This week we look at Google Glass, how the UK government plans to monitor social media accounts and Twitter suing TweetAdder (amongst others). I’ve also found some great articles on how we view the new Timeline pages, an interesting Facebook marketing strategy from ‘The Avengers’ movie and how memes work.
Google Glass
Here’s that video that has been popping up all over my social networks this week. This is how Google sees the future of the internet… viewed through glasses. And they can’t be far wrong, mobile internet usage is still on the rise and a more integrated device seems to be the next step. Of cours if you read William Gibson books back in the day this will seem like old news!
Twitter sues 5 companies for encouraging spam
This is an interesting story. I’ve never really been a fan of those automated applications that will follow and unfollow people for you. Sure they are an easy way of getting followers quickly but I don’t think you can beat getting them organically, building a strong and trusted network of followers. I also don’t jsut unfollow someone because they don’t follow me back. I pick and choose who to follow because they share great stuff, or add value to my Twitter stream, if they don’t follow back their value doesn’t decrease. However I know some people do find these services useful so it’s with interest that I read that Twitter are suing five companies, one of which is TweetAdder, because they encourage spamming. This article tries to determine why.
UK Government to monitor social networks
The governement in the UK is in the process of putting together legislation that will allow them to access social media and social media data from ISP’s. The internet service providers will have to collate the information for the authorities. This is clearly a worrying development and infringes on the privacy of British citizens. It’s being hailed as an anti terrorist measure but the worry is that a more autocratic government could abuse this information. More here.
Using Memes to encourage social media engagement
You can’t have missed the recent flood of memes on Facebook, all my friends seem to be sharing pictures and quotes, my newsfeed is full of them. This is a huge opportunity for marketers. If you can create a great sharable image your page data travels with it on it’s journey accross Facebook. Memes are not a new thing, remember the dancing baby from Ally McBeal? For more on memes and using them effectively check out this great read from Mike Lewis on Social Media Examiner.
How Facebook users really see your Timeline
A fascinating study on eye movements analysed exactly how people view the new Timeline brand pages, and there’s some surprises there. Users don’t really look at your cover image, they don’t care about your custom apps. However they do notice when friends interact with your page. So this is good news for those of you working hard at encouraging engagement. For more on the survey and tips on how to use the results to your advantage read more on Read Write Web.
Marvels The Avengers lets Facebook choose where it will be screened
Quite an innovative campaign from the new Marvel Avengers movie. It’s choosing the cities that it will be screened in first by the number of Facebook fans from that city (US only). A clever idea but it is noted that by default you are likely to have the most fans from the biggest cities… so it’s no surprise that the first five chosen were; Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hueston & Miami. Read more about the campaign on All Facebook.
Pinterest for the healthcare industry
Probably not the first industry that springs to mind when you think about Pinterest, but this informative post from self confessed Pinterest addict Marie Ennis-O’Connor could persuade you. She takes you through the benefits of the network and how to use it to promote and market your business. Great tips for any industry not just healthcare.
And from Spiderworking.com this week
Add your latest blog post to your email signature with WiseStamp
This could be a really handy tool if you are trying to build blog readers. It allows you to input your RSS feed and displays the link to your latest post at the bottom of all your emails. More here.
13 examples of Facebook Timeline cover photos
Last week we asked our Facebook community to share their cover photos and what a great selection of images we discovered. We collated all the suggestions in this weeks blog post.
And we’re delighted to be featured in the Tweak Your Biz digest of links about engagement in social media. If you’re looking for more weekend reading it’s worth checking out ‘The Holy Grail of Online Engagement (In 15 Steps)‘ by Christina Giliberti
Don’t forget, if you have a great social media story that you think we should include in this roundup leave the link in the comments.
