Hey Everybody,

This morning as I checked my favorite nooks and crannies of the Web, I found this:

Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas created this image (the Conversation Prizm) to update Scoble’s Social Media Starfish from last year. It does a great job of sorting all of the social media services out there into categories.

I have been reading a lot of articles and posts lately from others in the PR/Marketing/Advertising industries about social media confusion and how it is actually hurting them. Many have cited that the overwhelming number of services offered has made it difficult to sell any of them to clients. In response to that, I would say that we need to stop being lazy. More choices are not hurting the sale, your lack of knowledge about this field is. More choices, the greater chance that the right niche service is out there for your specific need.

If you don’t know anything about this area, but want to sell in it, hire a social media person at your firm or a freelancer to consult on that project. If you want to learn, but the task seems to daunting, just pick out one or two from the Prizm that you might wanna try or have heard about and just start using them. That is how everyone else who is in the know got to know.

And if you are really stuck on something and need advice, just ask! All of these offerings are social, which means you are free to just ask questions in most of them. Or you can check and see if someone else has already asked. When I have a question, I use LinkedIn Questions or Ehow.com. But there are many more.

Good luck in your learning, If you want to ask me a question. Hit the comments or @ me on Twitter. My handle is swept14.

Best Wishes,

Will Flavell

Hey Everybody,

Anyone familiar with my Facebook page will see that I have food poisoning. I think that it was the food at Fisherman’s Warf in San Fran. And let me say that the 25 vomiting sessions quote is not a farce. I have really been barfing like crazy. Haven’t slept for more than 20 minutes at a time for like 2 days. It sucks.

Does anyone have the cure for this. eHow posted this article. But what is charcoal and what is Acidophilus?

Anyone got any advice.

Thanks,

Will

Ehow is not only a great resource to learn how to do “just about everything.” It is also a great tool to promote your own skills or personal expertise. There is an old saying in the media world that to be an expert all you have to do is be interviewed.

Well, it just got easier. Now all you have to do is to know how to do something and answer inquiries. If you become a member of the ehow network you can even post video and audio instruction. This can be a great tool for DIY book sellers or anyone who wants to establish some credibility. It fufils almost all the requirements for a great Web site on the user side too. It has a large library of information, it requires no login (to learn) and it is free.

You can even make money by posting relevant articles:

Step One

Sign up for eHow’s WCP–shorthand for Writer’s Compensation Program. It’s fast and easy. All you need is an active PayPal account and an eHow profile. Once those two prerequisites are met, click on the My Profile tab and look for a sub-heading labeled My Earnings. Once you’ve gone this far, the rest of the sign-up process is a cakewalk.

Step Two

Educate yourself on the WCP’s finer points. OK, sure, no one likes reading the small print, but eHow has put together an excellent list of common questions and answers to help get you on your way to padding your pockets. Lest you think this info is worth skipping, the FAQ tells you how and when to get paid. See Resources below for a link that gives you the lowdown.

Step Three

You’ve enrolled in the program and read the FAQ. What’s next? That is up to you and how much you want to write. Once the WCP sign-up is complete, all you need to do is publish articles. Seriously. That’s it. Just write what you know (as Hemingway said) and click the publish button.

Step Four

Socialize your article, send it to friends, blog about it, link to it from other pages and generally spread it around to people you know. The more popular your article (i.e. the more people who read it) the higher your eventual WCP payouts. It stands to reason that you should try to build the best audience possible for your little work of art.

Step Five

Build out your profile. Add a short bio, upload a picture (or one of eHow’s stock avatars), fill out your interests and start making friends in the eHow community. You might think it’s unrelated, but if so, you’re wrong. The numbers say that a significant portion of eHow readers click on profile links when they read an article. A more engaging user profile makes for more interested readers, and a greater likelihood that they’ll return to see your stuff again. Cha-ching!

It is also free to join to community and become an expert. So, get out there an promote what you can do.

Later,

Everybodysagenius