I love this infographics case study from Wordstream about how they just got into using infographics as an internet marketing tool. I’ve been recommending friends of mine to small businesses who want to get in on it. The potential for links and traffic is huge.

You can see how Wordstream tied social media into politics and the actual infographic here: http://www.vizworld.com/2010/01/infographic-coakley-brown/

I wish they would post some of their best performing infographics to illustrate their points. It’s a long post but worth the read as they give a lot of helpful tips. They tell you about the design part and how to do research.

Here are a few quick tips for creating a killer infographic:

• Make your infographic relate to your business.
• Don’t just use Wikipedia as a source of research – pick up the phone. “I’m not slamming Wikipedia. It’s great. But I don’t understand why some people in the field rely on flaky sources when it’s so easy to call a University or news source and say, “Hi, can I just verify something?”
• Create a killer headline. “A strong title, illustrative header section and recognizable theme are very important when trying to grab a user’s attention”
• Promote your infographic. Do some Google searches with your keywords and the word “blog” then send a person note to each. This related post has more detail about tweeting and promoting your content.
• They confirm what I’ve seen, the links and traffic aren’t as high from sites like Digg as they once were – finding an influencer to tweet or blog your infographic works wonders. But be realistic too. “While everyone would love a mention by a superstar (like Seth Godin), it’s probably not going to happen. I would advise talking to a few slightly less famous people whom are likely to help out if they find what you’ve done interesting.”
• Send out a press release about the news (something I always do before and sometimes after if it performs very well – they used Market Wire).

What should your infographic be about? Emotion sells.

And like really great link bait, infographics that go viral seem to evoke some sort of emotion, be it humor, fear, lust, shock, empathy, etc.

My favorite advice is this: For your link baiting to be effective, you must be willing to promote the living crap out of it. Even great content doesn’t go viral on its own. It often needs help.

This is important because some people give the bad advice that you just have to create good content & it will spread. It will — if you’re Seth Godin. The rest of us have to work for it – or if you hire someone – pay for it to be done.

It’s one thing to write a press release but you need to do the extra work to push the news or pay for the extra work to promote the content. Sometimes people get confused and think creating and promoting the content is one in the same.

I know I summarized a lot of the post – but it’s still worth reading them both – there’s a lot of details I didn’t cover.

I love to read newspapers and blogs on Sunday. It’s my catch up day. Other people visit friends and family, I read a lot. Here’s something I learned that might help you.

Tip: Use your social media profiles to welcome people.

What do I mean? Here are some examples:

Let’s say your blog is featured in the newspapers - welcome your new readers. I read about a web site for weight loss today and went to the site. I looked for an intro and guidance and found none. The blogger could’ve written a post welcoming new readers and I would’ve felt more at home instead of like a newcomer – a little disoriented and lost.

Here’s someone who got it right. GeekDad blog was featured on Time.com and writes:

Hello and welcome to any and all new readers of GeekDad! We’re glad you decided to check us out, and hope you find something here that interests you enough to return…Enjoy, and thanks again for stopping by!

The entire post tells readers what to they’ll find on the blog, links to archives and introduces readers to the team. It’s very welcoming.

Another example is if you’re a hotel on Twitter and you know there’s a big convention in town. Or a wedding party. Or, people told you they are coming via your Facebook Page. You should welcome them. It makes people feel special, appreciated.

Or maybe you’re a spa, or visitor’s convention or state that has a group of special guests coming. High rollers know that when they show up the venue expects them. It’s easy to recreate that feeling by welcoming the group on social networking sites the guests are on.

A Missed Opportunity
I let a local restaurant know that my husband’s company was coming to dinner that night. And the CEO was in town. On their Facebook Page. They could say welcome, please let us know if there’s any special requests we can accommodate for you in a message back. Or, they could greet us and ask if we were the people who wrote on their wall and welcome us and thank me for being a fan. They didn’t. The place wasn’t very crowded and we were obviously there straight from work.

Trump Las Vegas Tweets a Welcome
Trump Las Vegas welcomed people in town for conventions. This would be especially effective if the convention were held at the Trump. They could also give tips because while we’re there we’re going to want to know things like where to eat, the best shows, how to get a cab, etc.

Here’s the tweet:

This hotel gets it too

If you’re active on social media sites – consider yourself the welcome wagon. Let guests know you’re glad they’re there. It’s a great way to do some online PR and build some loyalty by treating your guests like stars. It doesn’t cost anything to do — just some extra thought.

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On KSL News last night I saw a story that is the classic David vs. Goliath story. Then I read about it on City Weekly (so should you). Pillsbury is suing a local Utah business for copyright infringement. The name of the company that sells cookie dough is My Dough Girl. Apparently that is too close to Pillsbury’s trademark Doughboy name.

So I guess that it also means that you can’t have a company called Dough Mama or Dough Daddy, Dough Brother or Dough Sister. The American Fork company Flour Girls and Dough Boys may be next. If your name is close to Doughboy, you could lose a lot of real dough. My Dough Girl plans to change their name in response — which could cost about $50k.

Sadly, My Dough Girl plans to meet the demands – because they cannot afford to fight it.

Thus, the My Dough Girl name will disappear because Cromar plans to acquiesce to the corporation’s demands. While she would like to fight General Mills, “I’m afraid I’ll be broke and homeless if I do that,” she says.

While Pillsbury have won by brute strength, a move like this is a bad PR move. It leaves people with a bad taste for a brand with a sweet image.  I know it has left a bad taste in mine. With social media, people have more power. They will boycott and hate the company for their bad faith efforts.

My friend Julienne sent this tweet.

Here’s another:

There’s already a Facebook Page against the move, which is also a target of General Mills lawyers. “Corporate counsel for General Mills has asked Cromar to not talk to the media about the squabble and to kill the Facebook page” — which was started by her supporters.

I hope this brings a lot of new business and support to My Dough Girl. It certainly makes General Mills look like a bully. I wish I were an artist and could draw the image of the Doughboy bully to illustrate how I feel about it. One thing I love about social media is that it’s pretty hard to squelch disagreement and it gives people a public voice that they didn’t have before. You can’t really control it and that can be good in cases like this. Social media is a huge asset to freedom of speech.

All of this reminds me of another sweet lawsuit involving cupcakes.

I love how social media including Foursquare can be a way to quickly raise money for a good cause, locally or internationally.

I’ll never forget how my coworker and friend Nate Bagely was in a tight spot and his Twitter friends came through for him. It was Winter, he was a poor college student and he slid on the snowy road and blew a tire. Two hours later, after tweeting about it, he had enough to buy himself a tire. That’s how generous people can be – and it’s inspiring.

At SXSW this year PayPal, Microsoft and Studiogood, and Porter Novelli did a Check-In for Charity. When people checked in on Foursquare at designated locations or used #sxswHaiti on Twitter, Microsoft and PayPal made a donation toward Save the Children’s Haiti Relief Fund.

Emily Chang caught some Foursquare activism advertised at San Francisco BART stations.  Earthjustice gives $10 to various activist and environmental causes. So you can be mayor of an ad promoting a cause you believe in.

Last of all, Wendy’s did a  “Treat it Forward” campaign for Father’s Day this year. They gave  50
cent donations to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA).

Have you heard of other good causes on Foursquare? Please tell me in the comments.

Source: PR Newswire Press Releases http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/porter-novelli-to-showcase-emerging-communications-technologies-at-the-2010-south-by-southwest-interactive-conference-and-festival-87453532.html

and

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wendys-fourth-annual-fathers-day-frosty-weekend-95854419.html

Cloudspark on Twitter just told me about Akoha which is a geolocation “social reality game played in real life where you carry out missions that involve performing small acts of kindness from one person to another.” Check it out!

As with any new and hip social media trend there can be some side effects such as addiction and annoying your friends. There are times when Foursquare check-ins may be just a bit obnoxious. A funeral comes to mind. Or a wedding.*

Some brides aren’t happy with someone live tweeting or checking in to their weddings. (Not this bride – her finance proposed to her via a tip on Foursquare and she said yes)

Although right now I’m not sure that’s a huge issue when it comes to Foursquare I can see how live tweeting a wedding could get annoying. (Note: According to Forrester: 84% of respondents aren’t familiar with location-based apps like Foursquare & Gowalla).

You may be so tempted to give your “friends” a constant update. But before you tweet,  “Bride walking down the aisle now,” remember the bride might not appreciate it. As this article says take the bride’s lead and, “Let the bride check-in to her own wedding if she wants.”

Why shouldn’t you live report private events to friends that aren’t at the wedding and probably don’t care anyway?

“In an over-sharing online world, guests are posting Facebook status updates while they’re at the wedding and even trying to RSVP on Twitter, leaving brides feeling frustrated and over-exposed.”

Or, you might just embrace the whole thing and have a lot of different perspectives on your wedding – a live history. It’s all up to you and your embracing or your obliviousness to this new wave of storytelling. Or reporting. Or sharing. Oh, and if you don’t have any wedding bells there’s help for that predicament too – you can check people out when you check-in. I think Nigel should check it out.

The press release I got this from — issued by the Wedding Channel — also has some other advice. Don’t forget a gift. And what should the modern couple do no matter how open they are to live reporting? Register online, of course!

Source: PR Newswire press release (a creative use of a press release from WeddingChannel.com):
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dont-tweet-about-my-wedding-weddingchannelcom-gives-the-download-on-wedding-guest-etiquette-in-a-digital-world-95407034.html

*unless it’s Gwen Bell’s wedding” and then there would probably be a wedding badge.

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What Social Media is Most Effective At

Social Media Marketing Training

MarketingSherpa is putting on a 1-day social media training course. It will be at different days this year in the following cities: Boston, New York, San Fransisco, Washington DC and Miami.

I’m considering going to the San Fransisco training on October 6.

Here’s what is covered in the training:

• How to map your social media strategy
• What to monitor social media and tools to use
• Guidance on how to define your objectives and identifying metrics (so you can prove success)
• Tactics for the effective use of social media platforms
• Steps to integrate social marketing with search and email

I’ve never been to a MarketingSherpa live event. I’ve attended many webinars though. They are always excellent and are research-based and focused on results.

Rather than hearing from someone who consults or provides these services the emphasis is on the “how to” aspect of social media marketing. In other words, this won’t include a pitch to get you to buy a book or hire someone to do this for you. It’s for people who want to apply what they learn in their jobs.

It is $100 off right now so the cost is $895. It includes a copy of their social media guide (worth $397).

Find out more and see the agenda:

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Foursquare is a mobile social network where you check-in and share your location and activities with friends. It’s a great way for local businesses to reward frequent customers and create loyalty and buzz with social media power users. That’s the hip crowd with iPhones and Androids who are very active and vocal online. Foursquare is growing at a phenomenal rate.

14 Days of Foursquare Series

I’ve partnered with Nigel Swaby and our podcast the Web Marketing Weekly Show for this series. Each business day for the next 2 weeks I will post a new update on how a brand or organization is using Foursquare for their business. I’ll feature everyone from nonprofits to sports teams.

These stories are told almost exclusively through press releases on PRNewswire (link goes to their small business toolkit + special pricing) sent by the companies or organizations themselves.

Where possible I looked for updates on how the campaigns performed. At the end of the series I’ll link to each story. The last post will be a summary post with the best Foursquare tips. There’s something for everyone so don’t miss a day!

6 Quick Facts about Foursquare

• Just passed 2 million users mark on July 10 just over a year after its  launch in March 2009.
• Growing faster than Twitter took 2 years to hit 1 million users (but Twitter helps boost Foursquare’s adoption rate)
• Foursquare is adding 100,000 users per week.

• 64% of Foursquare users are male, 33% are female, and 3% did not specify a gender
• 55% of users have uploaded a photo
• 28% of users have linked their Foursquare account to their Facebook account (and probably annoyed them for doing so)

DAY 1: Pennsylvania Taps Foursquare for Tourism

Exclusive Badges for Check Ins
The Pennsylvania Tourism Office is luring tourists to play the Foursquare game with by creating their own badges. They have 3 badges for points of interest throughout the state. They include restaurants, shops and historical landmarks and have discounts and special offers.

Point of Interest Tips
Pennsylvania lists over 100 tips and responses about places of interest in the state. They can be found by people on Foursquare and on their web site on Foursquare – www.foursquare.com/VisitPA. Their web site also has a Foursquare section.

They sent out a press release and developed custom web pages to promote their campaign. If you need an example of how to use Foursquare to encourage multiple check-ins or how government agencies could use it to encourage tourism, Pennsylvania is the model to follow.

Source:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pa-joins-foursquare-mobile-social-networking-community-94853509.html

This is an excellent presentation from GasPedal’s Word of Mouth Supergenius class, “How to Work With Bloggers and Influencers,” by Virginia Miracle (what a name – almost as good as Ryan Money!). I get a lot of questions about this topic and I always say – that is an entire presentation of its own. Well, now you have that presentation.

First, I want to warn you that working with bloggers is high touch. We’re opinionated as a group and can be egotistical (who else would keep it up?). We’re very active – in the top 10-20% of people online who are actively engaged in blogging and often active on multiple social networking sites.

They [influencers] want to talk to you, the brand, directly not to your PR agency. “You cannot just outsource working with influencers. It does not work. It will fail.”

Just like with any campaign, press release or blog post you should start with defining what you want from the effort. What are your goals? Is it to promote an event or campaign? Get feedback? Increase visibility? Say thank you to your best customers?

Next define what the bloggers might want from the effort. Do they like working with brands? Some really want to, others have no interest. Are they open to your message? If you’re Kraft and they are Whole Foods devotees it might not be a good match. This is really time consuming – there are tools to help but unless it’s a group you know well (for instance I know a lot of Utah bloggers) then it’s tough. The good news is if you find one you’ll often be able to find another (we hang out together). You find one blogger who fits and you can follow the links in their sidebar to their friends. Or look (do a targeted search on search.twitter.com) to see who they write to on Facebook or Twitter.

What can you offer them? It can be anything from fame to recognition with their peers (I think these are often overlooked as motivators). It may be a giveaway or free product. Some bloggers just want to be paid (this can evolve over time as a blogger has gotten more popular).

Remember that even though writing may be what we love to do, it takes time to write a good post. For example, my previous post took over 2 hours and I could’ve written for another 2 hours. It takes a lot of mental effort to write. If you add photos, video, etc. it could even take more. If you ask them to review your book, that is several hours of work to read, think about and write about your book. Even as an author I’m aware of what I’m asking when I request a review so I am very grateful when people actually take the time. I will link to them, comment, put it on my site, etc.

Be aware that this is a long-term relationship with a lot of give and take along the way. If you’re not up for that just pay for what you need (consulting, a post, a product review, advertising, etc).

Here’s the presentation:

How to Work With Bloggers and Influencers — presented by Virginia Miracle from GasPedal on Vimeo.

I sat down at Evo Conference (for women in social media) as good luck had it, next to Brene Brown (author of books about shame, inadequacy and perfectionism). She interviews people for part of her living and is so good at it I found myself spilling my guts to her (which I really needed to do right then). Sometimes I’m all about the fun but yesterday and today I’ve been in such deep thought that I miss my exits on the freeway and don’t notice for miles.

She asked me this question:

What do you love and what do you hate about social media?

Compelling.

I responded without hesitation – here is what I recall from our conversation:

Reasons I love social media:

1. Social media is an adventure.
   Social media is new and uncharted which makes for a great adventure.
2. Social media is fun.
   It’s fun to talk about and geek out on the incredible things you can do with social media. You can discover so much and offers entertainment but also enlightenment.
3. Social media is my playground.
   I love experimenting and seeing what others are doing with new tools and ways to approach social media. I can learn anything and find something about just about anyone.
4. Social media is never boring.
   You may beg to differ but to me social media is very engaging and so it keeps my attention. I get glimpses into brilliant minds, people’s lives and brands.

5. Social media is a great challenge.
   It’s an intellectual challenge to come up with social media campaigns and to keep current on everything. If you’re one of the first to figure things out when something is new you have a big advantage. Like my friend Jason Alba who was one of the first people to write a book about how to use LinkedIn to find a job.
6. Social media connects me to people and communities.
   This is a big one. We have a primal need to connect with other people. Your connections can lead to real and meaningful friendships. Research shows connecting with people online mimics the feelings of falling in love – which explains why many of us get so passionate when we talk about social media. I love belonging to a community.Online it’s easier to find and engage with like-minded people (something that can take months or years to do in real life.) I love it when someone reads my blog and calls me or emails me positive or constructive feedback, referrals, or kudos (thank you).
   
   
7. Social media builds your own brand.
   It was a trip when I realized that my blogging – just writing about what I loved – turned into something marketable. Real business. Real jobs. Real checks. No matter where I work or what I do I am building my personal brand. I started out about 5 years ago as an unknown. I’ve gained some recognition, respect and visibility on a national level which is again, quite meaningful to me.

5 Reasons I hate social media

1. Social media can be overwhelming to keep up with.
   Some aspect of everything you do will become outdated within weeks. Even though I love it and am fairly savvy I feel I cannot keep up. That guide I wrote – I have to constantly update it. Case in point: my book about online press releases references web sites and features that no longer exist.
2. Social media web sites change in ways that can enhance or ruin your business.
   Say your business or livelihood is based around something like say, a highly successful Facebook App. Facebook could change the rules and your revenue channel could dry up very quickly. Apple could deny that killer app you built. Google could change rankings so your first page listing goes to page 50 overnight and your income drops exponentially.
3. People can ruin you personally or ruin your business.
   While you sleep, are on an airplane or sick in bed someone can come up with something damaging that could take you down – before you have a chance to respond. It can be hard to respond and recover and it’s happening in a very public way. People can make up things about you to try to destroy you or your business. Your mistakes or ignorance can be used against you. Google doesn’t forget – it has a long memory.
4. Social media makes it very easy to compare yourself to others and feel inadequate.
   People are fond of saying something like this: if you’re not getting so many retweets or comments or followers on Twitter, you suck. You’re boring. You’re irreverent. This line of thinking has made me want to stop blogging and tweeting so many times. I start to judge myself by these numbers.

   Alternatively you can read someone’s blog or Facebook profile and see the speaking gigs they got, their sponsorships or about how well their book is selling. It can look like their life is charmed 24/7. It looks to you as if their husband/wife/kids are good looking, thin, smart and successful. Every dinner looks like it came out of a magazine spread. But as Brene points out: no one rides for free – every life has pain.

5. People can be cruel.
   Online it’s easy to attack and be anonymous (and take no responsibility for what you say or do). Brene says we could stop it if we all adopted a ZERO tolerance for cruelty on our sites. I’m an advocate of deleting comments that are cruel or that you want to retract. People can go after your writing, the way you parent, how you look, etc. This has also made me want to stop blogging or tweeting too. It can sting. The most cruel places can be online forums. Mom bloggers can be super competitive and hard on each other (which I don’t get since you’d think you’d be each others allies because being a parent is super challenging).

   The crazy thing is you don’t even need a computer or to ever access the internet to be affected by this. You don’t have a say in what is published about you. You can try to respond, try to remove or ignore it but it’s there. If it’s really bad and it’s true, good luck getting it removed. The more others agree, the more prominence that damaging information will have.
   
   

6. Perfectionism.
   Even though I say I believe in being authentic and real it’s tough not to still want to be perfect. To be liked by all. But that is not authentic – not everyone will like you all the time. Brene says we try to be perfect to protect ourselves. We do it avoid being criticized or shamed. But if you are truly connected to others you will feel shame. You’re vulnerable to being hurt. Even though we don’t like these feelings, they are better than the alternative — not being connected.

   The true test of your authenticity comes when things are not going well. Can you maintain our authenticity? Do you have the courage to be imperfect and still worthy of being loved?

   It turns out that one of the worst things we can do is to be successful is to be inauthentic. To pretend to be more successful than we actually are can make success elusive. Oprah producers Andrea Wishom and Jon Sinclair spoke about how tempting this is to do (I admit it – I’ve done it a lot). It usually means you burn out quickly. A big-name rapper (can’t recall name) did this. Then he stepped back and was more honest about where he was at the time. He went on to be much bigger. It’s so natural to do this. Resist, resist, resist.

The number of close friends we have is dropping. The number of people who live alone is rising. For all of our connecting, as a whole Americans are still fairly lonely.

So my question is – this is all so new. How is social media changing us and how will this affect our society long-term? Sure there is a lot to celebrate but how can we mitigate the harmful pieces?

I got to hear social media star Chris Brogan and Julien Smith speak. They co-wrote the book, Trust Agents. Brogan’s Blog is #1  on the Ad Age Power 150 list of the top Marketing Blogs in the world. Both are very down to earth (Brogan has farmers in his family and he’s a geek).

Mitch Joel spoke but I missed a lot of it (I was doing what a lot of women do each day — getting my son off to school and then madly driving 30 mins. to get there). I just have to say that I can’t relate to his dismay at being only #22 on the Ad Age list of top marketing blogs. If only. I wrote for Marketing Pilgrim and Andy is on the list too. That’s as close as I’ve ever been.

I think one of the pre-requisites to being famous online is a short first and last name. These guys have the most easy to say and remember names. Who is going to remember any of mine (women change names and it messes up our search results) – much less spell them (Janet Thaeler or Janet Meiners and even Newspapergrl is spelled wrong.)

Brogan and Smith co-wrote the book Trust Agents. Chris Brogan is as down to earth as they get. He was at the registration table handing out name badges. I did a double take. Wait, are you Chris Brogan? They have you staffing the registration table?? It was true.

“Your brand isn’t what you say it is…it’s what Google says it is.” – Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine.

Or, you could say your brand is what Facebook says it is…or what other people say about you on Twitter and on other social networks.

Social Media= a Revolution in Communication
At first our messaging was one or 2 way messages only. Now with social media it’s a group expression. We’re in the middle of a renaissance & can’t know what it is until it’s over & we look back. Some people take that to mean we have no control. But we do still control pricing, products, message, etc.

On Women in Tech
Chris Brogan on the small controversy covered on this blog about how the speakers at the event for women in tech were all men:  “You can be a dude and be in women’s tech council.” Well said. In fact, there were a lot of dudes in the room (also women).

Let me just state again that I had no misgivings about any of the men who spoke – I do want to know who Chris considers the top women in social media though. I’d like the group to invite them. Can you name even a few? Women are underrepresented. You know that list of the top marketing blogs of the world? There are almost no women on the list. Why not?

He humored us though by giving these stats – (which is just one way he showed that he came prepared and researched his audience):

• 40% of companies are women-owned

• Women making over $100k a year has tripled since 1997. At the same time men’s salary growth has been flat.

Chris Brogan’s Email Open Rates
Here’s the eye-popping stat from Chris (the benefit of taking his advice to promote others 12x more than you promote yourself).

78% open rate on his emails!

His advice? “Don’t beat your list or market people into buying from you. Don’t talk about your stupid product. Just talk to them. Don’t ask for much very often.”

Tell Stories!
Stories sell things in a way that your stats never can. People want you to put things in their language – not just stats or numbers – but the human element. Apple telling people that an iPod can fit 1000 songs is better marketing than telling people how many gigs it holds. It’s something we can relate to and easily share with someone else.

Promote Others First
Networking means doing a lot of good before you get good back. You’re filling an emotional bank account. Attention is a currency just like time and money are. Brogan says he promotes other people 12x more than he promotes his own stuff. Do this and people will be more willing to tweet your stuff when you ask.

You can’t Buy Trust with Money
Losing ads in print media to other media. Trust is also easier for people to get than brands -  it’s a currency itself. For example, 60% of things consumed by kids 12-18 is made by other kids 12-18. He dissed on how the iPad makes you pay to see ads (they charge for magazines). This only made sense when you bought magazines at the newsstands. Also, he said “my iPad doesn’t know I’m there.” Even toilets recognize there’s a human there (auto flush).

“We’re asking for money at the wrong part of the equation.” And that doesn’t build trust – it doesn’t build trust to try to make people buy from you. Blogging allows you to tell stories and connect with people – build trust – before the sale. He spoke a bit about how he uses affiliate marketing which is a way to extend that trust. He can then introduce people to products he likes that his community might want to know about. That’s when money enters the equation because businesses pay you for the referrals you send to them.

Favorite Joke:

Chris Brogan is funny – I laughed a lot of the time. Here’s my favorite joke: He tells us to stand up and cajoles people into actually doing it.  So we stand up and stretch. He says

I fake my standing o’s.

I think I’ll steal that when I speak at Cisco’s social media conference next month (don’t tell them).

Should I be on every social network?

No. You don’t need to build a lot of blogs or be everywhere – instead invest in one network and build it. You don’t have to be on all of the networks. Your network is an actual asset. Blogs can be assets as can ebooks, books, etc. – they make you money when you’re not there.

What about my privacy??

Our privacy is already rendered useless anyway. If you don’t like it, “You can opt out of facebook just like you can opt out of being a part of the cash society.”

But how do you find time to keep up on all of this?

Chris Brogan is #1 on Google for the phrase: “no i don’t sleep.” Julian says: we make time to blog – we make it a priority. I write a blog post every morning. I don’t watch tv.

Thank you Chris, Juilen and Mitch for coming! Thank you to the Women in Tech Council for bringing them to speak. Very enlightening!

Want to hear what others thought?

Check out the tweets at #BroganUt – except it hardly shows any of them – is there a way to get a full archive or is it just gone forever?

SEO.com’s Scott Cowley (an SEO perspective)
Burn the Ships, Touch the Burner and Behave Like a Baby (great headline!)
Get In & Go blog (with video and pictures)

If you blogged about it too – please comment and leave a link to your post.