Knowledge is power, so google yourself, and if you don’t like what you’re seeing know that with a tidbit work you can do one of those “extreme” (on subtle) makeover thingys with an arsenal of social media tools:

1) Start a blog–This may come as a surprise to some folks, but there are still people who do not have blogs . If you don’t have a blog and if you want to have some control over your online reputation you need to get one. You don’t need to go all problogger on it and post a million times a day–just get a few pages going. By setting it up under a domain that is your name (www.yourname.com) you have a good chance of your blog ranking well when someone Googles you.

2) Get some colleagues to suggest you for Wikipedia– Of course you need to be somewhat notable to be accepted as a wiki , but if you are you might want to give it a shot.

3) Publish a HubPage. Here’s a great article on how to get your hub on Google’s first page.

4) Create a Squidoo page. Having your name be part of the domain name is a plus. See Guy Kawasaki’s Squidoo page? Check the domain name he created. Actually this is a great page, with lots of info about him, videos, links to blog posts and his Wiki. Emulate him as closely as you can.

5) Write an article for ChangeThis. A very cool place to express ideas. From their website:

ChangeThis is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread. We’re on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds

Was that so hard? All of these things are free (with the exception of buying the domain name for your blog) and require minimal effort, although of course you will see more results if you regularly update your blog and your Squidoo and Hub pages.

It goes without saying–Be sure that the info you’re publishing reflects well on you and accurately shows your best side, your accomplishments, your intelligent thoughts on issues, and your creative ideas. The idea is to take some control over your online destiny or to create a well-thought out web presence that will put your best foot forward.

Source: Seth Godin

Photo Looking Good Originally uploaded by Hulalulatallulahoop

Disclaimer: Got this from Blog tips though they give credit to xkcd for the image. It says there that images found there use Creative Commons License. Just in case though, leave a comment in case of copyright issues.

According to their report the difference in Facebook still dominated the social media market with 78% of the survey participants using the platform. MySpace takes the number two spot with 42% of participants saying they use the site. LinkedIn gets only 17%. Twitter, on the other hand, may may come in last with only 10% market share but is enjoying being known as the social media site that “encourages closer connections.” Twitterers are apparently mostly using the site to connect with friends with other reasons such as updating their status and finding news being secondary.

Despite the fact that social media sites users primarily use them for personal reasons note that it is stilla powerful marketing tool. Anita Watkins, Senior Vice President at TNS, said, “Social media has transformed the way individuals connect and communicate with one another. Smart marketers are utilizing this behavior to their advantage by setting up online communities in which consumers can freely interact, discuss and debate issues around products, services and brands in a natural way. Companies are listening in to these conversations and harnessing the power of influencers to co-create their marketing strategies.”

The Social Media Smackdown started yesterday and gives celebrities only ten days to raise as much money as possible for their favorite charities using Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and MySpace. The event is sponsored by PayPal, which has pledged to donate and additional amount to the charity that the celebrity team supports. Celebs joining the smackdown include:

Kyle Petty for Victory Junction
Corbin Bleu for Stand Up to Cancer
Ernie Johnson for Samaritan’s Feet
Hayden Panetterie for The Whaleman Foundation
Elevennoms for Share Our Strength
Alec Baldwin for The Actors Fund
Linkin Park for Music For Relief
Brea Grant for Girls Rock Camp Austin
Pete Cashmore for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

You can vote for your favorite celeb or choose to vote because of the charity they support. So far Team Kyle is in the lead with $360 and Linkin Park lags miserably with just $10. Hey people remember this isn’t just another popularity competition so click on those links and donate to charity!

If you want to help a team raise money you can copy the Paypal widget for the charity and add it to your own page.

The incriminating evidence was actually found on the MySpace photos of Ronald Smythers and Kenneth Sanders. The photos showed a very distinctive red face with X eyes and an upside down U mouth. These photos were incriminating because they looked just like the racist graffiti found in a car repair shop in Charles County. I guess these two figured that the police wouldn’t be looking at their MySpace pages anyway so it’s safe to put up. While they were right that the police didn’t go looking for photos on MySpace they were wrong about the information landing in the police’s hands since some tipped off the police (safe o say that would be a MySpace user) landing the two, and a third guy they were said to have been with when they went on a grafitti spree, in the same place where the photos now are – the police’s hands.

MySpace has really been quiet lately and while other social networking sites have kept their position within the minds of the people who look up to these social networking sites, you may be surprised at how MySpace has an inkling of a thought as far as preference is concerned.

There is no question that Facebook has taken the lead in social networking today. MySpace can even be remembered standing toe-to-toe with Friendster. But while the two of them were competing back then, it is apparent that Facebook was in the background observing and studying the tactics being used by both sites. From there, you will agree, that studying the theories and moves paved the way for a unique Facebook technology to which has been rewarded properly as far as popularity and of course subscriber preference.

MySpace is still around but has really taken a backseat. Same with Friendster, they just have to think of something unique that can revive their stature in the cyberworld. Turning to enhancements and features that Facebook has already done is not working and no matter how hard they do it, they are simply a step short of what Facebook has already established.

Will we still see them get back on top? From the looks of it, it may take some time. But from what it looks like at the moment, it seems a certainty that they have their work cut out for them. It is never too late. You just have to be original and implement it fast before your memoirs totally fade away.

From Creative Capitol:

But the pain is not just a MySpace problem. It seems to be an industry-wide issue. The total audience of U.S. social networks seems to be stuck at a low-to-mid-single digit growth rate, while the engagment metrics are falling for just about everyone. Time spent on Bebo.com has been sliced in half over the last four months, while Friendster’s time spent has plummeted nearly 75% in the same time period. Overall, minutes spent per site fell 5% in December 2007 compared to the year-ago period.

One thing that I have noticed is that there is a lot of overlap with social networks. You may sign up for all of them, but do you really used all of them on a daily basis? For myself, the main social networks I use are Twitter and Facebook. There are only so many hours in the day, and lots of times you just end up having similar friends lists at each platform anyway.

So, to me, these numbers are not surprising, but I don’t think they predict the imminent demise of the social network industry. I think we just have the same groups of folks hopping from one network to the next, and it’s inevitable that sometimes the numbers will drop or not be rising as quickly as before.

What do you think?

Source: The Register

Well, it could be, depending on how many MySpace users Simon Owens has managed spur to action. Today is the day that Owens has declared “International Delete Your MySpace Account Day”.

Owens says of his initiative:

The idea quickly caught fire, being linked to on hundreds of websites spanning from Digg to Fark to MSNBC. Several journalists interviewed me about the day, including live radio and television interviews. I was also interviewed by a journalist at the Washington Post. A Myspace spokeswoman even responded to the event.

Regarding the event, MySpace spokesperson Rebekah Horne, vice president of Fox Interactive Media and MySpace in Australia and New Zealand, had this to say:

One blogger has declared January 30th “International Delete Your MySpace Account Day”. But MySpace doubts that this will have a great impact on their network. “This Delete-Your-MySpace day is just about being controversial,” Ms Horne said. “MySpace is still the biggest social networking site in the world.” In the words of BBC comedian Catherine Tate, MySpace does not look bothered.

In am curious to see how many accounts are deleted today, as I know this initiative has gotten widespread attention both online and in mainstream media. Depending on how frustrated other users are there could be a mass MySpace exodus in progress.

If you would like to jump ship today, Owens has posted detailed instructions on how to delete your MySpace account.

If you’ve experiences the annoyances of MySpace, you probably don’t need much convincing to delete your account, but in case you’re still teetering on the verge, Simon’s outlined his main motivators for giving MySpace the boot:

1. You rarely log in to Myspace except to delete spam friend requests from nude webcam girls.

2. You spend five minutes writing a wall post only to hit an error message when you try to post it because of all the website glitches.

3. You’re a girl who constantly gets marriage proposals from random men in the middle east.

4. You visit someone’s Myspace profile only to suddenly have music start blasting out of your speakers. Bonus points if it happens to you while you’re at work.

5. You have to make redundant clicks to perform simple tasks because Myspace keeps taking you to advertisement pages where you have to click on “return to myspace profile” in order to continue what you’re doing.

6. You visit someone’s profile only to have your eyes bleed because of terrible page layout with non-matching designs and font colors.

7. Your experience is hindered because of intrusive banner ads that either talk to you or try to reach out and block your view of what you’re trying to look at.

8. You read yet another news account about how some child predator using Myspace has abducted a little girl or that some hoax myspace account has caused a teenager to commit suicide.

9. You’re frustrated with the fact that Myspace doesn’t allow you to post your contact info, meaning to contact someone you can only use Myspace’s glitchy Instant Messenger, message/email system, or wall commenting.

10. You’re tired of seeing Tom stare out at you from millions of friends lists and just wish he would change his profile picture.

I cannot blame Simon for being pushed over the edge–I actually deleted my MySpace account about a month ago and somehow I’m still receiving “friend requests” from all sorts of random folks. So good luck to Simon–he may be deleting his account but I don’t know if MySpace ever lets folks escape their clutches.

What do you think–On January 30 will you guys be nuking your MySpace accounts?

Source: Mashable