Social Media News of the Day: September 30, 2010

Too Much on the First Date?

Groupon has launched a new dating website called Grouspawn that in addition to connecting you to other money-savers gives you a chance at a college grant for your Groupon “spawn”. If you and your partner meet on the site, use a Groupon on the first date and then conceive on the first date, you could be one of the 2 lucky grant winners.

Grouspawn is a very basic dating service with a humorous twist that Mashable calls “ nothing more than a dressed up publicity stunt.” It’s a little creepy sounding to me but what do you think?

Social Media is Going to School

We have all heard the terrible stories of online bullying and reasons why students should be shielded from social media platforms. What we need to realize is social media and technology is a growing and real part of our lives and there are safe and educational ways to integrate it into the lives of children.

A Portland, Ore., teacher started a social media program in her classroom and was able to see just how positive it could be for her students. She saw more involvement, less absenteeism and more collaboration between students.

This article from Mashable discusses the benefits of using social media for education. With much of the country discussing how we can improve our school systems, is the solution right under our noses, or keypads for that matter?

What’s Your Craving?

I crave sushi and Thai food at least once a week. I have my favorite locations and favorite things on the menu but I rarely know exactly what the ingredients are. The iPhone has released several apps to help you with global cuisine and one of them even helped me to find a new Thai restaurant that was excellent! Chow down, foodies!

Thanks for the Tweetup!

Step Ahead partnered with Kristin Bostic, @chasrunner, for a tweet-up on Monday and it was lots of fun! Coleman Public House, where the event took place, was amazing and the company was even better.

Thank you to everyone who came out in the rain and shared food, drinks and stories! What made it even better was that we raised money for a great cause: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Want to just give a little shout out to all who are running the Chicago Marathon on October 10. Good luck and make sure to tweet about it!

Location Beyond Foursquare

As much as I hate to admit it because of my undying devotion to Foursquare, there are a couple emerging geo-location apps that I kind of like… This week’s TwitterMoms blog post explores the geo-location world beyond Foursquare and offers up a couple tools I think could give our favorite check in app a run for their money. Read on and tell me if you’d be willing to use one of these services instead of or addition to Foursquare down the road.

Social Media News of the Day: September 29, 2010

It’s All About “The Zuck”

The much anticipated movie, “The Social Network,” is coming out this Friday, and I know I’m just one of many who can’t wait! We’re all aware that Mr. Zuckerberg is not a fan of the movie’s plot, saying that it’s unfounded but this won’t stop many from seeing the film.

Babelgum and LandlineTV have come up with a hilarious parody of “The Social Network” and it’s through the eyes of Zuckerberg himself. And if you can’t get enough of “The Zuck” then you can pick up the Mark Zuckerberg comic book coming out soon!

Mashable has had the opportunity to see a sneak peek of the movie and they seemed to really enjoy it. Their very in-depth look at the film does leak a few spoilers but it was worth the read for me. I can’t wait for Friday to come even if I have to see the 1 p.m. showing all alone!

If all these reasons aren’t enough to get you up and out Friday to join in my excitement, then maybe the amazing soundtrack will. Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails is scoring the entire film and the little that I have heard is, well, AMAZING!

Even though Mark Zuckerberg has said he won’t be attending this film, will you?

Twitter Roundup

The Wall Street Journal and others reported that Twitter has overtaken MySpace to become the No. 3 social networking site in the world. What’s above it? Well, duh, Facebook, but also Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Live Profile. They reported Twitter grew 76% in the last year and is expected to gain more followers with the new redesign.

Speaking of the redesign… the Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Boehret, @kabster728, gave the revamp a pretty good review as part of The Mossberg Solution column today, saying only search needed improvement. Read her review and watch a video of her talking about it at WSJ.com.

Have you gotten to use the new Twitter site yet (it hasn’t rolled out to everyone yet)? If so, what do you think?

Everybody Wants to Video Chat

Video chatting is not new but it’s something that’s getting a lot of press recently. It started with the new iPhone 4’s FaceTime and now comes the announcement of Skype and Facebook joining forces.

Syncing your Skype and Facebook account will allow you to SMS, chat or call your Facebook friends directly. This partnership was a logical step to help Skype remain competitive with Google Talk.

On a Google note, all Google Voice applications that were once banned from iPhones will be available in the coming weeks. Who’s excited?

Social Media News of the Day: September 28, 2010

Ditch the Textbooks

The University of Leeds will be giving all fourth and fifth year medical students an iPhone this year. These phones will not only be used as a beeper when on-call but also as a learning device.

The phones will be pre-loaded with helpful medical and textbook applications and the students will also have unlimited broadband connectivity.

Is this the new wave of higher education tools?

The Paid Tweet

Twitter has been experimenting with promotional tweets and they seem to be doing pretty well. They are seeing interaction from other Twitter users and companies are coming back to buy more.

The Wall Street Journal is speculating that some companies like Coca-Cola and Virgin America are spending up to $100,000 on these ad-like tweets.

Do you think this is a good idea for Twitter, and if you have a small business would you consider promoted tweets as an advertising tool if cost was reasonable?

Top 5 Facebook Tips for the Small Business Owner

So, you’re a small business owner and you’re on Facebook. Maybe you joined because you wanted to connect with old friends and you’ve now realized that your business could have a presence as well. Whatever the reason, you need to make the most of this popular social networking site that’s a free marketing tool for your business.

There are more than 500 million Facebook users, and now Internet users spend more time on Facebook than any other website. Don’t let these stats overwhelm you. We’ve got a few very simple tips for making the most of your Facebook business page.

1. Content

First, we need to talk about content. There are way too many Facebook pages out there that update once a week. That’s fine if your goal is to keep friends and family updated on how Fluffy the cat is doing, but for a business page, that just won’t cut it.

Business Facebook pages should be updated at least one time per day, and preferably two to three times a day. This means every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Yep, holidays too. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be permanently glued to the computer. There are some great posting services out there, like Postling.com, that let you schedule your Facebook posts.

When you do post, make sure it’s interesting. Ask yourself: Would I want to see this post in my news feed? Or better yet: Would I read it and respond to it? If the answer is no, then don’t post it.

2. Custom Tabs

There are two tabs on your Facebook page that you can’t change: the “Wall” tab and the “Info” tab. The others you can delete or customize. Here at Step Ahead Inc. we’ve found that having custom tabs leads to more Facebook friends, and ultimately more business.

To create a custom tab, you need to add the FBML application to your Facebook page. Then Google some basic HTML code, and you should be able to create a custom tab. There are plenty of programs, such as Involver.com and Tabsite.com, that can help you bypass all HTML usage.

3. Facebook Ads

Another way to increase your page’s Facebook friends and visibility is to use Facebook ads. Facebook lets you specifically target your ads, which leads to a better click through rate and ultimately a better friend conversion rate. When setting up ads, make sure to make the ads engaging and interactive. Ask a question or ask the user to click “Like,” which will increase your ad’s effectiveness.

If you are just starting with Facebook ads, try experimenting. Test out a few different ads, and then using the Facebook ad reports to determine which ad is giving you the highest return.

4. Custom Username

Don’t let your Facebook page get lost, claim your Facebook username now! Last year, Facebook let pages claim unique usernames. To claim your page’s name, go to http://www.facebook.com/username, select your Facebook page, and then search for a username. If your preferred username has been claimed, get creative, but get one soon.

5. Email Signatures & Websites

Most businesses already have a website and an email account, and current contacts and customers are usually easy to convert to Facebook friends. So take advantage of what you have! Add a Facebook badge to your website, and a Facebook icon and link to your email signature.

If you’ve got an email database, go ahead and send out an email asking them to be your friend on Facebook and include that link in every email you send to your list.

Facebook is growing and changing every day, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to maneuver its pages and applications to help better your small business. Try these five tips and we’re sure you will see a difference in your page’s – and hopefully your business’ — popularity and success.

Do you have any Facebook tips?

Social Media News of the Day: September 27, 2010

Zuckerberg Takes on Education

Today my morning started like many: watching the news. This morning there was one topic on everyone’s mind: education. NBC News is hosting Education Nation this week to bring more awareness to the needs of our public schools.

Last week Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook helped the Newark public school system by donating $100 million. This money will kick-start the Startup: Education Foundation to improve our education systems.

If you want to learn more about why Mark chose to support education or why Newark, you can watch this video from his visit to the Oprah show.

Location U

I wrote last week about Foursquare’s partnership with several universities across the country and now SCVNGR is ready to take on universities. They’re partnered with 350 universities and are bringing [fun through scavenger hunts] to campuses across the country.

Social Media News of the Day: September 24, 2010

The Wonderful World of Disney

Who doesn’t love Disney World? I haven’t been since I was 15 but I have talked about going every year since then, one day I will go back and before I have children of my own! You might be asking, why are you obsessed with an overly expensive huge child inspired theme park? It’s simple, the memories!

My memories from Disney World are precious and it reminds me of my Nana, she and my Papa took me every year until I was 7. Disney must have realized how important memories are to families and have kicked off a brand new advertising and social media campaign, “Let the Memories Begin”.

Families are being asked to submit their favorite Disney memories through Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and online at DisneyParks.com/Memories. They will use these memories for commercials and starting in 2011 they will project your favorite memories at night on Cinderella’s Castle.

Where were some of your favorite family memories?

Show Off

Foursquare has partnered with a new startup, RunKeeper which allows you to track your workouts and then show it off to your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. It is similar to the Nike application but gives you the opportunity to earn badges in the process. If you track a little over 26 miles in RunKeeper you will receive the marathon badge, without even checking-in!

This might just motivate me to run again!

Social Media News of the Day: September 23, 2010

Viewers Choice

How would you feel about having being able to pick the shows that aired on TV? Well, MTV did just that by giving viewers the choice to air the indie horror film, Savage County. Eventful had the trailer on their website, and after it played, there was a DEMAND IT link that you could click on if you wanted to see the whole movie air on MTV 2 on October 7, 2010.

100,000 people needed to demand the movie and they reached that goal within a month and a half. This is just the beginning of the “demand it” feature but it seems to be a success so far for MTV.

What’s a better way to kick-start the Halloween season than with a horror film? Will you watch it?

Rules of the Road

I’m sure everyone has seen that guy drive out of the gas station with his gas tank open or his newly bought bottle of water on the roof of the car. This happens all the time, but there was no real way to inform the drive until Bump.com! They’ve created a social network that uses your license plate as your username.

It might sound a little creepy at first but check out this video from Mashable for all the neat ways it could help drivers everywhere!

South Carolina Business Review

Step Ahead’s Lyn Mettler chatted today with Mike Switzer, host of South Carolina Public Radio’s South Carolina Business Review. She talked about the benefits of businesses having a strong social media strategy and the best ways to utilize these new marketing tools. Audio coming soon!

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