Facebook makes changes…AGAIN

In the past week Facebook anounced two changes that I think you should take note of: 1) they are going to start allowing hashtags to be posted in status updates and 2) they changed the news feed again.

If you recall from one of my previous posts, hashtags are key words or terms that you expect people to use in searches so that they can find your post(s). It can be an actual word or an abbreviation that would mean something to the intended reader. For instance one conference I will be attending uses the hashtag #afpicon so people can find information specific to the conference. Another example would be to add the hashtag #autism to a post about autism. You would then be alerting people that the theme is autism and at the same time helping search features of Facebook, Google, etc., know what the keyword is in your post.

The second item I mention was the news feed. Facebook is still in the process of rolling it out to all !.0 bilion+ users. The goal is to make the page design more visually appealing to users – especially those using mobile technology.
Mark Zuckerberg said that the new news feed will “give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper in the world.”

So how do you use hashtags and how do you like the new Facebook news feed? Let us know in the comments. We want to hear from you.

As 2012 Winds Down

As 2012 winds down there were several major stories that I came across that are worth sharing.

First, not even the former marketing director of Facebook knows how the privacy policies at Facebook work. Randi Zuckerberg is the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg found out the hard way. On Christmas Day Randi posted a family photo on Facebook. She thought only her friends could see it. Boy was she wrong. Shortly after posting someone posted the photo to Twitter. She asked the person to remove the photo from Twitter. When you set photos to only be available to friends, you’re not really setting them to be viewed only by friends. I expect a revised version of how to make photos on Facebook private any day now. Here’s the photo that caused the ruckus…

from Mashable

Second, a local nonprofit executive is suing LinkedIn, because someone put up a LinkedIn profile with his personal information without his permission. I’m not sure why someone would post his private information on LinkedIn in this manner. It leads me to point out that even if you don’t post information to social media – others will on your behalf. If they post with nefarious reasons it can damage your personal or your organization’s reputation online. It can take weeks if not months to clean this up online. Pay attention!

Third, Last week I attended a great seminar at Jones Day that featured attorneys and representatives from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who discussed social media policies. The NLRB has a sample social media policy that you can use that the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel deems lawful. It is found in NLRB Operations Memorandum 12-59. At the seminar they also noted that privacy rules like HIPAA may need to be followed and thus would need to be included in the social media policy.

image from Business2community.com

Finally, as social media continues to change how we do work, how we communicate and how we live, 2013 should be an interesting year. What do you expect from social media in 2013? Let us know in the comments.

10 Social Media Things I’m Thankful for This Year

Coming up on Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a top ten list of things I’m thankful for when it comes to social media.

10. Restricted social media like Path to share with a select group of people.
9. Getting up to the minute news via Twitter.
8. Learning what rhymes with purple from Pinterest.
7. Meeting a co-presenter online and working virtually with her for a year before meeting in real life.
6. Facebook hasn’t changed my privacy settings for a while…oh wait, nevermind. They just did again
5. Foursquare rolled out updates for local merchants (including nonprofit merchants)
4. Instagram was opened up to Droids.
3. More books specific to nonprofit use of social media have been published including these three gems: 1, 2, 3.
2. That share button on every piece of mail, email, and website is increasingly important.

and the number one social media thing I am thankful for this Thanksgiving season is…

1. Using Social Media for Nonprofits Gangnam Style

Voting, Elections and Real Time Social Media

First, I hope you vote today!

Did you know that Facebook is doing real time tracking of voting today? John Haydon, who is a social media specialist that I have referenced numerous times, has a great brief video showing you what Facebook is up to. After viewing it, think how you can use the demographic information provided by Facebook to better target your audience and to better engage with them.

One Billion

The number one billion is quite a large number.  Facebook’s number of monthly users recently surpassed it.  But what does it really mean?  With 14% of the world’s population using it there are still 86% who are not. 

Here are some other numbers just as important:

• 300 Million – number of photos uploaded to Facebook daily
• 600 Million – number of monthly active users who used Facebook on a mobile device like a smartphone. 
• 43 Billion – that is Facebook’s market capitalization.  Now a publicly traded company it has to balance the needs of shareholders versus users.  Remember that next time they change their advertising or privacy policies.
• 143 Billion – number of friendships on Facebook – so on average every user has 143 friends on Facebook

So while 1 Billion is very impressive how many people have liked your organization, have uploaded photos about your group, or have engaged you on Facebook?

Social Media at the 2012 Olympics

With the world focused on London for the Olympics, it’s a chance for social media to shine.

We’ve seen athletes kicked out of the games because of tweets including a track athlete and a soccer player. A journalist was kicked off of Twitter, then reinstated, for including the email address of an NBC executive while complaining vociferously about NBC’s coverage of the games.

The Olympics actually has a set of social media guidelines for athletes and delegates to follow.

Social media companies have forged partnerships with broadcasters bringing TV and the internet even closer. For example Facebook is partnering with NBC. Facebook is crunching analyzing people post to Facebook about the games and they are broadcasting NBC’s video feeds. NBC gets stories out of the data that Facebook is analyzing. NBC, and other broadcasters, are posting live news to various social media sites. So if you follow NBC on Twitter or Facebook you’ll see the results of the games before the tape-delayed events are broadcast. While tape-delayed Olympic events are not new, the viewer’s ability to voice their complaints about it is…thanks to social media.

Here’s a video of some athletes and how they plan to use social media during the Olympics

How are you using social media during these Olympics? Are you doing anything different? Are you staying the same? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Spamalot?

Let’s talk about spam and social media.  Not the canned meat delicacy but the nasty unwanted stuff.  When you think of spam you probably think of email.  But social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. are also avenues for spam.  

A story by Bloomberg Business Week states that as many as 40% of all social media accounts are spam.  Why would spammers target social media – because they can.  And because it’s easier to reach a larger audience via social media than it is to send spammy emails.  

Putting spam and social media together leads us to two things.  First, make sure you don’t click on links on social media sites you don’t know and make sure your social media passwords are very secure.  In fact why not change them regularly, including after you read this post.  Second, think about the types of information you share on social media platforms.  Is it really important content?  Is it something your readers/friends/followers would consider spam?  Would the social media platforms consider it spam?  Here’s a list of what the various platforms consdier spam.

Timelines, they are a-changing

If you have a Facebook page for your organization be prepared for a change on March 30, 2012. Facebook is changing all pages over to it’s timeline format.

What does that mean for you? Well, since there is a change in layout, you’ll want to make sure you have branding and graphics correctly sized and ready for the change. You can opt in to the changes to see what your page will look like.

You’re going to need to have a cover photo. This is a larger photo that individual Facebook accounts with the timeline already have in place. Dimensions for the image should be 850px by 315px. Make sure the image you choose for your cover photo is this size or stretches to the size without distortion. Mashable has a post with some fun cover photos for some brand pages. You have time to be creative with your cover photo if you start now.

There will no longer be the ability to set a default landing tab. All people will go to your main Facebook page. You can have up to 12 tabs for your page. The tabs will be located below your cover photo and you can arrange the tabs to your preference. Other changes include Pinning (like Pinterest), how to access administration of the page, and page messaging.

Another hat tip to John Haydon on his insightful how-to videos. Here’s a video on how to change your Facebook page over to the new timeline brand pages.

With all of these changes, there will likely be benefits to us. First, it should enhance branding capabilities. Hopefully it will increase engagement.

If you have already converted to the new timeline, let us know about your likes and dislikes of it in the comment section.

World Map of Social Media

I recently came across a world map of social media on the Vincos Blog. I really enjoy their post because it shows you the gradual change in social networks in different parts of the world. Only three years ago you can see that there are many different social networks dominating in different countries. As social networks have matured and the weaker networks have faded away, you can see what is left. Outside of Russia and most of Asia, Facebook (the blue countries) is now the main player.

What are your thoughts on using Facebook? Is it the most effective engagement tool for your organization? Let’s discuss in the comments.

Top Ten for 2011

It would be the end of the year without another Top Ten list. NCE Social Media is no exception.

Here are the top 10 posts from the past year.

10. Google+
9. Social Media Etiquette
8. 10 Commandments of Posting Online
7. Facebook’s EdgeRank
6. Megaphones
5. Social Media as a Fundraising Tool for 2011
4. Setting Up Facebook Fan Pages
3. New Facebook Groups
2. Share Buttons and Bars
1. Is YouTube Making You Money?

What were your favorites?