I ran into this problem today when I decided to switch my twitter name from @jotoole4 to @JaredOToole. Now it doesn’t seem like a big deal but it is.

Here are my reasons for changing:

1. If it’s your name its much more likely someone will remember it if you tell them in person.

2. Think about your biggest points of contact online. Mine are Facebook, my blog, my company. All of those contact points use my full name. My favorite social tool online is twitter so why should it be different.

3. I have a lot of accounts like stumbleupon, digg, technorati that I can’t change from jotoole4. But those aren’t my biggest points of contact, they are more for fun so it won’t hurt me in the end.

4. I watch a lot of ustream shows now to connect with people in the chats. Again I use my full name when I tell people who I am.

5. Social networking is becoming more and more personal. I don’t use a user-name when I introduce myself to someone in person so why should I use one online when I am trying to form relationships.

Now not everyone’s name will be available on all of these sites. For example my buddy Matt Wilson’s name was taken on twitter already so he made his name @MattWilsonTV.

It won’t destroy your efforts if you can’t use just your full name but get as close as you can.

Remember these user-names will be on these sites forever. Think about where you will be in 5years. What would you want your name to be then?

Now if you have already started using different names like I have it makes things a little tricky but you can do damage control. Twitter lets you change your name easily, just announce it when you do. Otherwise focus on your biggest points of contact and if you make the switch try to alert everyone.

Remember this is your personal brand you are creating.

I didn’t really pay much attention to the conversation at 1st but then over the past couple days I got my first taste of automated DM’s. I have to say that I do not like it. It makes such a personal service so impersonal. I don’t understand the point of sending an automated DM to someone other then to promote your own stuff. Each auto DM that I got said something like this

“Hi, thank you so much for the follow. I am looking forward to connecting with you and would love to hear your thoughts on (my site/blog).”

The basic twitter etiquette has been established as form relationships by giving to people. It’s not about how many followers you have but about how close your relationships are with those followers.

These automated messages completely break that code. It looks like you either

1. Just want people to look at your stuff.

2. Don’t have the time/care who follows you so why should I care/take the time to look at your stuff.

If you are providing good content and helping other people by providing them content then you will eventually get noticed. Don’t push it on people with these automated messages. It may take a little longer for them to take a closer look at what you do but it will be worth it.

I think there are a few reasons for this which in order to be successful my team and I will have to find the answers to.

1. College is the best days of your life

Now this is the classic saying that I have been told many times in my life. I can’t say its completely false. The experiences you have in college will be hard to replicate whether its dorm life, partying any day of the week, or just simply being surrounding by thousands of other people under the age of 23.

So I think a lot of kids have trouble stepping up and trying to get really involved in a network like Under30CEO.com or their business club. They have the dreams but they also don’t want all that extra responsibility that might take time away from the college experience.

2. Confusion

They aren’t sure how to go about starting a business, a blog, or how to simply start effectively networking. It’s amazing to see how all these kids who use facebook everyday get put into a business network and are lost. I can’t say I was any different in college. It’s definitely a huge challenge for anyone trying to harness college kids.

3. Don’t think it’s what they should focus on

I’ve found that many kids are obviously focused on their grades in school and getting a job upon graduation. They say how they want that security and then they will go after their dreams on the side but will have that job to fall back on. Many kids don’t think starting a business is really possible right out of school and think it’s something they will start when they have the money from a “real” job.

4. Lack of time

I think all the other points come together to lack of time. Kids want their social life at school and when they are on breaks at home. They don’t want to spend the time to figure out how to do things that they don’t necessarily need at the time. The also obviously have work and a lot of commitment to their classes and it is tough to try and focus on other things while succeeding at all that. Also entrepreneurship is simply not heavily promoted as a real alternative to working for someone else.

So I have found those reasons to be the biggest factors that hold kids back from pushing forward with their dreams at young ages. Making a successful network for college kids definitely has to somehow combine fun, strong reasons for it while teaching and achieving things in as little amount of time as possible. Not to say these things don’t need to be in other networks or projects but I think college kids don’t grab the opportunity as well as someone who is out of school and actually trying to pay the bills each month with what they are doing.

It’s an interesting challenge right now and I’ll be making more posts about the success and failures of trying to harness all of these factors.

Any Ideas?

Here’s the idea behind the community…..

Nobody can change the world by themselves

This is Under30CEO

Our Dream

Expansion

Join us and change the world

Join us and achieve whatever YOU want; this is our call to action; this is our future.

Under30CEO.com

The network is on the ning platform right now because its a great way to test the waters. Due to the great response we will be trasnferring to a private platform over the winter months!!!

See Part 1 – The Profile
Part 2 – Getting Acquainted
Part 3 – Adding Value

Part 4 – Follow-up

Well now you have completed your profile, joined some discussions and groups, and begun to add value to the network. Now one of the most important keys to the success of your social networking venture is to STAY WITH IT!!!

As with anything else nothing happens over night. You have to stay with the network and keep checking back and staying up-to-date.

Remember that people are busy and don’t sign-on to every network they are a part of every day. So just because you sent friend requests to people or messages and they didn’t respond don’t get discouraged. Give them time to check back.

Don’t stop starting discussions just because yours didn’t get a big or maybe any response. Maybe you just didn’t pick the right topics or yours got buried quickly because so many other discussions were started. Keep trying and you will eventually get something going.

When trying to organize a tribe in a group give them time to contribute. Your e-book or event or whatever you decided to try and create probably won’t be ready to go in a week. Maybe you get lucky and get people who are as passionate about it as you and have the time to jump on board right away. However its more likely that it will take members time to get involved and add their pieces to the idea.

Just don’t give up. To many people give up or lose interest and then say that social networks are pointless and don’t offer much. Well those people are the reasons why there is such opportunity for entrepreneurs out there. Successful entrepreneurs never give up and fight through the up and downs of their work. The unsuccessful well they give up.

Remember it doesn’t take much. You don’t have to organize a new group everyday. Add a comment to someones page or put your 2 cents into a discussion. Give everything you do time to develop and you will see some great success.

Good luck!!!

Check out Under30CEO.com for young entrepreneurs.

See Part 1 – The Profile
Part 2 – Getting Acquainted

Part 3 – Adding Value

OK so now your profile is set-up and you’ve said hi to a few people, joined some groups, and added a point or two to some forum discussions. Now its YOUR turn! Time to truly add value to the network and make a name for yourself. Show people that you have a lot to offer and are someone they should pay attention to.

Now there is no one way to do this. This is where you can get creative. First the simple things to add value…

-Start your own group and organize a tribe around it. Invite people who you think will be interested and run the show! This will get you some attention and show your leadership skills.

-Start discussions in the forums. Take some time to come up with creative topics that will get people interested. Getting a good discussion going is a great way to get noticed as everybody who sees it will see you started it. That’s all you had to do was start it! If it’s interesting the community will take over from there.

-Add videos, pictures and events (these are the options on Under30CEO.com). Take some time to find some interesting stuff. Not only will you get your name in those sections of the network but it will also further develop your profile because it probably tracks things you do.

Now that’s the basics. Let’s get more in depth about what you can do.

Find ways to truly create valuable content! What do I mean by this? Content that can be distributed amongst not only members of your network but that you can distribute outside of the network. Things you can show people in your industry and can help them in some way.

Let’s look at an example of this.

One thing that will be happening on Under30CEO.com is the development of e-books. The entire network will hopefully get involved in creating e-books for young entrepreneurs by young entrepreneurs. There are a million topics for such e-books. Now these books will not only be great for all members of the Under30CEO community but can also be distributed outside the community. This is valuable content. Everyone who contributes to the e-book gets cited so they can also point to it as something they did. The books can then be used by anyone who finds it interesting.

Now ANYONE can also take charge and create an e-book or some kind of valuable content. Going back to the point above about creating a tribe around your group. Well make some kind of content within your group. For example we encourage all C.E.O. chapter to create chapter groups on Under30CEO. Now within these groups someone can take charge and create a chapter specific e-book about the members, their businesses, their goals, or whatever topic they want. Then they could not only show this to everyone in the community on Under30CEO but also show it to their school. Let the other kids at the school see more about the entrepreneurs around them.

And of course it doesn’t have to be school specific or have any other restrictions. If you can put a group together and form a tribe of 5, 10, 50 people you can create something no matter where everyone is from.

Now these are just a couple of ideas. Creating valuable content just takes some creative thinking and a leader or two. But just think of what you would create if you could have a club of a 100 passionate people. Now just make that club virtual. Make content that can be seen by everyone. Now you can extend your reach way beyond what you do in a room on campus or a conference room at work.

If you successfully create this type of content you can always point back to it and show that you organized it. That you organized an e-book that was downloaded 1000times. Or put together a monthly meet-up in your town or city that brought people from surrounding towns that you had never met before.

This type of content is unique to social networking right now. Very few networks do anything of true value. Look at facebook or myspace. What have you done on there that you would point to and say “I created this”. What have those networks done to encourage valuable content creation? The answer is very little. Niche networking is popping up all over the place but many still fail to do anything valuable. That’s what will separate the winners and losers in niche networking. The creation of content is what cutting edge networks are beginning to do and that is what will allow them to succeed.

Leading one of these tribes or simply getting involved with one will help you stand out in this ever crowding cyber world.

Just be creative and take charge. The possibilities are limitless.

Part 4 – Follow-up

See Part 1 – The Profile

Part 2 – Getting Acquainted – Groups, Forums, Events, Introductions

Now your profile should be all set up and ready to go. At first many social networks will seem a little over-whelming but they are all actually fairly basic. Some of the basic features that most networks will have are forums, groups, events, and obviously the ability to connect with other members. Lets take a look at getting started with each.

-Forums
Forums are a great spot to pick up some advice, learn something or just get involved in an interesting conversation. They can be a little disorganized but this is just the nature of a forum. New discussions are always popping up thus sending other discussions into the archives. Forums are used best for short pointers and responses. Most people don’t spend their day trying to figure out their response to a forum discussion. What makes a great forum is a place where you can post a discussion and then receive numerous quick responses. Then you can piece it all together and figure out the best answer.

Forums are a great way to add your 2-cents to various discussions rather quickly. Don’t be afraid to jump in and get involved in some discussions. Don’t worry about being wrong or judged for your responses. What’s the worst that could happen? The person who started the discussion doesn’t add you as a friend? Things could be worse. It’s better to be seen getting involved then doing nothing at all. If you don’t get involved nobody will ever know you exist on a network.

One of the key rules of forums is to keep things as categorized as possible. Sometimes this is hard to do but just do your best.

Check out the forum on Under30CEO.com

-Groups
Some people brush off groups as worthless because people just join a bunch but nothing happens. Well this is the case at times but groups can actually be very valuable. A group can act as your own personal network within a network.

For example – On Under30CEO.com there are many members from the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), this is a college organization with chapters across the US. Each chapter is encouraged to start a group for itself on Under30CEO so members can easily stay in touch with each other. This also lets you learn about the other members of the chapter by seeing their profiles on the network.

I do suggest using groups in moderation. Don’t just join every group you might have an interest in. Join the ones you will actually participate in. Just joining these things won’t make you stand out on a network, again its all about getting involved!

-Events
Check out the events that are on the network. Usually you can find some interesting things to go to. This is also a great way to meet people who are attending the same event as you are. One of the worst things about conferences are their size and how you can feel lost at times. But if you talk to a few people before hand through a network you can organize meet-ups so you don’t have to go at it alone.

On Under30CEO.com events for entrepreneurs across the country can be found all the time.

-Introductions
Using all the above features you should be able to find some very active people on the network. Introduce yourself to these people by writing on their wall and maybe sending a friend request. Try to get involved with them (if they are interesting) and let them know what you are looking for and what you look to add to the network. One thing about social networking is you can’t be shy. Get out there. Some people will never respond but many will and they could be huge contacts.

Don’t spam everyone on the network with intros. Check profiles and talk to people who you really want to connect with. Just because the network is full of people with a common interest it doesn’t mean everyone is a good fit. Take the time to read profiles and connect. It pays off in the long run.

So go get involved!

Part 3 – Adding Value

There a many social networks out there. Everyone knows about networks like Facebook and Myspace. Those networks are fine, they serve a purpose and set a framework for social networks. However those networks don’t have any type of focus, they do a very bad job at creating any type of value. How many times have you used Facebook or Mypsace to really advance your career or meet someone new in your field? More recently many niche networks are beginning to pop up. There are networks for just about anything you can imagine from cat lovers to successful business owners. Once again these networks have not done a good job at creating value or keeping people’s attention on the network. Many people join them but then never come back because there just isn’t much of a reason.

Well now that is also changing. Social networks are starting to pop up that look to create valuable content one being Under30CEO.com. These new types of networks can be a huge resource for anyone, with young entrepreneurs being the focus for Under30CEO.com. There are steps that can be taken to ensure you benefit and move closer to your goals when you join a niche social network. A lot of this will have to do with the founders and the atmosphere that they create but if you use a network properly you can almost always gain something.

Part 1 – The Profile

Whenever you sign-up for a network the first thing you will be asked to do is make a profile. This is 1 of the most important things to COMPLETE WHEN YOU SIGN-UP. Don’t sign-up and then say you will finish the profile later. If that’s the case wait to sign-up when you have time to complete everything. The Reason being that on many networks there is a place where you can see the new members that have joined. This is a huge opportunity to get your profile in front of many people. If it’s blank people won’t make any effort to contact you or friend you. I’m not saying that when you leave that most recent members page no one will ever see your profile again, but your profile will get viewed many times and you never know who may be looking. Could be that contact your business or career needs! Later in this series of posts we’ll look into getting people to your profile after you have been on the network for awhile.

Now some steps and tips for your profile. Might differ from network to network, these are assuming a business oriented network.

1. Use your full name
No nicknames or just first names. You are looking to connect to people right? You wouldn’t put a nickname or partial name on your resume or business card. Your full name will allow people to find you in other places such as your company website or just to research more about your work. It’s all about trust and the more someone trusts you the more likely they will help you.

2. A picture of yourself
To many people sign-up to a network and don’t upload a picture. I never understand this, these same people are on Facebook or Myspace with their pictures up but think that for some reason it’s not needed on a meaningful niche network. This is where it’s MOST needed. If you don’t upload a picture of yourself most people will pass right over your profile because it looks like you aren’t involved with the network. Also make it a real picture of yourself not some animation or a picture of your dog, once again you wouldn’t do that on your resume if you could.

3. Provide as much information as you can
There will usually be a series of questions or places to add info about yourself. Every question doesn’t always apply but far to often even the basic ones get over-looked. You want to make it as easy as possible for someone to connect with you. By providing all the info possible there’s that much more of a chance someone will read something that makes them leave a comment or want to talk to you further.

Remember your profile on a niche network is just like your cyber resume. You try to provide all the info you can on a resume to make yourself stand-out so do the same on a network.

Here are some examples of great profiles on Under30CEO.com

Tyler Fishback
Robert Calise

4. Put up your links
Many networks will also let you add links to other profiles you have online. It could be your blog, site, linkedin, facebook whatever it is DO IT. Add as many as you can this not only lets people connect with you on other networks but also helps with the whole trust thing. As they connect with you in various places they will begin to remember and trust you.

5. Customize with care
You will usually have the option to customize your profile page to a point. Now this is great to help you stand-out but don’t over-due it. Remember that you are here to connect and hopefully work with people not to show-off how many colors you can fit on your profile page. You want people to remember what they read and learn about you not how crazy your page is. So be reasonable and you should be just fine.

Young entrepreneurs check out Under30CEO.com to start putting these skills to use!

Part 2 – Getting Acquainted – Groups, Forums, Events, Introductions

Use The Website!!!

This was my biggest mistake.  I didn’t know until about 2 days before the conference that there was a social network set up on the web 2.0 expo website called crowdvine.  Here you can do just about anything you want to do in terms of a social network make a profile, friend people, message people, search people. It really allows you to see who’s at the event and can help you make some connections before you ever get to the event. You can also see what people are attending what sessions.  This is a great tool and is crucial to making your networking experience meaningful at a conference as large as this one. My advice would be to get on a network like this for your event ASAP. The sooner your on there the more likely you are to make contacts and find people you might be interested in meeting. I don’t know if every conference has a network like this set up but its something you should keep in mind and look for when you sign-up for something.

Twitter

1.    As an event like the web 2.0 expo nears Twitter starts lighting up with tweets from people going to the conference. It’s key here to not only tweet about your plans but to also follow what other people are saying about the event and then research them. If you see someone say they are attending the event check out their profile and then also see if they are on the “crowdvine” to find out more info about them. If you think you want to meet them send a message back to them on twitter as well as friend them on whatever social network is set up for the event.

Two simple ways to search on twitter.
- Twitter search
- Tweetdeck – lets you open up multiple searches at the same time

2.    Twitter is also an easy way to stay in touch with people at the event. If you didn’t get the chance to exchange email addresses or phone numbers simply monitoring your direct messages through your cell phone can help you talk to people. Easy way to keep yourself connected while wondering around the event, just make sure your twitter account has your phone enabled.

3.    Throughout the day attendees meet-up to tweet about sessions they saw or didn’t see. Usually you can find these groups either by monitoring twitter or meeting people on something like the “crowdvine”. Attendees will pick a time and place to meet to discuss sessions they saw so you can take key points from a session you missed or discuss something you saw. By joining in on these groups it provides you with another great way to network as well as learn about other happenings at the event.

Be Social

The simplest way to network is just by being social.

-Get involved in every conversation you can.
-Approach people at their booths and ask them about their products or what they do.
-Collect business cards and give out your own.
-Hit the bar at the hotel your staying at and strike up a conversation.

When attending events this large it can be easy to get lost in the crowd. However by preparing and researching beforehand you should be able to organize a few meaningful meet-ups and make some valuable relationships.

Remember even though there’s a lot of people at an event like this they are all there because they have an interest in web 2.0 or whatever topic your event is for. So in the end every single person is like-minded to some degree and could make for a meaningful contact.

Check out the Web 2.0 website to see the upcoming events in Germany, Japan and San Francisco.