Social Media News of the Day: August 30, 2010

Fashion, Awards, Social Media?

Who spent hours watching the Emmy’s last night, besides me? I’m a sucker for red carpets and anything involving beautiful people winning shiny awards. This year the Emmy’s kicked it up a notch by adding a social media component. Jimmy Fallon as host was funny and incorporated tweets that were sent to him about presenters and winners. They also had live streaming of backstage interviews with winners and producers.

Twitter’s yfrog was the most influential addition in my opinion. It had a photo booth for celebrities to pose in and the pictures were uploaded directly to Twitter. What a great idea! Fallon, also mentions twitpic twice during the event, and if you didn’t know twitpic was created and is run by a Charlestonian (pretty cool, eh?)! Even celebrities got in on the social media action! Kim Kardashian sang a reality TV duet with Jimmy Fallon and immediately tweeted about it (yes I follow her on Twitter). <@KimKardashian Who just saw me sing live on the Emmy’s??? Haha REALLLLLIIITYYYY! LOL>

Did you watch the Emmy’s this year? If so, do you think social media enhanced or detracted?

A Quick Word About my Obsession

I know that too many of my posts recently have been about my love for Foursquare. So I will not go into how awesome I think they are again, but I do want to relay some pretty interesting information.

Mashable announced over the weekend that their readers enjoy Foursquare more than Facebook’s Places and the geolocation giant has now reached three million users! This is awesome news, and one other thing you have to check out is this picture of Foursquare in Times Square reminding users to check in. Love it!

Social Media News of the Day: August 24, 2010

Your Daily Dose?

We all need a little inspiration sometimes, but what if you could get it every day? My dad enjoys his daily dose of food inspiration while I prefer a great laugh in the morning to get me going. Mashable [offers up] a list of 20 fun and inspirational accounts to check out on Twitter.

The Unblockable

You would think that Mark Zuckerberg is unable to be blocked on Facebook because he is the creator,  but that’s not the case. This past weekend it was released that you cannot block Zuckerberg, because it is an automated feature that kicks in when someone is blocked in high volumes. Sorry Mark!

The Beach Bum Android App

Google Earth, which allows you to experience a more in depth look at the globe, will now let you go under water on its Android app. It will be able to pinpoint sweet surf spots and what creatures are looming underneath your feet. If you’re interested in this application this article provides a QR code to download it. Enjoy!

Social Media News of the Day: August 11, 2010

No Worries, Facebook Will Cover Your Bail

At this point I’m sure everyone has heard about flight attendant Steven Slater’s very dramatic and over-the-top exit off a JetBlue flight earlier this week. What you might not know is he is now a social media celebrity and has people all over the country talking (and writing songs) about the most outrageous way to leave your job.

While Steven is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, what about JetBlue? Let’s be honest, Slater, cursed at a customer, stole a beer from the plane and then pulled the emergency slide in order to exit the plane. The company has suspended him until the trial is over but what a PR nightmare for them!

Personally, I think we’ve all had that Office Space day-dream of pounding the printer with a baseball bat and that is essentially what Steven Slater was doing. With that said, I’ve worked in customer service for many years and you’re always going to have rude customers or clients. It‘s something you have to learn to deal with. What do you think? Should he have become a social media star and hero to everyone wanting to quit their job? What are your suggestions for JetBlue on how to handle this situation?

Twexting

Twitter has announced their new service called Fast Follow, which allows you to follow Twitterers without having a Twitter account. It’s as simple as texting the person’s Twitter handle, and that will give you updates through your cellular device as texts.

It will be interesting to see how many people choose to use Twitter in this way and if it will impact registered Twitterers. If you are one of those against Twitter, but are interested in my very exciting life text “follow ebailey126” to 40404 and you will get my updates!

Social Media News of the Day: August 10, 2010

Watch out Samantha Ronson, Here Comes Gabi Gregg

Last night, MTV announced the winner of their first ever Twitter Jockey competition, @gabifresh. Gabi Gregg will be the face of their social media campaigns, and her new position comes with a $100,000 a year paycheck. Not bad, huh? Gregg started out as a Detroit-based, plus-sized fashion blogger and now she will be interviewing celebs at the MTV Movie Awards and the VMA’s (tweeting all the while, of course). You can follow Gabi Gregg now on Twitter @mtvtj. Congrats girl!

Twitter’s Just What the Doctor Ordered

There’s been a lot of talk recently about whether not it would be appropriate for doctors to venture into social media. While some feel this would be a huge HIPPA violation, others are making the very valid point that social media is where the patients are spending the most time and doctors should be there.  The Mayo Clinic has heard this request and is starting to give social media courses to doctors and interested hospitals on the how to’s of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogging. If you’re interested, check out this article from American Medical News.

Ask the Lonely

Remember the movie “You’ve Got Mail”? Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan made chat rooms and anonymous emails appear romantic and not creepy — a talent, I must say! It’s been 12 years since that movie warmed the hearts of Internet geeks everywhere and now might be the perfect time for a sequel. Invisible Note is the perfect combination of Chatroulette and You’ve Got Mail. It allows you to connect with strangers through email. But I’m not quite sure I’m ready to star in “You’ve Got Mail 2”, are you?

Social Media News of the Day: July 28, 2010

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!

Social Media News of the Day: July 12, 2010

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!

Social Media News of the Day: July 7, 2010

Twitter Joins the Social Buying Bandwagon

The premise is very similar to Groupon (insert link); Twitter is offering a daily deal that you can take advantage of by following @earlybird Exclusive Offers. The deals are time, and sometimes quantity, sensitive and will be posted directly on their Twitter account. The deals could be on gadgets, apparel and even events.  The deals will be nationwide with the goal being to make them more city-specific in the future.

Geolocation Is Boomin’

Foursquare has teamed up with IFC, the Independent Film Channel, to create a travel guide called “The IFC Always On. Slightly Off. Guide to America.” They’re looking for their fans to submit places that are slightly off to add to the guide. The top 100 submissions will be added and then you have the chance to win the “Slightly Off” badge from Foursquare. Fun! More here.

Social Media News of the Day: 6/24/10 Twitter Edition!

Twitter is now allowing you to automatically follow your Facebook friends. Awesome, right? Wrong! The application isn’t working yet but when they come together and get the kinks worked out this could be huge for Facebook, Twitter and social media.

I hear a lot of my friends say, “Why are you on Twitter? I signed up and just don’t get it.” It is hard to explain how awesome 140 characters really can be, but now I have this great article that we can all send those friends or colleagues who have just not quite grasped all that Twitter has to offer!

If you are a company using Twitter to reach your customers, then you have without a doubt asked, “How do we measure the values of our tweets?” This is a valid question, but one man is skeptical of measuring this social media tool and his article explains why.

Social Media News of the Day

The wait is over! Starbucks will start providing free WiFi beginning July 1. Click here to see everything the Starbucks Digital Network has to offer to its loyal caffeinated patrons.

Would you like to be able to check out of your Foursquare locations? So does Robert Scoble, read his blog on other ways Foursquare can improve their growing social media network.

Martha Stewart has left the kitchen and entered the world of social marketing. If you are a fan of her cupcakes you might enjoy a taste of her social media tips to promote and grow your business.

BP and the Case of Bad PR

Beyond the horrible images of the Gulf of Mexico drowning in oil, I can’t help but watch yet another disaster hitting BP: a PR nightmare that has ruined its brand. This is a company’s worst fears come true – a disaster impacting an entire nation brought on, it seems, by much of its own doing. Ouch. That PR team has its work cut out for it.

One of the most interesting developments has been the creation of a fake BP Twitter feed, BPGlobalPR, now with more than 163,000 followers and retweets galore thanks to its dry wit (“Investing a lot of time & money into cleaning up our image, but the beaches are next on the to-do list for sure.”) and tweets dripping with sarcasm (“Adopt a BP oil plume! $25 makes you 100% responsible for an oil plume and a ‘bpcares’ shirt!”).

And don’t forget YouTube, home of videos taking BP to task for its reaction to the oil spill. My favorite: BP Spills Coffee.

But BP certainly isn’t the first company to take a beating for its missteps. Lest we not forget Toyota just a few months ago and a bevy of auto executives from Detroit taking a private jet to Washington, D.C., to ask for a government bailout.

Unfortunately, these recent examples won’t be the last. But, today a reputation is destroyed in the time it took me to type this paragraph. (140 characters)

Before your company barely has a chance to catch its breath and craft a statement, blogs are buzzing, Twitter is tweeting and Flip cameras are rolling for a satirical YouTube video. Truly, your only course of action is to be as ahead of the game as you can be. This isn’t the time to say “no comment,” buying a couple hours for the staff to set up a Twitter account and a Facebook page.

In this day of social media and the instantaneous news cycle, you have to stay one – better make that two – steps ahead. If these events teach PR people anything, it’s to cover all your bases and that includes social media.

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