Buzz About Social Media

BlogSwarm: The Power of Social Media to Raise Awareness

Lincoln Rose — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:21:19 +0000

Can you feel the rumble moving across the Net? Is it a server malfunction? The train outside your tiny apartment? No, it’s a band of bloggers swarming across the Sphere, bringing truth and justice to the top ranks of your google search! The now widely used Blogswarm is another tool used in social media to raise awareness of important news and issues.

But what is a blogswarm, and how does it work? A blogswarm happens when groups of bloggers, out of urgent need or pre-arranged agreement, all write posts about the same issue and urge others to write. Recently we had a ’swarm where bloggers encouraged people to contact their representatives and ask them to vote yes on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. That was motivated by situational need. In other cases, a specific day of the year will come around, and folks will agree to write posts on a topic that’s close to their hearts. For example, May 1st was Blog Against Disablism Day, where people write about disability issues. It’s been going on since 2006.

Do BlogSwarms really help? Yes. And just as important, they’re a ton of fun! You get to join together with others across the blogosphere, and for one day everyone has the same goal: get more people to care/understand/do something about X, Y, or Z. There’s also alot of freedom in it, because everyone crafts their own message, as long as the end result is the same. A ’swarm is a great way to reach down into the pool of information we all wade through, pull one thing out, and let the Net World know that a lot of people think this is worth knowing about.

Try it for yourself! There’s plenty of ’swarms out there waiting for another blogger to join the pack. Or set up your own swarm day! Choose a date and topic, post about it, send links out to other bloggers, and let the word fly! A blogswarm is one more tool we have for keeping folks connected to what’s going on around them.

Creating Groups With Facebook!

Lincoln Rose — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:08:16 +0000

Facebook is a wonderful tool for keeping track of your friends and family. It can also be helpful in developing professional and social contacts. But did you know that Facebook makes it easy to create and manage groups?

Folks manage groups on FB for all kinds of reasons, from social to political to work-related. Being a group administrator is not a difficult task, and the time committment depends on the level of involvement you decide on. Here’s how you create a group:

1) On the left side of your homepage, find the link that says “Groups” and click on it.

2) On your groups page, you’ll see a grey box that says “Create a Group”. Click that box!

3) Now you should be on a page that asks for your group information. Fill in as much as you want to. The big decision is whether you want the group to be available to everyone on Facebook, or only people in your local network.

4) Once you’ve filled in all the blanks, click the “Create Group” button at the bottom of the screen.

5) This next page is about security and access options. Now is the time to figure out how much approval people will need to access your group.

6) After you save that, Facebook will take you to the Invites page. Congratulations! You’re ready to invite your friends to join your group and let the fun (or work) begin!

The best part? If at any point you feel overwhelmed and need to stop being administrator of the group, just tell Facebook. FB will pick a new administrator from among your group members. You can walk away without worrying about your group dying!

Technorati Tags: access, coalition, create, Facebook, friends, fun, group, job, link, play, work

Human Resources Professionals Use Social Media To Seek Out Candidates

Sarah Cruz — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:19:35 +0000

Human Resources

Social media can be used by Human Resources professionals to increase the quality of candidates and to stretch out further in to the available community of workers. While sites like LinkedIn naturally gravitate towards hiring and job searching, other sites also offer possibilities to increasing H.R. effectiveness.

Sites can be used to search for potential candidates and to screen candidates before investing time in phone calls and interviews. Additionally, communities can be formed on sites like Facebook. These communities would promote deeper relationships, thereby increasing the candidacy of hire potential. This would also weed out potential employees who simply want a job, and may not be necessarily passionate about a specific company’s mission or brand. By pulling from a community of individuals who have added themselves to that group, it can be nearly guaranteed that they have a purpose for adding and wishing to be a part of the community.

While recruiters are often simply too busy to create relationships with candidates, social media makes it easier and more effective for them to do this. It has been said that finding candidates through this vein, via connections made on social media sites, the workplace then becomes a more connected unit, as candidates and hiring managers and recruiters are already familiar with each other via social media sites and groups.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Human Resources Social Media, Social Media in Workplace, Social Media News

Nielsen And Facebook Seek To Increase Effectiveness of Advertising

Sarah Cruz — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:06:51 +0000

Facebook page

Nielsen and Facebook have partnered up to increase the effectiveness of social media advertising. They also seek to prove the ability of social media to further advertising dollars and efforts.

While some accuse the two of being strange bedfellows, and findings seem to be tainted by the partnership, they have concluded that Facebook promotes advertising success.

According to a Nielsen study, advertising on Facebook brings results, especially when used in conjunction with features such as the “Like” button, and having thier ads appear in the streams of friend activities.

Nielsen reports that it surveyed over 800,000 Facebook users and 125 advertising campaigns. The most successful ads were those featured on a homepage. When an ad was “liked” by a friend, teh success of that ad’s visibility and ability to be recalled by the viewer jumped to 16% and to 30% when the ad content appeared in a friend’s news feed.

The research also looked at intent to purchase and found the trends followed these same lines.

I “assume we will start incorporating offline purchase and other transactional data as part o the analysis,” said Jon Gibbs, VP of Media Analytics at Nielsen.

Technorati Tags: Facebook advertising, Nielsen Facebook Social Media Advertising, social media advertising, Social Media News

Social Media Survey Microsoft’s Employees Are Biggest Users

Sarah Cruz — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:56:10 +0000

Mouse

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that employees are on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. It has become increasingly apparent that banning usage of these sites might not be simply futile, but may also be a lost marketing and networking opportunity. NetProspex, a sales and marketing contact database, conducted a survey of corporations and ranked the top 50 for social media involvement. Microsoft’s employees ranked the highest for social media involvement.

“This report shows that in today’s business environment, employees throughout many of the country’s largest corporations are using social networks, ” said NetProspex CEO Gary Halliwell. “This presents a new opportunity for sales and marketing prospecting and lead generation, as strategies adapt to encompass the landscape of social networks.”

The companies with the highest percentage of social media users were, no surprise, technology and software companies such as Google, Apple and was graced by online retailers such as Amazon and eBay. and even Walt Disney Corp.

The timing of the survey publication is quite beneficial to Microsoft, who recently launched two phones, the Kin One and the Kin Two, which are specifically created to easily navigate social media sites.

Technorati Tags: Social Media, Social Media News, Social media survey Microsoft, social media workplace

Social Media Aids Travellers Stranded By Volcano

Sarah Cruz — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:44:48 +0000

Social Media

Travelers stranded by the Icelandic volcano spewing dangerous ash in to European airspace are finding comfort and resources via social media. The volcano has been erupting for nearly a week, completely grounding air travel in its wake. Ash contains tiny rock particles, which can be detrimental to the aircraft engines, thus causing what some have dubbed the worst flight delay since 9/11.
Social media has come to the rescue of these bedraggled travelers, and not just as forum to air grievances. Many are also finding rides and rooms vial Twitter and Facebook. Tod Brilliant, a California resident, created the Facebook group “When Volcanoes Erupt: A Survival Guide for Stranded Travellers,” after he and his 31-weeks-pregnant wife Andrea were stranded in London.

“We’re feeling pretty helpless, and it’s therapeutic to help other people network,” said Brilliant. “There’s nothing more futile than shaking your fist at a volcano.”

“People have been very generous. A band of neighbors on tiny Percy Street in Stratford-upon-Avon have taken it upon themselves to make sure that Andrea and I have what we need,” Brilliant said. “It makes me want to cry thinking about it.”
While there is no guarantee as to when the airspace will be cleared, it appears that weary travelers have a virtual, and sometimes real, shoulder to lean on as they wait for their ticket home.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Social Media News, social media travel, Social media volcano, twitter

Facebook Re-Opens Safety Center To Protect Children

Sarah Cruz — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:37:29 +0000

Facebook Safety

Facebook is taking steps to protect the safety of children. On Tuesday, it opened its newly redesigned Safety Center, which is a collaborative effort between Facebook and its Safety Advisory Board. The board, assembled four months ago, consists of these independent, global groups: Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute.

“Safety is Facebook’s top priority,” said Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan. “We’ve quadrupled the safety content available and we’ve created cleaner, more navigable interfaces to help you find answers to safety questions fast.”

After a frightening turn of events in Great Britain, where Facebook is accused as being complicit in a child abduction and murder case, the social media site has taken serious steps to address safety concerns. While Facebook has not acquiesed to every suggestion given by Britain’s authorities, it has created structures it hopes will not only waylay further abuse, but promote education, awareness and conversation on the part of children and their parents.

Facebook offers a Security page, with tips and information on avoiding hackers and scams, but the Safety Center is a more interactive effort which goes to greater lengths to protect users, namely children.

In the ever-changing world of social media, Facebook stands as the most popular site for users, and as such, bears the brunt of taking security further than its counterparts.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Facebook Safety, Facebook Safety Center Children, Social Media, Social Media Children, Social Media Safety

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Buzz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:29:02 +0000

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