Patty,
what version of outlook are you using? I experienced a few hiccups on 2003.

Xobni can make your email a bit slower as it indexes. I’ve noticed issues when I have reminders….seems to have some conflicts there, otherwise great tool. I use it everyday!

I totally agree with your post. I think social media marketing and social networking present a huge opportunity to create community in the AEC industry. I’ve been saying this for months at my firm, slowly pulling in all levels of staff. And I say this, not in any way minimizing the importance of networking in person. The activities and tools must work together in an organized effort.

While the “Social Media Industry” is rapidly growing and maturing, reaching for the top of that life-cycle bell curve, so many other industries particularly professional services are just now jumping on the bandwagon.

As for your suggested apps, I use Xobni (only the free version) and I like it. I wonder if it doesn’t give my outlook trouble though? Have you had similar experience? I definitely use LinkedIn and Twitter (@pmswish) – I’ll have to check some of the extensions you suggest. The IPO will certainly be a development to watch.

I know that SMPS, the Society for Marketing Professional Services, has recently “discovered” social media, so I suspect that the wave will begin to swell as more and more dive in and check it out.

One community I might recommend to your readers is Architizer.com. Specifically for architects, it is like facebook for design professionals. It’s a good place to search and research people and firms worldwide. The other tip I would offer is a tool like Hootsuite or TweetDeck. I am a Hootsuite fan myself; it helps me manage my personal and corporate twitter account, a Facebook page and a LinkedIn page all on the same ‘dashboard’ if you will. Scheduling posts and keeping up on feedback and responses, I find it very helpful.

I’m a new subscriber to your blog. I look forward to future posts!