LinkedIn: 1M writers, but missing a journalism voice

My readership on LinkedIn is, honestly, pathetic compared to the audience I had back in my full-time reporter days, which was over 1 million in 21 years in the industry. I'm OK with my limited reach. Why? Read the article.

LinkedIn: Facebook's new 'responsive to messages' metrics mean more work

Many of you who oversee Facebook pages for your business or nonprofit may have taken notice of a new metric designed to reward social managers that excel at customer service. [Or who desire to.] The 'very responsive to messages' option appeared very recently on a few of my pages, and on one of my accounts I got the Facebook equivalent of a green light. Read my story.

Core values of the Chimney Safety Institute of America

3 ways to avoid the 'abandoned house' effect on your social accounts

Some social media accounts remind me of the gym that fills up in January, then just a month later, turns into a ghost town. People set goals and have noble agendas at the outset, but let them fall by the wayside. It's a shame when this happens, but at least the letdowns occur out of the limelight.

Not so with social media.

Inactivity on any channel is bad for your brand, but on Twitter, especially, malaise is truly magnified. Whereas creating an account is the easiest part in the whole process, maintenance is where most misfire. And an abandoned account lines right up there on my no-no list along with ...

[Continue reading this post on my LinkedIn page.]

Scorekeeping social fallout from the Indiana governor

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act [RFRA] in late March at a private ceremony featuring a number of conservative religious leaders.

Perceived to be a wolf in sheep's clothing because it protects businesses that object to/won't serve gay patrons, the backlash intensified nationally, and quickly. Politicians, celebrities, businesses, thought leaders ... took to social to express individual outrage about the General Assembly and Pence's actions; call it embarrassment-by-association; in the Hoosier state capital, Indianapolis took umbrage at the verbal slings and arrows being wrongly aimed toward a progressive, inclusive city.

Don't judge all Hoosiers on the misguided actions of one, went the thinking. Blamehim, not us. 

[Continue to read this post on LinkedIn]

Spock, six years, and social behaviors

February 2015 marked my sixth anniversary using social media, a publishing revolution that elevated, then upended, my previous occupation ... then paved the way for a new career in public relations. Unlike newspapering, where multiple sets of eyes (and fingers) controlled/manipulated my content, in social you are on your own. There's a breath-of-fresh-air freedom in this aspect. It's also terrifying, and time-consuming (just choosing a headline for this post proved daunting). 

I've long been an advocate of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook as a direct-to-stakeholders wunderkind for businesses and nonprofits, but I'll not get into work for this post. I'm focusing on what social behaviors" @spaldobusiness has learned. My top 10.

Want to read more? This post continues on my LinkedIn page.

How my post on 'snow and ice' gains traction with two different audiences

I use Wordpress to produce Chimney Safety Institute of America's popular "Wisdom from the Hearth" external corporate blog site. It receives tremendous traction, with outstanding returns from Google Search. One thing I always desire -- with any piece of content -- is extended shelf life.

That occurred in this post, "Snow and Ice" regarding a huge snowstorm in Buffalo. I'm talking huge, even beyond the 1 or 2 foot storms that plague the northeast in wintertime.

We've all seen on the news and on social media about the incredible snowfall totals produced in different parts of the United States this winter.

The Chimney Safety Institute of America reminds homeowners in the impacted areas that chimneys and vents for solid fuel and gas appliances must be cleared of snow and ice to enable proper venting and to prevent any carbon monoxide accumulation. Both are very real dangers. Don't assume that the hot air from a fire will cause sufficient melting. 

That post got 101 views in November 2014 (when it published originally) and 30 more views in December 2014, and that's about typical for a topical piece. But it picked up 983 views in 2015 (664 in February alone) because of record snow that fell in Massachusetts. I could see on the search engines what was occurring. I even screengrabbed the post, on Twitter, view it here: