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SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Reem Abeidoh's reflections on social media

Constant Connection Affecting your Offline Relationships?December 3

When friends convince you to join a social network, they mention all the positive aspects of being connected. They tell you about reconnecting with friends or how sites can assist you with finding a new job. Some only want you to join these sites just to have you on board. But they usually forget to mention that the sites can be addictive and time-consuming. If you aren’t careful, it might even impact your offline relationships.

Social media can impact your communication with offline friends. It is easy to get distracted by the hubbub that occurs online while hanging out with a friend. If you are logged on while talking to a friend, you may be distracted by the email alerting you to a new message and the IM anxiously blinking. Although we are accustomed to juggling several things at once, it is still quite challenging to have more than one conversation simultaneously. It seems like one always gets the short end of the stick.

How many of you have even experienced dialogs like this:

You: I have this hilarious story to tell you.
Friend: Oh? Tell me!
<Twitter message for you pops up>
You: Hmmm <as you quickly type a response>
Friend: …
You: So, I was out shopping and I r

5 Goals I Set Before Attending a ConferenceNovember 19

Every time I attend a conference, I give myself a list of goals to meet. This ensures that I spend my time wisely and that my attendance isn’t in vain. If I meet these goals, I will be more likely to attend the conference the following year. Below are a list of my goals that I make sure to meet every time my company sends me to a conference.

Evangelize: Conferences are a good place to share information about your company and to brand yourself. They allow you to share your expertise with fellow industry colleagues and potential customers. As an employee, you represent your company and what it represents. If you effectively demonstrate your capabilities, your company will benefit by 1- recruiting talent, 2- marketing its services, and 3- generating new business leads.

Bonding with Colleagues: Often times, you have the opportunity to attend a conference with colleagues from work. Although you should venture out of your group to do a little networking, it is also important to develop a rapport with them. This will enhance your work-related experience when you are back in the office. Try to meet at least once for dinner or drinks and have non-office related conversations.

Networking: One of

2008 Elections: Most Viral Online Campaign EverNovember 4

Social media mainly served as an entertainment medium to many people. On this Election Day however, social media is playing an even greater role than just to pass time. The online world is rallying people to go to the polls to cast their vote. Facebook is featuring a widget that allows users to find polling locations and to show that they voted. Additionally, Twitterers are hyping up the elections by demanding that people vote.

Gearing up to this point, social media also served as a space that provided interesting, educational and even funny stories about the candidates and their campaigns. When I asked Twitterers how social media helped them decide on which candidate to vote for, they said:

BrentCsutoras: @rabeidoh Sure. I am on social news site all day so I get to see almost everything from both sides on the election.

Enjoy Your Social Media Power, Don’t Abuse ItOctober 8

Social media provides us with the ability to share our thoughts, opinions and ideas on our favorite sites. For instance, I can discuss that I support Olbermann’s bashing of Bush and that I despise Beso Restaurant because they bullied a friend on my blog. As with all the other users, these actions empower me to have a voice that influences the decisions of others and make any changes I deem necessary. There are some, however, who forget that their voices can damage personal brands and compromise the reputation and integrity of a company.

Social media users believe that one of their roles is to serve as jury members of the online world. They usually get their call when they see that someone has been victimized on their turf, like the MySpace case with Lori Drew. They will do their due diligence by conducting research. If they deem the person guilty based on the evidence they unearthed in the interwebs, they may launch an attack. This attack comes in variety of forms like blogging about the topic, writing negative revi

Finding a Home in the Social News SpaceOctober 6

In the past two weeks, Digg started cleaning house on users they believe are violating their Terms of Service (TOS). Many users spoke out, deriding the claim as false. The remaining active members were equally upset to see their friends being cast out. The one message the old and current users continue to hear loud and clear is “COME TO MIXX!” The Mixx users are encouraging the exiled Digg members to come and play on the more accepting and welcoming environment over at Mixx.

As a major Mixx cheerleader, I must preface that I am quite biased towards the site. I have been a user ever since a few months after it launched and serve as a co-host on Social Blend, which is a podcast that discusses Mixx-related news and Social media.

Although the enthusiasm about the site is growing, there are still many skeptics. One of the main concerns is that Mixx does not send traffic to the sites that were submitted. It is a major issue for many people who are selecting a site they want to participate in. Although users are sharing st