Facebook Places: A Little Too Much Info?

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What is Facebook Places?

Facebook has recently launched a new Application called Facebook Places, a location based app that utilizes your cell phone to allow you to let your friends know where you are based on your GPS location. 

Rather than try to replace the other big name location-based social networks, Places will allow Gowalla, Foursquare, Booyah and Yelp to integrate with Facebook Places. 

Places application is available to users in the United States with mobile access to the Facebook application for iPhone or HTML5 Mobile Site (for non-iPhone users).

How to Use Facebook Places:

 You can use Places by allowing Facebook to know your location.  Once you have “Checked in,” you can share your location, find other friends using Places, find places that are already listed, add new places, and tag your friends (provided they have not turned off Places).

Your check-in will create a story in your friends' News Feeds and show up in the Recent Activity section on the page for that place.  When a friend tags you through Places, you will receive notifications on your phone and on Facebook.

If you have allowed your friends to check you in, when they tag you at a place, they will also check you in.  If you do not allow friends to check you in, then you will appear as you would in any tagged status. 

You can remove a places tag the same way that you would remove yourself from a tagged photo, by clicking the “remove” button.

Why Would You Use Places?

If you are a business owner, this can make getting found a lot easier.  You can add the location of your business to Facebook Places, and then claim it as your business.  Once you have verified that you are an official representative of the business, Facebook creates a business page for you.  When Places users check in with their friends, they can spread the word that your business is the place to be.

On a personal level, Places can help you connect with your friends in chance meetings that may not otherwise have happened.  Perhaps at a local business that used Places to set up their business page.  Or you can use it to plan your vacations.

Privacy Concerns 

Many people are still uncomfortable with Facebook’s habit of automatically opting them into any new app that they create. 

The default settings are: “Places I check in” are viewable by friends only, “Include me in the ‘People Here Now’ after I check in” is enabled by default; “Friends can check me in to Places” is also enabled by default. 

If you wish to Disable Places, here is a Step by Step guide:

1. Log in to Facebook. Under your Account menu, choose Privacy Settings. Click the Customize option, then click the "Customize settings" link.
2. Under the "Things I Share" heading, at the bottom of that section, you can change your visiblity on places and if you are included on the people listed at the location.  By default "Places I check in" is set to only be visible by your friends. If you want to limit it more or less, use the drop down menu to do so. Below that is "Include me in 'People Here Now' after I check in." It is enabled by default. This will let people know you're at a particular location via the location's page or in a search for people near you. Uncheck "Enable" if you want to disable this option.
3. If you don't want your friends to check you into Places, go to the section called "Things Others Share" and find "Friends can check me in to Places." Set this to "Disabled." Keep in mind that unless you disable this option, any friend could potentially check you in anywhere. You don't actually have to be there.
4. To block your location from being shared with friends' applications click the "Applications and Websites" link, then go to the "Info accessible through your friends" section. Click "Edit Settings" and you'll see a bunch of boxes. Anything checked is available to Facebook apps that your friends are using. The last checkbox in this section is "Places I've visited," uncheck that if you don't want your friends' apps grabbing your location information as well.

It is important to note that even if minors place their settings as viewable by everyone, only their Friends will be able to see their Places locations.

You also have the ability to report Places for incorrect data, abusive behavior, and the permanent closure of a business or duplication of other content.  Reported Places are flagged but removal may not occur immediately.

And remember your manners, always ask first before you tag your friends with you! And make sure that your account privacy settings are only sharing with those you know. Be stallker safe.

What do you think? Is Places a little too much info or just a great way to connect and market? Will you use it?

Me, Me, Me... Using LinkedIn for Personal Branding

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It's Ok to be a Narcissist, Really?

You may have heard a lot of talk in the social media channels warning you to 'not be that guy' and self-promote yourself more than you do others.

And while this is good advice, and one that we should practice both offline and online- I really run into very few people who need to be told that. In fact, many of us need a dose of some healthy narcissism.

A recent blog article from a collegue reminded me that many of us face a challenge that is the exact opposite of this 'don't be that guy' advice.

In her post, Barbara writes, "...my work is so good that I should be proud to tell people what I’ve been up to.  It’s amazing how difficult that can be – to really accept it, believe it, embrace it..."

You go girl.

So, the question is, how do you walk that line between being confident and building your personal brand and not being that guy (or girl)?

A great tool, among others, is LinkedIn. And since I am giving a presentation on LinkedIn at the ever-so-fabulous Social Media FTW, (insert semi-self promotion here), I thought, why not brainstorm in public with a series of posts on this very subject?

So over the next few weeks, leading up to Social Media FTW, I'll be posting on personal branding. First, let's start with the why.

Relationships Matter, and So Do You

"It isn't just what you know, and it isn't just who you know. It's actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living: ~ Bob Burb

The key to that quote= what you do. You are not just the sales rep at XYZ company or the Owner of ABC Services. Personal branding is breaking out of the mold of your job title and description. Ask yourself who you are and why it matters. Here are a few questions to get you started:

• What makes you different?
  
• Why do you do what you do?
  
• What gets you out of bed every day?
  
• What excites you about what you do?
• What frustrates you?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What problems do you fix?
• Who does all of this help?

This is not as easy as it looks for some of us, (yes, me included). In fact an outside perspective might be helpful. That is why I hired a coach. And not just one coach, I now have 2 coaches- and all are wonderfully blunt and my sounding board.

Can't hire a coach? Then talk to your customers and collegues. Ask them these questions. You will start to see yourself in a truer light.

TIP: After you ask them these questions, ask if they would be willing to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn so that everyone know how wonderful you are!

And remember, you are smart enough, pretty enough, and doggone it! People like you!

5 Time Saving Tips for Social Media Management

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As the 1986 wonderhit 'Save Some Time for Me'  goes:

If you're struggling with finding the time to use social media, you're probably wrestling in two ways. You either spend too much time on social media and not using it effectively for marketing, or you're struggling to find the time.

Fortunately, the solutions for both issues are the same!

Five Time Saving Tips to Make the Best Use of Social Media

1. Know your audience and have a purpose. Be intentional about the time you're spending on social media. To do that, you need a plan, a marketing plan. What do you want to accomplish? Who are you trying to connect with? What is important to them?

Recognizing new media as an important part of your marketing plan, and designing action steps, can help you control and use your time efficiently. Understanding that before hand will keep you on task and prevent you from developing ADHD in Twitterland.

2. Schedule your time on social media like an appointment. Set aside time several times a day to check Facebook, log on to Twitter, or read your blogs. If you set aside 45 minutes a day, in three 15 minute increments, and actually put them on your daily planner, you'll begin to control the time spent.

If your marketing plan calls for you to comment on one industry Tweet a day, and one blog, make sure you've scheduled a reasonable, appropriate amount of time to do that.

3. Use social media tools. Tools like Hubspot allow you to manage your social media accounts all within one application, saving you the time of going in and out of multiple accounts. In addition to saving you time, you can also analyze your social media reach and how many leads you are generating from social media. 

Some other tools you can use are Google Alerts, Tweetdeck or for analysis TwitAlyzer.

4. Shut off notifications to eliminate distractions. Don't keep your accounts open so that you hear every ping! Intentionally log on when it's time to check an account, remind yourself of what you're trying to accomplish, spend your time there and then log off. You are in charge!

5. Be selective. No one is demanding that you overwhelm yourself with interesting -but essentially useless - content. Sometimes less is better. Stick with those sources that you have come to see real insight through.

Bonus Social Media Tip

6. Create a content schedule that includes social media. If you're supposed to be posting a blog every week, set aside the time to develop an editorial calendar, and then schedule your blogging time every week. If it's an important part of your marketing plan, be intentional, and then follow through.

Not sure if social media is the right fit for your business? Sign up for our Internet Marketing Audit to set you on the right path.