Between Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and now Google Dashboard, I can see my life in writing for the past several years (as long as I’ve had an account on each).

Is it invasive that there is a record of me searching for directions to a restaurant in Marblehead back in May 2008, according to Google? Or that I my posts to Facebook friends dating to 2006 are sitting on a Facebook server in Silicon Valley somewhere? Or that Gmail provides me with online ads based on a demographic profile it has gleaned from my private emails? Or that LinkedIn and Facebook routinely suggest the names of people they recommend I contact, based solely on what these social networks already know about me?

Yes, and no. From the start, I made the choice to use the web, to connect with other people, to exchange ideas, and sometimes just to have fun. Reading my chronological web trail is like flipping through a diary. These records remind me of past experiences, past ideas and of who I was then. I’m the one who published the content — and I continue to put myself out there. In the end, I am in control of, and responsible for, the message.

Is it scary? Sometimes. Google knows what time of day I look up my client coverage scans, what I read on blogs, what my private emails contain and what searches I’ve conducted. That’s a lot to know about someone. Cookies allow advertisers and marketers to track the websites that you visit. How secure is the data? In 2006, 36 million member AOL search queries were published on the web in a massive security breach. What’s going to stop something like that from happening in the future?

I became aware recently that someone I know in real life has been keeping regular tabs on me via Twitter without making any actual contact with me. My gut reaction surprised me. It felt like some sort of invasion of privacy. But in the end I realized that I made the situation possible. I’m the one who posts the content about my life, after all. If that’s how someone wants to keep up with me, that’s their decision, not mine.

Privacy is a concern, but it’s not going to keep me from continuing to use social networks, Google search, Gmail, and other web services. In these busy, multitasking times, it may be the most efficient way to keeping a diary. I’ve willingly engaged in an online public conversation, and it’s been worth it. I just hope that the online communications and activities we assume to be private are secure – and remain that way.

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Thanks to Socialnomics for putting this together.

What are your thoughts about this video? What do you think of social media and the latest trends? How will social media affect your life in the future?

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This week, Topaz Partners attended the MassNetComms Annual Summer Networking BBQ on Wednesday, August 12th in Waltham, MA. Topaz’s Greg Venne and I met up with telecom business professionals to discuss the latest trends in the mobile industry.

Without a formal program or presentations, it was an open opportunity to meet people in the Boston telecom industry, with a good mix of VCs, current industry execs, recruiters, consultants and other business service providers.  The growth of the mobile industry was a hot topic of discussion, as were predictions for what’s going to happen next with mobile.

MassNetComms is the premier industry association for the networking industry – the companies and entrepreneurs working in mobile, video, broadband, and cloud/virtualization technologies. We look forward to attending more events from MassNetComms in the future.

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Starting my day off with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Boston Globe is a must. I am able to see not only what is happening in the world but who is writing what and how often they write about what topic. This is a key in relationship building and how you should pitch an editor in the future.

After reading those newspapers, I switch to my Google alerts. Google alerts are easy to set up and really can help you get a grasp on who is talking about what. For all of my clients, I set up Google alerts to understand the trends in their space, who is saying what and how my clients can fit into the picture. This is a great way to start to “trendjack” or introduce yourself to an editor.

My RSS feeds (Google Reader, Bloglines or even email RSS feeds and newsletters) are also part of my daily routine – at 89 subscriptions; it’s a great variety of blogs, news and other items. Although some of my blog are personal favorites—celebrity gossip, jokes, finance tips, dinner recipes and Boston restaurants reviews—most are centered around the various technology blogs as well as social media and public relations blogs. This is a great way to learn new ideas, pick up new tricks and be well informed in various areas.

Many people ask me why I’m on Twitter. The answer is to read more. There are great links that other people provide on Twitter than you may not otherwise see unless you followed them. My greatest tip about Twitter is to follow people in your industry- you’ll learn from what they have to say and offer in their 140 character tweets.

I start my day off with reading and read even more after work. It’s a great way to stay informed and a daily part of public relations life.

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Rockstars of Social CRM

On Wednesday night, I attended “The Rockstars of Social CRM” at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in Boston. The event hosted by  Chris Brogan and Radian6 had great attendence and an engaging panel of:

• Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs and author of ChrisBrogan.com
• Marcel Lebrun, CEO, Radian6
• Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care, Comcast
• Paul Greenberg, Author of CRM at the Speed of Light, President of The 56 Group, LLC
• Brent Leary, Co-author of Barack 2.0 and Co-founder of CRM Essentials
• Michael Thomas, National President, CRM Association

The panel discussed how social media is changing CRM. Some important take aways from the event and panel discussion are:

• Engage your audience — know your target audience, let them express themselves
• Our job is to figure out how to turn customers into advocates and part of that is the company listening to the customers
• Another way to benefit from social media and social CRM is that the customers start helping each other out. It will saves the company money  (from @bostonmarketer)
• There were some illuminating examples provided by @comcastcares about how Comcast has used Twitter to save money in their rapid response to problems (i.e. Penguins game that wasn’t being broadcast because of a lighting strike.

Overall, this was a terrific event and my first “social media” event. It was a good chance to meet those who you usually read/tweet with. I saw @justinlevy @DougH @vanhoosear @Bobbiec and the host @chrisbrogan.  The best advice came from @comcastcares who told me to “be yourself… that’s all I ever did.”

I also was very impressed with Radian6 ‘s technology. They had a very good setup and were able to display their product and features for all to see.

This event left a positive impression with me and I look forward to attending more events such as and learning more.

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Using Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook, Jon Boroshok, Bentley & Emerson professor, put together a social media panel for his April 15th class at Bentley University.

As a recent Bentley graduate, I went back to my alma mater to speak to PR students about social media. Joining Glenn Gaudet, Bobbie Carlton, Diane Wolff, and Jeff Rutherford, all veterans of marketing/PR/technology, I was glad to be able to offer insight from the perspective of someone relatively new to the world of communications professionals, and to share how much I’ve learned in just the past 12 months. I stressed the importance of learning about social media first and foremost by participating in it. Social media is becoming a critical part of PR, and learning about it as a student provides a great advantage for those wanting to be in PR some day as a professional.

Feedback from the class also provided a great idea of where my generation stands with social media. Every single student had a Facebook account, while only a few were using Twitter.  Their questions were insightful and we were able to discussing the changing world of PR and the benefits of social media and sites such as Twitter.

One of the most important themes from our talks from all five panelists was the emphasis on relationship building. Having Jon Boroshok as a professor, I remember his key message in his class was that public relations started with relationships. It was good to see that same theme reinforced by each panelist and tied together by the group.

Yesterday was a great opportunity to have an intelligent conversation with other public relations professionals about social media as well as educate the up and coming future PR professionals.

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Twitter is in the news every day. In public relations, we’ve been discussing Twitter for some time now. However, more and more people are joining Twitter and everyone seems to be talking about it now. One of my friends asked me to write out reasons why she should join Twitter. In doing so, I decided to write a blog post about why just about anybody should consider Tweeting on Twitter.

• Basically, no matter what your interests are, there are people on Twitter talking about it.
• You probably know at least one person on Twitter, you can be updated on his or her thoughts (I’m  BostonKate feel free to follow me!)
• You can stay up to date with your industry. No matter what your profession, there are people on Twitter talking about it. I follow other PR professionals to see what they are talking about and end up reading blogs/articles that I normally wouldn’t see.
• Sports fans are on Twitter, and you can enjoy constant updates about your favorite teams. BC Eagles have updates via Twitter, as do the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots.
• You can ask for advice once you have a network. I recently asked where I can find cheap flights and got at least six responses.
• Your hometown is on it. Anything Boston is on Twitter, deals on restaurants, news, events, even Boston PD.
• Twitter is somewhat anonymous and unlike Facebook, not every single person you know in real life is reading your Tweets.
• Any magazine/website/publication is probably is on Twitter by now. If you want your all your news in one spot, Twitter can help to have that happen.
• Your mobile device is already set up to Twitter because the format is almost identical to text messages.
• You can follow celebrities, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher, just to name a few…
• There are some great shopping deals (clothes, shoes, accessories) on Twitter.
• Organizations that you belong to or are interested in are on Twitter. I found my sorority.

The list could go and on. The point is, what are you waiting for to join?

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The Globe is how I start out each day and has been a Sunday tradition for as long as I can remember. But my daily habit doesn’t involve newsprint anymore. My twenty-something friends and I just aren’t buying the paper. In my case, it’s not even the extra cost of print that’s a deciding factor. It’s just habit. Even with the paper delievered to my house on Sundays, I notice that I opt to read it online. During the week, I start each day reading Boston.com’s Daily Headlines newsletter sent to me via email. Is this why we may be seeing the end of the print media?

It’s hard to imagine Boston without the Globe. No one wants to see the Globe leave Boston, or to see Boston become a one paper city.  It’s happened to other cities recently (Seattle and Denver) and the way things are going, it looks like we may eventually share the same fate. Let’s hope not, because that would be a sad day for New England indeed.

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In college, I was part of a sorority, Alpha Phi at Bentley, Zeta Rho to be exact. It made my college years very enjoyable and I still am best friends with many of the sorority sisters. Since graduation, I’ve received direct mail from Alpha Phi International executive offices as well as attended my own chapter alumnae events.

As a member of the organization, I have joined their Facebook page and now follow them on Twitter. The well-organized Alpha Phi website features RSS feeds, monthly podcasts, online newsletters, a travel blog, a Facebook page and now Twitter (@AlphaPhiIntl). They are able to connect alumnae, collegians, and potential new members using social media. Whether it’s sending out an event reminder for National Wear Red Day, posting job opportunities or uploading pictures, they are connecting all Alpha Phi’s.  They are reaching their demographics using all different methods.

This will help with many of Alpha Phi’s causes. The Alpha Phi Foundation will now have many resources to use for donations and support. This was a great extension for the organization. Many other charity organizations can learn from the footsteps Alpha Phi is making.

Joining a sorority meant that you had sisters all over the world (trust me, you ask when you see someone wearing Alpha Phi letters). Sororities’ use of social media is now making it even easier to connect to others outside your chapter or region.

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In the scene, Drew Barrymore explains all of the different ways she and a man are trying to reach each other. It started with a message left on her work voicemail telling her to call him at home, then he emailed her blackberry, which made her text to his cell, which he then emailed to her home email. You get the picture.

Is this an accurate portrayal of how “connected” we are these days? And how connected is that, exactly? The question is, are we really as connected as we think are, given the multiple ways that are available to reach out and be reached?

Take for an example, a simple business card or email signature. The person’s email address (sometimes multiple addresses), work phone number, cell phone number and home phone number are listed — as well as twitter name, screen name, skype name, etc. With all of this contact information, sometimes it’s difficult to figure out which is the best — or even appropriate — way to reach somebody.

For PR professionals, there is a need to always be reachable. You don’t want to miss out on a reporter calling about a story for your client or your client needing your services in a time of crisis, so it’s better to err on the side of caution and provide as much contact information as you can. But when does it become overkill? And what exactly are you suppose to do with all of those extra lines of communication? When is appropriate to call which number or to send a message to which email account or post on which blog? And how much time will it take to figure it out?

Are we just too connected?

With the rapidly developing social networks and other means of communications, what is the way you prefer to be contacted by your peers?

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