I really like LinkedIn, but as a person concerned about privacy and social networks, I believe that I have to point out a change to you.

Without attracting too much publicity, LinkedIn has updated their privacy conditions and has now granted itself permission to use YOUR NAME AND PICTURE in any of their advertisements. Yes: Your name + your picture = A LinkedIn ad.

Some simple actions to be considered by you:

1. Place the cursor on your name at the top right corner of the screen. From the small
pull down menu that appears, select “Settings”

2. Then click “Account” on the left side of the bottom of the screen

3. In the column next to Account, select the option “Manage Social Advertising”

4. Finally uncheck the box “LinkedIn may use my name and photo in social advertising” and hit “Save.”

5. Then select the option “Manage Partner Advertising,” uncheck that box as well and hit “Save.”

Looking for a way to inform your connections? Simple: Via Inbox>Compose message in Linkedin, you can send a message to 50 connections at once.

I took a look, and I was opted in:

I dig LinkedIn, but LinkedIn should communicate with its users and let them know they can opt-out. It’s the responsible thing to do.

Oh, if you want to opt out of Facebook’s social advertising, click here.

That’s my take. What’s yours?

A  few highlights:

• Most active day for sharing: Wednesdays
• Most active time of day: 9:30 A.M. EST
• Most users click within the first two minutes
• 75% of clicks happen within the first day

Interestingly, most shares are happening via good ol’ cut and paste. Who’d a thunk it?

via Mashable

My response to a “who owns social media” question was a bit longish and self-contained, so I thought I’d share it here:

Social Media should be treated as just another marketing channel. Each channel has it’s rules, it’s purpose, it’s strengths and weaknesses. Social Media is good at shaping opinion, so it seems like it should be part of PR.

But doing so is a mistake because it restricts messaging and it can lose its authenticitity. What about the voice of the other constituencies in the organization? What about promotions? PR can’t and shouldn’t try to manage the voice of every facet of an organization.

Should Marketing own it? Social Media channels are contact points that impact an organization’s (or individual’s) brand, after all. I say “no” for the same reasons. An organization isn’t simply made up of the peeps in Marketing and PR.

Social Media needs to owned, directed and managed by an integrated team of people that represent the organization as a whole. If you’d like to see an organization that “gets it,” take a look at the Verity Credit Union Blog, and check out the list of writers on the right.

Oh, they are pretty good at it — the Verity blog was the first credit union blog ever.

So, who do you think owns social media?

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A few examples will make how it works pretty obvious:

Looks pretty good, eh? Well, here’s a headscratcher:

Which dots are being connected to suggest someone that’s a fan of Chase Community Giving might possibly have an interest in Mafia Wars? Is JP Morgan Chase a backer of Zynga or just connected to the mob?

Seriously though, I’ve opted out of nearly every Mafia Wars ad and provided negative feedback to Facebook countless times. Now I’m getting this?

But this one’s even worse:

Okay, where’s the Michael Jackson / Barack Obama connection? The only obvious connection is the color of their skin—which sounds a bit like racial profiling to me. I mean, really, does Facebook recommend Elvis to George H.W. Bush fans because they’re white?

While Facebook’s suggestions function makes sense when it’s done right, done wrong it can be downright offensive.

That’s my take. What’s yours?

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In the session, I shared—

• Why this topic should matter to every marketer
• What social media is
• How social media can help build a culture of appreciation, with a few examples
• How it helps improve employee responses to six of the 12 Questions from First, Break all the Rules
• A few options for building social networks for the enterprise

Here’s my presentation:

And here are some related links I saved on Delicious.

We did a “bonus session” afterwards where we brainstormed ways social media can help deliver recognition, but that’s not included here.

So what do you think? Is the enterprise ready for social media?

Comment below to share.

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• The Prius felt underpowered
• The Camry was nice, but felt too much like the Accord I’d just turned in
• The Insight was loud and somewhat disappointing
• And the Highlander Hybrid was so close in price to the Lexus, I chose the latter of the two

But the events of the last week have me second-guessing myself, and I have Ford’s social media marketing team (and a great product) to blame for it.

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago, Ford contacted me “looking for fresh perspectives and feedback, something a little more engaging and authentic” from “non-traditional approach for bloggers and other content creators” and asked if I’d be interested in test driving the new Fusion Hybrid for a few days.

I agreed, and last Thursday, they delivered a shiny new one to my office, with the Michigan “Manufacturer” plate and all.

Here are few pictures I snapped with my iPhone:

I drove the car to work, to the beach, to Costco, to a Mariners game. Basically everywhere.

The fit and finish were good and the ride was really quiet. In fact, it put my both my high-energy kids to sleep on the ride back from their grandma’s house. Sounds like a cliche, but it’s true.

I got a lot of comments from neighbors “That’s really a nice car,” co-workers “I’d buy that” and was even given a special parking spot by a parking lot attendant after he said “Is that the new Fusion Hybrid—cool!”

What I liked most was the fact I nearly forgot it was a hybrid. The transfer from electric to gas is less obvious than it is with my Lexus, a fact that the press hasn’t missed, with USA Today calling it the best gas-electric hybrid yet.

Oh, and while I didn’t get the 81.5 miles per gallon achieved in a recent hypermiling stunt, I did get a respectable 39.5 MPG in a mid-size car.

All-in-all, an eye-opening experience.

Ford’s social media team is firing on all cylinders

You might have heard the buzz about the Fiesta Movement, Ford’s social campaign that put 100 “agents” (selected from over 4,000 applicants) behind the wheel of a 2011 Ford Fiesta for six months and how they’re sharing the results of their “missions” on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

Ford is winning on the social web due to the aggressive approach that Scott Monty and Ford’s social media team have been taking to engage customers and build authentic conversations around their products and brands.

A return to the past?

Their bet is that if people actually drive a Ford, they might buy one. In fact, Alan Mullaly, CEO of Ford, is interested in resurrecting “Have you driven a Ford lately?” campaign from the mid 1980′s.

Here’s an ad from that campaign that aired in 1984, the year I graduated from high school.

So, why didn’t I consider Ford?

Old attitudes and habits die hard.

Recent research from Nielsen puts Ford’s brand advocacy quotient below companies such as Kia, Pontiac and Chrysler.

While Ford’s branding and social media campaigns are good, I’ve become brand loyal to other manufacturers and it will take a lot to break that hold.

Ford’s dealers still publish absurdly noisy ads with prices the average buyer will seldom get (loyalty discounts, military discounts, first-time buyer discounts, etc)— and you’ll always have to haggle with the salesperson and expect them to bring in the manager when they can’t close the sale.

Still, that happens with most dealers and Ford’s product is good and worth a look.

People like me have been saying “Once American manufacturers catch up with Japanese and Germans, I’ll start buying American cars again.”

Well folks, has that time come? Ford’s product quality and the way they’re communicating with customers has me reconsidering their offerings.

Comment below to weigh in.

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I was honored to be interviewed by Kenji Onozawa over at Seattle Social Media Profiles on  Wednesday, the results of which can be found in the above video, along with his Q & A in this article.

Kenji asked me a bit about social media, Responsible Marketing and one of my passions, using social media to create social good.

A few things covered in the article include:

• Why I like social media
• How I utilize it
• The one thing that mainstream population should know about social media
• My social media “wow” moment

Give it a gander, and if you live in the Pacific Northwest, make sure you visit Seattle Social Media Profiles regularly.

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But since it was, well, lumpy, and delivered via FedEx I opened it. Here’s what I found:

On one side, it says “Yes, these are real grasshoppers. They’ve even been approved by the FDA of Thailand.”

On the other side:

You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper. They’re farm raised, covered in chocolate and rich in protein. So, not only will you be breaking boundaries, but you’ll be eating healthy, too.

The attached tag included the call to action:

Entrepreneurs can change the world.
Join the movement now!
www.grasshopper.com/idea

I really didn’t have the time, but I couldn’t resist jumping on this to learn what it was all about. The URL takes you to a page with the following video:

As it turns out, Grasshopper offers a nicely-packaged virtual PBX service for businesses. It’s a direct competitor to Grand Central, a similar service recently purchased by Google that’s locked down while Google integrates it into their systems.

Five things I loved about this campaign

1. The FedEx package made it feel urgent without using deceptive “Urgent – Open Immediately” language. This is message responsible.
2. Lumpy mail gets opened.
3. This is textbook example of how to do a word of mouth campaign. Chocolate covered grasshoppers? I had to share this with colleagues and with you.
4. A little mystery goes a long way. There was no sales copy—just a creative idea and a URL to learn more. Irresistible.
5. The landing page made it easy to share the video on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and and a host of other sites using an AddThis widget.

And the three things I didn’t love

1. Each tag was numbered, X of 5,000, and I understand after doing some research for this post that Grasshopper sent these packages to the people they deemed the 5,000 most influential people in America. Very flattering. But at first I thought I might need this code when I logged onto the website. Not so. This is not a limited edition keepsake, it’s a marketing piece. And by letting me know there were so many produced, it made me feel less special—at least initially.
2. The moving-text style video that was so fresh and interesting a year ago is beginning to get tired. I still like it, but it would seem every ‘movement’ has a video like this associated with it.
3. Which brings me to the whole ‘movement’ thing. I like to be inspired as much as the next entrepreneur, but I’m approaching my ‘movement’ saturation point. How many movements can one person truly join?

Still, Grasshopper has succeeded where most fail. In one fell swoop, they got my attention, held it, and they got me talking. And though I don’t need their service, If I did, I’d consider them.

So, what do you think of Grasshopper’s campaign?

Would you eat a chocolate covered grasshopper? (I won’t)

But if you’d like to try one, contact me and we’ll make it happen. I’ll post a video of you eating one here and you’ll be famous.

Time for another Tweetup for those of you interested in Social Media residing here in the Puget Sound region.

The Northwest Tweetup is shaping up nicely, with 30 confirmed guests and 35 maybes with six days to go.

If you’re a Twitter hold-out, check out Twitter me this: Is it time to tweet? as well as my list of Twitter links regarding how it’s used in business, twitter facts, twitter tools and more.

The particulars

Thursday, March 19, 2009
Noon to 2:00 p.m.

Jillian’s Billiards
731 Westlake Ave. North
Seattle, WA

RSVP:

Via Facebook or Via TwtVite

Registration is free. You pay for your own food and/or drinks.

Feel free to share this with anyone you know that might be interested.

I hope to see you Thursday.

Join Social Media Northwest

If you would like to learn more about Social Media or just want to network with other people interested in the topic, join Social Media Northwest on Facebook.

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Skittles, the chewy, fruit-flavored candy from Mars, Inc. has jumped into social media in an innovative new way: They have coded their website so their navigation now floats over three of the most popular social media websites.

Skittles.com is now nothing more than a navigation box floating over the Twitter search results for the term “skittles.” Essentially, this is capturing all the Twitter conversations regarding their brand (and their new marketing tactic) right on their homepage. Click the the Friends button, and the nav will float over their Facebook Fan Page. The Media button floats their nav over their YouTube channel.

“Skittles” has been the number one search topic on Twitter and in social media since Sunday, and as you might expect, most commentators love it. It’s bold, innovative and its helping drive word of mouth regarding the Skittles brand with people who love to share ideas.

The company has been criticized for abdicat[ing] their brand voice and failing to filter the feed, resulting in competitors links, profanity and some unsavory tweets from pranksters.

Whether the failure to filter was intentional or not, I don’t know, but by not filtering visitors get to see the authentic conversations regarding the brand. Still, all tweets aren’t suitable for children.

So, do you think Skittles new social media play is responsible or not?

Comment below to share.

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