Social Media Predictions for 2014 (survey)

Image Source: Sofiaperesoa

What does the future hold for social media? How will social media management change during the next 12 months?

In the era of fast and constant changes, 12 months seem like a big period to be predicted. However, if you have studied 2013 in more detail when it comes to social networks and their performance, you can make at least a few initial predictions on the changes to expect.

Facebook algorithm update: do we see what we really like?

Facebook has announced during the week an update to their algorithm that defines what is shown on our News Feed. According to their press release, their new focus is on high-quality content, leaving behind photo memes, and call to action posts.

Many of us were confused with these recent changes, since it’s not clear yet why Facebook decided to focus on the quality of the news sources. However, since we’re playing with their rules, we should become familiar with the update, in order to maintain a good Facebook presence.

Thus, as of now, Facebook will ‘promote’ articles from reputable sources on the News Feed, while it will slightly ‘ignore’ photo memes and low quality content.

And here comes the question: “How do you define quality?”

When was the last time you visited the homepage of a website?

Social networks have significantly changed the way we consume the news and this also has an effect on our news sources.

How many homepages do you visit every day to read the news? You might have a couple of favorite websites that you check from time to time, but in general, do you need to visit a homepage to read the daily news you want?

Post-IPO Twitter: will it lose its identity?

Source: nymag.com

Twitter has gone public and a new era has just started. The problem begins though when it should actually now reach the wider public. There was a big comparison this week with the Facebook IPO time, with many people being unsure on whether Twitter can really make it big.

It's good to evolve and seek to reach a bigger audience, but are you really capable of doing it? Most of us know that Twitter is very useful for being updated on important news almost in real-time, but we still admit that it hasn't reached the popularity of Facebook, not even close (which isn't necessarily bad for all of us that hate something when its goes big). How does it evolve then from now on?

What's really (left) on your mind?

Facebook is asking you every day "what's on your mind", while Google is always there for you, for everything that is not on your mind. After the constant use of both of them, you can't help but wonder, what's really left on your mind nowadays?

Facebook, Google and the Internet in general, have signficantly affected the way we think, and the way our mind works. When Facebook is asking 'what's on your mind', we feel an urge to answer, which leads to a brand new status update.

Facebook: Are you the customer or the product?

'If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you are the product being sold.' -- Andrew Lewis, under the alias Blue_beetle, on the site MetaFilter

 In the era of social media, we all enjoy using social networks for personal or professional reasons. Facebook seems like the ideal network. Everyone is using it. Communication gets easier than ever, borders have disappeared and the world feels closer to you. You're even more excited by the fact that everything is in your own hands for free, without paying for its use. Is it so? Is it really free?

The Internet effect on Generation Y (a.k.a Millennials)

WHO are they (we)?

Generation Y, or Millennials, is referring to the demographic of people born between the '80s and the early '00s. It mostly refers to teens and young adults and is considered the most tech-savvy generation. Most of them grew up along with the Internet and this makes them an interesting generation to study on the use of social media.

Facebook Graph Search Includes Posts and Status Updates

Facebook has decided to extend its Graph Search by incorporating on its search engine the ability to look for posts, status updates, or comments.

This makes Graph Search more powerful than ever, since users will be able to find any post/comment of their favorite artist/TV show, they could spot their status updates from last year, or the comments they did. What's more, marketers will have an even better idea of their audience and would be able to trace every single mention of what they are looking for.

Is it time to unplug from social media?

Do you live and breathe on social media? Do you enjoy discovering new networks and communicating with your friends and coworkers through the Internet? Even more, are you working on digital media? Time to question yourself, when was the last time that you unplugged?

We live in the era of constant connectivity, of fast paces and of 'over-plugging'. A power outage can drive us crazy and a day with no Internet is like our worst nightmare. We love using the Internet and we appreciate its usefulness. However, we all have a time when we feel like we need a break. And that's when unplugging is required.

Facebook email on proposing updates to our Data Use Policy

Just received a mail from Facebook, referring to the proposed updates on the way they collect our data and the rules of the Facebook usage. Although I was cautious at first on the vailidity of the mail, as it seems, according to the redirecting links on the Facebook Site Governance Page, it is something that we must all carefully read.

I still haven't read all the documents, but I'm keeping this as a start:

"we may share information with service providers when they help us provide services."

Being a Social Media Manager in your 20s

I was born in the late 80s, I grew up with the modem sound, I played Pinball, I had a Playstation and a Game Boy, I left my walkman for a CD player and then turned to iPod. I played Snake on my first Nokia phone and I now play Angry Birds on my smartphone. Most people that were born on that decade can relate with me and many of us have a common digital passion.

I always loved writing and popular culture, so I started blogging on my own 5 years ago, doing what I loved. I learned about Wordpress, SEO, HTML for my own curiosity and ultimately got into online journalism. And then came social media. I started with Facebook back in 2007 and just like everybody else, I got hooked to the bait of social networks.

Facebook Pages Manager updates for iOS

Pages Manager is a useful application that allows you to manage your Facebook pages on the go. As it seems, a brand new update for iOS improves the features that you will be able to manage from your smartphone, with some useful additions.

From now on you can:

• Upload multiple photos simultaneously at the same post
• Add page admins from the app
• Edit the cover photo of your page
• Take advantage of the improved insights
• Create a new event from your iPhone
• Create a new page

How to use Gmail tabs properly

If you are a Gmail user, you must have already used the new feature of tabs that splits your messages into categories, according to their type of mail. This feature was introduced by Google in order to help us organize our mails, without feeling overwhelmed  by them.

And it actually kept its promise. If you spend some time to organize your tabs with the appropriate mails, you are able to set a priority for each tab and check it accordingly. Hence, you can only check your "Primary" tab during the day and maybe have a look on the "Promotions" on your spare time. However, there is always the danger of the wrong category, which might cost you with a delayed answer to an important mail. What's more, if you are a control freak, just like me, how long can you leave this sign of a new mail (even in an other tab) without opening? 

New Gmail is trying to show us a new way to use our inbox and it is a step forward. If we adapt to it, we'll explore its benefits. Since then, we'll be more careful for the organizing of the tabs and we'll try to win our obsession with any notification that pops up.

Blogger comments integrate Google Plus for your own good!

One thing I love about using Blogger for my articles is the integration it features with Google+. Google wanted to cross-use their services- in order to promote G+, but also in order to broaden our reach in an easy way.

Hence, when using Blogger as a platform, you don't need to worry on the commenting system, on whether to install Discqus, Livefyre or any other service. All you have to do is use your Google+ account and just like that, the comment you make also appears on Google's social network.

All the updates on Facebook News Feed

Facebook has decided to leave aside the Edge Rank algorithm that defined the posts that are visible on each one's News Feed, in an attempt to reward the quality posts and allow us not to miss a thing from the people we want.

As for now, Facebook introduces:

• Story Bumping: It's not just about the most recent posts, but also about the most relevant ones. If you missed an interesting post from a friend that was posted some hours ago, it will still appear on your newsfeed. This will replace quantity over quality, matching your interests and your relationships. This will be great for Facebook Pages, since an interesting post will have higher visibility, providing that there is engagement and that the user really finds it interesting.
• Last Actor: If you still like to check the most recent posts, but mostly from the people that matter to you, Facebook tracks your most frequent interactions, in order to notify you about their updates. They thought that if you interact a lot with somebody, it means that s/he belongs to your closest relations and thus, you want to know all their news.

How does the updated News Feed Algorithm work, though?

Social Media Success Summit 2013: the largest online social media conference!

I just read about the annual "Social Media Success Summit" and I must confess that I'm already anticipating for it!

 

It's not that easy to attend big social media events throughout the world, and such a big and online event, with so many experts in one conference, seems like an ideal case to improve our digital knowledge.

• 2400 marketers attended last year, including thousands of small businesses and marketers

• 67% of our social media instructors are published social media book authors!  These are the leading experts in the world.

Does Facebook Graph Search change the way we choose?

Graph Search is a new feature that was introduced by Facebook as a way to take the searching to a new level, allowing us to search anything we want in a much easier way. That's the good side of the new service. But since nothing is heavenly sent, there is always another side to examine.

When I first tried Graph Search, I was happy that Facebook seemed to make a present to the marketers, allowing them to have a clearer view on their target audience. However, it was only yesterday when I just clicked on the search box and noticed this pop-up below:

Chrome's multiple users: the secret weapon for every social media manager!

Chrome has finally found a way to turn me into a loyal user of their popular browser. It might not be a new discovery, but I was impressed lately with the ability to add multiple users.

I must admit that I was always a Firefox user, with an occasional use of Chrome. However, I always had the problem with the numerous accounts I was handling for my clients, looking for a way to organize them, without logging out each and every time. I tried to install several browsers, but by the time I was obliged to use Internet Explorer for my every day use, I knew that I had to find a more functional way. Then I read about the managing of multiple users on Google Chrome, which allows you to create as many users as you want, add their log in details and simply switch from one another, without losing any passwords, tabs, favorites, or bookmarks. Hence, it's like your having numerous browsers all in one, with all the plugins that Chrome supports anyway. This was like gift!

Facebook displays related hashtags

Facebook seems to invest on the use of hashtags and they seem to improve their usefulness day by day, making the lives of social media managers easier.

I was searching for a hashtag yesterday when I noticed that on top of the page there were suggestions for similar tags to the one I was searching. This means that when you're monitoring a specific hashtag you can find useful suggestions with a targeted content for your needs. This is a time-saving feature for social media managers that might want to search for several hashtags, in order to decide which one they should keep for each brand.

Have you used hashtags on Facebook? Do you find them useful?

Facebook updates page insights

Facebook has decided to give a fresh look to the Insights of the Pages and I just had the first try with them. Although it might take a few weeks to decide on their usefulness, while analyzing the metrics with the new way, the first opinion is definitely positive.

Facebook finally understands what administrators really want from a Page. With several new tabs and more details on each one, you can now examine the time your users usually visit your page, the posts that led to bigger reach or engagement, the kind of posts that are more successful and so many other things.

From now on, you can try the new look and if you're not satisfied, you can go back to the old version. Have a look at the new version, click on some tabs and then let me know, would you go back to the previous version?

How do I get 15000 likes on Facebook?

"I want you to get me 15000 likes for my Facebook page."

If you are a social media marketeer you might have heard this request. If not, then you might be interested in learning how to get 15000 new fans for your Facebook page. 

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I won't help on that. I never supported the fake increase in likes and it doesn't even help a brand at all. When you request such a number of new fans from your social media manager you should keep in mind that these fans will either be fake users (although Facebook is trying to spot this), or users that are probably indifferent for your brand. ROI of social media is not simply measuring the number of fans. And those that do measure it only by these are left on superficial metrics.

As the old saying goes: "Don't judge a book by its cover."

Thus, as you are not advised to judge a book by its cover, you should not judge a social media success by the number of fans. Not at least when they are increased in the middle of the night in a suspicious way. Social media entails the word social in it. You create a social presence in order to promote your brand, gain fans that will become loyal customers and convert promotion into sales. Buying fans will not lead in these results and will only allow you to be proud that you have more fans than your competitors. Is this what you're looking for?

Vine, nice to meet you!

I love trying out emerging social networks and the last one was Vine. I had it installed for some time now, but I never spent any time on it. The first time I logged in, I couldn't even create a "vine" with a significant success.

It didn't seem to me that easy to create a motion picture without the effect of an erthquake (this was the magnitude of my trembling at first). However, I was impressed by the creations of the others. I used to read about the success of Vine, but I wasn't sure whether it is a network that should grab my attention. After all, there are many networks out there and this doesn't mean that we should be part of all. Up to now, I always preferred pictures to videos, but I feel that this might change sooner or later. Times change and we simply adapt to them. People consume endless pictures from their timelines and they seem to need more content. That's why they turn to videos. Vine manages to combine motion with picture and all at a short length, just what is needed to grab our attention and not waste our time. Business owners did realise the potential of Vine and that's why we see many brands already embracing it.

Life without Internet in 2013?

Living in an ever-evolving digital era is interesting and it definitely has changed our lives. We are thrilled by the speed that things are happening and we feel like we want to be part of everything. Losing the Internet connection for a while is a cause of a panic attack and no need to say about being a couple of days far from it. Our digital world has broadened our minds, our limits, our connections. We are facing new opportunities, new goals, new challenges. However, have you ever thought how your life would be if you never had an Internet connection?

Unless you're a teenager now, you should remember the days when Internet was non-existent. We still had the traditional media for our updates, we were still members of the world, but we definitely did not live on today's speeds. 

All these thoughts were just the consequence of a typical encounter to my grandparents and came up after my grandpa was wondering whether his favorite team won the latest game.

Facebook Improves Conversations with Replies

Facebook has announced an improvement to the commenting system on the Pages, allowing a better interaction among the users and better management and visibility for the admins.

According to Vadim Lavrusik, Journalism Program Manager of Facebook:

Post Planner Pro is now FREE for everyone!

Post Planner Pro has just become free for everyone, trying to keep up with Facebook's own competition. If you haven't tried it yet, have a look. It's not complete on its free version, but it's not that bad.

Here's their reasons why they decided it:

Post Planner Pro is now FREE for everyone!

Yes, any page manager on Facebook can now use Post Planner to schedule and manage posts on ALL the pages they admin… for FREE.

Yes, you heard that correctly:

"No more working from home for Yahoo" heavily criticized on the Internet

Source: Daily Trojan

Nowadays, working from home has become a worlwide trend. Many employees have left their office for the warmth of their home, with the workforce adapting to a new situation. For the employers it was a matter of saving space. For the employee it was a matter of saving time (avoiding the routine of going and leaving work). However, Yahoo! seems to have a differet view on the benefits of working from home.

Evernote Security Notice: Service-wide Password Reset

Do you have an account on Evernote? You must have received this mail:

Dear Evernote user,

Evernote's Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service.

As a precaution to protect your data, we have decided to implement a password reset. Please read below for details and instructions.

Tumblr announces the #music tag

Tumblr has decided to expand into the music industry, by creating an exclusive tag for music searching. With the use of #music and also the url http://music.tumblr.com/, they are creating a whole new world for them, which might be the key to their expanding success.

Here's their announcement:

"After hearing much demand from the bloggers and fans on Tumblr, we have finally launched a #music tag page. 

Track the new tag to stay up on the best new music, videos, artwork and photos on Tumblr, hand-picked by members of the community. The tag editors come from different areas of the music world, and all share a common passion for the sport.

In addition, we are announcing this new blog, music.tumblr.com, where you can find out about everything that is going on with music on Tumblr—product announcements, new bands and blogs to follow, tips for artists and music bloggers, and shout outs to unique posts we find on Tumblr. When a band does something awesome, we’ll point it out. Also, we’re planning some shows and events for you. Follow the music hub so you don’t miss out on the fun. 

To track the #music tag:

1. Type “music” in the search box on your dashboard.

2. You’ve landed on the page. Now click “track.” Come back and visit anytime. "

The competition in digital music is increasing once again. There are so many platforms to discover new music and artists. The thing is, which one do you prefer and how willing are you to try a new one?

What's the best day to post on Facebook?

If you have managed a Facebook page either for personal or professional use, there must have been a time that you were wondering about the best time and day for your content.

Unfortunately, there is no secret formula that makes a post viral on a specific day. However, after some research on Facebook pages, there are some days and times that work better, depending on the industry and the content.

Hopefully this infographic will be helpful for your business!

Share the news and help more Facebook pages!

 

Infographic: PandemicLabs 

Twitter improves the viewing of media

Twitter has decided to focus even more on its own media, by enhancing the viewing of its own pictures and videos.

From now on, when you click on a tweet with an image, it does not lead you to a new page, but in a new pop-up window, which makes it easier to enjoy the media that your followers are uploading.

What's more, Twitter has expanded its cooperation with its partners, including Youtube, Vimeo, etc, by adding their videos in your media gallery.

What do you think of this change?

Facebook adds "More pages you might like" feature

Facebook keeps testing features that will motivate their users to like more pages and thus, entice business owners to use the network even more as part of their campaign.

Thus, from now on, when you like a Page, a box appears above the tabs and it suggests similar pages you might like. Don't forget, "Recommended Pages" are already on the sidebar of your newsfeed, in case you haven't noticed it yet.

It seems that the data that Facebook is collecting from us are enough to create interesting suggestions, according to our needs. It depends on our tendency to like new pages whether we are becoming fans of them or not.

How often do you like a similar page that is suggested to you and fits your interests?