Summary: Another great topic suggestion from a listener on our Facebook page: Hi Paul & all, I'd love to hear one of your "water-cooler chats" about Twitter & Facebook & Linkedin & Websites & Blogging and all the other stuff we small business owners are suppose know about. Facebook sometimes (like now :o) seem like a displacement activity for me, while in fact it is where I do most my business :o) But should I be Tweeting? And is it a disaster in this iPhone/Pad age to have a Flash site? (oh the thought of rebuilding my website . . . ) PS. I think Gina should open every episode with a song Have a great week guys Vig Facebook and Twitter the two biggest time drains Facebook is great for keeping up to date with friends and family, as well as brands, TV show, and products that you love. But if you are frustrated by the lack of responses from your status updates, be aware that Facebook automatically filters everyone's feed. Twitter is a fun way to connect with new like minded people. There's a pretty steep learning curve and for a while you might just not "get it". Twitter also have limits on the number of people you can follow so this can be frustrating at times too. It's important to connect with other people in all sorts of ways. Having friends over, meeting people for business, or if you are looking for love then bars, clubs and dating agencies are good too. These are all just different ways of connecting with people, just as online social media is too. But it's certainly not the be all and end all. Having experienced (and been guilty of) having to deal with friends constantly checking their phones for updates, you might have to find new ways to ensure an acceptable use policy! One interesting concept I heard, was for everyone at the table has to put the phone in a stack, in the middle of the table. The first person to remove their phone to check for messages or take a call, gets to pay the bill! Tools to help limit your time on websites and social media MinutesPlease, Control your webtime http://minutesplease.com/ Limit use of any website with Chrome plug in Chrome Web Store - Nanny for Google Chrome (TM) Monitor and report on you computer activity https://www.rescuetime.com/ The best use of LinkedIn and Blogging We didn't get a chance to cover the following during the show:- Linked in is great for networking with other people for business and career related discussions. Some of the best parts of LinkedIn are actually the groups and the Q&A sections. If you're not using them, then you are missing out on a massive part of the LinkedIn community! Blogging is open to everyone and every business. It's a great way of telling a story at your own pace on a subject you feel passionately about. As there are millions of blogs around you're bound to find one on a topic that you're interested in. However sadly it can be a bit of a thankless task as often your posts can seem to go unheard for a long time. Building up a base of readers and earning comments takes a lot of time and commitment, which is why it needs to be on a topic you love talking about, otherwise you'll soon lose interested and quit. Visit us on Twitter or Facebook Oh and if you did want to connect with us on our own social media networks, here are the links Paul on twitter @lifecoach Sam on twitter @CuriosityCoach Chris on twitter @ChrisTheCoach Gina on twitter @LondonLifeCoach You can find us all on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ActionPodcast
