The Social 6: Key Stories from The Last 24 hours, 8/2/12
As you may know, I’m a pretty voracious reader and generally share a bunch of news & reviews via my social platforms. Here’s a countdown of the top six most important articles I’ve shared in the last day. I curate this top six based on number of retweets, clicks, favorites, and mentions, so you guys are a large part of what ends up listed here :).
#6 5 Ways to Get Email Overload Under Control
Email's still one of the top ways that people are going social on a daily basis, but "email hell" is an issue for many of us. I'll confess, email is a pretty significant weakness of mine - which you may know if you've ever emailed me. Dmitri Leonov of Mashable says the only good news is that you’re not alone and that the average person gets more than one hundred emails per day. This piece has a number of great suggestions to keep email at bay, including but not limited to the super-useful Inbox Zero philosophy.
#5 13 Tumblrs to Satisfy Your Olympic Appetite
Are you a big Olympic follower and are waiting for the next big Olympic event? Well, I'm not. I could just never get into the Olympics the way it seems 95% of my colleagues do. That said, Tumblr has plenty fan-made sites that will keep you entertained and on top of all the latest Olympic developments. Christine Erickson of Mashable uses this piece to highlight some of the best.
#4 Pinterest adds new categories and is rolling out a redesigned repinning process
Pinterest has just added new categories, which could have a pretty big impact in terms of what types of content people curate onto Pinterest. The new categories include Quotes, Tattoos, and Weddings. Given how specific these categories are, we’ll probably see more appear as long as the site continues to grow in popularity. Plus, this piece has more on Pinterest's reported upcoming redesign of its popular repinning feature.
#2 Pinfluencer Gets Around the Pinterest Analytics Problem
More Pinterest news! Pinterest hasn’t been very friendly to people who try to use its site for commercial purposes. Liz Gannes of AllThingsD says the site flags short URLs and strips tracking codes, both of which are standard practice for brands in social media. Pinfluencer sits on top of Pinterest, rather than helping with any kind of tracking into user pinning and repinning activity.
#2 Psst. Facebook Turned On Its App Center Worldwide Overnight [Updated]
Facebook continues to make efforts into furthering its dominance as a social platform. Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch reports that the company has now made its App Center, the storefront for Facebook desktop and mobile applications, available across most of the world. The App center went global overnight between 7/31 and 8/1, reportedly. It had already been overnight in most of the English-speaking world and a few other key markets - but the global rollout means that Facebook is doubling down on pushing itself as the dominant social platform across all devices and form factors.
#1 Google Buying Social Media Startup Wildfire
Here's a small piece I shared about Google's acquisition of Wildfire from Time's Techland section. Wildfire, one of the leading social media marketing companies, is now joining the Google empire - just like Salesforce purchased Buddy Media and Oracle acquired Vitrue. Not only does this show how the bigger players are looking to add social media marketing for business to their repertoire, but it also shows a concerted effort for these companies to have some ability to "keep tabs" on Facebook, by acquiring firms that leverage Facebook as their primary marketing channel.
The Social 6: Key Stories from The Last 24 hours, 7/31/12
As you may know, I’m a pretty voracious reader and generally share a bunch of news & reviews via my social platforms. Here’s a countdown of the top six most important articles I’ve shared in the last day. I curate this top six based on number of retweets, clicks, favorites, and mentions, so you guys are a large part of what ends up listed here :).
#6 Twitter Doghouse Lets You Temporarily Dump Annoying Tweeps
Are you a non-sports fan but have a few Olympic-obsessed tweeps who will be hijacking your entire Twitter feed for the next two weeks? For situations like these, there's a new app called Twitter Doghouse. Mashable writer Sam Laird says the new app will allow users to unfollow tweeps for scheduled periods of time. Personally, I'd prefer a way to just block people temporarily without actually letting them see they've been unfollowed - but hats off all in all to the developers of Twitter Doghouse!
#5 Using Instagram for Your Small Business
This piece by the Direct Selling Education Foundation says you should consider using Instagram as a networking and marketing tool. This is very much an Instagram for beginners type of article, with a business angle - but plenty of you found this useful, so on the list it goes!
#4 Clif Bar Launches First Geo-Location Twitter Campaign
Organic foods and beverage maker Clif Bar is attempting to launch the first geo-location Twitter campaign. Lauren Indvik of Mashable says the company wants you to send a geo-tagged tweet to @CLIFMojoGo the next time you’re in a park, at the beach or on a trail. Twitter does allow advertisers to target users in U.S. regions, but this is really the first true geo-location campaign on Twitter. Hats off to Clif Bar for being innovative!
#3 New Digg Team Publishes Redesign in Progress
As most of you know, Digg was recently purchased by Betaworks, and will be undergoing a major underhail. “Digg 2.0” released screenshots and additional details on its reimagining of the platform, which used to be a vibrant part of the social media conversation. My take? Digg is taking a big step in the right direction with giving its audience a clear sense of the product roadmap, and this should woo back some lapsed Digg users and perhaps even recruit many new ones.
#2 How Big Companies Are Becoming Entrepreneurial
Most believe that big companies are the opposite of entrepreneurial - but that's not always the face. Larger corporations do run entrepreneurship programs for several years, like the fabled Lockheed Martin “Skunk Works” – a small group of employees working on revolutionary products such as famous aircraft designs including the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Dan Schawbel of TechCrunch wrote this very useful piece going into the entrepreneurial efforts of Amazon, Microsoft, and others - worth a few minutes!
#1 Why No One Will Watch Your Crappy Corporate "Viral" Video, and How to Fix It
What separates great branded video content from the bad? Scott Stratten of Fast Company says he gets asked this question all the time: "How do we make our video/post/content go viral?" The truth is you can't make something become extremely popular. I don't decide, and neither do you; the audience does. Asking for something to go viral is one of the best ways to ensure it doesn't! Calling your newest launch a "viral marketing campaign" is pretty silly. Going viral isn't a campaign, it's a result of being good or bad, and resonating with your target audience.
The Social 6: Key Stories from The Last 24 hours, 7/26/12
As you may know, I’m a voracious reader and tend to share a good deal of news via my social platforms. Here’s a countdown of the top six most important articles I’ve shared in the last day. I curate this top six based on number of retweets, clicks, favorites, and mentions, so you guys are a large part of what ends up listed here :).
#6 As Facebook Political Campaigning Heats Up, NGP VAN Launches New Social Organizing Tool
NGP VAN (Voter Activation Network), a Democrat-oriented software developer launched a newly-updated tool for the 2012 election season in the US. The newly-updated tool, Social Organizing, uses Facebook to help get the vote out. In this article, Sara Ines Calderon of TechCrunch shares more about how Social Organizing actually works. What will be really interesting is to see if we see greater voter turnout, considering all of these new tools out there to encourage voting. As they say, the proof's in the pudding, isn't it?
#5 BandPage Unshackles From Facebook, Now Helps 500K Musicians Build Synced Sites and Widgets Too
If you're an inspiring musician, BandPage is a tool you should definitely check out! This week, BandPage launched BandPage Everywhere, which allows musicians to build websites, embeddable widgets, and Facebook Page apps with relative ease. To learn more on how to get your BandPage started, Josh Constine article of TechCrunch has more.
#4With Patch Revenue Up 100% in Q2, Armstrong Hints at 'Second Phase'
Patch, AOL's hyperlocal news site, has been growing at a pretty strong clip in recent months. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong hinted as a major second phase of growth, involving “high-level community involvement in a very precise way on the Patch platform.” Steven Jacobs of StreetFight gets into a better description of what the Patch plans to accomplish.
#3 Top Facebook News feed optimization service, Booshaka, has raised $1M
Have you played with Booshaka ever? It's a great tool for social marketing, and with its latest upgrades, it looks to be even more useful for its clients. Its Top Fans leaderboard application - which it launched last year - was great for helping Facebook page admins get insights about its top 10% of fans. The updates Booshaka rolled out this week will make it increasingly easy for admins to get a better sense of the other 90%, as David Cohen posts in this AllFacebook article. Booshaka looks to be going after the Gigyas and Badgevilles of the world more directly with this week's upgrades.
#2 Now Supporting 50 Interactive "Email Apps," PowerInbox Crosses 1 Million Views
PowerInbox, the new email-enhancing platform that helps make messages more interactive, has just surpassed 1 million email views. The startup now lets its users run over 50 “email apps” from within the email inbox. I'm a big fan of tools like PowerInbox, which (when used right) can help make email more of a productivity-enhancer again. Very helpful article written by Sarah Perez of TC describing more about this up-and-coming tool.
#1 Did Chick-Fil-A Create The Facebook Profile Of Abby Farle?
Big story here, folks! Chick-Fil-A can't seem to clean their name up after multiple PR setbacks. Allegedly creating a Facebook account to serve as a brand advocate and then seeing it go , the company figured they can argue their points out through there about gay marriage. Do you think what Chick-Fil-A did was a freedom of speech or was it total ignorance? Justin Lafferty of AllFacebook gets more into better detail about the mishap. Also: I created abbyfarle.com as a response of sorts, if you'd care to check that out.
The Social 6: Key Stories from The Last 24 hours, 7/24/12
As you may know, I’m a voracious reader and tend to share a good deal of news via my social platforms. Here’s a countdown of the top six most important articles I’ve shared in the last day. I curate this top six based on number of retweets, clicks, favorites, and mentions, so you guys are a large part of what ends up listed here :).
#6 "A click of a button opens all doors"
Grey Group, the world-reknown integrated marketing communications agency, recently completed its Eye on Asia study. The study, considered the first qualitative study on consumer shifts that drive online behavior, uncovered seven key consumer shifts. BestMediaInfo’s Delhi Bureau has more.
#5 WedPics, Pinstagram For Weddings, Preps For Launch With Teaser Video
Is it really necessary to hire a photographer for a wedding? I’ll let you decide after you read about this new app. WedPics is a mobile app which will allow wedding guests to take photos and add Instagram-esque, filters at the wedding. The pics then get dropped into one crowdsourced wedding album that guests and happy couple alike can browse later.
#4 This app makes true "global" Twitter search as easy as one spin of the mouse
A pretty sweet visualization/search app, TweetingEarth, allows its users to execute a simple Twitter search -- then “spin the globe” using their mouse. It’s really interesting. Drew Olanoff of TNW explains more, including visuals of how it actually works.
#3 How brands are using social media to take back control
Brands are harnessing the power of social media to change their approach to customer service, but are their efforts faring well overall? While some are succeeding, plenty are dealing with social media pitfalls of their own making. Just ask Addison Lee's chairman John Griffin, who turned his brand into a target to the company’s Twitter and Facebook audience by claiming the majority of cyclist road deaths in London are the result of inexperience on the part of the cyclist. Thoughtful analysis in this article by Jon Norris of The Guardian.
#2 Teen Could Face Jail for Tweeting Names of Her Assailants [UPDATED]
Tweeting just may lead to a Kentucky girl being jailed – all for sharing details about her sexual assault! There’s more to this story, but I encourage you to read the story and see if you think this is fair? It’s personally pretty upsetting to me. Sam Laird of Mashable goes more into better detail on how this single tweet may land her in jail.
#1 Droplings Is A Little App That Makes It Easier To Share Dropbox Files
If you're like a lot of people, you like Dropbox. But, it’s surprisingly hard to send a single file with a public link? Thanks to Droplings, it will make it easier to navigate and find files faster and easier! John Biggs of TC gives a great description on how to use Droplings, which is the work of Munich-based programmer Carlo Zottmann.
My Clickfire Media Mobile Panel Today
Today I'll be part of a panel by Click3X & Clickfire Media for Internet Week NY titled "Sweet Mobile Idea: How do you build it to fit your audience strategy?" Clickable thumb with more details below.
If you're interested in live-streaming the event, you can click on this link at 1pm today: http://clickfiremedia.com/iwnymobile/
Here's Why I Use Toodledo for Task Management
Recently, I become somewhat bummed out over my lack of productivity. I don't think I was unproductive per se; I just knew I could be more productive if I got better organized with respect to my tasks. I started looking for an easy to use app that works well with my iPad & iPhone and also had a strong browser-based interfaced as well, in order to keep track of all of my work (and home) tasks. I'm happy to say, I just found a pretty great one in Toodledo.
- Ability to set up tasks & organize into different folders (i.e. home, work, etc.)
- Reminders when a task due date is approaching by SMS, email, or Twitter
- Collaborate with others - i.e. share your list/see others' lists
- Set up notes which can be auto-synced to your iOS device
- Share accomplishments on your social channels & assign yourself new tasks via Twitter
- Get statistics as to how you're working & managing tasks
- Scheduler: When you're feeling indecisive, all you need to do is specify how much time you have available to work and the app will recommend what to do.