As you make purchases and pay bills, friends can see your score go up and down, and they can comment on various items on your account, offering information that credit agencies might use to adjust your score. How much information are you willing to make public in order to improve your social networking experience? With the introduction of Foursquare and other location-based services, we started publishing our precise location data, and now with Blippy , our friends can see our credit card purchases as we make them. imagine it might go something like this*: Creddy. Pollygraf. Dubyacee. MORE >>

Staff your Facebook page with one or more company representatives who can keep it up-to-date, and can respond to comments and questions left on the page. Several clients have told me recently they don’t think their Facebook pages have as many fans as their brand seems to warrant. They’ve asked me what they were doing “wrong” and how to improve their pages. One executive compared the “coolness” of his brand to a larger, boring brand that drew many more fans to its Facebook page, adding, “I don’t get it.”. Victoria’s Secret’s Pink and Whole Foods were both mentioned. MORE >>

hope you will share these in the form of a comment. What are the legal and ethical considerations to consider when launching a social media initiative? Where does a company draw the line between risk and reward when trying to get the most out of its social media marketing or PR? ve had dozens of great conversations about this in the past few weeks, and I have been thinking about a framework for ethical and compliant social media marketing. Every behavior signals something about the company, and affects a variety of measures. Good for Business & Bad for Business. Unethical Behavior. MORE >>

If you know of other important agencies in the area of online consumer rights, please add them as a comment below. Sure you’re ticked off about Facebook’s abuses of consumer privacy, but does closing your account accomplish anything? It’s like getting a tattoo in a secret place. You have the satisfaction of the accomplishment and the knowledge you were in control, but does it have a lasting effect on the rest of the world? Even if one million people closed their accounts, that would represent 1/4 of one percent of Facebook’s 400 million user base. Share a link. MORE >>

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA ) is seeking public comments on its Ethics Code until January 5. Please take a moment to review these disclosure guidelines at the Living Ethics blog and provide your comments. The comments section will remain open until January 5, 2010, and final guidelines will be issued shortly thereafter.&#. If you are involved with any business use of social media (which includes blogging), you should review the code and make suggestions. For some, the business ethics of social media present a quandary. MORE >>