Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

 

New Facebook Features Coming to Your News Feed

Monday, March 4th, 2013

It’s happening again. Facebook is revamping your newsfeed. Yes, again.

Although the company plans to reveal details at a public event in Menlo Park, California on March 7, some details of the newsfeed redesign are already appearing on some user’s timelines.

From Digital Trends:

“We’ve noticed a handful of new features being tested out on Facebook (and confirmed as tests, for that matter), and among them was an in-line like button that sits inside of an update shared by a friend. In this case it was a Vimeo video, which first popped up on the News Feed and later, we rediscovered it on the submitter’s Timeline. The story surfaced a link that takes you straight to Vimeo’s Facebook Page and an in-line button that sits across from this link.”

These “inline” features have several uses. Here are a few…

Add a Friend of a Friend

Whether you’re a fan of Facebook or not, it does one thing well: make connections. Facebook seems to be rolling out a new feature that will connect users with their second degree friends by encouraging one simple click.

Here’s a look:

Like a Page

Similarly, the ability to like a Facebook page from posts of your friends will begin to appear in your timeline over the next few weeks as the new news feed rolls out.

An example:

 

Join an Event a Friend Shares

Keeping up with what’s happening is what Facebook events are for, and in the new Facebook timeline joining an event will be even more accessible.

When a friend joins an event, you’ll now see that event posted on your friend’s timeline along with an invitation to going the event as well (provided it is a public event). This gives events more exposure and an easier interface to join them.

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And although these are only a handful of new features that we know about at present, many more will be made public during the March 7 formal announcement.

Question: what new features would YOU like to see in Facebook’s new timeline?

Keys for Social Media Influence

Monday, February 11th, 2013

Check out these statistics. Every day…

294 billion e mails are sent
2 million blog posts are written
4.7 billion minutes are spent on Facebook
864,000 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube
More iPhones are sold than babies born!

As Digital Buzz Blog posted those statistics last year, those numbers are sure to be conservative. Buzzwords like engagement, guru, conversation and platform (Michael Hyatt wrote a whole book on it) are all the rage. The social media space seems to be getting more and more noisy. 

For those who wish to inhabit the quickly growing space of social media and truly grow to become an influencer with a Klout score higher than 14, here are some keys for social media influence.

Key #1 – Be Compelling

Sure, cats and other furry creatures are all the rage on You Tube and Facebook. We’ve all seen enough Willy Wonka memes to make us hum the Oompla Loompa song ad infinitum.

But those are flash-in-the-pan one hit wonders. “Charlie Bit Me” had it’s moment (and a very good one) but that was it–a moment.

Why?

The message was interesting, but not compelling. It didn’t teach, add value or challenge thinking as a true influencer might.

Follow the example of Jeff Goins, Pat Flynn or Zen Habits and see if they don’t encourage or provoke you to make a chanage. True influencers.

 Key #2 – Be Consistent

Being a social media influencer means being consistent. Sure, it’s good to toss in a few surprises for some added flavor, but influencers recognize they’re in a relationship with those that follow them. It’s not a one night stand, its a marriage and needs the loyalty and dedication of one to maintain its vibrancy.

Posting on blogs and the sharing platforms must have a dependable voice and a reliable schedule. Without this, followers will flock to better leader.

 Key #2 – Be Creative

Whereas the schedule and content is consistent, there’s still room for creativity.

Creative influencers give away what others might charge for, earning customers for life when the next product rollout happens. Creative influencers surprise and delight their followers. Creative influencers recognize what Zig Ziglar said best…