Effective use of social media often requires marketing and PR people to restrain our innate selling/pitching impulse and join the more freewheeling, conversational culture of the blogosphere.

Doyle Albee, president and new media practice director at Metzger Associates in Boulder, CO, compares it to a crowded bar.   If you see someone you want to talk to engaged in conversation on the other side of the room, you need to walk over to them – not call them to come to you.

“That’s why they call it social media,” said Albee. “We all have the skills to do it, but it’s a paradigm shift from traditional marketing. We need to use our conversational skills to join in as appropriate.”

So when making use of social media, remember – as with all relationships – good manners and some social sense can take you a long way.