Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
Okay, so my title is a bit misleading. I don’t condone in anyway the stalking of people on Facebook. However, I’ve been guilty of it on an occasion or two. I think everyone has searched Facebook for an ex that dumped tehm years ago. You want to see if she’s as pretty now as she was your junior year in college. (Although you secretly hope she’s not.)
Twitter's Geolocation feature
The point is Facebook stalking is going on whether we like it or not. It appears that it’s going to get a lot easier on Facebook and Twitter as they both roll out new geolocation features. Twitter’s went live briefly yesterday and is expected to be announced at the SXSW conference on Friday.
Facebook updated their privacy policy last year to cover themselves when the location feature went into effect:
Location Information. When you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post (for example, it is subject to your privacy settings). If we offer a service that supports this type of location sharing we will present you with an opt-in choice of whether you want to participate.
Some of you may not want your location broadcast across Facebook. You might be somewhere you don’t want people to know about, like a farmer’s market or comic book convention. Be on the lookout for this feature because you know the minute it goes active Facebook will start broadcasting your location. They say it’s opt-in but I’m skeptical. Facebook has a long history of thinking you should opt-out of features rather than opt-in.
Some exciting news is coming out of the GOSO office today. Everyone is pumped about the release of GOSO’s Dealer Inventory Facebook App. Essentially the app allows automotive dealers to showcase their inventory directory onto their Facebook page.
BMW of Minnetonka became the first dealership in the world to deploy GOSO’s new application, which was just added to their suite of web and social media products for auto dealers.
The Facebook App is only a small part of the suite of tools. But this is a big step for dealers looking to create a strong Facebook presence. Social media is not new to the automotive brands themselves.
Ford has had great success with both their Fiesta Movement and Fusion 41 social media campaigns but their hasn’t been a lot of big news for individual car dealers. The GOSO announcement today is a big step in including the dealer’s in the social media movement.
It’s pretty easy to see the updates on the LinkedIn’s new iPhone app. You might even get confused at first and think you’ve opened your Facebook app. The two have a very similar layout.
I don’t want to hold it against LinkedIn for designing a new app like Facebook’s current app. The Facebook app is popular and very efficient. So why not design one that is similar to it? It makes it easier for users to understand the update which is a far cry from the bar navigation at the bottom.
Out With the Old
One of my favorite new features is In Person. The feature uses your Bluetooth connection to exchange contact information with another LinkedIn user. Sadly this feature is also taken from another iPhone app: Bump. Another nice change is making profiles a separate category. From there you can add profiles to your favorites for easy reference later.
In With the New
Everyone is a movie fan. Some people like pretentious arthouse films. Other likes explosions. While some still love a good romantic comedy. And sure most of us don’t listen to the critics; we do however listen to our friends and families.
In the world of Twitter, a 140 character movie review is often enough to help movie lovers decide whether to rush out to the local cineplex or wait until the DVD release.
Twitter was given large credit for the word of mouth success of films like District 9 and Paranormal Activity. It was also given partial credit for the demise of Bruno.
Avatar is the must see film of the holidays and it is dominating Twitter and YouTube. The $300 million film has been out less than two days but it has conquered the web. Advertising age has reported that fans have posted over 42,200 fan videos on YouTube. Just search “avatar movie” and you’ll see the cache of videos. Twitter had more than 30,000 Avatar tweets on Wednesday, a day before it’s release.
The Avatar explosion isn’t a surprise. The film has been on a marketing blitz for months. Part of that blitz is provided by the fans themselves through sites like Twitter. Of the 30,000 tweets on Wednesday, I guarantee several thousand were countdowns until showtime.
Our very own Adam Boalt posted his ticket purchase and excitement for the film, although he has yet to say whether he liked it or not. These countdowns and pre-release word of mouth gave a good little push for the film as well.
Boalt Tweet
Hopefully these 140 character movie reviews with ensure quality from Hollywood from now on. Probably not though.
How much has Twitter influenced your decision on buying a product or going to a movie?
It’s the holiday season. A time when everyone gets to be a kid. A time when most kids look to the big guy in the North Pole to answer their holiday wishes. I remember sitting down and writing my letter to Santa. I gave it to my parents expecting jolly Saint Nick would read it in front of his fireplace but times have changed.
Santa on Facebook
Of course writing a letter to Santa is an important part of every child’s life but nowadays most kids are on Facebook. So what is Santa doing to stay up to date with kids today?
A quick search on Facebook brings up none other than Santa Claus and his 950,751 fans. (Which to me seems a little low for a man that delivers gifts to billions of children a year.)
Santa’s wall in plastered with messages from children from all nationalities. From Spanish, to Russian, to English, to French. It’s all there. A truly global village. Children of all ages have embraced social media to ask Santa for Wiis or to confess their never-faltering belief in him.
Once you’ve posted your wish list on Santa’s Facebook wall, jump over to the NORAD Tracks Santa. North American Aerospace Defense Command has provided Santa tracking information for more than fifty years. Just this year NORAD has expanded their Santa tracking abilities. NORAD is now on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, TroopTube.mil and OnStar.
NORAD tracks Santa on Twitter
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr once said, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” It holds so true today. So what if kids are posting there wishes on Facebook. Sure they might not be handwriting a letter but it’s nice to know they still believe wishes will come true.
The news today is full of stories about the dangerous side of social media. Facebook is being linked to two disturbing stories.
The first is a story about a 12 year-old boy who was beaten because he was a redhead. Investigators are researching a link between the beating and a Facebook group encouraging people that Friday was “Kick a Ginger Day.” The post is thought to have been inspired by an episode of South Park.
The other story comes from Canada. Nathalie Blanchard is claiming that her insurance benefits were cut because of photos of her on Facebook. Blanchard had been on medical leave because of depression. Her Facebook profile photos showed Blanchard smiling, leading her insurance company to conclude that she was no longer depressed.
Facebook is growing in such leaps and bounds that it is important for people to realize the power of Facebook and other social networking sites. Privacy and safety are of the utmost importance to everyone on social media networks. But there are things you have to do yourself to make sure you’re protected:
- Read the Terms of Service for every site you join. Understand what information will be available to the public and how it will be used.
- Think before you post. You might have a great photo of youself doing a keg stand at a party over the weekend. Who’s going to see that photo? Your boss? College recruiters? Your insurance company? Or worse yet, your mom? Do you really think these people need to see that?
- Be aware of consequences. A lot of people do silly things online. And most of those people don’t assess the consequences before they take action. It’s easier to rethink before posting than it is to clean it up after you’ve already posted.
- This may be redundant but I think it is important to be very clear: DON’T DO STUPID SHIT! Telling someone to beat up redheads falls under the category of stupid shit. Don’t do that or anything like it. It may seem funny at the time but someone out there might think it’s a good idea and beat up a redhead.
Social media is supposed to be fun. It’s about creating a community for people to connect. Not to connect to commit violence. It’s also not designed as a way to spy on people. Sadly, it appears as if some people don’t understand either of those statements. Unfortunately it’s harder to get idiots like these away from social media sites than it is for us to be a little more vigilant. Sorry, but the smart people like us have to pick up the slack.