Disqus - Friends of jfouts

Re: Twitter Corrects Follower Counts: How Many Followers Did You Lose?

LoriRuff — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:43:07 -0000

Not sure if I like the change, I think better followers but it's a bit disconcerting to watch your numbers go up and down by several hundred a day! three days in a row now... it's like watching a tennis match!

Re: 100 SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER

LoriRuff — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:01:58 -0000

Even with a list of 100, there are so many you can't include that are doing it right. I will note @mikeoneildenver, @roydavies, @linkedintrainer, oh - an me! :)

Re: 100 SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER

LoriRuff — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:42:18 -0000

Also... @LewisHowes!

Re: Social Networking: Such is the Way With Asshats and Defending Your Honor

LoriRuff — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:18:53 -0000

Erika: I'm wondering why my comment was deleted. Have other comments supporting Mike also been deleted? I'll try to post it again. We'll see what you do with it. That will answer the question I can't ask you directly of the "defending your honor" part of your post. If you don't allow others to chime in unless they agree with you; there's really no point in continuing to read your blog as a credible source of dialog in this quickly evolving space.

Re: Social Networking: Such is the Way With Asshats and Defending Your Honor

LoriRuff — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:30:29 -0000

Disclosure: I have worked with Mike as a member of his executive team since September 2008. Second attempt to have this post moderated.
(becuase the Head Redhead deleted the first comment as it sounds like an advertisement)
There are many people—in the Greater Denver Area in particular—that have benefitted because Mike O’Neil was inspired to offer LinkedIn training to association leaders gathered back in 2006.

Many people appreciate his work; many know he is a high-energy, high performer type always pushing the envelope. How he conducts his own life is something many people watch with interest but wouldn’t be interested in duplicating. I am fairly confident that this tendency translates to his online life as well.

I can confirm that he does not recommend to people that they “keyword stuff” their profiles; rather that they make a list of their most important keywords and use them in strategic places throughout.
(Yet he does this on his own profile - AWESOME --- Erika's note)
The list of clients that Mike has assisted is extensive and the recommendations on his profile reflect that. He has impacted the success of many business professionals and companies. We have many examples of people who have benefited. (Entire segment deleted by Erika as it's a listing of case studies that act as an advertisement for your business. Sorry!) For the record, we call people on the carpet as well when we see supposed “experts” try to use underhanded practices. I understand many of the comments from people who don’t know Mike or his work and I even understand the comments from people who do know him and have taken the opportunity to tell him how they perceive what he is doing. It is advice and a learning opportunity and for that, I thank you. Lessons are not always easily learned.

As for Mike calling himself an expert: Wikipedia and other sources indicate that a subject matter expert has spent 10,000 hours in their field. That works out to about 4 years of experience. 2006 – 2010… Mike has served that time training on LinkedIn. Whether or not you agree with him and the way he explains things, he is a well respected speaker, author and authority in the online community: not because of how he manages his own profile, but because of the work he does on behalf of others that directly impacts their success.

Re: Social Networking: Such is the Way With Asshats and Defending Your Honor

LoriRuff — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:34:47 -0000

Thanks for posting Erika. None of my comment was intended to be an advertisement but a response to the questions of other readers who asked specifically about "show us results". Your comments are noted though and I'll keep it in mind on other posts.

Re: Social Networking: Such is the Way With Asshats and Defending Your Honor

LoriRuff — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:18:09 -0000

Thanks for making this a bit easier Doyle. Mike has been an active member of LinkedIn since early 2004 and has been training, consulting, and speaking since 2006. That's 6 years of active (in Mike's case hyperactive) personal use including 4 years more than full-time in the business (and anyone who knows Mike knows he works more than 40 hours a week, often 12 or more hours a day).

So everyone can continue to criticize specific comments he made or specific items they don't agree with, but on the whole, I don't know anyone in Denver or anywhere else that can hold a candle to his level of experience on LinkedIn. Mike even brought LinkedIn training to the Denver area all those years ago. Kevin Johansen recently told me that as a result of Mike's consistent evangelism, Denver has the third highest per capita engagement of the platform in the country.

Several people mentioned that social media is an evolving environment and this post and resulting commentary just highlights that a) not everyone gets everything right all the time, and b) we all have a lot to continue to learn and c) this is all about relationships.

Since we all seem to agree that it is about relationships, it amazes me how caustic and vengeful this commentary has sounded. Again for those who know Mike, they know he is a generous man with a lot of people he calls friends, including you Doyle. That doesn't mean a friend can't call you out and wake you up, but the relationship should be honored (as in the part of the title that says "defending your honor" or defending the honor of your friends).

So we've all taken part in giving Mike a great wake up call. Those who care about him might care to check in and tell him that no matter what they think about this topic, they do still consider him a friend. As I said earlier, some lessons are hard learned.

Continue to attack him if you like, but we have to get back to work.

Re: Social Networking: Such is the Way With Asshats and Defending Your Honor

LoriRuff — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:20:45 -0000

You might have seen his blog post yesterday about the Ghosts of Blogs past... it's a hard decision to shut down a blog with active links out on the internet, even if you convert to a new one. The conversion was made over a year ago to the Integrated Alliances Wordpress.org site and the Rock the World site was put up late summer to start preparing to promote the book.

It was past time to take the old ones down, but when do you think, "Hey, today's the day I should go do that" unless something prompts you. Kudos to Mike for taking the time to clean up his act this week.

Re: 20 Social Media Divas You Should Be Following

LoriRuff — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:11:02 -0000

Trevor - you ROCK my World! Thanks!

Francisco, great list... It's an honor to be recognized for the work we do. And the cool thing the list is GROWING! Incredible women who make a difference are jumping into social (something we're naturally good at in real life) media daily.

Re: 20 Social Media Divas You Should Be Following

LoriRuff — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:24:46 -0000

I'm happy to accept - thanks! I love your blog... I did a recent post about the top 10 women on LinkedIn after my partner found my standing. he had to scroll through 150 people to find us! Have I said yet that you just Rock?! It's very cool of you to build others up and I'm grateful to be on your scope.

Re: Connecting with Winning Friends

LoriRuff — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:47:56 -0000

Thanks for sharing Tony! It is often when an icon or someone we admire engages with us that we really start to think "wow, there could be something to this!" The same has happened to me several times over the last five years. The quality of people that will respond and interact never ceases to amaze me. So glad you pointed this out!

Re: Discover your LinkedIn Start Date and LinkedIn User ID

LoriRuff — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:38:21 -0000

Tom! You've been on LinkedIn longer than Mike O'Neil! Congrats :) Have you had successes in that time that keep you going back?

Re: Feeling the need… to win!

LoriRuff — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:30:54 -0000

Thanks for stopping Jon and for introducing me to #blogchat! I've added it to my regular (Sunday 9pm Eastern) calendar! Oh - and let's mention that we a) met on Twitter, b) are both professionals and c) have shared some great resources and information with each other, fueling our wins just a smidge more than we might have without hte relationship.

Hoping to get to your neck of the woods mid year next. Will let you know when the schedule is set:)

Re: Feeling the need… to win!

LoriRuff — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:07:38 -0000

Yes! Promote it on facebook and in your blog as well as with tweets. Do what you did for me on the #blogchat, invite people to join. Ask every participant to invite a friend via Twitter when teh chat begins - then you'll be able to capture those handles and send a personal invite for the next.

Re: Setting up Twitter Feeds to Update Your LinkedIn Account

LoriRuff — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:56:48 -0000

Thanks Peter! Appreciate your comments :)

Re: Setting up Twitter Feeds to Update Your LinkedIn Account

LoriRuff — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:38:14 -0000

See - to some people it's not spam, to others all over-communication is just that. Glad to help reiterate your side.

Re: Is a quality delivery important?

LoriRuff — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:47:00 -0000

Great comment Jeff - thanks!

Although the post is about the traditional training of a non-traditional topic, your points are well founded.

Re: Is Your Online Profile Safe?

LoriRuff — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:31:24 -0000

Thanks Deb! It's great to know that the tools we create are being put to good use! You've really come a long way since we first met - Keep on rockin the town!

Re: Grading customer service? “F” for Cricket Wireless (@Cricketnation)

LoriRuff — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:29:50 -0000

if this is supposed to make me "feel the love", you're mistaken. I responded my email 2 days ago with my phone number and have heard nothing back. I called customer service again and after an hour and three agents, still am no closer to having these issues resolved.

We were almost there, but the system is now updating so I was asked to call back again in 30 minutes. I was incredulous. I asked if I could hold for the 30 minutes the floor manager said the system would take to finish updating. He said he couldn't be "off the phone that long".

It took me three more minutes to convince him to let me leave my number for him to dial back once the system was back up so I wouldn't have guess when it happened, dial back, go through all the prompts, then explain to yet another person what was going on with my still non-existent account.

And guess what I was told? The $5 credit for the paygo phone that Cricket offers as an incentive to buy the phone expires after 5 days. If I add $15 it expires in 30 days. that means if I don't use it, I lose it. I was told the point of the PayGo phone was to "Pay As You Go!" Not pay and pay and pay. This was supposed to be a phone to keep in my glove box in case of emergency. I was told I only paid a daily rate on the days I actually used the phone. Now I'm being told that the daily rate is eaten up with an expiration date whether or not I use the phone. How is that pay as you go? Isn't that false advertising? Can someone say "lawsuit junkies will love this?"

Give me a break.

By the way, your floor manager also recommended that I take my irate self down to the store to try to resolve the issue. Why do you send irate customers to the store to scare off your customers? Where's the logic in that?

I'm gonna make a wild prediction and say I can't see myself buying Cricket stock with a customer service nightmare waiting for so many people.

Re: TerreStar Genus hybrid satellite phone hits AT&T at long last for $799

LoriRuff — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:32:36 -0000

Great point. It's not about having the latest apps, its about having a phone that works when you need it. Having an AT&T iPhone that won't work in downtown Denver with a clear view of the sky makes me wish for a phone that just gives me a really great connection!

Re: A great social media consultant

LoriRuff — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:32:24 -0000

You got it "LinkedIn King"!

Re: A great social media consultant

LoriRuff — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:48:31 -0000

So today I log into my LinkedIn InBox and have another great example. That's my morning post doll! Check it out :)

Re: A great social media consultant

LoriRuff — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:19:12 -0000

Oh boy... you're just getting started and I haven't gone to bed yet! I had it scheduled for 7:20 but I published early for you doll... didn't want to keep my Fan waiting!

Re: Do what you love…

LoriRuff — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:50:03 -0000

Thanks Tinzley! It's not always easy to write a post like this on a business site - but we can't completely separate ourselves from being human, can we?

Re: Can You Become One of the Most Connected LinkedIn Women?

LoriRuff — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:06:48 -0000

The added value of a large network for me is the people that it enables me to meet. Pros with passion everywhere I travel!

When I first joined Integrated Alliances, I had 185 connections and I was able to search to find people to do business with.

With 18,000 first level connections, I continue to meet the most amazing people everywhere I go just by updating my status or sending messages to people in the cities I visit and asking them if they'd like to meet. Content for our books and interviewees on our radio show are all because of the connections we've made on LinkedIn.

For Mike and I, it's not just about the quantity, but in all those connections, we find even more quality than just our immediate circle of influence. And we use that to grow and strengthen our circle of influence and fun.

And, if you'd like to connect, share you LinkedIn profile URL here and I'll send you an invitation. If you're not comfortable sharing your URL, then please send me a private message on LinkedIn or an invitation and we'll connect privately.