Many people create a Facebook personal profile for their business. Why is that? I think because it seems easier and is more familiar for them. But below I list five reasons why you should create a Facebook Fan Page instead:

1. If you’re creating a page for your business, you want it to be public, not private. You want as many people to find it as possible. In most cases, your fan page is visible to everyone. (The exceptions
   are if you set a minimum age limit OLDER than age 13 – then people must log in.) A personal profile, on the other hand will be more private.
2. For a fan page, you want fans not friends. You want people to like your page. With a personal profile, you have to approve every friend. For a fan page, you don’t want to worry about that, you just want people to like your page. As people like your page, your page will show up on the personal profiles of their friends too; ultimately bringing you more fans.
3. You don’t want a limit on the number of fans for your page, do you? A personal profile is restricted to 5,000 friends. Better to start with a fan page and then you’ll never have to worry about that limit. Plus once you have a personal profile, you’ll have to start over to get fans for your page.
4. Two words: Search Engines. Personal profiles are, by definition, not indexed by Google and other search engines.If you have a page for your business, you’ll want it indexed by the search engines. Fan pages are always index-able by search engines.
5. One word: Advertising: You can advertise your fan page to reach more people. You can base the advertising on demographics: age, sex, profession, etc.

It may seem harder to create a fan page, but in the long run you’ll be glad you went that way to begin with. If you start with a personal profile, you’ll one day see the need to create a fan page instead.

I might have gone as far as to call this post “Ten Twitter Rules,” but there’s probably someone on Twitter that has a different opinion on each of these. So here are some suggestions that would be rules if I ruled the world.

1. Always include a space on either side of RT, DM or any @mention. For a retweet (RT), it just helps it be recognized as a RT. For an @mention, it’s necessary so that the person you mention will know about it. But for a DM, it is critical. Consider this tweet “DM@mytruelove Let’s meet tonight after 8 – my husband won’t be home.” Without that space, the whole world can read that tweet!
2. If you’re going to mention someone in a tweet – be sure to include the @ before their handle. That way they’ll know they’ve been mentioned.
3. Be very careful with DMs, sometimes Twitter hiccups and they can show up in your timeline. Check your timeline to be sure it isn’t public. Especially important if you tend to ignore item 1 above.
4. Be sure to check your mentions on Twitter. That way you’ll know when people you aren’t following are talking to you or retweeting you.
5. If your tweet starts with a twitter handle and you want to make sure EVERYONE notices it, Add “. “ before the twitter handle. Otherwise, only people that follow you AND that first Twitter handle will see the tweet in their timeline.
6. Many Twitter apps have built in URL shorteners, use them. People are much more likely to retweet something that isn’t too long because of the URL.
7. Stick to 140 characters. Sure you can tweet longer, but not everyone wants to open their browser to read the rest of your tweet.
8. When retweeting, please shorten the tweet to keep it under 140. If your twitter client doesn’t let you know you’re over 140 characters, get one that will. I see too many RTs with only half of a link at the end because it was cut off.
9. Try to spell people’s Twitter handles right. If you have problems, check your Twitter app – some help you by having a list of everyone you follow.
10. When replying to a tweet – use Reply. To some this may sound like a no-brainer. But I see a lot of people obviously replying to someone without using the function. It can be hard to discern the meaning of your reply if even the recipient can’t tell what you’re replying to.

Those are my Twitter observations. You’re free to disagree. Let me know your thoughts.

Is there something I missed? Leave a comment.

Click on the image or here to go to the puzzle.

This week, I was actually studying the process at the Endodontist office. If you don’t know what that is, consider yourself lucky. The rest of us know that the Endodontist is Root canal Specialist! And that is why I was there – a root canal.

I hate the dentist chair, I tense up in it, even if it’s just for an exam. So when you actually do work, I’m in a knot. This time was slightly different. I’ve been working on the notion lately that your mood is actually of your choosing. So I chose to take a light-hearted approach to the root canal.

Of course, I wasn’t 100% successful, but it helped. I began to observe the process going on for my benefit. A lot goes on during a root canal procedure. And it’s two people working together – the Dentist and his assistant. But there isn’t a lot of talk.

He will switch from this drill to that drill and she always knows what he needs next. Perhaps they have some non-verbal signals, although I suspect part of it is they really know the process they are doing together.

I started noticing that he would do some work, reach a stopping point and pull away. That seemed to be her cue to move in and rinse. Occasionally, he would say something that caused her to pick up pen and paper, repeat what he had said and write it down.

It was like a symphony with an invisible conductor. It was clear that they had their signals worked out. He would call for alcohol, and she would return with three different items.

It was an excellent example of team work. Each person knew their roll and knew the procedure they were doing. Things went smoothly and I found that studying their process took my mind off what they were doing to me. And I did relax, if only just a little.

photo credit, radiant guy

The next day I got an email from her. After thinking about it, she had decided to proceed with the fan page. That way she could work on her end of it while recuperating. She even wanted to send a down payment before her surgery.

When I opened the envelope later that week, there was a note attached to the check. All it said was “Here’s to Moving Forward!” I loved it. In the middle of facing surgery, she chose to look forward to what would come afterwards.

I have that note attached to my monitor, to remind me which way to look.

Oh, the surgery? Two weeks out and she’s doing well. Up and walking and even doing some work!

Today was the grand opening for Morgan’s Wonderland – the World’s First Ultra Accessible Family Fun Park! The park is dedicated to special needs individuals, their families, caregivers & friends. Special needs individuals are granted free admission and their families get in at reduced rates. They also have community days where anyone can visit the park. The park, created by Gordon Hartman, was inspired by the needs of his daughter, Morgan.

Kids who have never ridden a carousel and gone up and down can do so at this park. Kids who have never been on a swing can do so here. It is a magical place.

BMPR got to tour Morgan’s Wonderland last week. I’ve included some pictures below. But to see more pictures, visit their Facebook Fan Page.

Plus, to me, the concept of special meaning in a new year was silly. After all, it’s still the dead of winter, so what’s new?

Now March 1st is another story. To me, and most of us who live in South Texas, it means Spring – new growth, new flowers. I always think of February as dark and March as sunshine. So it seemed like a good day to make a resolution. Here’s mine:

Whenever I’m struggling with something that’s hard, I tend to find lots of time wasters on the web: following every twitter thread, reading Facebook statuses, etc. Instead, I resolve to tackle those hard issues and figure out why they are frustrating me; rather than avoiding them.

It may not seem like much, bit it is a big time waster for me. Have you given any thought to your Spring Resolution?

Gotta run now, I have a proposal to write!

Was it just coincidence that I saw these two tweets in my twitter stream, one after the other?

From Alicia Arenas

Thank you! RT @JesusNeedsNewPR: Dear Facebook Friends: I like you, really, I do. But I do not want your Facebook Valentines.

Followed by this from BKMcDaddy Designs

A Freelancer’s Guide to Professionalism on Facebook – http://bit.ly/cPzUYs

In the Freelancer’s Guide, there are suggestions for using Facebook lists to control what you post to whom.

There are good reasons for mixing business with personal on Facebook, but it does mean you need to think carefully before you post. I had one friend (real friend, oh, and business associate) mention a problem she had recently with Facebook. Seems that an old friend posted something from the past that my friend really didn’t want made public. (Sometimes it’s true – What happens in the past, stays in the past.)

Then there’s this great advice on the Dos and Don’ts for Job Searchers on Social Media. Lettergirl has a couple of good points in there!

Lots of good advice out there. I think number one on the list is to think before you post.

There are frequently discussions on the internet about how much is too much or too little. I think a company’s biggest concern should be not annoying their customers.

What do you think? What does it take before you get annoyed enough with a company to unsubscribe? Several times a week? Once a week?

So, what is BMPR? It’s the Business, Media & Public Relations Tweetup group in San Antonio. They only started this past spring, but seems to be growing rapidly.

What happens at a Tweetup? It’s different. Aren’t many business cards passed. AND, it’s one of those rare meetings where playing with your cell phone is allowed – even encouraged. Everyone uses the hashtag #BMPR in Twitter. Even people that can’t make it can follow along with what’s happening.

They have several speakers and the topics are about social media – how a particular business uses Social Media. You can read about the speakers on The BMPR web site. The coolest part was that Sea World brought an owl and a wallaby to the meeting. They were big hits and probably never want to see phone cameras again. We’re still working out how it is that owls and wallabies are at Sea World. Are they aquatic?

If your in business in San Antonio and are using (or interested in using ) Social Media, then you should consider a BMPR Tweetup. I’ll post the invite for the next one!