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Hi… Yes, it’s me, minimalist Pat, again. I ranted about too much Twittering. Now, I’m here to rant about something else, something that I’m sure if you have a Facebook account, you’ll probably agree with me.

You will.

OK.

It’s those damned cutesy things that friends you don’t even know really keep sending and sending and sending, like every day or multiple times a day! It’s driving me mad.

I mean, I appreciate the thought, though Facebook kind of makes you pick like 20 people at a time, right? It’s NOT that strong an emotion, really, is it?

I mean, you didn’t say to yourself, “What a cute smiling cherub daffodil. I think it’s perfect for Pat. I’ll send it along to her with my best wishes.”

No, it’s more like, OK… I’ll send this flower to 20 more people and save the rain forest! Listen! Dude! you should own every tree in South America by now, and I hear you’re creeping into Central America, too.  You’ve done enough! Really.

So please stop filling my mailbox with notifications. I can’t possibly be in Facebook long enough to answer all of those requests. What happens to them if you never read them? Do they just go into request limbo? I’m going to test that out.

I’m not answering any more requests from people who send me one to ten EVERY day. I appreciate the thought, really, but enough is enough, already.

There. I feel much better now.

Perhaps I’ll be less cranky tomorrow.

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So, tell me…

Are you on Twitter? I mean, ON Twitter. Do you get updates continually from your friends? Do you follow the gurus to see what they’re typing? Do you have a secret account under an assumed name, where you can be weird as you want?

There are all kinds on Twitter, after all.

But I really wish that Twitter would employ the Facebook ability to tell you who you might like to be friends with.  I mean, there are so many people in this Internet business industry, it’s hard to remember who might be cool to follow, right? Oh, I’m so lazy. I could look in my Inbox and pull those names out, but who has time?

Facebook is defnitely a timesaver. Some might say total time waster, but it’s not. I’m going to another conference this weekend because I’m a friend of the promoter on Facebook. It’s sweet! Plus, I’ve done some JVs and made money. I’ve done ad swaps and made money. And it’s because of Facebook. Not a time waster at all.

So, you see, social marketing rocks. It’s not just lucrative, it’s fun! Why not have fun working? Otherwise, it’s not something you should do at all. Life’s too short to be stuck in a job or lifestyle you hate. Facebook makes it fun. Twitter really makes it fun.

Follow me: patm7

Hmm…

If Jimmy Buffet fans are “Parrot heads,” what are we? “Tweety heads?” Yikes! When you think about it, that translates to “bird brain.” Scratch that.

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Wow! I just finished watching a video at StomperNet about Hello.txt by Paul Colligan. What a time saver! If you belong to as many social sites as I do, it totally rocks.

You can post your snippets to Twitter, Pownce, MySpace, Facebook, LinkdIn, Plaxo, and a host of other social sites all at the same time.

So, for example, I’m going to post to these sites about this blog post so that folks can check it out.

In the olden days… like, um, yesterday… I had to tweet at Twitter, then go to Facebook and post there, then go to Pownce, etc. Now, I can just go to Hello.txt and have it posted at all my favorite social sites all at the same time.

Love it!

Web 2.0 is really cool, and a whole lot of fun. I feel that the Web is leaning toward these sites that people want in a very big way. So, how will this affect search?

I’m thinking a LOT. Look at Google. What can you type into the search bar that doesn’t come back with Wikipedia in the first position? Well, I know there are keywords that don’t, but you know what I mean. Wikipedia gets a huge nod from Google, and nothing says that everything IN Wikipedia is 100% fact. I mean, kids are basing term papers on that kind of research, and it kind of scares me because it’s very dangerous to the truth.

No doubt, a big portion of Wikipedia is good, solid information, but as a very experienced researcher, it just isn’t a solid source. I’d never base anything on Wikipedia. I might use it as a quick idea starter, so that I can go to a respected source and get more information, but anyway, my point is, Wikipedia is at the top of Google because people love it. It gets lots of “votes” from people linking to it, good or not-so-factual.

So, what will happen? Do you think that the people-driven sites will take the place of Google? Will we actually be saying, “Hey, Google or whomever, we search in these social sites for news and information instead of yours because we know that other people think highly of them,”? And nothing’s better than good old word-of-mouth recommendation, eh?

I see social sites taking over in a big way, and I’m totally enjoying it, but remember, it just ain’t gospel.

Pass it on.

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That’s a real tongue-in-cheek kind of headline, you see.

Last week, Ken McArthur wrote to his list to say that he’d just become friends with John Reese in Facebook, but that John only had a handful of friends. In my mind, that meant that John hadn’t yet discovered the joys of Facebook, which is a pretty cool place to hang and find people with like minds. I have 58 friends, which is nada, but way more than John Reese had and now, time for Pat to feel superior. LOL

As if.

John has about 650 friends as of this posting.

Man, wish I could get 640 or so friends in a couple of days. How cool is that?

If you read this, come over to Facebook and be my friend… Here’s my URL: http://profile.to/patmarcello/

Zo… Now, I’m not only one of John’s 658 friends but a fan.

And I just got to post Blogging4Boomers on his “Click Here to Promote Your Sites & Services” page. Har. Nathan Anderson is just below me. Another very cool thing, eh?

Wow.

Facebook.

I’ve made some very cool friends there, and the perks are pretty neat. Where else can a friend invite you to their awesome conference? Where else can you be friends with such smart people?

Hmm…

My Space, maybe?

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Have you seen Don Crowther’s Stomper video about Web 2.0?

If you’re not convinced that social bookmarking and networking is important, that it’s not a significant change in the DNA of the Web, then you need to watch this…

http://www.stompernet.net/goingnatural2/

I love it!

Man, not only can you learn about Web 2.0, but a lot about making videos that people want to watch. These are the best videos I’ve ever seen online.

It could be that I lead a sheltered life, but I don’t think so. This is the kind of quality we see inside StomperNet and the type of quality information. Man, I wish I had an affiliate link. Andy, you reading this?

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So, I was over at Sphinn checking to see what’s going on in the world of Web 2.0, and I found a post on Cornwallseo.com about how the world of social media sites is so complicated that people should actually pay a consultant to crack the mystery of getting onto page one.

New media. New Web. New jobs. Interesting.

I never found the social networking sites to be all that complicated, but becoming part of the community definitely takes time. You could spend hours every day just working at Web 2.0., and I can definitely see where a consultant could be beneficial.

Hmm…

Wonder what a “social media consultant” would charge. And then, is this an adjunct of SEO or a whole new world? I’m not sure. I know I find the concept fascinating. Facebook would be easier with a guide, as would MySpace and Squidoo, and people have used those venues to make some serious jing. I mean, think about it, hardly anyone even know what Squidoo was a year ago.

No doubt, if you want to get right to the quick of things, hiring a social media consultant would be a very expedient, and if you’re busy making tons of money, how much time is there to waste?

Wow. I’d like to get that busy. Sure, I’ll hire a social media consultant. Where do I sign up?

I guess until I get so rich and busy I’ll just keep stumbling, digging, plugging, etc. But here’s the thing…

If I’m right about how important these sites will become in the future, it will be very worthwhile to become an expert. Looking for a new career or specialty? Start early.

Popularity: 36% [?]