People have always been told that their vote counts, that one vote makes a difference. Nowhere is that more obvious today than in the social media space. People vote with the click of a mouse: Like, Share, Send, Forward, Digg, email, etc.

And companies listen to consumers and vote with their investment and development dollars. Microsoft invested huge sums in Facebook and today Mashable broke the story that they are launching Outlook Facebook and Windows Live Integration.  Now that’s powerful. Before now, you could tie your connection to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Hoovers via Xobni, but the power of actual integration is something not to be taken lightly.

My partner, Mike O’Neil has been talking since before I met him about the trends and predictors and future of the industry. He has preached that we will see greater integration and further aggregators that will make online platforms easier to use and manage. Microsoft and Facebook teaming up is a sure sign that those things are indeed happening.

After all, it was Microsoft that popularized the graphic user interface and brought Windows and Office 95 to the computing world, simplifying computer technologies for millions of users, forcing standardization in the industry of menus and icons and keystrokes. The same needs to happen in the social media space with the variety of platforms and features and access points and cultures.

Last year they integrated LinkedIn and announced that Myspace and Facebook were not far behind.  With the social integration right within Outlook – if it doesn’t bog down the program – that is a leap toward the integration Mike has predicted. Should bought stock in one of those companies!

Here’s the original article by Mashable…

What are your thoughts? How do you think this will play out? What do you think is next? Leave your comment below.

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“New FTC Rules for Social Media!” posted by Go-To-Market Strategies based in Seattle, WA

provides a good summary of the new rules that go into effect December 1.  Essentially, it requires transparency in an industry that purports to be transparent. There are many bloggers and tweeters that promote products and services for which they are an affiliate. The new rules require disclosure of that fact. You also have to be able to back up your claims and “speak from actual experience” so you need to not just RT (Re-Tweet) or copy/paste, but believe what you are telling your friends and followers.

The incentive… a potential $11,000 fine.

Here’s the full article… http://www.gtms-inc.com/tip_FTC-socialmedia.htm. Be sure to Digg it and give them credit for alerting us to the change.

I am swamped with questions about LinkedIn’s recent change to a generic-only invitation process.  I have done some investigation looking at it from the most common situations.

Specifically, it seems to occur when inviting an individual from their LinkedIn Profile.  There is no longer a customized invitation capability available.

Another situation is not affected. If you have their e-mail address, you can still click on the green Add Connections button and use the 6 per page inviting process.  Just put in one person.  The Add Message field is still fully operational there.

It sounds like there is a bug. LinkedIn knows about problem and here is what they say:

“Let me start by saying that I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please know that we are fully aware of this issue and have a team of dedicated, highly qualified individuals who are working diligently to resolve this. I appreciate your patience and encourage you to continue to use the other great products and features on LinkedIn.”

Stay tuned for updates as they become known.

Update:

I logged into LinkedIn yesterday and the bug was fixed.  However, I also had a message that my account was dangerously close to being restricted because several people responded “I Don’t Know Lori”. Perhaps this was caused by an inability to send a cusom invite message. After all, I am finding people I knew years ago when I lived in Charlotte and looked much different than I do now.  So I sent a message to customer service asking for help.

Sure enough, to prove my point, this morning I received a response from an old colleague who apologized for “clicking ‘I Don’t Know’ you, but then I went back and looked at your profile and saw that we had worked in the same” non-profit organization together.  She then gave me an update on what she’s doing now and asked me to join her network.

So, I took a screen shot and sent it to customer service as proof. Today though, my account is restricted and I await the forgiveness of the LinkedIn customer service team before I can fully operate in my account again.