Over at the Philippine blogosphere, a certain John Candare has been labeled as a “serial cat killer” with his post on his Multiply site (in the PH, Multiply is one of the more popular social networks in conjunction with Facebook and Friendster). The original post was deleted, but for posterity’s sake, Rico from Technogra has found the cached version:

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Yesterday, I wrote about how to win at the social media game and how it begins by establishing your online credentials. Basically, it’s how to create a virtual business card and resume that establish your web presence and history. From this information, people can get a glimmer of who you are, what you do, how you do it, and how they can use you to get the job done.

What Are Your Online Credentials?

I talked about the basics you probably already have in place, the social media tools of email, blog, and so on. Don’t have a blog? Get one.

In today’s world, you have to have a blog or social site like Facebook or MySpace. It must include a biography (bio or profile) about who you are, what you do, and how you can help others. Some history, like resume credentials, is appreciated as it sets your qualifications as an expert in your field.

There are a variety of other tidbits of personal information you may want to provide that may or may not be of help to others looking for you as an expert or to establish a personal or professional relationship with. read more

One of the topics covered in the How to Hire a Professional Blogger For Your Business session at Blog World Expo dealt with how important it is that your blog set an example if you want to be hired as a blogger. It was interesting to hear the speakers also add that if you want to hire bloggers, you better clean house as well.

The hour-long seminar featured Jim Turner of One By One Media Social Media and Professional Blogging Consultants, Gregory Go of About.com Guide to Online Business, Will Chen, editor of Wise Bread | Personal Finance and Frugal Living Forums, and Darren Rowse of Problogger. As part of this series on What Do Need to Know About Hiring a Professional Blogger and Being Hired, I want to address the issue of how to ensure your blog sets a good example and speaks well for you to help you be hired as a blogger and if you are interested in hiring bloggers.

Want Bloggers? Show Them You This is a Good Place to Blog

If you are looking to hire bloggers for your blog or blog network, you must set an inviting example.

Your blog or blog network must speak well of itself. It needs to be clean and clear in its content representation, with every element closely tied in with the overall theme and content including design, ads, blogrolls, graphics, pictures, titles, headings, and words. It needs to send a clear message of its purpose and goals.

A blog without a clear purpose sends a lot of messages to potential employees or freelancers. It says that you don’t know what you are doing. You want to send a clear message of your blog’s purpose so the blogger can evaluate the site and determine if they see a place for themselves in your blog. read more

The past two years of learning more about how blog comments work have led many bloggers and companies to have a Blog Comment Policy to set the ground rules for the online conversation. Blog World Expo’s blog asks “Does Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?” Good question.

According to Canadian Business (which surveyed 16 executives from various companies) companies are lacking in the social media policy department. What if an employee is spending company time on social networks? Does the employee need to identify himself as an employee on his social networks if he is talking about the company? Are there any rules in general regarding social media usage at corporations?

I see two issues here. One is that a company should have a social media policy, outlining how employees should handle themselves in the blogosphere, whether or not they are blogging as a representative of the company. The other is that maybe all bloggers should consider developing their own social media policy to protect themselves when they behave and interact online. read more