Social Media

How You Should Use The New Social Media

localCan you believe we are getting close to February? This year is flying by but I think by years end, we will advance so far and some of it is already starting to bloom. Just the other week, we  got a preview from some of the latest technology at CES,  and also  learned where social media is going to be shifting.  In one of my first blog posts for 2010, I talked about where social media will likely go within the next year and decade, and one of the key components that I talked about was location.   

If you’re asking yourself how location can become a social media, and are confused by it, it’s alright.  It can be a bit intimidating and scary because you are basically letting people know where you are. However, like any social media services there are privacy settings to take a hold of.  And these localized social media networks are going to come in hand in the real world, for both consumers and producers.   (more…)

A Social Media Super Bowl Contest

superbowlOne of my favorite things to share is how we can get free things from the social media world.  So when there is a contest worth it, I try to share it.  My first day at iePlexus, I shared with you about the Snow at First Sight contest, offering anyone who had never seen snow before an all expences, month paid vacation through the Colorado tourism department.  The winners from the contest are snowboarding the slopes of Colorado right now. 

Now if you’re a sports fanatic, you are going to love this next contest.  How about receiving two tickets to this year’s Super Bowl game in Miami?  Don’t be fooled by Spoofem.com’s Facebook competition.  The website allows users powerful tools  to send anonymous phone calls, texts, and e-mail.  (more…)

Social Media Raises $20+ Million For Haiti

h26_21710669Last week’s earthquake in Haiti is still a major shock to the world.  Last week, I shared with you, how the social media world has stepped up to help the victims in Haiti. 

The Red Cross, used their Twitter account to try to help raise money, by announcing that whoever texted “HAITI” to 90999 would be charged $10 on their next phone bill which would go to the relief in Haiti.  The Red Cross’s original goal was to raise $200,000 and then soon decided to go for the one million dollar mark.  In last Friday’s Social Media News Brief, we had announced they had raised over $8 million, just in text messages alone.  (more…)

Facebook The Most Engaging Social Network

facebookengagedThis report actually surprises me a bit.  Pingdom, a web monitoring site, has announced that Facebook is the “most engaging social network.”

“Figuring out how engaging a site is can be tricky,” said Pindgom’s blog post.  “We could look at the number of page views per visit, but that number alone doesn’t really tell us much. We also need to take into consideration how often visitors come back to a site. After all, if we return frequently to a site and also view many pages when we do, it’s likely that find the site engaging.” (more…)

Social Media Helps Victims In Haiti

haitiearthquakeWhen there seems to be some type of major catastrophe anywhere in the world, it seems like everything else just stops and everyone wants to help.  Yesterday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti is just the latest example.

And many people are finding that social media sites are the best way to get involved.  With the use of social media, the citizens of Haiti can tell the story, if they are actually able to get an internet connection.  Many have however.  Jonathan A. Lusma, a victim of the Haiti earthquake, posted the picture to the left on CNN’s citizen journalism site, iReport.  Katie Hawkins-Gaar, a CNN iReport producer, talked to Lusma and said that he, “shot these photos on the morning of January 13, the day after the earthquake struck. Because of the multiple aftershocks, he said many people spent the night outside of their homes.”  Lusma’s photo’s are just one of many that are being used in CNN’s continuing coverage of the Haiti earthquake.  (more…)

Facebook Users Get Free Security

14736_229135845249_220342685249_4727313_2980373_nIn today’s economy, there is nothing like the word ‘free’.  And when it comes to your own security, you can’t pass it up.  Facebook has teamed up with McAfee security, one of the world leaders in computer safety, to offer a free six month subscription to McAfee’s security software to all of Facebook’s 350+ million users.  And if users decide they want to continue their software after their subscription ends, they’ll be offered a special discount.

It’s a big move on both Facebooks & McAfee’s part.  McAfee’s say’s they are giving software that costs about $35 on the site.  If you take that and multiply it by 350 million, that’s just less than $12.25 billion dollars before tax. (more…)

Do Businesses Need Twitter?

twitterTwitter has by far become a great marketing and advertising tool for businesses around the world. By offering exclusive deals, or being able to help solve an issue nearly immediately, the use of the social network has been a success, but it is for everyone? Do you need Twitter to keep your business afloat it’s today’s technology friendly and social networking world?

Matt Bailey from SiteLogic told WebProNews reporter Abby Johnson, “No.” And while many have has success with Twitter, Bailey says that “you need to have a consistent marketing strategy of how to use that social media to your benefit.” (more…)

Social Media In The New Decade

fexit10 years ago at this moment, the world was relieved that nothing that they had feared about, regarding Y2K actually happened.  People were now placing their money back into the bank, while others had an endless supply of food they had stocked up on just in case.  It’s crazy to think that if someone would have said “Facebook”, “YouTube”, “Digg”, or just the words “social media,” we most likely would have given them a funny and strange look. 

It was in 2004 when social media was created.  Linkdin & MySpace took to the web and since then there has been explosion of “social media” & “social networking” sites.  When I graduated high school in 2005, if had ever wanted to share a video with the class for a certain project, I’d have to visit the library, maybe a video store, and rent the video, while worrying about some return date.  Today, my brother who is in his sophomore year of high school is able to use YouTube to share a video with just the click of a mouse.  Our world has advanced so much in the past decade, and social media has played a significant role! (more…)

20 Favorite Viral Videos From 2009

viral copyAs we approach a new year, it’s always fun to take a look back at what happened over the past year.  I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of our favorite viral videos from 2009.

As I began looking into some of top viral videos from the year, I discovered that Visible Measures, a video tracking site, created a list of the top 10 most watched viral videos for 2009.  I was a little heart broken to learn that 8 out of the 10 were music videos.  While music videos are a major part of the American culture, I think the videos below, are the ones that really make 2009 complete. (more…)

Facebook Takes Gold From Google

facebookmedal copyAs we all know Google has been the number one internet site in the US for as far back as many of us can remember.  Hitwise announced via Twitter, that Facebook was the number 1 visited site on Christmas Day, for the first time ever.  Now it’s obvious that people wanted to wish their friends and families “Merry Christmas,” which is the reason for the top spot.

Hitwise hasn’t released any actual numbers at this time, but regardless, this is a very important mark in Facebook’s history.  As Facebook continues to grow pasts it’s 350 million users, the site could very soon dominate the most US visited site list.  (more…)

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