Now, I’m going to assume that you have a blog. If not, go out and buy a good domain, get some hosting and install WordPress. While you’re at it, I would recommend investing in Chris Pearson’s stellar Thesis theme. Once you’ve got your blog up and running, start working on content. And by content, I mean stuff that you think your market would be interested in. By all means, resist the urge to publish self-promotional fluff and try to write with the interests of your market in mind.

If you haven’t already done so, go get a Twitter account. Try to secure an account that either a) reflects your brand name, or b) reflects your target keywords. Theme your account along the lines of your website (logo, colours, background, etc) and link back to your main site from your profile. At this stage, you should also sign up for accounts at Bit.ly and TwitterFeed. Bit.ly will let you track clicks on links dropped in your tweets, and TwitterFeed will auto post your new blog posts to Twitter.

Then go build a Facebook page for your website / product / service. Again, try to be consistent with your use of colour, logo, catchphrases, etc. and be sure to cross-link your Facebook page with your blog and your Twitter account. Add one of the RSS apps that allow you to publish blog posts to your page, and submit your blog feed. You can also sync your Twitter account with Facebook, in one of two ways. Firstly, you can add the “Notes” application and import your blog posts or tweets via RSS. Alternately, I discovered another app by a company called Involver that allows you to add a dedicated Twitter tab to your Page. Note: the “official” Twitter Facebook app will *not* allow you to publish to a page; only to a personal account as far as I know.

It may seem like a lot of work, but once this system is up-and-running your blog content will be syndicated to both Twitter and Facebook automagically. While there is no direct SEO benefit to be had by using this strategy (aside from indexing and some minor link juice flow), it would be foolish to think that Google is not looking at social traffic patterns and other such metrics to determine trust factors; especially in light of Larry Page’s quote in the first paragraph.

While the example above is limited to Twitter and Facebook, it could easily be extended to social networks beyond those mentioned.  Friendfeed, for example, allows you to sync your account with your Twitter account for cross population.  For those willing to invest some time and effort, there are loads of opportunities for creative content syndication within social media.

Last Minute Update: As of August 20, 2009, Facebook Syndicates Updates From Pages To Twitter, Still Holds User Updates Hostage.

Yesterday, the folks at Facebook announced that Digital Sky Technologies, a relatively unknown Russian company, invested upwards of $200 million dollars in their company. Business Week did an excellent summary of the news in a piece entitled, “From Russia With Love: Facebook Lands $200 Million.” Surprisingly, there was little mention of what this investment might mean for the security of your personal data.

When Microsoft bought into Facebook, some people had concerns about privacy, data security, and information sharing between the two companies.  Facebook and Microsoft are both massive global brands, but they are also American companies subject to American laws.  For this reason, I think most people felt comfortable with their partnership.  This latest investment, however, gives much cause for concern.  Digital Sky Technologies is a foreign corporation, and it’s debatable whether they are subject to domestic laws regarding privacy and user data security.

This investment becomes even more concerning when we explore some of the individuals involved with DST.  The Financial Times published a piece on DST CEO and Founder Yuri Milner back in 2000, that provides us with some important background information.  A cursory search at Google leads us to a document stating that Mr. Milner has held senior roles at the World Bank, in addition to working with various Russian government agencies.  Needless to say, Mr. Milner is highly connected in global political and financial circles.

Another interesting individual associated with DST is a fellow named Alisher Usmanov.  According to this article from MarketWatch.com, Mr. Usmanov is listed on Forbes as the world’s 450th-richest individual with a net worth estimated at $1.6 billion.  He has an ownership stake in British football club Arsenal, in addition to interests “in iron ore and steel producer Metalloinvest, telecommunications company Megafon and daily business publication Kommersant.”

Even more alarming than anything stated above, are the claims made by former British diplomat and Scottish human rights activist, Craig Murray.  According to his recent post, “Alisher Usmanov was jailed in the Soviet Union when he finally overreached himself and attempted to blackmail a Jewish KGB officer.”  At one time, Mr. Murray was the British Ambassador to Uzbekistan.  So confident is he in his claims about Mr. Usmanov, Mr. Murray has stated that he will “swear to these facts on oath before any court.”

This is truly scary stuff.  All of your personal data, as published on Facebook, may now be in the hands of individuals with suggested ties to international organized crime and foreign intelligence agencies.  It’s one thing to speculate on whether our domestic intelligence agencies are actively monitoring chatter and mining social media websites.  If that is the case, we might assume that it is being done in the interests of western defence.  It’s quite another thing to consider that everything about you, everything you have ever published on Facebook, has just been handed over to a foreign corporation. What are your thoughts?  Do you approve of Facebook selling off your personal data to a foreign corporation for $200 million dollars?