"The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge."

~ Elbert Hubbard

This Guest Thought of the Day is brought to you by Jonathan Smith. In an effort to open all of our eyes a little wider to the world of Social Media, Jonathan debuts his monthly SoMe message…

A couple of weeks ago, Mary Bester and I attended a Myspace conference at the Townsend Hotel. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Old-world, somewhat pretentious, 5-star hotel holding a conference for an online forum created by a couple of kids in beat up khakis? Funny thing is, that’s just the point. We no longer live in a world of black and white, where the old-timers hang out at one place and the youngsters another.

We are all online.

And this reality has a huge effect on the way we do business.

The theme of the conference was “Never-Ending Friending.” In Layman’s terms, this is called the ripple effect. As you gain friends on Myspace, your exposure increases exponentially – as each of their friends now has the ability to view your profile. For many niche markets, creating a profile on Myspace is an amazingly efficient way for companies to gain exposure! There were three big take-aways from the conference boasting the ability to unlock the power of this momentum effect.

• Be Friend-worthy
  - Let consumers integrate your brand into their personal story and/or profile


• Be Friendly
  - Encourage Myspacers to invite others to view your profile


• Be willing to help a Friend
  - Programs need to align with passion points and reward the user

What does this mean? Best to explain with an example:

24 Seconds, a sports bar in Berkley has a Myspace Account. Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/24seconds. They list their hours, nightly specials, venue information – they even have pictures of their restaurant and menu…it’s a completely interactive way to virtually visit the bar. To top it off, they have “Myspace Mondays.” They encourage Myspacers to make 24 Seconds a “top friend” and to bring a print-out verifying that they’ve done so on their profile. The reward for the Myspacer? Major discounts! The reward for 24 Seconds? Targeted exposure. All the cool kids will want to be friends with them. They have 831 so far. I think that’s proof enough.

I know, I know. Some of you may be thinking: “Myspace is for kids.” “I don’t have the time or patience to learn how to use this.” The reality is, that way of thinking that way is no longer an option. This is happening. It’s happening now. It’s here to stay. Granted, Myspace is just one of the many Social Media tools, and, in the months to come, we’ll discuss the benefits and weaknesses of others. But, if you haven’t gotten aquainted with Myspace yet, why not start here and now?

So, take a little “SoMe Time” today. You may just surprise yourself and find out that it's "so you"!

Make it a great Wednesday,Jonathan