@BasilPuglisi

Content & Strategy, Powered by Factics & AI, Since 2009

Social Media

Facebook Declares Sponsored Stories Their Primary Ad Unit

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Traditionally, Facebook has been reluctant to fill up its social content feeds and streams with ads. However, they have rolled out Sponsored Stories for ad units. This new option will open up a viable new ad inventory that can include placements on the home page.

Facebook’s Platform for Marketers

Although Facebook is just past it’s 8 year mark since launch, it is still a rather new platform on which marketers can share their message, products or services.  Until recently, the method for spreading that message was the same as usual, create your message and share it with your most targeted audience. This seems to have left the medium and the message itself, out of sync. Expected results ensued. Most folks do not sign onto Facebook to be advertised to, or to look for places to purchase items of interests. Those who used conversion tracking were given a clear picture, the standard Facebook ads did not work. Shortly afterwards, social metrics were introduced in place of conversion tracking.

Many believe that if marketers can learn how to leverage the unique opportunity offered by Sponsored Stories, that they can thrive on Facebook.

Facebook’s Social Content Streams

While Facebook has traditionally be averse to filling their social content stream with ads, they recently began offering their Sponsored Stories ad units in the fully site wide ticker that includes real-time social activities and stories. The thoughts behind the benefits are that this will open up a valuable new ad inventory that includes placements on the users home page. So while they do remain as paid ads, the Sponsored Stories actually display your ad in a friends or your page users’ “Likes” which avoids the less invasive and annoying standard ads.

There may be the unintentional side effect that some viewers and users are not expecting advertisements to escape the confines of the lowly right sidebar, but in general, so far, the ads have proven to be quite effective for social advertising. Current ad units allow brands to purchase additional exposure, however, beginning in August, Facebook began blending the Sponsored Stories in with things like the game apps friends are using, or specific content they are following using other canvas apps.

How Do I Use Sponsored Ads to My Advantage?

There are several ways that marketers can take advantage of the ad units offered in Sponsored Stories. This includes several ad types where marketers or small business owners with Facebook pages can select from the type of ad that works best for their product or services.

Marketers will now be able to customize Facebook ads to their specific needs with only a few basic restrictions. The ad content must still complete with Facebook guidelines. Any images must be properly sized and formatted, and ad text must be 90 characters or fewer.

The marketer will get to target the perimeters that will determine the overall reach of the standard ad. With zero perimeters set that would mean that all of Facebook’s almost 1 billion users could see it. However, that would also be a phenomenal waste of money when highly detained perimeters can be set to target the exact demographics that are relevant to your product. The ad can be targeted so specifically that marketers can choose settings that will enable their ad to reach anywhere from 1 user to the over 850 million now on Facebook.

The 6 Types of Facebook Sponsored Stories

There are six different types of Sponsored Story ads to choose from.

Page Like Story

Page like ads are those where a user has “Liked” your page directly from the box on your website or from Facebook.

Page Post Like Story

This is where one of your fans has “Liked” one of your post in the past seven days.

App Used and Game Played Story

This means someone has played your game or used your app at least twice for a minimum of ten minutes in the past month.

App Share Story

This means that someone has shared a story from your app in the past seven days.

Check-In Story

A check-in story is where a user checked-in or claimed a deal in the last seven days at one of the Facebook claimed places.

Domain Story

A domain story means that a user shared a piece of content from your website using the Share button, shared a piece of your content using the “Like” button, or pasted a link to your site in their status window, in the last seven days.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Revolution of Social Data [Infographics]

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Marketing has evolved from mass media to social media, broadcasting to curating and now demographic data to social data. What is social data and why is it important to marketers? Social data is anything and everything collected from social network profiles and behaviors i.e. logins, sharing, gender, interests, age, etc…
Companies understand the value in social media. According to the Social Media 2012 Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, a significant 83% of marketers believe that social media is important to their business. Companies work hard socializing and driving traffic to their websites. However, what most companies don’t realize is that they can unearth the vast amount of data contained in the online social footprints that their consumers leave behind. Utilizing this data to maximize marketing output and increase ROI is called Social Data Strategy.
The following diagram illustrates the role that social data plays in the marketing strategy process.

Download a PDF version of the above Infographics.
With the right tools to collect, analyze and take action; social consumer intelligence can have an impactful effect on businesses. It might inspire a new product, help with the messaging of a radio campaign or simply help communicate to customers in a more meaningful way. See more examples in my blog 4 Examples of Driving Marketing Strategies with Social Login Analytics.
Andreas Weigend, Professor at Stanford University and former Chief Scientist at Amazon identifies this time as a Revolution of Social Data because it “fundamentally alters the relationship between buyers and sellers” forcing marketers to think differently. At the foundation of a social data strategy, Weigend states that a marketer must:

  1. Address each customer as an individual, not as a target.
  2. Design campaigns to encourage social sharing.
  3. Recognize how social data influences decision making, everything from how to create and sell products to how you acquire and lose customers.

The social data era is upon us! How will you leverage it?
Your turn! Do you see social data playing a role in your marketing decision-making?
Author:
Lanoba provides easy registration for website users by giving them the option to log in to your website via their existing social network accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, among others. Lanoba captures permission-based profile & behavioral data, then aggregates, stores and presents it in powerful analytics helping drive ROI through targeted marketing campaigns. Follow Lanoba on Twitter @lanoba.
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Using Social Media for Brand Awareness

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Cost-effective and powerful, social media is changing the way companies network. That’s because many businesses today are finding that connections made on sites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs are allowing them to better communicate with customers, more effectively draw in new leads and, over all else according to a July 2010 survey, increase customer awareness of their brand.
How does this work? How can you leverage the power of social networks to expand your brand’s influence and reach? Check out these five practical ideas!

  • Know Your Brand. Before you can promote your brand, you need to have a solid understanding of what it is. Ask yourself what distinguishes you company from others, what you offer that no one else does, what makes you valuable. Then, find a way to promote those benefits across all your marketing materials, from your logo to your website to your Twitter profile, in order to communicate a strong sense of your brand.
  • Establish a Solid, Branded Web Presence. Your website is your single most important online branding tool, the place where all your other marketing tools will direct. With a strong Web presence, your company has a resource that means better search rankings for increased traffic, increased leads and higher conversion rates.
  • Go Where Your Audience Is. A big part of being able to effectively reach your audience is understanding who they are. Is your audience active on Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook? Go where they are and join their conversations in order to expose them to your brand—and to enhance your scope of influence, offer something that meets their needs, whether tips, answers or links to helpful resources.
  • Connect with Online Influencers. Identify the people in your industry who are most influential and work to build relationships with them. Follow them on Twitter, respond to their posts on blogs and Facebook, email them when you have something valuable to say. By connecting with these influencers, you help expand your company’s reach.
  • Keep at It. A strong social media presence isn’t built overnight—in order to develop a loyal following, you have to earn it. Be consistent about posting on your social profiles so that users come to trust and respect your contributions; if you don’t, you run the risk of harming your reputation rather than helping it. If you can’t keep up with a profile, it’s better not to start it.

What do you think—could social media be a game changer for your brand? Take advantage of these tips to watch your presence expand!
Author:
Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a leader among Chicago marketing firms. She writes for clients in various B2B industries, from merchant processing solutions to Kevlar welding gloves. Check out the Straight North blog! @straightnorth
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Wrapp Your Friends: Social Gift Giving & Promotions

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With so many new interactive activities taking place on Facebook, it seems that one more company has caught onto the social media frenzy and is taking advantage of new ways to interact with your social network. A Swedish Social Gifting service, Wrapp just debuted in the U.S. that will allow Facebook users to purchase gift cards for those in their social network.  Wrapp currently has partnerships with more than 25 retailers. Some of those retailers include:

  • Fab
  • Gap
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • H & M

Wrapp launched in Sweden in November, and has since added Norway and the U.K. Wrapp also has established satellite offices in Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, France, Taiwan, and Australia.

How to Wrapp

To get started with Wrapp users need to either install the Android or iPhone app or head to the Wrapp website. Once Wrapp is integrated with your Facebook account, birthdays and other occasions will be twice as easy to take care of with just a few clicks. Even better, Wrapps algorithm will match social profiles of targeted friends with their available partners as well as the users demographics. You can then purchase one of their preselected gift cards or add onto the amount manually. With Wrapps integration with Facebook, news feeds will also be posted when the cards are gifted, as well as when they are redeemed by the cards receivers. Physical gift cards are not always necessary. On the mobile apps for smartphones and tablets, they can actually be redeemed through the bar codes that display on the Wrapp site after confirmation that the location accepts that gift card. Codes can also be used while shopping online.

According to Wrapp, over 1.4 million gift cards have been sent out via their service in the last four months. Chief Executive Officer Hjalmar Winbladh adds,

“Wrapp is the ultimate win, win, win app. You and I get to give our friends free gift cards to great retailers. The cards we give are stored in our friends’ phones so they’re always with them when they want to buy something they really want. And the merchants get a proven customer-acquisition and retention platform built on Wrapp’s friend-to-friend marketing for conducting performance-based campaigns.”

Wrapp combines three very hot industries in gift cards, social networking, and mobile shopping.
Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Improved Facebook Advertising Campaign Performance

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Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

Social media marketing, research has shown, is the fastest growing platform for advertisers. With promises of increased customer engagement and low marketing costs, advertisers flocked to this platform in droves. 76% of companies in the US use social media. Over three quarters of marketing officers believe they will increase their ROI this year through social media and plan to increase their budgets. But ROI is not easy to measure with social media. The different metrics will yield different results. Are you doing whatever it takes? Are there some things you don’t know about?

Facebook is the most valuable platform, statistic shoes, with over 15% of the social media marketing business, while rating and reviews, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube are there as well starting at about 10%.

Last month, a company called Techlightenment unveiled its new product called Alchemy 2. The company which is a leading provider of Facebook marketing technologies, helps solve traditional Facebook challenges of scale and performance, and has features that reduce the time spent on manual processes because the platform does it for you so you can focus your attention on higher value decisions.

The company promises that marketers will get 80% higher CTR and 50% lower CPC using their platform compared to the average Facebook campaign. Alchemy 2 allows user to take advantage of what Facebook has to offer; timeline, Sponsored Stories and Custom Action ads.

Here is what this platform includes:

Create a campaign fast and easy. You can create hundreds of ads in a few minutes.

  • Combine location, target audience with your creativity.
  • The system allows you to dynamically insert keywords and locations.
  • Analytics will tell you how many end users you will reach.
  • Easy re-posting of campaigns in one click.

Optimize and track.  About 70% of what used to have to be done manually can be done by alchemy 2.

  • Optimize by setting up rules based on which actions are taken.
  • Track multiple conversion points.
  • Control your budget by targeting groups and locations.
  • Optimize to CPA with tracking solutions and analytics.

Manage and Report.

  • Drag and drop the data you have to see how effective the campaign is.
  • You can easily change the metrics, and have complete control of how the budget is being allocated.
  • You can see CPA and conversion data at the ad level. The platform will calculate your margin and optimize accordingly.
Image representing Techlightenment as depicted...
Image via CrunchBase

Will Ashton, Managing Director of Alchemy 2 at Techlightenment  said: “Alchemy was the first Facebook advertising platform to market in 2010. We have redesigned the platform for the release of Alchemy 2 to make it even more sophisticated and agile. As Facebook makes updates to its platform, Alchemy 2 is well positioned to be updated as near to real-time as possible, allowing users to make near immediate use of new features and ad formats.”

Techlightenment was bought by Experian in January 2011.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Can Social Media Change Education Paradigms?

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Sir Ken Robinson; author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001) and was knighted in 2003 for services to education.  You can view the RSA animate video “Changing paradigms in Education”
 

I watched the video of Sir Ken Robinson’s “Changing Paradigms in Education” talk given at the Royal Society on the Arts on YouTube.  I don’t remember how I came across it but I was in awe.  I watched 4 or 5 times over. I wasn’t surprised to hear someone else talking about how current public education is failing our students.  Sir Ken Robinson’s simplistic approach to making small changes that can have significant impact on our children’s education was inspiring. I can see why it went viral.  Sir Ken’s key points hit many of the core issues I believe our evolving education system is now facing.
His views are not new.  The Montessori Method from the 1890’s involves the teacher in viewing the student as having an inner natural guidance for his or her own perfect self-directed development. The Reggio Emilia philosophy founded after World War II is based upon the following set of principles.  Students must have some control over the direction of their learning; must be able to learn

Image c/o www.edweek.org/

through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; have a relationship with other students and with material items in the world that students must be allowed to explore and must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
So what has changed? Sir Ken Robinson talks about how education reform can work.  The current US education system was established during an Era of Cultural Enlightenment and the Industrial Economic Revolution.  That education model worked for a while. We were automating and building our communities.  People worked in factories or offices.  Technology was changing American society. Health and medicine evolved due to research technologies.  Many of our teaching programs developed over time met the variety of skill needs for our society.  As we move forward in the technological revolution factory like school settings and un-stimulating classroom learning are becoming obsolete, so we find ourselves asking “What’s Next?”
According to Robinson, We are changing education to prepare our future generations but we don’t know what that future will hold since there is such rapid change.  We are also trying to reform education to adapt to cultural changes while maintaining cultural identity, as the world’s cultures connect.
The System Requires Change
So how do we change the system without totally starting from scratch?  Our education infrastructure is expensive so we can’t build a new one. Many people are hesitant to scrap the current system fearing unknown outcomes.  There are ways Social Media could bridge the gap.   Technology has enabled society to catch up with Montessori’s revolutionary methods of teaching.  Collaborative learning and divergent thinking can take place in classrooms leveraging many of the Social Media tools we have today.
Image c/o ioanalazarov.com/

Preparing today’s students for the unknown and quickly changing cultural and economic climates, must include the new ways we are communicating.  Creating stimulating learning environments, allowing students to express knowledge through their creative means can be achieved by integrating Social Media technologies.  Communication modalities are changing our lives, and we must adapt our teaching methods to work with emerging technologies.
We must raise standards to compete in the changing world economy. What should the standards be?  Some tests can designate a person genius and others label them special needs.  Who will set the standards?
Sir Ken says to change the Education Paradigms we need to think differently about human capacity and get over the old conception of Academic, non-Academic, Abstract, Theoretical…etc. Most great learning happens in groups- Collaboration is the stuff of growth.  The current education system is crucially due to the culture of our institution: the Habits of our institution and the habitats they occupy.
I believe there are opportunities to make great strides with small changes if we introduce methods for implementing Social Media at different levels throughout the education spectrum.
Author:
Marilyn Zayfert is a passionate digital strategist implementing online and mobile applications. She is a results-driven sales and marketing strategist with a proven track record of achievement and demonstrated success.  Marilyn founded illumiNET Creative Media in 2009. illumiNET Creative builds and implements online marketing strategies for local businesses. Twitter @mzayfert  / Website http://www.illuminetmedia.com / Facebook: Mzayfert / Google+ Marilyn Zayfert
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How to Get the Most Out of Your Social Media Advertising

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The field of advertisement has changed immensely over the past decades. Online advertisements have replaced almost completely the printed newsletters, which used to be so effective. If, at first, the companies used to advertise online and build their own websites and buy virtual ads, today, social media is the new way of advertising.

Now, I am not saying that billboards, direct mails are not working at all, but the internet advertising takes it to a whole new level.With more than three billion users, more than half of them belonging to a social website or another, the internet is the perfect market to advertise. More than that, social network websites are being seen more as a successful strategy for advertising than a way to find “the perfect match”. The most important social sites are:
1. Facebook: over 800 million users
2. Qzone: 500 million users (China networking website)
3. Twitter: 200 million users
4. RenRen: 180 million users (China networking website)
5. Myspace: 150 million users
6. Badoo: 120 million users
7. Bebo: 115 million users
8. LinkedIn: 100 million users
Talking about social websites, the first things I should mention is, of course, Facebook. With almost 1 billion users, Facebook is the most popular social website. Companies are obviously taking advantage of that, and, as Lon Safko (social media expert and co-author of “The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success”) said, they try to visualize Facebook as “a huge business watering hole”.
Next stop on the list is Twitter; companies create accounts, get interested people to follow them and advertise through the 140 characters tweets. The strategy is targeting by using hash tags and concentrated tweets.
LinkedIn has revolutionized the social media advertising campaigns. With millions of professionals seeking for jobs, experts, business opportunities, networking opportunities, LinkedIn is slowly, but surely, aiming for a higher spot on the list.
Companies are usually skeptic when taking on the social media advertising. It seems like no one can compete with Coca Cola, Starbucks or any of the well-known brands. But statistic show otherwise. The following list show the main changes companies have observed when getting into social media advertising:
  • 88% – generate exposure for the business
  • 72% – increased traffic / subscribers
  • 62% – improved search rankings
  • 56% – new business partnerships
  • 51% – generated qualified leads
  • 49% – reduced overall market expenses
  • 43% – improved sales
Now here is a fact that may seem odd: small and average sized businesses spend three more times on social media network websites and blogs than the larger ones.
Old-school ads used to redirect you to a new tab, the landing page of the particular website, when clicked. Now, business and brands, redirect their potential customers to their social media sites (Facebook, Twitter etc.) The new ads work like a mini website, giving you the opportunity to read real time Facebook posts and tweets without leaving the page you were browsing through.
The number of companies and business that agree with the fact that social media is one of the best way of advertising is sky rocketing. Whether they just started or are experienced here’s the percentage of them:
  • 30% of those who just started are really considering investing more in social media marketing
  • 45% of business with less than 12 months of experience are happy and eager to continue their social media advertising campaign
  • 68% of companies with 1 – 3 years of experience are extremely satisfied and continue advertising on social media networks
  • 87% of those with more than 3 years in the business have seen great results and are waiting for more
The number of new social media websites is increasing as their users, but there are some websites that every company relies on when it comes to advertising. Some of them are more preferred, some of them are less. Check them out:
1. Facebook: used by 92% of the companies.
2. Twitter: used by 84% of the companies
3. LinkedIn: used by 71% of the companies
4. YouTube: used by 56% of the companies
5. FourSquare: used by 17% of the companies
6. Groupon: used by 7% of the companies
7. Myspace: used by 5% of the companies
Video Marketing – 80% percent of companies see this as a new addition to the advertising strategy and plan to use it as often as possible in 2012. YouTube is the main website preferred with more than 70% of votes.
Outsourcing – More and more company owner are outsourcing their social media marketing. This is not still a trending strategy, but it is very effective and large brand are using it. The tasks that are most outsourced are:
1. Design & development: 17%
2. Content Creation: 10%
3. Analytics: 10%
4. Monitoring: 7%
5. Research: 6%
6. Strategy: 6%
7. Community management: 4%
8. Live tweeting of events: 3%
Be sure to take advantage of this new growing strategy and analyze how are you standing in all the areas from above and which can really use some improvement.
Last, but not least, social media is not used entirely exclusive. When combined with traditional marketing strategies its influence becomes even stronger. The greatest results succeeded when social media was combined with:
  • E-mail marketing – 64% of the users are extremely satisfied and continue using it.
  • Event marketing – 60% plan on increasing their use of event marketing, because of its success.
  • Press releases – 43% are really happy with this old-school strategy.
  • Webinars – Used mainly by small business (42%) this is a great way to “put yourself out there”.

They say 2012 it’s the year when all businesses will start using social media as a powerful marketing and advertising strategy. With more and more apps, video and photo sharing, live events coverage, you will have in your hands a lot of smart tools to choose from.

Author:

Katlyn M. is a freelance writer and car insurance comparison specialist, and personal trainer. In her spare time, Katlyn enjoys swimming, hiking, and helping her friends save money on car insurance.

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Professional Spotlight: Jeff Pulver

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The Social Media Valley, or Long Island can certainly claim some bragging rights with this professional. Jeff Pulver has not only been a contributor to the Digital Age, but a visionary leader in communications (or also the communication tools of Social Media) and specifically the power it has given to people. Jeff’s professional contributions would make him seem like a unreachable giant, but I can tell you first hand that he is all about people. Rarely do you find someone so profound that is down to earth, let alone so approachable that he will greats you in casual clothes with a warm smile and a hand out.

Jeff’s History

Growing up in Kings Point, New York, Jeff Pulver got involved with computers when he was 17.  Later, while working at his first job, an accounting firm, he developed and founded Spreadsheet Solutions Corp. an add-on to Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3, which he wrote. He also invented the CellSocket – a device which allows receiving and making cell phone calls through land lines.

Becoming interested in the possibilities of Internet Phone, a field that was unregulated at the time, Jeff Pulver put his money where his mouth is and in 1995 started a company that will go on to become Vonage, the biggest VoIP provider. He stayed as minority shareholder and member of the board until 2002. 

Jeff was the head writer of what is called “Pulver Order” about internet communication, which had become the basis for the 2004 FCC ruling regarding Internet Protocol (IP) communications.  Helping shape the VoIP landscape, Jeff set his sights on other implementations of internet communication.

In a 2006 Wall Street Journal profile he talked about Internet Video. “The same DNA that disrupted the telecom industry is well on its way to totally revolutionizing the way the TV, film, and broadcast industry is going to be.” He says in the article.

Seeing himself as an agent of change, he continued in The Wall Street Journal article, his mission is to identify the next big thing in technology.

Jeff Pulver & Basil Puglisi

Jeff Pulver proved himself right when a few years later the “Arab Spring” came to life, facilitated by social media.

For years now, Jeff Pulver organizes and hosts the #140Conf in different cities around the world. In those conferences he supplies the platform and invites speakers for short presentations and discussions about the impact of the internet on different aspects of our lives; on education, media, news, and business.  He calls those conferences “The State of NOW”.

“We are living through what is a truly social revolution.” He says in an interview from a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 7, 2011. “What happens when you are living in a world where hundreds of millions of people can discover each other and communicate directly? What do people feel when they connect, engage and every voice matters? People discover that they can stand up and affect a change without really knowing that they are doing it.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubcA-WvCDqQ]

Beside the conferences, Jeff Pulver invests in start-ups: Bloom Studio, BloggersBase, SemantiNet and Seesmic among others. He lives in New York with his wife and twin boys.

Here is another Great VIdeo recordning from UStream – 140Conf NYC

The Next 140Conf in NYC is June 19 – 20

 

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#Ignition2011: Sheryl Sandberg Shares Concerns for Facebook and Women

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At the recent Ignition Conference Sheryl Sandberg shared that Mark Zuckerberg’s greatest fear is lack of innovation. She mentions that the two factors are fueling that fear.

  1. Google has as many job openings as Facebook has current employees.
  2. Facebook lacks the resources of many of its direct competitors.

Sheryl understands that one of Facebook’s immediate concerns involves their need to rely on less product launches in favor of those that have bigger impact. Facebook has a current focus targeting the balance of moving forward in their business growth, while still protecting user-privacy.

Sheryl’s Advice to Career Focused Women

Voted in at number 7 of 10, Forbes awarded Sheryl Sandberg the status of one of the world’s Top Ten Power Women of 2011. Sheryl has some very sound advice for other power women as well. She shares that a woman’s most important career choice is who they marry. She encourages women to find a partner with whom they can share their lives 50/50. She reminds them that in general, men lean forward or continuously focus on the growth of their careers, while many women seem to lean back, and let others take the re

Check out this video with Sheryl’s top three pieces of advice for women who aim to reach the executive suites in their careers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uDutylDa4]

She also notes that when it comes to an individual’s GPA, the women tend to remember their numbers as slightly lower than they really were, while men remember theirs as a tad higher. She also admits that it seems in general, people like men who are in power, women – not so much. However, people do actually seem to like Sheryl Sandberg which is proven by the number of people, men and women alike, who flock to events where she will be a key speaker.

The Google vs Facebook Battle Continues

Although she initially deflected questions from Henry Blodget about a Facebook phone at the Ignition Conference, she later relented. She has a desire to see Facebook users able to snap a photo on their smart phone and upload right away to an album, wall, or page. She is worried though that Google’s Android may be a factor in preventing that.

“If you buy a phone, you should be able to share pictures and upload your photos with Facebook, we care that Android works and does that,” she said. “Android has made a public commitment to openness, and we want to see that commitment kept.”

She also mentioned that Facebook is thoroughly committed to providing an app that will work on all phones. She shared that she is currently actively working towards this with every single phone manufacturer to see that it happens. Citing that she believes that all consumers should have a choice, when asked by Blodget about whether or not Facebook is currently building a phone, she answered that she would not speculate on the topic. Although this is by far a mysterious and obscure comment, coming from Sheryl Sandberg, it’s definitely worth giving some attention and perhaps a bit of closer inspection.

note: Special Thanks to Business Insider for hosting such a wonderful event and having DBMEi as their Guest.

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How Facebook became Pornbook [News]

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Facebook tackled by its own value!

Facebook users where so outraged over the content that they engaged with it! That’s right, Hardcore Porn created a massive engagement practice that spread the content like crazy! As users commented on the photo’s, mostly in outrage, the Facebook algorithm moved the content to the top of the news feed. Users that commented made that material available on their users walls, making a single exploit on one account seen by 10,000 thousands due to the viral nature of that single account.

What happened?

Starting November 14, 2011 numerous Facebook users have noticed something disturbing in their news feed. Graphic porn pictures and disturbing images of sick and wounded animals started popping up as news. The pictures were horrible and shook up those who’ve seen them.

It made the news on November 15, when Facebook users started complaining on other social networks about what they saw. “The images I’ve seen today are enough to make me ill” said one tweet, “I’m ready to deactivate” tweeted another.

Facebook took notice.

Most of the day on the 15th, Facebook was quietly removing the images but admitting they don’t know how the breach happened.

That was enough to throw some experts into a frenzy. They recommend companies wishing to protect their staff from offensive content should block Facebook access to their employees until the problem is solved. Others tweeted they are staying away from Facebook until that time.

Facebook told ABC News on November 16: “We experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability”. And they are working to fix the problem.

The way this spam works, they say, was tricking users to copy and paste a JavaScript code into the address bar, in exchange of free stuff. Once the code was entered, it opened the door for the spammers and to the full address book of the user.

Facebook said this attack was not aimed at stealing identities or credit card information.  All the spammer wanted was to disrupt the service and shake the trust in Facebook.

About the Attack

Who is behind the attack?  There were speculations that an Anonymous offshoot was behind it, but another group posted a video on YouTube at the end of October, claiming they are going to attack Facebook on November 5. Some, who claim to be talking for Anonymous, said they were not behind it at all.

On November 17, Facebook came out with an announcement, which basically said; “We know who you are, and we are coming after you”.

It is not clear how many of Facebook’s 800 million users were affected, however if you consider the average hardcore porn photo found by our users had over 300 comments on them and the average user now has over 300 friends, the simple math says that 300 x 300 x 300 x 300 x 300 x etc, well you get the picture.

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