A medium-sized church based just outside of Orlando, FL hired me as an audio and production consultant and asked me to review their production situation and recommend upgrades, implement new equipment and procedures, and train their volunteers.  It is an organization that is made up of full-time staff and volunteers, all working together in different facets.

Their audio system was out-dated and not flexible.  Many complaints had been received about poor coverage, “hot spots” and “dead spots”, and just overall poor sound quality.  Not having an audio engineer on staff has forced them to rely on volunteers that may or may not have any background in audio or music.

DISCOVERY

The shortcomings and complaints could be attributed to two things.  First, lack of proper equipment based on the needs of the room and the programming needs of the organization.  Secondly, a lack of proper training for their audio team was setting them up for possible failures and no ability to troubleshoot situations effectively.

The audio cable snake was spliced into residential grade copper wiring, apparently in order to extend the snake to a different location for FOH.  This raised the concern of potential feedback loops and more in the event that these wires were to lose their twist caps and come into contact with another wire.

The analog Berhinger console was out-dated and losing functionality.  Some of the channels were experiencing drop out, and others had stopped working. This console only offered their band two monitor mixes for up to nine members on stage at one time.  These issues, combined with some other minor things, made the primary focus to start by upgrading the conosle and the snake to allow more flexibility and room for growth.

SOLUTION

Based on the size of the church (roughly 250-275 people) and their budget, the digital PreSonus StudioLive 24.2.4 console was selected to replace the Berhinger analog console.  The digital PreSonus immediately improved the value of their live production.  It offered 10 aux mixes (as opposed to two from the analog desk), gating, compression, and EQ on each individual channel, two on-board effects units, and more.  One of the biggest features, though, is the ability to save and recall scenes.  At the price point the this console sits at, being able to save scenes and even use the computer software to edit your console setup at home makes it a huge asset at a very low cost.

As for replacing the snake, we chose a 24 XLR/8 Aux send 200′ snake.  Ahead of my arrival, their team ran the snake in a manner that was out-of-sight, but accessible in the event that they needed to move it to another, larger venue.

After getting on-site, I was able to patch the new console with the new snake and begin to set it up for their needs in regards to channel layouts and updated monitor mix configuration.  We upped the number of on-stage monitor mixes from two to five, with one of the mixes being a headphone mix for the drummer, while everyone else continued to use passive stage wedges.

After getting the entire system back up and running, I brought their team in to begin the training process.  Not knowing the experience levels of the individual members, I started from the bottom, teaching them the basics of how to power up and power down the system, how to set a gate on a channel, very basic EQ, and more.  What I focused on mostly, though, was the navigation and layout of the PreSonus StudioLive console.  It has individual faders, but uses the Fat Channel to display any amount of selected data depending on what you’re doing.  It will show the channel gate, compressor, an EQ all at once, or it can show the individual monitor mixes.  It can display any of the available eight 31-band EQs (that are completely assignable to auxes, sub groups, the main fader, etc), or even something as simple, but useful, as input or output meters.

After roughly 24 hours on-site over the course of a weekend, I was able to install a new console and snake, improve their monitor mix situation, and equip their team with the knowledge and tools to effectively run a soundcheck and live service with the new console and snake.

In addition to the basics, I walked a couple members of their team through using the free iPad app to wirelessly control the conosle and do monitor EQs and mixes from onstage, as well as showing their musicians how to control their own monitor mix with the free iPhone app.  I’m still impressed with all the punch that this little console packs. (I feel an official blog post review of the PreSonus StudioLive coming!)

FOLLOW UP

Because there are more issues to be addressed, I am continuing to work with the organization on their production upgrades.  We have developed a multi-phase plan that is spread out over time to make some needed improvements to the main PA system, video and image display system, and overall lighting.

Overall, I have to say that I’m very pleased with the current progress there.  The PreSonus console is extremely easy to teach to even someone that has zero experience on an audio desk.  The Fat Channel concept makes navigation very easy and intuitive, never having to worry about layers and layers of menus.  The new snake tripled their monitor mixes and left them with room to grow their inputs and outputs down the road.  On top of all that, they could easily link another StudioLive console via Firewire for an extra few banks of inputs and faders.

Yes, I use Hostmonster.com for my hosting needs.  In the spirit of full disclosure, if you click on one of my HM links and sign up, I get a little referral bonus.  But I would be saying this even if I weren’t getting it. They’re that good.

This is a company that offers user-friendly hosting features, unlimited everything, and at a very affordable monthly/yearly cost.  By going with these guys, there is no reason that you can’t have a personalized domain and fully-featured website from start to finish within four hours. (assuming you use WordPress as your CMS platform)

However, the reason I’m writing this post isn’t because of these points.  The reason I’m writing this post is due to an experience I had recently with their Terms of Service (TOS) department.

When it comes to companies that provide a service or product, I believe that the best customer service is the customer service you never have to interact with.  But when I do have to interact with them, I pay close attention to the entire process, and ultimately the outcome.

I recently received an email from the TOS department explaining to me that they had discovered a few files in my directory that contained potentially malicious code.  Because of this, they had deactivated my entire hosting account, taking josh-walker.com down along with it.  I wasn’t very happy with this as I had just done a site-redesign and a couple new blog posts.  As soon as I got home, I got on my laptop and checked the email again.  The TOS department said to clean or remove the files, and then email them when it was finished to request that they reactivate my account.

They had been nice enough to put a .txt file in my parent directory detailing the files with the code that needed removed.  I simply went line after line, addressing each file by deleting it entirely.  I could do this because they were older files associated with domains I no longer used or owned.  Fortunately, josh-walker.com was not affected at all.  I finished this after about 45 minutes and sent them an email requesting that they reactivate my account.  This was at about 6:30pm EST.

I received another email from the TOS department at Hostmonster about one hour later thanking me for taking care of it and informing me that my account was back up and live again.  One hour!  I was honestly counting on not hearing back for 12-24 hours.  Instead, I heard back roughly 60 minutes later, and it was not an automated form email, but a personalized email from a real person.

Moral of the story?  Go check out www.HostMonster.com if you are in need of a new website and hosting account or are interested in switching hosts.  New signups do get a free domain in addition to unlimited WordPress installations, email addresses, Google Apps integration, and so much more.  I am just a big fan of Hostmonster and have always recommended them.  This latest interaction was just one more reason for me to continue to do so.

I’ve been wanting to get into video blogging for a few reasons.  First, it’s easier and quicker in some ways compared to traditional blogging.  You just talk and let the words flow, not worrying about whether you typed “it’s” or “its” in the right place.  Second, it’s always nice to change up your format for you as well as your visitors.  They may just like to see your mug once in awhile to put a face to a name.  Can’t hurt for networking at events and tweetups, either.  Recognition, whether name, face, or overall brand, is important.  Video just helps your cause, assuming you’re not video blogging in your underwear, that is.

This first post is shot while driving in my car…unfortunately, I can’t take credit for this dynamic and fun format.  Dave Woodson is an SEO and local lead generation maniac.  He is known for his video blogs in his truck (among other things) and always does a great job engaging multiple audiences.  Check him out. Now. (especially if you’re in the Chicago, Valparaiso, Michiana, or general Northwest Indiana area.)

Anyway, I’m looking forward to doing more video blogs as the weeks go by.

Cheers!

I’ve decided to remove the “professional audio” label from the primary focus, and am going to blog, podcast, and video blog on a much wider range of topics.  These might be anything from technology, entrepreneurship, iOS and OSX issues, music, culture, food, travel, photography, social media, and more.  I’m opening my doors to a wider audience and am looking forward to interacting with new readers.

I am also joining with Steve Dalton from nwism.com in being more proactive and intentional with my online interactions in the blog world and social media realms.  I’ve recently shifted my primary social media platform usage from Twitter, Facebook, and Path to just Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.  I feel there is still a lot of relevancy and useful information and connections on these platforms, while Facebook has degraded substantially into a black hole of fabricated quotes overlaid on ridiculous memes.  And Path is nice, but it’s limited to just a mobile portal, with no online counterpart.  For a company calling itself a “live” or “digital journal”, they don’t allow for much input.  The iOS app is nice looking, but outside of that, useless.

Anyway, that’s where I’m headed personally.  I hope you’ll join me for the ride.

Encore is a local board in northern Indiana that organizes and produces music and performance events year round.  In the summer months, they produce a music series called “Music in the Park”, showcasing regional and national artists at the local outdoor amphitheater.  

In 2010, I was asked to come along side their organization as a board member to assist them with social media and marketing efforts.  In addition to this, I provided live sound and production consulting.  I worked with each band, advancing each individual show and ensuring that the artist’s technical needs were met.

NEEDS

The organization produces multiple shows each month with national artists.  The overall production quality had been lacking in previous years, leaving much room for improvement.  In addition to the  sound quality, the organization desired to reach the younger demographic in the local community.  It was apparent through various means of research that the majority of the “Music in the Park” concerts were of an older generation, leaving a large gap between age groups.

SOLUTIONS

We began by implementing a basic social media strategy consisting of a newly designed website showcasing each individual concert.  In addition to this, we developed a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account.  Using these platforms to propagate the organization’s message and concerts, we were able to reach a younger audience while maintaing the usual maketing streams consisting of the newspaper and other methods.

To improve the overall audio quality of the live shows, I was contracted to provide FOH and monitor engineering as well as the entire PA system.  Most concerts required 3-5 monitor mixes with a full band.  The PA system consisted of 18″ subs and two-way PA mains powered by Crown amplifiers.  The typical console was a 32 channel Yamaha analog desk with a standard microphone package consisting of SM57′s, SM58′s, a drum mic kit, and a few other various mics.

Over the last few years, as a team, we have been able to improve the overall quality of the “Music in the Park” concert series by providing consistent and elevated social media support and high quality live production support through quality audio engineering and stage management.

FOLLOW UP

I am continuing the consulting relationship by providing advice and consultation to the Encore organization via conference/phone calls and emails.  I am continuing to work closely with the marketing team of the Encore Performing Arts Organization.  I have also committed to continuing to provide FOH engineering and PA support for their live concert events each summer.

Among pepperoni and hot wings, one thing I’ve missed since 2009 is that spicy sausage soup they serve at Olive Garden.  The one with potatoes.  Yeah, Zuppa Toscana.

Since I love to cook, being a vegetarian is a blast.  I always enjoy preparing new meals, adjusting old family recipes, and developing my own flavorful dishes.  If there’s one goal I have when I cook, it is this: make a vegetarian meal that even a non-vegetarian would request a second time.  I believe this is a winner.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb Italian sausage substitute
• 1 1/2 tp crushed red pepper (more if you’re like me)
• 1 large diced white onion
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 6 cups water
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 5 Russet potatoes, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 of a bunch of kale (or spinach)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tbsp basil

1. Start by adding a splash of water to a large pot and sauté the onion and garlic until the onions are soft.

2. Add vegetable stock and water, bringing to a boil.

3. Add potatoes and cook for 30 minutes, stirring.

4. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, nutmeg, parsley, and basil to the soup mixture.

5. While the soup is cooking, cut up or break up the sausage substitute and sauté in a skillet with half of the crushed red pepper.

6. Stir in the sausage substitute and kale.  Continue heating for another 10 minutes.

7. Serve and eat!

Feel free to adjust the crushed red pepper and other seasonings to taste.  I would recommend serving this with a large salad or artisan bread and dipping oil.  If you try the recipe, let me know what you think and leave a comment below!

I’ve been writing some pieces on my acoustic guitar, some synth stuff, and a couple lyrics here and there.  This past week, however, I’ve been on a big electronic glitch/stutter kick.  I’ve written an average of 1 song per day this week, and even did a remix for the band Fathom Blue from Chicago.  We’ll be officially releasing that track soon!

Writing music every day has been a part of my daily routine this February. Making myself sit down and create some electronic music has been a blast.  Anyway, just wanted to throw up some of the tracks for you guys here.  I’ve also included a random video.  Kind of a “behind-the-scenes”, if you will.  This is just a sample of the electronic stuff I’ve been working on.  I’ll post some of the acoustic stuff soon.

Swamp by JoshWalker

Soft Cabernet by JoshWalker

High Altitude, Low Opening (HALO MIX) by JoshWalker

Back to Square 1 by JoshWalker

I’d love to hear your comments, too!

- Josh

How many times have you edited your resume in the last six months?  How many times have you updated your LinkedIn profile?  If you’re a creative professional, freelance writer/editor, or have been laid off or lost your job, there’s a good chance you revisit your profiles and resume on a daily or at least weekly basis.  Perhaps you’re not satisfied with your current situation and want a change of scenery.  Or there’s the chance that you just had a different plan for your life.

Whatever the reason for your insatiable need to view and revise your resume and social network profiles, you just might be doing it wrong.

We think we are controlling our paths, all the while actually being controlled by our paths.

Take control of your life and career.  Instead of fumbling through the year frantically searching for a job listing that includes one of your five search terms within a 50 mile radius, flip the tables on your path.  Don’t think for another second that you need to revise your resume to fit a job description.  Create a job description that fits your resume, and then go find that job.  Regain your freedom and chase your dream.  Take back control.

You’re in a foot race as one of two people–one with a map to the finish line, and one without.  Without direction, there’s no telling where you will wind up in twenty years.  With the right direction and determination, you can finish the race first, the fastest, and the happiest.  Here’s how to make your own map:

1.  Sit down and make an inspiration board (my wife did a great example at that link).  This can be anything.  Grab some cardboard, scissors, glue.  Find a stack of magazines and start clipping.  Find things that inspire, describe, or interest you. Words, pictures, and phrases.  Glue them down.  Proceed to Step 2.

2.  Next, grab a sheet (or sheets) of paper and a pen.  Sit down in a quiet space, just you and your inspiration board.  Then, write the resume that you would like to see in 10 years.  Don’t be shy; put your dream job on the paper.  Work from the top down, listing where you eventually want to wind up, then working backward on how you’ll get there.  Don’t think that you need a resume that is vertical (all your jobs in the same industry) or horizontal (doing the same job in different industries).  There is no rule that says your resume has to show continuity from job to job.  What matters most?  Accomplishments and innovation.

3.  Make it come true.  View every new connection as an opportunity, every networking possibility as a requirement.  Every opportunity that comes your way, regardless of how remote a possibility, could be the next stepping stone to the top of your resume.  Take advantage of your current position and maximize the resources you have available, including people, training, networking, and more.  If you know where the finish line is, you can get there more quickly.

In today’s economy the security of a career is virtually non-existent. I’ve found that younger people and people vying for jobs in certain industries are more likely to leave a secure job to take another position that might be more challenging or personally satisfying.  The people that will succeed are those that are jumping ahead of the curve and beating the job place to the punch.  Don’t wait for the job to come to you.  Find the job.  Make the job.  Negotiate for the job.

By writing a resume that includes your dream jobs, accomplishments, and accolades, you have a reference point to focus on when things get blurry or you face a decision that might present logistical issues.  Having a reference point that you can fall back on helps you make that decision.  It keeps things in perspective, and helps you stay on track.  Your track to the finish line.

After you’ve created your final resume, take out your current resume and see how it lines up.  You may need to start making adjustments and plans to get to the next step, but at least you’ll be headed the right direction.  Then cross-reference your current resume against your new dream resume on a yearly basis and check your progress.  Are the accomplishments there?  How about the skills and qualifications for your next step?  Even if you’re not in your dream job right now, you can work on the qualifications that will get you there.  Review and revise your future resume once or twice a year to align it with your updated dreams and goals.

I’d love to hear your stories of landing your dream jobs down the road!

Cheers,

Josh Walker

It will be a good time to make new connections, revive old ones, and learn a thing or two from each other.  @andreacook of @midascenter will be providing pizza and there will be door prizes.  Andrea and her team at the Midas Center have really helped bring quality marketing, social media, and networking to Plymouth.  While you’re at the event, ask her about the coworking space and the benefits of moving your small business or home-based business there.  I personally work out of a great coworking space in Morgantown, WV and love it. Creatives, professionals, and moonlighters unite!

If you’re not very familiar with what a Tweetup is, here’s a couple things to be prepared to do: Have business cards?  Bring them!  Tweet while you’re there about how awesome Plymouth is, and use the #plytweetup, #michianaTM, and #michiana hashtags when promoting or talking about the event tomorrow night.  Make connections and have some snacks.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Cheers,

@josh_walker

Social media, let’s not forget, is still in the infancy stage.  There are faux pas, rules, do’s and don’t-do’s, and guidelines.  All of these things can change over the course of just a month, leaving people either on the cutting edge setting the pace or behind in the dust looking like they’ve shown up late to the game.   For instance, I used to set up my DM to send a message to my new followers, and shortly thereafter disabled that, seeing how impersonal it was (You know you did it, too). Sometimes people start using these platforms and become convinced they are experts because they figured out how to tweet.  Side note: if you are claiming to be an expert, you aren’t.  Let other people claim this for you. (If you want to know a little more about using Twitter for your business or organization, here’s a quick set of guidelines that I posted awhile back.)

I was inspired to write this after seeing a couple of tweets between some of my followers in Plymouth and South Bend, Indiana.  Plymouth is a small rural town about 25 minutes south of South Bend.  South Bend is considerably larger thanks to industry, Notre Dame, and bigger businesses.  I used to live in Plymouth, and would spend the majority of my entertainment money (food, drinks, movies, books, etc) in South Bend.  That goes for a lot of people in smaller, outlying towns surrounding larger cities.  It makes sense.

When I first started tweeting back in 2009, I didn’t know what a tweetup was.  I tried scouting out the locals on Twitter to interact with.  There weren’t many in Plymouth.  In fact, I could count them on one hand, thumb not included.  However, I made an effort to connect.  I came across @MaPeters, a local copy specialist and author.  We started meeting for coffee once a month at the local coffee shop to discuss the current culture of the town, social media, small business, and more.  I connected with @andreacook, a local small business owner (@midascenter, a print and digital marketing and promotions company), and we worked on some projects together. That was nearly the extent of the people on Twitter at the time though.

I started expanding my range to include Indianapolis and Valaraiso, Indiana.  I quickly became aware that Valparaiso, or Valpo as locals call it, was jumping all over Twitter, and social media in general.  I connected with @davewoodson, a regional specialist in mortgage and real estate and social media marketing.  He was utilizing Twitter in an entirely new way, years ahead of his colleagues.  In fact, he is now regularly asked to speak at real estate conferences specifically about social media and generating leads.

I ran across @daltonsbriefs, also in the real estate industry.  He did a lot of consulting for various people and businesses, and utilized social media in a great way.  This included writing regular blog posts, tweeting, using Facebook, and more.  It was paying off, and he was helping teach other people how to do it.

I met @natfinn, a local author (a Book of Blues) and content specialist at Golden Technologies.  He worked with others to create content that would boost their rankings in search engines and attract potential customers eyes.  Finn is a ridiculously nice guy and always  took a few extra minutes to explain the latest updates in social media or web standards.

I connected with many more people on Twitter that were based in Valpo.  I started seeing them post about something called #nwitweetup.  @davewoodson had somewhere in the ballpark of 12,000 followers on Twitter. Here he was, tweeting me, Mr. 184 followers.  The other guys would tweet back to me their input on topics, and we had a lot of good discussions on Twitter.  I decided, as I was freelancing in Northwest Indiana, to make the trek to Valparaiso to attend their tweetups.  I thought it would be valuable for me to invest my time into the region and see what was happening out there.  I figured it would be a good opportunity to meet new people, pass out some business cards, and if I was lucky, get a paying client somewhere down the road.  At the very least, I could learn more about social media and try to bring it to Plymouth.  These happened once a month at a different local Valpo business, and usually offered free appetizers and a door prize of some sort.  The drive time was no less than 45 minutes one way and sometimes took an hour.  I kept going back even though it was quite a drive.  Did it pay off?  I secured some freelance gigs for clients doing web sites, graphic design, a consulting gig for United Way and their Battle of the Bands, and another consulting gig for a local music festival.  I created great friendships with some people in Valpo, whom previously I had just interacted with on Twitter.  Any way you cut it, I saw my driving time as worth it.

Back to South Bend: No tweetups in sight, a few people using Twitter, and nobody really pushing social media on the front lines.  Plymouth was even more dismal.  I talked with @andreacook and the other few people in Plymouth that were on Twitter about trying to organize something.  We were fairly close to reaching out to South Bend social media leaders when we saw promotions for a #michianatweetup as well as a #tweetupmichiana. (Michiana is the area of NorthCentral Indiana including South Bend, Mishawaka, and Plymouth)

There was a dispute over who could do the tweetup in Michiana and who could use that hashtag. One of the local social media “experts” (title assigned by himself) claimed that he owned the rights to the hashtag #michianatweetup.  That quickly blew up in his face as myself and the people over in Valpo (45 minutes away) started giving him quite a large piece of our collective mind.  This particular business owner, who tried to profit in ways by holding the tweetups, quickly fell off the face of Twitter.

Where is this going?

Yesterday @andreacook was promoting some of her social media and small business events that she hosts at her coworking space at the @midascenter.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Plymouth, as small as it is, has a trendsetting coworking space geared toward creative professionals.  Anyway, she reached out to some of the regulars in South Bend, asking if they’d be able to make it out and participate.  One such user was @betweenthebuns, a local restaurant.

@betweenthebuns We’re having other fun things planned all week incl a #tweetup on Monday. facebook.com/photo.php?fbid… Persuaded to reconsider?

— andreacook (@andreacook) January 12, 2012

The response?

@andreacook Looks fun, but ouch – Plymouth is a little out of my range. Me thinks #juicenotworthsqueeze Thanks tho!!

— Between the Buns (@betweenthebuns) January 12, 2012

So here we have a local business that decides the “juice isn’t worth the squeeze” and that Plymouth is a waste of their time.  Last time I checked, the majority of Plymouth residents go to South Bend on a weekly basis to spend their money in South Bend businesses.  @andreacook’s response?

@betweenthebuns ouch. and to think I recommend your place to so many here in plymouth and culver. hmmmm…

— andreacook (@andreacook) January 12, 2012

Here is what I want to get across to people and businesses new to Twitter.  Oh, you have 2,000 followers?  That doesn’t matter if you don’t get the value of social media and general networking.

1. Social media is an additional avenue to promote your business or product while creating real relationships.

2. Because you are on Twitter does not mean you have “arrived.”  It is not wise to talk down to another person on Twitter.  Remember that Twitter has the opportunity to greatly multiply the visibility of your business through retweets.  You might tweet to one person that has 350 followers, but if they retweet it to their followers and then one of them who has 15,000 followers retweets it, you just broadcast a negative message to a good number of people nationwide.

3. If you’re a business owner on Twitter, you need to clearly define the voice of your Twitter account.  Is it a voice that speaks on behalf of the company, or is it a voice that speaks on behalf of an individual?  Mixing the two, as they did here

@andreacook Thx 4 the invite to #jellyweek but as it is, I’m currently migrating my home office to my real office. #igetmyhomelifeback — Between the Buns (@betweenthebuns) January 12, 2012

can create an unprofessional image for your Twitter account. It can also be confusing to your followers and even dissuade them from interacting with you on Twitter, or worse yet, from spending their money in your establishment.  Maintaining a consistent voice on Twitter and social media in general is one of the most important guidelines to consider when tweeting or posting on Facebook.  Don’t blur the line and then say something that your company would not print on a flyer and hang on the front door.

In regards to the above interaction, if you’re a smaller city that is starting to embrace social media and Twitter, don’t forget that you’re able to do so largely in part because someone, more experienced, probably got the ball rolling.  For instance, I drove an hour each way to attend the #nwitweetups in Valparaiso, a city considerably larger than Plymouth.  After awhile, South Bend, also larger than Plymouth, wanted to start a tweetup.  @davewoodson from Valparaiso actually drove 45 minutes to South Bend to help get things going, meet with local social media leaders, and give feedback on ways to improve their events.  The social media culture in South Bend is still relatively young.  Plymouth locals have been using Twitter just as long (and sometimes longer) than the South Bend people.  What needs to happen is this: South Bend and Plymouth officially partner together to create larger events and expand their social media network.  @andreacook has a great thing going in Plymouth.  I can attest to this.  I am part of a coworking space in Morgantown, WV and am in the process of organizing tweetups there.  Just because there hasn’t been a lot of traffic to a particular area in regards to social media does not mean it’s not viable.

The moral of the story (as sporadic as it may have seemed!) is this: building relationships online is just as (and sometimes more) important as the face-to-face relationships.  This goes for individuals and businesses alike.  When tweeting someone, think of how it will impact your image.  Perhaps you don’t care or that’s what you’re going for.  That’s fine.  If you’re representing a local business, though, keep in mind that what you say on Twitter (I hate the Chicago Blackhawks, etc) might be your personal view as the person typing the tweet, but it will likely alienate a few passionate fans from your business.  Instead, create another Twitter account for personal use and speak your opinions as much as you want.

If you belong to a community that is utilizing social media effectively, help out and spread the benefits to the surrounding areas and educate others on why they should be jumping head first into social media.  Then learn how to do it without offending people.

While social media allows your fans to rave about your business, it also goes the other way sometimes.

Comments?  Thoughts?  If you got here via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, feel free to leave comments there, but I’d really appreciate your comments here as well to maintain the context of the conversation for future readers.  You can also follow me on Twitter and Google+ if you’d like.  Thanks!