For those that missed it on Veteran’s Day, our very own BreAnna Fisher presented a free webinar on Google+ Pages. We invite you to check out the recording below. Comments / Questions are welcome!

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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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With G+ being toted as an identity service – combined with Google Wallet I think it has the potential to change the business  intelligence landscape. These technologies pared together have the ability to provide an incredibly high level of insightful information about user behavior to business owners, analysts, marketers, advertisers, and the like. Can you imagine a world where you could track from the time a person clicked on your ad – to the time they entered your store and made a purchase? I think with NFC technology and the G+ platform the potential is here. Now what will be done with it?

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Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s not very often that those mistakes are seen by millions of people, incite user revolts, or create multi-million dollar lawsuits. In the world of social media however, this can happen if a person or company is careless, overly defensive, or not proactive.

How should your organization respond? How do you build a crisis communication plan? What elements are important in protecting the brand that you’ve spent your lives and money building? These questions, among many others, are necessary to answer as you move in the social media space.

Social Media is moving fast and it’s critical to pay attention to it. If your organization is moving into social media, you’ll want to make sure you have a well developed social media crisis plan. Is your business protected from the online world?

You have a traditional crisis plan, and you understand why and how to use it. However, do you have a protocol to answer this in the digital community?

It is not a surprise to business owners today that social media is a great way to engage with customers, drive sales, prospects, and build brands. Use the tools that are available to bring your brand online. Engage and communicate with your customers by giving advice, answers, and solutions through social media.  Having your voice present is imperative.

Pay Attention:

Listening is the first step. Creating a successful social media crisis plan starts with monitoring. There are many free tools that help you control your presence: Hootsuite, Google Analytics, Tweetdeck Google Alerts, Google Sparks, and many more. Be proactive – search hashtags and relevant keywords. Ensure that there is a person who is dedicated to accomplishing this constantly. There are also many paid version tools that give you a deeper understanding of your digital presence; Radian6, Sysmos, or Omniture are all advanced analytic tools.

Preparedness:

Customer service never punches a clock and neither does social media. This requires companies to be on ready alert. Monitoring is necessary, but you must also be ready to take action. You need to understand in advance what platforms are best to respond on. Which outlet will give you the biggest response the quickest? Who are your advocates, and how can you leverage the trust you have already established?

Diffuse:

It is important to act promptly and effectively. When a crisis occurs you have an opportunity to turn the situation into a positive one, to turn otherwise disgruntled individuals into brand advocates. However, responding quickly and efficiently is not the end of the line. You need to follow-up. Depending on the severeness and extent of the damage should dictate your course of action.

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There are still some people out there who think that social media does not matter for themselves or for business. They say that without any measurable or noticeable effect, you cannot call something a success.

Well, first of all, that is false. With Google Analytics and other measuring tools, companies can see and measure results. Plus, social media has taken customer service to a whole new level. And secondly, I have one real life experience that proves them wrong as well.

FourSquare (and social media) single-handedly landed me my current job.

While I was working on finishing up my last few weeks of school in my junior year at the U of M, I was searching for summer jobs and becoming more and more interested in social media. Throughout the year and mostly that semester I had been becoming acclimated to checking in via FourSquare at Coffman Memorial Union, Hanson Hall, and my apartment building.  I was tweeting more and had just recently started a blog on tumblr.

The only thing I knew about my apartment neighbors (and their social presence) is that someone named Tyler O. was mayor (the person with the most check-ins) of my apartment. Little did I know, but my future boss was living almost directly below my current apartment.

I continued to check-in consistently throughout the next few weeks (hell bent on overtaking the mayorship – of course) and as summer was fast approaching with no job lined up, I was slowly starting to panic.  Finally, the day came where I had done it! I had finally taken the mayorship that I so coveted. I tweeted about my triumphant rise to power and victory was mine! As I did a victory dance in my apartment kitchen with my curious roommate laughing and inquiring as to the source of my joy, I received a notification “beep” on my Droid.

Intrigued, I checked my phone to see that this Tyler O. character had replied to my tweet and his political downfall. He was upset, of course, at the loss of his mayorship and vowed to get it back! Quickly browsing his Twitter Profile, I saw that he just happened to be the CEO at a certain social media agency (SMCpros).

Thinking that this was some stroke of luck, and riding the wave of excitement, I decided to push my luck even further. I told Tyler that I would give back the mayorship on one condition: if he offered me a job.

I got the job after two interviews that were literally just downstairs. Needless to say, social media has had a major impact on my life and can definitely yield measurable  results. I now have a great job and have met many new connections and friends because of FourSquare and Twitter. I have been working for the SMCpros team now for four months and I’m excited to see what the future will hold for me and for social media.

Do you have any interesting social media stories worth sharing?

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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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Expectant mother: “What do you think of Alexander or Alexis?”
Expectant father: “I like both, but it might be too common. Let’s check the domain availability first, then decide.”

Imagine a world where, instead of starting a savings bond for their unborn grandchild, proud grandparents purchase a domain name. Or where parents choose names based on available URLs and social media handles.

Well, thanks to sites such as http://babyurl.net/, that world can be a reality, for the low price of $8.95/year.

Babies are now provided the opportunity to reserve a domain name while still in the womb, which will (hopefully) ensure them a secure financial future and a steadily growing online presence.

This is not a new idea though. There have been numerous articles and videos posted on the subject. There was an article posted on MSNBC.com back in August 2007 and a quick segment from Katie Couric’s “Notebook” on CBS in September 2007.

Blogger Deborah Sweeney quoted Richard L. Evans saying, “Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.” in her May 26, 2011 post. Sweeney then goes on to say, “This is true. However, I’m fairly certain that if you bestowed unto them the Google domain, they’d be hard-pressed to forget that.”

What do you think? Is purchasing and reserving a baby domain name worthwhile? And is it becoming a necessity?

Watch this video!

Then click here to read this article about 0-5 year old’s internet usage!

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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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