Now you can push all of your Linkedin status updates to Twitter, and send all your Twitter posts to Linkedin. But the question is, should you? Linkedin is a business tool for solving business challenges. Linkedin suggests that you connect with people you know and trust. The Status Update feature was created to let you share with your direct connections what you are working on, what’s going on with your work, or something about your business that you want to share. It is a tool for providing your recent business updates to the business people you know and trust.

It may be relevant to update once a week–maybe even once a day– but not every time you Tweet, which could be an overwhelming number of updates all day. Just think how strange it would make you seem if you met someone in the hall at work or at the local coffee shop and you asked them what they were working on and they answered, “A penny saved is a penny earned!.” Or if you asked them a question like “What are you working on Judy? and Judy answered, “You’re welcome @JayJones! @tommeypinto, Just the best.” You would certainly think there was something wrong with these people. Yet this can be the effect created for Linkedin users when their trusted connections push every Twitter post to the business status update in Linkedin.

This is similar to the person that auto pushes info out to all their social media connections and tells me that they “know they are getting out there, but haven’t had much response.” The reply to that is “Do you talk to pictures on the wall or advertisements in public places? Of course not! If you are not present, why should they respond?” The same principle applies for Linkedin.

The correct use of Linkedin Status is for you to provide useful updates to share with your trusted business contacts. You would not walk into a business associate’s office and say, “Here are all my comments to people all day, out of context and thought,” dropping the packet on their desk and leaving. What would you think about a person who did that to you? That they don’t value your attention or time. Quality networking is not done through the rapid distribution and interruption of large numbers of people… we call that SPAM!

As someone who has been teaching people about Linkedin since 2006, I was concerned when they said you can send all your Twitter updates to Linkedin without a warning notice! The ability to selectively send Twitter updates (with thought) to your Linkedin profile, or the other way around, is a wonderful feature. Just stop and ask is this relevant for both communities. My concern is that good people with good intentions may not realize how they are annoying their own valuable circle of business people or just forcing them to find the “hide” button so they stop seeing anything they have to say. Remember Linkedin displays only a small number of updates unlike Twitter so if you just push all you Tweets over and have a lot it just dominates the field and would be like talking all the time at a meeting where everyone wants a turn to speak about that they are doing in their business.

Just to check this out, I posted a question in Linkedin asking people’s impressions of the auto push of Twitter posts to Linkedin for Linkedin users, and here is a sample of the responses: http://www.linkedin.com/answers/using-linkedIn/ULI/657379-548650 and here is a Poll I posted on Linkedin: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/87361/jwbsz

Martin Brossman on Twiter at http://www.twitter.com/martinbrossman
and Linkedin at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinbrossman

See an informal video I made on the topic:

How to Hide someone’s in the Status area if they don’t respond to you explain how their auto-pushing all Twitter to Linkedin fill up their feed.

I am especally honored that after mentioning this issues to Chris Brogan he wrote a blog post about it. See that post at:
http://www.toddrjordan.com/thebroadbrush/2010/05/diluting-linkedin-with-twitter/

Martin Brossman – Success Coach / Trainer / Author
www.ProNetworkingOnLine.com – (919) 847 4757

A year later, with four twitter accounts, (and HootSuite) for four different streams in my life – a general one, a publicity one, a creative writer one and a massage therapy one – it’s been more fun than any of the other social media sites combined.

Here are my top reasons, in order of priority to me.

Reason before all Reasons: Martin Brossman told me I had to be. (Truth be told.)

Reason 1: I get more access to more interesting, dynamic, intelligent, creative and cutting-edge people on Twitter than anywhere else. Authors and well-known people have responded more to me on Twitter than on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Reason 2: I get to participate in streams of conversation with people from around the world if I want. I can post my views, my frustrations, my inspirations and my humor. I get to participate in a pretty real time environment. During the Hope for Haiti Telethon, tweeters I did not know answered my questions about the singers and songs!

Reason 3: I get to learn a lot. While some tweets are mundane, and others are outright spam, many tweets are links to fascinating articles, often the tweet itself informs me of a new trend or development or news. I get to choose the areas of news I want to get by choosing the people to follow. Each of us becomes our own news feed – that’s amazing.

Reason 4: I get to find out what is brand new and what people think about products, trends and companies. I like to search for trends. When I learn of new products or companies, I first search Twitter to see if it’s made it there or not, and if so, what people are saying.

Reason 5: I want to be found. If people are looking for someone like me, a creative writer, an internet publicist, a massage therapist, or an American who speaks Mandarin Chinese, French, pidgeon Italian and less Spanish, I want them to be able to find me on Twitter.

Reason 6: I like to share what I find with others. Followers really value getting the latest scoop from others, short cuts, heads up, new information… I want people to save me time and point out important things, so I try to do that for others.

Reason 7: Did I already say I get access to more interesting people on Twitter than anywhere else? Oh yes, that was Reason 1.

Reason 8: I get to study different ways that businesses are using twitter to give me new ideas for my own Twitter communications, as well as that of my clients.

Reason 9: It’s FUN! It’s like talking to strangers in line at a concert, as just one example.

Reason 10: I like the challenge of fitting communications in the constraint of 140 characters. It’s like playing a game, and good practice for poets too.

Reason 11: I get to create lists and help organize the Twittersphere, making it easier for people to find each other.

Reason 12: I am a writer. I like to write. I like to respond. I like to engage. It’s like sport-writing. It’s like a game of Racketball compared to Facebook which is like Baseball, compared to LinkedIn which is like Fencing. (Oh and yes, inSideNetworX (919) which is like playing Frisbee, where everyone has one.

Does any of this mean you have to be on Twitter? Not at all, it’s just exposing the value that I’ve found for me.

Guest contributor  Anora McGaha

Anora McGaha

Follow her on Twiter at: http://www.twitter.com/clearsightpr

Her website: http://www.clearsightcreativeresources.com

On Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/anoramcgaha

Thanks Anora for both writing this and the kind mention.  - Martin

Posted on Professional Business Networking On the blog by Martin Brossman

http://www.ProNetworkingOnLine.com

This is a new electronic business card that stays up-to-date and includes Social Media links as well as your picture. In the old days we traded business cards that were often hard to read, when we got back to the office we had to type or scan into our computer and used paper from trees (NOT Green).

Today instead of the business card we use the  Poken which costs from $20 to $35  (much less then a bunch of quality business cards) .  You meet someone, touch your Pokens together, and that, with short range wireless, transmits a code to each Poken. You plug your Poken in to your computer back at the office using a standard USB port and all their info shows up on the screen including web address, social media sites, videos and their picture. You can export this data electronically to any other system you want.  If they change a website, a phone number, a job, or their picture you get updated with the change automatically! It also shows you where you met them in time.

The Poken is much, much more than just an electronic business card sharing device. It is a fun way to share your social media and contact information with someone you meet who also has a Poken. It can include your photo, all your social media sites, your websites, phone, address..whatever you want to add. Links are active hyper links AND they don’t have to type your contact info into their computer. You can have it on you keychain and when you find someone you meet that also has one and you would like to share information with them, you just touch your Pokens together. They glow and that means the transfer of the ID’s occurred. Next time you are at your computer you plug your Poken into the USB slot and it transfers all your contacts to the web based Poken contact page. It is a new product by a new company that is already turning a profit. I believe this or something like this will be used more and more in the future over just a business card.

There are two models of the Poken and the Hub:

* PokenSPARK: Cost less (~$20.00 + shipping ), are the the little things with the big hand, has no extra memory.
http://www.poken.com/spark

* PokenPULSE: Cost a bit more (~$35.00 + shipping), looks like a USB memory stick and had 2Gig of re-usable memory as well as the Poken electronics and storage for the Poken data. To see the PULSE:
http://www.poken.com/pulse

* PokenHUB: This is the website you use to maintain and keep all your contact data. Since it is web based you can be a different computer and both view and update it. To see more about the HUB:
http://www.poken.com/website

Benefits of the Poken:

* Don’t have to type in their contact information or re-check check scanned in information like a business card.
* If they change their connections or content information your information on them is automatically updated.
* It includes the time / date when you met them on a time-line.
* Their photo is included.
* You can easily export the data to other electronic devices.

What is required to make this work for you:

* You both have to have a Poken.
* You both have to have internet access.
* You need to carry it with you.
* Every 4 to 8 months you will have to open the little case and change the battery that you can find at Radio Shack.

Click here to lean more about Poken in the Raleigh area.

Some other resource to lean more about the Poken

What is a Poken – Comprehensive video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z51JUot_yUY

Connecting your Poken to your computer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JFOqeULU0

A videos about the Poken:
http://vimeo.com/6985456
More about it: http://vimeo.com/6955476

More about the Networking concept related to Poken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61jYzrR5MN4

What the Poken looks like inside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js2R6E4Q82k

Text explanation of the Poken including the manufacture and technology from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poken

Blog post comparing the Poken to other Digital Business cards:
http://technology.inc.com/hardware/articles/200906/businesscard.html

To get questions and answers about the Poken and community support:

http://getsatisfaction.com/poken

Place to buy your Poken!:
http://www.pokenzoo.com

Also you can get them from a link on inSide919.com
At FindaPoken

And I am often carrying around a few that I will sell at $19.95 for the PokenSPARK and the PokenPULSE for $34.99 (you don’t pay shipping).
Call me for info (919) 847-4757

Now that you own a Poken, how to connect it to your computer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JFOqeULU0

Hope this was informative and please post your additions and comments. If you have a Poken let us know! I have a new list on Twitter called Poken Owners of RTP, if you are one and want to be on this list send me a tweet! Here is the link to the list: http://twitter.com/martinbrossman/poken-owners-of-rtp
Post a note here or to my Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/martinbrossman

Martin Brossman
ProNetworkingOnLine.com
Raleigh NC

BNI Morning Show - N. Raleigh

Enhancing the Value of Your BNI Referral Group with Social Media by Martin Brossman

I was privileged to speak at The BNI Morning Show, a popular BNI group in North Raleigh, about business use of Social Media and on-line reputation management. To share the highlights with you, here are a few of my short tips for profoundly enhancing the value of your BNI referral group using Social Media and reputation sites.
- You can update LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook status about the meeting with something unique to that day, and the name of the group. Example someone posted: Looking forward to hearing Martin Brossman about Social Media w/business at our BNI Morning Show

- When having a one-on-one with someone, you may want to say something about the meeting and reference the person on any of your micro-blogs or status updates such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn .

- Give recommendations to members on LinkedIn after you have worked with them enough to give a specific and valid recommendation.

- Use on-line press releases to announce significant changes or advancements to the group.

- Include a member /reference the group in a blog post.

- Using Facebook “Pages” for business allows a posting to be picked up by Google vs. your personal profile that is basically seen by only the people you have let in as friends. .

- Have a short URL for a Web page or Facebook business page for members to use when posting on micro-blogs and status updates such as bit.ly .

- Post honest and positive comments in on-line sites like MerchantCircle.com or LocalAdLink.com This can also include posting on the person’s “wall” on sites like Facebook.com, LinkingRaleighNC.com  and inside919.com. (LinkingRaleighNC.com  and inside919.com are in the RTP NC area, www.insideareacodes.com to find the one in your local area code. )

- Make sure you have your LinkedIn profile optimized for your target customer, and consider connecting with the people on your BNI team.

The BNI Morning Show is one of the BNI Chapters in RTP, to learn more about them go to: http://trianglebni.net

Martin Brossman is a Business Coach, Trainer and Author who integrates Social Media training and Success Coaching. He offers training for Referral group on using Social Media for Business.  He is the co-founder of Professional Networking on the Web at the Cardinal Club in Raleigh. Find more info and links to Martin’s Social Media universe at www.ProNetworkingOnLine.com and find his new book “Brossman’s Social Media and Online Resource Directory for Business”. A great resource to find out more about Social Media for Business . Martin can be reach at US EST: (919) 847-4757 or Martin@CoachingSupport.com .