The social 7 has been on a break recently but this week I read so many great articles I though it was due a reprise. So this weekend why not sit down and have a read of these.
Facebook & fake Likers
Fake Facebook likes and fake Twitter followers have been one of the topics most talked about this year. I remember the first time I discovered it was possible to buy Facebook likes, I couldn’t understand it, I also couldn’t understand how this was effective marketing, surely bought likes wouldn’t have any interest in your business and wouldn’t necessarily be part of your target market. This week Facebook announced it was going to be cracking down on fake Likes. Most page owners will see a slight dip in their numbers (an estimated 1%) but any brands that have bought large proportions of Likes are bound to suffer more.
In the Huffington Post my Blog Awards Ireland colleague Beatrice Whelan discusses why Facebook might have been so slow to counter these fake accounts.
Fluffy fun – Mockumentary: the professional Instagram photographer
I’m a total Instagram addict although not quite as bad as this chap!
Tips on enhancing your photos
If you are a Blogger or if you are using social media for your business it is important to start compiling a library of photographs. This means you won’t have to trawl stock photo or creative commons sites looking for images to accompany your posts. Most of us carry a camera with us everywhere now thanks to smart phones. There is no excuse not to grab one or two photos a week to add to your library.
This post from Ronan Palliser is full of great tips on enhancing your photographs once you have uploaded them onto your computer. They will help you really improve the quality of the images you have taken.
14 posts on using Twitter
One of the things I’ve always loved about Twitter is it’s lack of complexity. If I’m teaching people how to use Twitter it’s quite easy to get them set up, following people and tweeting within a short space of time. There are a lot of things to learn if you want to use it effectively though, you can learn these by persistence, by making your own mistakes but you can also pick up great tips online. Sian Phillips has picked 14 resources in this post that will help you on your way.
10 reasons you should take a look at Tumblr
In case you’ve missed the buzz, Tumblr is a blogging platform with a difference, it’s a kind of cross between a bookmarking service and a blog. You can save links to cool stuff, upload photos, include quotes and write short pieces. It’s not really designed for long form blogging but there’s no real reason that you couldn’t use it for this purpose. The best Tumblr’s for me are the ones that are themed, people use them to curate content on a specific topic. We’ve been using it to collate coverage of Blog Awards Ireland recently and it’s become clear to me it’s not just another blogging format, it has it’s own community and is far more social than regular blogging. If you’re interested in finding out more here’s a fantastic article from Hubze.
And if you are in Ireland and are free on Monday night the KLCK Bloggers network in Carlow will be focusing on Tumblr this month. More info and booking here.
The importance of Online reviews for Restaurants
This is an interesting read in the Guardian on the importance of online reviews for restaurants. It looks like a difference of even half a star in an online rating can directly effect the amount of bookings you get. In this analysis of a study based in the States there’s some really interesting statistics that would be a compelling reason for any good restaurant to embrace online reviews.
The Futurists Checklist – The Internet of Things
If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know I’ve been attempting to predict the future. My ideas may be a bit far fetched but in many ways I’m hoping for a future where I can enhance my memory by plugging a chip into my brain (read more on my predictions here). For a more sober and realistic view of the future consider the Internet of things, a future when all your electrical appliances are connected. Just as my implants post throws up lots of ethical issues, the idea that your toaster could be constantly reporting back to it’s maker also has worrying privacy implications. In spite of this I feel we’re already on our way to this future and soon enough I won’t care that my radio wants to tell the local radio statio that reception is rubbish… even if that does reveal that I’m listening. Read more on the Internet of things on Read Write Web.
And from Spiderworking.com this week
Cool Tool – Pinterest: Schedule your Pins with Pingraphy
I’m not a massive fan of Pinterest, I keep trying to be but something tells me you need to have the right mindset for it. I do use it however and I can see the value in spreading out your posts or even just scheduling them for a time when you know your target market is online. This weeks cool tool Pingraphy does just that. I gave it a bit of a road test.
6 Facebook Competition Styles – Which one is right for your business?
It’s a long time since I’ve written about Facebook competitions, I still see lots of businesses running them against Facebook’s T&C’s and sadly I’ve been contacted by a few people who have lost their pages due to running them this way. A good competition can be more valuable than just getting a few Likes on your page. This week I’ve looked at some different styles of competition and how they can bring you benefit.
Twitter Tip #2 – 15 Seconds on scheduling tweets
This week’s 15 second video tip is on scheduling tweets.
