I recently started toying around with Ping.fm. I belong to a lot of social networking sites and I have a pretty strong understanding of each. Understanding how social bookmarking, social networking, and social conversational sites can be used effectively is my job. I only actively use a very few social networking sites for my own personal use. The rest I have so that I can advise my clients on how they might use them to their benefit.

To die with one`s sword still sheathed is most regrettable—Miyamoto Musashi, circa 1645

I held off on exploring Ping.fm for a bit—until last night when I found myself in that new tool, what can we make it do, kind of mood. So on a whim, I spent the time setting it up with the various sites I have accounts with.

I use Ping.fm with:

• Bebo
• Facebook
• FriendFeed
• hi5
• Identi.ca
• kwippy
• MySpace
• Plurk
• Pownce
• Twitter

The first thing that I discovered with Ping.fm is that it’s a very lonely place. Sure, I was sending out messages but unlike other social network aggregation sites such as FriendFeed or MyBlogLog, I couldn’t see if anyone was replying back to me.

This caused me to leap back onto Twitter just to see what was going on over there. Were people responding to my insipid blurbs? In order to make effective use of Ping.fm, I still had to return to my social networking sites. In the end, how much benefit did Ping.fm create for me?

To use social media and conversational media sites effectively, we have to interact with our followers. To simply broadcast messages to people defeats the purpose of social networking. If I was simply broadcasting my message all day long, who would be listening? Would I have any followers to broadcast to?

Because I teach people how to effectively use social networking, it’s important that I understand the benefits and the limitations of as many sites as possible. My first foray into Ping.fm taught me that it’s a tool of limited value. Part of a good SMM practice is to monitor the result or effect you’re having on your audience. In the case of Ping.fm, I found that really, it’s only effective as a tool for announcements and therefore has limited use. The benefit of social media is the bi-directional communication on sites such as Twitter.

In the future, I will only recommend to my clients that they use of Ping.fm to make brief and a limited number of announcements. A good example of how I will use Ping.fm, is to announce new blog posts on Twitter Stars.

What are your opinions on Ping.fm?

• Can Ping.fm be used successfully to market?
• Does Ping.fm promote social interaction or does it impede it?
• Does Ping.fm serve a purpose beyond updating your Facebook Status?
• How do you use Ping.fm?

From Twitter

markdavidson I think using Ping.fm sorta defeats the whole point of conversational networking.

markdavidson I feel like the tree that fell in the forest with nobody around to hear it… Ping.fm makes the sound.

tmatzner @markdavidson indeed. Therefore I only use it for to post interesting links but not for standard conversation. #ping.fm

scifirantergirl @markdavidson agrees about Ping.fm. I like that it posts to several places. Dont like that it’s more for announcements than conversation.

tofu916 @markdavidson well, you may be right, but its a good traffic tool if you can make good use of it.

DaveWares @markdavidson That’s why I gave up on it.

dedlam @markdavidson Pings like the bullhorn that goes with your soap box. Great way to start a conversation, then choose another svcs to continue

markdavidson @tofu916 I’m not sure how to make good use of it. I’m not as much of a fan of broadcasting as I am of bi-directional communication.

markdavidson @dedlam It’s like a Facebook Status update.

tofu916 @markdavidson i gotcha. you are truly a webmaster. im happy to get traffic peanuts! LOL

LEMills @markdavidson - amen re ping.fm. When I see the 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) echo, I wonder if I have to chase around to reply everywhere…no!

markdavidson I’m trying to see just how obnoxious I can be with Ping.fm. This is not how conversational media is supposed to work! lol!

markdavidson Dear Friend, I am interested in importation of goods into our country with funds which are presently trapped in Nigeria…

DevilBlueDress @markdavidson Glad to hear someone is causing some trouble

sheilas @markdavidson Wow, I wish I could get a sincere email like that from some nice banker in Nigeria….

OutlanderUSA @markdavidson LOL!! You too, huh? Have you won the 2010 South African Lottery yet? I have. Twice!

Tojosan @markdavidson down with Ping.FM. It’s one way.

markdavidson Do women laugh hysterically at you before running out of the bedroom? Markzyte Natural male enhancement for only $1.99. Buy now in bulk!

urbanbohemian @markdavidson Pretty darn obnoxious, I assure you. It’s almost like it’s turned US into the spammers. -)

RickWolff @markdavidson Do they have an affiliate program? How about the Nigerian guy?

markdavidson Hehehe! Ping.fm is FUN! I wonder what else I can make it do? lol. Okay, bored with it again. Back to having conversations…

czarphanguye @markdavidson Lmao! I’m positive you can rate yourself a 10 (out of 10) on the obnoxious scale when using Pingfm improperly.

markdavidson @czarphanguye Thanks! I normally try to use my social media skills for purposes of good rather than evil. The temptation is just too much!

markdavidson @RickWolff lol. Yes, the Nigerian consulate has a great affiliate program but oddly I’ve never received a single check from them…

markdavidson @Tojosan Definitely! The whole point of conversational media is bi-directional communication. This one-way broadcasting thing… *yawn*

markdavidson Are you into hot one-on-one bi-directional social communication? Call now! Wayward college girls want to talk to you! 976-TWITTER!

markdavidson @OutlanderUSA No! I have not won that one yet! Some people seem to have all the luck!

Tojosan @markdavidson what, were you tweeting to me? Ha. Yeah, I’m bored with one way comms. I’ll read a blog post or magazine for that.

RobertFischer @markdavidson That’s why I don’t follow a lot of the “social media superstars”. They throw stuff at me, but never engage in conversation!

markdavidson Dear Sir/Madam. My Alexa ranking is trapped at 100,001. I am currently living in exile from Google for abuse. I desperately need your help.

markdavidson @SheilaS Hahaha! There seems to be an unlimited supply of Nigerian bankers! Perhaps we can set up some kind of social networking site!

markdavidson @DevilBlueDress Yeah, it’s been a while! Hehehe! Got a cause a ruckus every now and again just to keep things lively in social media. Echo?

Many years ago, back in 1990, I was at a local book store and purchased a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s The Macintosh Way—The Art of Guerrilla Management. Many books have influenced me over the years, however, The Macintosh Way is one of only a handful of books that has changed me.

To this day, I’m not sure why the secondary title is The Art of Guerrilla Management when clearly it’s a book on product marketing. The Macintosh Way introduced a number of key concepts that I still carry with me and are now so integrated into my thinking, they’ve become a part of who I am.

• Doing the right thing, the right way
• Ask for forgiveness, not permission
• Having a passion for what you are marketing
• Identify and cater to “the cult” users or buyers in your market
• Establish and support your core group
• Empower your employees and customers to do the right thing

In 1990, I was promoting events of questionable legality—or the proper permitting—in Los Angeles. It was during this time when I met @unfreakable. He’s one of only a handful of people who I’ve been in consistent contact with since those days. @unfreakable is one of only a few close friends who remembers all the work we’d put into these events, how we’d promote them, and how we’d organize them with the help and support of our friends and followers.

Last Fall, I had mentioned to @unfreakable that I was excited to see Guy Kawasaki posting on Twitter and how Guy Kawasaki had unknowingly mentored me though his authorship of The Macintosh Way. I hadn’t known this but @unfreakable is also a big fan of Guy Kawasaki. A brief discussion about what Guy has written ensued. @unfreakable didn’t know that a lot of what I deployed in the course of producing and promoting those events—back when we were only 23 and 24—were influenced by my having read The Macintosh Way.

Last Saturday, I saw @guykawasaki pop up in my timeline and I took it as an opportunity to ask Guy if Twitter Stars could be on his Alltop site. Guy was kind enough to agree to add Twitter Stars to the social media category. On Thursday, I saw that Twitter Stars had been added to Alltop and I @’d Guy with a thank you.

I think it would have been strange had someone told me in 1990, that @unfreakable and I would still be friends, still working together promoting, and that I would have contact with Guy Kawaski on something called a “micro-blog”. (Even more strange would have been if someone told me that one day I’d be communicating with Guy Kawasaki from a PC instead of a Macintosh!)

My AIM is flashing. I have @lauralovesart telling me that I need to sign up for Kwippy in one window and @hellobethanne in the other letting me know she just got home from the gallery she works at. Ah, lauralovesart just emailed me a Kwippy invite!

I’ve been using Twitter for a year now. It’s so integrated into my life that I rarely stop and think about it anymore. On any given night, I’m connecting over IM with friends whom I’ve made on Twitter. I’m talking on the phone with friends from Twitter. I’m trading DM’s with friends over Twitter. These days, Twitter seems to be the hub of my social life.

So, when I’m on Twitter, I’m not thinking about where someone works, how much money they’ve made, what kind of car they drive, or the house they live in—They’re all just sorta people. I either connect with them or I don’t. I didn’t think twice about asking Guy Kawasaki if Twitter Stars could be on Alltop. Twitter it seems is a great equalizer. In many ways Twitter levels the playing field among us. We each get the same 140 characters with which to express ourselves.

Barriers that would exist between people in other situations don’t seem to exist on Twitter. We are all stripped down to our bare essentials; our written voice. In this way we each have an equal footing and are free to interact with anyone who chooses to respond to us. We are rejected or accepted based on who we are rather than what we have. This is what I like about Twitter. It’s a big melting pot of personalities, people, and professions.

I sent an email to @crystal a year ago letting her know that I felt Twitter would one day be as ubiquitous as the telephone, email, or IM. Even with The Great Twitter Follower Crash of 2008, I still feel that way.

I’d like to read your stories about the relationships you’ve developed on Twitter and how using Twitter has changed your life.

• Have you met anyone on Twitter who you never thought you’d ever have a conversation with?
• Has Twitter changed your social life? Have you made new business contacts? New friends?
• Have you met people on Twitter who you now talk with on the phone or meet with in real life?
• What have you learned about people by using Twitter?

From Twitter

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Does http://twitterstars.com qualify to be on AllTop.com? Thanks.

guykawasaki: @markdavidson We’ll add to socialmedia.alltop.com

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Awesome! Thanks! Now I get to add the “Confirmation that I kick ass!” badge! Alltop FTW!

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Thanks for putting http://twitterstars.com on Alltop!

guykawasaki: @markdavidson glad to help! Pls spread the word.

Guest Blog Post by @leahjones

I’m sitting at a bar in Chicago called Matilda’s. When I was here last week, I came with @amyguth and then @lisrock joined us. Hooray! @amyguth and I have known each other for years, but it was the first time I’d met @lisrock in person. We didn’t plan to hang out, but we know the areas we hang out in and were able to have a martini together.

This is what I call Enabled Serendipity.

It sounds like extreme web 2.0 jargon but it has become my favorite things about Twitter. Because of Twitter, I avoid stories that end with, “Oh man, I was there too. If I’d known you were there, we would have had such an awesome time!”

Enabled Serendipity is being able to turn an almost-coincidence into seeing someone face to face.

Last winter I was in the Jet Blue Terminal of JFK and saw that @chrisbrogan was waiting to board a Jet Blue flight as well. A direct message—and quick text message to his phone, after getting his number from mobile Facebook—and we were having a beer. Without Twitter, we would have each had our lonely airport meal. Hell, without Twitter, @chrisbrogan wouldn’t be in my life.

In June I went to Israel for two weeks. The night I got to Tel Aviv, I missed my hosts and didn’t have their cell phone number to find them. It was a holiday, so making a last minute hotel reservation wasn’t going to happen. I dragged all of my luggage to a cafe, got on Twitter and said, “hmmm… no plan b and can’t find hosts. i’m near ben gurion and hadassah st, any suggestions?”

Within moments my phone lit-up and @taltalk came to rescue me. After getting promises that I wasn’t a murderer over twitter from the States, @taltalk came to get me and I stayed with her. That my friends, is Israeli and Twitterati hospitality.

A few days later I tweeted that I was walking around Tel Aviv, if anyone wanted to join. By 5PM, I was joined at Cuppa Joe by one of Israel’s biggest pop stars Ivri Lider. Hint: On Twitter he’s a little more incognito as @arturmon.

And these are just the recent stories. Due to the Enabled Serendipity of Twitter, I now have a global community. I’ve met people around the country and abroad. I’ve fallen in and out of something close to love. I’ve been able to make introductions that turned into jobs. I have a new group of friends in Chicago that don’t roll their eyes when I talk about nerdy-nerdy things and I’ve even got most of my family on Twitter including my mom @lindajones, twin sister @devivo, and older brother @ryjones.

But the most fun remains those moments when I can avoid saying “Oh man, you were there too?” and replace it with, “Remember when we met at a cafe in Tel Aviv?”

Leah Jones is a writer, occasional talker, and the Digital-Culture Evangelist at Edelman Public Relations in Chicago.

More about Leah Jones can be found at:

http://www.edelmandigital.com/blog/authors.html

If you’ve enjoyed Leah’s guest post on digital culture, please consider reading some of the other articles she’s written or has appeared in on the web.

Leah Jones on Edelman’s Talkshop: Geeking Out in DC.

Leah Jones on Edelman Digital’s Authenticities.

Leah Jones on Chicago Tech Report.

Leah Jones on Liz Strauss’ Successful-blog.com.

Leah Jones on Twellow.com.

Leah Jones on Flickr.

I lean left politically, I’m a Zionist, I’m an observant, liberal Jew. I love Chicago, I love my friends. When I write about things I love, I probably wasn’t asked to write about it. Seriously, look at my stats, nobody really needs my help to sell their stuff. I write about Jewish stuff, dating stuff, writing stuff, friend stuff, weather stuff, event stuff, and weight stuff.

Guest Blog Post by @shannonpaul

Twitter provided my first real foray into social media.

Sure, I already had profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace, but I was using them to stay connected to people I already knew.

When I began to use Twitter, it marked the first time I reached out to people I didn’t know on a social network—and many of them weren’t just any people, but they were some of the most intelligent, productive and creative individuals that I now consider part of my personal network.

I believe that the resistance many still have to online social networks centers around the outdated notion that connections formed online are not real.

This just isn’t true anymore.

Meeting people online isn’t just about dating. Other professional relationships and friendships formed online often move into so-called real life and have the same impact on our lives as those we form when we meet face to face or through an acquaintance.

Twitter is great for letting people get to know one another in a much more organic way than they would at a networking event or a charity dinner or even a golf outing, because Twitter provides a platform where people can chat, exchange valuable information, answer questions and offer support on a daily basis. As an added bonus, you can also observe how someone interacts with other members of the community.

Many of the people I now interact with, online, and offline, I came to know through Twitter. A few of them have even become some of my most valued professional contacts.

Many of my colleagues working in public relations at various stages of their careers have a hard time taking social networking seriously, but, at the same time feel pressured to engage half-heartedly because they read newspaper and magazine articles that proclaim social media is the next big thing in communications.

Luke-warm participation doesn’t work.

Temporary participation doesn’t work.

If you’re going to use social networking tools like Twitter to build your network, remember:

Take a deep dive—spend time looking at other peoples’ timelines and get to know some of the people with the most followers. To find out who they are, visit Alltop and see how they interact with others.

Check out their URL—read the content people you’re following are creating and engage in conversation about their blog or podcast by commenting on their posts. Almost everyone on Twitter has a URL in their profile—click it and learn more about them.

Promote others—more than you promote yourself, your company or your clients. Use twitter to share links with your followers that they might enjoy and re-tweet links that have been shared with you from those you follow. Also, if you’re in marketing or public relations, be sure to disclose every time you’re promoting a client. Blanket disclosures don’t work.

Be human—this may be the most difficult to explain, but don’t just tweet about things that are in line with your agenda. Play a little and share who you are beyond what you do.

Recognize that life online is real life—make yourself at home. To truly benefit from social networking, recognize that part of your life is now shared in the online space. Don’t use it to simply escape from your three-dimensional activities and responsibilities, but rather think of it as a more efficient means of building your network than attending every networking and professional development event in your geographical area.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @shannonpaul

Shannon Paul is an Account Coordinator at John Bailey & Associates. At JB&A, Shannon provides assistance for such accounts as the North American International Auto Show, KPMG, OSRAM Sylvania, Macy’s North, International Automotive Components Group, Harley Ellis Devereaux and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Shannon also worked as an intern with the Community Relations department of the NBA Detroit Pistons and WNBA Detroit Shock, Creative Breakthroughs in Troy, Michigan and at Henry Ford Community College in its Office of Public Information.