Social Media Week was a series of events in and around social media in a dozen cities around the world, which took place last week, September 19-23, 2011. Chicago was one of those cities, and there were many panels, events and parties taking place throughout the city.

I attended one of the first panels, titled “Risk Management in an Evolving World - Making the Case for Social Media Governance” hosted and presented by 2 advisors from KPMG, LLP - Sanjaya Krishna and John Hair. Where some may think such a weighty topic is the last thing you would want to hear at 9 am on a Monday morning, it certainly wasn’t for myself, and Sanjaya and John presented the topic in a lively manner. And I am not just saying that as I used to work for the firm or a close family member does now!

Rather than taking notes, I tweeted thoughts and takeaways on Twitter, both as a way of compiling my thoughts digitally and to share them with anyone who would like to see them. All tweets had both the #smwgovernance hashtag for the panel as well as #smwchicago for the overall event.

Here are my tweets, as well as comments and thoughts expanding on them.

RT @sanjayakrishna: Why do cars have brakes? So they can SAFELY go FASTER. Governance is an enabler not a barrier. Social Media is no different - This is a retweet of something Sanjaya posted prior to the panel, and I couldn’t agree more. In many organizations governance or risk management is brought after something bad happens, rather than being part of the solution from the beginning, where it should be.

Risk management should be a partner - via me! - This was an initial thought I had as the panel began, building on the previous retweet. Ideally, everyone in the company or organization should be on-board and supportive of social media activities, but sadly this is not always the case.

Sentiment analysis as part of social risk management - An example of a “sentiment map” called Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day inferred from Twitter where social media activity was analyzed and shown as a heat map was presented. Tracking sentiment of your company, brand and products and services should be a part of your overall social media risk assessments.

Competitors are driving social adoption, but why? - Many times a firm will venture into social media without a net or plan, driven solely by the fact their competitors are out there. Like anything, without a plan, vision or direction, you will not be able to truly leverage your energy asserted.

Do you have a social media policy? - Many companies do not have one in any way, shape or form. Like any plan, they can be as simple as a bulleted list or an extensive document, but you should have one.

Unintended leakage - updating your LinkedIn profile with info not otherwise disclosed - An example was sighted where someone wrote on their LinkedIn profile they working with X technology at their employer, a fact that was supposed to be confidential. As most all LinkedIn profiles have a public element to them, this was picked up my the media. I too have found out about colleagues and friends changing jobs via LinkedIn before they announce it, as they decided to update their profile first, then query me puzzled how I knew before they told anyone.

Ask yourself, what is your risk tolerance? - The term is risk “management” not aversion or avoidance. You should have some tolerance as to what amount of risk is acceptable, something ideally part of your social media plan.

Social media governance is not a green field - in many cases it builds on policy you already have - As most companies have been on the Internet in some form for at least the last decade, they should have some plans and risk governance in place for that activity. Social media governance isn’t then starting from scratch, rather building upon what is already in place.

People are mining your digital residue - Wherever you go online, from using Facebook and Twitter to signing up for services, you are leaving a digital trail behind you. Firms and marketers are gathering this information and using it to make offers to you. Where this is hard to completely avoid, it is something you should be aware of whenever you share information.

Set measurable objectives - more than likes and followers - When putting together your social media plan, you should have real, measurable objectives that actually mean something. Having a zillion followers doesn’t mean anything if you have no engagement with them.

Think about crisis communication before you get into one - part of your social policies - Many companies have crisis communications plans in place, and building on them to address a crisis which is played out over social media is a logical progression for those plans.

Staff social media properly - policy, people, monitoring - If you’re going to do anything in a business, do it right, and if you don’t do it fully, have the plan in place to expand it.

Hot topic after #smwgovernance - Manager Resigns Over a Nokia Windows Phone Tweet? http://t.co/eELUcO9X via @thenokiablog #smwchicago - This article came out shortly after the panel where a Microsoft manager resigned after he talked about an unreleased Nokia mobile device running the Windows Mobile 7 operating system, which was a violation of confidentiality policy, something he could have been fired over. An unfortunate example building upon the topic of this panel.

I welcome your thoughts and opinions on this panel in the comments.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Blogging • Business • Social Media • Strategize • (0) Comments • Permalink

The 12 Most has only been live for a few weeks, but it has garnered a lot of attention and traffic. At 12most.com, it is a Web site featuring posts by guest contributors with 12 tips or items on a particular topic. Thus far topics have included business, technology, social media, and a tribute to Father’s Day.

Last Friday I was honored to contribute a guest post titled, 12 Most Basic Things You Can Do For Your Web Site Without Modifying It. In it, I present a dozen tips to benefit your Web site without actually making any changes to the site itself. Some of these are based on The State of Your Web Site checklist, the others come from the full Web site assessment my Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC offers.

With the quality of posts and contributors so far, The 12 Most is poised to be one of your 12 most favored Web sites.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Let’s all take a look at the photo below, which is of the Chicago River one recent night at dusk.

The photo is of the river looking west and slightly south, as it flows away from Lake Michigan. To the left is the Hotel 71, the right is Trump Tower, and many corporate headquarters in between. I was impressed with this photo, which I took with my Nokia E7, in that I did not have to retouch the photo, as well as it fit well with something I have been thinking about – what I have been missing by not being on social media as much lately.

Over the last month, and for many reasons, I have not been using social media much. I may check and send a few tweets or Facebook posts and my blogging has been sporatic at best. The act of engaging with social media is not something I have missed at all, rather the interaction with friends and those I only know thru social media I have missed. Which is the way it should be, right?

It turns out I have missed more than I had thought, and looking more I have missed some things I wouldn’t want to miss – birth announcements. The fact that a new life has joined this planet is definitely something I want to know about, even from the most distant friend. However it was over a week after a friend’s kid was born that I learned of it, but not directly, rather from reading between the lines of a Facebook post. Upon going back in their Facebook wall stream, I saw photos an announcement made at a time when I was not the social media site at all. In the process of going back in time, I saw 2 other people I know have had kids within the last year that I wasn’t aware of.

Not to play high and mighty, but when my wife and I were blessed with our children, we did post it on Facebook, but we also emailed our friends and even sent a photo birth announcement to some. Not everybody we know is online, nor are members or active in social media. We did this not only to cover the bases of various forms of media, but wanted to make sure we got the word out, as we have found from recent experience that the most creative of messages can get lost (but I digress, as this is a topic for another time).

At first I felt bad – I never congratulated someone on the birth of their children – but I had more pressing things to act on so I let this thought go to the back of my head. It wasn’t until I got to the point between the Wrigley Building and the Michigan Avenue bridge, the point where I took the photo above, that all this made some sense to me.

The analogy of social media content streaming is nothing new, and it does flow like a river. Earlier that day there was surely more boat traffic and activity on the Chicago River, and by my viewing it at this point in time I missed it. Typically I wouldn’t do any research to see if I missed anything. If someone was on the river or wanted me to know about it, shouldn’t they make a point of letting me know? Blame is not the right word to use here – there was a missed connection. Nobody was hurt, and it is what it is (or water under the bridge?).

The very concept and usage of social media is surely not to blame, as I can count many more gains than losses with it. I have been able to reach out to people throughout the world and have had opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. To offer an example of missing and gaining with social media at the same time, it involves a company whose headquarters is in the middle of this photo, United Airlines. One day they tweeted they were at the Chicago Theatre a few blocks from me giving out theatre tickets. I missed their original tweet, but my good friend Glenn Letham in Vancouver, Canada retweeted it to me, just in time to get over there and claim tickets.

Overall, social media had been a positive part of my life. Has it for you? Please share any thoughts and insights in the comments below. In the meantime, I have some people to congratulate.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Blogging • Social Media • Strategize • (4) Comments • Permalink

On Wednesday Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill repealing the death penalty in the state. The next day Quinn signs a bill into law creating a new death penalty, for Illinois Internet entrepreneurs.

House Bill 3659, what was commonly referred to as the Amazon tax bill, changed the definition of what is an out-of-state retailer. If a company has a physical presence in a state and someone from that state buys from them, they must collect taxes on that purchase. If someone from one state buys something from a company in another state, that company does not have to collect taxes on that sale, and – many people don’t know this – the purchaser must report to their home state what taxes they “should have” paid to their state on that purchase! As many people buy online from firms outside of their home state, they avoid paying sales tax.

The Amazon bill targeted Amazon.com and other companies who do not have a physical presence in the state, but do have affiliate marketers in the state. In the case of Illinois, someone like myself, and thousands of others who place links on their Web sites for products, now are considered a physical presence in Illinois for that company. As an Amazon Affiliate, by being in the Land of Lincoln, in the eyes of Pat Quinn, State Senate President John Cullerton and the rest of the short-sighted legislators who voted for this, Amazon IS in Illinois if someone buys from a link on my Web site.

Amazon, Overstock, other out-of-state retailers, myself and many others believe this is unconstitutional. It was pushed by in-state retailers as a way of “leveling the playing field.” But does it really? By canceling affiliate partnerships with Illinois businesses and residents, Amazon remains an out-of-state retailer. Illinois residents can still purchase from Amazon and others and not pay sales tax. Illinois businesses and residents who earned affiliate revenue previously no longer are – and those people were paying taxes on their earnings!

As a result, this is a true lose-lose situation for the fiscally unstable State of Illinois and its residents. But don’t try telling Pat Quinn this. This is the same person, in his budget for the state, had a line-item for repairs to the Governor’s Mansion. Meanwhile, the state is not paying its bills. A disaster if there ever was one.

For myself personally, I did not make a significant amount of money from Amazon. There are many out there whose sole income is from affiliate marketing, both individuals and businesses. There’s no wonder New Jersey, Wisconsin and Nevada have been trying to lure Illinois-based businesses to their states.

Below is the text of the email I got from Amazon canceling my affiliate accounts. A great article on the math of the Amazon tax bill at the Chicagoist blog is worth reading. There is also a lively conversation at Revenews on this as well. I welcome your thoughts on this move by Illinois in the comments for this post.

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers - including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you - even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.

As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at [url=http://www.amazon.com]http://www.amazon.com[/url] from Amazon’s retail business.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to Illinois residents.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

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Last week I received an email from Yahoo indicating it will be shutting down the service MyBlogLog on May 24, 2011. For some of you reading this, you may be saying, what the heck is MyBlogLog anyway? Allow me to explain.

MyBlogLog was a social community for blogs. Bloggers joined MyBlogLog and would put code into their theme or template pages to display a widget. If you were a member of MyBlogLog and visited the Web page of another blog who was also a member, your avatar would appear within the widget. This would show that you - and others - visited the blog site. The widget could be adjusted to show a small or large list of avatars, as well as the names of the person and blog behind the avatar. By clicking within the widget you could go to the MyBlogLog page for the blog itself or for the visitors.

For myself, MyBlogLog was more of a merit badge for how many different people would visit my blog more than a way to learn about my visitors. I rarely went to the MyBlogLog Web site itself. Overtime, the widget was slowly demoted on the sidebar of The Hot Iron and other blogs which I had signed up for it. Where it was something I would recommend for client blogs, eventually it was not. The accompanying image shows the latest status of the MyBlogLog widget for The Hot Iron as of this writing.

My guess is its popularity waned for others as well. Here’s the text of Yahoo’s email:

Dear MyBlogLog Customer,

You have been identified as a customer of Yahoo! MyBlogLog. We will officially discontinue Yahoo! MyBlogLog effective May 24, 2011. Your agreement with Yahoo!, to the extent that it applies to the Yahoo! MyBlogLog, will terminate on May 24, 2011.

After May 24, 2011 your credit card will no longer be charged for premium services on MyBlogLog. We will refund you the unused portion of your subscription, if any. The refund will appear as a credit via the billing method we have on file for you. To make sure that your billing information is correct and up to date, visit [url=https://billing.yahoo.com]https://billing.yahoo.com[/url].

Questions?

If you have questions about these changes, please visit the Yahoo! MyBlogLog help pages.

We thank you for being a customer on Yahoo! MyBlogLog.

Sincerely,

The Yahoo! My BlogLog Team

When I read this, my first reaction was, “people paid for this?” It was always free when I signed up for it, which pre-dated Yahoo’s acquisition of it. The link to the help pages originally linked to a MyBlogLog page which basically stated what was in the email. As I write this it links to a help page on Featured Listings, which looks like another soon-to-be discontinued service.

My guess is after May 24 the widget will not appear on Web pages, and soon I will remove it from The Hot Iron’s templates. This appears to be yet another change Yahoo is making to slim down its operations, including the shutdown of Geocities and using Microsoft Bing’s search marketing services instead of its own. With MyBlogLog, and the same can be said for Geocities, why didn’t they just spin it off and give this away to someone to let them continue with it? Perhaps they didn’t want to incur the cost of doing so, or perhaps it was easier to just shut it down. I don’t know, as the help topics don’t pertain to it.

So long MyBlogLog – it was fun while it lasted! What do you think about this latest decision by Yahoo? Should they have kept it going? Did it provide any value to you, even if only as eye candy? Please share your thoughts in the comments on this post. And perhaps you will see your avatar in the widget when you do so?

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