It follows me wherever I go (as long as I have internet access).

It’s LinkedIn, and it is now over 60 million professionals strong!

What is the best way to create your LinkedIn profile and considerations  I call it my personal online Rolodex.

It follows me wherever I go (as long as I have internet access).

It’s LinkedIn, and it is now over 60 million professionals strong!

What is the best way to create your LinkedIn profile and considerations you should keep in mind using when using this social medium? Mario Sundar, an associate at LinkedIn, gives some tips and tricks.

1-Make sure your picture is professional
2-Add a vanity URL for LinkedIn for easy access
3-Keep your connections public
4-Sync social media status updates (Twitter to LinkedIn, LinkedIn to Twitter, WordPress to LinkedIn, etc.)

Check out who is on LinkedIn and how often they use it in the slides below . . .

Although these numbers will be obsolete almost as soon as you watch this, the trends are there to show the internet,  Watch this video—JESS3 designed and animated this for the JESS3 lecture at AIGA Baltimore in February 2010.

Although these numbers will be obsolete almost as soon as you watch this, the trends are there to show the internet, email, and social media are here to stay.

What does the next 6 months look like? 1 year? 5 years?

We would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below . . .

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

The following template is provided by PRWEBDIRECT. I have included it for easy referencing when writing an online press release.

These tips are useful in helping you get the best coverage for your news online!

The following template is provided by PRWEBDIRECT. I have included it for easy referencing when writing an online press release.

These tips are useful in helping you get the best coverage for your news online!

Headline Announces News in Title Case, Ideally Under 80 Characters

The summary paragraph is a little longer synopsis of the news, elaborating on the news in the headline in one to four sentences. The summary uses sentence case, with standard capitalization and punctuation.

City, State (PRWEB) Month 1, 2006 — The lead sentence contains the most important information in 25 words or less. Grab your reader’s attention here by simply stating the news you have to announce. Do not assume that your reader has read your headline or summary paragraph; the lead should stand on its own.

A news release, like a news story, keeps sentences and paragraphs short, about three or four lines per paragraph. The first couple of paragraphs should answer the who, what, when, where, why and how questions. The news media may take information from a news release to craft a news or feature article or may use information in the release word-for-word, but a news release is not, itself, an article or a reprint.

The standard press release is 300 to 800 words and written in a word processing program that checks spelling and grammar before submission to PRWeb. This template is 519 words.

The ideal headline is 80 characters long. PRWeb will accept headlines with a maximum of 170 characters. PRWeb recommends writing your headline and summary last, to be sure you include the most important news elements in the body of the release. Use title case in the headline only, capitalizing every word except for prepositions and articles of three characters or less.

The rest of the news release expounds on the information provided in the lead paragraph. It includes quotes from key staff, customers or subject matter experts. It contains more details about the news you have to tell, which can be about something unique or controversial or about a prominent person, place or thing.

Typical topics for a news release include announcements of new products or of a strategic partnership, the receipt of an award, the publishing of a book, the release of new software or the launch of a new Web site. The tone is neutral and objective, not full of hype or text that is typically found in an advertisement. Avoid directly addressing the consumer or your target audience. The use of “I,” “we” and “you” outside of a direct quotation is a flag that your copy is an advertisement rather than a news release.

Do not include an e-mail address in the body of the release. If you do, it will be protected from spambots with a notice to that effect, which will overwrite your e-mail address.

“The final paragraph of a traditional news release contains the least newsworthy material,” said Mario Bonilla, member services director for PRWeb. “But for an online release, it’s typical to restate and summarize the key points with a paragraph like the next one.”

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release (or for a sample, copy or demo), contact Mary Smith or visit www.prweb.com. You can also include details on product availability, trademark acknowledgment, etc. here.

About XYZ Company:

Include a short corporate backgrounder, or “boilerplate,” about the company or the person who is newsworthy before you list the contact person’s name and phone number.

Contact:

Mary Smith, director of public relations
XYZ Company
555-555-5555
 http://www.prweb.com

###

Greg Yardley, CEO of Pinch Media, offers some statistics based on the 35 million+ downloads his iPhone app analytics startup  This is an age old question for developers: Should my app be PAID or FREE?

Greg Yardley, CEO of Pinch Media, offers some statistics based on the 35 million+ downloads his iPhone app analytics startup has tracked.

For free apps, only about 20 percent of users return to use the iPhone app the first day after download.

Usage quickly declines from there.

By 30 days after download, less than 5 percent use the iPhone app.

The chart for paid apps (not pictured) shows a slightly steeper fall-off rate.

In short, there is a short period developers and marketers have to garner attention and revenue.

Garner’s advice: “Unless there is something inherent about the iPhone app that screams free, sell it.”

Take a guess before reading the information below.

(Note: A special thanks to Morgan Stewart, director of research and strategy for ExactTarget (www.exacttarget.com), for this data).

44% of people who used social networks more also  What do you think?

Take a guess before reading the information below.

(Note: A special thanks to Morgan Stewart, director of research and strategy for ExactTarget (www.exacttarget.com), for this data).

44% of people who used social networks more also use email more often, which suggests that social media is driving some increase in email use.

However, the finding that the 22% of people who never use social networks report also using email more, compared with only 7% who are using email less, suggests that the increase in email use is attributable to more than simply social media.

What other factors would you say are influencing this?

Get more description here on what AllFacebook.com says differentiates a Facebook Group versus a Facebook Fan Page.

• Listen more than you speak. Most of us can relate to this one from our person one-to-one interactions with others. Seeing the results in social media is less about marketing promotion and more about engaging your target audience

• Listen more than you speak. Most of us can relate to this one from our person one-to-one interactions with others. Seeing the results in social media is less about marketing promotion and more about engaging your target audience in a conversation. Listen and respond to your customers, and you’ll create that valuable relationship we always seek in marketing!

• Seek to understand how and why your target audience utilizes social media. Is it to pass time? Connect with others? Get information? Be entertained? Researching your customer and prospect demographics (and desires) will help you create customer-centric content. And we all know content is king on the web.

• Slice and dice! (No, this is not a Cutco knives commercial). You should monitor and measure all activities — after all, that is one of the reason to use web-based apps—their back-end analytical data set is very rich. Learn how to measure social media ROI (based on your intial goals, objectives, strategies, and subsequent tactics) and zero in on what leads you to success.

• Be real! Transparency is the key. Do not be a “cold” brand. If you get some compliments online and other types of positive interactions, thank the contributor genuinely (and maybe even offer a discount or special bonus). If you get some responses that are not so positive, do not ignore them. Address them and admit fault (if fault exists) with a strong statement and commitment to right the wrong and get better in the future.

Toys “R” Us developed a great holiday promotion that encouraged more customers to become fans on the company’s Facebook page.

Using standard e-mail and other traditional marketing channels, the company let customers know they’d receive specific holiday discounts by agreeing to 

Toys “R” Us developed a great holiday promotion that encouraged more customers to become fans on the company’s Facebook page.

Using standard e-mail and other traditional marketing channels, the company let customers know they’d receive specific holiday discounts by agreeing to fan the company on Facebook.

In the end, it was very successful.

How successful?

When the promotion was at its peak, it generated as many as 90,000+ new fans a day.

(It’s also worth noting that Toys “R” Us’ December sales were up almost 5% in 2009, while a lot of competitors were struggling as the recession had a huge impact.)