From the “best thing I read today” files (courtesy of Clickz):

Widgets on a social network are different from those on a personal platform. This might seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. The most successful applications on Facebook harness the social network. This includes music and video applications that allow users to see what others are interested in. Less successful are applications that are of value only to the profile holder. This is different from widgets on personal platforms, which center on the individual user’s needs. Both can benefit from adding true e-commerce, however. (For the rest of the “Widget World” article, click here)

The main thing I took from this paragraph? You have to know what your audience (users) want and be willing to give it to them. A headlines widget might be just the right thing for a personal blog or homepage. On a Facebook page, though, the app would be better suited to show what articles the users’ friends (using the same app) are reading, sharing and commenting on.

If you don’t know what your users want, ASK THEM. Go to the message boards, blogs and sites they are and become part of the conversation. Offer to have coffee, buy them a sandwich or arrange a meetup for happy hour.  L-I-S-T-E-N

In the spirit of Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, that’s all.

My 2.0 Tool of the week: FireFox version 3 browser

According to the download website it’s faster, safer and smarter than ever before. Firefox is my (and millions of other people too) web browser of choice. Everyone else has already downloaded it so you should too. Here are a few of my favorite things about using Firefox:

• Firefox pioneered tabbed browsing
• Automatically saves your session and prompts to restore it if the browser closes unexpectedly
• Open platform allows developers to create helpful add-ons that make using the browser even better
• Security and privacy settings are user-friendly and keep users safe while browsing
• The new “Awesome Bar” auto-prompts from recently entered URL’s and recent history

Firefox 3 can be downloaded here. Once you’ve made the switch, the helpful Tips & Tricks on the Mozilla site can help you get started or learn something new about using the browser.

In an effort to stop slacking on my blog duties, I’m going to start a weekly posting to highlight a “favorite tool.” These can be brand new or one of my can’t-live-without web tools (or applications) that I want to share.

I’ll start with a preliminary list of what I use daily that you hopefully already know about. If you aren’t familar, go check ‘em out NOW. I won’t describe here, but if you want more info feel free to email me or ask questions in the comments.

1. Twitter & Twhirl ( the desktop apps that puts my Twitter feed on my screen)
2. FireFox Browser (Version 3 is out now!)
3. Facebook (not just for college students!)
4. Meebo (congregates all your IM programs into one)
5. Pandora radio (the desktop app is HANDY)
6. PGA TOUR’s Live Shot Tracking and Live Leaderboard Widget

Another tool I use almost daily, and am a BIG fan of, is del.icio.us. I am sick of getting emails with “so and so has sent you a link”, losing bookmarked sites going between computers, or printing out every article I want to save for later. You too? Then go sign up for del.icio.us. Once you get past the strange URL, you’ll find its a great tool for personal and workplace use.

The site allows registered users to save bookmarks in a list online. For each bookmark, users can edit the title, a description of the link and add tags for future reference. del.icio.us also has “social” features including allowing users to create networks, save links for each other and see what other people have saved as bookmarks (much better than emails, huh?). For an example, see my personal links at http://del.icio.us/ltbeyer

Last thing — if you have favorite sites or web tools you can’t live without, tell me (comments, Twitter, email, etc). I’ll be happy to check them out and share them down the road.

When talking about companies & communicators jumping into social media, I’ve told (warned?) people that social media efforts should not be measured solely by the number of people who see the campaign. Social media is about building community. Yes, that means that you need a number of people to be part of that community. But more importantly, successful social media efforts should be engaging that community and letting it shape and share the content and the focus of the community.

In the same way, the impact of putting the 2008 PLAYERS Championship on Twitter can’t just be determined by the number of people who followed the updates or clicked on links between Twitter and PGATOUR.com. What I thought was successful about the efforts on Twitter (for external outreach) was how the community accepted and engaged with @2008PLAYERS. Internally, the ability to get buy-in on a brand new initiative set on an unknown platform in a very short time frame was also successful.

The golf community I found on Twitter is small, but active. 115 Twitter users followed @2008PLAYERS (more like 100 if you take out the PGA Tour and Turner Sports who signed up just to follow this account, but should really be tweeting more — @appgutt @davidplant @madamson @PatrickRegan to name a few). Our followers weren’t many, but they liked what we were doing. At least 20 different users used “@ replies” to share 2008PLAYERS with their own followers, welcome THE PLAYERS to Twitter, ask questions and give feedback about our updates. There were over 75 replies and a handful of direct messages sent to 2008PLAYERS in about two weeks, which I think is a great representation of how our community created the conversation. I made a conscious effort to respond to questions and thanked others for their feedback, even if I had to do so after hours — I was addicted to being a part of our conversation! Many thanks to @MrBusinessGolf @golfgirl @17fairway @danperry and @pabloherrero for that.

In comparison, @redsoxcast (play-by-play of the Boston Red Sox) gets plenty of replies from its group of 775+ followers. Through Quotably, I can see who, when and what those replies are. I can also tell that redsoxcast doesn’t respond to the replies, the questions or even the shout-outs from their followers. Red Sox fans are numerous and incredibly loyal, but the redsoxcast efforts are losing a prime opportunity to engage their fans on another level. I’ve learned, even more through this experiment, that Twitter followers can have huge amounts of passion and enthusiasm for the brands they follow. If brands are spending the time and energy to create a Twitter presence, they should be empowering their followers. See @RichardatDELL, @SouthwestAir, @hrblock, @comcastcares and @GMblogs for examples of how that’s happening in the corporate world.

Another reason that I’m counting the 2008PLAYERS experiment a success is that we got the PGA Tour on an emerging web platform. Almost more important than doing it well (which we did, IMO), was that we got on as Twitter is starting to gain more traction and momentum. I know that we won’t be first in many of our future social media efforts, but I think having experience on Twitter will prove to be more valuable later than we know now. It’s still a niche social network (200,000 active daily users) used primarily by social media geeks like me, but Twitter is starting to matter.

One little disclaimer: Sunday at THE PLAYERS should have been Tweeted much better than it was. I had technical difficulties with my technology (aka cell phone battery) and lost the ability to tweet from the course while following Sergio Garcia, espcially through holes 16-18 and the playoff. I owe a blog post on the experience of being there firsthand. I’ll post a link here when it goes up.

PGATOUR.com is experimenting with a behind-the-scenes (or inside the ropes) look at what goes into putting on a tournament the caliber of THE PLAYERS Championship. Starting last week, the tournament has had a presence on Twitter, updating under the profile 2008PLAYERS.

During the week of the tournament (next Monday through Sunday), Twitter updates will be coming from charity and social events, the competition, and fan and volunteer perspectives to give PGA TOUR fans a chance to be part of the action without being in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Follow along with all the action and updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/2008PLAYERS and TwitPic at www.twitpic.com/2008PLAYERS. This experiment will help decide how to cover and distribute content from future tournaments and events.

Below is the presentation I gave at the Oregon Capital PRSA Chapter meeting today. It is titled “Social Media 101: Adding New Media to Your PR Toolbox.” Feel free to email me if you would like the notes or a PDF version of the presentation. I posted my favorite PR blog links below, so make sure to take a look at those if you are looking for gurus to follow. This list is full of them!

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions, in the comments. Let’s talk!

PS - If you love the template as much as I do, check out more from Presentation Helper (UK) here

My presentation at Oregon Capital PRSA today went great — especially considering I was still adding slides up to an hour before the presentation and practiced with my notes while driving up to Salem. (and you never would’ve known, would you?) I had lots of fun conversing with the PRSA group and creating discussion about social media and how to get started learning and applying it, professionally and personally.

I’m waiting on my presentation to be converted by SlideShare, so in the meantime I will post a set of links to my favorite PR and social media blogs. Start reading, commenting, subscribing and following these people and their thoughs. I think you’ll learn a ton from them, like I have. Please don’t forget to add my “Kool Aid” to your subscription list and blogroll too.

Engage in PR by Kyle Flaherty - engageinpr.com
The Bad Pitch Blog by Kevin Dugan & Richard Laermer - badpitch.blogspot.com
Strategic Public Relations by Kevin Dugan - http://prblog.typepad.com/strategic_public_relation/
Young PR by Paull Young - http://youngie.prblogs.org
Common Sense PR by Eric Eggertson - commonsensepr.com
WordWise by Dan Santow - http://wordwise.typepad.com/blog
Copyblogger by Brian Clark - copyblogger.com
PR 2.0 by Brian Solis - briansolis.com
Scatterbox by Stevin Silvers - stevensilvers.com
PR Squared by Todd Defren - pr-squared.com
my PRception by Christi Eubanks - http://christi2006.prblogs.org

Special recognition for blog that inspired the format for my new blog, which encompasses work & play & favorites & rants:
Come here. Let me tell you a few sangs by Kait Swanson - http://somesangs.wordpress.com

Talk to you soon –

When I went searching for my notes and blog posts I had written at the Social Media for Communicators Conference last month, I noticed some were missing. Not sure if they hadn’t been saved properly or saved to a random file location, I was bummed that I couldn’t find a particular post on reflections from a newbie conference-goer.

Lo-and-behold, when I opened Word today, there in my recovered docs was the notes from this post. Although this is a little belated from Vegas, I think its still relevant for any conference-goer (and a good reminder for the next time). Enjoy!

RANDOM conference thoughts:

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if the first person in the row sat at the furthest seat from the aisle, and so on? It would eliminate all the “Excuse me’s” and “sorry I tripped over your humongous bag or bopped you in the face with my humongous bag” awkward moments. Also, it’d be great for filling the room easily, and help those who come in a bit late to find a seat. It’s called courtesy, people.

I love communicators’ conferences, because for the most part everyone is really friendly, outgoing and asks good questions (it’s the nature of being part of a cool profession). But it seems like conference communicators are so busy tapping into their super-cool tech tools (Blackberry, Mac Book Air, iPhone) or texting on the normal cell phones (that would be me…without the super cool tools), that we’re forgetting to communicate with each other. At lunch today, I looked around my table of 8 and at one time saw four people writing on or checking their Blackberries. There was still discussion and interaction, but attention was divided and taken away from the experience as a whole. These people, by the way, are the same ones who will go back to their rooms after the conference and keep working for 4 hours. We’re in Vegas and half the people here won’t walk 500 feet of the strip in three days.

My handwriting has evolved from legible and cute to not-so-legible and ugly. I want cute handwriting again! I’ve been taking notes on my laptop all week…and when I do sit down and hand write notes, they’re UGLY. I don’t want to do it. It’s like third grade all over again – I can’t really write nicely, so why the heck do I want to practice my cursive?

Tip for ladies who love really cute dresses: Don’t wear one with the ballerina tutu material (tulle) underneath when you know you’re going to be sitting all day. One word: Uncomfortable. Save it for when you’re eating solo at the sushi bar later that night (that one works out, trust me).

10 ounce sized drinks seem to be all the rage in Wynn conference rooms – coffee, tea, little sodas. I beg you, Wynn Hotel. What about my favorite 10 oz. beverage that seems natural for day-long conference attendees – RED BULL anyone? A little vodka, too, if you don’t mind…it is Vegas, after all.

I absolutely understand why you wouldn’t advertise the fact that there won’t be Wi-Fi at a social media conference. What I don’t understand is why you would even have a conference about social media and not offer Wi-Fi or internet access anywhere close? What about us who planned on blogging, twittering or heck –working(!!)– during our two or three days at your event? Sure, most people do have super-cool phones that keep them plugged into email (I don’t, see above), but I wouldn’t have ever thought to “bring my own internet” to a conference centered around online tools. One-way twittering via phone text messages for three days is NOT social media. (Neither is posting a blog three weeks after the conference.)

As mentioned below, I’m building my first ever Social Media presentation to give to a group of PRSA members next week. So far I have…lots in my head, lots on notes here and there. Nothing on Power Point, yet. No worries — cramming is what I learned in college.

In a Social Media 101 presentation, its best to have a way to define what social media is, right? Trouble with that is, it seems like everyone has a slightly different way to describe what social media is, what its about and why its important. That’s part of the beauty of playing in something so new — we are the ones helping to create what this all means.

Knowing that defining this little term has been an ongoing discussion in many different spaces, I thought I’d throw out my two cents. My current (working) definition reads like this:

Social media is about people coming together in community spaces, both online and off, to participate in creating, managing and sharing content and through conversation.

I’ll admit, I’m way behind on my Google Reader (hello 836 unread posts) and haven’t been active in parallel conversations lately…but thankfully Kyle Flaherty (one of those smart guys I’ve been following since I started getting into this) has been talking about what social media is. He blogged about how social media connects like-minded people online here, and then how people use online tools to make off-line one-on-one connections here.

After I sat in on a webinar Kyle did a few months back, I really started thinking about how conversations take place, both online and not. I think this is a great point to make to the PR people who are comfortable (and good at) reaching out through traditional methods to have conversation with their stakeholders. Social media is another set of wrenches in the toolbox that helps to start, join and enhance those conversations. It’s not a grand master solution, it is a tool.

Agree or agree to disagree? Am I missing something that is important to pass along to a new wave of social media immigrants? D0 you have a better definition or element I might want to consider building into mine? Let me know…

I’ve been asked to lead a presentation for the Oregon Capital PRSA group next week, with the intent to introduce Web 2.0, new media tools and how to integrate them, for an audience of 20-30 PR professionals. It’s gut check time for me (creating the presentation while packing for a cross-country move, ouch!), and a good test to make sure I can boil down the basics and explain it to a group who needs this information.

I had to come up with a title (sometimes that’s the hardest part!): “SOCIAL MEDIA and PR 2.0: A 101 Intro What does it really mean and why should you care?” Now, I’m going back through notes from webinars, blog posts, del.icio.us links, conference notes, etc to make sure I can pass along the most important introductory points. I’m trying to remember the first things I learned, the first blogs I subscribed to, the first Twitter peeps I followed. Even though it was only 10 months ago, it seems like much longer! I think it’ll be challenging to not make this overwhelming and leave enough time to answer questions in just a 45 minute presentation.

For those of you that have more experience giving these social media 101 workshops, I pose the question — what works? What resonates with an audience with lots of PR experience, but little-to-no idea how to integrate new tools into a tried and true (old-school) toolbox? Any tips, links and insight you can give will help me enormously. I’ll be blogging more over the next week as I go through putting together this (my first) presentation, so lets start the conversation and see where it goes. Isn’t that what this is all about?

A really big thank you in advance. Really big.