Social media may be powerful, it may be useful and it might be the right tool for a lot of businesses, but it isn’t the solution to everything nor has it had impact on every single part of human activity.
Don’t Overemphasise Social Media
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Twitter To Target Users Based On Browsing Activity
Twitter is experimenting with new advertising techniques and formats.
In a recent announcement the company announced their plans to start targetting their US users based on their web browsing activity.
The new “service” is aimed at US based Twitter users so Europeans should not be impacted:
So if you’re a European Twitter user you shouldn’t have to do anything..
But if you are in the US it’s quite easy to disable this new form of targetting.
- Login to your Twitter account via the web interface.
- Go to your account settings
- Uncheck the box labelled “Tailor Twitter based on my recent website visits”
- Click on the “Save changes” button at the bottom of the page
If Toddlers Used Facebook
George Takei “gets” social media and his Facebook page is probably one of the more amusing ones on Facebook.
From earlier today:
Social Network Wars Explained
Social media networks want more users. Of course if you’re trying to grow your social network then it makes sense that you use your users’ existing connections .. So a lot of social networks tap into the data available via Twitter, Facebook and other services.
Of course by doing this they can upset each other .. end result you see social networks blocking access to each other. Sometimes it’s pretty petty, but it’s still fascinating to watch.
The guys over at Hootsuite used a Game of Thrones style analogy to visually represent what’s been going on:
Pinterest Engagement Graphic
Pinterest has made changes to their systems in the last couple of months that make it easier for brands and businesses to use the social network.
But what’s actually going on?
This graphic from Curalate gives some interesting insights:
Do you use Pinterest? Why? Do you like it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments!
Social Media Revealed
A lot of the companies flogging social media services to businesses probably shouldn’t be in the business at all.
A lot of the “advice” they’re giving companies is terrible and yet they charge their clients “top dollar” for it.
(Not all of the companies operating in the space are “evil”, but a lot are)
The Onion’s recent video in the style of “Ted Talks” is brilliant and worth watching if you have any doubts about social media gurus:
Nike Running #Fail
Nike Running. Wonderful device (and software) if it works, but one of its key elements (and raison d’etre) is the GPS functionality. Without it there’s not much point in using it.. Or so you’d think:
Am I missing something? Or did they just almost ask him to run with his computer?
No – they’re just going to plough ahead with even more “good” and “helpful” advice:
Twitter Blocks Tumblr
Twitter’s API changes announced last week upset quite a few people. But what about its relations with other social networks and services?
The Guardian reports that Twitter has blocked Tumblr’s access to its users ie. you won’t be able to search for your Twitter contacts on Tumblr anymore.
As the various social networks buy up services that work with them you can expect to see more and more of this.
Take a look at what’s been happening with Instagram to get an idea.
Related articles
- Tumblr ‘Truly Disappointed’ That Twitter Revoked Its Friend-Finding Privileges (techcrunch.com)
- Twitter v Tumblr: neutron bomb approach? (guardian.co.uk)
IIA Net Visionary Awards Revamps Social Media Category
This year’s Irish Internet Association Net Visionary Awards features a social media category, as it has done for the last few years. However this year is slightly different. Instead of simply having a “best us of” type award they’ve renamed the category to:
Most Creative Use of Social Media for compelling customer engagement
And they describe it as being for:
The person or company who receives this award will have demonstrably displayed best practice use of social media for driving business growth; Social Commerce, Social media for customer engagement and customer support. They will have displayed expertise in delivering integrated Social Media across a minimum of two social media platforms.
Full details and nominations on their site.
Twitter Goes Offline
Twitter has been offline for the last 30 minutes.
It’s not even showing the (in)famous “fail whale” at the moment!
So you can expect to see a surge of traffic to Facebook and Google+ 🙂
