One of the hot new terms in our lexicon these days is the concept of a thought leader.  Those of us who have a specialty can now share creative thoughts, views and opinions with the rest of the world through social media sites.

If you happen to specialize in romance writing, for example, you can visit any number of writing sites to post your expertise.  Recognition for your contribution comes in the form of e-networking opportunities, which may parlay into meeting an editor or a literary agent.

So be bold.  Share your thoughts.  Just a note though.  Remember that your information has a far reach and therefore, you need to always remember what the image you are trying to create for yourself and make sure that publication of your thoughts are aligned with your desired image.

I truly don’t know how anyone gets anything done, if they spend time with all these social media windows open on their computer.  While I see the merits of staying connected, I also know someone’s every move, sharing every feeling with not just one or two seems like too much information. 

And pardon me for being so cynical, but what if some not-so-honest person decides to use the online exchange to help himself to the twit’s belongings because the twit announced that he is driving 40 miles away to  be in a wedding party.  Bingo, the twit just opened his home to thieves.

With Google, you can pop the person’s name and do a search.  You can learn how old the person is, where he works and what’s his position, his college information, how many places the twit has lived.  You can Google his present address and see quite clearly all the locations the individual has lived, how many living there complete with full names.  Google maps can show you the front door, the topography.  Yes, there is very little left for the thieves’ imagination.  And if the person has joined and added a profile on any one of the social media websites, the thief knows much more about his victim than he ever needs to know—thus making his job all the more easy.

Oh and let’s have some computer nerd genius decide that it would be great to develop a software that will track a person’s personal daily time line with behaviors and preferences based on the information in cyberspace.  This would be a thief’s HOW TO book.

The not so nice people could also include rapists, pedaphiles, and scam artists.  There is no telling what other occupations may burgeon from gathering personal information.

While we benefit tremendously from news around the world and personal enrichment from these sites, will the downside outweigh the good?

As social media becomes one of the primary sources for news, will we suffer inaccuracies and purposefully placed lies?

Will politics gain another outlet to galvanize public opinion and perhaps, not in a good way, because there will be no fair and balanced reporting?

Will our children who grew up with technology have another vice that will keep them tethered to hardware and not to people in person?

Will the new generation find themselves even more sedentary because the social media connection is addictive?  Will their health suffer for all the hours on line?

It will be interesting to see how people will use this media.  I doubt this will be a fad, but like everything else human beings need to find a balance.

For those who don’t know what metatags are, here’s my simple definition.  Metatags are words that help search engines find your site, text, or video.  When you post your site, text or video, there is often a box where you can add metatag words separated by a comma.  So, how do you know what words to list?

For years most of us just put whatever buzz words were contained in the copy or words that described the bigger picture.  It was a hit or miss proposition, but since there is no limit on the metatags you can add, you just use your imagination and list every word that you think relates.  I just discovered a better way to get targeted results and erase the guessing.

On Google Adwords, there is a keyword tool.  You type in the word you think best describes your site, passage, etc., copy the validation code in the box (this is to get around bots using the site), and click Get Key Words.  Up will pop a list of key words and the number of hits.  If you select the more popular key words, there is a high likelihood that your site will generate more traffic. 

Here it is:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

While most seniors are coasting in the last years of their lives, my mom., Emma-Jean Chu keeps on learning — about herself, technology, and her art.  Now at the age of 80, she has learned how to share her talent with the rest of the world.  I might be biased, but I think she is a damn good artist. 

Take a look at her artwork and let me know what your first impressions are.  http://www.studioej.imagekind.com