The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/8/12
#6 The Pitfalls of the Unmanaged Customer Experience
What makes your brand, ultimately, is the experience you give to your customers, not just the product you actually sell them. Yes, we all know this. No, most companies still don’t adhere to this somewhat important rule. Malcolm Carlow writes for E-Commerce Times, and provides some nice, high-level advice on customer service.
#5 Bingo! Facebook Gambles On Games Using Real Money, Not Credits, To Engage Users
Facebook hasn’t had such a good time in the news lately, as I’m sure you’re aware. However, Facebook is rolling out something that could be minor game-changer. Ingrid Lunden, writing for TechCrunch, says not only is this a new way to interact with people but you can win real money! It’s only in the UK for now, but it will be interesting to follow this and see how much traction this gets.
#4 Instagram & foursquare Photo Contest Boosts Engagement Across Social-Mobile Platforms
Interesting case study: Barney’s Beanery ran a two-week photo contest across all its locations and offered prizes such as $100 gift cards and much more. According to Moment Feed writer Joergan Aaboe, Barney’s Beanery sees 66 percent increase in photos taken and tagged to their locations relative to Facebook and foursquare check-ins.
#3 FAQ: Why did Google buy these companies?
Jon Gold, writing for NetworkWorld, gives a rundown about Google's history of acquisitions, and how each one has fit into the company’s strategy. Overall, I'd say Google has acquired pretty intelligently, acquiring expertise where they were lacking.
#2 Why Apple Should Buy Foursquare
Do you believe Foursquare is just another app? At the moment it doesn't have much room to grow, according to many; even though I’m a big fan of the app, usage is nowhere near some other social platforms. However Jon Mitchell writes for ReadWriteWeb and says Foursquare would be a perfect fit to be purchased and embedded into Apple’s iOS strategy.
#1 Facebook Introduces Mobile Ad Unit to Promote Apps
Mobile is becoming an increasingly important part of going social, and Facebook simply won’t be competitive if it can’t find a way to monetize mobile media. Given that, only a few weeks after the debut of its first-ever ad unit for mobile, Facebook is releasing a new mobile unit in beta, so that app developers can better promote their apps.
Guys, read my lips, this is the start of something pretty major.
The Social 6: Key Stories from This Past Weekend, 8/6/12
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 I Respect Your Social Media Community- Do You Respect Mine?
“You can’t just go head first and sell into a community you don’t know,” writes Pam Moore, one of my favorite writers and marketers. This piece is full of thought-provoking questions that will help anyone interested in going social, from a novice marketer to a senior executive. Read Pam’s piece. Really.
#5 Why A/B testing is essential to your startup's campaigns
Companies live and die by how alert they are and how they’re meeting the requests of their customers. But the age-old question is, “How do I know what customers want?” If you’re Steve Jobs, you can make bold statements such as, “It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want,” but for the rest of us, there’s A/B testing. In this The Next Web piece, Dan Taylor, writes that if you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing. As a huge, huge proponent of A/B testing, this is a must-read.
#4 5 Things Your Digital Agency Isn't Telling You
Delivering sound, successful communications strategies to clients is your 100% focus if you are a digital firm. Jessica Payne argues that, as part of any valued relationship, they should be providing you — the client — with counsel that may not always be easy to swallow.
#3 Will Facebook Ever Let You Edit Posts? Here's Why it Should
Emily Banks of Mashable asks if Facebook will one day give you the ability to edit your status updates. She believes it most likely will, and in the near future. After all, comments can already be edited. Personally, I think this change is long overdue, and I expect to see it implemented before 2012 is over.
#2 McDonald's is answering tough, sometimes bizarre customer questions
McDonald's in Canada has launched a new social media campaign that has been pretty buzzworthy. This FoxNews.com piece reports that since June, McDonald's employees has been answering all kind of questions on its website, “Our Food. Your Questions.” Some of the questions are incredibly bizarre, such as “Does your Egg McMuffin use real eggs?” – but yet McDonald’s is answering them in a transparent, engaging manner. I highly recommend you check out this campaign – it’s a pretty great one.
#1 What will Facebook look like in 2022?
If you study the history of digital powerhouses such as Google, Yahoo, and even Amazon, it’s pretty clear that Facebook will have to reinvent itself on an ongoing basis the Internet landscape changes. Allen Gannett delivers a thoughtful piece on The Next Web exploring what the future may hold for Facebook.
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/4/12
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 Do You Remember All the Cool Things Your CRM App Can Do?
Christopher Bucholtz, in this E-Commerce Times piece, argues that the average enterprise isn't taking advantage of many of the features that come baked into their CRM implementation. As someone who's advised many companies in getting the most out of their CRM investment, I can attest to the problem. Scheduling features are the biggest opportunity for companies to easily extract more value out of CRM, as Mr. Bucholtz outlines in this piece.
#5 Facebook Photos Get Blurry With This Privacy Plug-In
This fall, you may see a lot of blurred photos on Facebook. McAfee will be making it a little safer to share your photos on the social platform thanks to Social Protection, a new product that will allow users better control over their, and prevents people from downloading those pictures to view anywhere else. This sounds more like McAfee looking for a saleable product than it is solving a real need, but maybe I'm in the minority? Emily Price reports more in this Mashable piece.
#4 Social Media Is Becoming Useful, Finally
Contrary to the headline of this article, it's not a rant about how social media has largely been a productivity waster. Instead, it's a piece about Clipboard, a privately beta-launched at the end of 2011 and available to the public since May, is looking to make social media more productivity for everyone. Gustavo Razzetti has more detail on Clipboard in this Clickz piece, and how it could be a bit of a game-changer.
#3 Google Plus Comes to Blogger, Brings Both Communities Together
Google rolled out a brand new feature in Blogger this past Monday that ties directly into Google Plus. In this Business 2 Community piece, Andrew Glasscock explains all of the benefits the new functionality offers for Blogger users. If you're a Blogger user, this is A) a must-read and B) something you should look more into!
#2 Kanye West Is Advising NYC Startup The Fancy on the Future of Commerce
This week, Kanye West payed a visit to one of my favorite NYC startups. The Fancy - which is is one of his favorites as well. Kanye stopped by to give advice to The Fancy CEO Joe Einhorn, who reportedly "looks up to Kanye the way most tech folks idolize Steve Jobs." Hey, whatever works for you. Key takeaway here: The Fancy is becoming a favorite of quite a few celebrities, not just 'Ye.
#1 A Real Dad Won't Save You if You're 'Taken' [VIDEO]
I think a lot of you were interested in winding down yesterday; that's probably the #1 reason so many of you clicked on this parody of the Movie Taken, the 2008 thriller about an American girl kidnapped by human traffickers in Paris. Pretty fun video of how a dad less capable than Liam Neeson's Taken character would react to his child's abduction.
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/3/12
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 Image Ad Startup Cortica Raises $7M From Li Ka-Shing's Horizons Ventures And Ynon Kreiz
Cortica announced that they have raised $7 million in funds. The company's image recognition technology helps serve up incredibly relevant ads; just take a look at the example inside this article. TechCrunch blogger, Anthony Ha, says the money comes from Horizons Ventures, the firm owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, and from Ynon Kreiz, the former chairman and CEO of the Endemol Group, the world’s largest independent TV production company.
#5 Sign and Send Contracts From Your iPhone For Free With HelloSign
Not quite a social story, but bear with me - this is a pretty big productivity booster! HelloFax, the company that allows you to send and receive digital faxes, has spun off its digital signature service into a new product called HelloSign. Emily Price, writer for Mashable, says documents can be signed and securely returned to their sender from both the web and the company’s new iPhone application. Unlike other services and apps that are already out there, digital signatures using the service are free and unlimited so you can send and receive just a few documents with no cost.
#4 Why Is Great Service So Rare?
Great service is something that every customer wishes to have at all times. Everyone loves a customer-friendly brands like Zappos, and gets weak in the knees when a customer service rep actually treat us to great service. Who couldn't agree with that? But besides the obvious business advantages, outstanding service remains frustratingly mysterious, as contributor Dorie Clark outlines in this Forbes piece.
#3 Is Social Media Destroying Real-World Relationships? [INFOGRAPHIC]
It's no secret that social media allows us to organize our real-world relationships.It allows you to meet new people outside the digital realm — both of which can be great, life-enhancing things. Sam Laird writes on Mashable asking if social networking could have an adverse effect on our quality of life? After all, 24% of respondents to a recent survey indicated that they had missed out on participating in a major event in person because they were too busy documenting their life online. Pretty useful infographic included in this piece, too.
#2 Rumor: Google Puts A Hold On New Google+ Acquisitions
Frederic Lardinois and Alexia Tsotsis report for TechCrunch that Google may be putting a stop to all acquisitions related to Google+, at least until the end of this year. Google is cautious of both growing the Google+ team right now and providing the product with any more resources until January. It will be interesting to see if Google+ marketing spend goes down in the short-term. Is Google looking to see if Google+ can continue its forward momentum without as much of a concentrated push on their part? Could be. At a certain point, Google+ has to succeed or not on its own merits.
#1 8.7% of Facebook accounts are fake? Still, that leaves 872m bona fide users.
According to Paul Sawers, writer for The Next Web, 8.7% of Facebook accounts are fake, as CNET noted earlier today. That means about 83m users, if we’re using the 955m figure announced by Facebook recently. While this obviously leaves Facebook with a pretty significant number of worldwide adoptees, the amount of accounts purported to be fake is pretty staggering.
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 This Past Weekend, 7/30/12
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 :).
The Social 6: Key Stories from The Last 24 hours, 7/27/12
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 This Guy Modeled His Impressive Resume After Google Analytics
The #1 advice I give people is that their resume needs to stand out. The second key piece of advice is that is has to be tailored to whatever market you're going after. Online marketing manager Simone Fortunini created a great example of a resume that's modeled perfectly after Google Analytics, and really stands out from the crowd. Nicely reported by Vivian Giang of Business Insider Careers.
#5 Zynga's Mark Pincus blames engagement decline on Facebook
Harrison Weber of TNW talks about Zynga's CEO, Mark Pincus, blames Facebook in part for the loss of users due to the changes to Facebook's platform. In my opinion, Zynga still has plenty of long-term potential, in that they've developed a strong gaming platform. However, they're just too dependent on Facebook. A strategy to become less dependent on Facebook would bode well for their long-term growth.
#4 Chick-Fil-A's Facebook Page becomes Ground Zero
Yesterday, I shared more news about Chick-Fil-A's PR troubles. I event went so far as to create abbyfarle.com to comment on the snafus. The PR problems continue for the fast food giant: a huge protest to "Eat Less Chikn'" has begun, and the company is finding it hard to control their message. Amora Mcdaniel of Upstart (part of Bizjournals.com) shares more about the controversy that the company is facing.
#3 Forget About.me, Vizify is your new online profile of choice [Invites]
Vizify, the new way to show a broad overview of data culled across every service that a user is on. You can see the official Jeremy Goldman Vizify here, as a testament to how impressive a visualization tool it is. Not only does Brad McCarty of TNW give you more information on the site, but he shows you how to navigate it!
#2 Greek Athlete Kicked Off Olympic Team For Tweet
Another day; another downfall brought to you, in part, by Twitter. The top microblogging platform got Voula Papachristou, Greece's triple-jump champion, in deep trouble after a very offensive tweet. She's now prevented from competing in the London Olympic Games. Billy Gallagher of TechCrunch details the situation in this piece.
#1 McKinsey Says Social Media Could Add $1.3 Trillion to the Economy
While we may be in a social bubble in many ways, McLinsey Global Institute, the research division of the business consulting powerhouse, released a study called "unleashing value and productivity through social technologies." Quentin Hardy of The New York Times summarizes nicely and explains more about the study's findings.
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, 7/25/12
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 The Rise of Digital Pollution
Lacoste's Senior Director of Ecommerce and Digital Strategy, Erik Lautier, posted on his Facebook page decrying how much digital pollution surrounds us all these days. In this piece, Erik discusses the rise of digital pollution, and starts to hint at what could be done to address it. Great read from a very smart guy.
#5 YC-Backed Chute Nabs $2.7M From Salesforce and More To Become The Twilio For Media Content
Chute has decided to take a different approach on photo-sharing or photo-syncing. They plan to expand beyond the photo field as well. Rip Empson of TechCrunch explains nicely how this works.
#4 YouTube Fights Comment Trolls By Discouraging Pseudonyms
It's no secret that YouTube videos contain some harsh critiques originating from people using pseudonyms. Often, these "comment trolls" just try to stir up unnecessary drama, rather than add any value to the conversation.. Writer Fruzsina Eordogh of ReadWriteWeb explains how YouTube is working to discourage pseudonyms - something I'm personally very in favor of. If you're going to say something spiteful, you should be willing to do it with your name attached.
#3 It's a platform, not a feature: Google+ Hangouts could bring YouTube-Level disruption
Google+ Hangouts are gaining traction in a lot of circles (no pun intended, G+ users!). It will be interesting to see if people will gravitate to Hangouts, leading them to become the new Skype or Oovoo - or if consumers will reject Google "controlling" most of their online experiences. Drew Olanoff of TNW gives a good description of Hangouts and their potential to disrupt.
#2 Fancy That: Pinterest Rival The Fancy Passes 1M Design-Savvy Influencers
The Fancy, a new social commerce site, is letting its users become affiliates, getting commissions when their friends purchase products. They're positioning this as something of a game-changer, even though sites like Amazon have offered commissions for ages now. BrandChannel gives some great statistics on The Fancy & discusses their future in this piece - worth a read!
#1 This Movie Recruited Instagram Users To Make Its Posters
Talk about a buzzworthy use of a social platform: two Montreal-based filmmakers enlisted advertising agency TAXI to get the group "Instagramers Montreal" to collaborate and take images that would be used to publicize their new film, J’Espère Que Tu Vas Bien. The photos selected for the 87 (yes, really!) movie posters are made up of pictures taken as part of a Insta-Walk that Instagramers Montreal organized. Perfect fit for the film in my opinion, since the movie is an 87-minute, and follows the same route the Instagramers Montreal group took. Nice reporting her by Laura Stampler at Business Insider.
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.