@BasilPuglisi

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

Mobile & Technology

Facebook Changes & Facebook Timeline: Successful Social Media Disaster [OPINION]

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Often the missing element in successful social media is emotion. Why do millions flock to social media every hour, but only a few engage?

Traditional businesses have missed the mark, and Facebook’s recent changes are an example of how important it is to hit the mark, even if it seems contrary to your brand.

Facebook’s changes in September 2011 should mark the most “Successful Social Media Disaster” of the Social Media Revolution. At every turn the top topic inside of Facebook is Facebook’s changes. While the overwhelming majority are quick to criticize, most have failed to realize that the change is creating the most talked about event in social media history, well in social media anyway.

How did Facebook create a “Successful Social Media Disaster”

Anger! The keystone to successful social media is emotion. While thousands of would be social media experts flood our networks with useless posts every day, the small group that manages to actually capture our attention are the ones that are unconventional and tap into our emotions.

Facebook did not make its changes slowly, it didn’t even transition people into the new features. Facebook’s policy was a flat out “here you go, deal with it”. This change and introduction captured one of the key emotional states in social media. While others lay claim to Google+ being the big winner having opened their G+ network to everyone in the same week, all the talk or buzz is Facebook!

Opening the Google+ network to everyone should have been an event that created buzz for Google. This G+ buzz should have lasted over the course of at least a few weeks, allowing it to capture articles and feedback from both followers and critiques, but Facebook’s move cut that off cold. G+ might get a mention here and there among the articles, but Zuckenburg has stolen G+’s thunder and managed to evolve his social network in one swoop.

The purpose of this article is not to support or criticize the changes to Facebook, but to highlight the importance of emotion in social media, and how Facebook has used it to trample Googles G+ public launch. How Facebook uses this to their brands advantage is another story. Most politicians claim there’s no such thing as bad PR, only bad PR managers and brand storytellers who fail to capitalize on the spotlight. This would seem to be the case with Social Media, most are better having something being said then nothing at all, then you can direct and capitalize on being talked about in one fashion or another.

Enter Facebook Timeline:

This new feature looks to be the family, tree and life story publication of YOU! No Publisher needed!

Get Timeline NOW! Click Here!

***Your timeline is now live — Developer Release****

****Please note: During the developer release, only other developers will be able to see your new timeline. Everyone else will see your old profile.***

PS: Looks like there’ll be no way to hide who you are ever again!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYATYjk5N4&feature=player_embedded]

Sources:

 

Facebook Changes & Facebook Timeline: Successful Social Media Disaster [OPINION]

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Often the missing element in successful social media is emotion. Why do millions flock to social media every hour, but only a few engage?

Traditional businesses have missed the mark, and Facebook’s recent changes are an example of how important it is to hit the mark, even if it seems contrary to your brand.

Facebook’s changes in September 2011 should mark the most “Successful Social Media Disaster” of the Social Media Revolution. At every turn the top topic inside of Facebook is Facebook’s changes. While the overwhelming majority are quick to criticize, most have failed to realize that the change is creating the most talked about event in social media history, well in social media anyway.

How did Facebook create a “Successful Social Media Disaster”

Anger! The keystone to successful social media is emotion. While thousands of would be social media experts flood our networks with useless posts every day, the small group that manages to actually capture our attention are the ones that are unconventional and tap into our emotions.

Facebook did not make its changes slowly, it didn’t even transition people into the new features. Facebook’s policy was a flat out “here you go, deal with it”. This change and introduction captured one of the key emotional states in social media. While others lay claim to Google+ being the big winner having opened their G+ network to everyone in the same week, all the talk or buzz is Facebook!

Opening the Google+ network to everyone should have been an event that created buzz for Google. This G+ buzz should have lasted over the course of at least a few weeks, allowing it to capture articles and feedback from both followers and critiques, but Facebook’s move cut that off cold. G+ might get a mention here and there among the articles, but Zuckenburg has stolen G+’s thunder and managed to evolve his social network in one swoop.

The purpose of this article is not to support or criticize the changes to Facebook, but to highlight the importance of emotion in social media, and how Facebook has used it to trample Googles G+ public launch. How Facebook uses this to their brands advantage is another story. Most politicians claim there’s no such thing as bad PR, only bad PR managers and brand storytellers who fail to capitalize on the spotlight. This would seem to be the case with Social Media, most are better having something being said then nothing at all, then you can direct and capitalize on being talked about in one fashion or another.

Enter Facebook Timeline:

This new feature looks to be the family, tree and life story publication of YOU! No Publisher needed!

Get Timeline NOW! Click Here!

***Your timeline is now live — Developer Release****

****Please note: During the developer release, only other developers will be able to see your new timeline. Everyone else will see your old profile.***

PS: Looks like there’ll be no way to hide who you are ever again!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYATYjk5N4&feature=player_embedded]

Sources:

 

Google+ is Open to ALL and Google+ Leading Mobile Development

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Today Google plus went live and open to everyone. With 20 million people engaging in the first three months in its trail stage, the Google+ platform now hopes to capture the masses.

While some writers like Robert over at BundlePost are betting against Google+ and predicating it to be the threat to Google, I am confident that Google has secured itself in the mobile and cloud space. This move by Google to capture mobile so early is what will have Google on top for a very long time. Google+ is in a safe place, capturing Social Media engagement and tailoring to the mobile trend.

Google Leading in the Mobile Space:

While I will give credit to Apple and Facetime for being the first to the mobile video market, the wifi limitation left users feeling like video chat was still more Sci-Fi then reality. In comes T-Mobile and 4G with the MyTouch4G, now you can use video even when not on a wifi signal, however the user interfaces are scattered and the experience doesn’t seem to capture the social feel to being in a room with a real person.

Google Hangout is introduced on PC and groups of people start to engage, converse and learn about each other in real time in a social setting that makes you rethink about your daily appearance.  One of the first things I noticed was the trend of individuals who previously relied on a single picture having to rethink the way there where dressed, the room there where in and what was behind them. Communication skills kicked back into hi swing as the most important communication indicator was alive and kicking, body language.

This move to get a fully functioning communication tool in the hands of the largest growing market in the world should be enough to secure Google’s future.

Android & G+

When you take a look at how Android has performed in market penetration, you can’t help but realize that Google is just getting started. It’s the little things that are setting Google apart from the competition, i.e. Google Cloud contacts from the release of the G1. Androids first phone was cloud ready as anyone who stored their contacts on their google account never again had to worry about lost phones, moving contacts to new phones etc. This was done without wires and with no need for a PC or software.

Flash, love it or hate it Android got it. You almost wonder why Apple left the door open like this, but Flash adopted by the Google into Android mobile technology was the nail that broke the growth rate of the iPhone and then later allowed Android devices to surpass iPads in global sales and users.

Google+ brought lots of new features, in addition to the latest Hangouts, the G+ app allowed you to upload videos and pictures in real time to the google+ account meaning that in addition to ease of sharing, you could lose your phone during the day and still save your memories, promo photos etc.

In the end, google is innovating for the future, not just today. That’s the sign of a strong company, one I am sure my grandkids will love and hate, long after Apple and Facebook are gone.

Sources:

Turn Your Social Media Content into Something Incredible with FeedFabrik

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By now most folks who use the internet for work, play, or both, are likely to have generated a bit of personal or business content on their social media sites. Blogs, videos, articles, tweets, and more have their own special place online for quick and easy access when you need to reference them, share them, or simply enjoy viewing them.

What if you could take your already available content and give it a shiny new cover? What if you could avoid the inevitable process that most all content suffers from as it gets old, left behind, and falls into Internet Purgatory, likely never to be seen (easily) again.

FeedFabrik to the Rescue

FeedFabrik offers the ability to capture your own digital life and turn it into a proud display in a couple of different ways.

Create Your FriendPoster

Users can integrate with their Facebook account to quickly create a FriendPoster. This poster displays all of your social network friends by listing them on the date of their birth with their current profile picture. Users can choose from five different display theme styles as well as selecting different options for saving the creation. FriendPoster comes in:

  • PDF
  • Poster
  • Desktop Wallpaper

It will also be available with gift voucher options very soon.

Make a BlogBook

Turning your blog into a book may have endless possibilities. However, doing so has long proven to be a process usually full of bugs and issues and, in general, difficult to manage while retaining an aesthetically pleasing document. FeedFabrik’s blog book creator can smoothly turn your current blog into a well-designed book. FeedFabrik has full integration options on:

  • Blogger
  • WordPress.com
  • Self-Hosted WordPress Blogs
  • Typepad
  • Tumblr

Your book is prepared for you automatically and is ready in just a few moments. Users are free to take advantage of the customization options to tweak the book’s originality.

FeedFabrik has much to offer those who utilize social media on a regular basis and has several shining selling points when it comes to those who work in the publishing industry.

Alexa shows a 1500% increase in traffic views over the last three months and is currently ranked at #486,284 in the world with most users spending an average of three minutes on site.

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Earthquake: Twitter An Emergency Communication Tool

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What is your Social Media Emergency Management plan?

At around 2pm today, an Earthquake with an epicenter about 34 miles NW of Richmond, VA. 87 miles SW of DC. began felt as far north as #NYC and New Jersey.

While tens of thousands flocked to their cell phones and TV service, twitter spread the word to millions. Twitter had everything from people talking about the earthquake to news organizations using twitter to share the little info they had.

Fox News reported that they were having trouble reaching personal over the cell phones and had to turn to twitter for information.

The experience of the earthquake should signify the importance of a tool like twitter, it allows you to gather information and operates on a different bandwidth through data plans allowing others to communicate when the cell network becomes overwhelmed.  

It’s time to revisit your states, county, business and family emergency communication plans, should you not be able to reach each other over the phone, do you have a twitter account on each phone for you, your employees and your children?

At the time of this publication at 2:36PM Fox News reporters in the field are reporting the biggest issue facing people is the communication breakdown. Even NBCNews was digging on twitter to find anything they could for news content.

It was also noted that two Nuclear Power plants where taken offline near the quakes. With Summer in full swing and brownouts not uncommon, it has to make you wonder what is your plan to keep the phones and tablets charged?

Perhaps it’s time for twitter accounts to have a dedicated plan for buildings and businesses to inform personal and employees about what is going on. It’s also not a bad idea to have a family plan to allow others to find out your OK.

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The Power of Facebook Webinars

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The Power of Facebook Webinars

Webinars are fast becoming a vital source of communication for a variety of different industry needs. Some examples of trending Webinar needs include:

  • Online Education
  • Business Meetings
  • Brainstorming Sessions

This is just the foundation for many of the ways that companies are currently utilizing Webinars. Most businesses and institutions have little choice these days but to look for more cost-efficient manners to carry out communications with a group who are not within affordable geographical reach. Company’s developed and deployed only online may also have serious outsourcing needs that can include vital training for their businesses. Even in a superb economy, having a face-to-face with online employees is an expenditure nightmare.

FBWebinars

As Facebook continues to step up their game in many areas, FBWebinars has added another element to the social networking giant that can provide business owners with a system that incorporates automated and recurring presentations, videos, webinars, and VSLs. Utilizing all of the viral aspects of Facebook, list building features make creating a FBWebinar a snap.

Currently still in their Pre-Launch phase, FBWebinars has an Alexa ranking of #61,602 with the larger part of its visitors coming in from the United States at 76% with a local traffic ranking of #15,661. Most users are males over the age of 35 with mid-level incomes.

What Can Users do with FBWebinars’ System?

With the FBWebinars system, users can promote any service, product, training or other webinar needs, as well as the products of any others, with their permission of course, or even create your own to promote many affiliate products or services.

Users on the basic account can add five custom webinars for their own products or services, and using pre-screened options do not count against your basic five.

The Future of Business and Educational Communications

Harnessing the educational or selling power of a webinar, with the mass marketing capabilities of Facebook certainly adds a few elements of ease to Webinar creation. Many users have already become loyal fans in just the short time FBWebinars has been in open beta. If your business or institution regularly relies on Webinars for communications, you may want to have a look at a review or two, do some research, and see if your webinar needs can be more efficiently met on the FBWebinar system.

With new updates popping off left and right, FBWebinar.com seems to be continually improving, at a rather fast rate. New methods such as the Viral Traffic Generation method and incentive programs are offering users innovations in Webinar technology previously unseen. You will not know until you investigate, but even without the impending updates, the current platform may be the perfect tool for your organization to launch products or services, create educational and training presentations, and improve your online marketing campaigns.

FBWebinar Updates

FBWebinars has already implemented a few new upgrades.

FBWebinars Incentives – This program will offer users a gift when they invite a designated number of friends to attend their webinar.

FBWebinars ‘Done for You’ – FBWebinars’ goal is to provide its users with a consistent stream of the newest and most profitable webinars with the highest conversion rates. Let FBWebinars help you to turn your webinars into sales, traffic, and a powerful tool for list building.

Click Here to get your account now!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkpJdmxTX-g]

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Google Plus: A short Intro to G+

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Vic Gundotra of Google explained that, connection is a “basic human need”. The current online choices in social media did not have enough diversity inside each individual social tool.

Who should be worried about Google+:

  • GoToMeeting
  • Flikr
  • Skype
  • Facebook
  • Microsoft
  • EVERYONE!

Bradley Horowitz, VP Products helped build Google+ explained in an interview for Twit:

Google+ allows individuals to create social networks inside a single social tool to share as you want where you want, when you want. It allows you to not only share via a news feed, but puts you face to face with people via video chat or in “Google Hangouts”.

In the real world people interrupt conversations and the technology in Google Hangouts was developed to recognize that and move the camera, its designed to develop the natural communication we see in real life.

Another innovation in Google Plus is Spark. Spark uses google news and google search to integrated with content that you interested in, it will provide a personal filter for content that is fresh and new to generate conversation. It keeps the discovery and sharing within your circles.

Another Great feature of Google Plus is the instant upload feature for Android. It allows users to automatically upload pictures as you take them on your mobile phone, then when you use G+ its loaded and ready to share if you choose.

Huddles is the mobile version of the platform that allows you to interact in small groups, I hope they add video to this, it would make the mobile video a real userfriendly social option.

Changing Social Interaction on the Web:

In Google Hangout people have to interact in a real time public space, something that others will now have to rethinking. Success will now include how they look, speak and the body language or facial features that they use. Google Hangouts has a game changing advantage for those that do know how to present and speak in public and are truly genuine. Users should be aware that this new social tool is a lot like “Larry King Live” and you better be prepared for questions that you may not want to answer.

Stay Tuned for “What does Google+ Really Mean for Google?”

This is a great video look at Google+ and really starts to get to the culture of Google+ at 44 minutes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3evAu7WN4Q]

Sources:

New Facebook Features

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Facebook seems to be well intent on stepping up their game in the world of social networking. Whether a knee-jerk reaction to Google +, or a long planned idea, following a recent press conference at their headquarters, Facebook launched their newest options for their users.

Skype

One of the newest features includes Skype powered video chat, for single or group chat connections. Many users have already lauded the ease in which a user can initiate first a solo chat, and then simply initiate another to create an instant video conference call.

From an unbiased point of view this does offer awesome capabilities to those who would not have been able to communicate this easily before. Soldiers and others abroad can quickly strike up a video chat with Mom and their spouse when time is short and connections are vital. Students traveling countries away from their homes can do much the same.

This is what the internet is about and it does feel good to know the great connections that can be made here now with not much hassle, but just as with anything else, this already leaves a hole open for those who abuse such things to begin doing so. If you have an incredibly huge network on Facebook, you may find yourself the recipient of unwanted phone calls. This could quickly become another source of frustration for those who use Facebook who may not be entirely fond of their privacy policies.

Group Chat

Although the new group chat is certainly more user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and in general, so far, less buggy and annoying, it does seem to offer then unwanted possibility of Skype calling as well. However, though there may be a few annoying folks who may choose you to test the new capabilities on, drawing you into chats you may never enter willingly, the novelty of this too will wear off soon, just as it has on many other chat or instant messaging network.

The new features will be integrated into the usage of Facebook fans in over 70 different languages in the coming weeks, no small feat regardless of the digital wizard behind the curtain. This entire work over is what Facebook developers say was a part of the plan since the $240 million dollar investment that Microsoft made in them back in 2007.

Currently, these options are only available in the Windows platform. When asked about other operating system options in the future, Zuckerberg would only respond with, “We’ll see.”

Sources:

How is Social Media Changing Higher Education?

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Many teachers have adopted an everyday practice of incorporating digital technologies in the classroom and extending learning beyond the traditional boundaries of the Institution.

Distance education is high on the agenda of most higher education institutes and a great deal of effort and time has been invested into staff development to ensure that teachers are up to date and aware of how to teach remotely using new technologies.

It’s not only the role of the teacher that has changed. The embedding of digital technology into everyday study has also changed the way students learn. Now students can assume more responsibility for their own learning and design their own study trajectories. They are able to access a vast pool of knowledge through access to the World Wide Web. They can learn anywhere, anytime.

Since the web has become more social, students today share experiences and knowledge; they can communicate with their teachers after hours, they communicate with peers and enhance their learning experience.

Today’s students are multi-tasking, possessing the ability to access and decipher information. Students are more at ease with changing technologies. Social media enables them to be heard and provide feedback. Studying is no longer a one way street from teacher to student but a two way collaborative effort. Social media gave the students a voice in their learning process.

In many higher learning institutions blogs, wikis and social media tools ease the way to create collaboration between students. Social media tools support sharing and building of knowledge.  Projects given to students as a group are now easier to perform since the geographical restrictions have been removed. Blogs are used for learning another language, projects can be posted on Youtube for the whole class (and the world) to see and project descriptions are posted online with due dates. Social bookmarking is used by professors to list the reading requirements of the course and giving students the key to resources online.

Experts in any field are more accessible today through social media. An expert’s tweets about his experiences can provide a learning experience and insight into the professional world never possible before. A question can be posted for an expert on his social page or his blog and a dialogue started that would have taken weeks to arrange in the pre-social media world.

And it starts even before the learning begins. Some institutions, for example, use Facebook pages to reach out to student before they first arrive on campus. With many of them leaving home for the first time, knowing some of their classmates before they arrive can support them in this time of transition.

Social media and Skype enable face-time with a teacher for a one on one session. When there’s no time during school hours, it can be done during evening hours and across time zones. . Schools today use cloud storage that enables their students the use of an expensive program from home, for a limited time. They provide space for storage of group projects where all the group members can enter and make changes.

As part of Walden University’s Doctorate in Education program I was amazed and shocked at the learning process. While it was exciting to be able to work at a unique pace and have access to classmates and instructors at different times of the day, from the comfort of my home. I also found that the use of such technology was lead by those who struggle to understand it. Having academics try to lead topics citing the internet and multiple intelligence theory was horrifying because most could not relate or lacked an understanding of the base.

One of the most foolish policies I ever heard started from Michigan State University, repeated at Stony Brook University and then echoed in the Walden University’s DC residency, “Wikipedia is not a source and should never be used”.  

The shock and awe was outstanding, it was as if the professors just repeated something that they were told and never actually took the time to do any research for themselves. While you might not directly cite Wikipedia as a source, this collaborative site for knowledge has been found by research to be more accurate then the Encyclopedia Britannica. In research, a process that requires a starting point and is benefited by diverse experiences and information, it is hard to truly argue that there is a better source then Wikipedia.

Other uses for the new technology include text messaging and social media alerts are a relatively new ways for schools in the US to alert the whole student body to an emergency situation.

What new challenges does this pose?

Keeping teachers ahead of the curve with continued education regarding technological possibilities and with so much information, educating the students to know what is credible and what not, what is important and what not, and be able to figure out the source of the information they come in contact with.

Students were given the virtual key to the library and a group study doesn’t have to be done in one physical location or with just classmates. The digital era and social media revolution is in full swing, all they need now is guidance.

Sources:

New Creative Commons Option for YouTube Fans

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YouTube recently released some new options in creative commons licensing for their uploading fans. Users will now be able to choose to license their videos under CC BY or to retain the default option of Standard YouTube Licensing.

In human terms, CC BY is the ability to share, remix, or make commercial use of the video under the conditions of Attribution. This means the video must be attributed in the method that the author specifies, however, not in a manner that suggest that the original creator endorses you, your products, services or ideas.

 

Users must retain the understanding:

  • That any of the previous conditions can be waived if permission from the copyright holder is received.
  • That regardless of where the video or any elements of it are located in the public domain under the applicable laws, that its status is not affected by the license.

Most commonly, providing a link to the original authors web page is sufficient for applying proper attributions.

10,000 Videos

Along with its newly launched CC BY implementation, YouTube has also created a Creative Commons Video Libary that contains 10,000 videos from Al Jazeera, C-Span, Public Resource.org and Voice of America. This base catalog of videos are available for users to access, edit, and if desired, incorporate into their own projects.

YouTube Video Editor

The always useful video editor now also contains a CC option that will allow users to search for only creative commons videos from the freshly filled library and choose from them which to edit and remix. This can save loads of time for those who find video editing part of their daily grind. Once the CC BY video has been edited and remixed, the newly created video will automatically display the proper attribution linked titles to their original source videos.

The good news is that this library will only continue to grow, making the new liscening and editor capabilities. As it stands, after its first week with this format, the CC BY library has already grown from its initial 10,000 to well over 60,000.

What Does This Mean for Small Business?

Quite simply, this means that if you currently run your social media marketing campaigns through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you will be able to garner direct benefit for your business in time saved, higher quality videos, and quality linking to help build your web presence.

Whether you do your own video editing, or pay an employee to do so, this has been in the past a rather costly, time consuming element of a marketing campaign. The problem lies within the available creative commons licenses. As any video editor can tell you, searching for and locating videos or the content of videos can be a needle-in-the-haystack endeavor, with a walking-on-eggshells result.

This is because there are few places on the internet that allow for free, the usage of any of their material. Just like stock photos, there are stock videos, and fortunately, users can usually rely on these to be of high-quality.  Unfortunately, these can also be extremely costly and the specific proper attributions can make managing the editing process incredibly tedious.

YouTube’s new library and editing attributions presets have taken all of the hassle, and the hours of data mining out of the equation. Now creating a quick video to toss into your social media networks is easy work for just about anyone.

 

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