Euan Semple was the man responsible for launching social media at the BBC. A pretty impressive claim to fame. He's now gone freelance and helps people understand the web. But whatever you do, don't call him a "social media expert". He hates the expression believing that anyone can refer to themselves as an expert without having the skills to back it up.

Semple will be delivering the keynote presentation at this year's Social Media conference in London, but if you can't make it or you're in another part of the world entirely, don't worry as we've collated his top tips and are sharing them with you here.

Social media seems to be either something you love or you hate. But if you're wanting to dip a toe in the water and give it a go, Semple's advice will give you some food for thought.

Take a look at why he believes the IT department are the biggest block to making collaborative technologies work (sound familiar?!) and why banning sites like Facebook is the worst thing that an organization can do.

Use these 10 tips to guide you regardless of what stage of social media usage you've reached.

Until next time,

P.S. To do our small bit to help the Haiti rescue efforts, the Melcrum team in the UK is doing a "dash for cash". We'll be running, walking, skipping and perhaps even crawling 5 km along the River Thames and we'd love your support! All donations will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee and all contributions, no matter how small, will be very gratefully received. Thank you.

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