Social Media Advice from WSJ

I’m live-blogging and tweeting an intensive all-day Twitter event in Washington, DC, today. Room is full of influential, high-impact learners and doers from federal agencies, media outlets, and corporations.

State Dept. got a huge shout-out from Craig Newmark. Podcast coming later.

Two of the most succinct pieces of advice about being online were shared this morning by Laura Fitton of www.oneforty.com and Alan Murray of the Wall Street Journal.

* Laura said her two-word summation of successful and effective Twittering was: Be useful.
* Alan said the WSJ’s social media policy could be summed up in three words: “Don’t be stupid.”

One of the virtues of Twitter’s forced brevity (140 characters including spaces and punctuation) is the opportunity to distill a message with clarity. “Be useful” and “don’t be stupid” aren’t just good social media practices, they’re good life practices. Go Twitter!

Craig Newmark was a keynote speaker this morning, and is one of my heroes. A fellow San Franciscan geek with a desire to do good... (to keep reading...)