Using Our Skills to Help…

The SEO community, along with all the other communities on Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels, quickly started using whatever skills they possess to get the word out and help with what’s going on in Haiti right now. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere was struck by a powerful  7.0 earthquake on January 12 with a devastating result that is still only just emerging.

Last year it was the attacks on Gaza. which began on December 27 2008 and dampened our spirits throughout the month of January, also triggering a massive social media response. Before that, on December 26, 2004, the entire world was shocked at the worst Tsunami in history which caused an earth-shattering level of death and destruction in the countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Indonesia bore the brunt, and over a quarter of a million people lost their lives, although some estimates put the number much higher.

Step Back and Take a Deep Breath

It’s sometimes hard to focus on the good that is all around us at times like these. But I have personally been moved to tears by some of the truly great selfless acts I have witnessed over the past few days.

That’s why I especially appreciate efforts on the part of my Twitter friends to raise awareness and funds to help the people of Haiti. They are unstinting and as of January 16, social media efforts together had raised an amazing US8 million for Haiti relief.

A Wall Street Journal article pinpointed the many ways in which Twitter has been particularly useful to worldwide efforts to help the people of Haiti. Twitter and Facebook have been used for locating lost relatives, raising awareness on the magnitude of this disaster, and even coordinating relief efforts.

Here are some of the millions of Tweets that are focusing on Hait right now:

Elsewhere on the Web…

Google Crisis Response page

Hatian-Americans turn to Facebook in search for loved ones.

& Midnight Moguls is Born

I am particularly excited, and honored, to be part of a wonderful movement just being started up by Scott ‘Social Media’ Allen @ScottAllanto help those who are out of work due to the sagging economy right now.

He set up Midnight Moguls as a hub where in return for an offer of help for those affected by the present economic crisis you get a little promotion by Midnight Mogul members. Please support us and spread the word to people you know, especially on Twitter.

In addition to helping out over at the Midnight Moguls website, I am offering resume-editing for anyone looking for a job right now. You can Tweet me @ISpeakSEOif you want more info.

What can you give back to the community?

I hate to admit this but…

This is going to have to be one of my occasional posts about me. If you’re not new here, you may have noticed I haven’t posted for a while.

I’ll be painfully honest with you: I’ve been thinking seriously about what it’s all about online, with social media and everything.

You know how sometimes you get all introspective and start comparing yourself negatively with everyone? That’s where I’ve been this past week.

You see, from my perspective, and despite the fact that I know as much as any social media expert, everyone seems to be having a far better time on social media than I am. Social media has become a chore, notwithstanding my truly outstanding connections. Here are a few of the reasons why.

I may have mentioned this before, but FaceBook is driving me nuts with all those phony-feeling applications. And I’m totally not surprised about the recent revelations that FaceBook quizzes can be dangerous, by exposing too much about you to those with criminal intent.

FaceBook? Yep. I feel so bad. I want to go down that list of stuff waiting for my attention and click ‘ignore, ignore, ignore….’

It all feels so fake. Same with my Twitter account. I loved it to start with, and I am reluctant to part company with my precious Twitter account. But now I get this awful hollow feeling from reading tweets that don’t interest me from people I don’t even like in some cases. And yes, I do unfollow. It feels as if we’ve all missed the point of social networking.

Digg–so many people never even bother to try and network: all they want is my Digg. Same with Mixx, although it’s still more friendly over there.

Experts have been telling us from the beginning (well the genuine ones anyway) that we need to make our social media connections count. It’s all about being mutually relevant and having a good feeling about those you interact with.

Applications like TwitterGrader, while they certainly have a place in social networking, have also contributed to the negative feelings that many of us are experiencing. Far too many Twitter and FaceBook users, along with users of most of the other social media sites out there, are wildly connecting all over the place, sometimes with people they’ll never even interact with once, in order to get a better grade. Where’s the logic in that?

I despise the fact that some people are proud of having connections with 30,000 people. What for? To me it’s missing the point altogether.

If you think I’ve lost it, look here: Seth Godin is saying the same thing here:

I’m going to take a deep breath and ignore all the social media grading applications out there from now on. I want to get back the sincerity of my social media networking: networking because you like the people, because you can be of sincere help to each other, and because overall you’re contributing to making the Net a better place.

Going through all my social media accounts and pruning them will return me to sanity. It will cut hours off the time I need to spend servicing those accounts at present. It will make those moments of true networking, the ones that carry you through a bad week, inspire you to move upwards and onward, and generally make you feel it’s all worth it after all, far more likely to happen. and that, after all, is why we’re here. Isn’t it?

I hope that you’ll agree with me and decide to at least take a step toward doing the same thing. Let’s make social media meaningful once more before it’s too late.