We asked business attorney Justin Daniels what advice he would give business employees and, with the help of Harvard Law student Trey Stephens, he crafted the following response for our blog:

The next time you decide to vent about your work via facebook or tweet about your micromanaging boss, you would do well to stop and think about who might be reading it and what consequences it could have for your job. We have been brought up to take for granted the rights and liberties that we enjoy as Americans – an overconfidence perhaps best embodied by the childhood mantra “it’s a free country!” – so it may come as a surprise to many that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech does not apply to the private sector.

In fact, aside from certain protections provided by anti-discrimination laws, employers are generally permitted to fire an employee at will, whether it be for lackluster sales or subversive blog postings. Chatty employees are not completely without refuge, though. Many companies have adopted policies that guarantee their employees freedom from intrusion into non-work activities, and most states recognize claims of wrongful termination where the dismissal violates public policy.

Which means that the decision, in most cases, rests solely on the business owner. If you want your employees to understand the implications of their online discussions, be sure to broach the topic with them. let them read what Justin and Trey have to say above and set expectations. Unfortunately, unless they’ve had firsthand experience or have friends like Justin Daniels, it’s unlikely that they are aware of the potential consequences of careless social media use.

And, of course, if you need help with a specific legal issue related to this, don’t hesitate to contact Justin.

For those of you that don’t read the same news sites that I do (I’m a geek — it’s what I do — don’t judge), the Open Graph API is a software interface that allows websites to integrate Facebook functionality directly into their pages. So while “social media” has been big for quite some time as we all know, this is  a major step towards a truly social web experience. Now you can “like” things without logging into Facebook and you can see what your friends think about a particular website while you’re browsing it.

Mashable’s Pete Cashmore even believes that this technology may even grow up to threaten Google.

It’s a little premature to say where this is all heading, but we at Zero-G know that we want to go along for the ride and see for ourselves. Today, Zero-G Creative is unveiling our new “social” homepage, equipped with a “like” button and seamless integration with our new Facebook fan page.

Within the next month we expect to be doing Open Graph API integrations for our clients and we’ll make those details available soon. But in the meantime, we hope you like us. We hope you really like us.

Coincidentally, our friend Jeff Hilimire opened a debate on his blog this week asking whether social media is best managed by an agency or by the brand and I was compelled to weigh in. Here’s what I said:

In the idealistic world that exists only in my head, I’d prefer to see agencies stay out if it entirely. But that’s not reality and I think many brands are going to require the assistance and guidance of an agency to plan the strategy, provide feedback and likely handle some of the upfront and ongoing effort to maintain the strategy. But I think it is a HUGE mistake for a brand to outsource its social media entirely to an agency as it seems many are doing. As a culture, we’ve immunized ourselves to advertising in part because of overload and in part because people have become increasingly aware of how “manufactured” advertising is. By contrast, we are drawn to social media because there’s still an element of authenticity there that has been stripped out of traditional marketing, advertising and PR over the years. Ultimately I believe that brands need to control the tone, content and tempo of their social media, no matter how impractical it is from an organizational perspective. I believe that impracticality can be overcome in many cases with a combination of effort and creativity

But it’s hard to overcome the disappointment and betrayal that our best customers would no doubt feel if they ever discovered that they were being misled. How would you feel if you found out that a company insider you’ve been developing a relationship with was actually a ghostwriter or a fictional character?

Authenticity is a prerequisite for a successful social media effort and outsourcing it wholly to an agency is disingenuous at best. Agencies can and should play a role — this is a big job after all, but any scenario that takes the brand out of the driver’s seat is a failure in my book.

Don’t give your brand’s voice away. No one can manage your company’s relationships or evangelize your company’s products and services as well or as passionately as you can. Should you ask for advice? Should you engage others both inside and outside of your organization to brainstorm ideas and help you evaluate success? Absolutely. But I could never offer or endorse any service that encourages companies to outsource such a critical element of their brand.

Business owners, I promise you — you can do this and you can do it well. It takes time and effort, no doubt — both commodities that are easily outsourced. But is also takes care and authenticity which are much harder to buy and impossible to fake.

A full transcript of the chat is available here. Thanks so much to Robyn and Cliqset for having us!

In just about every industry, specialty or niche there are generally four types of people: outsiders who know nothing, dabblers who have some knowledge, experts who know a lot, and savants whose knowledge and reputation are nothing less than extraordinary.

Social media seems to buck the trend though. The social realm has its share of true savants with names like Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Scott Allen and others highlighting the pantheon of superstars. There are plenty of people who don’t know anything — and who will happily admit it. But there are a LOT more “experts” than dabblers. Don’t believe me? A Google search on the subject of “social media expert” will yield over 81 MILLION results.

How did we get so many experts? The short answer is that we don’t actually have a disproportionate number of experts; we have a disproportionate number of dabblers who are confusing practical/tactical knowledge of a subject with strategic expertise. As my colleague Stephanie Frost and I have both said on numerous occasions, social media is, above all else, a communications tool and claiming expertise in social media would be like calling yourself an expert at using a fax machine. It’s nonsense.

A couple of weeks ago I was having a discussion with a couple of other bloggers (who will remain safely anonymous). We were chatting about some recent social media-related conferences and seminars around town and bemoaning that so little good information was exchanged. We wondered if perhaps the social media community was missing a “middle class” — that group of people that know enough to use the tools effectively but little enough that they would still gain benefit from attending a social media conference.

In my opinion, YES, there is a middle class in social media… And virtually all of us are in it. Somehow though, in this Gatsby-like alternate universe we’ve created, people are compelled to artificially elevate themselves into high society; possibly for ego, possibly for financial gain or maybe for both. But what may be most shocking is that the rest of us support this by paying cash money to attend workshops and conferences led by self-proclaimed experts who don’t have a thing to teach us.

I am NOT a social media expert. I am a marketer who has used social media to build my brand and  make valuable connections. In Marketing: Unmasked, the book that Stephanie and I coauthored, the chapter that deals with social media is a high-level overview, meant for novices and outsiders and seeks to explain how social media fits into an overall marketing plan — it’s not a “how to” or a get rich quick scheme designed to make you the next online superstar.

In fact, the only thing that may be more remarkable about my social media resumé than yours is the fact that my weekly radio program has given me personal access to a few of the true experts, savants and thought leaders out there. And, by the way, I won’t call myself expert by association either.

So this is a plea to my colleagues in the Blogosphere, Twitterverse and other imaginary places of which I am apparently a citizen: please remove the words “social media expert” from your bio, profile, business card, t-shirt, etc. If it’s tattooed on your back, start saving for the laser surgery. And if you’re invited to speak on a topic for which you can not offer any real insight, please decline the invitation. Let’s return some semblance of dignity to this medium that we all enjoy using so much.

Yes, social media is revolutionary — yes, it is in fact social media and not email that has grown up to be the “killer app” on the Internet — and yes, we have all gained profit and notoriety by using it well. But let’s give some careful thought before we start throwing the “E” word around… This is all still very new and we are all students of social media. Do we all have to be the teachers too?

No, unfortunately I haven’t been secluding myself on a distant, tropical island but it’s nice to think about, right? It turns out that I have been just an AWFUL blogger this summer and it’s been a terribly long time since I posted anything. But instead of making excuses, I thought it would be fun to chronicle the things that I’ve been doing this summer instead of blogging.

The summer began with the team and I here at Zero-G wrapping up a long bidding process for a high-profile web design project for an up-and-coming cable TV station (yes, there will be more to come on this!). Winning the project required a fantastic referral from one of our favorite clients, several meetings and phone calls, a trip across the country for me and — oh yeah — beating out 25 other firms to earn the business. I’m usually a pretty humble guy and I don’t like to brag but you can’t help but feel validated as a business owner when your hard work is rewarded and when, even after interviewing two dozen candidates, a client feels that you really are the best vendor out there.

This summer, we also became agency of record for NFCC (North Fulton Community Charities), a group that has been helping feed, clothe and otherwise care for the needy here in our community north of Atlanta. For the last two months we have been engaged in a complete overhaul of that organization’s branding, web site and marketing materials, top to bottom. Our work for NFCC will be unveiled this coming September and our team is extremely excited.

In the middle of all this, working with our other clients and bidding on other new business opportunities, Frost and I also wrote a book, which will be available next month on our web site and on Amazon.com. As always, we’ve also been hosting some terrific guests on Gravity Free Radio. Our interview with Scott Allen, author of The Virtual Handshake, is a must-listen for anyone looking to get involved with social media, by the way.

I’ll be a better blogger again, I promise

We were talking to David Meerman Scott — author of World Wide Rave — on our radio show this morning and he has an unusual perspective on distributing content online. When offering an ebook or a white paper, most marketers would tell you to offer your content in exchange for an email address or other personal information. The rationale is, of course, that a business owner should be able to A) determine who is downloading their valuable content and B) have the ability to follow up with that individual afterward.

Scott didn’t think so. In his experience, he claimed that allowing site visitors to download the paper without providing any personal information would increase the interest and readership of the content several times over.

So what’s more valuable? The information you get from the people who download your content online or the much larger readership that you may be missing out on because you are asking for information?

We’ve decided to make ourselves guinea pigs in this experiment. For the first time, our white papers are available with no strings or required information to provide. You can find them here:

• 8 Common Small Business Web Design Pitfalls (+ how to avoid them!)
• 10 Steps Towards an Effective Small Business Marketing Plan
• What to Look for When You’re Hiring a Design Firm

For the next few months we’ll be openly reporting on how these papers do in terms of any increase in downloads and whether or not we see our online leads diminish as a result of this. Stay tuned, this should be interesting!

We joked on the radio show a couple of weeks ago that we might need to implement some kind of “swear jar” to keep us from talking about social media. But let’s face it, this topic is everywhere and it pops up in discussions constantly. Over the last week though, the big concern that a few of our clients have raised is around how social media strategies can be implemented in their organizations without exposing too much — especially when it comes to the personal lives of their employees.

The idea that a company’s clients or partners could be friending/following/linking with its employees is a frightening prospect for many business owners. After all, we can’t control our employees online like we can in the office… Even though enough precedent has been set, most folks aren’t concerned about disciplinary action at work when they go online and spout off abut their political views or post weekend party pics or inappropriate cartoons. So what do you do and how do you approach social media, if at all?

Here are three realities that we all need to deal with in this new atmosphere of openness that social media and the Internet have conspired to create:

1. Any expectation we might have had previously about a clean “separation” of our personal and professional lives is gone. We used to be able to compartmentalize these things fairly easily, but social media has completely shattered that. Some would argue that it’s made us all more whole and more human in a lot of ways as it allows you to add a lot of dimension to your relationships, but this is exactly what scares so many employers. The people who connect with you online have the opportunity to learn a LOT about you and very quickly. Be prepared for that.

2. The online “bond” between your company and your employees already exists as soon as someone self-identifies themselves as an employee online — and keep in mind that many social media platforms encourage users to add their current and past employers to their profiles. Bottom line? This WILL happen. Expect that over time a large number of your employees, both present and past, will have your firm’s name on their profile and expect that you will be permanently linked, even after that employee moves on.

3. Your company is going to have a presence on social media whether you want it to or not. The toothpaste is out of the tube so to speak and it’s never going back in. Your only two choices are to A) participate or B) try to ignore it. If you’re wondering, B is not a smart choice. Even if you aren’t thrilled with the idea of trying to use social media in your business, at least participation gives you the opportunity to influence what is being said about you.

Hopefully we all understand that we’re all in this social media thing whether we like it or not… So how can our businesses participate without the risk of being embarrassed by our employees? We can’t. Unfortunately, the risk will always be there. But at the same time, the risk has also always been there that our employees might embarrass us at meetings, sales calls, trade shows, networking events, via email and over the phone. When these situations occur, managers tend to use them as opportunities for coaching and professional development unless disciplinary action is required. Social media is no different.

As business owners sit squeamishly, wondering how long it’s going to be before this social media business leaps up and bites them,a lot of us tend to forget a simple truth about people: they are ruled by self-interest. Ultimately, this is your only and most powerful defense against social media transgressions. It’s in your employees’ self-interest to behave appropriately online. The problem is that not many have taken the time to consider the larger implications of who they associate with on Twitter or what kinds of pictures they post on Facebook. Nobody has outlined expectations of professionalism or given them a friendly heads up that — if they aren’t careful — their social media activities could cost them their job or help prevent them from getting another in the future.

For many of us, I know, this is just common sense. But now there’s a younger generation that grew up into MySpace and Facebook the way myself and a lot of other late Gen X’ers grew up into email. We’ve got young professionals that have been managing profiles on sites like these since they entered college — or perhaps longer if they were early blogging adopters. These young whippersnappers probably don’t understand the traditional separation of personal and professional because they never experienced it. The best way, in my opinion, to ensure a seamless and relatively surprise-free entry into social media is to talk about it and try to prepare employees for it, just as you would prepare them for a big meeting or a trade show. And if things don’t go as planned, a conversation needs to be had.

Social media is today what email was 15 years ago — a technology that’s cutting edge (albeit overhyped), heavily consumed by young people and EVERY DAY being adopted by businesses in greater numbers. Your firm NEEDS to particpate or be left behind. Don’t let the risk of being embarrassed by your team be the excuse that keeps you on the sidelines.

We also had a great discusssion on these topics on Gravity Free Radio this week. You can find the podcast here.

Earlier this week Marketing Sherpa published an alarming statistic. It seems that 2/3 of marketers working in organizations that “have not used any form of social media marketing or PR” self-identify as experts in social media. How is this possible? Are they learning by osmosis? Do they have friends that use social media? Or perhaps they’ve just been reading and watching the increasingly frequent news reports about social media.

You know, I watched Bobby Flay make a choclate souffle on Iron Chef last week but I couldn’t do it myself… And I certainly haven’t watched enough New Yankee Workshop to start making my own furniture.

It’s obvious what’s happening here — Sherpa drew the same conclusion — companies and organizations are feeling pressured to dive into the Social Mediasphere and tapping the person in their group that has the most friends on Facebook or maybe a semi-complete LinkedIn profile to become their social media maven. That’s cool and it’s only natural that firms try to develop these initiatives internally. But that the person ordained with this role should automatically consider themselves an expert is just ludicrous.

Anyone who has spent a decent amount of time traveling in social media circles realizes very quickly that they are surrounded by an astounding number of self-proclaimed “experts.” They are everywhere and it’s sometimes difficult, especially at first, to distinguish between the people who have genuine insight and those that are just blowing smoke.

Want to know how to become an expert? USE the tools. Use them extensively for a period of months and figure out what works for you and how you can become successful — or not — using online networking.

After all, the social media community doesn’t need another self-proclaimed expert… It needs people who are actually willing to contribute to the conversation in an open, meaningful and HONEST way.

And why should you listen to me? Well, at least I use the stuff. According to TweetWasters, I have spent nearly a day of my life writing tweets so far… But I’m no expert. There aren’t many who really are.

I was working at home yesterday. Actually, I was trying to work at home when suddenly my Internet connection dropped. I made a phone call and waited a few minutes but it wasn’t coming back. Me without an Internet connection is sort of like a baseball player stepping into the batters box without a bat — pretty much useless. Frustrated at my luck I grabbed my BlackBerry and do what I always do in times like these: I wrote about it on Twitter.

Then something amazing happened. Just a few minutes later, before I even got a live person on the phone calling into Comcast, I got a reply on Twitter from a Comcast customer service rep. He stayed in touch throughout the mornng and confirmed when service had been restored. Of course by this time I had already moved on to the coffee place around the corner but I really appreciated the attention.

To me, this was a particularly easy way to use social media effectively for business… And proof of why most businesses should really have a presence out there.