Tips for Using Social Media

Here are a few ways to view and use social media:

• Be transparent. Share the good and the bad.
  
  
• Be yourself. People want to connect with real people, not with plastic packaged images.
  
  
• Don't breach the social contract by doing nothing but selling your wares.
  
  
• Take interest in others and share valuable information, even if it doesn't benefit you directly.
  
  
• Listen. You can learn a lot.
  
  
• Be patient. Let things grow organically.
  
  
• Viral campaigns can and do work, but they are the exception to the rule. (In other words, only the masses have the power to deem something viral).
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Here is another viewpoint about how to use  Social Media:

The social media revolution is going nowhere

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace were hailed as the future of the internet but it will be a long time before they reach their full potential.