The other night I was immersed in my work when my 17 year old came into the office. One look at his face told me it was an emergency. And it was. He had just learned of the murder of one of his friends.

He was devastated.

What I find disturbing is that he [...]

Social media is all about building relationships. Reaching out and connecting over the phone, or over coffee or a meal, is a valuable step in getting to know someone better. How often do you reach out to social media friends and followers? Have you had success in building stronger business relationships in this manner?

Posted via web from Allen’s Posterous

As a social media consultant, I have used my name as a search term to demonstrate that social networking sites come up early as search results.Until recently a search on my name in either Google or Yahoo produced the same results: my website and blog, my profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and my fledgling Facebook fan page for my social media consulting business. Earlier this week, while searching on my name in Google and Yahoo!, I realized my Facebook fan page did not come up in search results. What has changed?

Last week the popular social networking site, Facebook, revised its promotions guidelines. The new terms of services restrict your ability to use your personal profile or page to conduct contests, giveaways or other promotions. How will the changes affect your company’s planned Facebook promotions?

On Twitter I tweet about social media and its use in business. This theme is reflected in the people I recommend for #FollowFriday. This post details some of the reasons I recommend people for today’s #FollowFriday on Twitter.

Today is, once again, #FollowFriday on Twitter and I have just spent a little bit of time putting together my Halloween #FollowFriday recommendations. I used the Twitter List function this time. You can follow my Halloween #FollowFriday list at Today is, once again, #FollowFriday on Twitter and I have just spent a little bit of time putting together my Halloween #FollowFriday recommendations. I used the Twitter List function this time. You can follow my Halloween #FollowFrdiay list at http://twitter.com/allenmireles/halloween-followfriday/.

The ramifications for using Twitter Lists as a business growth tool are enormous. Inclusion in certain Twitter Lists can quickly build your online trust factor and reputation. Twitter Lists can help increase traffic to your website, or blog, as Twitter users find you in a list, read your tweets and follow to your site to learn more. Lists will go viral as people find them useful and recommend them to others—increasing your visibility.

Over the weekend I got a call from a friend and Twittermate who woke to find his Twitter account suspended. He was truly perplexed about the suspension. Twitter recently released new terms of service and is intent on cracking down on spam (a good thing) and perhaps his account was mistakenly included in that effort. Here are some things you can do to safeguard your Twitter account and what you should do if your account is mistakenly suspended.

Last week I had the honor of leading a teleseminar on social media for John Assaraf’s OneCoach Intl.OneCoach, a leading provider of business growth and business coaching services, works with entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses and lead extraordinary lives. John Assaraf , CEO of OneCoach, understands the power of social media and its value as an integral part of a business owner’s marketing strategy.