March 29, 2012
Starbucks is the Nation’s Most Socially Engaged Company
I love Starbucks. It represents a company that is doing everything right from using green cleaning products to embracing upscale food that has no preservatives or hydrogenated fats. Their CEO Howard Schultz and the company were voted #1 last year and they remain committed to fair trade, the environment and creating jobs. How many corporations do you know THAT STILL OFFER BENEFITS AND OPTION SHARING?
Starbucks is constantly working to improve product. Even their coffee which friends have told me they do not necessarily like has been tweaked upward toward a milder blend. So for me, it’s a no brainer when I read that Starbucks is the nation’s most socially engaged company, according to research firm PhaseOne.
Between July 2011 and January 2012, PhaseOne studied the social engagements of 75 top U.S. brands to determine the rankings. Audi, McDonald’s, Red Bull and American Express were in the top five. Researchers discovered that certain brands that convey a social benefit attract social media users because they identify with the brand and want to send the message to those in their social network about how they should be perceived. The user associates the brand with his or her idealized persona. Starbucks #1 slot was dependent upon a number of other factors, but underscored was the importance of social media to a company’s marketing efforts. PhaseOne used a number of variables to compile its rankings.
To highlight the impact of social media on a company’s marketing efforts, the Business Courier is holding a Social Madness corporate challenge to measure the growth of a company’s social media presence through a bracket-style tournament. Winners on a local level will advance to a national tournament. The social madness concept is only a reflection of how significant social media marketing is becoming to brick and mortar companies who dare not go into business without it!
First published on Technorati by Carole Ditosti.
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A New Facebook App Allows Users To Name Enemies
Facebook is known all over the world as a social network that connects people to their friends and their interest, as well as post photos of their family and even embed their favorite videos. Is Facebook becoming too monotonous and friendly that making friends is all what you can do on the site?
The answer to that question is yes, according to a report and one app developer. Enter EnemyGraph, a free Facebook app that lets users to list their enemies instead of making friends. The app works by connecting Facebook users on things they dislike and point out a difference you have with a friend and offer it up for conversation, as opposed to a similarity.
This new Facebook app takes a different approach and is completely opposite on the social school of thought where everything has to be based on mutual interests and shared experiences.
The dislike button feature has been sought and supported by many Facebook users for years which hasn’t been implemented by Facebook and the EnemyGraph is surely a welcome treat for other Facebook users who believe that not all entities – a group, a company, a person or anything else are friends but there are enemies, too.
Currently, the top trending enemies in EnemyGraph are Internet Explorer, McDonalds, Justin Bieber and fake tans.
Now whether this new app will take off and have the support of the majority of Facebookers and social media critics remains to be seen.
First published on Technorati by Dan Reyes.
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President Barack Obama Joins Pinterest
Pinterest, the newest social network sensation, is experiencing so much public interest and soaring media publicity that it has caught the attention of, get this, President Barack Obama!
According to a report, President Obama has joined the newest social media darling Pinterest, apparently embracing the ever-growing popularity of the site to step up his political campaign.
The president’s Pinterest page is run by his “Obama for America” campaign staff and currently has 8 boards, 40 pins and 1,629 followers. The boards include Obama-inspired recipes, pet lovers for Obama, the First Family, Obama Art and Obama 2012 campaign in action.
In a recent Obama Twitter account tweet it says “Organizers, infographics, murals, and cake–now pinning all of the above for #Obama2012 on Pinterest”.
The use of social media has been taken as a revolution of political campaigns during the last U.S. presidential election as candidates, like Obama, gathered followers through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
For his re-election campaign, Obama has been joining the latest popular social websites like Google+ and social photo-sharing site Instagram.
First published on Technorati by Dan Reyes.
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March 27, 2012
How BlogFrog Monetizes the Massive Influence of Women Bloggers
First published on Technorati by Kaleel Sakakeeny.
How do you get to be called the largest woman’s blogger network in the country?
You believe in what BlogFrog CEO and co-founder, Rustin Banks, says: “Elevated authentic editorial brought to you by a brand is the future.”
What’s he talking about?
He’s talking about sponsored conversations with a very large blogger group that pose questions near and dear to a brand’s heart, and solicits viewer responses ( chatter, votes, stories, advice, suggestions, etc.) near and dear to a brand’s bottom line.
The same brand that paid to have the sponsored conversation to begin with.
Nothing especially unique about this ever since the line between editorial and advertising got blurry, and more blurred back a little while ago.
But in far-ranging article in Entrepreneur Magazine by Jennifer Wang, we learn that Banks has successfully tapped into the mother lode of online influencers: Mothers.
Statistically, as the article points out, “moms” lead the pack in innovation in digital commerce and media, with this generation of moms being “tech-savvy, highly educated and (controlling) 85 percent of household income.”
They’re also the most “social demographic,” meaning if they like or dislike something, they say it. On line. Socially and virally.
So, BlogFrog, borrowing a sentiment from Pinterest, perhaps, set out to become a social network organized around what people are interested in, not who they know. Which led to their having 125,000 active members and 65,000 bloggers, with a reach of 10 million parents making it, arguably, “the largest mom-blogger network in the country.” As we said.
Lots of social networks offer bloggers the opportunity to generate revenue through advertising on their blogs.
But the three-year old BlogFrog actually offers tools for them (mostly “moms”) to create their own communities, discussions and video content, and connects these to brands willing to pay to be part of the conversation.
The company vets its bloggers. Based on a range of “influence factors,” it chooses its chiefs (“community leaders”) and sets them loose to create a larger blogger group around topics of interest to brands, who pay a fee determined by the number of bloggers and their reach.
Already ABC News, Lego, Procter and Gamble are reportedly among the big brands that have signed on probably because BlogFrog fills the need for customers and brands to be connected, but without advertising, which has no real capacity to drill down and customize the brand’s messages.
Bloggers are happy because the company has allegedly paid out more than half a million dollars in one year to them.
What’s cool about the site (besides being able to earn some big bucks) is that unlike a typical blog, there is a conversation among community, questions and answers, back and forth. In a blog, there is no cross conversation; no sideways chatter.
However, it’s not that simple to sign up and get going. While the actual signing up is relatively easy, I was left feeling unsupported in my next steps and had trouble with the embedding code.
Still, as Laurie Turk of TipJunkie, the popular DIY/craft site says, BlogFrog “is giving bloggers the opportunity to wield power and influence…to make a ‘mom blogger’ a profession.”
And that, as they say, can be taken to the bank.
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Facebook to Marketers: “You’re Going About It the Wrong Way”
First published on Technorati by Andre Bourque.
Throughout the history of time people have been applying their old ways to new media. That was the message from Facebook’s global brand manager, Paul Adams, at last week’s Signal Conference in San Francisco.
So what exactly does that mean? It would appear that historically for us, each time a new media was introduced, we tried using it in a way for which it wasn’t optimally designed. The telephone, Adams explains, was originally thought to be a fantastic solution to broadcasting. You’d dial-in, leave the receiver dangling, and listen along with all the others to the day’s broadcast. Things evolved and we found more practical ways to use the phone.
In the case of Facebook, marketers are trying to apply the ways they work with existing media, to how they use the social network. So what’s Facebook’s advice? Facebook shouldn’t be expected to expand its offering to include things like larger banner and pre-roll ads, and marketers shouldn’t expect it to. Facebook isn’t about instantly grabbing someone’s attention and immediately converting it into a sale. It’s gentler than that, and more about how we build relationships with one another in the physical world, through “many lightweight interactions over time.”
The power of Facebook isn’t in each individual share, but the aggregation of them over time. That’s what builds relatedness and that’s how it should be used in business. Adams said that blasting a large ad on Facebook defeats the nature of the medium. Use Facebook to build the relationship first, over time, and only then, market to them. The “hot spot” in the relationship is more towards the middle of it and later on, not at the beginning.
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Igniting Social Media: Technorati Interview with Jack Krawczyk, Senior Product Marketing Manager of StumbleUpon
First published on Technorati.
The ten-year-old social site StumbleUpon can certainly be labeled as the social-media-comeback darling of Silicon Valley. Founded as a dorm room project in 2001, StumbleUpon picked up steam in 2005 when they moved the company from Canada to San Francisco, California. The company was acquired by Ebay in 2007 and spun back out of eBay as a "restart-up" in 2009. In March 2011, the company received 17 million in fresh venture funding and now boasts over 100 employees with offices located in San Francisco, New York and Paris.
StumbleUpon helps you easily discover new and interesting stuff on the Web. Tell them what you like, and they’ll introduce you to amazing web pages, videos, photos and more that you wouldn’t have found on your own. Users are flocking to the site to "discover" new articles and average 300 pieces of content discoveries each month.
The growth rate over the past year is impressive. StumbleUpon has approximately 20 million registered users, averages 1.2 billion referrals each month (85% are located in the United States) and has indexed over 100 million pages. StumbleUpon has become one the most powerful sources of traffic on the internet
Why is this so important for bloggers and the blogosphere? By adding a StumbleUpon badge to your articles, there's an average lift in traffic of 20-25%. Translation – increase number of unique visitors, page views, brand awareness and social engagement on your site.
In part-one of our exclusive Igniting Social Media interview, Shani Higgins speaks to Jack Krawczyk, Senior Product Marketing Manager of StumbleUpon about:
- The growth rate of StumbleUpon
- Filtering on what is submitted to the site
- Referrals from the site and importance of adding the StumbleUpon badge
- Competitors
- Average stumbling session & discovery in each session
- Biggest difference from other social media platforms
- Importance of pagination
- Measurement tools offered to bloggers
As an extension of Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2011 Study, Technorati Media is releasing a new web series: Igniting Social Media. These interviews will showcase industry experts discussing social media trends and features from major blogging platforms, tools, start-ups, brands and agencies while providing insight on how social media impacts our ecosystem today and how it will continue to evolve.
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Could Google Suggest Lose You Your Job?
First published on Technorati by Adi Gaskell.
The idea of the Internet getting us into trouble at work is not a new one. Recently some employers got themselves into trouble after demanding that job candidates give up their Facebook login details so they could snoop on their account.
Meanwhile, earlier this year it was reported that a man was fired from his job because his LinkedIn profile was setup to alert him of job opportunities.
News however that Google Suggest has landed a Japanese man the sack however takes things to a new level. Google Suggest offers the searcher suggestions once they begin typing. So for instance if a user types ‘car’ it might offer car hire, car insurance, car games and so on.
The problem is that when employers typed this mans name they were offered lots of searches relating to a man of this name and criminal activity. If these suggested searches are selected more than 10,000 web pages are returned that defame or disparage him.
The man asked Google to clean up its records so neither results or suggestions appear, but Google refused on the grounds that the results are determined by algorithm and thus weren’t intentional.
“It could lead to irretrievable damage, such as job loss or bankruptcy, just by displaying search results that constitute defamation or violation of the privacy of an individual person or small and medium-size companies,” the mans lawyer said.
“It is necessary to establish a measure to enable swift redress for damage in the event of a clear breach,” he continued, adding that the man will take further legal action to prompt Google to comply if the Internet giant continues to neglect to act.
For many, Google Suggest has been a source of much hilarity, with funny suggestions a popular staple of blogs the world over. For this individual however, the suggestions were far from amusing.
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The World is Connected by Email and Social Media
First published on Technorati by Adi Gaskell.
The concept of Six Degrees of Separation suggests that everyone in the planet is at most 6 ‘hops’ from anyone else. The idea is not a new one, with Stanley Milgram coining the term after an experiment in the 1960′s.
A new poll by Ipsos has revealed the extent of our new global connectivity. The poll, as reported by Reuters, reveals that 85% of people with an Internet connection use email regularly, whilst 62% interact with others via social media.
Interestingly social media was found to be more popular in countries such as Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa than it was in America, despite sites such as Facebook and Twitter originating in the United States. Only 61% of American Internet users interact via social media, compared to 80% of Indonesians. Japan was bottom of the pile though with a paltry 35% of their web users interacting on social media.
“Even though the number in the United States was 61 percent, the majority of Americans are using social media sites,” said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs.
The fact that more than six in 10 people worldwide use social networks and forums, she added, suggests a transformation in how people communicate with each other.
“It is true interconnection and engagement with each other. It is not just about a message back and forth but building messages across communities and only the meaningful messages stick,” she explained.
“It looks like a majority of the world is communicating this way,” she said, adding the numbers were more than half in almost every country polled.
Email usage by contrast was found to be highest in Hungary, with a whopping 94% of Hungarian Internet users communicating via email. Similar numbers were found in Sweden, Argentina, Poland and Belgium.
Bottom of the email league table were Saudi Arabia, with just 46% penetration, with India next with 68% and Japan low again, this time with just 75% of web users communicating via email.
Although Americans and Japanese are thought to be very tech savvy, voice-over IP VOIP.L, audio conversations conducted via an Internet connection, were not very popular in both countries with less than 10 percent of people using the relatively new technology, compared to 36 percent in Russia, 32 percent in Turkey and 25 percent in India.
The full list of countries included in the study were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.
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Intel’s Social “Status Update”: Make Conversations, Not Ads
First published on Technorati by Andre Bourque.
Intel launched its marketing campaigns with a bang this year, showing off a number of interesting 2+ GHz Ultrabook laptops with Intel processors at CES. Going head to head with Apple, they talked a whole lot about how their chip technology can do much more than Mac solutions. But Intel’s marketing is not just about hardware, chips and engineering–“experience” is the new focus.
“People don’t buy processors…they buy experiences,” said David Veneski U.S. Media Director, at Intel Corporation, speaking at this week’s Signal Conference in San Francisco. And the company appears to be embracing this. “You need to turn a moment into a momentum, and a momentum into a movement,” Veneski said. Projects like Intel’s Museum of Me use social media to encourage users to create a “visual archive of your social life.”
Similarly, the company’s latest campaign, “Intel Ultrabook Temptations” is an interactive social experiment to measure to what extent people will go to get their hands on the product. This is very much a hardware-to-social experiment that encourages users to jump around on a custom-built measurement device to generate their “excitement” rating. The event is captured on video and shared socially as the feature on Intel’s YouTube page, a website that now boasts 30,000 subscribers and 31million views.
“The focus has shifted from being iconic to posting a status update,” said Veneski. This makes Intel more humanized and relatable to the consumer. Getting beyond the blue icon, and embracing social media, the company is highlighting itself as a key element in what drives our day-to-day experiences. Intel’s products drive the technology we use to enjoy much of it, and those experiences are what we like to capture, talk about, and share.
Encouraging this new-found incorporation of social media for business, Veneski threw out a challenge: “If more brands were willing to take risks, media and marketing as a whole would be more interesting.”
David Veneski’s full presentation can be found on SlideShare.
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Facebook Added A New “Friend to Just Acquaintance” Feature
First published on Technorati by Dan Reyes.
Last year Facebook introduced the Close Friends and Acquaintances lists to help its users see more of what they want in their news feed. Using these lists helps Facebook users see more posts from their close friends and fewer from acquaintances they don’t know well.
The options back then were to either unsubscribe to alerts from these close friends or completely remove them from your friends list, or “unfriend” them, the latter being a more hurtful and obvious way of filtering out all their talks or feeds that don’t make any sense to you at all.
Well, I have good news for you, Facebookers. Facebook must have listened to all of your prayers because according to a report, the social network giant just added a new feature that is going to softly eliminate “nonsense” talks from your extra sensitive and over-sharing friends by putting them in your acquaintance lists instead without them actually knowing it.
This new feature lets users get fewer alerts from your friends that you put on that acquaintance lists, and when you open it up, you can just click Manage List and check or uncheck what kind of updates you want to see from them.
In summary, now you don’t have to keep clicking Hide Post for all the annoying things you don’t want to see and read. And the best part in all of these? Finally you can now say goodbye to animosity or hard feelings among friends and get back to a more peaceful Facebook surfing experience with this new feature.
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March 22, 2012
Instagram Helping Big Brands Filter, Share, and Promote Their Message
First published on Technorati by Andre Bourque.
One of the things I like about the Signal Conference, held today and put on by Federated Media Group, is that they pack a whole lot of talent into a single day. But just 10 minutes with Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, was not enough time today. The iOS photo-sharing phenomenon was the first social app to have crossed a million users in just three months. Today, over one million users a week are adding the application.
In molecular terms, the atomic unit of Instagram is the “image.” So, it’s no accident that the success of Instagram truly came with the iPhone 4 launch. With photos as the base medium, the phone’s 2x screen and 5 mega-pixel input device enabled the masses to truly use the app the way it was designed. True to practice, Instagram was created with the intention for users to do four things:
1. Image capture
2. Image manipulation (“to make it look awesome,” as Kevin says)
3. Syndication of the image through existing channels (like Facebook and Twitter)
4. Inspire and enable two-way communication about it
27 million users later, it’s working. But what’s particularly interesting, if not somewhat unexpected, is how the product is beginning to affect brands and advertisers. This is what Kevin is particularly passionate about. He cites brands using Instagram as a social media marketing tool in three key ways:
Products:
Burberry was one of the first brands to sign-up with Instagram. Their advanced, early adoption of social media has been useful in attracting over 200k followers to their branded Instagram website.
Burberry uses Instagram as a way to show the products they build. So now, more than just tweeting about London fashion show, users are sharing real-time images of the event. Similarly, Burberry takes its own ads through the Instagram filtering process, to create uniquely engaging content that doesn’t feel like advertising. “It feels like entertainment,” says Kevin.
Other brands have used Instagram successfully, as well. Banana Republic is using the tool to promote its Mad Men jewelry collection. The campaign is seeing staggering results, as 25% of followers are engaging with their photos.
Events:
Events like the Grammys and Sundance Festival are using Instagram in creative ways. At the most recent Grammys, whole teams of people were deployed to take behind-the-scenes photos, creating an instant and retrospective way for viewers and readers to talk about people. Sundance took things a step further, crowd-sourcing followers to use the tool. The festival encouraged users to tag their Instagram photos “Sundance 2012,” as a sort of visual check-in. “That’s free advertising,” Kevin points-out.
Campaigns:
Tiffany’s came to Instagram and asked, “How can we tie your tool into a new campaign about love? The company asked people to take photos with the tool, instructing them to hashtag each “truelovepictures.” The result is a collection of user generated photos in a new web microsite that generates droves of traffic each day: Trueloveinpictures.
Brands like Nike and Warby Parker have established creative Instagram-driven campaigns, as well. Warby Parker took its fans on an “Insta-walk” where they posted photos of Warby Parker glasses. Certainly, the tool has grown beyond all expectation and continues to evolve. If we’d had only one more minute for Q&A at the Signal Conference, my question would have been: “Android? When?” The rest of the world is ready.
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There’s a Rypple in the Water: Success of Living Social with Social HR
First published on Technorati by Andre Bourque.
Last year we reported Sales Force.com’s acquisition of Rypple, a human resources solution that offers real-time feedback, coaching and recognition within a social network. I caught the presentation of a fresh Rypple case study at a traveling CloudForce event in San Francisco last week.
Rypple, originally founded in 2008 as a performance management firm, describes itself as social software that makes feedback easy and fun. They take pride that their software was built around people, not process, making it more inviting to teams actually get things done. One might consider it as extremely efficient HR, where “managers don’t waste time, people get the useful feedback that they want.”
Rypple is a tool that makes the employee review process “social” and continual. It links employees to corporate projects and objectives. Think project management software meets SharePoint delivered as a service. Rypple is all about recognition as a means for teams to work, learn, and adapt faster.
LivingSocial Making Waves with SalesForce.com’s Rypple
Ask Jennifer Trzepacz, VP of Human Resources for Living Social, and she would say the same things about Rypple. ”It’s not often you see people singing about HR,” she tells the audience who’d seen a video clip of that very activity.
Launched merely two months after contracted, Living Social’s HR went social with Rypple. Features of the roll-out included things like “Loops,” used for gathering and requesting feedback. “Thanks” and “badges” were deployed as part of the virtual currency of giving feedback. Milestones and goals were set across the company, for both social goals and individual objectives.
The environment and culture of D.C.-based Living Social is very much, as Trzepacz describes, about being, “Fun, whimsical, social and local; about food, fun and experiences…” The software was launched internally with a campaign entitled, “There’s a Rypple in the Water. Will You Be Ready?” The emphasis was a lot about collaboration and transparency. ”This is as much about the culture as well as our brand,” said Trzepacz.
At Living Social, Rypple does a lot of things to fit in. Designed with the end in mind, Trzepacz calls the software simple and approachable. The human resource teams say it empowers the user, as well as protects corporate investments. Because Rypple delivers a differentiated experience for each user, it has the ability to, as Trzepacz says, “surprise and delight.”
All this was important to Living Social, a company who makes their HR experience a lot like their buying experience. In fact, they deliver their offer letters to new employees like LivingSocial vouchers. For a company that’s grown to 4,900 employees, that’s a lot of “vouchers.”
“I was Ryppling today.”
Rypple had a stellar adoption rate across all the various groups at Living Social. The company regularly sees its employees logging unsolicited updates to their individual goal tracking. The tool is now used for capturing daily feedback, and producing greater communication within departments. Managers and peers send thank you notes to one another through Rypple, and badges are frequently given for concepts and values.
Said one
Living Social Rypple user, “Liz helped me out with this thing the other day, so I sent her a badge to show her how awesome a ninja she was.” In another world, Liz might go unrecognized. At Living Social, Liz earns distinguished props for her ability to conquer projects like a tabi-shoed, mixed martial artist.
All of this makes both Rypple and Liz really desirable to work with, and fosters precisely the kind of collaborative and creative environment Living Social seeks.
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Why Companies Stress Brand Promotion Over Customer Service
First published on Technorati by Kaleel Sakakeeny.
You can’t blame travel suppliers and companies for their myopia. For too many years they’ve had a Pavlovian response to their brands: promote them, and get around to taking care of customers later.
Or maybe never.
In spite of all the brouhaha that suggested social media was the way of connecting with and servicing customers, the facts seem to speak differently, according to Hotelmarketing.com .They report that a huge 62% of customers are looking for more support through social media. But, brand reputation and promotions still top the list of how companies are using social media.
In the travel industry, there are not many destinations or destination management organizations (DMO’s) that use their on line presence to support the needs of their customers, or would-be customers.
They’re just too busy promoting the virtues of their properties to actually ask what their customers want, and more importantly to answer questions or provide quality, individualized advice.
Unfortunately, the disconnect between what customers want and companies are giving is actually growing.
At the end of 2011, MarketTools reported that only 23% of US companies provided customer service via Facebook and 12% provided customer service via Twitter.
Econsultancy goes on to point out that many companies just don’t get that they’re in business to serve us, the people, who spend 23% of our time on line. That using corporate social media muscle to promote brand and not to give the people, their customers, a voice, is very wrongheaded.
Econsultancy’s cool Infographic vividly shows that the retail industry, once again, has the the highest percent (45%) of customers using social media as their voice, and contacting (and getting) support through social media.
Travel and Hospitality come in third third with an unimpressive (34%), but Health Care comes in last, with just 9 % of customers using social media to contact a health provider or hospital.
The travel industry in particular needs to do better.
Too much emphasis on using the Internet and social media to generate bookings by featuring glossy images of ocean liners and attractive (if empty) dining areas, pools and beaches.
They fail to make themselves available to support and sustain their clients using the new or social media platforms to hear the voices of the traveler and provide quality customer service.
What’s finally interesting about the infographic is that the disconnect may be the result of top brass not knowing how to use social media.
Seventy-three percent of corporations and companies said they would “use social media for customer service,” if they understood the tools available to them.
It certainly is time to get past that.
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March 22, 2012: World Water Day Social Media Tour
First published on Technorati by Ed Valdez.
March 22nd marks the United Nations sponsored World Water Day: A day for us to gauge how we can minimize our water footprint to maximize resources for all. The global theme for 2012 is: “Water security is food security – the world is thirsty because we are hungry.”
Here’s a whirlwind social media tour for the best resources to educate, facilitate and accelerate all of us to make a difference in our daily use of water. The 2-minute video is the perfect place to start and make water everybody’s business to improve the standard of living across the world . (FYI, since most of the references are made with the metric system, it takes about 4 liters to make 1 gallon.)
- YouTube: an English video with Chinese subtitles;
- Twitter: Follow Tweets or tweet;
- Facebook:Register or Like
- Flickr: Access campaign materials.
So the next time we decide what we eat, it may be good to know that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates our water footprint:
- 36 gallons of water to produce one egg;
- 68 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of fruit or vegetables;
- 55 gallons of water to produce one glass of milk;
- 3,400 gallons of water to produce one half pound of beef;
- 132 gallons of water to eat a standard breakfast of one egg, a glass of milk, 4 ounces of fruit and 2 slices of bread with butter – that’s enough water to take a five-minute shower each day for one month.
Although each of us drinks about one half gallon of water per day, it takes far more water to sustain our way of life. Since water is the essence of life on earth, what are some of the ways we can conserve to minimize our water footprint on a daily basis? Learn more at UNWater.org.
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Would You Give Recruiters Your Facebook Login?
First published on Technorati by Adi Gaskell.
I recently wrote that a quick glance at your Facebook profile is a better indicator of the potential success of a job candidate than more traditional aptitude tests employed by recruiters.
The reasoning is that your Facebook page provides a better window into your life than an interview does, where you’re often putting on your best face. Little did I know that recruiters would take this a step too far.
The Boston Globe is reporting that some recruiters are asking job candidates to give up their Facebook login details so they can check over their profiles.
They tell the story of a New York man who was applying for a job as a statistician. He thought the interview was going well until he was asked to provide his Facebook login details so they could look at his account. Like me he was rightly amazed they could ask such a thing and withdrew his application. He said that he did not wish to work for a company that would even think of asking for this information.
Whilst you’d like to think this was a lone misinformed company it does appear to be increasingly common. Whilst it’s long been the case that employers would stick your name into Google and check you out on social networks, the latest Facebook privacy settings have often meant that they can no longer snoop on your Facebook profile. So they’re simply taking the brazen step of asking you for your details.
“I have heard about recruiters and hiring managers performing searches on social media channels when vetting out candidates, but directly asking for a password is akin to asking for the password to an employee’s email account or other password-protected material,” said Jake Wengroff, global director, social media strategy and research, Frost & Sullivan. “It is a clear invasion of privacy.”
A quick straw poll on my own social networks suggests most of you would tell the recruiter where to stick their job as such a request is a clear invasion of privacy.
If you’d like some tips on how to make your social media profiles a job magnet I’ve provided 5 do’s and don’t here.
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March 19, 2012
Facebook Added New “Interest Lists” Feature
First published on Technorati by Dan Reyes.
The rising and soaring popularity of the newest social media darling Pinterest must have caught the attention of social media giant Facebook.
In an obvious move to maintain the interest of its users to their social platform, Facebook added a new feature called “Interest Lists”, according to report.
Facebook’s interest lists allow its users to customize their subscriptions according to topics they fancy like music, games, food, art, and more. These lists can help them turn their Facebook accounts into their personalized newspaper of sorts, featuring feeds for topics they liked.
The new “add interests” button appears on the left sidebar. If you have the button, the link leads you to thousands of user- generated lists on various topics from which you can subscribe. These lists can include brand and people pages.
If users don’t like what they see on the interests lists provided, they can create their own list topic and take it from there. It is important to note that feeds from Interest Lists appear separately and you cannot see it on your main News Feed.
Now if this new Facebook feature adds additional productivity and interactivity to Facebook users still remains to be seen.
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The Social Face of the St Patrick’s Day Riots
First published on Technorati by Adi Gaskell.
Use of social media during riots is a cause for concern for politicians and police around the world. The riots throughout the UK last year were supported by extensive use of the Blackberry Messenger service. This usage resulted in some politicians asking for social networks to be shut down during periods of civil unrest.
London was the scene once more of the latest instance of social media abuse during a riot. This time though it was London, Ontario, the scene of riots on St. Patrick’s Day.
The Globe and Mail report that some rioters made the rather dim witted decision to share their rioting on social media. One posted to Facebook that he had helped to flip a car and set a van on fire, whilst another tweeted about flipping a car over.
The public response to such bravado however was predictibly stern. A grassroots campaign identified the culprits and they were phoned and texted by both friends and strangers criticizing them for their role in the riots.
The status update was quickly deleted, with the culprit later claiming that he was merely in the crowd at the time and was not actually involved in the car flipping, but the damage was done.
“Now I’m sitting here going: ‘I really hope I can fix this because I don’t want to end up being charged for something I didn’t even do,’ ” he told The Globe and Mail on Sunday, at which point he hadn’t heard from police. “… I look at it and think ‘Oh my gosh, like, why did I write that?’ ”
The public, disgusted by what they were reading, began sending photos and screenshots of the status updates to the police. Proving guilt is of course slightly more complex than this. For instance there were tweets boasting about riotous behavior from the @_standope account. After public outcry the account was quickly deleted. Police have said cannot make an instant arrest because they would first need to prove that Ryan Stanhope was indeed the person writing the tweets made under his name. A tweet in isolation is not really enough.
Nevertheless, social media is making their job easier. Photographs and video evidence captured on smart phones are helping police identify culprits in riots, although the increase in data is not without pitfalls.
“What social media does is it sort of complicates police work because it provides so much more data,” said Christopher Schneider, a University of British Columbia sociology professor studying recent riots in Vancouver.
Whilst sharing on social media that you’re committing a crime is one part of the jigsaw, it is not sufficient evidence to convict someone. To lay a charge, police would also need firmer evidence, such as video or a sworn affidavit.
London police Chief Brad Duncan called the riot “the worst case of civil disobedience” in the city’s history and pledged to identify those who took part. The grandstanding is an attempt, Prof. Schneider believes, to get people to turn themselves in, but police agree tweets alone don’t make a case.
“If there’s enough information to believe somebody may be involved in it, given Facebook, Twitter, all the social media we have out there, obviously we’re going to investigate further,” said Constable Amanda Van Doren, a London police spokeswoman.
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March 16, 2012
Social Media Engagement for Older Professionals
First published on Technorati by Shara Darden.
Many older professionals are hesitant about taking on social media. “Older” meaning those not born into an Internet wired home with a laptop and iPad in hand. We talked with a few workforce veterans who have successfully moved from reticence to social media champions. They all agreed: those who don’t engage are missing out.
Steve Langerud (@SteveLangerud), the director of professional opportunities at DePauw University, often finds that non-users are missing out on opportunities to connect with clients, potential customers, and markets. He shares, “Many report feeling out of place when their colleagues talk about how they are using social media.”
So why are older professionals more hesitant to embrace social media? For many, the answer is fear.
50-year-old John Matthews (@Graycatent), president and CEO of Gray Cat Enterprises, Inc., used to prospect the “old fashioned way” and now 95% of his income comes from social media and other online activities.
In his experience, older professionals fear the speed of change versus change itself, “Fear of the abyss from a speed standpoint. The speed in which the early adapters accept new technologies continues to accelerate. Older professionals are not as adept to the speed of the change.”
The following tips will help older professionals successfully engage and harness the power of social media:
Change Your Mindset
For many younger professionals, communicating via social media is like breathing, it’s just second nature!
Bill Caskey (@caskeyone), author of Same Game New Rules and host of The Advanced Selling Podcast, suggests the difference is linear versus circular thinking, “Older professionals tend to think in a linear manner. If I do’ this,’ then this happens. Then my intended results happen. In other words, if I make 50 calls, then 10 will turn into appointments.” Again this refers to the traditional model for prospecting and sales.
Caskey further explains how circular thinking requires an understanding of “Network Circles”, where those circles are interconnected and rotate on their own. Information flows freely within and between those circles, which is a very powerful concept.
Get Started
Get out there, get introduced, and get to know the different social media sites by trying them out first hand, like 74-year-old Dr. Gayle Carson (@gaylecarson), author of How to Be an S.O.B–A Spunky Old Broad Who Kicks Butt.
Dr. Carson shares that she uses social media hesitantly- only posting sporadically to sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. While she admits to not knowing what to do or if her efforts will result in more business, she further explains, “It’s all about relationships and that’s what I’m interested in building.”
Most social media sites are free or have a free version. You can create an account at no cost. So sign up and then take some time to explore what others are talking about and sharing.
Sara Tetreault (@GoGingham), creator of Go Gingham | Stylishly Frugal Living, a lifestyle blog about frugal living with style, considers herself a part of this late-adopter demographic. She advises, “Just get started doing it and using it. The only way to see how it all really works is to experience it yourself.”
Tetreault, initially hesitant about social media, admitted that she didn’t understand the value until she started using it and seeing the benefits.
Use the Buddy System
Don’t go it alone. Consult with a marketing professional about how they are utilizing social media successfully for their clients. Ask a professional to coach you along your new technology exploration.
A marketing professional can help you create a social media plan and begin utilizing tools like TweetDeck or HooteSuite to better manage your accounts from a dashboard view. This will save precious time and provide useful metrics at-a-glance.
Connect with existing contacts online. These offline “buddies” should become a part of your virtual social network as well.
Tetreault agrees, “If you have a networking group or you’re part of a professional organization that’s active on Twitter already, jump into their conversations. Connect with people you know personally first and build your confidence.”
Balance Your Time
It is also important to find the right balance of time spent on on social media channels. Many people find social media addictive and spend hours upon hours reading, posting, and connecting. As with any business activity, you have to schedule social media time appropriately based on how you are using it.
For example, initially you may use social media to make new contacts or learn about the latest innovations in your industry, but later you may use it to connect with clients, uncover customer service issues, launch a new product or respond to requests for services. All of these activities have a place in your business today with the appropriate allocation of time and resources. Consider that social media simply adds a new channel to manage some of these same activities.
So just how long will it take you to get comfortable using social media? The answer of course will vary for everyone. Many experts agree that 20 minutes a day in total is a good way to get started.
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March 15, 2012
Are Social Media Campaigns Like Kony Successful in Effecting Change?
First published on Technorati by Madeline Bernstein.
The use of social media as an activist tool poses interesting questions. The Joseph Kony video is a great case study. The film, celebrity involvement, a charity, Facebook, Twitter, and the ability to click and see the story of a Ugandan war lord and his treatment of children on 100 million smart phones sparked an international conversation. Debates over Ugandan politics, the motives and legitimacy of the charity (Invisible Children) who created the video, the frustration of journalists who reported the story 2 years ago to an apathetic audience, and whether the actual facts were vetted properly – lit up the airwaves and internet.
The discussions are useful. They serve as a natural fact checking process to determine whether there is a real problem that needs addressing, whether this was a fundraising manipulation by a charity, or both. Of course, more people will watch the video than read assorted articles by experts in that area, but, the information is out there to evaluate. Arguing whether this method of messaging is over simplified, sensational, biased, and bad for children is likewise useful as allows us to examine how we receive, process and restate information to each other and to our politicians. The celebrity factor is also at play here. Journalists couldn’t get the story heard years ago yet with the nudge of a couple of celebrity re-tweets it went viral. In other words, if the subject is interesting to Justin Bieber or Rihanna, we are more likely to hear about it.
The ultimate question seems to be whether or not this type of activism is successful in effectuating positive change and therefore should be replicated. Success is defined in the eyes of the beholder. The goal of raising awareness and funds is not the same as actually arresting a war criminal and changing a political system. We know the use of social media can succeed in achieving the former, but we are not so sure about the latter. Additionally, one wonders how many times it could work successfully before the responding clickers lose interest or become desensitized to endless horrors and injustices.
In October of 2010, Malcolm Gladwell published an article for The New Yorker entitled “Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”. Comparing the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and other social revolutions, Gladwell asks the same question. He describes the scene where 4 black college students sat down at a “whites only” lunch counter in Greensboro North Carolina and refused to leave their seats. The restaurant would not serve them. More protesters gathered on their behalf, sit-ins began and eventually 70,000 students were actively involved in the protest. He argues that this type of “high risk strong-tie” commitment is not created through social media platforms which are built upon “weak-tie connections”. Gladwell goes on to say: “ Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. We are a long way from the lunch counters of Greensboro.”
It seems social media activism is still evolving. Knowledge is critical. We need to know of a problem to solve it. Now 100 million people know something. Critical thinking about the information allows the vetting, analysis and evaluation of the issue to occur. Then old school hard work must follow to ultimately accomplish change. Documentation, constituency building, organizing and developing strategic plans to implement reforms must also occur.
Knowing is better than not knowing, but clicking is not action.
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