Archive for March, 2010

Social Media Blog: Twitter Hacker Gets Into President Obama’s Account Too

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Well, even the President of the United States is not safe from hackers. Yep, read today that the Prez’s Twitter account was hacked into by a young Frenchman who was arrested in France for “allegedly” hacking into Twitter accounts of President Barack Obama and others.

And the worst part is that he was able to do so by simply “guessing” the passwords. Uh, Secret Service high-tech geniuses like the ones you see on the popular TV show 24 are obviously not for real. Otherwise you’d think they’d have a Twitter password that’s tough to guess or break.

Apparently the so called hacker was just trying to prove he could.

Just a word of caution to all of you out there who love to use simple passwords like “password”, “name1234”, and other very common passwords. Don’t!
 
Take the time to use a password that is not your name and birth date or name and social security number combination. AND, try to change it often, like once a month at least. It’s just embarrassing that our President’s Social Media managers didn’t follow what is simple, yet age-old advise “make passwords a bit complicated”…..You don’t have to make the same mistake.

 

Posted in twitter | 1 Comment »

Social Media Blog: New versus Traditiona Media – What Still Works!

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

We always stress that new media (social networking) does not replace traditional media (email marketing and other). And so we weren't surprised when we read a report published by eMarketer which states that new media or social media marketing boosts the benefits of email marketing campaigns because social media marketing is yet another way to engage with customers and prospects.

So if you want the stats on this, here they are:
 
Of the businesses surveyed by Emarketer, it was found that over 40 percent of business owners stated that they plan on integrating social media and email to their marketing initiatives in 2010. About a quarter of the businesses surveyed claimed that they had already done so and the rest were still researching on how to make it happen.

So the message is clear; businesses do see the benefit of increasing brand awareness, visibility, and engagement via social networks. Yet, many businesses aren't able to devote time or resources to make this happen. We at NET believe that that's where our biggest value proposition comes in because our customers can hand-over their entire marketing campaign to us. Using new and traditional strategies, we provide our customers with the biggest bang for their buck. Are you ready???? Contact us today to see how we can help!
 

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Posted in Branding | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Catching Thieves with Social Networking

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Yep, so naturally if social media can help criminals, so can it help law enforcement catch the same criminals. Here's an interesting story which also highlights criminal stupidity.
 
Apparently, the thief, listed the Garmin Forerunner watch he had stolen from a home for sale on Craigslist. A man who wanted to buy the watch went and bought the watch from the thief. But when he tried to connect the watch to his computer, the new buyer discovered that the watch was registered to another individual.

After finding out the owner details that were listed for the watch's registration, using Facebook, the new buyer contacted the original owner of the watch along with four other individuals who had the same name. The victim of the burglary responded to the new buyer and also contacted the police. Long story short, the criminal was arrested and placed behind bars.
 
So, here's adding one more use for Social Media websites; Catching Thieves!

Posted in Branding | 2 Comments »

Social Media Blog: Leveraging Social Media to Fight Extremism

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Interesting! A two-day London summit had social media activists from across the globe exploring ways to combat extremism using popular social networks. The event was organized by Jason Leibman who is the co-founder of the Alliance for Youth Movement and who stated that popular social networks like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter are critical tools to fight extremism.
  
He reiterated the point that we always tell our prospects and clients – which is that social networks provided a wider reach at lower cost and allow the spread of powerful messaging in an easy manner.

I found that there are many ways people are using social networks for political awareness. Twitter was used to protest Iran's censorship on the Internet, people in Nigeria are using their phones to help people learn more about the next elections, and we ourselves know that the biggest social media success story is our US president Barack Obama who systematically created an outreach that is unparalleled anywhere, through popular social networks.

So the uses for social networks continue to grow and surprise some of us. We, the hands-on practitioners of social marketing feel that it's time for a lifestyle change for businesses. Businesses need to embrace social media today because that's the only way we'll all be able to remain viable, current, and engaged.

 

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Posted in facebook, Free Speech, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Ok, we get it, Facebook is finally # 1!!

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Well, here's more research and now it appears that finally Facebook IS the number one site accessed by internet users as of last week. According to an Internet Research company, Hitwise, Google got 7.03% of all web visits while Facebook got 7.07%.

Hmmm……….

Ok so Facebook and Google will probably play this number 1 or number 2 dance until a real winner emerges or a third player enters the competition. Google or Facebook, it matters not to me, I visit both frequently but I do visit Google more than Facebook. Perhaps it's the nature of my business or perhaps it's that I just like Google more for now.
 

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Posted in facebook, Google | 2 Comments »

Social Media Blog: So Where Are You? Facebook & Twitter Ready to Implement Location Feature

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

As if the "bare all" online is not enough, now users can share their location with their friends online any time. Facebook says it will add a "friend location information" which will be introduced at a developer conference in April 2010. So what will this friend location do? Basically you can where you are when you updated your status with your friends.

Twitter plans to do just that with its geolocation feature in it's site soon, perhaps to beat Facebook to it?
 
So why is this "location" sharing so important that Facebook and Twitter are going live with it? And you know that others will follow suit, right?

Well, mainly because users can get localized news and find local people in their area. The power of this will help businesses seeking to do localized marketing.
 
But as I eluded to above with my "bare-all" comment, won't this geolocation create additional vulnerability for social network users? Criminal activity is growing on social networks so is it really wise for social networks to introduce a feature which will drive more criminal behavior?
 
When and how will social networks balance "access" with "safety"?

 

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Posted in facebook, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Businesses, are you ready for mobile ecommerce?

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Move over computer, you are becoming extinct; well at least slowly moving into oblivion as far as social networking sites go. Comscore, a company which reports web metrics found that 1 of 3 smartphone users accessed social networking sites through their mobile browsers. Facebook saw a 112% increase in mobile users and Twitter saw a 347% increase.

Comscore senior VP of mobile thinks that "Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."

The mobile social media access numbers reported by Comscore are staggering when you think about it. Over 25 MI Facebook users and approximately 5 million Twitter users logged in using mobile browsers.
 
Here's some food for thought for all business owners out there:

You know that mobile users aren't just logging into Facebook and Twitter through their mobile browsers. They're doing other browsing too; from buying quick ticket items to ordering food.

Are you ready with a "MOBILE" compatible website for these mobile users?

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Posted in facebook, Mobile Phones, Mobile Shopping, Social Media Marketing, twitter | 1 Comment »

Social Media Blog: Facebook Gripings Protected Under the 1st Amendment???

Friday, March 5th, 2010

I always tell my kids to be careful what they say and to be extra careful about what they write in emails or online. Now I read about this case of a high school student who sued a principal and won because her online posts were protected under the 1st amendment and I'm just waiting to hear my kids debate the issue with me.
 
Here's what happened.
 
A federal magistrate in Florida has ruled that a student who created a Facebook page to complain about her teacher was protected under the 1st amendment. Apparently in 2007, a senior named Katie Evans said this about her teacher "the worst teacher I've ever met". She took down the page a few days, got suspended by the school's principal, and got moved from her advanced placement classes to regular classes. The principal got sued and the magistrate ruled that the suspension was unconstitutional AND asked the principal to compensate the student who was "wrongly" suspended.
 
Should social networking sites where people bare their deepest emotions and post things sometimes without thinking be protected under the 1st Amendment? But then where will we draw the line? Will criminals who brag about their crimes online also be protected? I don't know about this social networks and free speech.
 
Do I hear the attorneys world over taking a deep breath and preparing themselves to defend people who find themselves demoted, fired, jailed because of what they wrote online?

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Posted in facebook, Free Speech | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Asian Companies Shy Away from Twitter & Facebook

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

79 percent of Fortune Global 100 companies are at least on one of the following four social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or a Corporate Blog.This according to Burson-Marsteller, a company that conducts studies on social media usage.

However, the same study found that Asian companies are shying away from Facebook and Twitter, focusing more on using local platforms that are used in their country or region. Those social networks include Mixi in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Baidu Spaces and Renren in China. These Asian companies appear to limiting their usage of Facebook and Twitter only to communicate with consumers in international markets. They prefer the local social networks for reaching their most targeted audience.
 
According to Burson-Marsteller, Asian companies are more concerned about time, money, and measurement of their social media involvement thus making their use of social networks much more conservative.

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Posted in facebook, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Department of Defense’s Social Media Policy Annoucement

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Ok, so better late than never right? I'm talking about the Social Media policy finally unveiled by the Department of Defense on Feb 26, 2010. And perhaps keeping the new way of communication in mind, Price Floyd, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, broke the news of the policy announcement on his Twitter feed.

So it appears that the military will allow it's troops to access popular social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter from their "non-classified computer network" also known as NPRNET (for Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network.)

This is huge people! Think about it, we're talking about the unbending, conservative military. Troops who wish to stay in touch with family and friends will now be able to do so and they'll also be able to share information with others who may be interested in what's happening with our military personnel stationed in remote locations.

The policy includes provisions to balance access with the necessary security measures to protect against malicious cyber and virus attacks. And naturally the policy also includes provisions to restrict access to pornography, gambling and hate-crime related sites.

As with all military policies, local commanders have the discretion to shut down the access to social networking sites. If a commander is uncomfortable with social networks, the troops will more than likely not be able to access the sites either which may cause unhappiness among the troops.
 

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Posted in Blogging, facebook, twitter | 1 Comment »