Things have change in the world overall, especially in the way business is done online and offline.  Business is conducted in a more social environment.

What triggers the need for change  has to do with the failed economy. Unfortunately, to survive far too many business people, places and things choose to traverse the low road of makerting by scamming people.  As a result, online deception and spam has increased on average of 400% in less than one year.

Action I Take

In order to function effectively in this every changing online environment I have had to make more changes to how I socialize and do business online. One of the major decisions I have made is how I personally use social media. In an effort to demonstrate to you how social media is to be effectively used I have developed my Social Media Manifesto.

First of all my social network will center around me making an seriously harder review of who I follow ,who follows me , who is a so called Friend or connection in all of my Social Networks.

The studies I performed  in 2009 and again in 2010, by interviewing my connections, confirms who follows me; who is a friend; and WHO THEY FOLLOW.   Over 90% of the people following me report they check to see who I am Following on Twitter and who is Following me before they decide to follow me. 85% report checking to see who is Friends with me before becoming a Friend with me.  The reasons they offer for why they do this makes perfect sense and I have adapted that same attitude towards who is allowed in my community.

The predators of the internet have now found social networks offers them a vast opportunity to scam people through rambling through a person’s connections to find their patsies. Most scammers sit and wait in people’s contact list for the right time to scam someone.   I refer to this as the Spammers Buffet.

I am doing what I can to stop people who live off other people thru deception and post unsolicited pitches for products and services. I will do this by performing a better job of screening who I connect with and naturally who I follow on Twitter.  Maybe what I have outlined in my Social Media Manifesto will help you also.

The Way It Will Be

I offer no apologies for what I have to do to protect the REAL people I have found online.  My purpose for being in a social network is to set an example to others of how social media works. Effective Social Media practices are based on consumer driven requirements.  These requirements are clear…the consumer, and potential friends, want to know that who they are making friends with is a REAL person.

For me, and this blog site, this can only be accomplished by YOU responding to the blogs posted, the tweets posted and/or other updates to my social networks. If this is not your approach to Social Networking, then you probably are not someone I will be connecting with or I would want to introduce to my online and offline networks.

I cherish the relationships I have developed with my Contacts. I treat their choice to connect with me as a privilege and pledge to not let them down by harboring anyone who produces dribble on any of the social networking sites I am a member. I connect with only people who demonstrate to me, on a consistent bases, they really care about who they are and what they provide to the Community.

I also serve notice on my frequent use of the Block, Block Report Spam and Delete buttons to control who is online or in my social networks. I will use all means to block anyone who is obviously from another planet or under an Old World Marketing Plan.

In an effort to maintain my sanity and validate my time spent on online, I have limited my social networking and all social media primarily to Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus (G+).  I welcome those who share with me the attitude that the core of social media is conversation. I invite you to join me in my efforts to make a difference.

Following is my:

Social Media Manifesto

My Mantra is:

• To “Keep It Simple to Get Things Done!”.
• I am inspired by the “Big Ideas” and the people that dream them.
• I choose ONLY to work, associate socially and/or professionally with honorable individuals who believe in making a buck while making a difference.

As unpopular as my stance on Twitter maybe, I have decided to withdrawn my daily presence on Twitter to now being at a remote level of association.  Twitter has become a ‘Hit and Run’ community where over 95% of the posts made are part of a self promotion and those who make the post have absolutely no intentions in socializing with anyone in the Twitter community.  As a result of those people, places and things attitude has reduced my interest in using Twitter as a Social Network.  However, I will use Twitter at a lesser level using the following policy.

Twitter Policy:

My limited presence on Twitter will be to build a community of likeminded people in hopes they will want to learn more about me, what I do, what I don’t do, along with hoping they become part of the larger community I am building that is not on Twitter. I am not out to play the Numbers game on how many followers I can gather or how many people I can follow. Those who do play this game do so not because they are building a community but to develop a way to measure their artificial popularity. I use Twitter to build relationships and develop friendships. Believe me, I have far more friends online and offline than I show I am following or who are following me. I deal with realities of life and business. I do not use anyone’s follow/following figures to base their popularity online.

My Promise is:

I will..

• Only communicate with and FOLLOW someone who I have found to be a REAL person and have had at least three intellectual conversations or responses to my @reply to my post on Twitter.
• Use the 80 – 20 rule in posting Tweets..which means 80% of my posts will be original or @replies with only 20% of my posts having links or Re-Tweets to relevant interesting information.
• Develop an “A List” of people I FOLLOW that I either have met in real life or who I have carried on a spirited conversation on Twitter for more than one post. The others on my Follow list are just as important to me and are Followers I keep track of or have not had a lengthy conversation with yet. Either group should consider themselves lucky since I only Follow people who are REAL people and interest me and my other Followers.
• Not Follow someone who does not post a self photo unless I have met them personally or they come highly endorsed from someone I have met personally.
• BLOCK or UnFollow any Tweet that:
  • Has Over 3000 Followers
  • Follows Over 3000
  • Post ONLY from apps like Tweetfeed, mobile apps or the Web API
  • Does not have any @replies on the first page of Twitter Timeline
  • Has only 1 Update and following thousands with any number of followers
  • Porn Sites
  • Direct Marketers
  • MLM’s
  • or any get rich quick programs based on questionable business models
  • Anyone who posts for posting sake
  • who only post LINKS, quotes or RT’s
  • only posts and does not reply to ANYONE

I will NOT…

• Follow for Following sake.
• Follow Anyone who does not post a
  • Photo of self
  • Real Name
  • Complete Twitter Bio with a link to another non-Twitter site
• Play the ‘Follow as Many People as You Can’ Game
• Follow anyone who uses profanity profusely
• Follow Anyone who @replies to my Tweets in an effort to get me to Follow them
• Use any program or BOT that automatically does anything to generate Followers or Follows Tweets for the sake of following.
• Use any Auto DM

I appreciate the fact that there are many people wanting to Follow Me for whatever reason. For that I am very humbled. However, I do not reciprocate with an Automatic Follow like many misguided people here on Twitter feel they need to do. It boils down to quality rather than quantity and I value the relationships I have made with people who are out on Twitter to do the same. I hope that I earn someone’s Follow for:

• Who I am
• What I offer
• What I do not offer
• Making someone laugh
• Bring to their attention somebody and something really worthwhile
• Connecting them to someone who will make their personal or professional life better

This is how I will use Twitter and I will not apologies with the exception of this one time. Sorry, for anyone who does not agree with how I will be using Twitter.

Scot Duke on Facebook

Facebook is a different type of animal. Pound for pound Facebook has over the past year evolved into a vastly usable social network.  The controls Facebook has put into place to filter out the unwanted info has improved my interest in regularly using Facebook.  You will find me on Facebook more frequently.

Facebook Policy:

I will not be friends with anyone who:

• Does not post a photo of him or herself
• Is Not someone who has a common interest of mine

I will disconnect anyone who I allow to be my friend and then changes their photo to something other than their face. I will not join any applications or games so please do not send me any invitation to join them. I will not join any group or Fan Page that has no relevance to any interest I have or does not serve a purpose outside of someone else’s effort to make a money in a way that does not help any of the community I am a member of..or any community for that manor.

Scot Duke on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has proven to be the largest producer of spam posts anywhere online. The site holds true to being a business/social networking site, but too many people in businesses are taking to using Spam as their form of developing business on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Policy:

I will not connect with anyone who:

• Does not think enough of him or herself to post a Photo.
• Is outside my interests socially or professionally.
• Is with a Direct Marketing, Multi-Level Marketing, redundant services or Ponzi Schemes.

I will not connect to a Business Name.  I will disconnect any contact who changes their photo to a logo or other photo that is not a photo of the person of the account. I will not ask anyone to join my network if I feel they would not benefit from being in my network. I will not recommend anyone if I have not spoken with or done business with them. I do not respond to emails sent as an overall broadcast to the members of a LinkedIn Group I am a member. I will not join any LinkedIn Group whose obvious mission is to gather as many members as possible so the spamming can be dished out by the members of that group.

So far, this is my Social Media Manifesto. Hopefully it will help you to understand how to connect to me. I am not out to please everyone and I understand that everyone is not out to please me. However, I will try to please you if you please me with abiding by the rules of common sense. I know that there will be an exception to every rule including the ones I have outlined here. I accept that and look forward to making an exception because it means I have learned something.

Let me know how I can help