How 'social' should companies be?

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My policy on who/how many people I follow on Twitter has become much more lax in recent months. These days, I follow back most of the people that follow me. The downside to this is that a lot of these people will immediately unfollow me as soon as I follow them back, I guess in an attempt to 'pad' their follower count.

So every few weeks, I like to go through my Twitter network and 'cleanse' it. I will unfollow a lot of the people I am following that aren't following me, and at the same time I will try to follow back people that followed me that I somehow missed. I was doing this today (using Twellow), and I began to notice a trend as I was going through the people I was following, that weren't following me.

I was following a LOT of people that write for Mashable, that weren't following me back. I finally found SEVEN people that identified themselves as writers for Mashable, that weren't following me back. I'm not talking about people that occasionally write for Mashable, these are seven paid writers for Mashable, not counting Cashmore (he isn't following me either).

I checked the ratio of people they follow to those that follow them. The 'best' ratio I found was one writer that was following back roughly 33% of the people that follow him. The worst was less than 10%.

I got to thinking about this, and honestly I'm not sure of the significance. Will I stop promoting Mashable on Twitter because none of their writers will follow me back? Probably not. Now do I think it's hypocritical for the site to bill itself as 'The Social Media Guide' and only follow back a fraction? Yeah, a little. Is that enough to make me change how I share their content with my network? Probably not.

So at the end of the day, who cares? That's what I'm wondering about. If a company is at all connected to social media, whether it's via content they aggregate, or create, or distribute, or services they offer, are these companies held to a higher 'standard' when it comes to using social media? If an agency brands itself as being 'experts in making companies social', and they aren't using social media to be social themselves, is that a disconnect? Are they expected to be more 'social'? Should they be? At the end of the day does it really matter?

What do you think?


UPDATE: As I continued to go through the people I am following that aren't following me back, I noticed that I also had several from Twitter. Which is really ironic.

I won't speak for free

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In March of 2008 I had a pair of 'firsts' that were both scary as hell for me at the time. First, I flew on an airplane for the first time in my life, and second, I spoke at SXSW. Actually I moderated a panel, but it was the first time since graduate school 5 years prior, that I spoke in front of an audience.

Now as an introvert, an introvert that had never spoken professionally at the time, my first thought when I was contacted about moderating a panel at SXSW was "There's no way I can do this!"

My second thought was "There's no way I can't do this!"

So although I was literally worried sick about speaking at SXSW, I went ahead with it. It ended up being one of the best decisions I've made in the last 2 years, and now I actually love speaking at social media conferences, something I would have never imagined this time two years ago. And I've gotten to be a pretty good speaker, I get good reviews every time I speak, and at every event I have had at least one attendee tell me afterward that my presentation alone justified the cost of the event for them.

For each event I speak at I spend on average 10 hours creating the slide deck, and about 20 hours rehearsing the presentation, unless it's an existing presentation/deck, then that time is much less. The end result is that I spend anywhere from 15-30 hours preparing/rehearsing the presentation, and lose a minimum of one day due to travel, usually two days.

So there's a pretty big time commitment necessary for me to speak at an event. And yet even with the time investment required, even though I have spoken at most of the biggest social media events and get rave reviews when I speak, I still have conference organizers that contact me expecting me to speak at their event for free.

And when I say 'free', I don't mean that they won't pay a speaking fee. I mean that they won't cover a speaking fee OR any of the speaker's travel costs TO the event.

About a year ago, I adopted a strict policy for speaking at events: I won't speak for free. If you want me to speak at your event, the bare minimum requirement is that you cover my travel. I'll probably require a speaking fee as well, but one certainty is that I won't be paying to come speak at your event so you can sell more tickets. I have turned down a lot of speaking requests in the last year because the event organizers wanted me to speak for free.

I won't. Period.

I'm sorry, but if you are an event organizer, my expertise and time are both worth money, and I'm going to ask for it. I've worked with event organizers before, so I understand that very few social media conferences are cash cows. But a lot more could be compensating their speakers, even if it's only their travel to the event.

Besides that, it's the right thing to do.

Can You Learn to Eat Foods You've Hated Your Entire Life?

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Jenna guest posts, she is the agent of change over at Food With Kid Appeal, sharing tips and tricks with parents who want their kids to eat healthy food. You can read her feeding the family tweets @kidappeal.

I was indulged as a child in my peculiar eating habits. I didn’t like stuff mixed up which prevented me from eating sauces, casseroles, soups, sandwiches etc. I liked things plain and separate. I was the girl who ordered a hamburger (dry and never ate the bun) and fries whether we were eating at Mexican, American or Italian restaurant. If you’ve spent any of your years being a picky eater, there are two categories of food. Food you eat, and food you don’t eat. Period.

Things got better in college where I was presented with new food I hadn’t labeled as gross. All the sudden Mediterranean and Chinese food became a staple in my diet.

Fast forward to my thirties when I was feeding my young family. I wanted to avoid the whole picky eating thing with my kids. I was dismayed when my food tolerant baby turned into a toddler with some fixed food preferences. He wasn’t picky, but he certainly stopped eating a bunch of things he used to eat. I noticed most of my friends toddlers were the same, refusing some of the foods they’d eaten as babies. So I set out to get my toddler back on track with universal tolerance.

Meanwhile I still had some hang-ups with food I was exposed to in childhood in the food-I-don’t-eat category: oatmeal, raw carrots, nuts, peppers and onions. A few times I got brave and would try a carrot here, or onion there, but my mind was made up before I tasted them-they were inedible. No big surprise when I tasted them and said “nope, still hate onions.” I wasn’t successful in learning to like food I hated until I stopped thinking of them as gross food. It’s a mind-set issue. I opened up the door for the possibility to enjoy “hated” foods. I visualize how delicious a raw red pepper strip is, so crunchy and a little sweet, before I put it in my mouth. That reaction too was no surprise, “hmm, peppers aren’t my favorite but I can eat them. No more gagging.

About a year ago, I decided to learn right along with my kids. Often the best way to learn is to teach. When you teach, you often discover what you don’t know, and you can relate to your audience. When I serve food I have historically not eaten, like carrots, I tell them carrots aren’t my favorite. I say that I prefer them cooked, and when raw they are very crunchy. Then I eat one, and show them I survived. The concept that food doesn’t have to be a favorite to be eaten is very powerful in learning to overcome food aversions.

I’m a recovering picky eater (check out the whole story at Food With Kid Appeal). It’s been a life-long learning process, and I’ve got a ways to go-I still don’t like peppers or plain nuts-although I’m warming to red, yellow and orange peppers. I’m glad I’m eating better. I wonder sometimes how I spent two decades not knowing about the deliciousness of oatmeal and onions (not in the same dish!).

What's In A Letter?

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Julie Cole is one of the founders of Mabel’s Labels Inc. (www.mabel.ca) and a proud mother expecting baby #6!

It's true that I don’t exactly follow the rules of old-school etiquette when it comes to pint-sized manners. I prefer that other people’s children call me by my first name and will shudder if addressed as “Mrs”. And while no one likes to see kids getting too wound up in public, I do expect and tolerate a bit of energy and carry-on if they are dragged into the grocery store or bank. I don’t consider this behaviour impolite. Along the same lines, I don’t think it’s rude for a toddler to be fidgeting at the dinner table 10 minutes after being seated – it’s simply as much as a child that age can handle.

Having said that, in a house with as many children as mine (make that five with a sixth on the way), manners are still a must. My children are expected to act respectfully and reminders for “please” and “thank-you” are issued throughout the day.

As parents ourselves, the team at Mabel’s Labels can relate to our customers’ concerns about the lack of letter writing in these times of growing dependence on technology. Will our children come to rely completely on instant forms of communication like e-mail and text messaging – forms of communication that don’t require grammar or spelling? And will the skills that come from sitting down and writing letters be lost?

And so based on customer demand, we recently launched the “Write On!” Personalized Stationery kits.

Louise Fox, a leading children’s etiquette educator in Canada and the U.S. confirms letter writing contributes to an assortment of skills beyond those of just writing. She notes that letter writing teaches children to be courteous and gracious. In short, a kid who writes letters is a kid with who knows a thing or two about good manners.

For my children, letter writing has helped them connect to the older generations in our family. My children have grandparents and great-grandparents, some living internationally. Since many of these family elders are not online, pen pal relationships have been formed between them and my children.

For our family, letter writing has not only provided my children with valuable skills, it has provided them with valuable relationships.

What's The Trick? How Can I Grow My Blog?

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Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom to 3 silly kids. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You can follow more of her projects at her parenting blog Make and Takes.


Here's a few tips and tricks to help increase traffic to your blog.
As I've been blogging for 2 years and currently have just over 4,100 daily subscribers, I know most of these tips have helped my own readership grow.


Niche Blogging - Find your passion and blog about it. It's much easier and comes more naturally if you blog about something you love. It could be food, parenting, photography, knitting, design etc. If you're genuine and real in your posts, people respond to that and want to read more.

Submitting Posts - There are some great sites that take submissions for related posts and can bring you new readers. Here's a few to check out:

• Stumble Upon - here you must submit other sites as well as your own.


• Kirtsy, Digg, Delightful


• Craftzine, Get Crafty, The Craft Crow, Tip Junkie
  


• Tastespotting, Foodgawker, FoodPhotoBlog

How-To Type Posts - A post with a recipe or directions to make something are very popular with sites like Stumble Upon or Kirsty. They tend to bring a lot of traffic, as people love to see how to make things for themselves.

Use Twitter as a Business Card - Twitter is great for building relationships with people, but it can also be great for sharing your site with others. Try to follow people who are in your area of interest. Chances are they will see your profile and click on your blog link, seeing who you are and maybe staying a while.

Responding to Comments - When someone leaves a comment on your blog, try to comment back or even email back to readers who may be new to your blog. It helps them feel welcome and you can say thanks for sharing their comment. Chances are they'll find you took the time to say hi and they'll come back to read more.

Leaving Comments - Visit other people's blogs and share a comment. Who doesn't love to get comments? Read their posts and comment with something relevant to add, letting them know you're genuine!

I hope these tips and tricks help. What else have you found to help increase traffic to your site?

Photo by flickr.

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Sun's Out

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Alas, the season on the East Coast is over. Although this was the "worst" winter in VT, it was one of the most enjoyable season-ending weeks I have enjoyed in my tenure. Sky high temps and well maintained parks at Carinthia made for a idyllic last week of training.

The kids nailed it on the second to last day, dressing in beach gear or Canadian tuxedos. I was laughing or smiling the entire day and, as the pictures show, fun was had by all. The soft snow lead to final progressions, with Dan Landy and Peter Cerulo and Phoebe landing backflips, Chip Linton and Quincy stomping back rodeos, and Biba just getting heaps wild.


THE GIRLS SHRED IN SPRING ATTIRE





















MR MARCH CHIP LINTON


















DAN LANDY

Yup Sun's Still Out Here Too Kirk.

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Ian I hope the spanish rebellion is settling out if only for the sake of Junior World Championships. Congratulations and Thanks to every American and SMS Snowboarder for going over to rep our home to the world. The rest of us are in Summit County CO. for the USASA Nationals and some heavy training to continue the season. You would be proud of Dan Landy for being Dan the Man. Danimal. Stan! Dan is landing his stock line of sbs 5 to fs seven so quick each day that he gets to push for front nine and sbs 7. They are coming, and it is real. Four out of five guys at Breck got their sevens pretty dialed today and the 5th is every bit as happy just to be back on Snow. Great to Xander Raith back on the road to Health and riding again.
The SBX train has been rolling and the kids love it but the course was unkind to Mace who suffered a slight concussion in training. Noelle has had an MRI to check out her training injury from spain and it looks like an acl tear to complete the season. We will ride hard to honor those of us who cannot and hope for speedy and perfect recovery for both athletes. Chip said HP traioning was great at copper today and tomorrow we engage the busiest day in snowboarding. 22 sms riders among nearly 2000 others will move from venue to venue with an hour and a quarter to settle their contest tactics for the comps to follow. The weather is great and the facilities are far ahead of what we imagined just years ago. Looking forward to some great riding to wrap up the season for all of these kids who have worked all year in every condition. Sunny and Sick on the schedule throughout!