Around January 2010, I was invited to be on a panel about social media at Rutgers University the following October.
I was very honored, but at the same time, I thought, “Nooooo! Now I’m going to have to do Twitter! But I don’t want tooooo!” I went into it kicking and screaming. I thought it was stupid. Now I have a presentation entitled “I Hate Twitter and Nine Other Stupid Things To Stop Saying and Start Enhancing Your Career Through Social Media.” Basically, it demystifies connecting with people online. Remember, the operative word in “social media” is social!
And you do need to be involved, even if you only pick one venue because social media is no fad. Check out this video by Eric Qualman.

Did you watch it? It’s very sparkly and hypnotizing, right? So hypnotizing that it took me a few viewings to come to my senses and realize how much misinformation it contains. Here’s the scary, and yet empowering thing: it doesn’t matter that so much of it is wrong, because the message he is putting out there has accomplished what it needs to – it’s not if we get involved with social media, it’s how well we do it … and he does it very well. At the time of this writing, his “Social Media Revolution” video had been viewed upwards of three million times. In other words, he has gotten his name out to all those people.
We are all telling a story online. About ourselves, our image, our brand. Our behavior online tells that story.
So you need to ask yourself, if you do not have an online presence, are you out of print? Don’t you want to be a bestseller?
Beginner track homework: if you’re not on Facebook, go to Facebook.com, sign up and start looking around. Find your friends and family and send them friend requests. Go to Twitter and sign up there, too.
Pro track homework: if you haven’t already, start working on your fan page! Note to self: do this homework too!
Tomorrow: Where you need to be online.