I see some companies who standout. They not only respond when directly contacted (@ed on Twitter). They monitor Twitter for mentions of their company, and they respond anytime someone mentions them by name. Beyond all of that, and read this carefully because this is the crucial element, they make things happen and address or fix the issue quickly.

One example was @shoebuy. I had a gift certificate to Shoebuy.com and it was about a week before a conference when I remembered that. I went there to get some shoes, and I saw no option to get them overnighted. I tweeted about it and didn’t even realize they were on Twitter, so I didn’t say with their @ in the tweet. Within seconds, yes seconds, two different Shoebuy employees on Twitter responded that they could overnight certain brands. It wasn’t easy to determine which brands, so they sent me a link to a full list.

Within an hour, I had ordered my shoes and they arrived the next day. Without that Twitter intervention, I would have been annoyed with Shoebuy and I would not have placed the order at all. I also would have likely told people about this bad experience. Now I can rave about the company. (Like now.)

Many times, however, I see companies doing it wrong. This not only means the resources they are putting into Twitter are wasted, but they are probably causing more damage than good.

Here are what I will describe as the five bad customer service types.

The Retro Customer Service Tweeter

I sent @wachovia a DM this morning asking about an issue with my account. Their response was to call their 800 number. Ummm, why are you on Twitter exactly? I get there are privacy issues, but there are ways to share information via DM that would not be a problem.

If we wanted to endure an 800 number, wait on hold, argue and cajole to get a straight answer, get accidentally knocked off the line, call back and start over… well, we aren’t idiots. Anyone who is on Twitter is surely capable of looking up your toll-free number. We are contacting you on Twitter specifically because we want to avoid all of that. Phone customer service sucks 99.99999 percent of the time (yeah, that’s a real statistic). We despise it.

You can get a monkey to DM people 800 numbers, but I would prefer you hire a savvy human who can contact the right people and fix the issue.

The Multiple Personality Customer Service Tweeter

It is perfectly fine (in fact, wonderful) to have several people within the company and/or on behalf of the company on Twitter. In fact, as my example above shows with @shoebuy, it wasn’t even the official account that contacted me. What is not OK is not clearly specifying which Twitter account is the official one, or the one designated to handle customer service complaints.

We get that you can’t have one human monitoring your account 24/7. But there are ways to handle that. Say in your bio or your background who the various people are. If you want to be personal, have them sign their tweets with -firstname or -initials. But just look at @umatter2charter! This is one. hot. mess!

Twice, I have contacted Charter. Twice I’ve gone at least a day or two because I didn’t properly decipher which of their five (yes FIVE) Twitter customer service accounts was on at that moment. Kudos to them for responding when they get it or make sense of it. But having one account with multiple users would be so much clearer.

As it is now, this is reducing their effectiveness and confusing/irritating their customers on Twitter. It’s also clearly slowing their response time. Beyond that, this will be hard for them to reverse if customers are following or accustomed to tweeting one of the five accounts.

The Oblivious Customer Service Tweeter

First, let me say not being on Twitter is a major fail these days. A year ago, it was no big deal. Today, especially for a major corporation, it is glaring. But it’s possible to be on Twitter and be just as distant to the community as one who is missing. Where is Apple? Seriously. And @itunesmusic is the epitome of the blind Twitter account.

Here are some warning signs of an oblivious tweeter:

• They don’t follow anyone. (Here’s a hint: when you do that, no one can DM you. So they can only complain @ you publicly. You know, where everyone sees it. Mmm-hmmm.)
• They don’t reply to anyone.
• They do nothing but self-promote and sell.

The Two-Faced Customer Service Tweeter

Twice, I complained about AT&T on Twitter. OK, way more than twice, but they acknowledged it twice. They replied publicly and in DM. They asked for my email address, and said the matter would be addressed and someone would be in touch. Twice, I never heard a word.

Whether intentional or just a case of it falling through the cracks, this is shady. Publicly, it saves face. The company looks responsive. But believe me, I have since tweeted that this happened. And now I am blogging about it.

If you say you will help, do it. At least try. Believe me, we don’t forget.

The Good News Customer Service Tweeter

This is a variation of the Oblivious Tweeter above, but an equally annoying one. They are more than happy to chit chat, and to retweet when someone raves about their company. They think contests asking people to follow them to enter is engagement. They think churning out coupons is enough.

But if someone complains on Twitter, they disappear. Or DM and want it taken offline. If you are a company on Twitter, you have to take the good and the bad. You have to address the good and the bad. There are positives to even the most negative tweets. Twitter is a great big free focus group. You should listen. The feedback could be valuable.

Plus, back to @shoebuy, they quickly turned a negative into a positive. That is what people tend to remember. If you respond, that is.

What do you think? Do you have an experience with a company on Twitter that did it just right… or just wrong? I’d love to hear about it.

_{Customer service illustration based on photo © Ray Smithers.}

So after a flurry of tweets, publicly and in private direct messages, with them today (before they maturely decided to block me), I realized there is an even bigger issue here. Making a mistake is one thing. Sure, that can be terribly damaging. What is really crucial is how you respond to it.

I have seen companies turn a PR nightmare around to actually create loyal fans. It can be done. People remember the response, when done properly, more than they remember the mistake.

I have also seen companies respond poorly, which has a way of making the situation fester. It becomes like a virus, continuing to spread until it can no longer be controlled. This is how PETA has responded.

They have repeatedly been defensive. They repeatedly say what they did wasn’t spam. They repeatedly say what they did was justified because they had a message to get out. Anytime they apologize, it is followed with a “but.” But we got lots of clicks. But we needed to spread the word. But, but, but…

They repeatedly hurt the exact message they are trying to spread by their response to this controversy.

This is exactly why you must hire someone who gets social media to run your social media. I can’t stress this enough! Just because someone is in marketing does not mean they will “get” Twitter. You need someone who’s been immersed in social media spaces, preferably for years. You need someone who understands the rules of engagement, and even more importantly understands the importance of responding properly and responding immediately.

Twitter, more than probably any other space, can damage a reputation in as little as minutes. Do you want someone who doesn’t get it at your social media front line?

How should they have responded? Simple. They should have admitted their mistake. They should have apologized (minus the buts). They should have promised not to spam anymore.

Instead, they not only claim to be justified, but they moved the spamming to Facebook.

This was done after some moms replied that they didn’t care for the methodology of spamming used on Twitter, and after Allie Sullivan did a blog post about it. A Google search showed that Emily Nash is a youth coordinator for PETA, according to her LinkedIn profile.

And again, when @bostonmamas called them on it, PETA still defended their methods:

I really am trying to help them. I really would like to see them do it right. I love animals. Responding properly now will help them spread their message instead of badly damaging their brand and eclipsing their message. If they are bent on ignoring what several people who do get social media are saying, then I hope this will serve as a case study in what not to do for other non-profits and companies in social media spaces.

I think @technosailor put it best:

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Now let me be very clear. I am not making any sort of statement about the message itself. I love animals, and I always have.

The message was lost when they decided to use spam tactics to spread it. My Asheville social media friend Allie Sullivan said it very well in her post, PETA Spam Wednesday: What Not to Do. They @ed dozens of moms the same message repeated over and over. That is spam. Period.

Their argument was that the message was important, so that was their excuse for ignoring all sense of etiquette and courteous behavior. I might not have even felt compelled to blog about this, in fact, but it seemed clear that several social media moms telling PETA their behavior wasn’t appropriate was insufficient. Their tweets repeatedly defended their behavior based on the fact they felt their message was important. If that were the case, everyone could use that justification.

Here are the replies when I retweeted Allie’s link to her post about the PETA tweets:

It seemed pretty clear that they felt their tactics were justified. Here are a few more tweets:

But I will argue that is not justified.

Social media spaces like Twitter have a way of being community driven so that what really is important to the community bubbles to the top. Proof of that lies in the #prayersforanissa tweets, and the way Twitter moms saved baby #jaeli.

When you try to manipulate the social network to force people to hear your voice, you are misusing it.

It seems very clear that there was an orchestrated effort to specifically target influential moms on Twitter. But using their tactics backfired. Even if you dismiss all other issues here, if you are trying to get buzz on Twitter you don’t want to do it in a manner that results in a nasty backlash. From exactly the influencers you want on your side. Sure, they got clicks. But they also created just as much negative buzz as positive.

They completely tainted the message by using lowly tactics to push it.

Here is just a sampling of the responses they got from moms targeted. (Just for information, in the middle of this they changed their Twitter name from @officialpeta to @peta so this is the same account. Again, not too wise timing in the middle of all of this.)

This is not the kind of buzz you want about your brand, especially as a non-profit with a cause:

You usually don’t want influential moms hurling f-bombs your way.

And of course, sage advice from Lucretia Pruitt, aka @geekmommy:

Here’s the thing. Either PETA (with thousands of followers, so clearly not a newbie on Twitter) knew what they were doing was spam or they didn’t. If they didn’t, they need to put someone in charge of their Twitter account who knows the rules of engagement or hire a consultant to do it or train that person. I would say they should get it, but even after several moms called them on it, they were defensive.

This is a major social media fail.

It also drives me nuts how many organizations and companies target moms without bothering to hire a mom as a consultant first. JUST DO IT! If you find it’s important enough to be on Twitter, to be engaging moms, then it’s important enough to throw a few bucks at hiring a consultant before you ruin your reputation. And on Twitter, it usually means ruining your reputation to thousands of people in one fell swoop.

They also argued that they normally do engage on Twitter, and this was the exception. But I can tell you they were not even following me when they tweeted me, so they hadn’t been engaging with me. They could have done it better by sending a few non-automated DMs to moms they regularly tweet with, moms they have developed a relationship with. Or do what is standard. Tweet it and ask people to retweet it.

You put it in the public stream. You don’t @ dozens of people the same tweet to force them to read it in their replies tab. That is just obnoxious. As I said, it is a tactic that is commonly used by porn tweeters and get-rich-quick tweeters. And that is yet another reason not to do it. How bad would it have been for PETA if several moms reported their account as spam and it got deleted? Yeah, not good. For PETA or for the elephants they are trying to help.

The single best thing about Twitter is the interaction, the fact that it is a conversation (on crack).

When it has disintegrated to the point of being a stream of retweets and blog post links or, worse yet, secrets to getting more Twitter followers, it becomes useless.

It used to be, I could tweet and get replies. And even retweets sometimes. But now everyone, myself certainly included, is finding tweets that @ them, mention them or via Twitter search for terms. That means we are missing the conversation, and the conversation is falling apart without us.

It seems to bode very well for Facebook. I find that my tweets automatically pulled into Facebook tend to get far more feedback. If I were Twitter, I would be very concerned.

As a perfect example, I tweeted a question about the lack of engagement on Twitter. While I got a few responses, the more active conversation about conversation on Twitter happened on Facebook:

Kelby Carr Is anyone engaging on Twitter anymore? Seems like stream is so full of promotions lately. May need to unfollow some who only broadcast.

BargainBriana Carter, Karla VanBibber Porter, Barbara Jones and 2 others like this.

Crafty GAgal

I try to engage but seems it is rare that I see the old peeps I used to talk to.

Mon at 12:03pm · Delete

Kristie Sawicki

It has gotten a bit out of control.. Not nearly as much connection as when it first started out =(

Mon at 12:05pm · Delete

Claire Evans

I am rarely on Twitter because no one replies back to me and it is all advertisements.

Mon at 12:07pm · Delete

Deanna Adams Perrin

I try to engage, but it gets hard with so many people on there now. I find myself on Facebook more and more these days.

Mon at 12:11pm · Delete

Jennifer Fortwengler

That’s exactly why I stopped using twitter months ago.

Mon at 12:20pm · Delete

Christa M Miller

I unfollowed a bunch of broadcasters a few months ago, along with people who were not following me back. I like my stream a lot better now, though I do find it more difficult to scale than I’d like.

Mon at 12:24pm · Delete

Sarah Sabin Tudor

I use tweetdeck to sift out the ads and crap that clogs up the feed.

Mon at 12:41pm · Delete

Amy Lupold Bair

I’ve been trying to figure out how to use the new twitter lists to find everyone I used to tweet with, but having fun conversations with friends is still how I check in and connect a few times a day, recharge my batteries. I often just ditch my twitterstream, start conversations, then use only my replies button.

Mon at 1:55pm · Delete

Susan Carraretto

I admit I tend to like Facebook more and more these days for staying really connected. I need to remind myself to go use Twitter more as I tend to turn to facebook first.

Mon at 4:43pm · Delete

Zipporah Lubin-Sandler

I’m also facebooking more and tweeting less – a LOT less

Mon at 5:01pm · Delete

Colleen Padilla

yes I’ve been using FB more and more too.

Mon at 5:55pm · Delete

Tammy Hodson

Hey! We are still engaging!

Mon at 8:32pm · Delete

Audrey Couto McClelland

Couldn’t agree more!

Mon at 9:08pm · Delete

Janice Croze

I am engaging – I hope! LOL Been sick with the flu this week so I have been off of everything though.

Mon at 9:12pm · Delete

Maria Bailey

I totally agree. Companies think that’s how you develop a relationship. Problem is they are using new media with old strategy.

Mon at 10:02pm · Delete

Mary Davis

Hi Kelby. Let me tell you about this new project I’m working on…

Mon at 11:05pm · Delete

Erin Pyle

I agree!

Tue at 1:05am · Delete

Toni Patton

I am one who just talks away LOL but I agree when tweets turn to just promotions of this or that and there is no real “content” even if just talking it’s maddening

Tue at 8:27am · Delete

Karla VanBibber Porter

I’ve noticed this… I try to engage but no one ever replies to me. It’s not just the companies who aren’t engaging.

Tue at 9:06am · Delete

Jenn Fowler

I talk to people! I think the big change was when they changed teh way the @’s work-I seem to have lost track of lots of folks since that happened.

Tue at 9:16am · Delete

Kelly Winkel Russell

I agree with Jenn. When they changed that, it seemed that my stream became nothing but promotions. Don’t know why or how. I am working on hard on cutting back those not following me.

Tue at 11:08am · Delete

Lucretia Madden Pruitt

I don’t have promotions… but yeah, considering filtering out some of the noise lately

Tue at 11:50am · Delete

_{Photo of ear, copyright Andrea Kratzenberg}

Here is part one:

Here is part two:

And I did a Whrrl story on my experience:

1. They reply to people without actually using the proper format. (Hint: you want to use the person who you are replying to’s name, for example @username at beginning of tweet).
2. They complain about people who tweet too much. (Hint: when you’re new and only follow a few people, the really active and influential tweeters will dominate your stream. Instead of complaining and alienating people who can help you the most, get to know Twitter better and follow more people who are a good match for you topic or interest-wise.)
3. They automate their Twitter stream with their RSS feed, look at their stats, see no clicks to their blog, and determine Twitter isn’t useful. (Hint: an RSS feed isn’t a conversation.)
4. They interrupt Twitter news, parties or events to ask, “What is #inserttaghere about? (Hint: hashtags, or words/terms with the number symbol at the beginning, are conversations on one topic. You can often find out what they are about with a Google search of the tag. You can also search the tag to see the whole conversation.)
5. They don’t have a bio or avatar, or even a personalized background for that matter. (Hint: you should use a clear headshot, use your real name in the name entry and not a company name even if your handle is your company name, and you should include a bio with keywords to help like-minded people find you.)
6. They autoDM people who follow them. Yes, even with a thank you. Yes, it’s still annoying. Worse yet? AutoDMing with an offer to the follower to “feel free” to visit your blog or get your free email newsletter. Worst of all? AutoDM someone with tips on how to use Twitter, such as saying “to join the conversation @me or d me.” You just might send it to followers who know far better than you how to use Twitter. (Hint: you don’t need to automatically thank everyone. When someone interesting follows you, jump in the conversation and @them in reply to something they tweeted. Better yet, retweet them by quoting their quote with RT @theirname at the beginning.)
7. They use Twitter only to self-promote. All of their posts are about their business of blog. (Hint: Twitter is like a big networking event. You wouldn’t go around shoving your business card in people’s faces at a dinner party, would you? Then don’t do that online either. Mingle, get to know people, have some conversations.)
8. They tweet in all capital letters. (Hint: that is shouting, and very annoying. Tone it down!)
9. They get on Twitter to self-promote, and then protect their updates. And then follow people. (Hint: unless you have a major reason to protect your updates, keep it open. It’s a really odd experience to be followed by someone, only to ask permission to follow the person back. This is a social network, not an anti-social network.)
10. Tweeting non-stop minutia. It’s OK to tweet something silly or an odd observation, but people don’t need to know about every small detail of your life. (Hint: ask yourself if this might actually interest your followers. If you aren’t sure, some little details of life do really engage followers. See which ones get lots of replies, and that will help you determine which minutia is quirky and engaging, and which is just minute.)

The great thing about Twitter? It helped me write this article! Special thanks to @prCarrS, iFroggy, DougPiranha, goodlifediva, notdiyHeather, MomsWhoSave, and many others who provided feedback for this article. That is yet another hint for those new to Twitter. If you aren’t sure, ask. There are many on Twitter who are savvy at using it and happy to offer help and advice.

_{Photo of keyboard, © Nintaro at sxc.hu}

The chat will be tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. EST.

Any time there is a Twitter event of function, it can be very challenging joining the discussion through standard Twitter.com. The easiest way by far is to simply click here!

You can also install Tweet Deck beforehand, or visit Tweet Chat or Tweet Grid. When you do, use the search, tag or enter room function to look for the hashtag #smallbizchat and then jump into the discussion. To keep up, it’s also very important to follow the hostess, Melinda Emerson, aka @smallbizlady.

Attending events, parties and functions on Twitter like this can be a great way to network. If you’d like to automatically follow fellow participants in the chat, you might consider visiting Twollo beforehand and adding the term #smallbizchat. You can always remove it again the next day so you don’t follow future people who participate in these chats.

Here are some of the details:

WAH Marketing Bootcamp
Thursday, May 28, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Eastern Time/
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time
One low cost: $97

Register Now!

Here’s what you’ll learn at the WAH Marketing Bootcamp:

• What brand questions you should answer when you are developing your content and communities.
• How to build social capital to turn your social media relationships into business successes.
• Tested and successful techniques to bring attention to your brand on Twitter Who needs a Facebook page, and who shouldn’t bother?
• How to use Linkedin for more than just job hunting as a powerful B2B development tool.

Work at Home Marketing Bootcamp Ning
This session is jam packed with techniques, ideas and resources you can start using immediately to bring attention to your brand and find paying customers. But the learning doesn’t end when the webinar is over. You’ll also get:

• Membership in a private WAH on-line community filled with other people who attended the seminar.
• Networking with other WAH professionals and find out what has and hasn’t worked for them.
• We’ll also be posting news and links on social media developments that happen after the seminar is over. So you don’t have to spend your time scouring the internet for the latest social media developments.
• Access to tons of resources including the webinar recording, copies of all slides and a link directory of all of the web resources mentioned in the presentation.

We’ve designed this session with the stay-at-home mom or dad in mind.

• It’s scheduled during the school day and for many during nap time! (After all, we have kids to take care of too!)
• It’s short — only 1 1/2 hours of your precious time. It’s affordable. Only $97. And we don’t have a hidden expensive product we are hoping to up-sell you later.
• On-going networking from other WAH entrepreneurs just like you on a website that’s available 24/7, when you are able to get on-line.

Early registration bonus –

Register early by midnight Pacific Time on May 21 and you’ll get FREE access to a live follow-up chat with Kelby and Peggy to answer your question that come up after you’ve begun practicing your new skills. Why wait? Summer vacation is just around the corner and WAH Moms and Dads need every trick in the book to stay on top of a busy summer schedule AND grow their businesses at the same time. With the WAH Bootcamp, you’ll get a head start on taking your business to the next level. Register Today!

So when I saw the amazing and impressive Guy Kawasaki on Twitter talking about the L.A. Times asking Alltop for its own page there, I knew I had to seek out an interview. I sent him a direct message on Twitter and he responded quickly with his email address. He sets an amazing example, by being a total weblebrity (he only has, oh, almost 70,000 followers on Twitter alone) and yet being completely accessible. Others who social network should follow his example (I certainly do). I emailed him questions, and thought it was interesting he has the same concerns I do about the fate of investigative journalism (and the need to keep it alive).

Guy Kawasaki is arguably one of the most impressive and innovative players in Web 2.0, business and technology. He is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Here is the interview:

Question: What prompted the idea of having newspaper-specific Alltop pages?

ANSWER: It was a late night email session with the folks at the Los Angeles Times
who are such big supporters of Alltop. I thought to myself: How can I really
show them some Alltop love and came up with the idea of creating an Alltop
page just for them.

Question: Did newspapers approach Alltop to ask for this, or did you approach newspapers?

ANSWER: Once we did LAtimes.alltop and saw the positive reaction, it was natural to
continue down the path of doing NYtimes.alltop, Washingtonpost.alltop, and
USAToday.alltop. Several more newspapers have expressed interest, and we’ll
do them too.

Question: Are there plans to add more newspapers to Alltop or a main Alltop newspapers-only page (distinct from the news page you currently have)? Can you say which newspapers we might see added soon?

ANSWER: If asked, we’ll do more. Our goal is WWDOR (“widower” worldwide domination
of RSS), so we want to cover all the topics eventually. I would love to do
more foreign newspapers and media sites. I tried to find multiple feeds for
Al Jazeera but could only fine one general feed.

Question: Have you encountered newspapers that are opposed to having an Alltop page or being in an Alltop feed?

ANSWER: Not yet. Frankly, I doubt that the New York Times and Washington Post even
know that we exist. Theoretically, we bring more traffic to them–at least
that’s the way we look at it.

Question: How do you think the way readers are consuming news is different now than it was just a few years ago?

ANSWER: Yes, for sure. An analogy is that many people are eliminating landlines and
just having cell phones. It used to be that when you moved into a new place,
you got a landline and newspaper subscription. Both are no longer so true.

Question: Where and how do you get your news?

ANSWER: It shouldn’t surprise you, but various Alltop sites, Twitter, and several
email-alert subscriptions.

Question: What do you see as the future of newspapers if they are to survive? Will the print newspaper become extinct?

ANSWER: Good question. I think that foundations should start online newspapers to
foster hardcore, investigative journalism. Imagine if the MacArthur
Foundation created the MacArthur magazine made up of all the Pulitzer-prize
winners who got laid off from magazines.

My greatest fear with the challenges that newspapers face is the lack of
lengthy, rigorous investigative reporting. I doubt that the next
Woodward and Bernstein will be Twitter users: “OMG, R. Nixon’s flunkies
broke into Wtrgte Htl.” Somebody has to pay for this kind of reporting, and
if the public won’t, I hope foundations do.

_{Photo of Guy Kawasaki by Bryn Colton.}

So… I am not in high school anymore.

I won’t name names right now, but I’d like to put those of you who will later decide to be a drain on the social web on notice. This is the last time I offer this courtesy. Next time, the gloves come off.

What is my deal? Why should you even be reading this? Well, bear with me. I swear I have a broader lesson in how to properly social network in here. Eventually.

In the past month or so, all of these things have happened:

• I have been attacked a few times on Twitter for making completely uncontroversial comments. It has gotten to the point where comments are so snarky and rude on Twitter that I have even created a new tag of #hecklers and vowed to block and publicly out anyone who jumps down my throat for no good reason. Anyone who knows me at all knows I welcome civilized (and even snarky) debate, but there must be some attempt to have an adult conversation in there somewhere.
• The tone on Twitter lately seems to have taken on a much less collaborative and positive atmosphere as certain twitholes are coming in who see putting others down as the best way to boost their own credibility. (Hint: this ain’t the way to do it).
• I know of several online friends who have been the focus of rather vicious blog/Twitter attacks. Again, there is plenty of room for differing opinions about things. What there isn’t room for is people who flat out target someone and attack. If you don’t agree with the way someone is behaving on Twitter or in the blogosphere, there is no reason you can’t disagree in a polite and adult manner. This means being pleasant, and it means being open to other opinions. It means being FAIR. And it means if you are attacking because of a personal gripe or bias, being upfront about it. Oh, and here’s a little hint here, too. If you throw a popular social networking blogger under a bus for your own gain, you will suffer the consequences.

This, quite frankly, is the bad side to the power of blogging and social networking. Because, really, it IS like high school. There are popular people and unpopular people, nice people and mean people, the manipulators and the helpers, the givers and the takers.

I know I promised a lesson here somewhere, and yes I realize I am rambling. Here it is. When you socialize online, you are still socializing and you are still participating in a community. You should think about how your statements reflect on your personal brand (or company brand). If you say something snippy or snarky or rude, ask if you would say it the same way if you were face to face with that person. If the answer is no, you might want to ramp it down a bit. (Plus, very few people are really impressed by rudeness.)

If you display the characteristics of a jerk, it might work briefly. You might see some small gains.

But be very careful. You will quickly burn through all your social equity. Soon, you will find you have no reach and the work you put into social networking now means nothing. In fact, it means worse than nothing because now you have people spreading bad word of mouth about you at a hectic pace.

So always remember you are in a community. Remember your blog kharma, and remember to be on Twitter and other social networks to give and help first and not to take.

_{Photo of social drama, © Samantha Mesones.}