I follow lots and lots of people on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and G+ for a variety of reasons.

Writing, posting, and linking original content on social sites is hard work.  It's time consuming and requires discipline to do this daily, or almost daily if you can.  Photo by me (c) 2011

I follow people for the purposes of business, fun, keeping up with friends and as a way to keep up people that I cross paths with on the Internet or at industry events and conferences, as well as to tracks movements and social sentiment.

Links to Other People's Work Is Certainly Valuable, But What About Yours?

In following these universes, I see only a handful of people on who post links from their original content.  

Generally what I see, are links to "how to" articles, or sometimes an interesting article or snippet about something that I might be able to use.  

Many times, I see the same article or piece of content being circulated and to me, it makes no sense, is a waste of time, and diminishes your value as a trusted source for content.

For all the time may take, it may be the most efficient use of your time, as a means to break through the noise, the clutter and sea of repeated information that's posted out there. 

I'm not here to profess that your original content will bubble every time, but if you practice this principle, it certainly increases your chance of doing so.

LinkedIn Marketing Expert, Kristina Jaramillao, has a great story on Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog, where she cites a According to 2011 Arketi Web Watch Media Survey, illustrating that 92% of today's journalists are now actively using LinkedIn.

That's up 85% from just 2 years ago.

Are your company's thought leaders on LinkedIn?

Are their profiles updated?

Are they refreshing new and compelling content - or links back to content they are populating?

Kristina's post is straightforward and common sense.  It's often the later that stares you in the eyes and tell you to just do it.

Meet Dan Gookin, who helped spawn the beginning of what became the "Dummies" series of books that was originally launched by IDG. Currently, there are 573 paperback "Dummies" books on Amazon alone.  His book, "DOS for Dummies," is now in its third edition, which I was thrilled to get an autographed copy of from Dan.  It's a very special piece of computer history, for those of us who remember what is was like to begin our day starring at a command prompt.  Dan's main site here, over at Wambooli.com.

Good guy and very smart guy, Jason Falls, has launched a new learning community for getting solid industry industry advise and insights on applying social media.  You're probably familiar with his Social Media Explorer site, which is part of my personal daily read.  And now, his new Exploring Social Media site is being offered for $25 per month; cancel anytime.  Check out the site and sign up. Pronto.

I'm discovering the application of QR codes as part of my online / social identity.

My QR code is on my letterhead, email signature, and on my next round of business cards from Moo.

I want to make it as easy and flexible as possible to reach, connect and stay in touch with friends, clients, media, bloggers and analysts that I work with on behalf of the work I do.

I'm personally using the Jumpscan application which builds your free QR Code.

On my iPhone, I got the free AT&T Scanner app.

How about you?  Are you planning to use QR codes as part of your social identity or PR outreach?

Chime in and leave a comment.

Related Content for Further Reading:

Mashable - How to Use QR Codes for Small Business Marketing