social media

Shortly after I finished presenting at a B2B Marketing Symposium last night news filtered through of the demise of The News of the World. Following the phone hacking scandal that has dominated news in the UK this week, the decision has been taken to close the doors of the newspaper, which has been published since 1843, after this weekend's edition. 

It's not how you want to start your Sunday. Waking up on a rainy morning, checking your phone and finding your email inbox inundated with messages from strangers. Overnight you've been subscribed to a Facebook group by a well meaning friend and now every message posted on that group's forum has found its way into your email inbox. 

The problem is, you didn't ask to be subscribed to the Facebook group. You weren't invited to join, you had no option or decision to make. Someone else took that decision away from you and just put you in there.

I was recently asked to provide this guest blog for Warren Cass's excellent new site, full of social media and networking advice. 

What could you be doing instead of reading this blog? Did you pick it up from Twitter or Facebook? If so, how long have you spent on either site today? What else could you have done otherwise?

If you’re going to a networking event later, why are you bothering? You might be doing something far more productive.

This article was originally published in The National Networker

In October 2008, participation in social networks online overtook visits to pornography sites* and their prominence continues to grow, as does the number of networks we have to choose from. In September 2010 50% of all UK internet users reported being active on social networks**.

The growth of social media and mobile technology means that we are in a much more inter-connected world than ever before. More so than perhaps we realise.

Last week I Chaired The Retail Conference. One of the speakers at the event was Asda’s Clive West.

Numbers following you are important if you use Twitter to build your profile. In which case, you want people to follow you for the right reasons.

When people click onto a profile to decide whether or not to follow someone on Twitter, they will very often just look at their last tweet and decide if it catches their interest. I know I do.

In the wake of Barack Obama's use of social networks in the Democratic Primary and US Presidential Elections, everyone was expecting the current UK General Election to reflect the growth of social media. We now find ourselves over halfway through the official campaign and such a shift is yet to happen.