Golden Goals and Bad Bands: Social Media Chronicles the Olympics

February 28, 2010 – final day of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver…

Gold medal semifinal in men’s hockey between Team Canada and Team USA…

Seven minutes into overtime, Jarome Iginla is knocked down in the corner. On his knees, he passes the puck to Sidney Crosby, who deftly, with Gretzky-like instincts, shoots the puck from an angle, past Team USA’s goalie and into the net.

The Golden Goal…

And with that, Team Canada wins its 14th gold medal in these 2010 Olympic games and its first gold medal in hockey since the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.

Throughout the streets of Vancouver, a loud roar went up as crowds cheered and celebrated. Car horns honked, ship horns blared and, according to one Vancouver resident, the noise continued for hours.

The cheering also continued on Social Networks like Twitter and Facebook. Within minutes of the Golden Goal, jubilant Tweets and Facebook status updates appeared. Within two hours, the newly created “Crosby’s Olympic Goal <3” Facebook Fan Page had 95,000 fans.

After the Closing Ceremonies, a Facebook Fan Page called “2010 Olympic Closing Ceremonies were REALLY BAD” was also created, but it wasn’t nearly as popular. As of this writing, only 23 fans have joined this page and embraced the description: “Bad bands, and awful floating beavers.”

Actually, throughout the Olympics, Social Media played a huge role in recording people’s reactions to events and athletes. The athletes themselves even participated.

According to the blog post “So long to 2010 Olympics, we’ll tweet ya later,” American short track speed skater @ApoloOhno “shared his ever infectious and magnetic positivity to stand tall and be proud of who you are and your accomplishments.”

Alternatively, @JuliaMancuso, alpine ski racer for Team USA, fueled the fire of an alleged rivalry with lifelong competitor @LindseyVonn by posting and quickly removing comments after her first run on the giant slalom.

The Sysomos blog reports that the Vancouver Olympics attracted four million tweets and 300,000 blog posts and had a 91% positive sentiment rating according to Sysomos MAP.

That’s great news for Olympic organizers, who may have been concerned about how this unprecedented Social Media activity would affect their personal branding and online reputation.

This is a new age, where Social Media activity will continue to grow, even as the roar of the crowd fades and the streets of Vancouver return to normal. Online Reputation Management for Virtual Assistants and their clients will be key in the years to come, and certified Social Marketing Specialists are the ones who will be armed and ready to face the challenges of this new Social Media landscape.

This is something Olympic organizers might also want to think about as they look towards the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Are You Ready to Tell Google Buzz to Buzz off?

There’s a new kid on the block in the world of Social Networks, and if you use Gmail, he’s already living on your street! Google recently unveiled Google Buzz, a Social Network that’s built right into Gmail. If you have a Gmail account, you might have noticed a colorful balloon that showed up on the left-hand side of the page – that’s Buzz!

Google had some great ideas when they unveiled Buzz. Check out this YouTube video posted on the Official Google Blog to introduce Buzz:

Unfortunately, despite these good intentions, Buzz has caused some frustration among loyal Gmail users. For example, the blog post “Buzz off, Google: Social networks should always be opt-in, not opt-out” highlights the fact that all Gmail users were enrolled in Buzz without being asked first. Furthermore, Google automatically made a social graph of your most-emailed people and made sharing of that graph opt-out instead of opt-in. As this article explains, “it’s super easy to miss the check box, and the default should always be the safest choice.”

In Google’s defense, they listened to users’ feedback and have introduced some improvements. The Official Gmail Blog reports that the following changes have been made to Buzz:

1. There is a more visible option to not show followers/people you follow on your public profile.

2. You have the ability to block anyone who starts following you.

3. There is more clarity on which of your followers/people you follow can appear on your public profile.

Given Google’s popularity and history of creating quality products, there is definitely the possibility that Google Buzz could someday rival Facebook and Twitter.

What do you think? Are you ready to tell Google Buzz to buzz off, or do you think Google can rise to the challenge of making Buzz the best Social Network around?

Meetup Groups - Bringing your Virtual World into the Real World!

Here are a few telling signs that you may need more offline social interaction in your life:

•    You start talking to the computer like it’s a real person.
•    Webinars are the social highlight of your week.
•    You call your pajamas your “work clothes.”
•    You’re so starved for human contact you go to the grocery store just to have real people to talk to.

•   The only way you know what the weather is like is by watching the Weather Channel.

These are extreme examples, but can you relate to a similar experience? While working from home as a virtual assistant or online professional provides great flexibility and convenience, it can sometimes be a little lonely. That’s why it’s crucial to have social outlets and a way of connecting with people who understand your profession and can support you in what you do.

Meetup groups are a great way to have offline events where VAs can meet socially and professionally with like-minded people in their industry to give each other moral support and help each other grow, build skills, and connect with clients.

These events can be organized through Meetup.com, a website that allows you to become a host of a Meetup group and plan offline events for members. For example, Ana Lucia Novak is the organizer of the Silicon Valley Virtual Assistant “sm” Meetup group, made up of local San Francisco Bay Area/Peninsula Virtual Assistants who live and work in Silicon Valley. These members meet once a month and have the opportunity to hear local speakers share their expertise about topics like Social Media Marketing, web design, virtual assistants and small business management.

Marit Fox, a member of this Meetup group, comments on the benefits of these monthly meetings:

“We are individual business owners that work solo. Frequently, our only outside communication is with clients. Connecting with peers within the industry gives me an opportunity to talk about things I deal with in running my business or in the work I am doing. I know my peers can relate and that has a lot of value. We may work alone but we are not in business alone. ”

So the next time you find yourself feeling isolated or looking for a way to network and meet potential clients, check out Meetup.com and see if there’s a group near you. If there isn’t, consider starting one up yourself. The Meetup.com website makes it very easy to create a group with a step-by-step process. A great starting point could be to connect with fellow Virtual Assistants through a social network like our VAClassroom Social Marketing Club and find out who lives in your local area.

Getting connected "in person" with like-minded colleagues might just be what the doctor ordered for your virtual business!

Virtual Events and Social Media - A Match Made in Web Heaven!

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and we’re going to talk about marriage… no, not that kind of marriage – the marriage of Virtual Events and Social Media.

Virtual Events are already very popular because of their inherent benefits – they’re cost-effective, attract a wider global audience, generate increased exposure and save time – but Social Media enhances the power of Virtual Events by providing an effective channel to promote, create buzz and facilitate interaction for these online events.

Consider Twitter Hashtags. They are an extremely powerful medium to use for promoting and creating buzz around a Virtual Event, and the best way to explain them is to show them in action. Check out this excellent video by Krishna De:

Another way of pairing Social Media and Virtual Events is to make use of interactive chat alongside an online event. For example, Facebook tested a new feature during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration that allowed people to post status updates and comments beside live streaming video on CNN’s website. According to the Facebook Developers blog post “Posting the Stream in Real Time with the Live Stream Box,”

“It was a significant moment for Facebook Platform. We realized how powerful it was to see what your friends were saying, not just on Facebook, but right in context on CNN.com.”

Following that event, Facebook launched the Facebook Live Stream Box, a feature that website owners or developers can install on their website so Facebook users can share updates and content about a live event through Facebook Connect. With this tool, any updates posted will appear in the Live Stream Box, as well as on the Facebook user’s profile and friends’ News Feeds.

Additionally, Ustream, a website that supports live streaming presentations, includes a Social Stream that can be used to chat with people over Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and AIM while an online event is taking place. Ustream also allows you to incorporate the Live Stream Box within your Facebook Fan Page. According to the Ustream.tv website, this feature adds a new tab to the Fan Page, developed and customized by Ustream, with the live player residing both on Ustream.com and the Facebook Profile. Here, Facebook users can chat with the host and with each other through the Live Stream Box as well as through chat and Social Stream on the Ustream.com Show Page.

This combination of Social Media and Virtual Events contains untapped potential for businesses, Virtual Events Specialists and Social Media Specialists. Businesses are in desperate need of people with the skills necessary to set up events, promote them and facilitate interaction between attendees. Virtual Assistants can be the matchmakers that bring Virtual Events and Social Media together, creating a union that will most certainly generate more visibility for your clients’ businesses and take the Virtual Events niche to new heights!

Customer Service 2.0 - Local Business Raises the Bar Using Social Media.

You may remember a post we published a couple days ago entitled “Social Media Goes Local in 2010,” where we described the innovative way restaurant owner Joe Sorge is using Social Media to promote AJ Bombers and other restaurants in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Well, the interesting conversation on our VAClassroom Fan Page generated by this post revealed that one of our VAClassroom members, Janet Janowiak, a resident of Waterford, Wisconsin, also featured Chris Brogan’s Kitchen Table Talks video in her post “Local Business Success Built by Twitter.”

Shortly after she published her post, Joe commented on her blog and emailed her an invitation to dinner.  "Joe's comment came in moments after my post was published," Janet explained. "This really proves how connected the social media world is. I don't know what tool Joe uses to monitor his brand, but I was praising him and look how quickly he replied. Imagine if someone made a comment that was negative. I'm sure that Joe would do everything in his power to make the customer happy."

What a gracious response and a perfect example of customer service reaching new heights through Social Media! Joe’s personal touch goes a long way to building positive brand recognition and exposure for his restaurants via social networking – an excellent case study to encourage local businesses to adopt a Social Media strategy ASAP!