While there are several key areas that immediately come to mind, one of the most important is to not “fatigue” your network.

So, what is Network Fatigue? It is an industry term for the the problem that you encounter when you deliver too many “non-value added” messages to your network. There are two ways this happens:

1.    Manual/Intentional Status Updates – This is what happens when you answer the question, “What are you doing?”

2.    Passive Updates – This is what happens when you change your picture or add “specialties” to your profile… You don’t realize it, but you just sent a message out to your entire network.

As a business professional, you need to approach this issue (or opportunity) very seriously.

One of the simplest ways to address the Manual Status updates is to simply rephrase the question “What are you doing?” as “What can I say that is important or will add value to my network?” Also, remember that your audience includes fellow employees, customers, and prospects – so ask yourself, what should they hear? Next, keep in mind that many of the people who will pick up your message aren’t even connected to you. Lastly, timing is key. Don’t tweet 7 times in a row… people will skip them all, and if you have something important to say, say it during the business day (normal work hours). Our research shows that Tweets broadcast near the beginning and end of the work day have a higher response/traction rate than those released in the middle of the work day or later in the evenings.

To address Passive Updates, simply turn that setting off! Each platform is a little different, but before you start doing work on your profile, make sure you aren’t telling the world about it! When you are done with construction, remember to turn it back on b/c some platforms (like LinkedIn) lump “Recommendation Announcements” with other passive updates – you defiantly want your network to know when you are recommended!

Keep these tips in mind and you will find your network is much more responsive to your updates and tweets (and you are much more likely to pick up more followers or connections)… you will also be much less likely to get a call from Human Resources.

Best regards,
Nathan + The Freesource Team

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Nathan Egan
Founder & Managing Partner | Freesource Agency, LLC
O: 484.732.8018
C: 215.806.8018
E: negan@freesourceagency.com

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We’ve been very busy recently as we tackle the various tasks of launching the business while continuing to work with our new and existing clients.

We are very grateful to have received a whirlwind of press inquiries & PR. Many thanks as well to all of the people who have worked countless hours to get us going.

The most exciting event we have been feverishly preparing for is the AMA/Aquent webcast with over 2800 registrants! http://bit.ly/t7p4Y

We are really looking forward to helping everyone who has registered!

It’s a very exciting time for all of us!

Best regards,
The Freesource Team

While there are truths within these declarations, I will take the stand that this chatter is actually just an alarmist attempt to drive page views… because lets face it, email was the FIRST social network facilitated by the Internet. What we are seeing is just another evolution, the same way Web 2.0 evolved from Web 1.0 – it didn’t (and probably won’t ever) actually replace it.

A tweet or a status update is really just an unstructured email (or if you will, email 2.0).

The real distinctions to understand lie in how and when your organization is going to adapt to this change. Email 2.0 has tremendous power that the first generation did not – unfortunately it can also be a huge liability (see FedEx / Ketchum).

Structured vs. Unstructured… what controls are you (or CAN you) put in place?

If you have an employee in your organization using platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook for business AND personal use, where is the line or to what degree you can enforce corporate policies? They are clearly representing your brand when they take action in this space… policy and compliance is where we should have our attention (at least for now).

Please let me know how you or your company is handling this shift!

Best regards,
Nathan

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Nathan Egan is the Social Media Strategist & Web 2.0 Coach at Value Prop Interactive.

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Stay tuned…

-NWE

There is a lot more behind this, a lot of moving parts, information, data, and stories that should be told, but there comes a time when you just need to get it out there…

<<Drum-roll 2.0>>

Unveiling: The FreesourceAgent

So, what is the FreesourceAgent and what is freesourcing?

Freesourcing is the action and/or process of leveraging free, www-based resources typically associated with Web 2.0 technologies and SaaS (Software as a Service) delivery models.

I came up with the term one evening about 3 weeks ago as I was cleaning chicken & apple puree out of my baby daughter’s ear… for some reason I was thinking about the word “Freemium” (WSJ Article) and a mental trigger occurred in my thought process where I started to reflect on how trendy “BLANK”-sourcing has become, i.e. Outsourcing, Insourcing, Crowdsourcing, Homesourcing, etc. and…

WHAM! Brain activity collision in my head… Output: Freesourcing.

The FreesourceAgent is dedicated to the art and science of freesourcing. In my weekly series of blog posts, we will explore how corporations and individual professionals can freesource to efficiently and effectively deliver on nearly any given business objective (i.e. Business Development through Social Influence Marketing or Customer Relationship Management through Micro-blogging). From LinkedIn, to SecondLife, to SugarCRM, and everything in between (including things that have yet to be imagined), we will cover them all.

In a sense, our consulting services and training workshops are to Web 2.0, what Red Hat is to Linux.

The FreesourceAgent is part of the arsenal of business differentiation strategies, tools, and workshops available through Value Prop Interactive. To learn more about how we can help you create and sharpen your social strategy please email me: FreesourceAgent@valueprop.com

Until next time, this is your FreesourceAgent, logging out.

*DISCLAIMER: Let this be digital record that I am responsible for coining/creating the word “freesource”, its definition and how it is used (including sub-deviations of the word). I encourage you to use it and if you want to challenge my declaration, I don’t really care. Also, FYI: I know there is a company in Sweden that is using freesourcing.com as the name of their company but it has nothing to do with what I am talking about.

-NWEgan