Social Media of Choice

Happy New Year everyone. I hope whatever you did to send off 2013, you did it responsibly and that you got back in one piece, figuratively speaking.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick post, soon after I did my first post in 18 months, not necessarily for the hell of it. But, I decided to do it, because these are one of my rare lazy days. So, might as well take advantage of it when I can.

Just want to get it out there that my social media of choice is Facebook. Out of all platforms that I use, I probably use and post on Facebook the most. In my opinion, it is probably the best way to genuinely keep up with the people you really care about, and it's the best way for your network to keep up with you.

I have a Twitter, but I don't use it nearly as much as Facebook, since it seems like for the most part, you're just throwing random updates up in the air, and you have to post more to be relevant. I mean, I think Twitter would be great if you actually have a nice fan base, but for someone with 200 followers or less, not really so much.

But, I'm in many platforms of social media, at least the more important ones anyway. I do have a LinkedIn, as well as an Instagram, but it is rare that I log into those (if at all). I will say though, that LinkedIn is great for networking with professionals, so it's good to build your network there to log in every once in a while.

Anyway, I don't really have much more thoughts regarding this manner. Just wanted to let everyone know that my preferred social media of choice is Facebook in case anyone is wondering. Feel free to add me there. I usually accept most friend requests (especially if there are mutual friends), and the only time I don't is when your profile looks blatantly fake. Plus, I can post a birthday video on your timeline during your birthday.

Like I said, feel free to add me on Facebook. You can do it by clicking the badge on the left.

#OBE

Greeting Your Friends A Happy Birthday...

I feel it's pretty important to greet the people in your life a happy birthday! A birthday is a day when something great happened... you came into this world, and you were given life. I feel it's always important to be thankful, and recognize that.

In fact, in Facebook, so long as your birthday is listed your profile (or even if it's not, and I just happen to know it), I greet you a happy birthday. I don't just do it any other way though, because so long as I can write on your wall, I do it with a personalized greeting (it's personalized to the level that I actually know you) and post it with the following video...

I like to think that I started this social media birthday video greeting craze. (A lot of other people are just starting to get into it recently). As this video said, this is the 3rd version of my personal Facebook birthday greeting (which I change every year on April 1st), and years before Facebook became my networking tool of choice, I used to do this on MySpace.

In MySpace, I had 25,000+ friends, and I managed to do it for everyone who listed their birthdays by initially posting a playlist of my motivational videos on their wall. Then, it evolved to me posting that playlist preceded by the following video...

Like I said, since I had so many friends on MySpace, this became one of my most popular videos. People love to be genuinely greeted a happy birthday, and they will definitely appreciate the gesture.

Unfortunately, I rarely log into myspace anymore, since it's interface is clearly inferior as compared to Facebook. Since my MySpace page is an Artist page, and has over 5,000 fans, it doesn't show the birthdays anymore, therefore I can't greet people a happy birthday on MySpace. However, it's definitely a different story when it comes to my Facebook page. I value the people in my network, and I greet them a happy birthday whenever it's time.
 
This week I happened to greet a lot of my Facebook friends a happy birthday. Therefore I thought it appropriate for me to do this blog.

But all in all, there's plenty of creative ways to greet your friends a happy birthday on social media, or just generally appreciate them. I am still trying to find a way to do it on Twitter, but apparently, it's not as possible, considering that you don't have to be as personable with your followers, as well as the ones you're following. 

Whatever the case may be, if you know if it's your friend's birthday, take the time to greet them. If you give it some extra kick (by doing something like a video), I'm sure they'll appreciate it that much more. 

Like I said, you can also do something like this even when it isn't someone's birthday. As I always believed... adding value to others' lives, will add value to your own.

D4P...PD!!!

-OBE

OBE's Twitter = Glorified Status Update Thought Portal

(@OBECorp)

A lot of people know that I haven't always been a big advocate of Twitter. I have always preferred Facebook more, because it makes it easier to keep up with people in your network. I've always felt that twitter was more of a glorified status update, and in a way, is a little colder than Facebook, because the people you connect with doesn't necessarily have to connect with you.

However, if you have been following me on Twitter during the past few days, I've been using it a lot more. Since it kind of is a "glorified status update", I will use it as a more intimate thought portal of all sort of updates. Whatever is on mind, whatever I might be doing, I will try put it in my twitter (so long as it is appropriate and won't have serious future repercussions on me). It could be about business, it could be about motivation, it could be about sports... whatever. It will even give you a more frequent, and a more intimate look of what might be on my mind, and what I like to talk about, no matter how fun (or boring) you think it might be. All my feeds will also automatically feed into my twitter (whether it be this blog, or other things I post on the internet). I'm thinking that's what the original creators of Twitter had in mind as how to use this website, when they came up with that idea.

Though I will use Twitter in this manner, I will keep Facebook a less-cluttered haven for important updates for the people I've connected with. I'm proud to say, I have met, and know most of the people on my Facebook account, and want to use that website for special updates and make it easy for the people to follow my profile and are genuinely interested in what I do to easily interact with me. On the flip side, I interact with my Facebook friends too, and having my profile less cluttered will help me do just that. I want to continue to use Facebook as a place to interact (after all, you can't greet "Happy Birthday"). 

But another "FYI" about Twitter as it relates to Facebook, I also do feed my Facebook status updates on twitter (with the hashtag #fromFB). Therefore, if you want to know about what I'm thinking on Facebook, you'll see it on Twitter too.

So Twitter will be my everything page. It's still on it's "experimental stage" but it will definitely be feeding a lot about me, and you can really get to know me (even my leisure side) from twitter. Don't worry, I will not be keeping my updates "niched" like a lot of so-called marketing experts who are only on social media to try to sell you something... (I'm sure you've seen a lot). Since I haven't been a big advocate of twitter, I unfortunately haven't gotten a lot of followers on it. Whether I get more followers from doing this or not, wouldn't be the main objective of me doing this...

The main reason why I'll be doing this, is because as some kind of "public figure", we have to find better ways to genuinely connect with the world and be more transparent. Connecting through social media provides that. And, frequent updates (no matter how insignificant it may be to the reader), will provide that kind of transparency and help us more become more relatable.

So if you haven't already, follow me on Twitter at @OBECorp. It'll be fun...

D4P...PD!!!

-OBE

Advice For Some of My Facebook Peeps...

I know a lot of my Facebook Friends don't read my blog. And those that probably need to read this blog probably won't even read it...

Whenever I log into Facebook, it amazes some of the status updates and posts I see. I'm all for free expression (always have been), so don't get me wrong. But it's odd that people would just say anything, post anything, do anything, not thinking at all if there would be any future repercussions...

I don't want to sound like some kind of prude by saying what I'm about to say, but some people shouldn't be posting TMI posts to the precise detail to when you fart (true story). And some posts just make some people look stupider than they actually are with every other word being a curse word, or with people just plainly saying very offensive or idiotic things. I doubt people don't want to be portrayed as such.


Your online profiles are a reflection of you. I get that many of us have "warts" and imperfections... but does that mean that we should always flaunt them like some badge of honor? Some of our imperfections show others the adversity we've been through, but many show others how weak our character is and paints us in a negative light. The latter imperfections are what we should not "flaunt".


The reason why I believe this, is because Facebook and Social Media is getting so popular, that it will be here to stay for the foreseeable future. And in my opinion, sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are the future of background checks (if it isn't already). As privacy in these sites get less (which probably will happen due to the power of money and corporate sponsorship), these sites will become a more efficient way for businesses, prospective mates, or people in general, to look other people up and keep up with them. So we have to be careful with what we post in here.


So, in my opinion, just watch what you put out there. Like I said, you never know who is, or will be watching.


D4P...PD!!!
-OBE

"Monumental" Advice from Ted Leonsis

In my previous blog posts, I have not been shy for my admiration for Ted Leonsis, owner of Monumental Sports and Entertainment (which controls the Washington DC pro sports hockey and basketball teams). He wrote a blog yesterday that I think everybody should read, especially if you're using social media, whether for , to connect with friends, associates, mentors, or even admirers. Check it out...

http://www.tedstake.com/2010/08/07/advice-to-sports-personalities

He addresses this to "sports personalities", but I truly believe a lot of the advice he mentions in this blog applies to everyone who uses social media. He gives obvious, but great advice to be authentic and genuine, to be transparent, and to be consistent "warts and all"... just to name a few. I went to a few business conferences and some businesses outsource their blogs to others and wonder why they aren't as trusted as Mr. Leonsis is.


But also, this article shows you how to "act as if" and how to treat your activity in social media as if you are a celebrity. This sort of continues to what I was saying in my post a few days ago... you never who may be watching or who can be looking for you. And if you do anything questionable in Facebook, then you have to re-evaluate yourself.

If you look at it, you have to act like your important, because once you do, that's how you'll be viewed. And ultimately, how you are viewed (and how you view yourself) determines how you will be respected by your peers, and by yourself. So what I'm saying is, even though you aren't under the public eye like say... Kobe Bryant, you have to watch yourself like you are. That might sound cliche, but there's a lot of truth to that if you think about it.


Before I have read this... I have been trying to apply most of what he said here in my pages. I don't set my Facebook or Twitter profiles to private, and keep them all public, because I want people to look me up and find me after seeing my work and/or seeing me talk. Therefore, I have to watch myself and carry myself in a way that is not detrimental to myself or my reputation. I can't be saying things like I desire to have sex with a certain girl, or post and argue something that make others who visit my page question my intellect.

The most notable thing that he mentioned here that I'm working on now is to be consistent and to blog and use these internet outlets everyday. As you can see during the past week, I've been working hard to do that.


So if you have the time... please read Ted's post. There are tons of social media "gurus" out there that claim to know how to use social media for business or for general use, and the information they'll give you is no where near as good as what you'll read in Ted's post, in my opinion. (Believe me, I've seen them, and I know). So, check out the post when you can. You won't be disappointed. Again, here's the link...


http://www.tedstake.com/2010/08/07/advice-to-sports-personalities/


D4P...PD!!!
-OBE