Posts tagged social media
Facebook Places Tagging = Trouble
Aug 19th
Facebook Places is exciting, and plenty of people have already “checked-in” at the super trendy sushi restaurant or from a beach resort in Maui. Facebook is all about putting you best face forward and here is yet another feature that enhances your coolness.
So go on, start checking-in… and don’t forget to check in anyone you feel should be hanging with you… huh?
Yep, others can claim they are with you. Take a look at my first check-in to the right. That’s me at work and I was nice enough to let everyone know that Trent was also at work, unannounced to Trent. He sent me a nice thank you, luckily we were at work and not claiming we were out golfing, or at a hotel …I am sure his wife would appreciate me checking us into The W.
So you get why this isn’t cool right? Say your girlfriend is out of town and you go out with your boys to the bars and run into an ex-fling who decides to “check-in” at the bar and tag you as being with her and brags that you and her just had the best night together reconnecting. Yeah, not good.
Or maybe you’re like me and you just don’t want people knowing where you are all time and who you are with. I’m single, I have no one that really cares where I am except my dog, but I still don’t need to announce my location and I certainly don’t need my friends tagging that they are out in a bar with me or that we are shopping again.
Alright you get it, now let’s fix it. Yes, there are ways to control this madness. TURN IT OFF!
Here’s what you do, it’s simple.
First, click on the Account tab at the top right and click Privacy Settings. Select the little blue “customize settings” towards the bottom of the screen that appears. You’ll see a list of privacy options. Under the Things Others Share category, disable “Friends can check me in to Places.” Now, only you can broadcast your location.
You can also choose who can see your check-ins. Click the “Places I check in” under the Things I Share category. The default is “friends only.” Selecting “Customize” brings up a pop-up where you can exclude entire networks, individual people, or everyone.
Finally, you may want to disable the “People Here Now” feature. “People Here Now” allows any user checked in at a location to see who else is checked in there—even if they’re not friends. Make sure the box is unchecked next to “Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in.”
Alright friends… that should do it!
Facebook Places Launch!
Aug 19th
Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Places last night! Think GPS location sharing, similar to Foursquare and Gowalla.
Facebook Places is a new product that allows users to share where they are, find out where their friends are, and discover interesting places nearby. Facebook Places also allows businesses to establish Places (physical store locations) on Facebook and then encourage guests to share where they are by “checking in” to their Place. Check-in stories can generate powerful, organic impressions in friends’ News Feeds, extending your brand’s reach to many potential new customers.
Got multiple retail locations? Facebook plans to develop a solution for brands with multiple Places (store locations), that will allow the main brand Page to “adopt” all of their Places.
What can you do with Places now? Start to create and claim your Places. Facebook Places is available to all Facebook users in the United States with the latest version of the Facebook for iPhone Application or any HTML5-enabled mobile device via touch.facebook.com.
This is a very exciting development and just another way Facebook is dominating the social space.
Damn Fail Whale
Jun 16th
Ahhh. The Twitter Fail Whale, now that picture instantly raises my anxiety level. I was an early Twitter adopter as a Public Relations Professional and the first hundred or so Fail Whales I received weren’t a big deal. I would smile at the silly image and do something else. I’d cruise Facebook and wait a few hours until the tweets had stopped overwhelming the little birdies.
Here I am 1.5 years later as a Social Media Manager, swearing every time I see those damn birds carrying a whale. Put down the f*c**n whale and get my tweets up! I have sH*t do here guys.
Seriously? This one image makes me want to throw something, I just spent 5 minutes putting together the perfect 140 charater tweet with enough room left for re-tweeting!!! and now my tweet is gone and I am too pissed off to re-write it. Not to mention I had to shorten the url myself! Does the whale need all those birds? Can’t one be auto shortening my links?
Yes I know, there are plenty of Tweetme’s and Tweetdecks I can be using that seamlessly swim past these pathetic whales complete with url shorteners, but admit it, there are times when you have to go Twitter. Tweetdeck likes to freeze on me and make annoying spinning noises, so I often prefer to use Twitter for some simple tweeting and DM’s.
Sometimes its good to stick to the basics. I get a bit of nostalgia logging onto Twitter, but I am not sure I can handle anymore Fail Whales. I wonder if my doctor will prescribe me Xanax on the grounds of social media platform rejection by silly images?
Oh and if you know how to turn the Tweetdeck pop-up spinning noise making box off please save me.
California Issues Social Media Policy
Feb 28th
As a California girl I like to see that crazy state taking steps in the best direction. At first thought, regulating social media may seem controlling or invasive, but it is absolutely necessary, especially for government agencies.
We have all seen the news about the Military restricting social media from the troops, and for good reasons right? It protects the men and women serving from being located and protects our country from accidental leaks of sensitive information.
So instead of California restricting Facebook and Twitter use from government employees, they are enforcing guidelines. I applaud California and believe that all organizations, government or not, should embrace social media and enforce a policy amongst its members.
Here is the release from the State of California.
California Promotes Secure, Appropriate Use of Social Media Sites for State Government, Issues Policy
State Technology Update – February 26, 2010
The State of California has officially adopted the use of social media tools to promote communication and transparency for Californians interacting with state government. The Office of the State Chief Information Officer (OCIO) today released Information Technology Policy Letter (ITPL) 10-02 which outlines the use requirements for using social media sites such as FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube.
“The more we increase the state’s online presence to enhance communication and transparency, the better we are able to serve Californians,” said Teri Takai, California’s Chief Information Officer. “At the same time we must be diligent to ensure we use social media tools in a way that is secure and appropriate for official business. This policy provides a risk management framework for agencies to consider in their use of these innovative and dynamic tools.”
The policy encourages state officials to use social media tools, while requiring that only those users who are authorized and have been trained regarding their roles, responsibilities and the security risks as outlined in the policy, have access to social media sites while at work as a state employee. It also requires that agencies assign the management and monitoring of official social media sites to the same internal organization or individual that oversees public communications for the agency.
The policy is accompanied by a Social Media Standard to help state agencies consider the various risk factors associated with the use of social media sites. The Policy Letter can be found online at http://www.cio.ca.gov/Government/IT_Policy/ITPL.html. The Social Media Standard can also be found online in Section 66B of the Statewide Information Management Manual (SIMM) at http://www.cio.ca.gov/Government/IT_Policy/SIMM.html.
When the OCIO was established in January 2008, it was the intent of the Legislature and Governor to create an agency that, among other things, establishes policies and standards to ensure that state information technology (IT) systems run effectively. Through changes to the State Administrative Manual (SAM) and the SIMM, the OCIO creates statewide policy for the Executive Branch to ensure coordination as the agency works to oversee IT activities with a common direction and vision.
Measuring Social Media with Spredfast
Jan 21st
You may heard of these guys already, I’ve known about them for months, either way, they are worth keeping an eye on. They measure social media success across social networking platforms. I have never used their service, but I have met with several sales reps that claim to know how to “measure social media” and have yet to sign up for anyone services. I would love to know what you think. Here is the skinny on Spredfast!
AUSTIN, Texas–Today, Spredfast publicly launched its social media campaign management platform that allows organizations to manage, monitor, and measure their messages and voices across multiple social media channels. As the first comprehensive social media dashboard, social media engagement through Spredfast offers the opportunity to shape conversation, increase traffic, create relationships, and ultimately build sales. Founded by two recognized social media veterans, Kenneth Cho and Scott McCaskill, Spredfast combines its platform with social marketing expertise to deliver a complete solution.
“With Spredfast, my IBM team is able to work collaboratively on our social media campaigns much more efficiently than before”
Large and small companies are already reaping the benefits of Spredfast, such as current customer, IBM: “With Spredfast, my IBM team is able to work collaboratively on our social media campaigns much more efficiently than before,” said Cliff Kinard, IBM’s senior marketing manager, social media and eMarketing. “Based on deep metrics and social streams, I can craft my message to increase my reach and acquire new customers for IBM.”
While many “social listening” services and Twitter-only programs exist, this is the first platform that offers a solution to the execution and measurement problems inherent in social media. Spredfast’s dashboard integrates with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr, and also currently supports Wordpress, Blogger, MoveableType, Lotus Live Connections, Drupal and most XML-RPC enabled blogging platforms. Spredfast is also able to incorporate support for other blog standards as customers require. Spredfast allows its clients to extend their branded content from a single administration interface to the blogosphere and the major social networks.
“Spredfast came to be because we were living in social media ourselves and for our clients. Campaigns were awkward, labor intensive and disconnected,” said Kenneth Cho, Spredfast co-founder. “We have great respect for analysis/listening tools like Radian6 or Crimson Hexagon and think point tools like CoTweet are great for Twitter. However, we realized something was missing and that prompted us to build Spredfast.”
Spredfast’s three main features include:
- Collaborative Campaign Management – Maximizes efforts by distributing and tracking one’s content on many social media channels via a single integrated dashboard. Inherently multi-user, this platform allows many social marketers to participate in any given campaign – assign tasks, create posts, and only send out approved content.
- Integrated Social Streams – Utilizes the power of social media networks to craft and leverage existing high-quality messages that are both relevant and engaging to one’s target audience. Through this mechanism, Spredfast enables a user to quickly create content and respond to conversations.
- Comprehensive Metrics & Reporting – Measures every piece of content distributed. Every metric that is available through those social media channels is pulled into the Spredfast dashboard. In addition, Spredfast has developed measurable actions to help develop ROI analysis on specific social media campaigns.
“Spredfast’s new dashboard offering brings the emerging social media management space to a new level,” said Carla Thompson, VP of Community Strategy at Guidewire Group. “Businesses can now automate and simplify the tedious task of collecting social media metrics and, more importantly, measure the impact from the array of channels used in social media campaigns today.”
Spredfast is currently being used by large enterprises like IBM, Cisco and AOL. However, the tool is also equally effective for smaller companies or organizations, such as the University of Texas’ Harry Ransom Center, who used Spredfast for its Edgar Allen Poe exhibit. Another example is Truluck’s, an upscale restaurant chain focused on seafood and steak, which used Spredfast for its entry into social media, significantly increasing its Twitter followers and growing from 0 to 659 Facebook fans in less than four months. Next up, Truluck’s is using Spredfast to integrate their blog and Flickr photos as well.
“What makes Spredfast unique is that it measures every piece of content you distribute and has the ability to create ROI analysis,” said Scott McCaskill, Spredfast co-founder. “Spredfast also categorizes its metrics into three segments, ‘Activity,’ ‘Engagement,’ and ‘Reach,’ a far more advanced measurement approach than is otherwise available for social media marketers today.”
Marketing agencies of all sorts and sizes, along with large enterprises and smaller organizations alike, can find value in Spredfast. For more information, visit http://spredfast.com/.
About Spredfast:
Based in Austin, Texas, Spredfast is a social media campaign management platform that allows organizations to manage, monitor, and measure their social media messages, and the effectiveness of each piece of content, across multiple social media channels. Founded by recognized social media veterans, Kenneth Cho and Scott McCaskill, Spredfast combines its platform with social marketing expertise to deliver a complete solution. Spredfast allows its clients to extend their branded content from a single administration interface to the blogosphere (Wordpress etc.) and the major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. Some of the early company adopters on board with Spredfast include AOL, Cisco, IBM, Porter Novelli and Sierra Club. For more information, visit http://spredfast.com/.
Signs you have a social media addiction
Dec 30th
This post goes out to a dear friend of mine, Elizabeth, who has a severe Facebook addiction and is close to needing medication to deal with it. Sorry, girl, but it’s time to get grip. Here is how I know she has an issue, and I bet some of you might see a bit of yourself in these signs. If you do, please let me know so I can blog about your issues.
1. Knows way too much information about people she isn’t really friends with… like who is getting married and who is pregnant. She also gets upset that she finds this out on Facebook and says things like: “another one bites the dust” always followed by an “ugh!”
2. Elizabeth logs into her ex-boyfriends Facebook account and reads his Facebook inbox messages. There are plenty exchanges between he and his new girlfriend, so I do enjoy hearing the scoop… but this is wrong! Very wrong!
3. She is constantly checking old boyfriends pages and often visits pages of the guys she is dating. This one is not so bad, but can still be harmful to your self esteem.
4. She thinks deleting someone from her Facebook page is the ultimate punishment and often gives me advice to delete a person from my Facebook when I am upset with them. (seriously bad advice)
5. She starts conversations with “what did you think of my Facebook status earlier today” This is a really annoying question to me. I do NOT stalk my best friends Facebook pages.
Alright, you get the point, she is seriously addicted and needs to detox from Facebook. I recommend spending less than 5 hours a week on Facebook for personal use. That is plenty of time to tag a few photos and ask your network if they have any meatloaf recipes they love.
If you are considering throwing yourself a pity party over the happiness and success of past lovers and friends… please keep in mind that Facebook is not reality, it’s a place to show off and put your best face forward. People put up flattering photos and only write about the positive’s. No one writes about how crazy his or her family is or mentions they prefer to not shower on Sundays.
Social Media Tips to Live By
Dec 7th
The way you play the social media field has a huge impact on you and your brand. Here are few tips I find useful, they actually apply to everyday life as well. Send me your tips. Enjoy!
1. Give More than You Receive- If you want positive attention, like most of us do, in the on-line world, than you have to be willing to give it first. I can hear my dad saying it now “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” he’s usually right and that is a great rule to live by. Respect is earned on-line not a right.
2. Treat others as you would want to be treated- Sounds easy right? Yet somehow there are those few who thinks its okay to post a nasty facebook status about a co-worker, friend, family member, even a client. Come on now! You catch more bees with honey… I hate bees and certainly don’t want to catch any, but it’s still a cliche to live by.
3. Contribute!- Just showing up to the office doesn’t get you anywhere, and neither does signing up for Twitter and ignoring all your DM’s or tweets of fellow twits. Sorry couldn’t resist that one. Don’t be shy, join the conversation and have fun with it! Please don’t just promote your brand, I may stop following you. Before you ever submit anything to a social media site, ask yourself “Does this article really add value to the community?” If not, reconsider submitting it.
5. Cheating is Wrong- Be faithful to yourself and don’t cheat or take short cuts. Focus on building a successful social media presence as you would a friendship with a networking group. Sure, you might be able to get thousands of followers and fans by cheating, but eventually, you will lose credibility.
6. Build Quality Relationships- People are more willing to help those who they really know. By building quality relationships with other users, you’ll always have someone in your corner to back you up. Remember, relationships require the participation of both parties, always be a willing partner your social media relationship.
Investing in Social Media, Now that’s Hot
Nov 2nd
This past year, 2009, was a big year of acceptance for social media. The economy tanked and hundreds of newspapers, magazines and tv stations were forced to scale back and the smart ones turned to the “Internet” for ways of connecting with their audience.
Recent reports prove the decline of mainstream media, one analysis reports that radio station revenues fell 8.6% to $19.5 billion and TV station revenues dropped 1.6% to $21.7 billion. While these “traditional” mediums were becoming old and outdated social media activity increased at incredible rates. Twitter jumped from the 22nd most visited social network at the start of 2008, to third most visited in January of 09. A growth of 1,227% in 12 months.
This behavior did not go unoticed by financial groups, especially those on the investment side. Now social media is a hot sector for VC’s, investment bankers and anyone with a few extra million bucks laying around. A Deloitte LLP survey of 400 companies, 94% of the respondents said that they plan to maintain or increase their investments in social media tools and online communities, while only 6% said they plan to decrease such investments.
With social networking sites poping up at alarming rate, and this still being a relatively new space, there is a lot of competition to be the next Facebook. Sure, getting the venture backing and the A-team puts you a few steps ahead of the rest, but what makes users stay on your site? I can think of at least 2 dozens sites I have signed up for once and never went back to. I bet you have too… Thoughts? Let’s discuss this in another post.
Facebook Mishaps for a Friday Goof
Oct 29th
It’s Friday, and these Facebook mishaps crack me up! Enjoy!
The Magical World of Networking
Oct 28th
I’ve been working my magic in public relations for several years now. I don’t put much faith in magic, especially when it comes to my career and my agency’s reputation. I do, however, believe in the power of networking. Once you feel comfortable networking, you gain a profound advantage in business and that is when the magic happens.
Networking is a huge part of any communications based career, from advertising to marketing to public relations. Even with social media, networking is a crucial skill to possess. You may already think you are the master at networking; you never miss a grand opening, you have over 1,000 Facebook friends and three times as many Twitter followers, and you were recently asked to speak at the black tie children’s shelter benefit. Bravo!
Even if you are the creme de la creme… and trust me, I meet a lot of you, there are still a few key points to keep in mind when you network. Whether you are attending an event, or joining an on-line conversation (social media) or having a one on one encounter, these tips should help you be a bit more aware and prepared.
1. Always think about your intention when you enter into any networking situation. Ask yourself if your intention is genuine and if it will shine a positive light on yourself, and your company. Are you there for new contacts? Sponsorships? Resources? Friends?
2. Knowing your intention leads to the next tip, which is to remember that networking is a two-way street! Be genuine about your intentions and think about how you can help others. How you can add value to others. Don’t be afraid to offer up a resource or contact that might help them.
3. Go early and stay late. This is a tough one with our busy schedules and loved ones, but often some of the best connections come from the quieter moments of the events with less chaos. I am usually one of the first to arrive at events.
4. Always be present and engaged. Look people in the eye when you meet them, stay present throughout the entire conversation. Stop checking your cell phone for e-mails or texts. I see a lot of people doing this during luncheons or awkward moments of silence. I used to do it myself, now I breathe through the uncomfortable silences. Our cell phones have become this security blanket people use when they are at a loss for words or have just entered an uncomfortable situation. If you stay present and remember your intentions, those few moments of discomfort will be worth all your new connections.
