The banks saw it, heard it, and ultimately responded: A Big Win For Consumers.

There is no question that social media gives “us” (the consumers) a voice. In fact, a voice that is so powerful it changed Big Banks’ plans to charge a $5 monthly fee to use debit cards. With 77,000 people RSVPing to a Facebook event called Bank Transfer Day and an additional 300,000 signing a petition on change.org the consumer’s voice is clear. The Facebook event calls for individuals to close their Big Bank Account and move their money to a local credit union.”We won’t support companies with unethical business practices. It is time to invest in growth of the local community.”

This movement caused Big Banks to pay attention and quick. After the public outcry, Bank of America announced that it is reversing the $5 a month charge for debit card use. The Bank of America reversal was not enough for many consumers, though. In fact, one credit union in MN, reported a 65% increase of new accounts from September to October this year.

There is no mistaking that social media garners attention and gives consumers a voice. And this isn’t the first time that social media has sparked similar conversations. Recently, Netflix subscribers demanded that the company rethink their plans to charge customers for both DVD rentals and online streaming. With over 27,000 comments, Netflix decided to halt plans to spin off its businesses. So, what can we learn from these experiences?

Transparency

This is a word that is thrown around in the digital space as best practice. However, transparency seems to be lacking drastically. Bank of America claimed that the announcement of the new debit card fees were an attempt to be more transparent. This is not transparency. Transparency would have been an honest statement regarding intentions.

Communication

It wasn’t until after an uprising that the intentions of BofA were made clear. In one tweet, Bank of America said: “In early 2012 #BofA plans to introduce a $5 monthly fee for certain customers who use #debit cards for purchases.” The tweet was then followed by: “More details will be provided to customers who will be affected at least 30 days prior to the change.” And only then followed by: “#BofA is implementing the fee in response to new regulations in order to keep an array of features customers like. Similar tweets came from the @Netflix account. Communicating clearly and effectively is key to maintaining relationships with your customers.

Trust

Nowhere in the news releases and tweets could you find a link to more information like: Who are these customers being effected? When will these fees actually take place? What regulations are they referring to? BofA provided no information on what this all meant. All consumers heard was: I’m being charged for something, maybe, if I use my debit card.

Then a tweet was posted saying: “#BofA customers who don’t use a debit card for purchases or use it only at the ATM can avoid the fee.” Now you are telling me it is really no big deal you can avoid it by not purchasing. Thank you for pointing out the obvious. Now if, I want to avoid a fee, I can just use credit. As spokeswoman Ann Pace stated, “They can continue to use the ATM and there is no fee associated with credit cards.” It should be mentioned that Bank of America makes more money if I use credit cards, as if there is a silver lining for the consumer.

Due to lack of transparency and clear communication, Bank of America’s consumer trust is vanishing. We can see it by all of the post, comments, tweets, and actual bank transfers in the last thirty days.

With social media at the helm, organizations, business, and brands are forced to be accountable to their consumers. Do you have a social media crisis plan in place? Is your messaging consistent, transparent, and trustworthy? Do you listen evaluate and evolve based on your consumer’s feedback?

Social media in all forms is a conversation, a two way dialogue; one that is here to stay.

Watch BreAnna on Fox9

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Social media has been getting a bad rep lately. What’s being said you may ask?

Oh, just that social media is causing teens to have high depression rates and drug usage. That social media is killing intellectual conversation and decreasing productivity.

It’s said that it’s causing people to be narcissistic and creating a false sense of self. That social media is even creating a false sense of reality.

And along with all of that, social media may not even be worth it, based on opportunity cost.

Many of these claims can be simply refuted though.

Anything without moderation can be harmful. Temperance is not only a virtue, but necessary to avoid becoming too involved or obsessed with an object.

According to this study, there is a connection between social media and drug usage. BUT this is a classic case of implied causality. Read more here. They said that SMS texting would kill spelling, but intelligent conversations still continue today. Before the internet and social media, it was normal to have very few like-minded people or good conversations in a year. Now, we can find a like-minded individual and have an intellectual conversation basically whenever or wherever we want (Source). Google Plus is a hub for intellectual conversation; we just might have to put up with a few cat pictures in the process.

Studies have proven that, in general, multitasking is actually less efficient than simply focusing on the task at hand. The act may result in time wasted due to human context switching, or worse may cause more errors due to insufficient attention. Multi-tasking is common even without social media. Many employers list it in their qualifications. With any computer software or program, any class or conversation can be interrupted at times by mobile devices and our own restlessness.

Narcissism in social media can be attributed to two factors. Social media allows individuals to express themselves and sometimes people are egotistical, whether we like it or not. Second, social media gives individuals an outlet for creativity that they might not feel comfortable voicing or showing in a board meeting or in a conversation in-person.

Just as actors portray different characters in each movie (besides Will Ferrell), sometimes we as humans like to present ourselves as something other than our true selves. This can be for coworkers, parents, family members or even our friends to give each what they want. Humans are naturally inclined to please others and sometimes mold themselves depending on the situation they are in.

For example, a normal teenager is almost an entirely different person when hanging out with friends, compared to when he/she is with his/her parents. The social media platform is no different.

With these concerns over social media and its effects, educating children (and adults) on how to effectively use social media will be extremely beneficial. Now, I’m not saying that social media education should be taught along with math or science, but it should be taught to keep children (and companies) from using it in a negative way. Learning how to manage social media, such as time spent using it, is also important.

Institutions such as public relations and advertisements have improved based on consumer feedback and up-to-date info provided by social media. The medium allows us to have a near instant conversation, whether it be through the use of video, audio or text.

Along with that, travelers use social media to stay in touch and update their friends and family. Social media also helps them to keep a personal journal or photo album that will be a complete and detailed record of their trip for years to come.

Social media inspires normal human beings to be creative. In order to receive a lot of “likes” or “+1′s”, the content we post has to be interesting and thought-provoking (for businesses and individuals).

But more than that, it has to be creative and original. Status updates and tweets …push the internet-at-large to improve their writing (spelling errors are mocked within an instant) and encourage everyone to let their creative juices flow.

Furthermore, Twitter and Facebook make us more connected to each other, in ways that we never thought possible! (Twitter is now available in 17 different languages).

Now after hearing those claims, some may say it would be easier to do away with social media. Whether you like it or not though, social media is here to stay. Like a tiny cell, it is developing and evolving ever-increasingly as we tweet, blog, post or speak!

Some related articles and videos: Social Network Analyst James Fowler
How Social Media Affects Children’s Brains and How it can be Used Positively
Travelers Use of Social Media
Complaints Against Social Media

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• What is a Field trial exactly?
• Why a Field Trial first?
• How can I get into the Field Trial?
• Who is in the Field Trial?
• How long will the Field Trial last?
• What does it mean to Hangout?
• What’s a circle?
• How does Sparks work?
• What does Google Plus do?
• How does Instant Upload work?
• What’s a Huddle?
• How do I invite friends to Google+?
• What about Blackberry?
• What about the Palm Pre?
• Does G+ interact with Google Docs? Can you send and share documents within Google+?
• Can you export your contacts (Circles) like you can on LinkedIn?
• Is there product tagging in G+ like Facebook has now?
• In terms of SEO and SEM, how does +1 interact with G+?
• Are they able to remove the Spark if they do not want this on their feed?
• Do Sparks emulate a Twitter feed like on TweetDeck?
• How do I add +1 to my website?

What is a Field Trial exactly?

Google has been testing Google+ extensively, and have continuously iterated the product based on internal feedback. They’re now ready to gradually open the Google

Why a Field Trial first?

The goal of the field trial is to see how Google+ works outside of Google’s walls. They are planning on gathering user feedback and working quickly to improve the product before publicly launching it.

How can I get into the Field Trial?

Unfortunately, you can only join the Field Trial by invitation. If you receive an invitation in your email, you were nominated to be part of the Google+ Field Trial. Friends can be invited by sharing a post with their Gmail address, and thus, inviting them to join.

Who is in the Field Trial?

See above answer.

How long will the Field Trial last?

How long the testing phase lasts, and how the product evolves, will really depend on how it goes. Google does not have a set amount of time.

What does it mean to Hangout?

Hangout is a group video chat. You can hang out with up to ten people at once. You can also only invite select people, like those in your Circle of colleagues or family members.

What’s a Circle?

A Circle is a custom group of friends. You can put people you know or are interested in into one or more Circles – friends, family, clients or whatever you want. You can share things publicly, to specific Circles, or even extended Circles (People in your connections’ Circles).

How does Sparks work?

A Spark is a topic you follow. Interesting and new info will be shown to you based on the topic you choose.

What does Google Plus do?

It’s a social network, like Facebook and Twitter. It’s a video chat application, like Skype. It’s a feed to show what you’re interested in, like Tumblr in a sense, but more like an RSS feed of news alerts. It allows for things to be shared with a small, select group of people, like Path. You can check in, like Foursquare. Plus, other cool stuff!

How does Instant Upload work?

Once you take a photo on your mobile device, it is instantly (except for iPhones) uploaded to your Google+ Profile. Then, you can choose whether or not to share it.

What’s a Huddle?

Group chat designed to work with your Circles.

How do I invite my friends to Google+?

Click on share, add their Gmail address for who to share your content with and then click “Share”, once they get the email, they should go to plus.google.com and sign up!

What about Blackberry?

Google Plus is not entirely functional and compatible with Blackberry mobile devices at the moment since they had a nasty bug and it is still in a Field Trial.

What about the Palm Pre?

Google Plus is not able to be utilized on the Palm Pre at the time of this writing.

Does G+ interact with Google Docs? Can you send and share documents within Google+?

G Docs does not interact with G+ yet. You cannot send and share documents at this time, but will hopefully be able to integrate the two in the future (i.e. collaborative docs and published Google Docs on G+).

Can you export your contacts (Circles) like you can on LinkedIn?

It is possible to export contacts TO Google Plus but it is not possible to export contacts FROM Google Plus yet!

Is there product tagging in G+ like Facebook has now?

Certain companies and every person can be tagged at this point in the development of Google Plus, but products cannot be.

In terms of SEO and SEM, how does +1 interact with G+?

SEO and SEM are affected only by +1′s from members of your circles. +1′s from members of your circles appear next to related search topics that they have previously +1′d. A +1 from a Google+ acquaintance to your site will make your site rise in your acquaintances’ Google search ranking. In other words, your site will appear higher on their list of search results, because you publicly +1′d your website.

Are they able to remove the Spark if they do not want this on their feed?

Sparks can be removed/added at any point in time.

Do Sparks emulate a Twitter feed like on TweetDeck?

They are similar to TweetDeck.

How do I add +1 to my website?

To place a +1 button on your website, go here: http://ow.ly/6mY57

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Being in the social media world, I expect changes. Everyone here expects changes. New rules, new features, new game; we see them every single day. Every now and then there comes a change that further revolutionizes the social sphere – and you know it’s going to be good one.

I’m talking about Google Plus.

So you’re thinking now, “Come on, there was Google Buzz which was an epic failure, social platforms come and go, what’s the big D?”

Trust me, I’ve had the same feelings; especially about new platforms. Being a data guy, I always like to start with the numbers. So what can I tell you about Google Plus? The service launched on June 28th, 2011, and was open for “field testing only.” Users who were granted access, were given the ability to invite others. However, this invite privilege was suspended, because of “insane demand” according to Google.

People have a very hard time understanding exponential growth. Where’s the proof you ask? If you fold a piece of standard letterhead paper in half 50 times, how thick would it be? The answer? It would reach past the moon. Don’t believe me? Google it. This is why predicting where Google+ (or any social platform, for that matter) will go is very difficult.

Luckily, we don’t need to fold a piece of paper 50 times for this one… Let’s put Google+ into perspective.

On July 11th, it was estimated that Google+ had roughly 4.5 million users. On July 12th, new estimates put that number at 10 million users.Within the next few days, they’re estimating that number to be well over 20 million. (These numbers aren’t official or from Google, but the model for calculating this is sound)

Now, let’s put the Google+ stats into perspective:

According to a source, Facebook received 160.9 million monthly US visitors in June. LinkedIn saw 33.9 million US visitors in June. Twitter saw 30.6 million US visitors in June.

Google+ is expected to be at 20 million in it’s first 2 weeks of existence. I don’t know about you but if Google+ was a race horse, I’d be all in.

And it’s not just the users who are adopting it, the top websites in the US have already adopted and integrated the Google+ plugin. In fact, more top websites have adopted Google+ on their websites than Twitter’s website plugin.

We’ve all seen Social Media, the Facebook’s, Twitter’s, and LinkedIn’s, change the world. And Google+, when you look at the data, looks to change the world again. I don’t believe Google+ will kill Twitter, or Facebook (But there are plenty of people who believe it will).

Facebook, in my opinion, didn’t really kill MySpace – it still exists after all. All we know, is Google+ is growing fast, and the majority of the feedback on the service has been positive. Google+ is here to stay.

And if you want to be part of Google+ growth, check out our Fan Page and we’ll send you an invite to see what it’s all about. Some are even claiming Google+ ends Social Media Fatigue, which we know we all have. Oh, and when you join, feel free to +1 this article, okay?

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Although Facebook may already catch on to this by the time you read it, there is a code that will help you invite all or most of your friends to an event without having to click on each slowly, one-by-one.

Using the code below, Facebook users can select all of their friends and invite them to whatever event they are planning.

All users must do is follow these simple steps (using Google Chrome):

1) Click on “guests to invite” on your event page.

2) Select a city if you like which is a drop-down menu located on the top left hand side of the invite pop-up box.

3) Copy and paste the code below to your browser URL.

4) Hit enter and this will select all (or most) of your friends.

javascript:(function(){elms=document.getElementsByName(“checkableitems[]“);for(i=0;i<elms.length;i++){if(elms[i].type=”checkbox”){elms[i].checked=true;if(elms[i].parentNode.className.indexOf(“disabledCheckable”)<0){elms[i].click();elms[i].parentNode.className+=” selectedCheckable”;}}};})();

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“Should we create a Fan Page on Facebook or a Group?”

I have been asked this question several times by clients and thought it was time to put this into perspective.

Group

Facebook originally started out with groups. Groups are for small group communication and for people to share common interests as well as express their opinions. Groups allow you to set join permissions to:

• The general public
• A specific network (such as a location, university or employer)
• No one, aka, closed. In this case users need to request to join.
• Secret where the administrator has to send out invites.

Groups have an administrator who manages discussions, updates, posts, etc. Administrators can also promote members to “Officers” who are nominally in charge, but do not have authority to administer the Group.

Similar to Pages, new posts within the group are visible on members profiles’ news feed.

Fan Page

Facebook launched their Fan Pages in late 2007 when they realized that people were trying to connect with brands, public figures and businesses.

Unlike a friend’s profile, these pages are visible to everyone within the online community by default. Everyone using Facebook can connect with someone’s Fan Page by “Liking” it. In other terms, you are opting in to receive this Page’s updates within your profiles’ news feed and in turn can interact and engage with the brand, public figure and/or business.

You can add as many administrators as you like. Administrators speak on behalf of the brand, public figure or business when posting status updates, replying to fans and managing the Page.

These “Likes” are visible in each person’s profile, under the “Info” tab. Facebook recently also rolled out yet another feature allowing you to see common likes you have between friends.

How do I know which one is right for me?

At the end of the day, your business needs to determine its objectives and core purpose for using Facebook before deciding which feature is right for them.

A few more things to keep in mind before making up your mind:

• Pages are designed to host applications which in reality allow more personalization and customization where Groups cannot.
• When you post an update to your Group, it appears to be coming from your personal profile. Whereas with Pages, the post comes from the Page itself and is not linked to you personally.
• Facebook Pages are indexed by search engines such as Google & Bing and in turn appear in search results. While Groups do not.
• Groups allow Administrators to send their members messages (provided they are under 5,000 members) that appear in their inbox. Page Admins can on the other hand, send updates to their fans directly through the page and these updates appear in the “Updates” section of fans’ inboxes. Pages do not have a limit on how many fans you can send to.

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People frequently tell me they plan on taking on an intern to manage their social media. An inner part of me cringes every time I hear this because I know I have failed to explain the importance and power of social media to them in a way they can understand.

Yes, I am a biased opinion. I am convinced though that social media is one of the most effective ways of reaching a large audience. Additionally, social media represents a new twist in Marketing, everything said on social media is permanently archived forever in an easy to search manner. Talk about what a PR nightmare it could turn into! Every piece of content said is permanently attached to your brand image.

When I hear people say they are excited that they found an unpaid intern or low-paid intern to manage their social media and help them get into the 21^st century, I know it is already too late to educate them on the dangers this provides their business. The primary question I wish I had the opportunity to ask them point-blank one month prior:

When you think about your company brand that you’ve worked so hard to establish, how do you want to continue it? In a concentrated professional manner, or in a haphazard way that might occur with a low paid (or free) intern who might leave you in a few weeks. Most companies say they want consistency of message and of delivery. They want to be confident that the words that go out about their company are well-thought out. Because social media is quite new to a lot of companies, many don’t know that there is no “undo button” in social media?

How much do YOU want to risk? With SMCPros you can be confident every move is planned and focused on making you look good to your customers and prospects. Our methods are tried and proven successful. We are way past guessing what works. So I ask again: How much do you want to risk?

Having said this, please, be careful.

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There have been many people across the globe complaining about Facebook’s recent privacy setting changes. As a matter of fact, Facebook has been LISTENING to you! Due to peoples rising concern they have decided to reconsider those settings.

The announcement is expected to take place shortly after 1:00pm ET, on Wednesday.

“I can confirm that our new, simpler user controls will begin rolling out tomorrow. I can’t say more yet,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told CNN in an e-mail Tuesday.

The website also implemented, among other changes, a new tool that spreads user preferences and data across the Web. This tool allows Facebook users to share articles and “Like” pages. In return this had an impact on the privacy settings and some members voiced their concerns to changes that switched their settings to default making their profiles open to the public.

“I know we’ve made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve,” Zuckerberg said in the e-mail, which Scoble printed after receiving permission from the Facebook CEO to do so.

What kind of changes are you expecting to be rolled out?

CNN Tech was used as a source for the above information.

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Over the last two weeks, both Twitter and Facebook held their developer conferences, Chirp and f8. Both of these events had announcements that turned the social world on its head.

Chirp

Chirp, Twitter’s developer conference, brought several things to light. It first shed more light on the announcement that came the day before, about Twitter’s “Promoted Tweets”, their advertising mechanisim. This service places tweets at the top of search results, which function like tweet despite being sponsored by a company. At first, this service is only open to a few select companies, with more being added in phase 2. Additionally, the ads may make the move to a user’s timeline sometime in late 2010.

Chirp also came after many Twitter 3rd-party developers were in outrage with their acquisitions of Atebits, makers of Tweetie, an iPhone Twitter client. They viewed this as Twitter trying to push them out of business. Twitter’s platform manager, Ryan Sarver, posted on the Google Group for the API that they were not making “official” applications, but rather trying to make it easier for a new user to find what they are looking for. Many users looked in the iPhone app store, but could not find a client that looked “official” and gave up. The purchase of Atebits, as well as the partnering to create a BlackBerry client, was to ease this issue. They are not blocking developers, and actually use the exact same API’s; keeping developers on a level playing field with the company itself.

Twitter also rolled out a few new technical features-@anywhere and the new Stream API, as well as a new developer website. @anywhere allows people to make Twitter interactions on any website, such as following someone, tweeting, and getting information about a user. For an example of this, look at my tech analyzing website, where I implemented it. The stream API is to get more low-latency updates for applications, allowing for better access for Twitter. The new developer website simply provides a homepage for developers, bringing together several disparate sites under one umbrella.

f8

Facebook announced several changes that rocked the social world  (whether someone wants to admit it or not). The biggest announcement was about a “like” button for the entire web. Using their tool, any website can have a “like” button, and use it to see engagement by users/viewers. In some cases, such as IMDB, this allows users’ profiles to have their interests updated when they like a movie. Several people, including myself, commented that Facebook is trying to own the entire web with this move.

Facebook also announced several new API’s, all of which make it easier to interact with Facebook, and allow applications to know more about a user, their interests, their connections, and their social graph. This has led to several people panicking over privacy concerns since 3rd-party apps have even more access to information than before. (If you are concerned about this, the settings you need to change are in Facebook’s Security Center).

Facebook also launched these API’s with several high-profile partners, such as Pandora and CNN.

What does this all mean?

The question that I spent most of Wednesday night losing sleep over is “What does this all mean?” These changes certianly changed the social media world, but in what way?

These moves show a concerted effort by Facebook and Twitter to extend their influence, and data-collection abilities, beyond their own domains. Now, you can interact with Facebook from everywhere, not just a site you are connected too or a main domain. For businesses, this means that you now can have even more insight into your customers, their habits, and what they care about.

Advertising is now more accurate, since people are able to update their interests and likes with much less friction. This data is what Facebook uses to display ad results, making it much targeted, meaning your dollars are being used much more wisely.

If you are interested in implementing any of these new technologies for your business, please contact us!

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Numerous marketing approaches are being used nowadays, how do you know which one is the most appropriate for your organization?

We usually start by breaking down each approach before analyzing and making a decision as to which route to proceed with.

Ask yourself not only what your target market is, but also WHERE they are at. Are they on social media platforms? Are they listening to the radio, watching tv or perhaps just reading the newspaper? Any campaign you decide to run with needs to be carefully thought through. Brainstorm your objectives and set your direction.

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