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The other night I had a conversation with my husband about the Internet and Social Media. He was comparing the social media revolution today with the revolution that happened in the 1960′s when the Beatles invaded America.

“My parents never accepted the Beatles and the hippy generation,” he said to me. “I used to look at them and say they missed the boat. They were old fashioned and lived in the past.”

It’s interesting to note that a lot of people want their privacy and don’t want to be bothered with social media. But thinking that way is missing the boat, especially if you have a business to promote. Today people are open and transparent. And I don’t think things are going to change fast…
What do you think? Are you missing the boat or are you on board with social media?

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“You can observe a lot by just watching.” — Yogi Berra

With apologies to Yogi, you can also learn a lot by listening too. Especially on Twitter.

A lot of people have the mistaken notion that Twitter is just another way to broadcast your message far and wide. In theory, it sounds like a great tool for getting a public relations message out.

True, it can get your message out, but it is not very efficient as a pure broadcast medium. “Tweets” roll down the page of Twitter awfully fast and the chances of your single message gaining traction that way are limited.

The true genius of Twitter is in creating relationships and engaging in conversations. When others find what you have to say interesting, your thoughts and ideas cut through the noise on Twitter very quickly.

But relationships and conversations require listening. It is not enough to simply send out press releases on Twitter, you must also read other peopleís messages and respond to them.

But there is an even more important, and unexpected, point of listening on Twitter. You can learn a lot.

For example: Twitter has become my primary research tool (even supplanting Digg.com and Google Alerts) for a book and numerous blog articles Iím writing, and also for the speaking engagements I prepare.

I simply set up various keyword searches on Tweetdeck.com and I am fed a daily stream of information on the topics I have an interest in.

If you are an executive for a corporation, or are a publicity agent for such an organization, you should immediately stop reading this article and set up a keyword search for your company name and for your major products. This will enable you to learn what others are saying about you in real time.

Imagine being able to respond to negative PR quickly before it spreads. Also imagine being able to take advantage of a new trend before your competitors even know what hit them.

Another important way to listen on Twitter is to ask questions and solicit feedback. Again, you will get instant responses to your tweets. Nothing I know can give you information faster than Twitter.

Or you can use Twitter to get help brainstorming. Got a problem? Need ideas and solutions? Just send out a tweet asking for help. So many people out there will willingly take time to help you. Your fellow Twitter users are an untapped resource that your competitors are probably not using.

Of course the power to get this kind of feedback grows with the more followers you gather, which is fueled by having interesting things to say, so it really is a two-way street.

The beauty of Twitter is that it is not a one-way tool to dump sales pitches on the web. Those who succeed on Twitter, those who get it, know that it is a two-way conversation. They will engage the ìtwitterverseî as a learning tool as much, if not more, than they send out their messages.

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Charles Brown is a social media / rainmaking / personal branding coach located in Fort Worth, Texas. He is working on a book on personal branding that he expects to finish by fall 2009 (hopefully). His Twitter username is @charbrown. Check out his blog at: http://webmarketingcoach.blogspot.comî>http://webmarketing-coach.com

You can Follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/charbrown and visit his blog: webmarketing-coach.com where he writes about social networking, personal branding, thought leadership, viral marketing, rainmaking for professionals and lots of other cool stuff.

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The Iranian election showed one of the real uses of social media. Iranians had the opportunity to communicate with each other and the world. Nothing was censored. We all got to see first hand accounts of the election, the protests and people actually getting killed over the whole thing!

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Iran with the help of European technology companies, will be censoring all social media. They developed advanced firewalls to monitor and censor everything in social media, especially as it relates to Iran. There are an estimated 23 million users of social media in Iran.

Iran can now track all online communication through a single location called the Telecommunication Infrastructure Co., part of the government’s telecom monopoly. And, this isn’t just an Iranian issue. In China, every PC is installed with web filtering software. That’s not all, countries like Germany and England are also looking at similar technologies for their countries to monitor the web. They have already block certain sites. It could easily happen here.

Sound like Big Brother watching you? It is and it’s scary. Tell me your thoughts…

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You may have had a BBQ at the house or maybe you were one of those lucky ones to get a reservation at Peter Luger’s Steakhouse. But it seemed to me, that most of you were food shopping at Waldbaums, Stop and Shop or maybe even Wegman’s.

Many of you were also in the bagel shop. I know because I tried to buy bagels this morning and the line was out the door. I was also food shopping this morning and waited on line for nearly an hour!

Like Mother’s Day, today is another one of those Hallmark holidays. It’s a day to spend with your dad and/or your husband and to tell them how much you appreciate all the little things that they do for you.

As we were eating our bagels this morning, the sink facet broke. I wouldn’t even know the first thing about how to fix it and Brian, my husband, was “johnny on the spot” with his wrench and pliers. Since it’s not working, we’ll need to hire a plumber.

Later, we’ll be going to a steakhouse for dinner. Right now, we’re just relaxing enjoying the day. I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day… And a special Father’s Day wish to all the Father’s to be including Darren Galvani and Arthur Meyerovich!

Hey, let me know what you did today?

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My friend, Arthur, and I were talking the other day. He told me that on a recent trip from Fort Lauderdale to JFK on JetBlue, the couple flew home to visit his wife’s doctor. (His wife is pregnant and due within weeks with the couple’s first baby.)

Apparently, the crew found a dog with the couple and made my friend and his wife buy a new dog carrier. In addition to that, they fined them for the dog.

“Service dogs are allowed on the plane,” my friend said to me. “and the crew are not allowed to ask us what our disability is under the American with Disabilities Act.”

So what happened? Arthur received a letter from American Express. The airline claimed that the dog was in a large carrier “too big to fit under the seat.” They wrote that they had no idea that the dog was a service animal. “We told them that they needed documentation for the dog and they didn’t have anything!”

When the flight attendant pushed to see papers or documentation from his wife, he said, “don’t talk to her, she’s pregnant and a lawyer!”

“We had to sell them a carrier and charge pet fees in order to get this plane out,” the flight attendant continued to write in a dispute letter sent to American Express. “They kept saying the dog was a service animal but they had no documentation. So it went as a pet with fees.”

Now, Arthur is asking the airline for a refund of the pet fee and the pet carrier because he says the dog is a service animal and he doesn’t need documentation. He also felt he and his wife were mistreated by the crew. Do you think they have a case?

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