It has been a long time since I last updated the socialize plugin. I made small updates here and there to fix some of the more common problems people were having but I never got around to making all the enhancements that had been requested. Well here it is, I’ve addressed every issue presented to me in the comments of the plugin page. I am very excited about this update as it basically brings the plugin back to stage 1 and I can build up from here. I also thought it was suitable considering the release of WordPress 3.0 to get these changes out the door so we can innovate on this new and improved platform.

How much different is this version than the last? Well here is a complete list of the latest changes:

• Commented out javascript
• Added security to page meta box
• Added Yahoo Buzz and Google Buzz buttons
• Removed custom Facebook button and replaced with official Facebook Share button
• Created Delicious button with save count
• Provided options to float in-content buttons to right or left
• Provided options to display buttons on different pages
• Added option to hide alert box on specific pages
• Fixed CSS
• Plugin now updates upon activation and keeps record of version
• Buttons can now be displayed in feeds

Highlights

New Buttons

I’ve added Yahoo Buzz and Google Buzz due to popular demand. I also went ahead and changed the old Facebook image I was using and replaced it with the official Facebook Share Button.

My favorite addition is the new delicious button. It was the only button without an official or nice looking share button with a save count. So I made my own, hope you like it.

New Position Settings

You can control whether buttons are displayed on posts, pages, archives, search pages and even your feed. You can also control if the buttons are displayed on the left or right side of the content.

Fixed JavaScript and CSS Problems

I took care or several problems where JavaScript was being displayed on pages and buttons weren’t positioning correctly.

What Is Socialize?

The idea was to create an easy to use plugin that allowed bloggers to selectively add social bookmarks to their post. Furthermore I wanted to only use actionable buttons with counters because I believe displaying a posts social activity gives it positive social proof and can lead to more shares and more views.

This plugin also includes what I like to call an ‘alert box’ that is selectively displayed below posts and pages to encourage comments and sharing. You can also insert buttons into this post to increase the sharing potential.

The plugin is designed to make it easy for readers to share your content and give you full control of what is displayed where.

Download Socialize

So go check out the plugin page and try it out.

Remember if you are upgrading, be sure to deactivate the plugin first and reactivate it once you have uploaded the files.

Facebook seems to be the king of social media for college students. One could easily argue that the demographics of the service support this. So why should they also care about Twitter?

Twitter and Facebook seem to fit the mold of Private vs Public. Facebook is a great means of keeping up with friends and family while sharing links, photos and seemingly random thoughts. The hump most new Twitterers (aka Tweeps) have to get over is

Why should I care about the seemingly random thoughts of complete strangers?

To me, its the same reason why you would go out to a bar over staying home with friends … you are interested in meeting new people. Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media sites out there and is the best medium for conversing with new like minded individuals. This mentality coincides with one of Twitter’s most useful functions. Tapping into the buzz of things that interest us. Twitter’s search capabilities in collaboration with it’s complete simplicity make it the perfect platform for crowd sourcing thoughts, ideas, questions and answers.

For example: If one were interested in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) they could follow the most popular MMA tweeps or even the MMA tweeps with the most interesting things to say. You could also set up a Twitter search for all mentions of MMA so you can jump in on the discussions and get the latest MMA news in REAL TIME.

You see, it’s not about the random thoughts of others but the thoughts of others that are relevant to you.

So what kinds of things should you be Tweeting?

That is completely up to you but the best way to learn is to watch others you enjoy reading. The most resourceful way to use Twitter is to reply and communicate with others. Some people like to use Twitter to show off their own accomplishments (like the completion of a new blog post or the creation of a new piece of art). Others use Twitter to support their business by proving their expertise through helping others in need. I myself use it mostly to talk with others I’ve met through Twitter … simple enough. Here is a list of 25 Twitter tips for college students.

Twitter is whatever you make of it and can be extremely powerful despite its apparent simplicity. The best way to learn about it is to just dive in. It’s always nice to know someone too, so feel free to reach out to me (@jondbishop ) and I’ll do my best to guide you in the right direction to be sure you get the most out of it.

- Photo by tanakawho

One of my posts about Facebook privacy was featured on Brazen Careerist and I think it brought forth some interesting discussion. There are those among us who believe my generation is a little out of hand with their Facebook usage. That our party pics and crazy wall post antics could prevent us from getting choice jobs in the future or even affect our status with our current employers. We even hear horror stories of people losing jobs over Facebook and private events being made public. But are these problems directly related to Facebook or could they have been avoided altogether? Yes I do think we should be aware of the content we are making public however I think it is becoming less of a problem than it was in the past.
First you need to look at the status of you work/life balance. Do you live to work or do you work to live. Furthermore are you happy with your life and with your job. Now would you be happy at a job that monitored your Facebook profile for proof that you were on the straight and narrow. I personally would not. I also don’t believe that the way I present myself in a social environment should have any bearing on my professional capabilities.

I think Saad Handoo summed it up quite nicely in a comment to my post on Brazen Careerist. He says:

Are we to assume that our managers cant disassociate our personal lives from the professionalism we keep in the workplace? Any rational being knows that the behavior you put on at a house party will be dramatically different from that of a work setting.

He goes on in a reply saying that, in the near future, Gen-Y will be the ones making the hiring decisions and future generations might have less to worry about.

Something Rebecca Thorman points out in one of her own video posts is that Facebook and other social media sites are a great place to look back and see how you’ve evolved throughout the years. This is one of the main reasons I keep my Facebook the way it is. It’s my ultimate journal of the last 5 years of my life that I am willing, and excited, to share with the rest of the world. Yes I am drinking in some of the pictures and yes some of the conversations are a little out of whack, but it’s part of who I am because it’s part of who I was.

Finally, I want to share a post with you from earlier last year by David Eaves that provides a little more insight on how Gen-Y approaches Facebook based on their history with the platform. We are very aware of who is looking at what we are posting and we might not care us much as you think we should.

It seems like a majority of Gen-Y still doesn’t understand how to maintain their public image. Just because you’ve created a LinkedIn account for your boss to check out, does not mean he’s going to overlook your party pics on Facebook. We’re smarter than this.

So what am I getting at? Well, some people say you should remove all the party pics and immature comments from your social media profiles but I think that’s a bit much. I joined Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family first and foremost. I don’t want to ruin a perfectly good channel for immature communications when I want it.

So learn to control it!

Look into setting up groups and privacy settings so that only the people you want can see the information you want them to see. Think twice about the most appropriate place to complain about how you lost your phone in a toilet last night … then be sure only the right people will see the photos leading up to you losing your phone.

There is no reason why you cant have a normal social life and use Facebook like you did back in college while at the same time maintaining a clean public image. The lines are slowly blurring between personal and business relations but it’s up to you to make sure that line still exists to some degree.

It’s your life, take control.

- Photo by rpongsaj

Everyone probably has their own little routine they go through but I just thought I would throw mine out there. Every day is a little different, but if I had to describe my average day, this would be it.

Wake Up

I don’t have an alarm clock. I’ve been using my cell phone as my alarm for the last 8 years. That has nothing to do with social media, just thought it was kind of interesting.

Once I am finally up, I sit at my computer to take a quick glance at my TweetGrid. I don’t usually respond to anything at this time, I just like knowing what’s going on.

Morning At Work

When I get to work I check my email and review all new Twitter friend requests. All my Twitter requests go to their own folder so I can easily run through them all and follow/ignore/block as i need to. Then I look over the TweetGrid I made for my company Magicomm to see what’s popping in the industry.

Lunch

For some reason, I’ll still check Yelp every day before lunch yet I somehow end up at the same places. Yelp plays a major role in my real world social life as it’s an excellent means of finding new places to go out at night and locating the best food in the area.

During my lunch break I try and get in as much blog reading as I can. I try to get in a good mix of topics that personally interest me and posts relevant to my job. At this point I’ve probably already tweeted about my coffee and am starting to have some real conversation on Twitter. I also like to check my Facebook at lunch too. I basically use Facebook as a way to keep in touch with real world friends and family and spare them all the techy geek talk.

Afternoon At Work

In between doing actual work and talking with my coworkers, I regularly monitor Twitter and TweetGrid at random times during the day, chiming in wherever I feel is appropriate. Magicomm has also adopted a social media strategy where I spend an hour of my day commenting, tweeting and sharing on behalf of Magicomm. This is when I usually throw around blog topic ideas for the Magicomm blog and maybe post some social media tips on the Magicomm Twitter account.

After Work

After work I’ll send out a DM to some of my buddies to see what they’re up to and update my BrightKite location once I know where I’m going. BrightKite makes it easy to update my twitter status with a photo as well as upload that same photo to Flickr and Facebook automatically. Then I’ll usually take another look at Yelp if I plan on going out or I’ll jump in to one of my more favorite communities, Steam. Steam is a platform for gaming and networking with other gamers interested in the same games. It’s just another easy way to have fun on the web with some of my friends.

Before Bed

Every night before bed I like to play with my blog a bit. It’s a great way to relieve some stress after a long day and be sure that everything is working properly. And if I couldn’t be any more suggestive, sometimes I’ll even squeeze out a post or two.

I guess what I am trying to get across with this post is that I am not forcing any of these routines. I do them because I am genuinely interested in the relationships or the information I am taking in. I read blogs instead of newspapers and I use Twitter instead of yelling at people in the streets. Facebook has replaced my text messaging and Yelp is the collective thoughts of a million different reviewers. I am a social media geek and so can you.

I set up my Facebook account in September of 2004. I remember everyone was talking about it. The timing was perfect as it was my first time out on my own and I was desperate to meet people. It instantly became the go to solution to find out who that cute girl in my math class was or which frat house was having the biggest party.

Back then it wasn’t about fan pages, advertisements or Facebook apps …. it was about enabling connections. Facebook will always be sacred in my mind as my “platform for friends”. I never did warm up to Facebook apps or fan pages and continue to use it as I always have.

I guess my point is, social media is about enabling relationships; whether it’s through the sharing of videos and images or the exchange of thoughts through conversations. I probably would have made just as many friends as I did in college without Facebook, I just think Facebook moved the relationships along faster.

Now looking forward, I don’t see the way I use social media changing. Whether I am meeting new people for personal or business reasons, social media will drive the relationships further and faster.

So what are you doing here?

Wondering why you’re not seeing any results from your marketing efforts in social media? Probably because you are doing it wrong. Here are a few things you can try doing differently.

Twitter

I feel like Twitter is the easiest one to do right and somehow so many people do it wrong.

First you have your spray and prayers. They follow everyone on TwitterPacks and post one link in their feed that sends them to their website. If very little untargetted traffic is your thing then by all means go for it. You won’t last very long as Twitter is slowly getting better at filtering out the trash in its intertubes.

So the easiest way to use Twitter for business is to develop a following through honest communication.

Wondering why no one’s following you back?

• You’re following too many people
• You never filled out your profile
• You never post anything
• You only post things from your blog
• You’re too hot to be real (or too ugly to be followed)
• You sound like a robot

Key to Success: Reach out to others

I find that those that become resources in their communities often thrive at building trust as well as followers.

Facebook and LinkedIn

Facebook and LinkedIn are great places to network by using their groups and micro communities to find like minded individuals. However, people often overlook the potential in niche community sites outside of the main stream social media. These smaller communities are filled with people that might actually like your service and even welcome it.

Another reason why your marketing efforts won’t work on Facebook is simply because they are not welcome. Facebook is a platform to connect with friends, not your brand. If you once again focus your efforts on becoming a resource rather than just throwing yourself out there, you may see better results.

Key to Success: Be yourself

Like I said, “Facebook is a platform to connect with friends, not your brand”. Use these tools to network the same way you would at a party or any other networking event.

Blog

Blogging can be the foundation of your companies online reputation or it can get overlooked completely. There’s no shortcut to developing quality content for your posts. Blog about things you actually know about.

Wondering why no one is subscribing to your feed?

• Your posts are too long
• Your topics don’t provide value
• Your layout compromises your post
• Your title isn’t appealing
• No one knows your blog exists

Key to Success: Focus on writing unique content for a specific audience. Also be sure to seek out your target audience and connect with them honestly and openly.

Wrap Up

There are a lot of specifics you can get into when identifying your target audience online and how you can best reach them. I look at all of my social media conversations and try to be as completely transparent as possible. I also try to maintain a healthy mix of personal and business interactions as I do in life. Remember that social media is just a tool that helps extend our real life beyond it physical limits and it should be treated as such.

So what do you think? What else might be holding back someone’s social media efforts from seeing any results?

- Photo by coxy