I recently read and reviewed Penny’s new book Know Me Like Me Follow Me and sent it to Penny.  Penny was delighted and agreed to a telephone interview with me.  As Penny is a very early adopter I really wanted to pick her brains and ask her a few questions about Ecademy – the social networking for business site that she runs with her husband Thomas Power.

Jaime: “Penny, what originally got you into social networking and social media?”

Penny: “I had a very different motive to most people starting social networks today.  I wanted to create a friendship network and was not at all motivated by money or technology.  Technology was just the vehicle.  What I realised was that people were becoming more and more isolated and less friendly towards each other.  I wanted to create a better world for them as emotional wealth leads to financial wealth.  None of us can be an island, we need to develop ‘social-confidence’ not just ‘self-confidence’ and become better at forming relationships.”

“Networks are a modern version of a corporation: we still meet people at the water-cooler.”

Jaime: “The terms ‘social media’ ‘social networking’ and ‘web 2.0′ have become huge buzzwords that everyone is talking about. You started Ecademy  in 1998 , did you think this was going to be such a phenomenon and what makes Ecademy different to the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook?”

Penny: “I saw the change coming a long time ago.  People desired friendship and they were realising that business is better gained through people liking and trusting them rather than by shouting about yourself and broadcasting a message.  The emergence of the online networks since I started Ecademy has been amazing to watch. The difference between the way the ‘old world’ networks on LinkedIn and the ‘new world’ of FaceBook and Twitter. LinkedIn for example is a business network, not a social network.  They don’t expect the social side to appear on it.  It has been successful in getting over 30′s communicating online which is a massive plus point.  The downside however, is that the behaviour is still the same s it has always been in business, Job Titles, targeted connections and ‘are you a quality person’. LinkedIn people don’t embrace the random, they don’t behave any differently than they do in traditional networking, it remains a culture of ‘what is in it for me’, screening people on first impressions. People who migrate to Ecademy from LinkedIn find the random, supportive and proactively reaching out to one another a shock.  Our world is changing into a social world, the FaceBook generation judge peoplemon their social interaction and attitude toward one another, Social Capital is as important as human capital and this is how the gems emerge and people’s lives move forward.

I was told by a great Social media expert that Ecademy represents the future people want, meeting new people that inspire them forward rather than staying in your old networks of colleagues and existing friendships.

LinkedIn is for business, Facebook is a social platform…Ecademy helps business people have both and teaches and encourages people to be social in a business world.

Jaime: “How do you see ‘social networking’ developing?”

Penny: “It is going to develop massively.  Look back to when we first had Personal Computers and their userfriendliness, or lack thereof.  Desktop publishing then became a big thing, we could actually publish documents from our own office, but learning PowerPoint was tough and not intuitive.  People now just take the likes of Microsoft Word for granted, no one would expect a manual and few need a training course .

The Internet is where the PC  industry was 25 years ago and the growth in mass market use will happen when it is easy to use and  gets to the point where technology feels like something that doesn’t have to be learned.  Mobile Communication will take a massive leap in 2010, enabling people to be on demand, in real-time and take their conversation to the person rather than expecting the person to be where you want them to be. Additionally we will see TV and internet enabling far more interaction around the TV and enabling conversation to take place.

The big shift is moving from a broadcast world to a conversation world. This is the toughest transition as you cannot have conversation on mass, you have to learn to be personal, be friendly and be available to anyone who wants to connect to you, Broadcasting is easier, but it is not working for business anymore.

“12-15 years olds ago ecommerce was the big thing…everyone had to have a website and domain name.  Then came YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr, Facebook, FriendFeed etc. etc. These are broadcast systems.  We are back to broadcasting to the world however one important rule is that you need a network and you need to build value otherwise no one is listeniong to you and no one will follow you.” The social networking world is about conversations.”

“Know Me is about blogging, Like Me is about conversation, Follow Me is about creating trust and knowing who your close network is.  Too many people just broadcast without personal interaction.  An example is someone constantly sending out messages on Twitter about their product and not interacting with other users through Direct Meassages or @ Messages.”

Jaime: “Wow, that was insightful. So many people are talking about social networking and it’s importance or those new to it or have dabbled in it with no success can you outline the best way to monetise from the practices?”

Penny: “Be open, random and supportive.  Realise that it’s a global market and you are going to get global traffic and global interaction.  75% or more of the people you interact with will not be on your doorstep.  You must adapt to it through having a global network than can help those who follow you and want your help or try to become global with your products or services.  Collaborate with people across the world, become a global citizen or fish where the fish are.  I use this as my guide

Quality – am I providing quality content and quality connections

Quantity – am I visible enough, Blogging, Tweeting and connecting regularly

Direction. – am I talking in the right places where people are interested in what

Jaime: “Finally Penny, would you mind sharing with us your top tips to succeeding on Ecademy and in social networking in general?”

Penny: These are my top tips:

1. Write a profile that people want to read, they want to know who you are not just what you do to earn money.
2. Get a great photo on your profile. Use a professional photographer if you can and make sure to have a friendly photo taken. Your face is your brand online and it follows you where ever you go and leave your footprint
3. Approach people as a friend not as a business person.
4. Be visible. Blog, comment, link your blogs to twitter to reach your wider audience.  Distribute your content.
5. Accept all random connections, don’t pre-judge based on ‘what is in it for me’..
6. Support people, consider that you may be able to give advice, help or connections to someone in need, anywhere in the world and these people will become your strongest advocates.
7. Add value to people by commenting on what they Blog, this is a brilliant way of being visible and starting conversations.
8. Always remember it’s a person at the end of a keyboard not a piece of technology that you are using.
9. Feel like you are shining a light for people, inspire and be great to know.
10. Don’t be negative or angry, you won’t achieve anything, stay away from the keyboard if you are in a bad mood!
11. Smile while you type, if you don’t feel like smiling then be careful
12. Build a wide and a deep network, don’t be afraid of having a big list of contacts, they are just like a pile of business cards, but they give you more chance of serendipity and being in the right place at the right time.

And there you have it.  Amazing insider information from an amazing lady.