Marcelo Calbucci

I have a lot of friends who are addicted to “Web 2.0” and “Social Media”. But I have a lot more friends telling me they don’t get it. Why would I spend time on Twitter? Or Facebook? Or LinkedIn? They say.

I’ll not try to make you join Twitter, or start putting status update on Facebook, but I must warn you, you are missing a lot of great opportunities on your life, personal and professional, if you are not doing a few very simple things.

I want to compare not being part of the “social Web” as not being alphabetized. If you can’t read you don’t see the sign that says “50% off”, or “Help Wanted”, or “We are closed on Mondays”. You just miss a lot of things you don’t even know you were missing. Not being part of the social Web is like that. You don’t know what you are missing. And I can guarantee you, you are missing it.

• On career: I don’t care if you already have a job, are happy and making an awesome salary. There might be someone desperately seeking your skills out there. The moment you least need to seek for a job is the moment you are better positioned to take the best job opportunities.
• On friends: You might not be aware of it, but your friends are chatting and writing on each other’s walls (a reference to Facebook). If you are not being part of that, you’ll be missing on the inside jokes. Saying that you have a very active social life is no excuse either because your friends not only have that, but they are also using a unique communication channel.
• On hobbies: You’d be surprised to find out that you are not the only one on your social circle who likes playing badminton, or singing opera, or swing dancing. Once you are part of the social web, and someone learns you just “checked in” (a reference to Foursquare) on “Impulse Ballroom on Bellevue”, they might connect you with another friend who also likes dancing.

I could create a very long list of situations where the social Web can change your life, but I’ll stop at those above. Use your imagination to think of more ways you might be missing. Now, let’s get practical and give you a few real world tips.



#1 Join LinkedIn


#2 Update your Facebook Profile
You are probably already on Facebook, but you might not be using it or your information might be incomplete. Facebook is absolutely great to keep up with what your friends are doing, where they are travelling, the pictures they took, and reconnect with long lost friends (if you want to). There are three things you must do on Facebook: First, you need to make sure your profile is up-to-date. A lot of people forget to update their Facebook profile and it still has the old city, job or girlfriend. Update your profile and remind yourself to update it every 6 months or so. The second thing is to make sure you have the friendships there. The third thing is the Mobile Apps for Facebook (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Windows Phone, etc.) The cool thing about these apps is they provide phone directory functionality. This means if you updated your Facebook profile with your phone number (no worries, since only your friends can see it), your friends can use their Mobile Facebook App to find your phone number. Actually, on the iPhone it can automatically synchronize with your address book, so when your friend gets a new phone number, you don’t have to do anything!


For the Advanced

#3 Blogging
You don’t have to be an amazing writer, write perfect English (cough, cough) or be a story teller to have a blog. All that you need is an interest or a passion. Once you start writing about something you care amazing things start to happen. Suddenly on your “Car Enthusiast” blog you get invited by the local Tesla dealer for an exclusive sneak peek at their next model, or on your “Baby Blog” Pampers send you a sample package of their new redesigned diaper. Companies are listening, but that’s not the coolest part. The coolest part is when you have a blog for several months writing about something you like, and you go to a social or professional event, and someone you never met before has read a blog post you wrote. That opens a whole new dimension of relationship and reputation.

#4 Twitter
Facebook is for everyone. LinkedIn is for workers. Blogging is for businesses or hobbies. Twitter is… not for everyone. By now you are sick and tired of hearing about Twitter on TV, radio, newspapers, blogs, and everywhere else. There is a lot of value on Twitter, both for personal and professional reasons, but it does take you to do things that don’t come natural to a lot of people. Making random updates about your life or witty comments on a public setting can be awkward for some folks. Give it a try, but make sure you use a client app (Seesmic or TweetDeck) and a Mobile App, otherwise the experience is not great.

#5 Foursquare
Contrary to Twitter, I think Foursquare is for everyone. Foursquare is a mobile application. Once you enter a restaurant, shopping mall, gas station or any other venue, you pick up your phone and “check-in” into that venue. As soon as you check-in all your friends on Foursquare are notified where you are (your phone beeps or vibrates telling “Marcelo @ Safeco Field”). In other words, you might have a friend who is at the same bar you are and once you check-in he can look for you. There is a lot more little things on Foursquare that makes it more interesting, like tips (a lot of people put Wi-Fi passwords on Foursquare tips), and a few places (bars, restaurants, stores) are starting to offer discount through it, depending on the number of times you visited the place or if you are nearby their store. The secret to Foursquare is to keep your list of Friends small and only the people you really care to know where they are, and vice-versa.

I know this is somewhat of a longer blog post, but I hope that you leave here with a few lessons; the most important of them all is to update your Facebook and LinkedIn profile and connections. What are you waiting for? Opportunities are being missed as we speak!