, we are partnering with Disqus, one of the Web’s leading comment tool providers. This is a nationally-supported platform used by thousands of websites, and it’s one that will remain flexible and reliable for us as our site continues to grow.

The good news:

• Comments will load faster and be more reliable.

• Your new login will allow you to comment with the same ID at many sites across the web (CNN, Mashable, many newspapers and countless blogs).

• If you’d prefer, you can comment using your Facebook or Twitter account, meaning no new registration of any kind.

via sltrib.com

First KSL.com shut down comments and the Deseret News made it harder to comment, now the Salt Lake Tribune is making changes as well.

I suggested a while ago a Facebook style commenting system is probably better than other options and it looks like the Tribune agrees. Even though they’re using Disqus, Facebook and Twitter logins will be available too.

This begs the question of whether freedom of speech is being infringed upon. I don’t think it is. It’s a matter of website managers rethinking the behavior that takes place on their pages. Being a “troll” on a message board is the online equivalent of yelling, “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater. Neither should be protected speech.

There are far too many instances where online bullying is having real life consequences including the suicides of vulnerable individuals. It’s time for reasonable restrictions to be placed on online comments. The new system at the Tribune looks like it will do the trick.