I’m constantly trying to grow my circle of “friends” whether it was in the old days on MySpace, where I mostly focused on promoting my music, or whether it’s Facebook, where I just want to be in contact with like minds and some not so alike for a different worldview. In either case, it’s not so much about people you’re actually friends with, but following interesting people, seeing what they have to say, and what kinds of interesting things they’re posting. MySpace never perfected this, though, they’re trying now, but their ship has sailed, whereas Facebook has mastered that. Which brings me to something I always find amusing.

As any avid Facebook user knows, Facebook is constantly trying to get you to grow your sphere of “friend”ship by showing you “friend” recommendations on the sidebar. Often times these are people I don’t know, but I’m willing to get to know them because Facebook’s “friend” algorithm says I should…. Ok… but implicit in that is that these folks might do nothing but post about dinners, bowel movements, and various other aspects of daily minutiae that just makes me want to un”friend” them. BUT, and this is what I’ve learned about Facebook, sometimes, you’ll be amazed by what folks can find and post that might not have otherwise found, or seen for yourself had they not posted it.

I’ve come to call this ambient information. Ambient information, in the case of Facebook, is information you wouldn’t have gotten had you not been there participating, in this case as a “friend”.

What brought this up for me was an email I received through Facebook. It was a user that I had “friended” and they wanted to know who I was because they didn’t recognize or know me by name. I get these emails infrequently, but frequently enough for me to wonder about them. These Facebook users, sadly, don’t get what social media is about. I would submit that they’re probably one of the early Facebook users, from a time when Facebook was more exclusive, and less inclusive. Social media is about inclusion, from folks you know intimately, to friends of friends of friends to people you don’t know, but might like too.

There’s nothing private or secure about Facebook, no matter how carefully you choose your friends. What you put out there, you put out there for the world, and rightfully so, that’s the point, that’s why it’s called publishing. Therefore, it’s important that you rely on yourself to make good judgment calls about what you’re posting and not rely on a for-profit software system to be your personal filter.

Anyway, my points are kind of mushy today, but what it comes down to is “friend” people, and use care when publishing information about yourself and your life don’t rely on Facebook, MySpace, or whatever comes next to do it for you!

As an entrepreneur, small business person, or artist/musician looking to get themselves or their business more exposure, there’s no single tool greater than YouTube. I’m sure that you’re already familiar with YouTube for funny and silly videos, as well as other things, you’ve seen here or there, but the hidden benefit to YouTube is making your own video, and using it to bring a greater awareness to your work or business.

For instance, let’s say you own a dry cleaners. You might think that nobody could have any possible interest in the business of a dry cleaners on YouTube; you’d be wrong. The Web is filled with just this kind of stuff, these minor curiosities that folks would love to spend a few minutes watching while they’re eating their lunch.

Take this video, for example, with almost 76,000 views… what if you made this video, and promoted your company simply by including a small logo in the bottom corner, or having the people in the video wear shirts with your logo, boo-yaa! I guarantee business would increase:

Then there’s this one, which, Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines talked about at the Digital PR Next Summit I recently attended, and it made me laugh out loud. This is a video of a jet engine being washed, basically, three minutes of water being blown through a jet engine, almost 97,000 views:

Anyway, I think you get the point. YouTube can bring great awareness to your work whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, artist or musician. Surf around YouTube, and look at folks in your business are using it. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find.

Came across an interesting article here about a local Michigan company, Oneupweb from Traverse City, traveling around the state in a motor home offering up free advice on digital strategy, SEO and online marketing in general.

My initial reaction to this article was two-fold: First, what a great idea and second, this such an excellent example of a socially responsible Michigan firm doing their part to try and help those struggling in the Michigan economy.

However, what Oneupweb teaches here isn’t just about helping Michigan, but really it’s about outreach and social responsibility. As I said in my post here, the Web has always been social and it’s always been about sharing with others. It’s one thing to to do this only in the digital domain of the Web, from the comfort of one’s office or living room, such as I’m doing now, but it’s something else entirely to take this sharing and exchange on the road to meet the man on the street where he lives. Very inspiring.