Online you can be anyone you want to be. Not that you should, but you can.

While we would never, ever recommend our clients create even a slightly fictitious persona, some people can and do make things up every day in real life and online.

Over the weekend, I watched a rerun of this Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken and Tim Meadows. Called “The Census Taker,” Walken answers questions about his life like . . . number …

Okay, I’ll admit up front that this might sound a bit self serving, and it is because it’s about me. But, I’m only showing you what can happen so that you can see where you might be in 10 months if you start a social media optimization plan today.

I didn’t even know I was tracking results until yesterday when I opened a file marked “to do” that I wrote back in May 2008. It contained a pretty good social …

On March 6 and 7, I attended Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets Reunion  – check out my album on flickr. I didn’t tweet much or live blog at all. Why? Alex is a fantastic speaker and one who deserves complete attention. So, I went back to taking notes the old-fashioned way: in a spiral notebook. It’s more liberating and I got much more out of the content.

Phenomenal is the only word that describes the networking.

Want to follow the Teleseminar Secrets …

Now we’re getting somewhere. Momentum is building in Chicago around all things social media. As a founding member of the second city’s Social Media Club, I’m thrilled to see people packing rooms to learn, network and advance social media for themselves, their companies and the community at large. Check out Social Media Club Chicago’s Facebook group.

One of the highlights for most of us is the speaker. January was a blockbuster draw. David Armano brought his Brand U.0 presentation …