Social Networking Tag

Facebook’s New Donate Button Makes it Easier for Nonprofits to Raise Funds Via Social Media

Facebook is striving to help nonprofit organizations by improving their previously adopted “Donate” button. For a while now this button has appeared on the home pages for various nonprofit organizations that are trying to raise money for their cause. Facebook recently decided to try expanding the use of the “Donate” button to allow organizations to add it to posts that would show up on the News Feed of Facebook. This is considered to be the latest way that Facebook is trying to connect its users with philanthropic efforts.

With the new and improved button, charitable organizations will be able to focus more specifically on individual campaigns rather than donations to their organizations in general. If an organization wants to have people donate to something more specific that they are doing, they will be able to make a post about it that will appear on the pages of the people who are friends with the organization on Facebook. People will be able to donate directly through their News Feeds by clicking the donate button and going through a short process to enter credit card information.

While this new tool is just starting to be tested, many people are already becoming concerned about how the tool will be used. Some people worry about the way that this kind of a tool can be used to collect credit card information and how this information might be used in the future. Others are more concerned with the way that less reputable charities might be able to encourage donations without Facebook users really doing research on the charities. The worry is that spontaneous donations via a Facebook News Feed may not really end up going to the charities that deserve them the most.

Right now, the feature is only in its test phase of development with 37 charities trying out the new feature while Facebook perfects it. Already three different charities have launched fundraisers using the new tool to help with their seasonal campaigns. People will be able to donate using the button and also share the fact that they donated with friends to encourage others to give as well. The success of these early campaigns will give Facebook a better idea of how well the tool works.

Social Media Helps Fuel Political Debate

Since more and more people use social media on a daily basis it is becoming increasingly important for presidential hopefuls to interact with voters through the different social media platforms. Politicians use social media presence to provide voters with information about their views and to connect with younger voters who are less likely to tune in to presidential debates. They can also use information on social media to see the way that opinions over certain issues and hot topics of debate are viewed by the general public. Since social media has a growing influence in people’s lives, it is becoming a platform that politicians can use to interact with voters.

Some might feel like the politician with the most followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook, is the one most likely to secure more votes, but it isn’t that simple. Since people follow not only people that they actually agree with, but also accounts that are entertaining, it is likely that many followers and friends on Facebook and Twitter are actually looking for statements or possible slip ups that they can then share. In many cases, these items are shared along with sarcastic commentary to show the opinion of the person sharing the post. This means that in many cases the number of followers does not help anyone predict how many votes a candidate might obtain.

In the past, social media has been shown to give a positive boost to campaigns for different individuals. Many people would agree that President Obama was able to secure much of the younger vote at least partially because of his social media campaigns prior to the 2008 and 2012 elections. However, it isn’t about getting followers, but instead actually expressing opinions and interacting with voters. People are more likely to be able to communicate with politicians on a personal level over these platforms. Supporters of the candidates can also push information about the views of the candidate that they like the most, giving candidates an extra boost. For example, the supporter created hashtag for Bernie Sanders, #FeelTheBern, became a big deal on Twitter. This hashtag spreading information about the candidate, while requiring little effort by the politician himself.

While campaigning on social media is no doubt important, there have been many slips and failures throughout the time that politicians have been using social media as a campaigning tool. When Jeb Bush tried to start the slogan “Jeb Can Fix It”, Twitter users attacked the slogan, relating it to suspicions of his involvement with the voting scandal in 2000. Social media may be helpful to some candidates, but when something goes wrong with a campaign, social media makes it so that more people are more likely to hear about it. Campaigning in the age of social media has risks and benefits that were previously unheard of.

Changes to Facebook’s Real Name Policy

For a while now, the real name policy on Facebook has come under fire for causing certain people to be removed from its site solely because they don’t use what would be considered their legal or “authentic” name. Many people believe that there are plenty of valid reasons that people might not be using a legal name which do not merit their removal from the site. Under the current policy, if people are reported as not using a legal name, then they have to show legal documentation that the name is valid. Critics of the policy state that this policy is discriminatory against certain groups of people.

In response to a published letter about the problem, Facebook has announced that they are going to begin testing some changes to the policy that will keep it from being weaponized and used as a discriminatory measure. As the policy stands currently, many are criticizing the social media site for allowing their policy to continue. They claim that people are able to report those who they may not agree with to make it so that their page will be removed from the site. In many cases, this has led to transsexual individuals and drag queens being targeted by viewers of their pages. Facebook users complain that this damages the Facebook community and is unfair to those who may have controversial views to express.

After coming under criticism for the policy, Facebook has responded to the problem by starting to make changes to the policy. With the new changes in place, people who need to confirm their name with Facebook would not have to provide legal documentation of their name and could give context to explain why they are going by a different name than their legal one. This change to the policy would allow people to use the names that most people know them by whether these are their legal name or not. Another change would require Facebook users who flag others for having a fake name to explain why they decide to flag the profile. Facebook plans to start testing their changes starting in December.

Making the Most of Social-Media Marketing in 10 Minutes Daily

As an entrepreneur of a new, online business it can sometimes seem like your daily to-do list is substantial. What may have originated as a foolproof plan for simplistic, home-based sales can quickly amount to a handful of responsibilities as you set up your content, pictures, products and so forth.

Fortunately, among the often hefty list of must-haves that every successful web store demands, there is one key area that can be cultivated in just 10 minutes a day. Social media is a new-age marketing platform that allows online-business owners to connect with a worldwide audience of consumers.

Below you’ll find three fundamental ways – courtesy of SocialMediaExaminer.com – to create the ultimate social-media experience for your consumers.

(more…)

Differentiating Your Business Using Social Media

By now you are (hopefully) well aware of the immense benefits social media integration can bring to your business. But since social media is free in most cases and information is readily available, chances are that your competition is attempting to implement the same marketing and networking tactics. The question then becomes how to differentiate yourself and your business. Here are a few tips for getting your voice heard on the social networks:

(more…)

Building an Online Reputation through Social Media

On Monday we touched on the importance of establishing your small business on the various social networking sites and in the blogging community. But setting up your accounts and creating new, unique content is only half the battle. Once you have the tools in place, you must be proactive in order to grow and expand your presence on the internet.

According to a recent Nielsen study, users spend 22% of their time on the internet engrossed in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. And remember, this isn’t just users in the United States—this is on a global scale. In addition, three out of every four people who go online will visit a social network or blog. If you take just one thing away from these statistics, it should be that people are increasingly turning to social media.

Although social media was originally viewed purely as a source of entertainment and interaction, it has morphed into a perceived source of reliable information. (more…)

Effectively Using Social Media to Market Your Small Business

Despite its unequivocal position as the latest fad in business marketing and an immense legion of business execs and media sources touting its merits, a recent study shows that small businesses aren’t capitalizing on social media. While large, well-established corporations have jumped on the social media bandwagon with unbridled abandon, small- and medium-sized businesses appear reluctant to adopt this marketing trend.

According to the 2010 Business Monitor United States report, just 24 percent of small and medium businesses have generated sales through social media, and less than 1 percent cited social media as the dominant factor in promoting their business. Instead, companies have continued to utilize somewhat antiquated means of attracting customers, including old-fashioned word of mouth, networking events and traditional advertising. This aversion is quite surprising considering the ample amount of information and resources for implementing social media advertising  currently available to business owners. (more…)

Social Media Offers Politicians a New Means to Reach Constituencies

Politicians have been devising ways to communicate with the public and reach out to their constituencies since the inception of the democratic system. And while each form of new media has given legislators more opportunities to communicate their manifold messages, the communiqué has often been filtered through reporters and the discourse has been decidedly one-sided. Social media, unlike any previous innovation, has fundamentally changed the way voters glean information about public officials. Not only do candidates now have unbridled access to the electorate, but social media also offers voters a way to voice their opinions in an open forum.

Traditionally, a candidate needed to take out ad space in order to deliver a message that wasn’t filtered through a journalist, and aside from an op-ed piece, there was little opportunity for conversation or to gauge the public response. With social media, however, there is no intermediary or barriers of communication. Politicians now have the capacity to justify why they voted for a piece of legislation, elected a certain cabinet member or any other decision in their own words—and voters have the chance to respond. (more…)

Facebook To Link Profiles & Pages Together

Facebook announced Monday that they will roll out a new feature designed to connect all user interests and Fan Pages in what the company is calling Community Pages. At the end of March, the social network removed the “Become a Fan” option from Fan Pages and changed it to “Like” so that users could “openly express” themselves, explained Alex Li, a Facebook software engineer, who wrote in a company blog post that the Community Pages are linked to the new Like term. 

“Community Pages are a new type of Facebook page dedicated to a topic or experience that is owned collectively by the community connected to it,” Li writes. (more…)

The American Population vs. The American Facebook Population

I always talk about how if Facebook were it’s own nation, it’s population would be larger than the United States. But obviously, not every American is on Facebook. So what would happen if we took just the American’s on Facebook and compared that to the actual US population.

This morning, Mashable published an interesting Infograph. Muhammad Saleem provided the graphic, which show that about a third of all American’s are on the social network. While of course, most of the numbers are estimates, it’s fun to take a look at. (more…)