Everyday I tell my clients they need join the social media conversation, securing their business’ brand names even when they’re not sure of best practices (much less how to leverage them).  As a social media evangelist I usually mention the benefits of using these tools to build their brand.  So last month I decided to put my money where my mouth was and did something I never though I’d do again: I signed up for Myspace, years after quitting the social network.

Of course I didn’t always feel that way: over 4 years ago I wrote a guide of how to quit Myspace. At the time I had grown enamored with the emerging social networks and what was being called Web 2.0, so I created a one of a kind blog post explaining why I wanted to leave Myspace and detailing how I deleted my account. Since then I’ve joined hundreds more social media websites, become an online marketing professional, and embraced building my personal brand through public conversations rather than using private accounts.  Indeed these days you’re more likely to hear about someone quitting Facebook over privacy concerns than signing up for Myspace.

Since then Myspace has changed.  After signing-up I found some important changes, such as integrating Twitter to update my status.  I’ve noticed significantly less spam in my message inbox, something which MySpace was notoriously annoying for during its heyday, possibly from all of their new spam controls.  Myspace remains increasingly driven by content (musicians mostly), which makes it unique among the social networks.
Along with these changes in how the community functions have come some behavior changes among this audience:

• Average audience is younger and less affluent, and thereby not as valueable for brands
• More users than Twitter, although they’re less active than Facebook users
• users spend less time on the site than other social media
• Privacy controls are much more robust for personal users.  In many ways, Myspace allows users to control their privacy better than Facebook

As you might expect, Many of my friends had questions about why I would even want to join Myspace again:

I never got into MySpace because I never knew anybody on there. I’ve always had lots of friends on Facebook. What’s strange is that those two are about staying connected w/ ppl you already know. Twitter has been about making new friends. – Michael Calhoun

…Why? – Chris Maue

Don’t do it! – Steve Petersen

Why would you ever leave Myspace - Lost Plum

Hey I’m never on here…so I’ll see you on fb! – Anonymous friend

Some of my old friends who remained on Myspace were also curious why I would join, so I shared a short essay explaining my reasoning.

In online marketing it is most important to meet your audience where they are, rather than where you want them to be.  I’ve been asked if Twitter is merely  a platform for broadcasting narcissism, what the ROI value of a Facebook fan is, and that blogs are just a ruse for stay-at-home moms to get free products.  While using of social media as a tactic varies based on the strategic goals of each client, I invariably must explain that they can use these tools to listen to consumers and learn from what works (and what isn’t) to improve their business, and not just to improve their reputation.  There’s also a first mover advantage for brands who are able to master social media before their competitors, often winning devoted brand advocates who will benefit word-of-mouth discussion for years to come.

I believe the best way to understand new media is to try it for yourself, which is why I have profiles on hundreds of social media websites.  While I may use some networks more actively than others, it’s still important to open yourself to new ideas to best understand what makes them useful or valuable.  Only through my own trial of these media, some of which failed or no longer exist, was I able to appreciate their potential – which saves my clients investing their time on platforms that won’t help meet their goals.  So ultimately I had little choice as a professional to stop worrying and join Myspace.

At IDEO’s Humanizing Social Media event in February 2010, we explored the implications of social media on interpersonal communication. Rather than perpetuating the discussion of case studies and e-commerce during Social Media Week, this social experiment left us questioning how the communications shifts have impacted the way we develop new friendships online. Our cellphones were left at the front door and we exchanged our clothes for a plain white t-shirt affixed with buttons which carried tags that describe ourselves, like “blogger” and “geek” in my own case.

It was an thought provoking exercise, and now I can  finally share the results from this experiment with you.  We had a great night at this event, so much that I was awarded the honor of “Person with whom you’d most like to stranded on a desert island with”!  Look for yours truly to take a staring turn during the panel discussions, as captured in this video.

A little further news and notes not quite long enough to warrant a blog post of their own:

• The Case Study of my work on  SpaFinder’s Deal Days event using social media has been published.  Our outreach to bloggers and through social media resulted in at least 1200% increase in word-of-mouth discussion of their brand, successfully launching this event while working to promote their brand and improve SEO.  My responsibilities also included developing best practices for their social media strategy, in addition to helping launch their iPhone app and video production work.
• Following the announcement at Facebook’s developers conference, I tried to answer what  Facebook Open Graph means for website owners, in a post Blue Fountain Media’s blog.  Since then we have an even better picture of both privacy concerns and the benefits of the platform for casual users and developers alike.  In many ways Facebook is poised to become the first semantic search engine by integrating their social network with the rest of the internet.
• BrewNoob.com has officially launched!  Only one year ago I created a Twitter account to share my love of tasty beers, and now it has grown into a blog in its own right.

The best is yet to come, so come back soon for exciting updates as I grow professionally (and personally) online and off.

What can you do with a BA in Film Studies (or a minor in Philosophy for the matter)? Graduating into an otherwise uncertain job market can be scary; many of my classmates still weren’t sure how they could use their well-developed new media skills, much less where they might be employed.  For me the answer seemed obvious: I went right back into school to study strategic communication.

Yet this time last year I graduated once again, with an internship lined up but without a clear direction for my own career.  I could only dream of working as a social media pro, but my inexperience and overeducation seemed like insurmountable hurdles to post-graduate employment. Only recently was I finally able to find employment with a like-minded group of professionals who shared my passion for creating innovative websites and reinvigorating established brands through strategic online marketing.

Recently I heard from an old friend who wanted to break into online marketing and new media as well. Although I knew first hand of their knowledgeable understanding of online communication and social networks, their challenge was to demonstrate that knowledge to an potential employer. It’s the same reason why I went back into school to study communication, but in this business environment experience is valued more than education.

While I can’t speak for everyone, here’s what I think might help from my own experience:

1. Create a resume website: ideally using your own name (like me), or else build your personal brand around a site you can make.
2. Connect it with your social media profiles. Secure your name across platforms (even if your not sure how to use them yet).
3. Rock that SEO magic (keyword blog posts, inbound links), and connect to colleagues’ and friends’ sites. This can be accomplished through a professional blog that shows off your knowledge of using social media.
4. Make sure you get to Page 1 when someone Google’s your name.

Hopefully these steps will help you demonstrate your talent using online media, but personal branding alone is not enough to get a job.  Without being able to go into specifics, here’s some general tips that could help you get a job:

• Learn the Language:  Bone up on your communications and marketing knowledge with some supplemental reading from your favorite thought leaders.  Avoid self-proclaimed Experts, Ninjas, and Gurus.
• Join the Conversation:  Establish yourself as an authority about the subjects you care about online, using social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Read about offline Pros: Learn about measurement, and reinforce your own understanding of communication theory. Sadly, this blog doesn’t count as required reading.
• Network IRL:  Introduce yourself to other professionals and find jobs which aren’t advertised (this worked for me).  You can join me at an event if you like.
• Write: Read the AP Stylebook like a bible, and hone your writing craft.

There’s no magic formula that works for everyone; in fact perhaps it’s most important to be yourself!  If you’re a strong writer, use your resume website to highlight your copywriting or news stories.  Or if you’re a great at video editing, use your site to highlight the best clips you upload to YouTube.  Making your own website offers an ideal opportunity to introduce the best work in your portfolio, and will build a body of work which will cement your professional reputation.  With some work and a little luck I know you can break into this field too!

Since Twitter was a start-up it has fostered a strange fascination with numbers: 140 characters, following-to-follower ratios, and a whole ecosystem to measure RTs and @’s from influential people.  Since I’m a communications professional working with social media, I’ve made it my business to try using many of these measurement tools, both for clients and my own (perhaps narcissistic) profiles.  Of course numbers only tell part of the story of interpersonal influence; gross popularity means less than the net of mutual friends who can trust each others’ judgment.

I share this fascination with measurement, especially in understanding interpersonal influence. As a result, my use of Twitter has been synonymous with my professional growth at the beginning of my career, charting my own progress all the while.  On this blog alone I’ve written about Twitter nearly a dozen times; to date search results for “Twitter Internship” bring the most organic visitors to this blog. My use of Twitter is frequently the first thing people learn about me, often before we’ve ever met.

So to celebrate tweet #8888 (88 is sort of a lucky number of mine), I wanted to thank 8 followers on Twitter who have been following me since the beginning (or at least the longest):

• @CourtneyChesley – My first follower, who introduced me to Twitter in September 2007. She’s really creative, smart to boot, and is one of the most generous people I’ve met through social media.
• @GeekDave – Dave’s a blogger I met as another blogger in STL; naturally we have a lot in common. Geeky is the new hip, as far as he’s concerned.
• @Lolololori – Lori is a passionate advocate for the things she loves – music, local culture, and online media – as thusly serves as a role model to all of us.
• @BillStreeter - Bill continues to be an early adopter, probably making him the biggest social media rockstar I know online and IRL.
• @LaurenReid – The better half of my social media relationship status was also the first person I convinced to join Twitter.  Though reluctant adopter at first, Lauren probably has the most social media savvy of anyone I know.
• @BarackObama – What, really? I’m a little skeptical of this, although Twitter insists his account is among the longest of my mutual followers. His own mastery of new media in a campaign inspired a whole generation of my peers, and led me to persue political communication in DC the fall of 2008.
• @Bitca - My long lost friend from a past social media life (on a social network which no longer exists) is an early adopter, occasional geek, and a one woman force-to-be-reckoned-with.
• @CMaue – Chris Maue is my colleague from the class of 2008 at Webster University, creative companion, and eventual inheritor of my Highway 61 (revised) legacy.  He’s never afraid to try innovative tools for himself, and has earned the right to call me out on my own BS.

I think @GBullard probably belongs somewhere in that list, alongside these other early followers who are Honorable mentions: @socialthing, @ioubeer, @NaomiSilverArt, @LisaRokusek, @StephenTColbert, @PubDef, @TwitPic, and @TheRoyale

In addition to qualitative measurement of these long standing social media relationships, I found a few surprising quantitative results:

• I made 1224 tweets before I gained my first 88 followers on May 12, 2008
• I gained my 1000 follower @DrakeTex on March 19th, 2010
• I joined Twitter 931 days ago (September 15, 2007), and like most others on Twitter my audience grew most over the last year.
• #PRcamp is my most frequently used hashtag- 35 times -before, during, and following the event in November 2009.
• I’ve earned at least 533 mutual followers out of the 775 I’m following.  Over 70% of these contact might be considered my friends on any other social network!
• I was retweeted the most during #PRCamp, where I reached a potential audience of 8839 through RTs from 6 other participants.
• At least 16% of my tweets are replies to other users, and another 7% are RTs, which help share good ideas and offer feedback.
• Over 50% of my tweets come from Twitter clients rather than on Twitter.com, as most other users do. This usually means site visits through Twitter links will be difficult to distinguish from organic or direct traffic.

Perhaps its not surprising then that Twitter itself is on of the most frequent subjects I discuss using Twitter, wherein the medium is also the message.  Let’s consider this an ongoing conversation that I invite you to join by following me @MattHurst on Twitter.

Today I celebrate my 25th birthday and the first anniversary of this website, which neatly coincides with the 25th anniversary of dot-com domains. In the year since I started writing this blog, so much in my life has changed:

• Graduated from American University with a Master’s degree in Public Communication.
• Created social media strategy for a non-profit, and raised funds my favorite cause through tactics on Facebook.
• Managed Twitter accounts and Facebook pages for entrepreneurs, local bloggers, and established brands.
• Found an internship through Twitter, learned about research and professional writing, and was called a “social media power-user” by my colleagues.
• Television transitioned from analog to digital, but I still watch most of my video online.
• Online retailers of music, video and applications became the biggest, and opinion leaders curated our online content.
• Moved from DC to NYC, and started to build my professional network.
• Blogged about my passion for tasty beers.
• Started working with a leading web design, SEO, and online marketing company.
• Met many more Matt Hursts on the internet, built my personal brand, and became a professional.

If I haven’t been keeping up with the blog as much lately, it’s because I’m finally applying the insights I’ve written about here through my new work.  I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish working as a social media and online marketing pro, so expect to hear more about those experiences soon. Until then, thank you for sharing this journey from student to professional along with me.

Everyone is checking themselves in, but this is hardly rehab; it’s Social Media Week in New York City.  On Foursquare, Gowalla, and now even on Yelp, people are sharing where they are and vying to become the “Mayor” of venues they frequent. They say that all news is local, but instead this is Where word-of-mouth, real-time, and overshare intersect.

Location-based social media have become the next-big-thing as opinion leaders look for new ways share their influence.  Over the last year Twitter has cemented our collective desire to share what we’re doing, who we’re with, and increasingly where we’re doing it. When individuals share their ideas using hashtags for events (or HotPotato), they’re telling us more than which venues are hip by adding an online dimension to reputation management.  Just ask any restaurant owner how Yelp has changed their business.

As a rule people tend to trust the opinions their friends and neighbors better than any agenda setting news source.  In the new media landscape we can find out instantly if any of our friends share their impressions of places (and business).  It’s a mental shortcut that’s easy to fall on; almost a year ago I wrote about how becoming a DC transplant was impacted by social media:

I ended up in Glover Park not just for the rent, but probably because Wikipedia gave me the clues that the location was right. Google Maps helped me find an apartment within walking distance to the grocery store. (This move would not have worked so well for me only 10 years ago)
Once I moved in, I could use HopStop to find the right Bus/Rail times. Later I found the WMATA’s site worked a little better. I found out the sort of places other locals would like using Brightkite. I traded in for an iPhone with GPS . Yelp is still pretty invaluable for me.

Of course the importance of location to communication is nothing new: newspapers, the phonebook, and whole publishing businesses are built around guide books. But social media has changed where we get our information from has opened up new kinds of influence, amplifying word-of-mouth discussion into sacrosanct reputation management.

With new technology come new opportunities; as with real estate before it, the value of both location and networking become readily intertwined.  Every real estate agent already understands that our social networks reveal which place might be the right fit for us, whether in real life or online communities.  These new location-based social media in turn mirror the patterns of individuals to settle in like-minded communities where they feel most comfortable.

Where only a decade ago the internet opened up opportunities to connect with others over common interests, no matter how strange or remote they might seem, today social media has introduced us to common interests of our own neighbors.  Local bloggers understand the value of neighborhood news, and so does Google while they roll out local search as a key feature for their service: what you’re looking for online may already be in your own backyard.

Because every other meme or trend ends up getting shared on Twitter, each month I offer at least 7 new ideas worth remembering. In celebration of the new year here are 10 important ideas I want to share.

Application: Red Laser. I think of Sales as framing devices that convince me into buying things I don’t really need. Red Laser turns my smart phone camera into an barcode reader, from which it can search online for the best prices on each item. By adding much need price context to my shopping, I needn’t miss out on saving money on a good deal any longer.

Colleague:  Kristin Arena.  I met Kristin through mutual friends who (like her) studied broadcast journalism at Mizzou’s J-school (which is widely reputed to be the top school in the country).  I’ve come to know Kristin even better through Twitter and Social Media.  She is in the enviable position to take advantage of this convergence, having transitioned towards a career in PR. She would make a great addition to any organization interested in its future.

Game: The Simpsons Arcade.  This is the arcade game you remember playing in your movie theater’s arcade, bumping elbows and all, lovingly recreated as a new solo adventure on your iPhone or iPod touch.  Easily the best liscensed Simpson’s game I can remember and worth the few bucks it costs.

Nostalgia: the Gawker decade.  Because journalists love retrospectives, we’ve experience a deluge of nostalgia leading up to 2010.  I think Robot Chicken got it right; today’s rampant materialism and memes are just tomorrow’s sitcom fodder.  Sorry BoingBoing.

Social Network: Tumblr.  OK so maybe Tumblr is more like a blog than a social network, but the same might be said of Twitter.  Although it’s nothing new, I’ve only started to use Tumblr to it’s full potential recently.  Besides The Brew Noob, you can follow my status blog Retweet This or my photoblog Speaking in Megapixels.

User-generated thingie: Waze. This GPS enabled app for smartphones combines the usual map/routing capabilities with crowd-sourced traffic data.  There’s also a gaming element to Waze that has me hooked. Waze encourages me to use my iPhone while driving about as much as the TomTom app would, except I get to keep the $100.  Now if only I had a car…

Video: Simon the IT Dummy. Full Disclosure: I helped promote this video series as an intern with 2ChicksInc. I’m sharing it of my own volition now, because I LOL’d. And because Simon is a Geek Stud.

When Anheuser-Busch’s sale to InBev was announced, years of branding began to unravel for the King of Beers. The maker of the Great American Lager (their slogan) was a family-owned business based in the American Midwest which had spent decades creating their brand based around nationalism and tradition; they were being purchased by a foreign corporate conglomerate. Almost immediately columnists were writing about how the sale was indicative not of globalization but of the American economic recession.

In spite of how the stories were framed, A-B products Budweiser and Bud Light continue to be the best selling beers in the United States (if not the world). The sale is only the latest consolidation between the world’s largest brewers; in the years prior rivals like Miller and Coors had combined into SABMiller, not to mention A-B’s own acquisitions before their own sale.  The beer business is as complex as any other industry, but major brewers like Anheuser-Busch have relied on a wide national market empowered by mass market advertising to drive up demand for their product.

The rising popularity of Craft Beer parallels the changing media landscape of the past decade; as audiences become fragmented, their consumption choices are changing.  Once mass market advertising for brewers would create print and broadcast ads designed to appeal to the widest audiences where they converged in a limited media market.  Brand loyalty was thought to begin when young adults learned about their products, and like their beers these branding techniques were meant to reach the largest audiences.  However this same target audience no longer converges in the same mass media sources, often turning online to learn about new products across a ever wider range of new media; about the only place this market would still see their ads might be watching the Superbowl, during which only the largest brewers can afford to advertise.

Consumers today have more choices in where they get their media from, especially online, which have opened up opportunities to build niche audiences like those in the craft beer market.  Along with a growing audience of beer lovers, craft breweries have taken to blogs and social media to promote their products.  This audience is passionate about their interest in craft beer, inspiring brand loyalty among those who are reached out to directly by brewers who share their values, not unlike the nationalism appealed to in Budweiser’s branding.  Most importantly this passionate audience of craft beer advocates likes to tell others about the beers they love, usually acting as opinion leaders within their network of friends and thusly growing the market for tasty craft beer every year.

Of course mass marketing still works in many markets; many consumers of Blue Moon (a SAB Miller/Coors product) believe it is a craft beer, and niche beers like A-B’s Michelob brand enjoy limited popularity. But the mass media advertising techinques do not work as well online, as demonstrated by the expensive failure of Bud.tv and other websites.  It has been suggested that beer in America’s national beverage, and as America changes so will it’s tastes.

You can learn more about Beer marketing and the craft beer movement by reading my blog The Brew Noob (on Twitter @BrewNoob).

Every month I share a short list of ideas that I think deserve your attention, or at least commandeer my own.  This month I’ve included a few extra as an early holiday gift to readers.  I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays, and hope to see you in the new year.

Blog: Framing Science. Matthew Nisbet will change how you understand science.  We take for granted that the facts should speak for themselves, but our understanding of these complex subjects are largely a matter of communication.  His blog covers so much of what I learned in his classroom, and it is recommended reading if you care about climate change, public policy, or evolution.

Colleague: Nina Keim.  I met Nina as a Graduate student at American University (maybe Classmate is a better title), and have always been impressed by her initiative.  Unlike some of my peers, Nina displays an endless curiosity; she seeks out new ideas in communication and isn’t afraid to try them out for herself, often before their value is readily apparent.  Rather than merely acting as an informer, Nina embodies the role of an opinion leader in her own right.

Meme: PR does not equal “Press Release”. Sure Press Releases still work, but the question is “should you send one?“  At #PRCamp we first realized that the words Press Release should never be used near anything Social Media.  PR practitioners build relationships and tell stories, and in today’s media landscape that cannot be limited to broadcast and print news releases.

Music: Bob Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart”.  I’ve made many jokes over the past month about the music video, which I’m convinced will soon become another Rick Roll.  What convinced this unassailable icon to record his first Holiday album may have been a favorite charity, but I’m convinced it must’ve been Santa.

PR Agency: 2ChicksInc. Full Disclosure – I’ve been working (as an intern) with this start-up PR group over the last month.  Working with the women who are its namesake, I’ve learned how a boutique PR firm can use their expertise to innovate online campaigns.  And their generous part-time position has helped me continue my own career search (thanks again for the opportunity).

Shameless Plug: The Brew Noob. My side project has evolved from 140 charecter beer reviews on Twitter into a Tumblr blog of own right.  As usual, I’ll test the brews so that you can enjoy tasty beers.

Social Network: Hot Potato. Why use hashtags or checkins if you only want to talk about an event while it’s happening?  It’s not meant to replace Twitter or Foursquare, but its a new take on an old idea. Another revelation we made at #PRCamp was that not everyone will use Twitter (the brand), but that SMS/mobile messaging (the idea) were here to stay.  Try it.

Thanks for reading through; please consider these next ideas my holiday gift you, my loyal readers…

App: Tweetie. I’ve been loyal to Twitterific since I bought a Mac, and since I started using iPhone OS since it’s free. I wouldn’t usually pay for an App on a service that can update via SMS, but this app is worth it.

Charity: Water. You already know I care about People to People International and the Living Classrooms Foundation.  But please check this out; they bring a gift that is fundamental to all life, and they could really use your help.

Video(s): Besides the wig in a aforementioned video to Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”, this  beard seems to be making the rounds. Also James Lipton wants you to Give It A Ponder before Sexting, using his beard and all.

It has been said that 8 out of 10 job opportunities come from sources outside of those advertised. So it might be assumed that social networks, especially those centered around professional relationships like LinkedIn, would be ideal tools to find jobs and recruit new talent. Yet in the experiences of many job hunters, including myself, social networks like LinkedIn have yet to live up to this promise.

Social networks are a great tool for HR professionals and other job recruiters, making it easier than ever to search for employees with the right experience and skills.  Besides Facebook and Twitter, social networks such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, Brazen Careerist, and Xing have become popular places to post resumes and connect with like minded professionals.  Sometimes these professional networks have been known to generate new business opportunities, but for many job seekers these sites offer no greater a resource to find employment than Monster.com.

Part of the problem lies in how LinkedIn is used differently than other social networks.  Once you’ve finished setting up your profile with your resume and begin to connect with other professionals, there is little else to do on the site. While LinkedIn has 50 million registered accounts, less than half are active at least monthly (according to Quantcast).

Besides expanding your network of connections, LinkedIn confines interaction between its users to those who are already connected. Even with the integration of Twitter into the LinkedIn platform, interactions between members of a network are largely limited to interpersonal discussion.  By comparison to the open/public conversations that make Facebook and Twitter so popular, the end effect is to make discussion seem closed-off or private, further discouraging discovery and interaction between its members.

To be sure these social networks are becoming more popular as professionals look for meaningful ways to network online, or at least in a different (less personal) way than Facebook or Myspace promotes.  According to a Pew report the median age of a LinkedIn user is 39, significantly older than Twitter (31) or Facebook (33).  Perhaps this better explains why these communities interact differently; LinkedIn users might feel they are finished using the network once they’ve set up a profile, rather than integrating social media as part their everyday lives.

In my own job search, LinkedIn could be playing a pivotal role, although so far its just a supporting piece of the puzzle.  To be sure I’ve written recommendations for colleagues, networked in groups like #PRStudChat, and reached out through mutual connections, all of which have expanded my network.  So far LinkedIn has yet to land me any meaningful job opportunities, at least compared to board-based services like Mediabistro and Craigslist.  Until LinkedIn can leverage of their social network to create opportunities, especially for individual users, its potential will continue to yield diminishing returns on investment for organizations.