Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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Facebook Trolls Still Pining for Dislike Button

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Since the dawn of time…the time spent on Facebook…people have wanted a dislike button. In fact, the official page for requesting a dislike button now has over 3.3 million likes. But, Facebook has continued to avoid this request, and they are actively trying to prevent app developers from including this functionality.

Why? Well, they want Facebook to be a positive place. A dislike button could theoretically be used properly. And could be used for comedy. But, it could also be used to hurt somebody’s feelings. Facebook could instantly become the instant bully platform. “Check out my new haircut!” (dislike)

There’s also some pragmatic reasons for not adding a dislike button. Let’s say you just watched a movie you don’t like. Wouldn’t it be nice to post your status update that says “Just watched Twilight…” and then thumbs down it? But here’s the problem. Do people thumbs up your post if they like your thumbs down? If there are 5 likes and 5 dislikes, should it show up as 0?

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Posted in Social Media, facebook | No Comments »

As Facebook Catches Up, Google Plus Goes Public

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Last week, Facebook caught up with all of the innovations that were making Google Plus so interesting. In fact, one could argue they Facebook sped right past.

But, nearly simultaneously, Google Plus went public. (Did you even know it was still in an invite-only beta?) And in that first week Google+ went public, traffic to the network grew by 1269%, with 15 million total (non-mobile) U.S. visits.

Are these people just going to check out what all the no-longer fuss is about? Or more people looking to make an exodus? But from what – now that Facebook offers the features (social filtering and others) that made Google+ so tempting in the first place?

And just to compare, Google Plus’ traffic is not just far behind Facebook’s – it’s still behind MySpace’s.

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Posted in Google, Google Plus, Social Media, facebook | No Comments »

Does Facebook See Everything I Do?

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

The cool thing about the semantic Web is that Facebook can connect with everything you do.

The bad thing about the semantic Web is that you might not want Facebook to see everything you do.

For example, Facebook is set up to automatically reveal in the new ticker what you’re listening to on Spotify. Now, I’m going to have to censor myself. No more guilty pleasure MC Hammer on a Monday morning. Because people will see. And what else are they seeing? Every site I visit. Every blog I browse.

In fact, is it possible that, even while logged out, Facebook knows where I’m going?

Well, many sites have Facebook integration. So, even when you’re offline, you may not really be that. Because new tests have shown that even logged out requests still send cookies, which identify you as a Facebook user.

I am no longer anonymous. Perhaps I never was, but it felt like it.

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

Hulu Incorporates Social Commentary Integration

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Last month, we talked about how Facebook Movie Rentals had begun testing social integration, allowing users to add captions and comments to movie timelines for their friends to view when they watched the same show or movie.

Now, this Facebook integration has grown to include Hulu’s streaming media content. With this Hulu app, you will be able to provide similar commentary directly within Hulu (directly within Facebook).

Plus, Hulu Plus users get access to their entire library directly on Facebook. And you have easy control access over how private you want your viewing/commenting to be.

Expect this new feature to become extremely popular, extremely fast. I’m already excited for it.

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Posted in Social Media, facebook | No Comments »

Does New Facebook Hurt Google Plus?

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

People are already claiming the death of Google Plus. But, are these digital prophecies a bit premature?

Because Google Plus isn’t exactly a graveyard. It has more than 43 million users and counting. There was a desire for something different. Perhaps Google Plus’ Circles feature offered the wake-up call Facebook need to evolve. Now that they have, is Google Plus necessary any more?

Well, your mom’s not there. It’s a little better looking. It’s quieter. If Facebook evolves quick enough, perhaps they can quell the social exodus. And if they do, yeah, Google Plus might be in trouble.

Or it becomes something different. For instance, as both networks move to a profile-based experience – in the future, are you going to want future employers to see your Google Profile, or your Facebook profile?

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Posted in Google, Google Plus, Social Media, facebook | No Comments »

Facebook Catches Up and Moves Fast into the Future

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Facebook has officially redeemed themselves.

I’ve been upset with Facebook for more than a year now. They just weren’t innovating. Twitter allowed you to follow people without friending, which ushered in a whole world of celebrities on the Twitter train.

Facebook didn’t change. And Twitter went mainstream.

Recently, Google Plus has come out with a whole new innovation of social media  filtering. The ability to share status updates, news and video with select circles of friends – without letting other friends see. They beat Facebook to this seemingly obvious evolution of social sharing.

But finally, Facebook is catching up, and it looks like they’re moving far ahead.

At the F8 conference last week, Mark Zuckerberg shared a world of Jobs’ian beauty. It’s exciting. It’s beautiful. It gives users more control. It takes the best features that Twitter and Google Plus have to offer (following & filtering). I’m proud of Facebook. I’m excited about Facebook once again.

But, here’s my one big concern, and it’s probably everyone’s. This “semantic Web” that Zuckerberg is so excited about, and the privacy issues that we’re so fearful of. Your interaction with Facebook apps now automatically ends up in, no longer your timeline, but your ticker (the new right sidebar feature).

You don’t get to opt-in to this. You don’t get to say no. This just isn’t smart. I’m going to be self conscious about the songs I choose to listen to on Spotify now. Do I want people to know I’m listening to the new Jay-Z album? Now I don’t get a choice. If I want to do something, I am forced to do it publicly. Sorry Zuckerberg. This ain’t going to fly. Fix this. Focus on making things easier while giving us more control. And you’ll stay in the lead for good this time.

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Posted in Google Plus, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, facebook | No Comments »

Qwikster Social Media Gaffe

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Whenever an individual or business makes a terrible mistake using social media, we at Windy City Strategies want to make sure we call it out, in order to help us all avoid similar social media gaffes in the future.

But today’s is a weird one. It’s not a gaffe of commission, but rather, omission.

Netflix has separated the DVD-by-mail portion of their business into a new company, called Qwikster. The only problem is, it’s a new company name. And the Twitter name, @Qwikster, was already taken, and being used by a fairly lewd student, who repeatedly references sexual interests and recreational drug usage.

Oops. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise – an opportunity for Netflix to take back the  simply awful Qwikster name? But, what’s the lesson here. For years now, companies have avoided naming their company a name they can’t acquire the .com domain version of. Is a vacant Twitter name now a standard business requirement, too?

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Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Pandora in a Post-Spotify World

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Pandora has been music’s darling for years now. Arguably the best Internet radio option, specializing in music discovery.

But now that we’re living in a post-Spotify world, where does that leave Pandora? Because on Spotify, you can now stream full-length songs on-demand, nearly any song you can think of. Plus, you can send song suggestions to your friends. But although Spotify offers a social dimension to music discovery, there is no internal recommendation engine. Spotify won’t play me songs it thinks I might like based on my listening habits.

And that’s where Pandora still holds a key advantage. For the casual listener, Pandora is easier.

Although, Pandora has publicly stated its goal to expand its features into what sounds very similar to Spotify offers. And we’ll see if Spotify starts offering Pandora-like automatic play.

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Facebook Fan Pages Can Now Become Facebook Profiles

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

With this latest Facebook change, many people have been asking whether they should take advantage of the option to turn their Facebook Fan Page into a Facebook Profile?

Well, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently thinks so. Facebook has merged his Facebook Fan Page into his Facebook profile, and automatically accumulated more than 5 million new subscribers.

A huge benefit to Zuckerberg (and other celebrities who want to do this) is that, unlike with Fan Pages, you can mass message your “followers”, a huge marketing advantage. But, as of today, business fan pages (non individuals) can’t convert to profile pages and still long for this messaging feature.

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Posted in Social Media, facebook | No Comments »

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