In my book, that will always be one of my favorite words, and I think it will increasingly become social media users favorite as well.

Let’s face it – we’re all a little worried about potential business contacts seeing our score from mafia wars or those Saturday night “I only had one drink” photos.

The solution?  Pseudonym.

If you already have a nickname, you’re halfway there.  Create public profiles under your nickname and friend only your friends.  The tough part will be un-friending your friends from your professional profile, but at this point they should already be part of your “exclusive” personal profile.  And if they’re not, well, maybe you’re not all that close afterall… Some friends you may want to keep in your professional profile as they can be your “personal brand ambassadors” (more on them below).

Now, you have two profiles and can relentlessly use them for their purpose.  You’ll find that you’re more likely to friend that geeky club, post the news article on your field of interest and best of all, when your friends tag you, they’ll be tagging your pseudonym.  When you play those internet games, fill out surveys on they type of person you’ll marry or do whatever else is thought up to entertain us through our work days, your activity will be under your personal profile, free from scrutiny of your nosy coworker.

Best of all, you can focus on using your professional profile for personal branding.  Updating your network on your activities, business ventures, related news, special offers, publications, and etc.  And, now that your friends in your professional profile are genuinely interested in your professional ventures, they will be all the more likely to share your posts, acting as your personal brand ambassadors.  Hello free marketing.

If all of this doesn’t motivate you, just think, having both personal and professional accounts can also be a public service action.  You could be aiding in decluttering your coworkers news stream all while maintaining privacy.

So go have fun finding your pseudonym and be sure to add me to your list of professional friends.

-Nicole Hess

Twitter is already about half as popular with only about one-tenth as many users.

Thus, as its user numbers begin to rise it has the potential to surpass Facebook for sharing information.  Not to say that twitter will be more popular, Facebook has significantly more uses than twitter, from picture sharing to mafia wars playing.

In the Silicon Alley Insider’s chart of sharing, one thing to note is that this chart represents those who used the website or publisher’s method to share, specifically using the widgets made by AddToAny.

Using the publisher’s widget for sharing is also important for considering its only 11.1% share in sharing.  Personally, I much rather send a link through my own email by the ol’ cut & paste method, so I don’t have to type in my friends’ email address by hand.

This article seems to be part of a larger argument that says email is no longer a preferred way to share information.  Recently, I’ve heard way too many experts discuss email as a dying method of exchange, not only in sharing, but in marketing as well.  While I do understand there have been recent abuses of the email blast function – sorry MoveOn.org but I haven’t opened an email since the election last year – and Facebook allows for easier ways to see what’s up with your friends, email is still incredibly useful. 

It’s just that email blasts have earned the reputation of being like a needy ex-girlfriend/boyfriend.  People don’t want to be bombarded by weekly requests for action or hear the same story yet again.  But when the email offers something truly new or interesting (and not tweaking of the old) say an event centered on my favorite activity, I’m not only reading the email, but I’m going to the event and taking friends.

Still, in regards to information sharing, email still scores highly, especially in the professional world.  While AdToAny widgets may not be used, people are emailing links every day to coworkers, clients, old clients to remind them you’re still interested, and so on.  In many companies there are actually staff personnel relegated to creating weekly or sometimes daily email blasts of links for client, based on the clients request or particular field.

Also, let us not ignore the role of instant message services.  I’ve done projects with a few companies that were significantly less than tech-friendly and yet one of the standard means of communication between employees was through instant messaging.  Whether it was finding the boss’ interview with the Wall Street Journal or developments on a project in Peru, if we found it online – we shared it through messenger.  Again, just like tracking information sharing through email, tracking the rate of information sharing through instant messaging is difficult, if not impossible due to laws protecting privacy.  All we can say for now is that in sharing information, social sites are proving to be a recognized medium and growing in popularity.

What will the future of social sites look like?  My guess would be that social sites which appeal or center around specific interests or needs, Emily’s list for recommendations, delicious for bookmarking, will grow in popularity and use, but not necessarily compete with Facebook for staying in touch with friends or twitter for sharing information.

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