Have you been forced to deal with an unfortunate social media disaster? Baratunde Thurston, director of digital at The Onion, shared an experience of a past crisis in the September issue of Fast Company. It all happened because of one wrong setting that made a major impact and briefly labeled the brand as a “spammer.”

Have you edited your post before clicking "publish"?

Tools for scheduling your posts, such as Hootsuite or Seesmic, can be very helpful and convenient – especially when you have multiple accounts to manage. But with the convenience comes risk. Knowing your settings and how they work are a vital part of using any tool in the online world. Catastrophes can show up around any corner. If you don’t follow the instructions carefully, there can be dire consequences ­ – all because you wanted to save a little time. It can take a simple check of a box to differentiate between being a spammer and an authentic user.

The necessity of double-checking your posts before you publish them can be easy to forget. Even those who thoroughly review content before sending it live can make errors. It never hurts to have a second pair of eyes look over your post.

So what do you do if you come across a major social media emergency? Whether you’re posting on behalf of your clients or your own company, every business needs a social media policy. It can help draw distinct lines for employee behavior on social sites and establish guidelines in case of an unexpected crisis.

Do you have a social media policy in place?

The Social Media Incubator prepares for Zenith Social Media Conference in Duluth this upcoming Wednesday, May 23. The conference will feature speaker from national and internationally known speakers including Rand Fishkin, Marty Weintraub, Laura Weintraub, Greg Jarboe, Merry Morud, Ric Dragon and many others.

On our way to the beautiful shores of Lake Superior!

Some of the topics will address the latest in the social media industry including:
Facebook Marketing, Killer Social Ads, Combining Social Media & PR, the Mobile Revolution, Reputation Monitoring Online and Social Media Law.

The advanced track will be hosted by aimClear, an advertising and social media company located in Duluth. As an international speaker, CEO and Author of “Killer Facebook Ads” Marty Weintraub is a leader in the industry in integrating social media into the business world.

Social Media Administrator Chelsea Janke will be attending the Zenith Conference. “I am excited to further my education of what others in the industry are using and the tools and tactics they are integrating with their clients’ marketing. After the OMS12 conference in San Diego in February, it has become clear that the most effective social media happens when business integrate social media fully with their current marketing plans. There are numerous companies out there that have template-like content and social media information to use, but quality over quantity is making its presence known, especially after the Google Panda update of February 2012.”

PR Specialist & Copywriter Kelly Kison will be attending the conference as well. “I’m looking forward to endeavoring more in the crossroads of where public relations meets social media and how to better optimize, publicize and socialize company news in the most creative, effective and lasting way. I am excited to learn more about strategic writing for different types of content across the internet.”

Are you attending the Zenith Conference or any other social media conferences in the near future?

With over 850 million users, one might think that Facebook is a no-brainer from a business perspective.  The fact is, there are many businesses who have yet to embrace Facebook and other social media sites in a strategic manner.  I just spoke with a prospective customer last week who told me he “doesn’t quite know what to do with Facebook,” so he has chosen to do nothing.  (Yes, we can certainly help him!)

With Facebook heading toward it’s multi-billion dollar IPO, expected in May of this year, Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg predicts that changes will happen that will force businesses to take a look at their social media participation – and soon.

“You need to look at Facebook’s potential revenue drivers with this IPO on the horizon,” says Melberg.  “Yes, they currently make money on advertising, but to date they are leaving the entire search advertising market (valued at $15 billion annually) on the table.  Have you ever tried to search for something on Facebook?  It’s terrible.  Facebook today ranks today with the lowest amount of search volume (behind Google, Yahoo, Bing, EBay, Craigslist, Ask, AOL and even Amazon).  That is going to change with new investors on board.”

While Google is moving into social with it’s Google+ product, Facebook will move into search by adding a stronger search component within it’s existing platform – one that 850 million users (and growing) already use regularly.

According to this article on Bloomberg Businessweek, “Greg Sterling, a senior analyst at Opus Research, says Facebook could quickly become the second-most popular search engine if it tackles the (search) problem in earnest.”

So – what does this mean for your business?  When Facebook improves it’s search functionality, suddenly your customers won’t have to leave Facebook to search for what they want to find.  If your business isn’t on Facebook…how will they find you when they do so?

Have you visited Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, or one of the many other major websites today that are blacked-out? No need to restart your system – it’s an organized protest against a major bill going to the Senate that could drastically change the way that we all are allowed to use the Internet.

Wikipedia's protest against SOPA and PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith that was created to stop theft or piracy of content. The Protect IP Act (PIPA), according to Fast Company, is “…a bill designed to have a slightly broader sweep than SOPA with the intention of protecting goods that are copied by counterfeiters–anything from drugs to handbags.”

How would the passing of either of these bills affect you?

“If these bills were adopted, it would mean that no one could post another link on Twitter, Facebook, a blog, a website – anywhere online – without first checking to make sure that nothing on that site contained copyright infringement,” said Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg. “It would change everything about how the Internet, social media and SEO work.”

Imagine having to check every single thing on a website before you linked to one of its articles. What if something was added later, after you had linked to it? Since links live “forever,” would you have to hire someone to go and check all your links frequently to make sure nothing had gone wrong with the website since you linked to it?

“In practice, it’s censorship of the Internet and how we do business today,” said Melberg. “This protest by many major websites is an organized exclamation to ‘Stop Piracy, Not Liberty.’”

Google's Protest

You might be one of the individuals in favor of SOPA and PIPA, thinking that we all need a law in place to protect original content and copyrights online. Are you aware that one already exists? It’s called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998, and it was put in place to help prevent piracy and copyright infringement online – the issues that PIPA and SOPA are challenging right now. The difference is that SOPA and PIPA go far beyond this with the potential power to “break the Internet,” according to CNN.

Remember the protests in Egypt that held riots in the streets? The Egyptian government shut down the Internet at that time, as if it was as simple as flipping a switch. Many Americans watched and casually thought, “That could never happen here.”

Welcome to reality.

What do you think about the blackout protests?

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the reliability of online information that is compiled by individual users (think Wikipedia). Others scrutinize sites that allow users to share/upload files, music and videos freely. But who can really define whether these sites are doing right or wrong?

The Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) is an effort to regulate all content online. It has been creating buzz because, if passed, the Act “…makes the streaming of unauthorized content a felony,” reported MSNBC.com.

The reactions to this proposed law are definitely being heard. Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare are just a few of the online sites that are threatening to “…take a ‘nuclear option’ and ‘go simultaneously dark’ in protest of the bill,” MSNBC.com published earlier this week.

There are those who support the bill and would like to see unauthorized content removed from all websites. Others rely on shared information from internet users on a daily basis. How about if you’re a student writing a research paper – can you cite Wikipedia as a credible resource for your information? Educational institutions and their professors/instructors have a wide range of policies for students using these crowd-sourced encyclopedias as a reliable source in coursework. Since users can change the content, who’s to say that what you’re reading on those sites is factual?

Try asking followers of The Colbert Report with Steven Colbert on Comedy Central. In 2006 he encouraged viewers to change the Wikipedia entries on elephants to state that their population had tripled in the last six months. So what happened? Roughly 20 Wikipedia articles on elephants were vandalized by numerous users stating exactly what Colbert had suggested – until Wikipedia administrators caught wind of what had actually happened, locked the pages and blocked Colbert from the site. According to Colbert, a made up thing or idea becomes true reality if enough people agree with you. He coined it as “wikiality,” and he was proving it.

Does SOPA silent free speech? Or does it help regulate false information on the infinite Internet?

Do you know if your Facebook profile is in violation of any rules? What about your business or company page? While some people might not see any problem with bending a rule or two, Facebook is really stepping up to enforce their guidelines in 2012– and many users could lose their pages or profiles.

Did you even know that by setting up a Facebook personal profile, you are acknowledging that you will adhere to the following guidelines?

• Facebook users must provide their real names and information
• You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
• You will not create more than one personal profile.
• If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
• If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user’s actual name)

And more…

Here’s an example – if you meant to set up a company or business profile but accidentally set it up as a personal profile, Facebook is allowing you to switch the account to a business page to correct the accident. Another option is to delete the duplicate personal profile and setup the correct brand page. Facebook has also made it possible to merge duplicate company pages that you may have accidentally set up.

Please note that if you are planning to make many changes to a page, you probably want to make sure you’re confident in what you’re doing, or that you get help from someone who knows what he or she is doing. Just make sure that the person(s) handling the details of your account can advise you correctly. After all,  some of the changes you make to your account are permanent.

Facebook is simply trying to ensure safety and convenience for all users. Although the social media giant is making an effort to allow people to correct their mistakes, this may not continue forever. Eventually people, brands and companies who do not abide by Facebook’s rules or adhere to ethical standards could have their profiles deleted or blocked.

Guidelines provided by Facebook.com.

Oh, what the click of one button can do. A single click can cause an uproar of negative responses, uncover groundbreaking stories, or release an unlimited amount of information. In this case, we take a look at Ad Age‘s article about individuals and representatives of companies who seem to have simply clicked “Post” before thinking twice.

Are you always double-checking your details before posting content online?

From the offensive tweets of a spokesperson impersonating a duck, to the ‘Qwik’ fail of a new name and site for a DVD rental service, 2011 definitely saw its fair share of social media blunders. Twitter was a common site for many of the mishaps, including a short rant about the drivers of the Motor City that was posted on Chrysler’s own Twitter account by accident. One person on the list was even fined $500,000 for the contents of his tweet – that’s an expensive fee for a post that was 160 characters or less.

Keep in mind that what you post online can be seen as a direct reflection of your character. Most people don’t think that accidentally sending their next text to the wrong person or place could result in the loss of their job – and it’s likely that New York congressman Anthony Weiner didn’t think so either.

What can be learned from this entertaining list? Think twice and check your facts before posting anything online – especially if you’re posting on the behalf of another person or entity. If you wouldn’t be willing to have the information printed on the front cover of Time, don’t publish it online.

Do you have a social media policy in place in case you or your business made a social media mistake?

Do you have a social media policy in place for your business? A recent study by Grant Thornton LLP and Financial Executives Research Foundation, Inc. (FERF) has provided a few statistics that might make business owners consider putting a policy in place.

A press release from Grant Thornton LLP finds that “executives of public and private companies see social media as a growing set of marketing tools, but have not yet developed the necessary compliance and risk policies and procedures.”

Why have a policy for social media? According to Thomas Thompson, Jr. of FERF, “Social media cuts across many areas of a company (such as HR, marketing, communications and legal, among others). Therefore any policy surrounding it should be the result of a multidisciplinary approach,” said Thompson.

The release made it clear that social media is not seen as just a flash in the pan by business professionals. It reported that 53% of the senior financial executives who responded see the corporate use of social media increasing significantly over the next year, and 48% feel that social media will be an important component of their future corporate marketing efforts.

What about the social media activity of the employees within your company? Have you established whether or not they can post online on behalf of the company? This is a major part of tracking the brand image of your business.

Recently a California Starbucks employee was fired after a song he wrote and performed making fun of some of his demanding customers went viral. He did not post the video on behalf of Starbucks, but it was still very negative publicity for the company and brand image. Yes, free speech does exist, but posting content online really gives the first amendment a run for its money.

No matter how active your brand or company is on social media, it is imperative to have social media guidelines set in place for safety. That way, when questions arise about rules and regulations, or worse – a crisis – you have prepared answers and a plan of action coordinated ahead of time.

To read the full press release, visit GrantThornton.com/socialmedia.

Does hacking generally have a negative or positive connotation? According to an article from PCmag.com, there are quite a few top companies that have given legitimate jobs to hackers – including Apple, Google and Microsoft.

While you might be thinking that hacking can be considered as “cyber crime,” try looking at it from a business standpoint. If you are constantly trying to keep your company virtually safe from hackers, spambots and viruses, wouldn’t it be nice to have an expert working for you? Besides, who would know capabilities of online threats better than a true hacker?

“While giving a job to a hacker can be seen as rewarding wrong behavior, sometimes attention-getting actions can help showcase the best talent,” said Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg. “Using a hacker’s power to positively benefit a company can help prevent future cyber crime.”

What do you think? Is it fair to hire alleged cyber criminals?

Here are a few easy steps to help you video chat with your friends on Facebook through Skype:

Go to http://www.facebook.com/videocalling

Click “get started” button.

Download what it tells you to do so. If the download fails, try it one more time and it will ask you to run the download. Do so.

Then when it is finished downloading you can open an instant message window to the person you wish to call and the icon will appear at the top of the instant message screen.

Facebook video chat

Check out how Google+ is different from this video chat feature from Facebook.