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Social Apps: The Devil in Disguise?

By Alice Gibson in Social Networking

Social network applications are leaving an open door to our most personal of details.

Tending to the crops on your virtual farm, finding out who views your profile and sharing your favourite movie trailers may seem like harmless ways to use social networks but oblivious users are accepting application requests without considering who they
are allowing to access their personal data.

Having ‘apps’ connected to your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter profiles provides an open-door for the third party behind the app to access your profile and all of your personal data within.

UKFast technical director Neil Lathwood explained the risks that this security flaw poses for social networkers: “Having all of these apps to entertain us is great, but many people do not realise that by using these apps they are effectively inviting people to use their personal data in whichever way they want. We really need to start considering the consequences of having all of our data readily available to unknown third parties.

“Facebook acts as a narration of our lives and with the introduction of the new Timeline feature, more people are filling the gaps in their profiles, adding illnesses, significant events and employment details to name a few. This information is incredibly valuable to identity thieves and cybercriminals.”

As revealed by UKFast’s security experts last year, the information that we share on social sites provides cybercriminals with the clues that they need to guess passwords and break into online accounts – from social media to online banking.

Lathwood continued: “With Facebook predicted to pass the 1 billion users mark this August, the site is a prime target for criminals to mine data from. Users must be more savvy with whom they are sharing their personal data or risk cybercriminals accessing more than just their Facebook or Twitter accounts.”

Facebook launches its latest innovation this week – Timeline Apps – which has caused further security concerns. The permissions protocol linked to the apps, ‘frictionless sharing’ says that apps only need initial approval to post on your timeline and profile. This means that the app can continue to make posts on your behalf without asking for permission.

UKFast has issued the warnings as part of the build up to European Privacy and Data Protection Day on January 27, an annual event designed to raise awareness of data protection and online security.

Lathwood said: “Data Protection Day is the perfect time to raise awareness of the risks that we inadvertently take online. We can monitor the apps that have access to our profiles using websites such as http://mypermissions.org/ which take you directly to the permissions page of the site where you can manage these apps.”

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UKFast is one of Europe’s fastest-growing technical companies as ranked by Deloitte and the Sunday Times Tech Track. In the last year CEO Lawrence Jones has been named North West Entrepreneur of the Year, while his team has collected the Greater Manchester Award for Innovation. In addition to being listed as one of The Sunday Times best companies to work for, UKFast also won the UK IT Awards Employer of the Year in 2010.

Previous accolades include being named the ISPA UK’s Best Hosting Provider four years consecutively. UKFast has over 400,000 web domains on its network and over 4,000 clients across all industries. Clients include Virgin, Microsoft and UKTV. UKFast is a member of the Cloud Industry Forum.

For more information about UKFast visit: http://www.ukfast.co.uk

Social Networks and Privacy: Learning From Facebook’s Mistakes

By William Galkin in Social Networking

Observers of Internet trends often pronounce that privacy is a fiction and that it is futile to try to reclaim it. Whether that perspective is correct or not does not matter when faced with a Complaint issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Facebook Complaint and Consent Order recently issued by the FTC provides valuable lessons for how to stay out of the FTC’s crosshairs. Internet attorneys, businesses, consultants and advisors should study what the FTC views as deceptive in order to make necessary adjustments to business plans and operations.

In the U.S., there is no federal law that requires a website to have a privacy policy. However, California requires any website that collects personally identifiable information from California residents to have a privacy policy. Therefore, in practice, based upon the California law, most websites would be required to have a privacy policy. As far as the FTC is concerned (which operates on the federal level), there is no absolute requirement to have a privacy policy, but if a website does have a privacy policy, failure to comply with the policy will be considered a deceptive practice in violation of the FTC Act. As will be explored below, the FTC is not shy at splitting hairs, in search of deceptive practice claims.

Below is a discussion of some of the more significant and relevant claims of deceptive practices alleged by the FTC Complaint. It should be noted that in the FTC Consent, Facebook denied all allegations.

1. Facebook privacy pages offered options to restrict profile information to “Only Friend” or “Friends of Friends”. However, even when such options were selected, Facebook often still provided profile information to an application that a Friend was using on their Facebook page. Such information included a user’s birthday, hometown, activities, interests, status updates, marital status, education (e.g., schools attended), place of employment, photos, and videos. Even though Facebook allowed users to restrict this access through other pages, Facebook nevertheless represented, according to the FTC, either expressly or by implication, that access could be limited to “Friends” or “Friends of Friends” on the Profile Privacy Page, and did not indicate that further actions would be required to restrict access to applications of friends.

LESSON: As seen by the above claim, a disconnect between the Privacy Policy and the technical personnel implementing strategies can result in a claim by the FTC for deceptive practices. Furthermore, statements in a Privacy Policy must be vetted to verify that they do not claim, or appear to claim, a higher level of privacy than is actually provided.

2. In November, 2009, Facebook changed its privacy policy to designate certain user information as “publicly available” which change applied retroactively to information provided by users prior to the change. For instance, many users selected privacy settings to (i) restrict profile information from applications used by a Friend, (ii) restrict their Friends List, and (iii) restrict access to profile pictures and pages from users using the “search” function . To implement the privacy changes, Facebook required each user to click through a multi-page notice, known as the “Privacy Wizard.” According to the FTC, the Privacy Wizard did not disclose adequately that users no longer could restrict access to the newly-designated publicly available information via their profile privacy settings or that their existing choices to restrict access to such information via these settings would be overridden.

The FTC alleged that the Privacy Wizard, either explicitly or by implication, indicated that users would have “more control” over their privacy settings, above the prior settings. Which the FTC claimed was not the case. Facebook did not adequately explain that the new changes overrode prior settings as to name, profile picture, gender, friend list, pages, or networks. The FTC claimed that Facebook’s failure to adequately disclose these facts, in light of the representations made, constituted a deceptive act or practice.

LESSON: Changes made retroactively to prior privacy settings without informed consent, amounts to an unfair act or practice. The FTC requires that (i) material changes to a Privacy Policy be conspicuously disclosed, (ii) users affirmatively opt-in to material changes that affect personally identifiable information previously collected, and (iii) material changes to Privacy Policies be explained clearly and truthfully. As a note, the simplest way to obtain affirmative consent is the next time a user comes to the website, he or she is directed to an explanatory process and given the option to consent to the new changes.

3. The FTC Complaint states numerous examples of statements from Facebook that even though non-identifiable information is shared with advertisers so that they can provide advertisements targeted to the particular user, personally-identifying information is never provided to an advertiser without prior consent of the user. However, the FTC noted that if ads were clicked, then Facebook would provide to the advertiser a unique ID that Facebook assigns to each user. Apparently, advertisers could use the ID to identify the person. Then they could match criteria that they had selected for serving ads to that person. (e.g., if the ad targeted 23-year-old men who were “Interested In” men and “liked” a prescription drug, the advertiser could ascribe these traits to a specific user), plus the date, time and ad visited. Over time additional traits could be identified.

LESSON: This Claim is the easiest to understand and comply with. Personally identifiable information can only be disclosed as set forth in a Privacy Policy or in a manner otherwise consented to by the user.

BOTTOM LINE: Privacy Policies must be carefully drafted, and be clear and accurate. Management and technical personnel should review and confirm the contents of the Privacy Policy. Privacy Policies should be regularly reviewed to verify that procedural or technical changes are reflected in the Privacy Policy. Material changes to a Privacy Policy that affect previously collected personal user information require affirmative consent from the users. As a result of the FTC Consent, Facebook is now subject to detailed scrutiny and reporting for the next 20 years. It’s important to keep up with changing Internet laws.

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William Galkin, Esq. is an Internet lawyer who has dedicated his legal practice to representing Internet, website, e-commerce, computer technology and new media businesses in the U.S. and around the world. To learn more about agreements needed by websites go to http://www.galkinlaw.com/services.

Customizing Twitter Backgrounds

By Gregory Stringer in Social Networking

You don’t have to be handicapped to be different, ’cause everybody’s different.

-Kim Peek

This article is part of a group of posts focused on optimizing ROI in Twitter use.

There are a great deal of Twitter users adopting a policy of consistent branding and positioning carried across from other Webspaces, e.g. Websites, eStorefronts, etc., by employing customized Twitter backgrounds. This would seem to be defined as best practice, as many marketers advise keeping the process of branding both homogenous and persistent transversely through availed channels.

Customized backgrounds lend an air of professionalism to one’s Twitter account. Also, followers tend to be encouraged when they see a touch of personalization and branding. By following these few easy-to-understand steps, you too can be the proud owner of an upscale, bleeding-edge Twitter site!

Several factors must be considered when creating a custom background (the following suggestions and instructions are based on the use of Adobe Photoshop and presume familiarity; if needed, the reader is referred to the Adobe Photoshop tutorials site.

Size

There are two sides of the background which can be customized; right and left (note: the entire background will be one image). By keeping the graphic content of the right side width at 210 pixels (2.917 inches), and the left at 217 pixels (3.014 inches), all branding elements should fit within these two distances from the edges; height should be kept at 809 pixels (11.236 inches). The entire customized Twitter background graphic should be 1439 pixels (19.986 inches) width by 809 pixels (11.236 inches) height. As this is a Web document, resolution should be 72 pixels/inch. The resultant branding message will then be visible in both the “new” Twitter interface as well as the current version. While the space above the feed could conceivably be utilized in the overall creation of the graphic, this could prove problematic. Nevertheless, adventurous designers may wish to toy with this concept.

Background color

The option available that can be used to match the customized background color. It can be found in the Twitter navbar (located at the top of the site) by accessing Settings > Design > Change design colors. When the Change design colors option is accessed, and background, text, links, etc., are chosen, a color selector is provided for the user. In the selector is a dialog box wherein a hexadecimal value can be entered. This value is easily determined in Photoshop, and by matching the values no difference will be detected between the customized background and that supplied via the Twitter interface, as inequalities in coverage may occur.

Sidebar color

By matching the sidebar color to that of the background color (process described above), the information provided by Twitter in the sidebar section, e.g. name, number of tweets, following, followers, et al., will appear to float freely (note: by using a white background color [hex value = #ffffff], the feed itself will float; selecting both background and sidebar colors as white will eliminate page bordering altogether – this is how the Grannelle Twitter site has been fashioned [when employing this method, the sidebar border {appears as a delineation between the feed and the sidebar} can be eliminated by changing the color value to white also, if desired]).

Text and Graphics

All data such as hypertext, phone numbers, etc., are part of the total graphic. They cannot be accessed, copied, or pasted. However, by providing matching information accessible from the sidebar, such as that supplied for the Bio and Web headings (found in the uppermost portion of the sidebar), constancy can be achieved. Repetition of use of the profile picture is also helpful for uniformity. Twitter text and link colors can be selected from the Change design colors preferences to accent those in the customized background, though care should be taken to use contrasting hues. Bear in mind that users experiencing color vision deficiency (color blindness) may encounter difficulty in distinguishing certain color selections.

Total File Size and Format

The total size of the file must be smaller than 800k. GIF, JPEG (JPG), and PNG file formats are acceptable.

While the customized Twitter background graphic can be tiled (repeated across the page), it is not suggested for this method.

Using Photoshop, simply create a document with the aforementioned measurements, building content for the left and right sides of the graphic and choosing background color. Include text information, pictures, and other desired images and illustrations. Adopting a consistently matching background color, create a new document, again with previously described dimensions. Copy and paste the left and right (merged) images onto the appropriate sides of the image. Save the final product. The finished background can be uploaded in the Design section, Change background image, following the same procedure as formerly instructed.

By playing with and trying out these ideas, users can have a polished and professional Twitter site!

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There is no sound, no cry, no voice in all the universe that can be heard until someone listens.

Gregory Stringer is a student of eCommerce, Social Media, and eMedia marketing. His blog, Grannelle’s Social Media, is a collection of articles dedicated to the scholarly study of Social Media and eNetworking. He is also founder, CEO, and CMO for Grannelle, an eCommerce outsourcing firm.

Are We In Social Overload?

By Tamara Jacobs in Social Networking

Recently Google’s latest social network, Google+ opened to the public. In an effort to create a little fun around the subject, College Humor created a two minute video about Not Google+, which encourages people not to join Google+ as we have too many social networks already. Do they have a point?

Google+’s most obvious competitor is Facebook. While Google+ offers certain advantages to its users that Facebook lacks, a lot of Facebook users were resistant to switching networks for no other reason than the hassle of it. Our friends are on Facebook, our pictures videos, links and info and the thought of having to build all of that up somewhere else didn’t quite seem worth it. Twitter or Foursquare, however, are so different in their offering, setting up accounts with them does seem worth it, depending on one’s interests of course.

Between news aggregation, social bookmarking, and social networking sites we are already elbow deep in platforms we have to log into and keep up to date with. Do we really need another one? Consumers and the general public love social networking sites, but with so many available, information is getting lost, their influence means less, privacy issues are being questioned, and our ability to interact face-to-face is slowly diminishing. And while most brands are eager to join social networks, they have yet to see a real return on investment. Just as a brand is starting to become familiar with one platform it seems another one becomes available. And there is this pressure to have a presence on all of them, even though it might not make sense for your company or campaign. Moreover, developing a sound marketing strategy involves time and consideration and half the time brands aren’t even entirely sure how these platforms work and how consumers interact with them.

The issue isn’t whether or not Google should have developed a social network – the issue is what are we, consumers and brands alike, trying to prove? We have entered the ‘look at me, look at me’ culture, where everyone is shouting about themselves. They are making videos about how much fun they’re having at the office, they are posting pictures of themselves showing the world how much fun they were having that weekend and more. Public profiles are important of course, but please, one thing at a time. Instead of throwing a million things up online, think about what you stand for, who you are, who you want to be associated with and how you want to be viewed. And only then, start hiring the best people, the most creative minds to build up something really, really good. Something that will have the world going ‘wow’.

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Adaptive Consultancy is a London-based digital agency specializing in web development, design, ecommerce and internet marketing. Services include search engine optimization, paid search, email and social media marketing. For more on digital marketing agency London
visit http://www.adaptiveconsultancy.com/

Twitter Secrets Revealed

By Derek Fredrickson in Social Networking

Twitter just announced a brand-new feature that I wanted to make sure you knew about. It allows people to have 1-click access to follow you on Twitter directly from your website which is a huge benefit for building your following with your network and establishing a great social media presence using Twitter.

I would definitely recommend setting it up on your website asap.

Speaking of Twitter, I want to share some of the behind-the-scenes strategies and techniques that I personally use with Twitter to build a huge network of loyal, engaging and responsive followers that allows me to consistently build my list and get new clients.

I’m going to make some assumptions that you are already aware of what Twitter is and how to do some of the basics like find friends, get followers, as well as send updates, replies, retweets, etc.

These are some of the more advanced “systems” I use for leveraging the most of what Twitter has to offer.

Friends (you follow) and Followers (follow you)

I always suggest connecting with like-minded people and those you want to connect with as much as possible. It’s pace, not race. Most number of friends or followers does not matter. Often those you follow (as a friend) will follow you back. Having said that, people ask me about auto-following back those who follow you. My thought is you don’t have to. Auto-follow is not an obligation, it’s a choice. There are many followers I have which I don’t follow in return and vice-versa. If you’re wiling to take the time and effort to manually follow back those who follow you, I’d suggest it (I personally do it.)

Direct Messages

I’m a huge fan of using DM’s to connect with my followers and friends. Sending a direct message is quick and easy and almost ALWAYS gets a response. Now, I’m very active and engaging on Twitter so people I interact with DM’s tend to be the same. But, it’s in some cases more effective and efficient than sending emails for things like making introductions and connecting.

Favorites

I use Twitter favorites all the time, marking other tweets as favorites that I want to read later. It’s kind of like email folders for Twitter. See a tweet you like with a link but don’t have time to read it now? Mark it as a favorite and carve out time later to refer back to it.

Lists

I have lists to help categorize and organize my Twitter friends. With 55,000 plus friends it’s hard for me to obviously read EVERY tweet that comes out – it’s insane. So, I use Twitter Lists to group relevant friends in buckets and then review those lists together. I have some for friends, brands, skiing and even locked (hidden) lists for things like competitors, prospects, etc.

Search

Twitter search is a great tool for finding content and possible connections (friends and followers). You can search by hashtag (#) and see relevant tweets to that topic or just do a general search for “Internet Marketing” and see all the tweets and conversation about that topic. From there, jump on in and get tweeting.

Applications

I use the following: Hootsuite and Twitter for iPhone. Hootsuite allows me to view everything in a browser which means I can do it from anywhere (any computer and from my phone). It’s great for viewing all the tweets in columns and then replying, DM’ing, scheduling and posting tweets. The Twitter for iPhone application is just flat-out the easiest and simplest application for a mobile device.

Now the most frequently asked question: “Derek, where do you get all your content and ideas?” Here are my secret sources (never revealed these before). Google Reader (I subscribe to a ton of blogs and content sites relevant to my niche). StumbleUpon and Digg for finding interesting and relevant content that my followers will respond to. ME! Yes, I do create most of my own content and tweets based on what YOU provide to me as feedback and content you’re looking for. So, trust your followers and give them what they want – they will love you for it!

I hope these Twitter Secrets help you in the Twitterverse and I can’t wait to see you out there.

Until next time – Learn It, Love It, Live It!

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Derek Fredrickson, Authentic Internet Marketing Specialist, is founder of the Authentic Internet Marketing System, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to authentically market your business online, in record time… guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. videos and receive his authentic internet marketing articles on attracting more leads and converting more sales online, visit http://www.derekfredrickson.com.

10 Things That Will Make Your Tweets Pop!

By Dawn Pigoni in Social Networking

Every day we work at it: toiling away on our social media networks, doing what we can to reach our customers and broaden our client base. Twitter is one of the simplest platforms to use when reaching out to people, but you may not be tweeting to your best advantage. So, what can you do to make sure that people actually want to read your tweets and can get the most out of them?

Here are ten things that you should be doing with your tweets in order to make them stand out. The only way to reach out and grab the attention of your followers (and that of future ones) is to have some interesting things to say!

1. Be Unique

When you find an interesting article or video that you want to share with your followers, don’t just copy and paste the title into your tweet. Instead, try to put together your own unique spin on it and give them an idea of what is in store for them
when they click on the link.

2. Keep It Short

Twitter limits your tweets to 140 characters, which may not seem like a lot. But really, you’re not supposed to be writing a book here. Keeping it short lets you give only the necessary information without a lot of fluff. Try to keep your tweets to around 120 characters. That way, followers can add their own opinions when they retweet.

3. Think of Your Tweets as Headlines

When writing articles, the sure-fire way of getting readers is by having an attention-grabbing headline. The same goes for your tweets. Make them easy to read and catchy in order to induce your followers to reply or click on the added link.

4. Use Interesting Facts

People love finding out new tidbits of information. These can be random statistics about a topic that is related to your own business. Giving your followers an interesting fact will be more likely to encourage them to click on a link than a boring title.

5. Tweet With Your Own Voice

Don’t tweet like an automaton. Readers want to know that there’s an actual person on the other end of those tweets, so write as you would speak. This gives your tweets a hint of your own unique personality, which followers love.

6. Get Your Timing Right

In order for your tweets to get noticed, you need to make sure you’re publishing them when your followers are the most active. Take note of when you get the most replies and retweets. This is when you should be the most interactive with your followers.

7. Add Value

There are a wide variety of reasons that people use Twitter, from how to collect stamps to the newest techniques in web design. Whatever your reasons for using Twitter, focus on tweeting about those specific topics. When you concentrate on one or two topics, followers will see you as a valuable source of information.

8. Be Interactive

When it comes to your followers, think quality and not quantity. Get them to interact with you, ask questions, and make sure you’re responding to their own questions too.

9. Add Helpful Links

Since tweets are limited, including a link will allow you to share more information. You can include links to your blog, an article, or your webpage. Use your tweet field to include an interesting way to lure them in.

10. Get Them Thinking

Your tweets should always leave your followers wanting more. You want your tweets to be thought-provoking because that’s how you get your readers to stay connected to you and want to interact with you even more.

What works for you in your tweets? Do you have any extra tips for enhancing the Twitter experience? Share with us! We’d love to know what works for you!

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Dawn Pigoni – Social Media Virtual Assistant http://BeSocialWorldwide.com | http://Twitter.com/dawntrenee

The Social Media Marketing world is important to online businesses and I bring value to other companies by offering social media marketing assistance to those small companies that don’t have the time, knowledge or manpower to keep up with social media marketing.

The Uniqueness of Twitter, its Bite-Size Contents and Global Network Economy – A SPN Exclusive

By Warner Carter in Social Networking

Several decades ago, the concept of a global network economy was just an idea made for TV shows and sci-fi films. Nevertheless, no one thought that globalization could take place as early as today. Although fiction films then were a little advance in terms of foretelling how future structures, products, cars, and clothing would look thirty to forty years into the future, they failed to predict the possibility of economic globalization; empires and kingdoms created by their pens never had a touch of either globalized market or network economy. Most speculative and sci-fi film writers never thought that by this year, communications would play a big role in the formation of network economy.

Network economy, as defined by experts, stems from a key attribute where products and services are created through social networks operating on a large scale, which is only possible through a platform that connects different economies from different places, markets and industries.

Indeed, as science fiction writers portrayed it in their films, flying cars and gaudy metal suits were not the ones responsible for bringing the globalization to reality. We all know that it all started on TV, especially when cable TV enabled us to see shows they aired on the other side of the world, and then with the Internet, when email systems and social networking sites replaced air mails and telegraphs that once connected us with people abroad.

Now, we have social networking platforms.

Nobody thought of bite-size contents as an efficient channel to connect people and businesses. No one predicted that this platform would create a network that would bond trades and transactions, exchange ideas and knowledge, share daily thoughts and deeper philosophies across the globe.

Social networking sites’ creators are always honest when asked about their principal reason behind the creation. These sites are just created to connect people, to bridge the length of communication exchanges and bridge people from different places, but never did they admit that it was solely invented to fulfill the needs of the market and to create a conduit that will tighten the gap between businesses and industries. In short, social networking sites were simply fashioned to create a network, perhaps to provide easier ways of blind dating, establishing relationships and forming small organizations.

But even before social networking sites made its way in the market, the simple yet more rigid platforms like blogs, emails, and independent websites pioneered the emergence of network economy. These were the times when receiving spam mails, traffic and hits, or blog comments from other countries seemed magical, for having connection with people from other countries was not yet that usual like how it is today.

Although Facebook came five years earlier than Twitter, the latter made a bigger impact on the entire global market. In 2009, Twitter introduced the most simple yet most effective network exchange that would soon change the face of the global market. Unlike other social media platforms, it was created to deliver bite-size and short messaging updates as opposed to traditional long information exchanges done by earlier social media sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Twitter Simplifies It All

Since Twitter delivers bite-size messages, information quantity rises and dissemination becomes faster, which allows people to influence directly other people. A year after its inception, Twitter reached its peak when Hollywood celebrities began using it as a primary medium to interact with their fans and supporters. It also paved the way for other people who are non-celebrities to use the platform for business promotions and advertising. Since then, marketers have included Twitter in their own marketing strategies. Expert marketers believe that the “real global network economy” started here.

The special thing about Twitter is it glamorized the concept of reciprocity. Ordinary people can now interact directly and realistically to influential people they idolized. The mutual exchange between two parties “the follower and the followed” has become possible, which is very impossible to what Facebook and other social media sites had to offer during its early years. Moreover, this reciprocity has strengthened relationships between businesses and trades from different corners of the globe, for it connected markets, businesses, and industries far beyond size, capabilities, and market position.

So what is next after Twitter? Is it an invisible platform that would allow us to communicate with semaphores and Morse codes? Well, just ask your favorite science fiction writer. You can tweet him, I guess.

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Warner writes about SEO, Blogging, and Web Development. He works at Endless Rise who provides SEO Reseller Packages exclusively to SEO Resellers

Yes You Can Purposefully Increase Your Rate of Retweets

By Jason Drohn in Social Networking

Most people who have tried using Twitter for business have discovered that some forms of marketing do not work there at all. For example, viral marketing can happen a lot easier and with some purposeful intent – only after having laid the groundwork to make that happen. Viral marketing and the effects of it are incredible, and that is part of the power of Twitter. This article deals with several Twitter marketing methods that have a high possibility of giving you an edge with receiving viral retweets.

If you have ever tried to give away content for free at Twitter, then you may have experienced the inability to even do that. So what is going on is you need to change your approach and let people know what you are offering them. Have you ever noticed that some marketers at Twitter are not involved at all other than to tweet links. You will not get very far at all if you never engage your followers other than to push links at them. You need to mix in simple tweets along with tweets that contain links. The online crowd at Twitter and other places are far too distrusting with those whom they do not know. Building relationships begins with a little bit of friendly banter.

It is all right if you are not retweeted with some of your content. It is possible that the majority missed it when it first came out. This is easier to happen than you think simply because there can be so much going on, and then your content slipped by and got buried. That is why sometimes you see people tweeting multiple times, so this is not so unusual at all. This ensures that all your followers get to see your tweet and it is not missed.

Still, do not go crazy with your tweets because that can create a negative impression on you.

Leveraging your blog to make it easy for people to share your content is an important step. You should get a blog, definitely, because you can integrate so much with social media.

So make sure you place a TweetMeme button on your blog to make it easy for your readers to instantly share your content on Twitter. You want your visitors to have no trouble locating your various share icons. There are entire networks of high quality blogs, and people use social media promotion all over them. There is no excuse for not having these items on your blogs, and you do want to get retweets, right?

Be sure to do more research because there are more things you can do to increase the odds of getting retweeted.

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For more free tips on what you need to do to get retweeted, check out this article http://marketinghackz.com/learn-how-simple-it-is-to-get-retweeted-on-twitter/ . Another resource that you’ll be interested in is this blog post http://marketinghackz.com/lets-get-social-2-review/ . There are lots of helpful strategies there!

The Power of Social Media

By Anthony Godley in Social Networking

What is social media, you ask? Think Facebook? Think YouTube or Twitter? Think fundamental shift in how businesses reach customers and how organizations connect with constituencies. Think outside your traditional marketing box. Web 2.0 is alive with conversations, and Internet marketing isn’t just about email blasts anymore. The social media train is leaving, and you don’t want to get left at the station.

Think you know what we’re talking about?

Social Media is a phrase being tossed around a lot these days, but it can sometimes be difficult to determine and identify how best to utilize and integrate The Power of Social Media into your personal or business strategy. However, make absolutely no mistake, Social Media, Social Networking and Social Interaction is the future of Business Marketing and should be exploited to its fullest potential.

Think about it… Facebook www.facebook.com currently has more than 700million users, a quite staggering statistic. Twitter www.twitter.com is closing in on 200million users.

IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL

Create a Social Brand and Corporate Account on Facebook, Twitter ALONE and deliver hourly, daily, weekly or monthly messages, information, content and news to tens of thousands or even millions of users all over the world in an instant. Never before has there been such a comprehensive tool in reaching out to the masses in a direct sell of your business, product or news.

Social Media has arrived and not only is it here to stay, it is the future of how WE communicate, how WE generate new interests and business opportunities and how WE market our brands to local, national and international communities.

Social Media, SEO and Google.com

Google recently announced a change in its algorithm which allows for increased visibility and SERP (Search Engine Results Page) Ranking based on Web2.0 and Social Media interaction. Google’s increased emphasis on the importance of Social Media presence means it is more important than ever to really start using Social Media in your internet marketing strategy. Social Media should already be a part of most search engine optimization strategies and almost every marketing campaign, but now it is essential to have more than a passive interest. And not just for the potential backlinks, but for all the other reasons social networking is great for business – more personal interaction, the ability to listen to and better understand your customers, and of course exposure to your potential audience where they spend most of their time.

Google will now recognize chat, hype and activity of your BRAND name, PERSONAL name or KEY SEARCH TERM directly within the Social Media sites. Google will recognize this activity as positive and will encourage a vastly improved Google Page Ranking. It is just a matter of time before the other key search engines update their algorithms to perform similar functionality.

In summary it is more important than ever to include Social Media into your marketing strategy as SEO becomes more and more integral to company performance, revenue and recognition.

What are some of the KEY Social Media Websites?

The Power of Social Media can be strategically driven to a key business marketing tool with relatively little effort but because Social Media is such a broad term, it covers a large range of websites. The one common link between these websites is that you are able to interact with the website and interact with other visitors.

Here are some examples of important Social Media websites:

Social Networking:
1. Facebook www.facebook.com Approximately 700million users
2. Twitter www.twitter.com Approximately 200million users
3. Bebo www.bebo.com Approximately 120million users
4. MySpace www.myspace.com Approximately 100million users
5. Friendster www.friendster.com Approximately 90million users
6. Hi5 www.hi5.com Approximately 80million users
7. Xanga www.xanga.com Approximately 30million users
8. LiveJournal www.livejournal.com Approximately 12million users
9. StumbleUpon www.stumbleupon.com Approximately 11million users
10. Tumblr www.tumblr.com Approximately 10million users

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Anthony is the CEO of well respected Reputation Management and Public Relations Agency, KPRS Media. At KPRS Media we understand the importance of Social Media and Web2.0 but more importantly we have the experience to integrate highly visible and successful Social Media Networks into your business or personal marketing strategy. Contact us today for a chat on what we can do to help your business: info@kprsmedia.com

How to Get Great Recommendations on LinkedIn

By Karl Walinskas in Social Networking

Many small business owners know that word-of-mouth marketing via social media and direct business referrals is extremely powerful to grow their businesses. For small businesses and individuals in search of career change alike, LinkedIn can be one of your best sources of live recommendations. You simply have to know the process.

LinkedIn recommendations are great Proof Sources from other people, better in fact than most testimonials because they cannot be faked. I mean, do you really believe when you read on a website that “JR, Dallas, TX” who vouches for the business is a real person? Beachfront property—Idaho—you know the rest. LinkedIn recommendations link back to the profile of the person who recommended you, meaning that whoever is checking you out can learn about the people who think you’re great. Recommendations provide genuine 3rd party perspective about your business and your personal skills and character, and they help viewers get over the hump that stands between looking at your profile and contacting you for opportunities.

Recommendation Strategy for LinkedIn

Right in the Profile dropdown of LinkedIn is a sub-tab on managing recommendations. We talked about this before and you can view the videos for more info. You should have two objectives regarding recommendations:

1. Get them, as often as possible and as recent as possible.
2. Make them great.

So how do you do that? In order to get them, first ask the people you know and love who feel the same way about you, provided they’re on LinkedIn. The next best way to get recommendations is to give them to past colleagues, current business partners, etc. It takes you all of about five minutes to pen a recommendation for someone you’ve worked with. LinkedIn will send each person an email with the recommendation for their review, that when completed and accepted, it will post the recommendation to each person’s profile. As soon as that happens the person you recommended is automatically prompted to return the favor and recommend you. Guess what? 33-50% of them will without being asked.

Better yet is if the recommended contacts you to say thanks. Now here is your strategy to get a great recommendation (use this for website testimonials as well):

1. Say you’re welcome, and ask if the person can return the favor. He’ll say yes or something like, “I’d like to, but I really don’t know what to write.” Of course we both know it is laziness, so you take that burden off of the other person.

2. You say, “I know you’re extremely busy and this can be a pain. How about I rough up something and kick it to you in an email (or LinkedIn mail)? If it accurately reflects our work history, copy/paste it into a recommendation. If not, edit as you feel appropriate and do the same. Make sense? He’ll say yes.

3. You say, “Remember that project where we _____ because you were having that problem of ____? We implemented the ____ and if I recall, that resulted in ____.” If you have an example like that, he’ll remember. “How about I make it about that?”

What have you done? You took the burden of writing a recommendation off of the other person, while maintaining integrity by referencing a real work experience you both know occurred. Your recommendations on LinkedIn can also contain keywords, a little known fact when SEOing your profile. That’s why you writing the recommendation using the reference’s sentiment is key, because you have this SEO capacity within your control. When you get that recommendation back, it is going to be a solid one that helps your credibility and findability, not a simple generic character reference that sounds like it came from your spouse or priest.

4 Steps to Writing Superior Recommendations Anywhere

“Wait Karl, I don’t know how to write a recommendation like that?” you ask sheepishly. No worries. Use the CARE approach as outlined below. You can do this is a few short sentences:

Challenge – What was the work problem that you helped out with for this colleague, boss or customer?
Action – What action did you take to save the day?
Results – The happy ending details.
Endorsement – A hearty, personal endorsement for you with the offer to contact the person with any questions. The reality is (and tell this to the recommender), less than 10% of people influenced by the recommendation will actually bug that person expressly because of the offer. The recommendation itself says everything necessary.

EX: “Our sales were flatlined and we needed some help. We hired Karl and he came in and provided us with some innovative marketing strategies like Executive Video Interviews for our site and optimizing our LinkedIn profiles, as well as acting as interim Sales Manager for two months while we found a full-time person, who he screened and provided initial training for. Website inquiries tripled on our contact form and sales improved by 17% in the next 6 months. I cannot say enough about the impact Karl made on our business performance. Contact me if you need more details.”

This approach to creating and getting testimonials applies to the ones on your website as well. It works and will provide more credibility for your business. This process alone provides a ton of value over and above the LinkedIn optimization if you use it properly.

Summary

Many small business owners know that word-of-mouth marketing via social media and direct business referrals is extremely powerful to grow their businesses. For small businesses and individuals in search of career change alike, LinkedIn can be one of your best sources of live recommendations. You simply have to know the process. Learn the best LinkedIn recommendation strategy and 4 steps to writing killer recommendations for any business.

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Is your repeat business 75% or higher? Learn more about Selling Solutions skills to kick-start repeat business. More small business strategies for growth can be found at the Smart Blog. Smart Company Growth is a small business growth strategies firm founded by Karl Walinskas that helps companies grow sales and contain costs.

© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

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