http://sidit.org

A few weeks ago I was presented with the concept of personal brand as a fad; a mere buzzword that no one would care about in a few months. I immediately shot back in defense. I mean, it would be pretty upsetting to be crafting my own brand only to have no one care, right?

Over the few years that I've been using Facebook, I've acquired quite a few likes. A few thousand to be exact. Now you might think that's a bit ridiculous, and it is, really. There's no possible way I can interact with all of those pages, and I don't.

I'm a huge fan of infographics of any kind. Whether they tell a story or convey information, it doesn't matter. While I can't create my own, I've compiled a list of awesome, interesting and fun infographics related to social media. With 2 billion people searches in 2010, Linked In is arguably one of the most used professional networking sites available.

Is being connected 24/7 a blessing or a curse? It seems that with the rise of smart phones and laptops, people can be online and connected to their favorite sources of information at anytime. Personally I think it's a curse. A miniature experiment. A few weeks back, I took a trip to the middle of nowhere Montana to disconnect and do some networking with actual people. That's right, not on Linked In, Facebook or any other online hangout -- in person. I planned on the trip being a total disconnect from my online social life and my face-to-face social life back in Ohio. I love my "friends," but I was really looking for a break. I wanted to shut off that constant connection. I went into the mountains fully expecting to lose cellphone service and not see a lick of wifi for a week. I honestly didn't want to see my iPhone for the next six days.

Social TV is an interesting term that refers to platforms that allow users to engage with each other around what they're watching on TV or in theaters. This hits home for me because I worked on a platform called ScreenTribe for six months in 2010, and I continue to support it today. The term seems to be taking on a new meaning as advertisers, marketers and developers realize there's a market that hasn't yet been capitalized on. When we began work in May/June of 2010, the space was sparse. There weren't many competitors, and the competitors that existed were far more inferior to our platform. We offered new ways to do things and different ways to experience existing functionality. Still, the term social TV applied to what we were doing. That is, engaging television and movie watchers with exclusive content and allowing them to interact with people that were watching the same things.

In my last post, I talked about monitoring the message. I wanted to expand on that and show the world how I monitor our brands at Napkin Studio, at least on Twitter. Monitorred brands at NapkinStudio The process really isn't all that complicated, but it does take time. When you do it right, you can catch problems before they happen and engage with your user base to make them more active. People tend to really appreciate a response when they aren't expecting one. When they get a response to their claim or complaint, they're more apt to respond positively. I use it as a tool to get people to tell us about bugs, and figure out what they do and don't like. I compile the users experiences collected on Twitter (and other sources of course) and figure out the best way to make things work and what the most pressing bugs and issues are.

Public Relations is all about two way communication. It's about getting personal and crafting messages that are well received by certain segments of you target population. The addition of social media to PR makes it easier for practitioners to communicate with people that are talking about the brands, products or services that are being monitored. Social media is both a blessing and a burden for PR. On one hand, social communicators can broadcast their messages to people who want to hear them, and they can interact and engage with potential customers. On the other hand, social media allows anyone who may not agree with a message to voice their opinions. It's a way for the complainers in the world to make a PR professionals work for their money. Managing these messages can be a pain, but it's something that must be done. If it's done right, negative messages can turn positive, and positive messages can be spread with credibility.

Over the past year, i've watched numerous check-in services come about. Some of them are quite ridiculous, and I can't see myself or anyone else using all of them. Are these services a trend, or will they stick around? How can all of the check-in in data be used, and how is it being used?

I’ll admit it; I have a small addiction to all things social media. My iPhone enables the addiction when I’m not at home. It keeps me connected and feeds my desire to know what my friends are up to. I know where people are, what they’re saying, what they’re watching on TV and so much more. I’ve integrated social media into my every day life. Instead of checking services periodically, I get updates when things change or stuff happens. It’s part of the always on 24/7 phenomena that is my generation. I’m a member of many networks, from Last.fm to Linkedin. I'll give anything a try, but social networks are only fun if I can interact and engage with my friends. These are five of my most commonly used social apps, and yes they’re all free.