7 Google Plus Link Shorteners
Still waiting for your Google Plus vanity URL or are wondering how to shorten your Google+ URL?
With all of the excitement of Google +, it’s not hard to feel frustrated about having a long profile user name. As of now, Google is not allowing custom or vanity URL’s for their new social networking site, leaving us with a series of numbers that even most mathematician’s wouldn’t remember.
To let your friends and social media colleagues join you on Google+, there are a few great custom URL shorteners to select from. In my digital opinion, I say grab them all to protect your brand name. All you need to do is type in your long Google profile URL. Mine is https://plus.google.com/114190935413397701623/ so look for the long series of numbers on your profile page.
Add in your desired custom user name on the list of shorteners below. I used my first and last name, juliespira, to be in digital alignment with my twitter profile, as seen below.
The only trick will be in remembering which of these shorteners you’ve decided to use to promote your profile on your facebook, twitter, linkedin, or other social networking page. I’ve been favoring Gplus.to, but they’ll all work just fine.
Link shorteners
- Gplus.to/juliespira
- Glpl.us/juliespira
- Plusya.com/juliespira
- Gplus.name/juliespira
- gPlusNick.com/juliespira
- GooPlu.com/juliespira
- Myplus.name/juliespira
Feel free to connect with me if you’d like to hang out or join one of my circles. It’s an exciting time for social media enthusiasts and I look forward to seeing you there.
Imitation Isn’t a Form of Flattery
As the World-Wide-Web becomes more and more like the Wild-Wild-West with the addition of new social networks such as Google+ as well as the MySpace cyber face lift, it’s time to pause and take a look at how we are representing or mis-respresenting ourselves in the digital world.
If you ask any Hollywood agent, they’ll tell you there really aren’t any original ideas out there. To stand out in the crowded digital playing field, you need to have a unique voice and build your brand.
So what happens when you see your company logo on another’s profile on a social networking site? Perhaps they’ve found it on Google images or were just hoping you wouldn’t notice. Between Google alerts and your friends in the blogosphere, one can only hope that you’re keeping a digital eye on your brand.
Recently, I shared the story on Huffington Post of how my personal identity was copied on Twitter for the second time in two years. Twitter doesn’t take this lightly. They call it impersonation. I say, imitation isn’t a form of flattery.
In the first case, I notified Twitter. Five days later, the account of the copy-cat was suspended due to suspicious activity. In the second incident, I was fortunate that a social media friend spotted it upon first tweet. The person using my logo apologized and removed it from their profile.
Without further digital adieu, here are my recommendations on how to protect your brand identity.
- File a copyright registration for your logo at copyright.gov
- Create a Google alert for your personal name, company name, and tagline at google.com/alerts
- Create a search with your keywords on Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or other social media software management tools
- File a trademark for your company name and logo at uspto.gov
- Take any digital dispute offline
- Report any blatant incidents to the social network
Social media attorney Adrian Dayton agrees with this approach. ”Social networks take identity theft extremely seriously, most people don’t realize that if they are a victim the first step is to notify Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook immediately,” said Dayton.
Dayton knows about this first-hand as one of his clients, an NFL player, had noticed that someone had used his name and jersey number to create a fake account and started tweeting critical messages about the team. “All it took was a single email to Twitter and the offending account was removed. It may take more than that if you aren’t somebody famous, but most social networking sites will take action,” Dayton added.
At the end of the digital day one can only hope that our friends become each other’s social media police. We need to keep looking out for each other.
Have you experienced impersonation of your company or personal brand? Comments are welcome.
Social Media Day Los Angeles with Mashable and CBS
Mashable and CBS News joined together at the rooftop studio of CBS.com’s What’s Trending for the second annual Social Media Day in Los Angeles.
The event, created by Mashable and held in 90 countries around the world, included 1400 meetup’s. I was fortunate to have attended the Los Angeles gathering at CBS’s What’s Trending headquarters along with many of my social media friends.
Adam Ostrow, Mashable’s editor-in-chief welcomed us at the rooftop party with a 360 degree view of Hollywood. Shira Lazar, producer and host of What’s Trending gave us a tour of their studios, where Evan Lowenstein, founder of Stageit was performing and streaming live [video below].
Jeremy Pepper, Marsha Collier, Adam Ostrow, and Julie Spira
Guests enjoyed cocktails from Veev, wine from One Hope, a photo booth from Polite in Public, and snacks from Pop Chips and Pretzel Chips.
No social media event would be complete without a contribution to social good. HeadBlade, who provides razors and grooming products for the shaved head look, donated $1 for each tweet with the hashtag of #SMDayLA to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.
Among the attendees were my social media friends Amanda Coolong, Marsha Collier, Curt Buthman, Michale Pilla, Heather Meeker, Matt Meeker, Melissa Rowley, Marla Shulman, Seth Shapiro, Calvin Lee, KW Low, AV Flox, Alana Joy, Robert Moran, Kevin Winston, and Andy Sternberg. Many thanks to Marsha Collier for taking the photos.
How did you celebrate Social Media Day? Share your thoughts and follow Julie on Twitter @JulieSpira and like us at facebook.com/SocialMediaandMore
Facebook Privacy Settings Changed Again
You enjoy the experience of social networking on Facebook. You work hard to make sure your privacy settings are set to friends only, friends-of-friends, or even sometimes take the extra step of customizing it so you can exclude a few people without having to un-friend them.
It makes good digital sense to check on your privacy settings from time-to-time. Just today, I checked mine, only to find a new check mark next to a new setting that wasn’t there last week which said:
Let friends of people tagged in my photos and posts see them.
I know it seems sneaky of Facebook to automatically allow friends-of-friends to share or view my photos, but it wasn’t my intention, nor might it be yours.
It’s a simple problem to fix.
1. Log onto Facebook and at the top right hand corner, click on Account
2. In the drop-down menu, click on Privacy Setttings
3. A box will appear under Contact which is already checked. Uncheck it and click save.
Facebook Screen Shot
For more social media advice and conversation, like us at Facebook.com/SocialMediaAndMore
Social Media Obituaries
Reactions to death and dying are spreading like wildfire on social networking sites. From live tweeting of Michael Jackson’s funeral on television to the overwhelming, emotional, and political responses to the death of Osama bin Laden, people are turning to social media to mourn the loss of loved ones, leaders, and opponents.
I first started studying what I call the “Social Media Obituary” when I started writing my second book, The Rules of Netiquette: How to Mind Your Manners on the Web. I had observed how friends of mine were reaching out to express their sadness when friends and family members were ill and passed away. I noticed how people connected on Facebook to advise friends of funeral arrangements. At first, I was uncomfortable with the “Social Media Obituary,” but have now that when handled in good taste, which is very individual, there is a place for a web page, site, updates, and a way to remember your loved ones.
In my article on the Huffington Post entitled, “The Social Media Obituary,” I went into great lengths to discuss not just it’s position as a place to hang your social media hat while mourning, but the responsibilities of friends on social networks when someone is crying out for help. The comments on my Facebook page were thought-provoking. They ranged from, “We must look out for each other,” to someone who wished a school friend a Happy Birthday on Facebook, only to find out that the friend had passed away.
In the most recent case, Emily Longley, a single woman, was found dead in her home in the U.K. after posting a Facebook update saying she had a stalker and was scared. A memorial page was created in her honor on Facebook, which now has almost 16,000 comments from mourners and strangers. In other cases, teens and students who were cyberbullied took their lives. These tragedies might have been prevented if we took time to look at their Facebook updates and jumped in to help.
The primary focus of The Social Media Obituary are on tribute pages being created on Facebook. It’s become both a home for us to share our joys and successes, while dealing with real-life issues such as sickness and death. While our relationship status updates include, “Single” to “In a Relationship” to “It’s Complicated” to “Married” and “Divorced,” we don’t have a category to say, “Deceased.” Some profiles stay active on Facebook as a memoriam. Others remain due to lack of digital housekeeping. Tribute sites have been filled with inappropriate comments and have been pulled down. One thing that is known for sure, we now mourn and grieve with the help of our social media friends.
The full article can be found here on Huffington Post. I look forward to reading your comments on the issue. If you get a moment, do like us on Facebook.com/RulesofNetiquette where you can add your comments and thoughts.
How Social is Your Lawyer? – Social Media for Lawyers
It was an honor and privilege to speak at the Beverly Hills Bar Association on Social Media for Lawyers.
With the majority of attorneys without a facebook page, I had the opportunity to teach them how to create a page, set their privacy settings, and show the ways to provide compelling content on their page.
Prior to the meeting, I spoke with Ethan J. Wall, Richman Greer, P.A., who through his involvement in the Meritas Leadership Institute, helped lead a survey about social media and lawyers.” This survey of approximately 400 attorneys by Meritas, a nonprofit legal alliance, found that just over 1/3 of the attorneys are using social media for business. One out of four attorneys who have used social media said that they have increased their business as a result.
The hesitancy was agreed upon by attorneys in attendance of the Beverly Hills Bar Association meeting who confirmed the Meritas results, with Linkedin still being the number favorite site.
Of the 34.5 percent of firms with social media accounts, it was interesting to note the following results:
- 53.3 percent have Facebook accounts
- 68.9 percent have LinkedIn accounts
- 37.7 percent have Twitter accounts
- 27.0 percent have blogs
At the end of the evening, the percentages shifted as over 30 local Los Angeles attorneys now have custom facebook pages and social media will replace traditional networking for client development for law firms of all sizes.
Revised 4.15.2011
Early Bird Special for BlogWorld
If you’re wondering why you should go to BlogWorld and New Media Expo – May 24-26 in New York City this year, there are several excellent reasons why.
First: BlogWorld is being held in conjunction with BookExpo America for the first time! This is excellent news for social media enthusiasts and aspiring authors. As one who has been featured at BookExpo, I can tell you that it is the largest book conference in North America. Your entry fee gets you into BEA for Free!
Second: You’ll have the chance to meet agents, publishers, and other authors who will sign copies of their books for F.R.E.E! As an author who was in the exciting Authors’ Autographing area the past two years, it’s an incredibly exciting experience.
Third: You’ll have the chance to hear social media giants and bestselling authors Gary Vaynerchuk and Jeffrey Hayzlett, who are both Keynote Panelists along with numerous social media experts.
I have attended both BlogWorld and BookExpo America and can tell you this is a marriage made in social media heaven.
BlogWorld pricing increases on 4/15! Save up to $300 on your registration TODAY!
Will You Set Facebook As Your Home Page?
Will You Set Facebook as Your Home Page?
Admit it. You come home and log onto your computer, check your iPad or PDA and look at Facebook before reading your emails. If this is the case and Facebook has taken over your world, do you want to change your browser’s home page to reflect your online behavior?
Apparently Facebook thinks you should do so, or at least they would like to make it easier for you to spend more time on their site. Already most users log on daily for 45-60 minutes to the social networking giant. Today, when I logged onto my account using the Firefox browser, I was greeted with the option of setting Facebook as my home page. Although I frequently look at Facebook before I settle down to write, I still prefer having my own business home page appear when I open up my browser.
For those whose love affairs have Facebook are at the top of the totem pole, this new feature might be for you.
If you plan on making Facebook your home page, please let us know. If you think they’ve gone overboard with taking over your life and the world, we’d like to hear from you.
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