Posts Tagged ‘facebook’

FaceBook Is Not Private! Use Common Sense To Be Safe

So often I have conversations with people about Facebook and just what is appropriate to post.  Just recently, I had a conversation with a young man who is in his mid 20′s and has landed a job at a bank.  Naturally, working at a bank should be a no brainer when it comes to posting on FB.  This young man is well informed and does not post anything about clients or about what is going on inside his department.  However, he did post a comment to a friend who was just catching up.  The young man commented that he had landed a nice job a a bank and gave the name of the bank.  The result:  he was called into his manager’s office for the talk.  Thank goodness, he hadn’t said anything damaging but it was a great low level lesson to remind him that his online social conversations are being tracked.

This whole thing reminds me of when email was first becoming popular.  (Yes, I’m that wise)  We did some really dumb stuff like ranting unfavorably about our bosses, telling company secrets, and gossiping about our co-workers.  How many people had to get fired before the reality of the openness of the internet really set in?  I don’t know but today you don’t hear people asking what information is appropriate to email.  It’s a no brainer.  If you don’t want every one to know, don’t use email to share.  It’s the same for Facebook and the other social media sites.

Oh, and don’t get me started about mobile phones!  Your voice is being carried along in little data packages in the air and they are subject to being snatched out of the air.  I also hate it when I’m watching a movie and someone goes to the center of the earth where clearly there are not cell towers.  Yet, they call home. Oh no they didn’t!

But, back to Facebook, did you know that even after you delete a photo FB keeps it on their server for an unspecified amount of time?  Scary isn’t it?  So if someone has the URL for that photo they could possibly retrieve it from the servers.  As a mother, I always used FB to spy on our children while they were away at college.  Sometimes it was fun and sometimes I wanted to cry!  As a marketer and social media strategist, I am still crying at times when I see people making big mistakes like telling everyone where they live or that they are going on vacation. Why not just hang out a sign that says your house is empty and available for robbery.  That would be insane!  It is just as insane to post that you are going away in a few days on FB. 

The Huffington Post had a great slide show about this subject.  Check it out.  You might be surprised to find that you are doing some things that might be putting you at risk of being improperly exposed.

What NOT to Post on Facebook: 13 Things You Shouldn’t Tell Your Facebook Friends

How do you decide when something you want to say is inappropriate or at the very least not safe to post on FB?

Wait! FaceBook’s Mark Zuckerberg Is Taking Over the World?

So I used to think that Bill Gates would be the one to take over the world with all the Microsoft products, but now we see who the real (hopefully, not evil) world dominator will be, Mark Zuckerberg.  Facebook is at it again.  This time they are giving developers the opportunity to use a plug on the sites the developers create that allows them to pull in FB profile information.  Now, developers are using the plug-in at a rate of 300 websites an hour!

What does this mean for you?  It means that whenever one of your friends or fans or whatever they are called these days in on CNN, for example, they might see your lovely picture already there because you read the same article they are now reading.  And, you don’t have to be logged in for that to happen.  Mark wants to make the internet a more social place with Facebook being the hub for all those social interactions.  This is either the most altruistic reason ever and we’re going to be so glad it happened.  Or, we’ll be afraid to turn on our computers because now we really don’t know who is watching.

Mashable reported about this in their article, FaceBook’s New Social Plug-Ins Come to 50,000+ Websites in One Week. 

What do you think?  Should we all be concerned about this or is it harmless fun?

Changes With Social Networking Sites Can Make You Crazy!

Well, just when we all think that social media is getting to a manageble level it happens again.  Another social networking platform, Facebook, adds a few new features that make you go, hmmm…  Now, I do like what LinkedIn changed, but I’m not sure exactly what FB is going for.

First, they have changed the way people join fan pages.  Now, we can only like each other because apparently, according to FB, fan was too strong of a word.  Also, on the fan page you now see your personal FB friends along with the people who “like” you.  The thing that I loved about facebook’s personal profile and fan page was the separation.  I liked having people who only want to see pictures of my granddaughter separated from the other people who want to talk about social media.  It’s down right frustrating, I tell you.  I’m almost afraid to teach my next social media class because while I’m explaining a feature of some social networking site it might change that very hour. 

Second, Facebook is now introducing another level of networking (I guess that’s what it is) called community pages.  So what’s the difference between community page, fan page, personal profile and group?  I don’t believe anyone know yets.  If someone does then like the Bush’s Beans dog, they ain’t talking.  For now what is known is that individuals can create a community page.  I think that the page will be owned by the one who creates it at first but once it reaches a certain number of people who like it then the community takes over and it becomes more like a wiki.  If you understand that, please explain it to me!  LOL!

So the question again becomes should people/organizations go ahead and create a community page to have first in advantage or just wait to see what happens.  How will people use the community pages?  What will having these well liked community pages do for fan pages.  Will it make fan pages obsolete?  The world is waiting for an answer. 

Here’s my biggest question:  Are the big drug manufacturers working on a pill to combat social networking chageitsis?  I might need a perscription.  In the meantime, I guess margaritas will have to be enough.

Twitter Is The Social Media Platform Of Choice For Fortune Global 500 Companies

Burson-Marsteller recently released the results of a survey they conducted to determine where companies engage the most using social media tools.  The study indicates that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.

It’s interesting to find that companies are not just posting and tweeting randomly.   Real conversations are going on.  

For an evidence-based approach to social media, the reports suggest the following 9 tips:

1.  Monitor your own, and your competitors, social media presence.

2.  Get top management “buy-in”. 

3.  Develop a social media strategy.

4.  Define and publish a social media policy.

5.  Develop internal structure.

6.  Contribute to the community.

7.  Participate in good times and in bad.

8.  Be perpared to respond in real time.

9.  Beyond monitoring, measure the impact of social media engagement.

You don’t have to be a big company to harness the power of social media engagement.  The rules are the same for any size business.  In fact, social media has leveled the playing field in such a way that a small company or individual can have the same kind of reach as a bigger company by using social media tools.   But you do have to follow the rules.  If you are the top management then you must agree with yourself that you will be committed to using the social media tools you select.  Do publish your social media policy even if you are the only one who will see it at first.  This will give you a guide to help you remember what you said you would do.  Don’t think that just because your business is local that you don’t have competitors.  You do.  Social media tools provide a great way of finding out what they are doing.

So, what is your social media tool of choice?  How is your engagement through that channel improving your business outcomes?  Have you performed a social media checkup lately?