My first thought was “this looks like XOBNI for Gmail” and, according to the comments and feedback I have read on this product, I am not alone. XOBNI is another fantastic tool, but unfortunately is only available for Outlook users, and a product that I have missed terribly since switching from Outlook to Gmail.  Both of these products make it very easy to see what social networking services your friends, family and even customers are using.

Once installed, the social networking information on the person/company that emailed you appears out to the right of an open email.  Icons (with links) are provided for services like Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, etc.  Simply click on any of these to open the profile page of that individual in a new tab.  Below the links you will find a comment area that you can use for keeping track of customers, but I am sure individuals will find some other creative and unique ideas for this space.

Installation

First of all, Rapportive is an add-on, so there isn’t the same commitment level that you might have with a full-blown program installation.  If you don’t like it, it takes just a few button clicks to disable it.  I had it up and running in less than 5 minutes, thanks to the well-thought out installation page from the Rapportive web site that includes step-by-step install instructions.

Link: http://rapportive.com/install

** One user did comment that any users of the Ad-Block Plus add-on (Firefox) might have to disable it to perform the installation of Rapportive.

After installing, you’ll just have to restart and then open an individual message (any one will do) to access the login button.  Grant permission to Rapportive to access your Gmail account and you are on your way.

Login Screen for First Time Use

Concerns

Initial concerns from most seem to be the fear that Rapportive will have access to your login credentials and/or email content.  Their FAQ page addresses this concern head-on:

“We never see your password. We use Gmail’s OpenID login system, which means only Google receives your password. All we get from Google is a token that proves you’re really you, and a few details (like your name and preferred language)… The contents of your email never leaves your browser, and we never store your emails anywhere. We’re finding peoples’ email addresses in the browser, and sending those back to our server to look them up.”

Verdict

I have only used Rapportive for a few minutes, but I am already a big fan.  There are definitely some areas for improvement, but the makers of Rapportive have provided numerous areas within the sidebar and their website for you to provide feedback.  I will be using their service and providing my ideas and concerns as time goes on and I encourage you to do the same.

I realize that many of you have already been exposed to Google Buzz, or at least heard the name, and that this article might seem a little untimely.  After all, Google Buzz was released about a month ago (February 9, 2010).  The reason I waited to comment on Google Buzz was two-fold: 1) The initial reaction to Google Buzz was panic! (early issues with privacy) and 2) I wasn’t sure if I would even use Buzz for personal and/or business updates.  Why would I review or recommend a product for the JumpstartMyPC.com audience if it (Buzz) wasn’t a useful tool that would help you get more out of your PC?  Well, I finally spent some time with this new application and I think I’ve wrapped my mind around it.

What Exactly is Google Buzz?

According to WikiPedia “Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google, designed to integrate into the company’s web-based email program, Gmail. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments organized in “conversations” and visible in the user’s inbox.”  The definition is spot-on, but other than the Gmail integration, what makes Google Buzz any different from MySpace, Facebook or any of the other social networking sites out there?  I could post a bunch of screen-shots and commentary, but a quick video will explain Buzz much more effectively.

To me, Google Buzz is the Lite version of social networking.  Why?  Because you don’t have to spend an eternity setting it up, the feature set is very limited and (this is the best part) the distractions are minimal.

Setup

• If you have a Gmail account, you are already a Buzz user.  Just look for the link under your inbox.
• If you want to try Buzz and see what it’s all about, all you have to do is sign up for a FREE Gmail account.  **If you decide to stick around, you can import your old mail and contacts fromYahoo!, Hotmail, AOL or other webmail or POP3 accounts (which covers just about everyone).
• Add personal information or don’t!  This is entirely up to you.

Limited Features

• Post your own buzz-worthy links and photos.  Follow others to see what they post.  That’s it!  If you can copy and paste, you can use Buzz!
• There are no apps, so you don’t have to worry about joining the Mafia or taking care of your Farm-Town/Ville.

Distractions Gone

• Ads are limited to a tiny little bar at the top (almost forgot about it even being there).
• Again, no apps – meaning no games, clubs, groups, etc. to join or worry about.

The Verdict

Click Here

My overall opinion of Google Buzz is “wait-and-see.”  Google will not give up on Buzz any time soon and (as blogger Dan Sung put it) “it’s the refinements that will make it into something deeper and more diverse.”  Who knows what the future holds for Google Buzz?

However, I have some suggestions for those of you with different “backgrounds.”  Depending on your current setup (email), affiliations (other social networking sites) or tolerance level, you might want to give Buzz a chance.

Scenario 1: The Rookie

You have email and use it to communicate with a limited group of friends and family.  Either you don’t care about social networking or you are one of the “I don’t want to know what everyone is up to all the time and I don’t care to let others know what I am doing at any time” camp.

Suggestion

Google Buzz is perfect for you!  Just sign up for that FREE Gmail account and add ONLY the people that you already email.  Don’t give out this new address to anyone but those you already email.  Post away using the Private option and you won’t have to worry about anyone else seeing what you submit.  If you like it, hang around.  If not, delete the account and walk away.

Scenario 2: The Middle Man

You tried Facebook, but it wasn’t your thing.  Too much going on and you are too busy to check it all the time.  You post an update here and there, but don’t really “feel” like a Facebook person.  Twitter sounds like something only a bird would do or maybe you are just a little bit curious to see what’s going on in the Twitter world.

Suggestion

Google Buzz might be a good way to ease into sharing a bit more.  Using Gmail means that Buzz is literally one click away and (as we pointed out) there are limited distractions.  You can “follow” people or companies that you have an interest in and check your Buzz when you have time.  No pressure.  You don’t even have to post anything if you don’t want to.

Scenario 3: Social Guru

You are everywhere in the social networking world: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  You can’t get enough new information and you love the applications and “noise” of these sites.  You follow several blogs and/or have a blog of your own.

Suggestion

Buzz might be too little for your needs.  You would just be reinventing the wheel if you had to set up another profile.  However, a Buzz page would be a good way to increase your audience and spread the word about your online presence.  OK, maybe you should try it out anyway.

Google Social Search is a new way to search the web.  You simply Google as you always did and a new section will appear in the results, aptly titled “Results from your social circle.”  These results will include more relevant, personal web content from your friends and online contacts.  These links, images, blogs, etc. are taken from the social networking sites that your friends are part of, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc.  We could explain it further, but this video (by the amazing commoncraft) does it so well.

Google Social Search solves some of the problems with the original “social search” (asking friends, family and co-workers):

1. We can’t ask everyone we know – we want the answer pretty quickly, right?
2. We will forget to ask someone – I can ask 20 people a question and the 21st person would have had the answer I needed.
3. We forget what others have done – maybe a past job, trip or experience makes John Doe the perfect person to answer our question, but we forgot he even did that or went there.

Are You Prepared

If you want to get the most out of Social Search right away (or “in a few weeks”, as stated in the video), get started by creating a Google profile, where you can add links to your public online social services.  The video explains how to do this, but flys by it pretty quickly.  Here are the steps I took to get my profile set up.

• Visit the site http://www.google.com/profiles
• Create or view your profile (you’ll need a Google user id and password to do this)
• Choose Edit Profile (center of the screen next to “about me”)
• Fill in your information, include a photo (add or leave out what you want)
• ADD LINKS* – this is what makes the search possible!  Without the links, Google Social Search is not a valuable tool.
• Save your changes

*Adding links can be a bit tricky.  When prompted for the URL of a site/service you will need to provide a URL that is specific to your profile.  Every social networking site is a bit different, so if you aren’t sure which URL to use, simply Google “my Facebook URL” or “my Twitter URL” or whatever service it is that you are using.  The instructions should only be a few clicks away.

Big Brother

I am sure that several of you have already decided to avoid this service because you are afraid the world will have access to your personal information.  I can respect your choice to protect your information, but know that the answers provided to others on Google Social Search are only available if you and that person have already “linked” to each other in Google contacts or one of the previously mentioned services.  Google does not want to violate your privacy or put you in harm’s way.  They simple want to bring everyone together in one centralized place.  The functionality and value in the Google Social Search is only as good as the content, which you must provide.

In our article What is the Social Media Credit Score Formula we outlined the areas of the internet that make up the majority of what is currently defined as social media.  While social media continues to grow and change, so will the areas that you need to keep an eye on.  We’ll start you off with some tools for each site/area, but it will be up to you to add to your toolbox as time goes on.

Tools By Site/Area

• Google – The largest and most encompassing area of the internet is the search engine category.  While there are others to choose from, none is as large or popular as Google.
  • Search – Start with a simple search of your name, email address, phone number and physical address. (one at a time)
  • Social Search – Enable the Google Social Search feature to see results from social media sites as well.  This is still “experimental” but will soon be a standard part of the Google search results.
  • Saved Searches – Create and save a Google Search of your name and receive an email notification each time your name is mentioned on the web.  This search won’t capture everything, but it will search constantly, so you won’t have to remember to run the search yourself.
• Facebook – Facebook now has over 325 million users (I was recently made aware of this number) and is growing rapidly.  What better way for others to research you?
  • Posts By Friends – A search for your name (while in Facebook) will return any instance of your name in a friend’s post.
  • Status Statistics (application) – This tool will report how often you (or anyone you know) post, where you post from, the words you use most, etc.
  • Experience Score (application) – Similar to Status Statistics, but you are given a score.  I’m not sure what the score represents exactly, but you can compare yours with friends.
• MySpace – Still a strong contender in the Social Networking world, MySpace has been around longer than Facebook and allows more freedom to users.  Surprisingly, I found no useful apps or programs for searching for information on an individual.  The best way to find out about someone on MySpace is simply to visit their profile and root around.
• Twitter – Other than Google, I consider this the most public forum on the web.
  • Twitter Search – There are several ways to do this (the easiest is search.twitter.com, but any Twitter utility has a search feature that looks through ALL Tweets and returns the most recent results.  In some utilities, like TweetDeck, you can set up searches that return results in real time.
  • Tweet Stats – Enter anyone’s username and see the frequency of their Tweets as well as a breakdown of month, day, time.  What employer wouldn’t want to know how often a potential employee might be Tweeting and not working?
• LinkedIn – This is the most used site by potential employers and has become a digital resume for job seekers.  LinkedIn also offers individuals the most control over their own Social Media Credit Score.
  • Search – Like Google, just type in a name and see what comes up.
  • Saved Searches - LinkedIn also offers saves searches, so you can stay up to date on additions and changes in LinkedIn.
  • LinkedIn Updates (email) – This newsletter, sent out on a regular basis, keeps you up to date on what your connections are doing.  Where are they working?  Who are they linking to?  What groups have they joined?
• Blogs – While other sites offer statistics and searches, blogs offer insight.  What kind of person is this?  What are their beliefs?  Opinions? Can they communicate well with others?  Blog links can be found via Google or almost any profile created for that person.  After all, people write blogs so that others will read them.  They usually aren’t trying to hide them.

Other Sites

• 123people.com - Link – Returns information from a first and last name.  One page results include address, phone number, MySpace profiles, Facebook profiles, pictures, Twitter pages and even blogs.

Use some of these tools to research your Social Media Credit Score today.  You might think you know exactly what will be uncovered, but only a search of the social media available today will tell the entire story.  Don’t let the unknown influence others’ opinions of you.  Tracking your SMCS is just as important as keeping tabs on your financial credit score and, as we mentioned before, might influence your life much further down the road than a credit issue would.  You are the only person that is going to take the time to research and correct any issues with your Social Media Credit Score.

Tomorrow, we will wrap up the week with a look at the future of the Social Media Credit Score and offer some other tidbits.  If you are interested in the final segment, or any of the previous articles on SMCS, please visit our blog homepage or add it to your favorite reader. (http://blog.jumpstartmypc.com)

Our Lineup of Potential Researchers

• Potential Employers – You might not be aware, but some employers use your Credit Report (the financial kind) as a tool to determine the type of person you are.  If you can’t handle your own finances, why would they let you handle theirs.  Why would social interactions be any different?  The way you promote your personal life and the decisions you make online (your SMCS) could in fact be a tool for potential employers.  An article from CBSNews.com from over 3 years ago uncovered this practice.  That was over 3 years ago!  Just imagine how many employers have adopted this practice since then.
• Family - Your first thought here is “oh, Mom and Dad might see what I write on Facebook or what I Tweet,” but you shouldn’t think NOW, you should be thinking FOREVER.  With the advancements in technology and storage capacities we have seen over the last few years, it is not out of the realm of possibility that EVERY single thing you post, share or comment on might become part of a permanent, searchable database.  What happens when your children decide to research Mom and Dad for that school project on their family tree?  Things might get really interesting.
  
• Friends - Your friends might not purposely research your SMCS, but they are taking in information about you constantly.  Your social media interactions could be seen by everyone.  Right now, Facebook posts are only shown to those you grant access, but will that always be the case?  Tweets and YouTube videos are no different.  Google has added Social Searches (in Beta now) to their standard search results.
• Federal Government - This is something that will blow your mind.  Uncle Sam has begun using social searches to track your finances.  “State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts. (taken from an article on msn.com from Sept. 2009)“  It seems that MySpace is one of their favorite sites to visit when hunting down a potential “client.”
  
• Credit Bureau/Agency – The “big brother” of your financial well-being already employs some interesting tactics for determining your financial Credit Score (see How Does My Driving Record Impact My Credit Score?) so it stands to reason that they might begin looking into your spending habits and lifestyle via another measurement tool, your Social Media Credit Score.
• Companies - If the credit agencies start reviewing your SMCS, then why wouldn’t potential lenders, like retail stores, banks or car dealerships?  They don’t want to risk a loan that will never be paid back, so they will turn to any public information that they can find to separate duds from studs.
  
• Thieves – Yeah, that is right, thieves!  Not just internet hackers and data miners, but honest-to-goodness “I’m gonna crawl in your window while you are vacation” thieves.  They have your address, they can find your phone number, then your email address, then your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace…. page and boom!  They have a monitoring system that will tell them when you will be gone on that family vacation for 2 weeks.  A simple search at search.twitter.com for “going on vacation” will give them the same information.

A Quick Search of "going on vacation" - Twitter

We will continue our look at the Social Media Credit Score tomorrow and through the rest of the week.  If you want to see more, add our blog (http://blog.jumpstartmypc.com) to your favorites or your favorite blog reader.  We’ll add new, FREE content every day that will help PC users get the most out of their computer.

Although the idea of a Social Media Credit Score is based on the more well-known financial credit score, there are some key differences that make the development of a formula very difficult.  This social media measurement (SMCS) has no governing body and there is no required reporting that most be followed by users/creators of social media web sites.  Also, most areas of measurement are not black or white, but gray.  As we look at the components of the SMCS, you will see the difficulty in developing a true formula for your Social Media Credit Score.

The idea I want you to walk away with is this.  How do others see me? “Others” can be defined as any person/group who has an interest in you as an individual (an area that we will focus on later in the week.)  What are the first impressions of a would-be researcher?  How do your actions, or the actions of others, (in social media) portray you?  Are you a positive or a negative?  Are you a strength or a liability?  These are not numbers or a traditional “score” but they are a measurement of an individual nonetheless.

What Qualifies as Social Media

The first thing you will need to know is what web sites are considered social media.  In fact, any information available via the internet can be considered social media.  A scary thought considering the fact that laws governing the internet can’t keep up with its growth and changes.  Here are the top sites that we factor in to our grading system (at the moment):

• Google – this is very general, but the exact area that most people will turn to first (if they want to “check out” someone) is a simple Google search.
• Facebook – the world’s largest social media site (with over 200 million users) is a gold-mine for anyone who is permitted to see your profile and information.  Assuming you have the proper settings in place, only invited guests can see this information (for now).
• MySpace – what was once a powerhouse in social media, MySpace has shrunk in numbers but still holds a large share of the market.
• Twitter – 140 characters can say a lot about a person, especially when they post messages about themselves day after day.  Twitter searches will reveal almost anything that has ever been tweeted about a person.  All it takes is a keyword, like your name.
• LinkedIn – Probably the single best site for you to promote yourself to the world, LinkedIn is your online resume.  You can enter in work history, awards, achievements and all sorts of personal information that might sway your SMCS in the right direction.  You can even ask others to write a review about you.  What better grading tool than the comments of a former co-worker.
• Blogs – although this is not a single social media site, it could be the most important tool of all.  Someone who blogs often writes about themselves or at least their opinions about anything and everything.  Many people compare blogging to an online diary and while it is still a hobby of few web users, the number of new bloggers is growing daily.

Credit Score Criteria

Once on a social media site, what does one look for?  How do I determine the SMCS of someone/myself?  Again, what is mined out of social media sites is mostly gray area, but there are some key areas of interest.

• How many sites does the individual belong to/participate in?
• How frequently does he/she post to or visit the site(s)?
• What are the first “returns” in a search for the individual in question?
• What groups does the individual belong to within the social media site in question?
• How is the individuals’ grammar and word usage?  Is there a lot of negative/positive wording in posts?
• What are their religious beliefs?
• Are there any pictures of this person and what are they doing in the pictures? How about video?
• What do others have to say about this person?

The list of criteria is virtually never-ending, but these are the areas that most would focus on first.  Is that simply because that is what is available now?  Who knows what the future of social media has in store for us.  What you need to know is how to research others and how they might see you if they did the same. We will continue our look at the Social Media Credit Score tomorrow and through the rest of the week.  Check back with us for more information, including:

• What areas of your life will be affected by your Social Media Credit Score?
• How can you change your Social Media Credit Score?
• What is next for the Social Media Credit Score?

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