Blog - Austin Social Media

Why one of the most misunderstood concepts in social media is reach

by: Lani Rosales on 15 July 2010 - 15 Comments

Even "experts" in the social media industry misunderstand the basic concept of reach and we thought we'd take a moment to set the record straight. The other day, I saw one of the "gurus" say, "my network is 3000 people. Those 3000 people have networks too and it doesn't take very long to realize that we can turn things around and spread the message in a very quick way." The same person in the same breath said, "3000 people get my updates and information every day, guaranteed." If you're a company and you're thinking, "wow, I should call that dude because he can get my brand message out there like crazy," you should stop right where you are. Pull up ...

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How to lose commenters on your blog in just three seconds

by: Lani Rosales on 12 July 2010 - 1 Comment

Whether you're a veteran blogger or a new blogger, every blog has the capacity to turn commenters off in less than three seconds. Various practices are encouraged by coaches to capture leads, but in your effort to capture users or to maintain security, you could be losing business. Take for example a highly respected industry blog out of London. After lurking for many months in my feed reader, I finally was drawn to an article of theirs that I wanted to engage in comments, but then the frustration began. After my comment went to moderation, I was prompted to go to my email, open a message to verify my email address, and finally, copy and paste a url into ...

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What you can learn from Google’s social media failures

by: Lani Rosales on 11 July 2010 - 0 Comment

For going on seven years, Google has invested a great deal of time and money into companies that would create a stunning lineup that could theoretically be pieces to a puzzle that upon completion appears to be a healthy social network. And why not? Google has grown into a major company that has dabbled in nearly every facet of business ranging from assisting the government with their satellite imagery to attempting to conglomerate real estate data. But Google has yet to create a competitive social network. Sources point to a current social network project under Google's belt called "GoogleMe" and rumors have been substantiated. With news of their launch, tech reporters across the globe are predicting its demise and ...

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Mark your calendars for the July #BATHH

by: Lani Rosales on 07 July 2010 - 3 Comments

If you missed June, are looking to talk to people in advance of July's #BATHH (Big Ass Twitter Happy Hour), or you're just looking for people in Austin to connect with on Twitter, with one click, you can follow several hundred Austinites. The list contains people who signed in at the last #BATHH (let us know in comments if your name is missing and you swear you were there). June was a blast, and we'll be at Union Park on 6th again, so mark your calendar for July 22nd for this month's #BATHH and please, bring a friend from work or a neighbor to show them that people on Twitter and other social networks are normal, fun and ...

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Find free pictures for your blog and avoid letters from lawyers

by: Lani Rosales on 30 June 2010 - 0 Comment

Avoiding stealing content Have you ever gone to a real estate blog or website and seen the same old tired picture of a Realtor and a buyer in front of a house? You know, that picture of the lady in red giving a young couple the keys to their new house where everyone looks happy? Yeah, us too. There's a way to avoid being part of the trap of using repetitive images AND avoid using Google to search for images that lead you to the red shirt lady. An added benefit to not stealing pictures from Google is that lawyers won't send you letters for your content theft. Yay! Enough jibber jabber, here's how: 1. Go to

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