LinkedIn Lets Users Follow Brands

Following in the footsteps of social media giants Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is looking to become much more, well, social. Last week, LinkedIn launched eight new features to promote link and content-sharing among its users, and LinkedIn announced that it has added yet another new feature, “Follow Company.”

For those of you on Facebook, LinkedIn’s “Follow Company” will function much in the same way as Facebook fan pages. However, rather than seeing the status updates of your favorite brands, following a company on LinkedIn means users will receive vital information about a company, including job openings, hires and promotions, and profile changes.

Company pages now have a “Follow” tab, which displays a list of their followers with brief profile information.

Here at S2EO, we are a big fan of LinkedIn’s changes, but in light of Facebook’s continuing privacy issues, we hope the site does not go too far. However, it does seem like the site is making every effort to serve its original purpose—foster relationships between business contacts and professionals.

Are you on LinkedIn? What do you think of the new feature? 

Facebook Will Delete Your Data If You Won't Share It

On top of the personalization issues with Facebook sharing your information with other sites, the social media giant has quietly started another tactic: deleting your data if you refuse to share it.

Several employees of S2EO's parent company, Shakespeare Squared, reported the changes, with one saying:
"It wants to link everything in my profile to public pages, and if I opt out, it deletes the info from my profile! Earlier this week I kept getting a message at the top of my homepage asking if I wanted to allow instant personalization of my profile page so that third party sites could access my information and  optimize my experience. All I had to do at this time was X out of the box and it went away. But today, when I tried to click on my profile, a pop up appeared that said I needed to either allow instant personalization or select individual items. When I went to "select individual items" I could select which items I did not want to link to other sites, however, the ones I selected would no longer appear on my profile."

The employee went on to say that her favorite books, for example, went to Wikipedia pages about the author, and in some cases, actually changed her activities -- apparently "writing" wasn't popular enough for its own page, so Facebook changed the activity to "graffiti." 


This hasn't been rolled out to everyone yet, so we're not sure of all the details, but here's a screen shot of what the new profile looks like:

Everything except her years of work, her Master's degree, and her e-mail are now active links. And what's even more frustrating for businesses is that these active links aren't necessarily going where they should. With Shakespeare Squared, for example, her "Likes and Interests" link goes to the official fan page, but when clicking on "Employer," it's the public page that, as of right now, it's not letting us control. We have requested access as well as submitting our official website for inclusion, but we're not sure how long that will take. For businesses, this could be another confusing step in the social media puzzle, as appreciative customers who want to engage with the brand may now have several destinations within Facebook pulling for their attention (a group, a Fan page, the public page of content, etc). 

From a business standpoint, this is an unfortunate turn. From an individual user standpoint, however, this kind of control may be unacceptable. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below. 

Happy Birthday, YouTube

Just 5 years ago this Friday, YouTube had its first video posting, a 19-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. Half a decade later, YouTube has become a video phenomenon with a whopping 1 billion views per day. In honor of YouTube’s birthday, check out some other fascinating numbers, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:

• On February 14, 2005, YouTube registered its domain name. Its first video posting was on April 23, 2005. As of this week, that first video has received 1.96 million views.
• Every minute, 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.
• Google paid $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube in November 2006.
• Google now translates YouTube videos into 51 languages, using automatic speech recognition technology.
• YouTube has 14,600 videos under the keyword “kitten” and 3,820 videos under the keyword “trampoline accidents.”
• NigaHiga’s Asian-themed comedy clips have the highest number of subscribers on YouTube—2.14 million.
• The now infamous “David After Dentist” video, which shows a slightly out of it young boy on his ride home from the dentist, has earned its uploader $30,000 thanks to an ad revenue sharing program.
• The most popular video on YouTube, Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” music video, has received 185.39 million views. 

There is no denying the amazing power of video right now. Here at S2EO, we have been urging businesses to jump on the video bandwagon for quite some time, and it looks like the popularity of videos is only going to grow.

What do you think of these numbers? What videos are your favorites on YouTube? Let us know below. 

New Link-Sharing Features on LinkedIn

For those of you on Facebook, you probably already know about link and content sharing. Users post YouTube videos, link to their blogs, and share interesting news articles with their friends all the time. Now LinkedIn revealed that it is jumping on the link-sharing bandwagon, too, launching eight new features for its users.

The new features include allowing users to share images and article excerpts and re-share links.  In fact, LinkedIn now even has its own short URL, lknd.in. In addition, much like Facebook, users can now include links in their status updates. When users copy and paste a link into their status box, they can click “Attach a Link” to include an excerpt and image of the attachment in their status.

LinkedIn is also rolling out some new privacy features along with the upgrade. Users can now delete or edit posts and determine which groups out of their connections they want to be able to see certain links or posts.

Here at S2EO, we think the updates are a great move for LinkedIn. Enabling users to share content and links with their connections can help foster better relationships and conversations between business contacts. It's a distinct effort to make LinkedIn more social, which is a good position for the network. However, we certainly don't see it reaching the heights of Facebook -- these are business contacts, after all, so there is innately quite a bit more restraint to what is posted.

What do you think? Do you think LinkedIn user will jump on board with the new features? Let us know below. 

Blogging Is Work

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: blogging is work. 

We at S2EO believe blogs are probably the most important component of social media marketing. It helps get your name out there, it provides new content for your site on a regular basis, and dramatically increases your website metrics. With something so valuable to your business, why are you not treating it as work?

Instead, we have a number of clients that come to us that say that they can do their own blog. They know how to write, and they have lots of great ideas. Now, we agree, both of these things are likely true. But then business comes up. Work picks up and they have no more time to write it during the day. Weekly posts turn to biweekly posts, and biweekly posts turn to monthly posts. So they agree to do it on the evenings or weekends. But then life comes up. They get too busy with family and friends, or simply don't want to spend any more weekend time working that they push it off. Those monthly posts turn into bimonthly posts, and bimonthly posts suddenly mean a blog that hasn't been updated in six months. 

A good blog takes work, because it takes regular entries. Weekly is the absolute longest time you can go between posts. Aim for a few entries a week, to daily entries if you can. And it's not just the time you spend writing. No matter what you're writing on, expect to do some research. The longer you blog, the more research you should expect to do. It will help you think of blog topics, stay well in formed, and craft a more thorough entry when writing. Expect to run into writer's block, and have to do even more research to jump start the creative juices. 

Sounds like a lot of work? That's because it is. But with so many benefits to your website, it's definitely a valuable area to invest in. 

How are you making a blog work for you? What's your best blog advice?

When It Comes to Brand Fans, Quality -- Not Quantity, Matters

If you think the number of brand fans and followers you have on Facebook and Twitter is proof of the success of your social media campaign, think again. New data from Meteor confirms that when it comes to building your brand on social media networks, quality not quantity matters most.

In fact, believe it or not, only about 1 percent of brand followers are responsible for nearly 20 to 50 percent of total site traffic. And when it comes to conversion, the influence of these users is even greater. By telling their friends about your company’s Web site, deals, products, and services, your key followers can drive 30 percent or more of your total conversions.

So, whether you are running a promotion or selling a new product, the key to success is engaging these core customers. How do you do it? Well, in a word—content.

Here at S2EO, we talk about the importance of content all the time, and for good reason. If you want to engage your current customers and encourage them to tell other about your brand, you have to attract them with content that is interesting, valuable, and important to them. Find out what matters most to your customers and use it to foster better customer relationships and drive desirable customer actions. Start a contest, make a video, or create a blog and get the conversation going. Find a way to excite your customers so that they will want to share it with others.

How are you engaging your customers with social media? What works or doesn’t work? Let us know below. 

Library of Congress Wants to Archive Your Writing

...If you're on Twitter, that is.

Twitter's entire archive, which includes billions of tweets dating back to March 2006, will be housed in the Library of Congress. It's an interesting move by the Library of Congress in relation to digital media and technology -- which they acknowledged with the inclusion of "if you think the Library of Congress is 'just books'..."

For some, it's a bit jarring to think of their tweets heading into the Library of Congress. (Of course, there's the obvious argument that they put it out a public timeline on the Internet.) But, anticipating some concern, Twitter said the following: "Only after a six-month delay can the tweets be used for internal library use, for non-commercial research, public display by the library itself, and preservation." 

It's an interesting move, and one that could be very valuable and interesting for the future. Though future generations may not need to analyze, say, what you had for lunch, Twitter does have a place in history -- one needs to look no further than its dramatic role in the Iran elections.

What do you think about this inclusion? Interesting? Silly? What does it mean for the future of Internet work?

Twitter Rolling Out Sponsored Tweets

Advertising has finally come to Twitter with yesterday's roll out of the social media network's new ad platform. The new ads will be in the form of "Promoted Tweets."

Are you doing a search for coffee on Twitter? The first result returned will be an ad tweet from Starbucks, highlighted with a "Promoted by Starbucks Coffee" at the bottom.

Though this is new for Twitter officially, there have been numerous other independent accounts within Twitter that have been running their own sponsored listings. Job site Mediabistro, for example, has been running its own sponsored tweets under the hashtag #paid for a while now. Or consider reality star Kim Kardashian, who made (more) headlines in December when it was revealed that she made up to $10,000 per tweet.

Though we hope Twitter doesn't become too ad-heavy, we're not surprised at this development, particularly in light of the extensive criticism of social media's -- and Twitter in particular -- lack of business model. Most people have been waiting for Twitter to have some kind of revenue model, and if independent accounts can have paid tweets, it only makes sense that Twitter would incorporate a similar model.

What do you think of Twitter's new ad platform?

New Features for Google Docs

Google Docs is a free word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and data storage service that enables users to collaboratively create and edit documents. Popular for free collaboration and word processing, Google Docs is particularly nice for those who use more than one computer. Because Google saves all of your documents to the Internet via your Google Account instead of saving it on your particular computer, you can access them from anywhere, which is a great feature for business.

While the service has been around since 2006, Google recently announced that it has essentially rebuilt Google Docs because as it says, “collaboration is broken.”

In an effort to improve collaboration, Google has made major overhauls to the service, including redesigns to the spreadsheet, document, and drawing editors and the addition of new features like a group-chat function and character-by-character mark up.

As users of the service know, the ability to have multiple people working on a document can be a godsend, but it can also be disastrous—one bad save and the document is destroyed. Now, users can see what other people are doing character by character. In addition, the chat feature enables collaborators to have real-time discussions about a document via a popup window at the right side of the screen.

To help make the service even more user friendly, Google has given its documents a more Word-like feel by adding a ruler, spell check, and tab stops. Spreadsheets now have an auto-complete and auto-fill function, and users can drag and drop columns. The new drawing editor allows users to draw and download images into multiple documents, and publish and embed images on the Web, too. And if that is not enough, up to 50 people can now collaborate on one document at a time.

Do you use Google Docs? What do you think of the changes? Let us know below. 

Spring Cleaning… Facebook Style

The longer you are a Facebook user, the more junk inevitably begins to pile up on your Facebook profile page—friends you may or may not really know, applications you may or may not ever use, and other various posts, updates, and news.

If this doesn’t bother you, fine. But if you find yourself having a difficult time finding posts in your News Feed that you actually care about, you might want to think about doing a little spring cleaning to help optimize your Facebook experience.

One thing to consider is hiding items in your News Feed. Users can choose to hide people or pages from popping up in their News Feed by simply clicking “Hide” on an item that they no longer wish to see. Make a mistake? Facebook helps you manage your selections with a message that reads, “X has been hidden from your News Feed. To manage who appears in your News Feed, Edit Options.” All users have to do is click “Edit Options,” and Facebook will display all the items they have hidden. Users can then select the items they wish to restore.

Another way to clean up your page, which S2EO has talked about before, is to create lists. By organizing your friends into lists (BFFs, coworkers, family, acquaintances, etc.), you can decide who you want to pop up in your News Feed. To set up your lists, click on “Account” and then “Edit Friends.” Users can create new lists and add or remove friends from their lists here. Once finished, users can go to the homepage and click on a list to only see posts in their News Feed from this particular group.

Finally, to manage all of those annoying apps, users can go to “Account” and then “Application Settings.” Select “Show–Authorized” from the drop-down menu and either “X” an application out to remove it completely or click “Edit Settings” to manage whether or not an app pops up in your News Feed or displays in your Bookmarks.

As with any organizational project, the key is to stay on top of it. As you add new friends and authorize new applications, make sure to manage your filters to minimize the clutter.

Have you done some spring cleaning on you Facebook page? Do you notice the difference? Let us know in the comments below. 

AOL Scrapping Third-Largest Social Media Network

After spending $850 million to purchase a social media network in 2008, AOL is ready call it a loss -- even though it's the third-largest social media network in the US (and the largest in the UK). So what are they getting rid of?


Bebo.


Even though it's bigger than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ning, you may never have heard of it -- but there are a few reasons for that. 


Bebo typically skews toward a younger demographic. Over half its users are under 24, with the vast majority (44%) being under 17. The average age for a Bebo user is 28, whereas Facebook and Twitter are 38 and 39, respectively. LinkedIn is all the way at 44.


However, even with so many users, AOL executives have decided the network isn't work running. Though they may sell it, for tax reasons it may actually be better for AOL to simply dump the network by abandoning it. 


Though we're not sure exactly when the day will hit, a decision by AOL seems imminent. They sent the following e-mail to employees yesterday:
As we evaluate our portfolio of brands against our strategy, it is clear that social networking is a space with heavy competition, and where scale defines success. Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space. AOL is not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking.


Either way, it looks like we right about this.


Have you tried Bebo? Are you sad to see it go, or was it never on your radar?

How to Use Social Media for Your Company

At S2EO we are big believers in the power of social media for business -- it's a reason we write about it almost every day. From blogging to Twitter, there are dozens of ways to utilize each and every service. Reach your customers. Engage them. Pinpoint their demographics. Spin damage control.

If you're interested in using social media for your company but still aren't how to make it work, check out this infographic from Oneupweb (which you can click on to enlarge):

We'd argue that every facet of business can benefit from social media. Agree? Disagree?

Twitter Launches New Homepage

Here at S2EO, it seems like every other week we are discussing another Facebook redesign. Well, it looks like another social media giant is finally having some work done.

Yesterday, Twitter launched a new homepage, which users and nonusers can see at Twitter.com. Unlike the previous homepage with its emphasis on trending topics, the redesign seems to highlight popular users. The new homepage includes a running scroll of trending topics as well as a “Top tweets” and “See who’s here” section featuring popular brands and celebrities on the site.

Not everyone has the new homepage yet, but we at S2EO are largely fans of the new look. Twitter is obviously trying to entice new users, which it has been struggling to do for some time now, and the redesign is definitely more eye catching than the previous homepage.

What do you think? Are you seeing the new homepage yet? What do you like or dislike about it?