They're talking about you on social networks

Some of Pipl's search sources

What is everyone talking about on all these social networks? That is not a rhetorical question. You can look it up. Here’s how. 

I think we all want to know what people are saying about us, our company, our industry and…maybe most importantly, our competitors. Going through the exercise of using the social network tools to look up these items is a good research practice. If you ever wondered whether you should dive into social networking, perhaps seeing your competitor’s activities will prove a motivator.

One thing we know is the people you encounter are likely looking you up. If I have a meeting, whether in person or by phone, my first preparatory step is to see what it says on Linkedin, on Social Mention, Google and Pipl. Yesterday public radio KPBS in San Diego noted employers are perusing Facebook for both direct and indirect references. Linkedin allows users to solicit and post references. With millions of pages added to the Internet every day it is likely you’ll find something on everyone. It is also likely that information will remain available forever.

Your first research sites should be Social Mention and Pipl. Social Mention will search blogs, comments and other parts of the social network fabric. You might be surprised at what you see...including items you forgot about or didn’t know existed. Oh look; some of my blog entries have been reposted in French!

There is also a Social Mention Trends link to let you know who is getting mentioned the most. Don’t expect to find your name listed unless you’re one of the contestants on American Idol.

Pipl is more of a background checker, although you’ll see public profiles, publications, blog entries and more. It was interesting to me to see not just my blog entries, but also my comments on other blogs and all the genealogy research writing I did several years ago. Pipl’s claims to search out information not available to traditional search engines.

When you search Google, you’re given the option of continuing the search for new information as it appears with Google Alerts. Twitter has a reply function allowing you to see all the twitter mentions you have. There are a number of links you can go to track web site statistics. Some even offer comparisons between sites. This is a nice way to judge your performance versus your competitors.

Statbrain counts visitors to websites. The Attention Meter compares visitor counts to multiple web sites. Post Rank tells you how many people follow which blogs. Xinu examines attributes about how your name performs in searches. Google Trends does similar work. Microsoft’s Ad Analyzer does the same reporting but adds demographics.

The Way Back Machine is very cool. You can enter in any web site, and it will give you links to versions of their web site over time. It is interesting to watch the progression and enhancements most sites have gone through. It can also be interesting to see what your competitors were showing the world a few years ago versus today.

Whether you are participating in social networking for fun or profit, it is likely your competitors are involved. Also likely is someone is talking about you. Doing research into how often and where the social media universe is discussing you is just a smart step in your marketing and business plan.