February 2010

New Social Media Helps Haiti

You may recall last month I shared with you an article on how you should be using  new social media.  I had mentioned a few smart phone applications, including GoWalla, which allows you to check into locations, obtaining items and points in a location based game against your friends. 

Now the new localized social media is donating $50 for each check-in at three different San Fransisco Bay area locations.  Those locations include Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Emeryville, CA from 11:30AM until 1:30PM, along with Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Mill Valley, CA from 2:30PM to 4:30PM and Infusion Lounge in downtown San Fransisco between 5-7PM.  Those who check in and go to the Infusion Lounge will be treated to a free concert by the Barenaked Ladies, although a donation is suggested.  All the money will go directly to the Red Cross. (more…)

Twitter Numbers Out Of Control

A good portion of Twitter users are experiencing a bug which shows they have a significatly more number of tweets than that actually do.  The company says they are aware of the problem and are now urgently working on taking care of the issue.

Some Twitter users reported this to the company early last week and the company said, “This bug is a low priority issue because it does not prevent users from fully using Twitter. We do not expect to have this issue fixed in the immediate future for this reason.” (more…)

Web Entrepreneur of Educational Toys Enjoys Success with iePlexus-Built Blog

Ready, set, adventure! It’s time to set out on an educational journey with your kids; today’s expedition, a world of amazing animals.

Did you know that most garden snails live in and around moist areas such as ponds, wooded terrain and, of course, gardens?

Transforming playtime into an exhilarating learning experience is a hopeful mission for many parents; however, simple solutions do exist. At www.BlocksAnd3DPuzzlesBlog.com you’ll find an abundance of fun facts paired with mini lessons plans of exploration; brainchild of Garolyn Bowen. This interactive blog is anything but sluggish as it already has the how-to’s figured out, which means less strategic planning and creative effort required from mom and dad.

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Happy Birthday Facebook!

On February 4, 2004 Mark Zukerberg along with a few of his Harvard classmates created TheFacebook.com.  A social network which was exclusively for Harvard students.  It was so popular that 1,200-1,500 students joined within the first 24 hours of the site being launched. And in less than a month, more than half the students had joined the social network.  Zukerberg and his classmates decided to expand the network to other Ivy League schools, along with college’s in the Boston area.  Soon after it was an exclusive college social network.  The site later changed to invitation only registrants.  But in the fall of 2005, Facebook users were upset after the company had decided to open the site to everyone over the age of 13. 

In the past 6 years, Facebook has seen a number of face lifts.  Normally after any change there was an uproar from the community, but looking back at some of the designs on Facebook’s wikipedia page, the changes have definatly been worth it. (more…)

Social Media News Brief: Feb. 3, 2010

From Twitter scary e-mails to Twitter records, get up to date on what’s happening in the social media world with iePlexus! (more…)

Social Media Viral Task Violates TOS

If you are one of the many 350+ million users on the social media site Facebook, you may have noticed a few of your friends have turned celebrities.  As part of Doppelganger Week, which started 2 weeks ago, Facebook users have changed their pictures to celebrities they’ve been told they look like.  I’ve even taken a part in this, posting a picture of Frankie Muniz, since I’ve even been stopped at the airport because they thought I was him (I personally don’t see the resemblance but you gotta go with the majority). And my friends apparently look a lot like Ellen, Taylor Launter, Daniel Radcliff, Niel Patrick Harris, David Archuletta, Aladdin, and Maya Angelou  just to name a few.

And while this latest viral social media task is fun and silly, CNet brought up the point, it’s actually against Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS). (more…)

Twitter E-Mail Not Phishing Scam

This morning, several Twitter users woke up to e-mails from Twitter saying,”“Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset,” which was then followed by a link to see what their new password was changed to.  To most smart internet users this looks like a phishing attack and scam.

However, the e-mail is indeed from Twitter, and the social network was taking precautions.  (more…)

Twitter Off The Twitter Plateau

A few months ago, Twitter CEO & co-founder, Evan Williams talked at the Web 2.0 Summit about how Twitter’s growth was slowing.  Since then, Twitter’s growth had actually declined.  At least until this new year. 

Twitter’s numbers in January hit record numbers, meaning that Twitter’s growth could be continuing to climb very soon.  First the numbers of tweets was actually record breaking.  Twitter users posted more than 1233.8 million tweets  in January.  And as high as that number is, it’s not that surprising, since the number of tweets each month has been constantly growing month after month.  However, in January 2009 there were only 76.6 tweets posted.  (more…)