Update for Facebook Mobile?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added the Facebook App onto his new Android phone, according to his profile. If Zuckerberg has genuinely switched over to the Android then he will quickly find out that his own company’s app needs a little (let’s be honest, A LOT) of work. I have to deal with this app and its short-comings on a daily basis.  Android users would like to be able to chat, easily open links and get mobile updates just like our iPhone and Blackberry-using friends! Anyone else frustrated with Facebook on the Droid?

Getting Down to Social Media Business!

Social media has taken heat in the past for being a distraction to employees. I know that at my first job Facebook was banned on our server (bummer).  In reality, social media can increase a company’s productivity and help employees increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

Networking in the 1990s consisted of bars, restaurants, out-of-town conferences and long phone calls. Now companies can save money and time by networking with a simple tweet, Facebook post or a LinkedIn comment. Instead of it taking several after work dinners to build a connection, it can take a few seconds.

Social media collects an enormous amount of data for companies but it doesn’t have to cause information overload. Here at Step Ahead Inc. , we use TweetDeck multiple times daily to monitor client Twitter accounts, find mentions of these clients and to respond to relevant tweets. With only a few minutes I have customized and narrowed down massive amounts of information to just include my specialized needs.

There are several other wonderful ways that social media is boosting work performance; check out this article from Mashable to learn more!

YouTube Done Right!

At this point everyone has seen and fallen in love with the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. For anyone who’s not had the pleasure of seeing this become the archetype for social media campaigns, here’s a blog I wrote a few weeks ago to get you up to date! Old Spice is now seeing the fruits of their labor with sales doubling. Congrats Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa (the Old Spice guy)!

We Will Always Remember @IvyBean104

The oldest tweeter, Mrs. Ivy Bean of England, passed away last night. Mrs. Bean (isn’t she cute?!) had 56,000 followers on Twitter and was an active Facebook member, as well. What she taught us at Step Ahead Inc. is that social media can be accessed and used by all ages, all over the world, and that in itself is a very powerful thing! Ivy, we will miss you and I will forever use you as my example when friends say “I don’t get twitter, it’s hard to use!”

Move Over Brangenlia, The New “It” Couple is Amazbook!

This is what the headlines would read if this blog was on OK! Magazine or People! Amazon and Facebook are partnering up to provide their customers with the most customized experience. You can link your Facebook account with your Amazon account, allowing the site to give you recommendations based on your interests and recent activity.

*** I would like to state that I do not read trashy magazines regularly but, come on, it’s beach season, people!

Leave the Keychain Behind

“Do you have your CVS ExtraCare card?” This phrase I love and hate. Love because I knowam about to save money, hate because it is going to take forever to find the right membership card on my keychain. Cardstar is a smart phone app for iPhone and Android users that keeps all your loyalty cards in one place on your mobile device! What’s even better is now you can “check in” on Foursquare through this app, as well. This will help companies to better understand their loyal customers’ habits but it will also be an easy reminder for you to check in!

Bump Me!

This mobile app is probably the easiest way to share information with your friends by simply bumping your phones together. They just released their newest version which will allow you to bump with friends  to connect with them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I can’t find the updated Bump 2.0 in my Android marketplace but for all my iPhone-using friends here it is! Now if Bump/Verizon/AT&T would only allow Android users and iPhone users to bump each other, I would be a happy little “mobile” camper!

Mindless Fun

We all have those after work rituals whether it be the gym, a nice walk or the long commute home. There’s something all these routines have in common: time to NOT THINK! I love my job, could not ask for anything better, but when I want to turn off my work brain, I just turn on MTV. It’s a guilty pleasure and this week Jersey Shore will be back for their second season, full of fist pumping, tanning, Snookie and The Situation!

MTV has used social media and mobile devices to promote the new season. Today they released a Facebook game and iPhone app that allows you to navigate through a cartoon Jersey Shore world. Will you play, or more importantly, will you fist pump?

Facebook recently introduced a new feature that automatically suggests pages for new users to “Like.” This feature is placed second in the Facebook signup process, just behind the finding friends page. They’ve also added a section on the top right of your Home page where they sometimes recommend pages for you to “Like.” So how can you take advantage of these new features to help promote your page?

Facebook says the pages chosen to suggest will be based on the pages that people in the same demographic commonly “Like”, and how much the pages are updated and engage with friends.

So, if you’ve been waiting for yet another reason to frequently update your page with good content and reach out to your friends, here it is!

Before you start updating, here are few rules to keep in mind:

1. Update 1 to 3 times per day, even on weekends and holidays!

2. Update at different times of the day, and then monitor which times are most successful.

3. Ask friends to click “Like” when posting. It’s much easier to click “Like” than to actually comment.

4. Make updates conversational and casual.

5. Add in photos and videos when appropriate.

6. Respond quickly to questions and comments, within 24 hours if possible.

Now go start updating and build up your friend base! Have any more tips? Share with us here!

Ford Uses Social Media to Reveal 2011 Explorer

Everyone’s talking about the brand new reinvented Ford Explorer. I have to admit this morning I tried everything not to look at this new car simply because I have wanted an SUV since I was 16, but I knew (and still know) I wouldn’t be able to park it! But, between Facebook updates, the Today show reveal and Mashable’s every few hours tweets, I can’t escape the beauty of this new car.

This is the first time that a major car company has used ONLY social media to promote a new product and not the typical auto show. Be sure to check their Facebook page out to see what all this vehicle has to offer! Is Ford changing the way the auto industry does premiers and uses social media?

Revive Me From Check-in Fatigue!

I am an avid check-in girl for Foursquare but with the growing number of users, it’s harder for me to become the mayor of anything and I haven’t received a badge in who knows how long! I’m not the only one feeling this fatigue and Foursquare knows it. Here’s a great article from Smart Brief about what the future of Foursquare looks like and how they plan to keep us checking in for years to come.

Tweet! You’re Famous

Nabisco pulled off a great social media campaign a few months ago, surprising Wheat Thin tweeters with a gift that correlates with their tweet! The company is taking this to a new level by creating at least two 30-second TV commercials starring these tweeters. Want to learn more about the campaign? Check out this article from Media Post Publications.

Facebook Is Consuming My Thoughts

After Diane Sawyer interviewed Mark Zuckerberg last night on ABC News, I have not stopped thinking about Facebook. There have been all the articles about Facebook reaching 500 million users, and then the leak about the new feature called Facebook Stories, which allows users from all over the world to share how they use the social network.

I don’t feel like my Facebook “story” is interesting enough to share. I mainly used it in college to brag about dating the drummer of a well known band! What’s your Facebook Story? Will you share it on the new feature?

Whether or not our own stories are intriguing, here are some “intriguing” little known facts about the social networking giant, compliments of Mashable!

FarmVille Hits the Mainstream!

Ok, I have to admit I’ve never truly understood the obsession with FarmVille, the social networking game. My idea of getting on Facebook is to check my messages and comments, look at any new pictures  my friends have posted and maybe stalk an ex-boyfriend or two (kidding about the stalking!).

I would never think to milk my cows, plant that corn I purchased yesterday and pull all the weeds from my garden. But, for those 65 million users of FarmVille this is their social media reality and now they can earn Farmville bucks just by shopping at their local grocery stores.  Here’s how!

The Most Personalized Magazine Ever!

Flipboard is a new free iPad app that takes your Facebook and Twitter accounts and spits it back out in a beautiful magazine like format. Once you’ve added your accounts, Flipboard will create a cover to the magazine and table of contents based on the information in those social networks.

It’s interested in the material with which you have had a lot of interaction, whether that be retweets, multiple comments or a friend that you message with consistently. This is a complex application, but here’s a great video with the CEO to explain better!

Foursquare to Partner with Google?

Twitter recently started bringing search engines information on what people are talking about but not the location of these trends. Foursquare could act as the gap between the trend and the search by giving us valuable location-based information. Reports are that Foursquare is in talks with one of the major search engines to index their location data. Who do you think it could be? Google? Bing? Mashable is going with Bing because they’ve already  inked out a deal to post tips on Bing Maps

How to Look Your Best on Facebook:

We all know that our Facebook profile picture is just as important as the content on our pages. This picture shows up when anyone searches for you on the site but for most users it shows up in a Google search as well. If you want to make your profile stand out, here is an article from Mashable that shows us how to bring a vintage feel to that all important profile pic!

Impressive Growth for Foursquare:

Last week Foursquare hit the 2 million user mark! This is very impressive since they just hit the 1 million users only three short months ago.  Could all their creative partnerships with channels such as Bravo or The History Channel be responsible? Tell us what you think?

Flying the “Friend”ly Skies:

With more airports providing Wi-Fi, there’s an increase in the use of social media on and off the tarmac. The use of social media in airports does the obvious: allows you to make connections with friends and family before and after takeoff. But, it is also allowing passengers and otherwise strangers to “friend” one another and possibly meet for the first time. Here is an interesting article from the New York Times on how travelers are taking advantage of social media!

Get the Door, It’s Domino’s … and $26 million. Thanks Foursquare!

Domino’s in the UK has seen a 28% profit increase and says it’s all due to their social media ventures. They are active on Facebook with 36,000 friends, but most importantly they have taken full advantage of Foursquare. All of their mayors receive a free pizza and all checkin’s receive a free side dish. This is what I call an incentive and one that proves to be working not only for pizza lovers but the company as well! See our previous blog post on how Domino’s has done a great job on PR and social media.

Astronauts Watch Out, Here Comes the Astdroid:

For all of you space lovers who were crushed when we (the United States) decided to cut back on space exploration, Danny Pier might have a solution for you. His plan is to send an Android smart phone to space, capture the journey and then retrieve the footage when the phone lands back on planet Earth. Read more!

Top Secret Facebook Tricks Everyone Should Be Using

Have you ever wanted to “dislike” a friends’ facebook status or better yet “love” it? What about hide a status update from a certain someone or a group of certain someones? The day that I learned how to “tag” a friend in my personal status changed my life (pathetic, I know)! Here’s [a list] on how to do all those things and so much more.

Can’t Find Your Friends? There’s an App for That!

Face2Face is a new smart phone app that helps you to find out if your social networking friends are close to you and then allows you to connect with them. It doesn’t give you an actual location for these friends so privacy is not an issue … yet. It will be interesting to see if they partner with Foursquare or Gowalla and what that could do for location-based social media. The app is free, so will you download it?

LOL: Why Are You Calling Me a Little Old Lady?

It feels like today we can find a way to abbreviate anything! At a friend’s wedding (omg, how cute are they?) this weekend I could not even count how many times I heard someone use the slang “obvi” for obviously. What we don’t realize is some of our new slang actually has alternative meanings. Here are some [common abbreviations] that already had meanings before the days of Facebook and Twitter. These will start your week with a laugh, obvi!

Bye-Bye Kin

The Kin, a phone from Microsoft, has only been out for two months, and Microsoft is already pulling it off the shelves. Even the downright obvious plugs for the Kin in shows like ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars couldn’t keep this phone alive. The main reason for its failure? Simple. Customers were paying the same usage fees as smart phone customers but did not receive smart phone capabilities. The Kin prided itself on being the first ever phone strictly for social media use but it came at a price no one was willing to pay.

You’ve Been Tagged

We have all received an email from Facebook saying that a friend has “tagged” you in a photo. Most of the time your reaction is to immediately jump on a computer, look at the picture, make sure you look good (and aren’t doing anything  inappropriate) and then breathe a sigh of relief when you look good enough to keep the tag or when you’ve gotten on just in time to de-tag yourself.

This process might become even more difficult when Facebook launches a face detection tool in order to decrease time people are spending tagging pictures. This new tool could be really helpful especially when you go out with a large group of people and don’t want to tag every single person in every picture. My only question for Mr. Zuckerberg is will there still be a way to de-tag?