I haven’t even looked at my MySpace account in the last 18 months!

But now there is another game in town that looks like it will outdo them all and it’s called Ning. Ning uses something called “viral expansion loops” (Penenberg, 2008) as its basic platform. What this means is that anyone can in reality set up their own social network around any subject they wish. For example, let’s say the group starts around the subject of Corvettes. Another group starts up because they hate Corvettes and like Ferraris or Camaro’s instead. Then, another group breaks off because they can’t stand anything Italian, and forms a German automobile group around Porsches and BMWs (Penenberg, 2008). Anyway, you get the idea. It’s very specific and topic driven. I decided to take advantage of this and started my own Ning network called InternetMarketingAdvertising.Ning.com built around the obvious subject. It is extremely easy to do. I don’t even have to buy a domain name or a hosting account to start my own social program!

Here is my Ning site: http://internetmarketingadvertising.ning.com/

Using a simple built-in template I can create the look and feel of my site and add just about everything necessary I could want to build it. From within Ning it is easy to invite other members who can then post comments, video, blogs and join a forum on any subject they want to discuss. This is the easiest thing I’ve ever seen and I believe the reason why Ning was able to start this website with virtually no staff. It’s totally viral nature has made it so easy to share with others and expand its base. And the fact that there is Google Adsense on every single page guarantees some sort of revenue for either Ning the corporation or someone hosting a Ning site (which you can do for $20 a month) is bringing money in somewhere to somebody.

This viral nature is one of the single greatest advantages that it has over Facebook or MySpace. I have found that on my Facebook account, which I had originally set up to be specifically for business purposes, is now mostly friends and acquaintances that have found me. I don’t even bother talking about business on my Facebook account anymore because it doesn’t do any good. I also don’t even like to get on there because someone will find me and take all my time wanting to chat. I don’t mind chatting I just don’t have the time to do so at the moment. I have even had to remove some people from my Facebook account because they were wholly inappropriate to the things I wanted to discuss or represent even though they were friends of mine. With Ning things are different-the name of my site clearly identifies what the subject is for anyone wishing to join.

In order to boost revenue Facebook is now offering the opportunity to advertise to those members of certain groups. For example I created an ad for those interested in the subject of “retirement” and sent it out to their group. My short-lived experiment resulted in not even a single click and therefore no revenue to Facebook or myself I might add. But without paying for an actual advertisement I don’t see any way to make money on Facebook. I don’t think there’s any way to set up a Google Adsense account on my Facebook page unlike Ning. This one aspect alone makes Ning far more valuable and desirable than Facebook knowing that there is a way to earn income off of that topic of discussion. Because that topic is going to be fairly narrow in its focus this will allow extremely targeted advertising to be placed on that site through the Google Adsense program.

It is my opinion that Ning will overtake all of the existing social programs in terms or revenue because of its architecture, especially for those unwilling to make changes, which is certain death for anyone involved in Internet nowadays. Ning is almost exclusively topic driven, not people driven and therefore will have a much wider audience for any group that is formed. While there will certainly be people who want to be the center of the universe and will continue to use Facebook and others, there is a far greater chance of earning money when the subject of the group is around a specific topic and you are in charge of that topic. Unless you’re a celebrity you will never make money on Facebook. In fact I’m not even sure how a celebrity would make money with Facebook!

References

Kirkpatrick, M. (2009, Apr 24). MySpace is dead – The internet is growing up. Retrieved Nov 12, 2009, from readwriteweb.com: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/myspace_is_dead_-_the_internet_is_growing_up.php

Penenberg, A. L. (2008, Apr 11). Ning’s infinite ambition. Retrieved Nov 12, 2009, from Ning’s Infinite Ambition- Viral Networks-Social Networking Startups | Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/125/nings-infinite-ambition.html?page=0%2C0

(This article was part of a project for Full Sail University’s Internet Marketing Masters Degree class Oct 2009)

Twitter has take over the world by storm. A hurricane in fact. But there are some things that many people do when they get on Twitter that turn others off and reduces their effectiveness on it.

If the goal of Twitter is to get the most followers, how do you do that and not become a “Twitter-Quitter” after a month of tweeting?

Here is one quick lesson: Avoid Automatic Tweeting Software!

Why? It is extremely annoying and ruins your value to the marketplace real quick. Automatic software programs are use to constantly pump out a series of quotes or tweets. This gets real old real fast. Even if you have 1000 tweets that were constantly recycled it wouldn’t take long for someone to recognize that you are doing this automatically.

It reminds me of the movie “Real Genius” that came out in 1985 (I think it was that movie, the one with Val Kilmer). This was about a college of extremely intelligent people. There was a scene in the movie where there’s a large college classroom.

The first time they showed this scene the professor stood down at the bottom near the chalkboard at his desk looking up at a few hundred students. He proceeded to teach his lesson while the students took notes.

The next time you see this scene you notice that one of the students has placed a tape recorder on the desk to record the professors teachings. The next time you see this same scene there are several students that have placed tape recorders on their desk.

Eventually it gets to the point where the professor is speaking only to a group of tape recorders. And the final scene is that the professor broadcasts his tape recorded teachings through a set of large speakers so that all of the other tape recorders will record his recording!

• No interaction.
• No question-and-answer period.
• No true teaching taking place
• Just give me the information and let me do what I want to do when I want to do it.

Twitter has become somewhat like that: A whole bunch of people with automatic messages set on autopilot thinking that everybody else is actually there. I have done tests and found out that if I have 1000 followers and send out a message, only 9 actual people were reading what I wrote at that time! Of course it depends greatly upon the time of day if those messages were sent out but you get my point.

You are not going to develop any real relationships through automatic messaging!

Set aside some time to actually be there and tweet your followers, developing relationships, reveal who you are and what you have to offer. Twitter can become extremely addictive so it is important that you set a time limit on this but I’m here to tell you is that if you spend the time and get to know the people that are following you it will work wonders.

To get some education on how to generate Leads for ANY business, go here: http://www.SeminarMindap.com ]]> http://www.kellysmithmarketing.com/6/twitter-mistakes-to-avoid/feed/ 0