Social Networking and the VoiceOver Actor

There has been lots of conversation going on at LinkedIn.com about Social Networking in the 'Working Voice Actors Group' (you should join if you haven't already!)

Greg Cutler started the conversation last week by asking "How many of us (Voiceovers) are on Twitter? If so, do you think it's a good marketing tool and how do you use it? What about Facebook?"

There have been many comments, and fellow Voice Actor and blogger Peter O'Connell wrote about it on his blog as well.

Me personally, I actively participate on 3 sites Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. I do have accounts on Plaxo, FriendFeed, and Myspace, but don't really keep up with them as much as the first 3.

(I also have accounts with Youtube, Plurk, Stumbleupon, Digg)

That seems like it could be alot of hassle.

I admit, there are slow days when I get too far into Social Networking world. But to keep this part of my networking/marketing from overwhelming me, I use many tools to help ease the burden.

Most of my updates to each Social Site come from my updates on Twitter. I have FB, Plaxo, and Friendfeed all receiving my updates. (keeping me from having to visit each site to update).

(There is a new tool that I have yet to try, but want to, called Atomkeep that updates all sites at the same time.Another service I would like to try is Ping.fm)

Tools I Use to Manage My Social Network

Firefox - I can't believe I didn't start using this browser until the beginning of this year. It is really helpful with many plugins and addons that make surfing the web much easier. Thank you Bob Souer for the suggestion!

TwitterFox - This addon for Firefox sits in the right corner of the browser, so any time you are surfing, you can check and see what is going on with your Twitter account, replies and direct messages.

Shareaholic - If I am reading a great blog post, or website, I can click on Shareaholic (another Firefox add on), and share the interesting tidbit with whatever service I decide (Delicious, Twitter, Plurk, Yahoo Buzz, Google Reader, Reddit, Facebook, etc).

(*If you want to share what you are reading with your Twitter network only, you can use Twitthis)

Google Reader - my blog reader of choice, if I find something I enjoy, or want to pass on, all I have to do is "Share" an article in the reader, and it updates to my Plaxo and FriendFeed accounts. (This keeps me from having to do much maintenance on these two sites)

Selective Facebook - Until I began using the Selective Facebook service, all of my updates from Twitter were going to my Facebook account (if you want Twitter to update your status on Facebook, go here). Many times, the 'lingo' of Twitter (you only have 140 characters) doesn't make much sense to people who only use Facebook (I want to be courteous to those who don't use both services).

When I heard about SFB, I knew I needed to try it out. Now, if I send a tweet from Twitter, my Facebook status will not automatically update. But if I do want to update from Twitter, I add #fb to the end of my tweet. Sweet.

TweetDeck/PeopleBrowsr - I began using Tweetdeck to monitor my Twitter account, but wasn't all that impressed really. Maybe I just never got it. To tell the truth, when I heard about PeopleBrowsr, I thought it sounded really cool (it keeps track of multiple sites and accounts, not just Twitter) and decided to experiment with it. (I haven't figured it out yet either).

Starting a Twitter Account? Here are 22 Voice Over Talents to Connect With:

@stugray,@trishsvoice,@courvo,@davidhoustonVO,

@BritishFemaleVO,@zurekVO,@LondonVoiceover,@gregorybest,

@lizden,@VOuniverse,@JeffreyKafer,@KarenCommins,

@KaraEdwards,@UNnouncer,@voicesdotcom,@stephciccarelli,

@audioconnell,@biggunvoice, @SunSpots_Tom, @VOPlanet_MS

@LadieMost, @eriksheppard

(I apologize if I left you off the list, please leave a comment and I will update the list!!)

Finally...

I was going to put together a list of great time savers for social networking, but someone already did it for me!!! This is List of Must Reads for managing your social networking empire: http://twitpwr.com/7lV/

How do you manage your social networking? I would love to hear what tools you use, and how you make it work to help your Voiceover business.