Facebook created an online uprising last week by proposing a new Terms of Service agreement for all users. In case you’re not familiar with the Terms of Service agreement, it’s the long legal document you agree to every time you sign up for an online account. The document is designed to protect the website owner from lawsuits resulting in visitor misuse.

The Terms of Service agreement grows longer and longer every day like every other legal document. As people abuse the system, the website owner adds more to the agreement, protecting themselves and reducing your rights. You’ve probably noticed that you receive new Terms of Service agreements in the mail at least once a year from your credit card companies, banks, insurance companies and every other company you have an ongoing relationship with.

Have you ever taken the time to read these long, boring documents? I never used to but now I read every one. It’s amazing what they’re cramming into these agreements, reducing your power and giving permission to the vendor to screw you every chance they get. Take a look at one of the recent agreements you received from your credit card company. They basically say by using the credit card you give them permission to sell your personal information and sell you purchasing habits to anyone that wants to buy it. They also say they can raise their interest rates and charge any fees they want whenever they want.

Facebook is the latest website to update its privacy policies and it caused an uproar. Facebook has been under the gun forever because of its policies. The controversy is about who owns the content you publish on your Facebook page. Many have interpreted the agreement as saying Facebook owns everything you post on your page and they can do anything they want with it, even after you close your account.

Of course Facebook says this isn’t true and Chris Kelly, Chief Security Officer at Facebook, recently answered a slew of questions from Facebook users. Here’s the interview with Chris Kelly.

The bottom line is that you need to read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policies of every company you do business with. Be careful what you post online and assume everything will be plagiarized or used by others in some form. Isn’t that what community is all about?

Let me know what you think about internet privacy or lack of there of.

I found a great new tool that automatically Tweets your new uploads to Flickr. Check out SnapTweet to set up your free account. Simply enter your Twitter login and your Flickr URL and your accounts will be connected. Upload a new picture to Flickr and it will be Tweeted automatically.

How does this help drive traffic to your blog or website? I have my blog connected to my Twitter account using the Twitter Tools plugin. My blog also connected to my Facebook account using the SimplyRSS application in Facebook so every blog post appears on my Facebook page automatically. I also tie my blog posts to many other social media sites using my RSS feed that I created at Feedburner. It’s an automated system that automatically updates many sites once I create a blog post. A quick and easy way to generate traffic to your blog and website.

I was reading an interesting article in Search Marketing Standard last night about the use of Social Media by the Inc 500 companies. Take a look at this chart of the fastest growing companies compiled by The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research.

It’s very clear that social media has been accepted by the masses and has become an integral part of every smart company’s marketing strategy.  Small businesses have been embracing social media for years and the big boys are scrambling to catch up./ 

At the Social Media Strategies Conference last month, it was clear large companies are embracing social media but haven’t figured out the best way to use it. They’re experimenting with it to see how their target audience responds to their presence on sites like Facebook, MySpace, and even Twitter. 

Most large companies haven’t directly funded their social media campaigns and they’re splitting up the blogging, tweeting, and commenting among staff members. Some companies alternate blog posting between different employees while others scour the internet for ongoing conversations about their company. When a negative conversation is found, they jump into the conversation to do damage control and turn it into an opporunity to build a strong relationship with a disgruntled customer. 

It’s clear that social media use is on the rise and will continue to grow as more people embrace it. How are you using social media to promote your business now and how do you plan to use it in 2009? Please comment below and let me know how it’s been working for you and what hasn’t been working for you.

To your online success,

 Ted

It’s true. Social Media is just an excuse for us to justify our aimlessly surfing the internet for hours and hours. I’m convinced its a conspiracy by those who want us to waste as much time as we can so we can go days without accomplishing anything.

I keep hearing from Social Media experts that you build your credibility and find new clients by commenting on other people’s blogs and forums. You start out by doing a Google Blog Search forkeywords related to your niche. Next you dig through the search results to find related blogs. Before you know it you’ve spent an hour sampling other blogs looking for something to comment on.

Finally you find a good blog and make your comment. Then back to the Google search results to find more related sites. You find a good article on one site and make a comment. That article leads you to another great site with relevant content. You spend an hour or so reading articles on that wesite which leads you to more articles on another blog. You make some comments on that blog which leads you to another blog from someone’s comment.

And then you realize you just spent 2 hours reading and commenting on blogs and news sites. Next you log into your Facebook account to see what your friends are up to. Your inbox is filled with messages from your "friends" who posted self promotions on your wall. Facebook is getting worse than the spam in your inbox. You get distracted playing on Facebook for a couple of hours and you realize you forgot to eat lunch.

After lunch you check your email and find more messages from friends. You spend 20 minutes deleting those messages and you’re Google Alert notifies you of a new blog post. You jump on that blog to make the first comment and spend another hour reading other blogs.

Does this sound familiar? It has to be a conspiracy but I haven’t figured out their motive other than to make us waste our time.

I just read a great article in Reuters about the benefit of allowing your employees to access social media sites during work. Click here to take a look at the article here.

Michael Holden makes some compelling points in the article saying its getting hard to separate social networking with traditional networking. Battening down the hatches and blocking all social media sites is not the answer. Allowing people to socialize on social networking sites during work time turns out to be a huge benefit in the long run.

Socializing online is relationship building and many business relationships are now being formed online. People are meeting in cyberspace because they have a common interest which creates an instant bond. Even if the bond isn’t directly related to your company’s products or services, a strong relationship is being formed. The strong connection can eventually lead to new business, referrals or an introduction to highly targeted prospects.

Think about it. Your employees can take time off from work to attend networking events where it can take a long time to see new business or referrals. Attending networking events in person is very time consuming and can be very unproductive. Online networking takes less time, builds strong relationships with like-minded people and is completely free. Isn’t it smarter to let your employees spend a few minutes online to build a huge network than to spend hours in boring, stale networking events?

One of my mentors, Mitch Axelrod, has an interesting post today on his blog, http://playthenewgame.com/?p=132, about how we have so much in our lives while having very little. We’re overwhelmed with choices in life but we never have time to enjoy anything because we’re too busy.

I notice this with my children, They’re so busy and have so many choices but they can’t sit still and relax. I notice they have hundreds of friends on their social networking accounts like Facebook and Instant Messenger, and they keep in touch with almost all of them over time. The problem is that none of the relationships are deep. They have hundreds of superficial connections with people but nobody they have a real friendship with.

Dating has even disappeared for our kids. It’s about "hooking up" for the night with no expectation of ever talking to them again. Wham bam thank you ‘mam and on with your busy day.

We grew up with a lot of friends and a few best friends. I still keep in touch with my best friends 40 years later. I wonder what life will be like for my kids in 40 years with their hundreds of part-time friends.

I also see this in business. Nobody has time to build lasting relationships with clients and prospects. It’s "what can you do for me right now?" and then they’re on to the next fire. I was at a conference recently where one of the speakers was promoting his new method of selling. It’s not about building long-term relationships. It’s about acknowledging to the person you’re meeting with that you understand they’re very busy and their time is precious. Get down to business and eliminate the personal relationships. Ask them what they want and sell it to them quickly so they can get on with their day.

How will that play out over time? Life without friends and relationships? Business without relationships? Our lives our speeding out of control and I highly suggest that you check out Mitch and his persective on life. Check out www.playthenewgame.com

Ted