One of the most prominent features of the past decade — the meteoric rise of social networking websites — has changed the way we communicate and interact, both online and in that other place that’s like the Internet but with sunlight and consequences.  Facebook stands alone as by far the largest and most expansive social network, registering nearly 800 million active users.  That’s roughly two and a half times as many people on the entire Internet in 2000.  So yeah, they’re kind of a big deal.  But like any one person, company or government becoming too powerful, they’ve inevitably turned a little bit sinister in some pretty evil ways. 
 

Facebook Makes You a Worse Person

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To start this out, it’s important to say that the realm of studying social networks and their effects on people is notoriously difficult.  How do you measure the value of time spent on Facebook relative to other time?  In one person’s view it might be frivolous “OMG YOU LOOK SO CUTE” commenting on  duck-faced pictures.  In another person’s view, it’s valuable networking that will pay dividends in employment, education and general happiness later in that person’s life.  It’s also unfair to single out Facebook and online social networking in particular since it’s not entirely clear that, if Facebook did not exist, a person wouldn’t instead spend their time socializing elsewhere instead of doing their homework.  That said, anything that we do more frequently on the internet than look at porn requires us to admit that it’s probably having some sort of effect. 

So with all those caveats out of the way, an early study of Facebook’s effect on teenagers has found that it turns them into narcissistic, impatient, entitled little cretins.  While this kind of sounds like the critique every old man or woman has had about the younger generation since the beginning of time, in this case it kind of makes sense.  Imagine a world where heaping praise on your friends was free, cheap, and a hell of a lot easier than physically tracking them down and saying awkward compliments to their face.  Ten years ago if a kid went through the halls of his or her middle school telling everyone what they had for breakfast, they’d receive a heap of much-deserved indifference and scorn.  On Facebook, they’ll probably get a small number of “likes” and perhaps even “I luv capn crunch omg so random!!!” simply because it’s so easy and there are no consequences.   

Now imagine starting every day thinking that people actually care about what you ate that morning, and tell me that doesn’t sound exactly like the entitled self-centeredness that crafts many a classy, celebrity. 

Lower Grades

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There’s a small amount of emerging evidence that high users of Facebook score lower than their non-Facebook-using counterparts.  As mentioned earlier, there’s a definite chicken-and-the-egg problem to drawing too much from these studies.  Most importantly, it’s difficult to tell if the people using Facebook heavily wouldn’t just waste their time getting high and awkwardly hitting on Freshmen if Facebook didn’t exist. 

But in an environment where educators are already desperately trying to shut out social pressures to get the little terrors to focus on a few equations for just a few precious seconds, a world where their minds are constantly a buzz with the latest gossip delivered instantly to their smartphone can’t possibly be helping.  Sure there is some evidence that the drop in grades is not really attributable to Facebook and it might actually increase social acuity, in a world where America greatly in the hard sciences a few more engineers over therapists might be helpful.   

Privacy

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Probably the most publicized instance of Facebook being evil is their numerous, numerous scandals involving user privacy.  As end-users, we trust Facebook with a lot of personal information, and to a certain extent the age-old maxim of “don’t put anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want the world to see (because they will)” holds true.  That said, Facebook has repeatedly violated agreements with users, changed agreements without warning, and hidden privacy controls deep within the annals of a user’s profile.  They have a very strong incentive to get as much of your personal information on the site as possible because, despite their insistence to the contrary, they sell it to third parties. 

This all wouldn’t be so bad if Facebook was the least bit up front about how much information was actually private.  Or if they kept promises to users to do a better job of protecting personal information.  Or if privacy breaches didn’t continue to happen, one after the other, again and again.  It’s no wonder that Facebook is one of the most reviled interfaces on the web, ranking below even the IRS. 

Envy and Stress

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You know how everyone has one of those friends that are so full of shit, but you wouldn’t know it unless you spent a little bit of time with them?  These people end up utterly impressing anyone they meet for under a few hours, and completely alienating almost anyone else.  Now imagine these people were able to carefully tailor their image, controlling not only what people said about them, but—through the selection of photographs—how they actually looked.  And imagine that the image that everyone tries to portray to the world was just a little bit more easy to get away with, and you have one of the most insidiously evil things about Facebook.  Since no one is going to post pictures of them vomiting and crying in the bathroom about how no one will ever love them and they’re still in love with their ex, everyone seems much more happy, actualized and lotsa-sex-having than you.   

In a word, Facebook breeds envy untempered by all those times we caught our friends writing whiny poetry and masturbating to unspeakable things.  The worst part is it feeds off itself in a Pleasantville-esque manner that seems a little out of place in the second decade of the 21st century.  Everyone thinks everyone else is perfect, and is therefore less willing to admit their faults, etc… etc…   

But just when you thought the mental trauma a calmly blue-tinged website would inflict was over, there’s also the fact that it’s been shown to increase stress in users.  How this works is a little silly, but intuitive.  Essentially think of all your social obligations before Facebook, and how much trouble you had remembering everyone’s birthday, anniversary, party, relationship status etc…  It seems like Facebook would make managing these things easier, and perhaps that’s true for Luddites with a few dozen friends.  For the rest of us, ante-Facebook we had maybe a dozen close friends and acquaintances to think about.  Now we have 500.  And we’re expected to remember everything because, hell, who’s too lazy to post on someone’s wall on their birthday.  It’s both the scale and the perceived ease of performing these actions that stresses users out. 

There’s also the common “Oh Shit My Mom’s On Here” reaction that has lead to more deleted comments than auto-corrects of the word “cope”.  You’re not just managing 500 friendships and relationships, you’re managing 500 relationships and friendships as they relate to one another. Every comment to a friend requires forethought of how 500 other people will respond and view you.  You may never be forced into an awkward in-person conversation on Facebook where you have to think of responses on the spot, but your social network just exploded by several orders of magnitude, try not to let it stress you out. 

Impossible to Escape

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In the ultimate twist to this horror story that has dominated our social lives for the past 4 years, we, the plucky heroes, go to exit the haunted house only to find it is locked from the outside. Like some sort of internet Hotel California, it takes less than 15 minutes to check into Facebook, but you can never leave.  The herpes of the Internet, Facebook even tracks users activity after they’ve logged out of Facebook and closed the window.  That’s admittedly more like the evil computer coming back online after being unplugged, but the point is Facebook doesn’t just violate your privacy and turn you into a narcissist, it does so apparently by watching Frankenstein, The Shining and The Ring and thinking “You know what, this would be a great way to treat our users.” 


It’s true, not all of the older business executives understand the value of using Twitter. The micro-blogging tool is placing a human face on corporations that otherwise wouldn’t be able to directly communicate with their stakeholders. The Fortune 50 is an exclusive club of the top companies in the United States with a minimum entry point of $48 billion in revenue. I would hope these companies are taking full advantage of social media as their reach is massive.

This feature is to highlight the Twitter marketing lessons we can draw from America’s 50 largest companies. Let’s start by crowning the winners. With the follower count metric the top five includes: Dell, Best Buy, Target, Microsoft and Pepsi. Apple could be included in this list because they are using several different accounts that sum to millions of followers.

Now let’s crown the losers. Believe it or not, there are actually 10 companies in the Fortune 50 that are not using Twitter at all. The industry is usually energy or banking. For example, JP Morgan Chase whom ranks #13 with $115 billion in revenue has no account despite having $400 million invested in Twitter. It’s fair to assume they are laughing their way to the bank so hard they need not worry about Tweeting with the peasants.

The follower count metric isn’t everything. Recently I wrote a Social Media Marketing Ideas feature and I want to expand the idea of using Twitter as a tool within a big business.

The Home Depot

@HomeDepot is one my favorites as they are fully taking advantage of the human angle. They are always Tweeting customers directly and making conversation. Occasionally they will feature an article on the topic of home improvement. The hardware store has a daily Do-it-Yourselfer feature that gives the spotlight to one of their customers. The store truly shines in making their consumers feel special.

Ford

@Ford mixes the corporate approach with their online marketing message. They are constantly pushing #thefordstory hash tag which matches the title of their blog. By pushing resourceful articles they create a community-esque feel for the Ford driver.

Kraft Foods

@KraftFoods can’t help but covertly push their products by providing you with great recipes to try out. Can you really blame them though? The company account mixes in the proper amount of user engagement by polling their followers on their favorite foods. Kraft expertly caters to the mom demographic.

UPS

I’m partial to @UPS because it bleeds with love. It’s covered in hearts because of their latest slogan “We <3 Logistics.” Despite the relatively low follower count, the voice behind the account is very friendly and positive. The name of the game is human relations and positivity rules above all so it’s fair to say UPS is doing a good job on social media.

Pepsi

@Pepsi takes a cool approach because they take the least blatant effort to talk about themselvses. The soft drink giants seems to just be Tweeting for the fun of it. As a marketer I know it’s mostly for their branding effort. Needless to say it’s working as they have amassed over 100,000 followers.

I want to clarify that we have only examined the first 50 companies within the Fortune 500 henceforth the title is not missing a digit. We hope this article inspires those large corporations and small businesses that have avoided Twitter because it’s a new tool. It’s easily one of the best ways to reach your consumers. The business world should start to see Twitter as one of the primary consumer communication channels available.

Guest contributor Jay Singh is the co-founder of ViralMS, a social media agency. ViralMS offers large scale social media campaigns along with the ability to buy Twitter followers.

The best places to network let you meet people under positive auspices. You share a common cause. You’re there because you want to be, not because you feel like you have to. The premise of the event makes it easy to break the ice. You can come back to these places again and again, making closer connections and building trust. Where are these places, and how do you find them? Here are 25 of the best ones.

Meetups

Browse Meetup.com and find groups that interest you. Then start attending meetups. See which ones you like best. Stick with those and you’ll make connections, guaranteed. Sharing a common interest makes bonding easier than at a deliberate networking event, where connections can be shallow (Meet. Give business card. Follow up. Forget about connection). A Meetup connection, if you stick with it, will be deeper and more involved.

Religious Events

Image: Master Hsin Tao/Flickr

Whether you go to a synagogue, mosque, church, zendo, ashram, or any other belief-based group, you will meet new people at your place of worship. A shared belief system like religion is an incredibly powerful unifying force. It makes you feel like you’re part of a group, tribe or something special. This exclusionary aspect solidifies the bond between members of the belief-based organization. In other words, if you share a religion, it’s easier to trust someone, open up to them, and want to help. Networking under such auspices is ideal.

Exercise

Image: Jon A. Ross/Flickr

Whether you do team sports or individual sports done in a group, like a running club, exercise is an excellent way to get to know people outside of the context of work. Playing together—or, in the case of endurance sports like road biking, suffering together—builds camaraderie and respect between members of the group. Icebreakers and elevator pitches aren’t quite as stressful when you’re sweating with people.

Hobby Clubs

Image: Teo JPG/Flickr

As in, the paper airplane flyers club, the roller skaters’ club, the clubbing club. If you have a hobby, why not see if there’s a local club of people who do the same thing? That way, you can share tricks and tips. You can also find out who they are and what they’re about in the process.

Arts

Image: st0rmz/Flickr

Mingling over creativity peppers fun into the networking process, as well as providing an instant icebreak. This category could include improv comedy, knitting clubs, scrapbooking, life drawing, and any other creative form that you can do with other people. The more conversation and interaction, the better.

Coffee Shops

Image: Stepheye/Flickr

Some coffee shops are hotbeds for million-dollar deals and corporate types. Others are full of creative types. Depending on what kinds of clients (or employers) you’re looking for, you might want to stake out a coffee shop near you that they frequent. Become a regular. Get to know people. Next thing you know, you’ll have an assignment in your lap, along with a bunch of new contacts.

Neighborhood Groups

Image: Nicola since 1972/Flickr

This one can be a little trickier. Although homeowners’ associations and neighborhood watches can be hotbeds of contention and paranoia, you can’t deny that you get to know the people in them when you participate. Whether you like them or not is another issue. A better alternative might be a productive neighborhood project, like organizing a block party, or setting up shared child or pet care between yourself and your neighbors. The key is to be likeable, not like that cretin next door.

Pets

Image: Donnaphoto/Flickr

Love shi-tzus? Joining your local shi-tzu club and fawning over other fuzzy beasts may just be your ticket to getting to know people easily and harmlessly. There are also dog training classes, agility courses, therapy pet associations, or even the good ol’ dog park. It’s hard to have your guard up when you’re being distracted by galloping, wagging, fur-covered animals. Note: This technique is probably significantly harder for people with cats.

Conferences

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A conference is the perfect place to walk up to strangers, get to know them, and swap information speed-dating style. If you’re slower to approach people, giving a presentation or speaking on a panel are good ways to have people approach you. The same is true if you man a booth—they’ll ask you the questions, and you’ll be more visible to everyone. Many conferences also have times set aside for themed networking.

Retreats

Image: Anita K. Hart/Flickr

Retreats throw you into a common area with 5, 10, or 500 people with the same interest or goal. You’re with one another from one day to several weeks. With that kind of intimate setting, it’s hard not to find out who people are, what they can do, and how you might be able to help one another.

Ethnic or Gender-Based Clubs

Image: Steve Cadman/Flickr

Often, sharing a common heritage makes it easier to find both common ground and trust. Clubs based on heritage abound, from the Sons of Norway to the Mexican-American Business and Professional Women’s Association. That latter item brings up the second point, which is that gender can also be a common link. It’s probably easier for women to find gender-based clubs and organizations, but there are plenty of official and de facto male organizations out there, too. The bottom line is that you can make easy friends based on who you are and where you came from.

Classes

Image: dcJohn/Flickr

If you’re learning something along with everyone else, breaking the ice almost becomes a non-issue. Maybe you need that person to help you understand a concept, borrow a book or materials, arrange a study group, or lament about the material. Often, the class teacher can also be a good person to network with.

Social Media

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Social media can be a mixed bag. On the one hand, you can waste days reading and posting mundane updates. On the other hand, if you link up with the right people and engage your friends or followers, social media can be a gold mine. You can find jobs, business partners, business opportunities, services you need, a dogsitter, and much more. The opportunities are limitless. You just have to approach it strategically and continually engage.

Volunteer Work

Image: Seattle Municipal Archives/Flickr

In general, people don’t volunteer because they want to be slick or rip you off. Volunteering, rather, comes out of a soft spot, be it empathy, aspirations, or passion for change. A nonprofit or other volunteer event sets a premise based on those feelings. That makes it easier to bond with other volunteers over a common cause, even if your background, religion and politics are polar opposites. The bonus with volunteering is that it makes you feel good, so you’re more likely to be approachable. And you get an overall mood booster, regardless of who you network with.

Alumni Events

Image: Svadilfari/Flickr

High school reunions are debatable as networking opportunities, but alumni events span more than just the old 20-year catch up. College is a good place to start. College alumni events, breakfasts, receptions, alumni sports games, alumni interest groups, and alumni databases are better ways to connect under a common umbrella. You can also give talks at events, making yourself and your pitch more visible.

Trade Shows

Image: ThinkGeoEnergy/Flickr

Trade shows exist in part for networking. They are an easy and obvious place to meet people relevant to your field. If you want people to come to you, man a booth, otherwise spend time exploring other peoples’ stations and networking along the way. The tricky part is staying in touch with people after you’ve dropped your business card. Follow-up emails and social media connections work well for this purpose.

Music

Image: Tuppus/Flickr

Music, whether you play or listen, has a wide array of networking possibilities. From playing in a band to religiously attending certain concerts, from music festivals to the symphony, opportunity abounds for finding people with interests like yours.

Chambers of Commerce

Image: CapeLawOffice/Flickr

Your local Chamber of Commerce probably hosts classes and talks as well as networking events. It’s the kind of place you meet a lot of people and gather a lot of cards. Following up and truly connecting, however, can be a numbers game here. Everyone wants to know everyone, but those quality connections are harder to dig up. Teaching a class, giving a talk, or getting involved with a Chamber effort are better ways to guarantee those close connections.

Associations

Image: Michigan Municipal League (MML)/Flickr

This category could cover the AARP, the NRA, AOPA, or anything with the word “association” somewhere in the title. Even if the club isn’t exclusive, you share the common bond of membership. In networking, that can be worth a lot. The trick is to attend the association’s events and meet new people.

Leads Groups and Networking Events

Image: Eric Richardson/Flickr

These groups can provide you with a shoebox full of business cards and no contacts if you’re not careful. If, however, you have a strategy in place to follow up with your leads and make them closer connections, leads groups and networking events can be really useful.

Online Forums

Image: Wonderlane/Flickr

Online forums are places to ask questions about and discuss topics of interest. Becoming a regular on a forum, or becoming a moderator, gains you recognition by the other people that frequent the place. This opens the doors for you to get to know one another more personally. Since many people prefer to stay anonymous on forums, this approach requires more persistence than some of the others listed here.

Blogging

Image: kpwerker/Flickr

Blogging can be a fantastic way to get to know people with common interests. You can easily find a community of like-minded bloggers on the web. Acquaint yourself with them by reading their posts and becoming a regular, proactive commenter. Facebook, Twitter and other sources of social media are your friends in this endeavor, too. Before you know it, you’ll be swapping emails and have made new online friends.

Toastmasters

Image: Kevin Collins/Flickr

Toastmasters deserves its own category. Facing one of humanity’s deepest fears, public speaking, with twenty or so of your supportive new friends is an excellent way to network. Everyone’s motivated, and almost everyone is probably scared, too. There are lots of opportunities to share—in fact, it’s part of the program’s template. Networking doesn’t get much easier than this, save for the public speaking part.

Speeches and Talks

Image: Ian Wienand/Flickr

Attending a speech given by your favorite politician, a talk by your favorite author or astronomer, or any other event involving a person you really like standing up and speaking at a podium can be a good networking opportunity. Everyone listens to the same thing and has the same interest. You can chat up people sitting next to you before and after the event. You can approach the speaker after the event and say hi to other people waiting for autographs, for example. (It helps to be outgoing in this setting.)

Where Connectors Are

Image: Hase/Wikimedia

Some people have huge networks. Whenever you mention that you need something, such “connectors,” as Malcolm Gladwell called them in The Tipping Point, will automatically link you up with someone in their network who can help you out. That’s just the way they think. Get to know these people and stay in touch with them. You could find them anywhere, in any club, at any event. Make it a habit to gravitate towards them like they’re lemonade on a hot day.

By now, most companies have learned that engaging with their customers and responding quickly to problems are the right thing to do, given that bad social media could basically destroy their brands in 2 hours flat. But even in today’s advanced technological age, some companies still manage to bungle their social PR efforts, either through tasteless campaigns or bad responses. We’ve listed five such social media fails here.

Quiznos Kooky Play on Porn

Bad porn music, a 12-inch sub sandwich, and two girls in a bikini make a mediocre porn flick…and one godawful online Quiznos ad. The spot, loosely based on a porn spot called “2 Girls 1 Cup,” comes complete with moaning and mayo shots. Each bikini girl eating the sub from either end and shares a drink; the spot ends with a woman’s voice saying “mmm, toasty.” It really just should have said “mmm, tasteless.” Doesn’t exactly want to make you eat a Quizno’s sub.

Rats at KFC! Run!

Nothing screams “stay away from this place!” like a video of rats running amok. That’s exactly what happened in a Greenwich Village KFC in 2007. KFC’s rather relaxed response reflected some social-media naivete. “This is an isolated incident,” the company wrote, “the restaurant is closed and we will not allow it to be reopened until it has been sanitized…” The problem with that response was that people as far away as South Africa now associated KFC with rats, thanks to the viral power of YouTube. I’m sure the KFC crisis response team got a good kick in the butt after witnessing this sodden rat-related fail.

Kenneth Cole Hates Egypt

@KennethCole: Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://www.bit.ly/KCairo -KC

This Kenneth Cole gem came out during the height of Egypt’s revolution. It might as well translate to:

@KennethCole: Millions are in uproar in #Cairo, but we don’t care. We’re going to make fun of them instead and pimp our product while we’re at it. -KC

Or perhaps:

@KennethCole: Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Let’s poke fun at it for some negative publicity, ‘cuz negative publicity is better than no publicity, right? -KC

Whether ignorant or deliberate, this PR stunt had people in an uproar, raging about Kenneth Cole boycotts and screaming (in text) at the company to apologize. To his credit, KC did apologize, though the offending tweet stayed up an eternal five hours before he yanked it. He wrote on Facebook:

“I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I’ve dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate.”

That’s a pretty good apology, considering. Bet he’ll check his judgment before pressing the carriage return next time.

BP’s Just Bad at It

Much like the ousted-to-Siberia Tony Hayward, BP’s social media team mastered self-centered, socially irrelevant communication. Rather than a fail based on a single action, like many of the others on the list, the BP fail has to do with an overarching error in perception. While offering us a play-by-play of how BP was approaching the spill, the company took little to no input from anyone in its audience, the same way some people turn group conversations into monologues about their own lies. Socializing is a two-way street, and hopefully BP will realize this in time for future campaigns.

Domino’s Booger Sandwiches

To Dominos’ credit, this wasn’t a social media misfire by corporate, but rather a huge slap in the social face by a couple of disgruntled employees in North Carolina. Let’s face it, putting cheese up your nose and blowing your nose into a sandwich aren’t exactly exaltations for the the Domino’s brand. It wasn’t hard to arrest the two 30-something (!) employees for violating health code, but what about damage to Domino’s? The company handled its response well. While some people doubtless avoided the pizza joint for weeks after the snotty event, Domino’s is known today for its pizza and Super Bowl commercials, not these two miscreants.

But in all fiction lies a grain of truth–real-life dysfunctional families prove that fact all the time. And the more money the family has, the worse it seems to get. The families below offer some impressively painful examples:

20. The Favres

Meth, manslaughter and machismo–what do all of these things have in common? Why, the Favre family, of course.

Arguably the most famous member of the Favre family is Brett himself. Whether or not you like football, this guy is pretty impressive, on the field at least. His career spanned 20 years and four teams–the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings.

But his personal and family life are much more sordid. Favre’s 1996 Vicodin addiction was the first, but not the worst, piece of the football player’s misconduct. Favre also seems to think he’s God’s gift to women who like tall strapping lads. He got slapped with three separate sexual harassment suits, one from a former New York Jets sideline reporter–she received pictures of Favre’s man parts on her cell phone–and two others from team massage therapists.

Not willing to let her brother hog all the limelight, sister Brandi, who has previous weapon-related charges, was arrested at a meth lab this January. And let’s not forget big brother Scott. He actually killed a buddy while driving drunk. He has also been quoted as saying that he’s “retiring” from people “knowing who the f*ck he is” based on his little brother’s celebrity. Right.

19. The Sheens

Sheen family patriarch Martin seems to have his head on pretty straight. His son, Emilio, whom you might remember from such Hollywood ’80s staples as The Breakfast Club, seems like a levelheaded guy as well.

This begs the question: What in God’s name happened to Charlie? While the other members of the Sheen/Estevez clan handle the strain of their celebrity with a minimum of damage, Charlie almost seems to relish getting into trouble. The Two and a Half Men is firmly implanted in the ranks of celebs who treat rehab and/or jail like it has a revolving door.

It’s ironic that his character in Two and a Half Men was loosely based on Sheen’s image as a media whore with substance abuse problems, because now, Two and a Half Men is on hiatus while he goes back into rehab–after trashing a hotel and scaring his escort bad enough that she hid in the closet until the fuzz arrived.

Sheen now augments his rehab efforts by living with two porn stars. He says his situation is “just filled with just wins” and that he’s “honored to be mentioned in the same sentence” as Hugh Hefner. Oddly enough, he never mentioned acting. We’ll see how long it takes him to get back on the ball (or off his balls) this time.

18. The Agassis

“Tennis is your life. You will eat, sleep and crap tennis. Tennis will be your best friend and your most amorous lover. And if you do not play, well, that is not a consideration. You will play, and you will be good, dammit. The very best!” Andre Agassi’s drill-sargeant father isn’t recorded as saying this all a la Full Metal Jacket’s R. Lee Ermey, but he might as well have.

Day in and day out, the elder Agassi ran his son mercilessly through his own brand of tennis boot camp. Who knew that watching two adults sprint around, batting a tiny ball over a net was so insane?

Daddy’s constant tennis hard-lining did have the the expected result, in that it turned Andre into a kind of tennis-playing superhero. He even cultivated a deep, dark hatred of the sport, similar to the rage that drives the Dark Knight. But Batman never snorted meth when the rigors of bringing the Joker back to Arhkam Asylum (and having him escape…again) got him down.

17. The Barrymores

Image: David Shankbone
Young stars should never be managed by their immediate family. The Barrymores will be happy to provide a stark example of just why this is a stupid idea.

Bear in mind that the Barrymores predating Drew weren’t exactly talentless hacks. John Barrymore, Drew’s grandfather, was one of the most famous and much sought-after actors of stage and (early) screen in his day. Unfortunately, he was also a raging drunk.

And then we come to the generation that spawned the adorable little blonde girl, Gertie from E.T. It wasn’t her debut, but it was most certainly her breakout role. John’s son, Barrymore Jr., was also an actor, but never held a candle to his sire’s success.

What did Mama Barrymore do? She knew her hubby was a wash, so she used her daughter like a meal ticket. Parties, hobnobbing with the elite of the elite, probably some drugs too.

Drew got into drugs, probably as a coping mechanism, and because all the rich kids were doing it. But after she turned 15, she got herself legally emancipated from the coattail-riding Barrymore matriarch. The rest, as they say, is history.

16. The Hearsts

Newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, along with archrival Joseph Pulitzer, helped define journalism as we know it today—despite the fact (or maybe because) their style involved sensationalist “yellow journalism.”

Hearst padded his success by buying lots of really expensive and sometimes weird properties, including Hearst Castle and the Beverly House. He married the daughter of a brothel owner, Millicent Willson, then cheated on her openly with actress Marion Davies, with whom he illegitimately bore actress Patricia Lake. Other Hearst pastimes including verbally trashing Adolph Hitler and being blamed for the Spanish-American war.

With a history like that, no offspring can escape controversy for long. In Hearst’s case, it was granddaughter Patty who hit the notoriety jackpot. She was kidnapped in the ’70s by a guerrilla terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Their demand in ransom was that Patty’s father donate what amounted to $400 million in food to the poor folks of California, where the Hearsts were living.

Unlike some wealthy sorts (see the Gettys), her father made a fair effort, though he “could have done better,” according to his daughter. She was with the SLA long enough to develop Stockholm Syndrome. She robbed a bank and got thrown in jail. She was supposed to serve 35 years, but her sentence was commuted twice–once to seven years, and the second time by President Carter to only to time served. Later still, President Clinton issued her a pardon.

Now, how’s that for a sensational story?

15. The Osbournes

You probably wouldn’t expect that, of all the entries on this list, Ozzy Osbourne’s family would be one of the most well-adjusted, would you? The Osbournes proved, during their reality show’s run from 2002-2005, that the Prince of Darkness and his family are amazingly normal.

That’s not to say that the show wasn’t without its strife and shenanigans, however. At the core of the Osbourne family philosophy (which Ozzy himself lamented the lack of many times during the course of the show) is a simple idea: to be left the hell alone. This is why The Osbournes didn’t have the same mansion-cum-fishbowl feel as many other reality shows.

Sure, Sharon’s ever-increasing mob of pint-sized quadruped friends tended to get underfoot and roam all throughout the house, like an inopportune, surprise-leaving tide of canine superiority, but this wasn’t even the best part of the show. Something else this show had in contrast with its contemporaries was that one of the cast was the producer as well. Sharon had final say about what was in or out.

Jack and Kelly led fairly normal lives, even if Jack spilled the beans on the ‘unscripted’ nature of the show, much to his mum’s chagrin. Kelly threw a wobbly (got angry, British slang) at her brother more often than not, but when do siblings not fight? And at the head of the table, you had Ozzy, as befuddled as ever, with a surprising dose of ‘teddybear’.

Aww. Kinda tarnishes the whole Iron Man image, doesn’t it?

14. The Windsors

There’s not a royal bloodline in the books without an equally blue-blooded strain of dysfunction. The Windsors’ most famous example to date involves Charles the fairytale Prince to Diana’s Cinderella in 1981.

For a few years, all was bliss, or so we were all led to believe. Then Charles decided to honor his wife and the bonds of matrimony by shacking up with mistress Camilla, who he later married. Princess Di returned the favor and landed a lover of her own. Their divorce rivaled Edward III’s abdication in 1936 for sheer spectacle–and went forward for probably the same reasons as Edward’s passing the throne to George VI.

The annals of family debauchery go back much further than Charles and Diana, with Windsors marrying their first cousins and doing God knows what else behind closed doors. If Prince William and Kate Middleton hold true to the royal legacy, expect to see even more dysfunction.

13. The Bushes

La familia Bush arguably rivals the Kennedys in terms of scandals and pure dynastic insanity. One of the biggest Bush faux pas in recent memory is the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s and 1990s. Here, Neil, George (Senior and Junior) and Jeb, along with a whole slew of politicians–many of whom are still in office–were implicated in various financial debacles that ended up costing taxpayers $153 billion bucks.

Neil was the main focus of the investigation, which concentrated on questionable and outright illegal business practices designed to enrich the Bush clan and their cronies. Luckily for Neil, Papa Bush saved his sorry backside from the Big House. By this time, Bush Sr. had been elected to the White House, and had announced the beginning of Desert Storm.

Jumping ahead a few years, we have George Jr. in the hot seat. Even if we spare an analysis of the man himself, George Jr’s daughters have shown a delightful knack for keeping the Bush family’s impeccable sense of propriety alive and well.

Case in point: While it may not be unusual for underage people to drink (they’ve been doing it for years), when Jenna was 19, she got busted for underage drinking in her daddy’s home state. So, get this, the Secret Service cozied up to their Mexican counterparts so that Jenna could flee the fuzz in Texas and go barhopping south of the border. Now if that’s not international cooperation, we don’t know what is.

12. The Crawfords

What is it about success that turns people into overbearing, abusive drunks? Career fixation is one gateway neurosis, especially a meteoric rise like the one that Joan enjoyed in the early and mid 20th century.

In her 1978 book, Mommie Dearest, her adopted daughter Christina laid the Crawford home bare. In it, she alleged that both Joan and her brother abused her physically and emotionally. That got Christina kicked out of her mom’s will, something she claimed in the book that she wouldn’t let happen.

Meanwhile, the other two Crawford kids and a host of Joan’s Hollywood friends, including Marlene Deitrich and Cesar Romero, denied the allegations. In the end, however you slice it, Joan was career driven. Whether or not you believe she had her kids as a publicity stunt to further her career, her booze-fueled tantrums could make Christian Bale’s Terminator Salvation shenanigans look like a kiddie play.

11. The Gettys

If family loyalty means anything to you, you probably aren’t a member of the Getty clan. The original Jean Paul Getty was an exceedingly wealthy industrialist in the States. When he died in 1976, worth more than $2 billion, he was ranked the 67th richest American who ever lived.

Indeed, in the Gettys’ case, ink is thicker than blood. Back in 1973, Jean Paul’s 16-year old grandson, Jeann Paul Getty III, was kidnapped while vacationing in Rome. A ransom of $17 million was ordered over the phone.

The miserly Getty refused to pay it. He claimed that his grandson was merely trying to mooch off of him. He said that if his grandson had been kidnapped, and the senior Getty gave in to the kidnappers’ demands, it would be putting his 14 other grandkids at risk. (We assume his 14 other grandkids were fine, moral, upstanding kids who wouldn’t dream of ripping dear old Granddad off.)

The kidnappers lopped off one of the boy’s ears and sent a letter along with the ear, demanding a reduced $3.2 million. In the letter, they threatened to send Jean Paul III back to his family in little bits and pieces if Gramps didn’t pay up.

The senior Getty still had a hard time protecting his own flesh and blood over his own interest (accumulation, that is). Eventually, he agreed to pay the kidnappers $2.2 million, the smallest tax deductible amount allowed by law.

The traumatized Getty III couldn’t cope with his dismembering adventure in the Eternal City. After he came home, he doped himself to the gills with drugs. After overdosing on Valium, methadone and alcohol, he suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed; he lived like this for another 30 years.

10. The Gottis

John Gotti, the media-loving “Teflon Don” of New York’s notorious Gambino crime family, had quite the family history before being thrown in the slammer in 1992. The truant son of a gambler held one legitimate job during his entire career, but that didn’t last long. Brothers Gene, Richard and Peter were also part of John’s crime family. John was reportedly jealous of Gene for being “made” (murdering someone to join the Mafia) before he was, and for being a better gambler than him. Brother Richard was convicted of statutory rape and for trying to extort money from Steven Seagal.

With that kind of foundation, how could the brothers’ many kids not be messed up? Gotti’s son, John Gotti Junior wasn’t much of a man in his father’s eyes. The heir to the Gambino throne, Junior was kind of inept. Apparently, everyone in his family hated him and thought he was an “imbecile,” a “babbling idiot,” and worse. He’s not doing too bad now, though—he’s in talks to make a movie and has penned a children’s book named “Children of the Shaolin Forest.”

John’s daughter Victoria arguably fared better, starring in the reality TV series Growing Up Gotti. She also faked breast cancer and had her home foreclosed on. Cousin Richard G. Gotti racketeered money from a pre-school he and his wife ran. The stories go on, as you’ll see in a couple of years when the biographical movie on Junior comes out. (Note that it may feature fellow dysfunctionista Kim Kardashian.)

9. The Jacksons

The world of the Jackson family, one of the most famous families in the history of modern music, is one of debauchery, animosity and betrayal.

When he was alive, Michael reportedly hated his family, except for his mother Katherine and youngest sister, Janet. LaToya, in her autobiography, wrote about physical abuse, jealousy, and racism. When the book came out, Janet called it “a load of crap,” and younger sister Rebbie said it made her “ashamed to be a Jackson.” Michael, meanwhile, said the physical abuse part was true on Oprah.

Maybe the rest of his family could explain why Michael’s private life was such a twisted fairy tale, one that no sane kid would ever want to be a part of. We aren’t just talking about the numerous kids who visited on day trips but also about his three children, Prince Michael I, Paris Michael Kathrine and Prince “Blanket” Jackson II. On the surface, Michael’s former home, Neverland Ranch, is a child’s fantasy. Amusements, rides, a “petting zoo” in the basement, just to name a few. But what about the garage full of windowless vans? That just screams pedo with an ice cream truck and a kidnapping fetish.

The moral of the story: Musical talent does not a happy family make.

8. The Hiltons

It seems that an obnoxious propensity for getting your face plastered all over the news, the cover of tabloids, and even on YouTube (yes, we are looking at you, Paris) goes hand-in-hand with wealth and privilege. If you lack talents outside of socializing and being seen, you become a so-called “celebutante” like Paris.

Paris seems to reaffirm her questionable ethics and business acumen every time she opens her mouth or tries a new, soon-to-fail venture. Cases in point: Her Chihuahua Tinkerbell, uh, wrote a book called “The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries.” She turned her homemade sex tape into a DVD (okay, maybe that wasn’t so dumb). A bunch of her personal belongings, including diaries and medication, made it online after she refused to pay the $200 or so fee for the storage locker they were stored in. After getting a DUI, she drove like a madwoman on a suspended license, and was finally thrown in the slammer for it. She’s been caught traveling with pot and cocaine.

But when her mom joins in the fun, like some creepy elder groupie, it just looks plain wrong. And the family tangent doesn’t stop there. Uncle Nicky Hilton slept with Zsa Zsa Gabor—while his dad, chain founder Conrad, was married to her. Another son, Barron, felt he wasn’t left enough money after Conrad died; he contested his paltry $500,000 inheritance and won more. In a twist of irony, Barron himself plans to leave most of his fortune to his father’s charity, because he is reportedly embarrassed by Paris’ behavior. Karma is a b*tch indeed.

7. The Hogans

Hulkamania’s running wild, but for all the wrong reasons. Hogan and his wife split up after the end of their reality show, Hogan Knows Best, and he shacked up with some other woman (in his defense, their age difference isn’t quite as telling–only 22 years. He’s 57). However, his now ex-wife, who is 51, shacked up with a 21-year old.

Furthering the drama–though in a distinctly age-appropriate fashion–Hogan’s son Nick has a need for speed, kind of like Goose and Maverick from Top Gun. Like Goose, Nick’s friend died horribly when Nick did something stupid. And now he must live with the guilt every day, just like Maverick.

Last but not least is Brooke, Hogan’s daughter/Nick’s sister. She’s doing what she can, but rather than shack up with a guy old enough to be her father, she started a crummy music career and, in a blaze of originality, a reality show of her own to raise funds for her musical talent called Brooke Knows Best. Maybe American Idol is to blame, along with YouTube, since so many people think they have the stones and the talent to get by. But a family history of reality flops and PR stunts certainly helps, too.

6. The Kardashians

The pedigree for crazy shenanigans and questionable life choices is strong in this family. To start, Robert Kardashian was once part of O.J. Simpson’s team of top tier lawyers. You all know how well that worked out. Together, he and wife Kris had three daughters, whose name all begin with K.

After Robert’s death, Kris married former Olympian Bruce Jenner (why she didn’t pick somebody like Kevin Kline is beyond us). But what started the Kardashians’ true rise to “super stardom” as the front-runners of a mediocre, brain-rottingly bad reality show?

Before Keeping Up With the Kardashians, virtually nobody knew who the heck they were.Then daughter Kim went and did the nasty with former R&B singer boyfriend Ray J, all caught on tape. Silly her for not keeping that tape locked up tighter than a nun’s virtue.

What of the rest? Khloe is an unrepentant drunk with no sense of decency (do you ask your mom if she performs oral sex on her husband? We didn’t think so). Considering that the show entered its third season not long ago, we can’t help but compare this messed up clan, in their hunger to expand and conquer all aspects of good taste and decency, with the Cardassians, a race from Star Trek. They have a similar all-consuming desire to mess your sh*t up and look smug and self important while doing it.

5. The Spellings

Everything from Gun Smoke to Beverly Hills 90210 had 1980s and ’90s-era TV and film producer Aaron Spelling’s hand in it. As such, he was fabulously wealthy.

Yet life at home wasn’t all cupcakes. Daughter Tori refused to talk to her mom (Aaron’s wife) Candy for years. Oddly, both mother and daughter released their memoirs–Stories From Candyland and sTORI Telling, respectively–when they weren’t speaking.

When Tori’s dad died in ’06, she never showed up for the funeral, then made some creepy appearance on the cover of US Weekly. Did she mention her father and his passing? No, that’s what makes it so weird. She claimed her mom was “with some male friend.” Did her estrangement damage her perception that much? Yeesh, it sure sounds like it.

4. The Kennedys

Ah, the Kennedys. This dynasty known for its many members who gave tirelessly of themselves in diverse and long-lasting (in most cases) political careers. They are also known for the many and varied scandals that lurked just below the surface, sometimes bursting into the light like a geyser of depravity.

A majority of the gents in the Kennedy clan were prone to sowing their wild oats with as many women as was humanly possible, not unlike a porn star, but cleaner, we hope. But political hanky panky wasn’t the only thing the Kennedys tried to keep hidden away to preserve the family’s perceived sterling image.

Take, for example, “Rosemary” Kennedy, born in 1918. Sibling to the future Commander-in-Chief, she was different. In a family known for its competitiveness in all things, Rosemary’s mood swings and rebellion were seen as unpalatable. When she was 23, Daddy Joe secretly had her lobotomized, tamping out the spark of whatever might have been. A now-familiar series of plane crashes, car wrecks, assassinations (and rape, stillborns, cocaine, and ski accidents) followed.

Genetic recklessness? Family curse? The mystery remains. Maybe Jack’s famous line should have been, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what the leader of the country can do to you.”

3. The Lohans

Love her or hate her, Lindsay Lohan has a knack for legal troubles and ruining her reputation with every stunt she pulls. But maybe we should go to the root of the problem–her parents.

Mom (Dina) and Dad (Michael) made a habit of yo-yoing back and forth between being together and breaking up so many times, it’s a wonder that Lohan and her younger sibs didn’t all run away to join the circus. They finally divorced for good (we think?) in 2007, but who knows how long that will last.

The parents of celebrities have never been, so far as we know, stable, rational or equitable people. They often pull the same stupid stunts as their kids. Take Michael, for instance. A former trader on Wall Street, and owner of his father’s pasta company, the senior Lohan served jail time for stock fraud and a DUI, among other things.

And Lindsay’s mom? She was a media whore, riding on the coattails of her eldest daughter in order to get a taste of the life afforded by Lindsay’s numerous movies (starting with The Parent Trap in 1998).

Lindsay really could have been something special, but instead, she had to go and ruin the ride. If she had at least gotten herself emancipated, she might have done better. With Lindsay’s legal troubles putting her career in jeopardy, Dina has turned her fickle attentions to Ali Lohan, Lindsay’s younger sister, in the hopes of making the girl a singer and just as famous (or infamous?) as Lindsay herself.

Problem is, Ali has neither the inclination nor the chops to do what her sister has done. It all goes back to the parents. Of course Dina thinks that riding her daughter into the ground in a saddle of celebrity is a good idea. But what do the Lohans know about those?

2. The Spears

Let’s play make believe. You are the mother of three children. You pride yourself in the wholesome, proper way that you bring up those kids.

One of those kids makes it big at a pretty young age, during the late ’90s. She becomes a teen pop sensation almost overnight. Yet as her fame increases, her life of excess and her mismanaged career take their toll. Note that you, dear mother, were on tour at one point to help manage her career.

Then, your other daughter, who is unwed, goes and gets pregnant. Imagine that, taking irresponsible cues from her superstar sib! Do you, the mother, even have a leg to stand on when it comes to the topic of good parenting? Yet you still have the brass to put out a book about how you’re mother of the freaking year.

I you can take any consolation, Britney has followed in your footsteps. You saw how she treated, then lost her kids from K-Fed, right? And let us not forget the wildly immature string of marriages preceding her shacking up with Federline (who, in one of the most contentious “lesser of two evils” custody cases, ended up with their child after she went back into rehab).

Oops. She did it again. And will probably keep on doing it.

1. The Simpsons

OJ Simpson is arguably one of the most prominent former football players of his generation. Yet most of OJ’s celebrity comes from the media circus created by his high-speed chase down the 405 in LA after the murder of former wife Nicole and her friend Ronald in 1994.

The second act of the fiasco began about sixteen months later, with the trial. Yes, the trial that saw OJ acquitted because the “glove does not fit.”

But that mess, one of the biggest debacles in the history of law, was not the end of the legal shenanigans. OJ fled to Miami, where he was eventually busted for assault and burglary. On a separate occasion, the fuzz caught him speeding in his boat through what amounted to a ‘manatee crossing’. He was acquitted of those charges too.

But the slippery OJ would soon get caught once again. In 2007, he and three other men broke into a Las Vegas casino to steal sports memorabilia that OJ claimed had been stolen from him. A kidnapping was also involved.

Naturally, his two associates testified against him, and now the Juice is no longer loose. He’ll be locked up at least until 2019 when he gets his parole hearing, but more than likely, he’ll stay down until 2045.

Need to know more about President’s Day? Check out these 5 facts that will help you figure out its origin, what’s closed, and what President’s Day is all about:

5. What’s closed:

Post offices
Schools and universities
Financial markets
Most federal, state, and local government offices
Libraries
Public transit may run on a special schedule; check with your city
Some banks are closed; check with yours

4. First made official to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, the holiday is officially called “Washington’s Birthday.” In the late 1970s, it was unofficially adapted to celebrate all presidents. Nixon declared that the holiday should take place on the third Monday in February. As a result, many people call the holiday “President’s Day.” George Washington’s actual birthday is on February 22.

3. Some states have different celebrations for President’s Day. Alexandria, VA celebrates a tribute to presidents for an entire month. Arkansas also holds Daisy Gatson Bates day on President’s Day (Bates was a civil rights leader). The state of New Mexico observes President’s Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

2. This year, George Washington turns 279 years old.

1. If he had been around in this day and age, Washington may have seen the financial crisis coming. As he once said, “few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”

Travel through 26 states. 15,089 Twitter followers. 9,726 Facebook fans. Dozens of major business goals knocked off. That’s what the 10 finalists in the Fairfield Small Business Road to Success Challenge accomplished during the three months of the contest.

But only one small business could take the $20,000 cake, and that was ecycler, the recycling business run by Tim Laurent and Craig Robertson. Ecycler registered more than 100 new collectors to their website, won two social media contests (and two iPads), blogged every day, and came up with new concepts to grow their business further.

I caught up with founders Tim Laurent and Craig Robertson to talk more about how winning has affected their business, and what they’re going to do with that sweet $20,000 prize.

What was the hardest part of winning the challenge?

Tim: Our whole challenge from the beginning was consistent blogging as well as focusing on social media, Twitter and Facebook. Because we made that commitment to do one blog post a day, following up with that post via Facebook and Twitter, then onto writing a new blog post for the next day…this was the hardest part.

The second hardest part had to do with our goals. We set a number of them, like bringing on a number of new collectors and discarders. Keeping up with those goals was difficult, but blogging was the most difficult part, along with posting to Facebook, uploading YouTube videos, and updates to other social media channels. By putting up a posting each day, we felt that was one way to keep people interested and entice them to keep coming back.

Craig: It was very open-ended. We had a stretch goal from the beginning. We talked about that, how are we going to reach the goal, and then we had to keep up with blog posts. Like Tim said, our goal was to put one out every day if we could.

What was the biggest step forward that ecycler took during the challenge?

Tim: We learned quite a bit about ecycler and about the approach to business. What that means is that we now have a packagable toolbox. When we go to businesses now, we know exactly what questions they will ask, what we need to convey as a message about ecycler and deliver any supporting documentation. Our biggest win was understanding how businesses work in the recycling world even more so than we did at the beginning of the challenge.

Craig: Prior to the challenge, we were focused around residential-anyway the site was focused around that idea, giving curbside services to those who don’t have it. Then we started expanding that out to businesses. We found a lot of businesses either don’t recycle or they have to pay to recycle. The way we’re set up right now, we can actually give them a free option for some of their recycling, even cans and bottles.

What are you going to do with the $20,000 that you won?

Tim: A couple of things. One, we are building mobile apps for the iPad and iPhone platforms. We have a couple of different applications we’re working on, and that’s pretty much where the bulk of the money goes. Secondarily, we are going to host our own contest. Lastly, as Craig mentioned, we are building out some of the additional material types that we are offering to be recycled via ecycler.com, starting in Canada. Once it’s successful in Canada, then we’ll bring it down stateside.

Craig: We already gave away an iPad. We won two iPads during the challenge, and we turned around and gave away one of them as part of our own contest.

In our new contest, we want people from various communities to enter and give us the best recycling bin design using materials from the Home Depot or Lowe’s or their local building supply store. A high-quality recycling bin typically costs a couple of hundred dollars. It’s heavy to ship. We want to see if people can come up with a creative way to build recycling bins locally, and then send them off to business, or their homes or offices.

What are people going to win?

We haven’t come to the amount of money yet, but it’s going to be a nice chunk of change.

What strategy did you use to win the Facebook challenge?

We have two college-age interns that have been working with us. They know Facebook extremely well, so we basically gave them free reign to develop a strategy for getting additional followers.

The first thing we came up with was a way to tap into our existing network. We gave away our reports that we normally charge $120 about the bike industry for free to anyone who liked our Facebook page. We sent that to our newsletter list of thousands of people from transportation departments all around the world, and then got an amazing response. It didn’t cost us anything to do that campaign, but we got a huge response.

Since then, we’ve been leveraging the Facebook profiles that we have, and have been marketing directly to the people that have an interest.

How many hours did you put into that Facebook campaign?

The interns pretty much worked 20 hours a week each on that. They spent a good amount of timing building it, and we saw massive results in a short period of time.

How powerful a tool has Facebook been in growing your business?

Our strategy has been–instead of just having people like our business, what we’ve done is branded the generic bike sharing information portal. When people look bike sharing information, they find our information page and ultimately come to our website. It’s been a great tool that’s brought in a significant amount of traffic, 20-30% increase in traffic through our website. A lot of that was coming through Facebook.

We keep a pretty extensive blog on the industry. If you search for anything bike sharing related, our blog comes up first. Having this on Facebook, actually pushing it out to people who see the news feed, has gotten us a much better response from our existing followers. A lot of people who come to our website for the first time come through our blog, but if they like us on Facebook, they’re getting a constant reminder that we keep it up to date.

Can you give entrepreneurs any advice on expanding their businesses using Facebook?

This competition was kind of a kick in the ass, we really needed it to push this strategy forward. Everyone pops up a Twitter account and Facebook page, but very few people really go out there and create a campaign to generate followers, and then ultimately follow up to turn it into revenue. You’re better off not putting up a Facebook account unless you’re going to really go out there and create a campaign to make it worthwhile for your business.

We had 100 followers beforehand, which was nothing, and now we have something we can actually leverage.

How many followers do you have now?

4,301. We went from 100 to that. I think we were a little higher before–naturally some people dropped off after they got the free report–but kept the majority of people, which we’re really happy about. We’ve integrated our Facebook account with our email campaigns, Twitter and our blog, so literally Facebook is the portal where all of our social media directions come together in one feed. That makes it pretty attractive.

*At time of writing.

Odds are, your answer to this question is yes. The real question is “do you tweet well“? Do you engage your followers, find new leads and clients using Twitter, and have a solid reputation on the medium?

That second question is harder to say yes to. But Brian Searl, who won the Fairfield Small Business Challenge’s Twitter contest by earning the most Twitter followers in three weeks, has figured out how to harness Twitter like a champ. Searl gained about 4,000 Twitter followers during the Small Business Challenge, for a grand total of 9,000 followers. That gives his company, Insider Perks, a handy leg up on the competition. I caught up with Searl to find out how he did it.

What strategy did you use to win the Twitter challenge?

A lot of people in the contest assumed we used some kind of automated software tool, and we actually didn’t. When the Twitter challenge started, I only followed 300-400 people on my Twitter account, people I wanted to see headlines from and retweeted constantly. I didn’t have a large base that I followed to begin with. I had about 4,000-5,000 when it was all finished.

I had created about 8-10 lists extensive Twitter lists attached to my own account for the public to use. For example, a hotel list that had 500 hotel twitter handles in it. Those lists are still active on my account. They cover hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, travel bloggers, etc. For the contest, I just went through those lists and followed everybody that I didn’t follow already. That amounted to probably about 5,000 people.

Doing that is actually where most of my followers came from. The ones that weren’t following me followed me back. It’s a lot more simple than most people think it is.

Beyond that, I took the approach of following people outside of my industry. For example, I followed some people related to small business, some people related to the finance industry who may end up writing about budget travel. I normally wouldn’t have followed those people, but I guess I was lucky and they followed me back.

I tend to have a good reputation on Twitter, so I think they’ll help me out with what I’m doing, plus that fact that I have about 9,000 followers. Many people base their follow decisions off the number of followers you already have, as an indication of trust. Already having 5,000 followers before the contest started helped me win, in my estimation.

How powerful do you think Twitter has been in growing your business?

Honestly, that’s a toss-up, because I’m a small business, so I don’t have access to all those huge metric analyzers that a lot of big businesses use. Some of those services are upwards of $1,000 per month, and we don’t do that kind of tracking for budgetary reasons.

The main results I’ve seen from Twitter have come on an individual, case-by-case basis. Sure, if I tweet out a link, I’m going to get 100-200 hits on my website. But the biggest benefits for me have been the connections and relationships I’ve made. For example, we’re going to expand into cruise coverage in 2011. That’s something that never would have happened without Twitter, because the partner I’m doing that with, I met through Twitter. That’s just one example. I could name 10-15 of those specific examples that have happened because of Twitter, because of social media in general.

What advice can you give other entrepreneurs who want to expand their small businesses through Twitter?

Just be engaging. Especially in the travel industry, you see so many hotels that decide to just have a brand presence on Twitter, and then they never tweet anything. Or all they do is set up a bot to announce their latest deals, and they don’t engage their customers, they don’t talk.

The other end of the spectrum are those who engage, but only talk about problems or customer service. There are brands that set up Twitter accounts, and you never realize who’s tweeting. They don’t tell you the names of the people who are tweeting in their bios, so they come across as just a faceless brand that is trying to sell something. Some big brands like that have a lot of followers because everyone knows who they are, but you just can’t tell who’s tweeting, and they don’t engage or anything.

My biggest point is just engage. Talk to your people, jump into a conversation about your business. In my industry, for example, if you see that somebody is planning a vacation somewhere, ask them how you can help. I know that sounds oversimplified, but really, it’s social. If you can’t be social, there’s no point in being there.

Kenneth Cole just made it into the PR hall of shame with this tweet:

@KennethCole: Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://www.bit.ly/KCairo -KC

Econsultancy has more on Cole’s “hastag hijack”:

If you cast your mind back you may remember that Habitat pulled a similar move in June 2009 when it used hashtags related to the protests in Iran as part of its promotional tweets. It then blamed and fired the intern, and duly killed its Twitter account.

“Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment –KC”

See the Twitter uproar here to see how people are reacting.

It’s godawful publicity, but Kenneth Cole’s Twitter #fail still increases brand awareness. The company, if they’re smarter than their tweet indicates, may even be able to harness this negative PR. Tweeps now have Kenneth Cole on the brain, for better or worse.