Tag Archives: web

Facebook All Over The Web

Facebook.com traffic has been slowing down for the recent months (that’s new), but people getting connected to facebook are still going up (I knew it!). Users from all over the web are getting connected to Facebook even without visiting Facebook.com through Facebook Connect, Like buttons and other Facebook Integration features and plugins.
1333d1234206333 codecall facebook integration fbook login Facebook All Over The Web
Nick Saint’s “Facebook’s Plan To Take Over The Web Is Working” states :

Inside Facebook, monitoring Facebook’s official stats page, notes that Facebook “now has more than 250 million users engaging with its external products, including Connect, the Like button and other ‘social plugins.’ That’s up from 150 million in late June, and 60 million in February.”

Facebook has refrained from advertising around its off-site products, and is generally not in a hurry to monetize all this activity. But step 1 in its world domination plan — put its brand everywhere, and keep everyone logged in to Facebook all the time — is off to a tremendous start.

It is still the same as it is, Facebook is crawling to cover the world map of social networks, just as it is wanting to take over the world wide web. Well, it has been successful so far.

How To Use Private Mode Browsing In Firefox To Protect Your Data

Everyone occasionally finds themselves using a friend’s computer or a public computer. No matter how much you trust your friends you may find that you are concerned with the possibility of leaving behind automatically saved passwords, cookies, and other cached data.

Firefox has a built in solution to this problem. This solution is called “Private Mode Browsing” and can be activated with a simple keyboard shortcut. (crtl-shift-P). The video below goes into the details of how to use this feature:

Please let me know if you find this useful. Thanks.

You can find this video and other “How To” videos on the HowToPhil website

Web 2.0 And 3.0 Video Blast From The Past

I was looking back at some of the discussion of web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 in videos from 2006 and 2008. These three are the best that I could find.

In 2006 people were concerned that web 2.0 (the social web) was just a bubble and that it would burst. I think we’re all well past that:

August 10, 2006 – A couple of weeks ago Michael Arrington got together with a number of startup CEOs and executives to video a discussion about Web 2.0. Participating in the discussion were Aaron Cohen (Bolt), Scott Milener and Steven Lurie (Browster), Keith Teare (edgeio), Steven Marder (Eurekster), Joe Kraus (JotSpot), Jeremy Verba (Piczo), Auren Hoffman (Rapleaf), Chris Alden (Rojo), Gautam Godhwani (Simply Hired), Jonathan Abrams (Socializr), David Sifry (Technorati), Matt Sanchez (Video Egg) and Michael Tanne (Wink).

The topics discussed included:

What is Web 2.0?
Are we in a bubble?
What are the business models that will work on the web today?
What is the role of publishers in a user generated world?
How important and how big is the early adopter crowd?

Kevin Kelly had some of the best visuals and looked ahead pretty clearly. Some of it is still to come, but I think he’s got it down pretty pat:

March 27, 2008 – Northern California Grantmakers & The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Present:
Web & Where 2.0+
Feb. 14th, 2008

Session #11
Kevin Kelly
“Web 3.0″

This is one of the best animations/short documentaries describign the evolution of web 1.0 to 3.0 that I have ever seen:

September 28, 2008 — The Dutch ICT think tank EPN (recently merged with ECP.nl to ECP-EPN) has produced this short movie, clearifying the Web 3.0 concept. Which possibilities and implications for society does this next phase of the web induce?

The EPN foundation sets the agenda and approaches web 3.0 from various points of view and draws attention to it’s implications for society.

With our geotagging phones, rfid tags picking up pace, increase in the production and purchase of smart phones, etc – Have we arrived at web 3.0? What do you think?

Twitter Tipping

Gregory Ferenstein at Fast Company Expert Blog came back from the 140 conference with some brilliant tips for twitterers straight from some of the twitter elite. Ferenstein says,

The Who’s Who of twitter were out in full force at this week’s 140 Conference at the Los Angeles Skirball Center. I got to heckle speakers with @adventuregirl (+1 million followers), talk branding strategy with @ijustine (700,000 followers), and speak on a panel with @pistachio (author of Twitter for Dummies).

I gathered a few unique insights from these twitter elite, and wanted to share them with my readers:.

  1. Tweeting is a profession. . .
  2. Give more than thou receive. . .
  3. Be undeniably genuine. . .
  4. Thank (nearly) every @reply or retweet. . .
  5. Keep it simple. . .

Ferenstein goes into more detail on those hints in his article, Tips From the Twitter Elite. What do you think? Any tips you can add?

Twitter Tipping

Expansion Plus Inc. "Social Media Strategy" Whitepaper

“Social Media Strategy” , the Sally Falkow (Expansion Plus) authored guide to Web 2.0 and online PR, offers a simplistic, yet informative look into the social web.

The guide tells us that to reach your publics you should start by “telling your stories directly and do it in a way that sparks conversations.”  So exactly how do you do that, you ask? Well “Social Media Strategy” clues us in on our ability to:

Listen to conversations. It’s possible to get ROI, Falkow says, but it pays to know where you’re going and what you want to achieve.  One of your best bets would be to use social media site like Google News Alerts, IceRocket, Twitter Search, etc. to find out:

  • who is talking about you
  • what they are saying
  • is it negative or positive
  • what communities talk about you
  • what are your competitors doing in social media
  • what’s the buzz about them

And just like that, you can “establish your share of voice” and “do in-depth research at virtually no-cost.”

Identify the influencers.  Accuracy and trust are two important keys to influence.   We need to be able to reach the bloggers, “who can cause others to take action, change their perception and/or their behavior.” Parameters such as site traffic, inbound links, reader engagement, recommendations, etc., help determine which networks to focus on.

Engage Your Audience.  Not sure how to  come up with interesting content?  Falkow explains that “once you have a content strategy, bright ideas will naturally flow about what to create and how to deliver this content.”

“93% of the Internet users active in social media say they expect a company to have social media presence and to be able to actively engage with that company.”

Company blog, anyone?

Measure your results.  “Social Media Strategy” speaks on arguably one of the most important topics in social media: tracking your share of conversation — the degree to which a brand is associated with the problem or need that it is setting out to help with.

“If you can’t measure it [results], you can’t manage it.  It’s that simple. You need know where you are when you start, what needs to be achieved and as you move along the path you have to have tools to measure your progress.”

These are only a few highlights from Sally Falkow’s  “Social Media Strategy”.  You can download and view the full whitepaper, with its full list of tips and social media strategies here.

“Markets are indeed Conversations. Listen, learn, and respond.”

Expansion Plus Inc. "Social Media Strategy" Whitepaper

Youth may not embrace Twitter as much as we thought

twitter fail whale Youth may not embrace Twitter as much as we thoughtThe front page of yesterday’s issue of the Diamondback, the University of Maryland independent student-run newspaper, featured the article “@UMD: 140 Characters to Nowhere.” The article comments on the ever-growing use of Twitter among university departments partnered with the sad response from students.

You would think that departmental Twitter accounts would be a huge hit.  I mean let’s face it, college students are all about finding the best short cuts and the quickest ways to get their information (whether it’s tonight’s hot spot or facts for a last minute research paper).  And if they can do it using their lap tops, they’re in heaven. But for some reason students aren’t catching on to the convenience of Twitter.

The article also mentions some statistics that say the majority of Twitter’s users range from ages 25-54.  But I thought that everyone under 25, Generation X, were supposed to be fiends for anything social media?  I am coming to realize that people around my age of 18-22 are really not into Twitter…yet.   I guess I cannot generalize for all college students because the article was written at UMD, and, although I’m quite popular ; )  I cannot possibly speak for everyone in my age group.

However, I did come across this article from the University of South Florida: College Students are Twitterless,  and another article that refers to it, Teens and College Students Ignoring Twitter . Oh, and this one from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Teens Don’t Tweet.  I’m sure there are more on the subject, but let’s get to the point.

“Of the 250 Florida college students surveyed, 99 percent use social networking sites. However, only 15 percent have an account with Twitter and 34 percent have never even heard of the site.  Some 58 percent of the students who have Twitter accounts never use the service or rarely log-on.”—Yes, 34% never heard of Twitter… and this was written this past June.

It fascinates me to see that this anti-Twitter trend among my age group may be cohesive across the US.

So there must be something common among America’s youth for this to make any sense.  And I think I know what it is:  Young people are a little selfish and impatient.  The Diamondback article notes that the majority prefers Facebook, a fact I can support from personal experience and talking to peers.  Let me also cite from an article I wrote about the Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein: “If you are frustrated at first, don’t worry, the authors say to take 3 weeks to get in the rhythm.”

Ok so back to why the young are selfish and impatient.  First, they love Facebook because you can post an infinite amount of pictures showing everyone how much fun you had on vacation to Barcelona, your hilarious night out at the bar on Friday, how you met Will Ferrell in NYC or how good you look with your new hair cut.  You get the point.  It’s also much easier to see who is commenting each other and who knows who—it allows the college social circle to be endless, even after everyone retires back to their apartments and logs onto their computers.

Second, Twitter takes time to get used to, even the Twitter experts like O’Reilly and Milstein agree.  It is unlikely that young people pressed for time would dedicate some of their precious minutes to getting into the swing of Twitter. Why learn something else when they already have a Facebook?

Although I use Twitter and realize its usefulness and innovation, I believe that people at an older age are better able to appreciate the site in all its character-limited glory.  Maybe once the young acquire this appreciation of Twitter’s convenience, simplicity and ultimate ability to connect the world,  they won’t be ignoring it anymore.

Being a part of “America’s youth,” I think it’s safe for me to make these assumptions, but please, correct me if I’m wrong.  If I am making a terrible generalization, let me hear from all of you young tweeters!

Youth may not embrace Twitter as much as we thought

Thank You Half-Marathon Fresh Air Bloggers

The response by bloggers to Fresh Air Fund‘s call to help promote the Fresh Air Fund-Racers has been amazing and inspiring, well before the event on August 16. Both the Fresh Air Fund and Abraham Harrison are always amazed and grateful at all the earned-media support we receive from bloggers. Thank you, each and every one of you! We’re much obliged! (Via Abraham Harrison)

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I Upgraded to HootSuite 2.0 Because it Works

Back in the earlier days of 3rd party Twitter apps (just a few months ago, actually), a few very effective web-based services got my attention: SocialToo, TweetLater, and HootSuite. Sad thing was, while they were all very powerful services, they were all poorly designed, very hacked together, and fugly. Enter the elegant, sexy, feature-rich HootSuite 2.0 (no matter what you think about all the controversy and extortion). (Via Socialmedia.biz)

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Learn "how you can tap that power" with the 'Twitter Book'

Twitter is the booming online craze that turns a mere 140 characters into social media bliss.  The site has been sparking daily online conversations since its start in 2006 about everything from the latest news to which celebrity’s sex tape just surfaced.  Sounds like a brilliant idea if you ask me.

I’ll admit that I had to make an account in one of my journalism classes several months ago, and I failed to see what all the fuss was about.  Moreover, I had no idea of the immense potential hidden behind Twitter’s simple frame.  I now use it all the time and appreciate its purpose, and I often find myself on Twitter-tangents continuously going from one link to another.

The 140-character limit is about 99 percent why Twitter is so unique and may be difficult to navigate for the virgin tweeter.  Thank heavens for ‘The Twitter Book‘ by founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Inc., Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein, writer and founder of the Tools of Change for Publishing conference (TOC).  It’s the ultimate guide to tweeting like a pro.  Don’t know what a tweet is? You should probably keep reading.

Short and sweet is how we like it.

One thing is for sure, O’Reilly and Milstein are no hypocrites.  They explain the ins-and-outs of Twitter using the very principles the social site is based upon. The book is concise, laid-back and user friendly, just like Twitter itself.  In today’s fast-paced world, we are attracted to anything short and sweet—hence the genius of Twitter and the necessity of guides like Twitter Book.

It explains the fundamentals for beginners, expands established tweeters’ uses for the site, and provides skeptics justification for Twitter’s value.  The book has 6 chapters and even provides readers with suggestions to skip beginning chapters depending on what they’re looking for, or by their current level of Twitter knowledge.  Of course, it begins with the basics like setting up an account and understanding what exactly Twitter is.

Common Twitter jargon explained:

  • Tweet- a single Twitter post
  • Retweet-reposting someone else’s tweet while giving them credit
  • #hashtags-designate related messages under one topic
  • @messages-sends a public message or refers to someone on Twitter
  • Direct messages (DM; d)- private message
  • Tweetup- an in-person gathering organized via Twitter
  • Fail Whale-Twitter downtime

Along with the numerous benefits and uses exposed to readers, the authors also throw in some of Twitter’s faults.  A sort of social media ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ for those who are new to Twitter and are seeking to take full advantage of the “goldmine of ideas, feelings and conversations.” If you are frustrated at first, don’t worry, the authors say to take 3 weeks to get in the rhythm.  If a Fail Whale appears, don’t worry, the site is just overwhelmed with tweets and will be up and running shortly.

Another great thing about the book is that there is no shortage of Twitter eye candy. Every other page is a screen shot that applies to each topic, a comfortable reference for beginners.  There are also frequent ‘twitter tips’ that share helpful hints throughout each chapter.

Get trendy

My favorite Chapter was Ch. 2, Listen In, the nitty-gritty of building Twitter value.  It teaches you the best strategies for staying on top of Twitter trends and searching for what you want, perfect for established tweeters who want to sharpen their Twitter proficiency.  In my opinion, searching and finding what you want is one of the most important skills to have.  It’s fun to stumble upon an interesting topic, but being in control of your Twitter experience makes all the difference.   O’Reilly and Milstein provide ‘Four cool tools for tracking trends’ that highlight some of the best ways to stay current:  What the Trend, @TweetingTrends, TwitScoop and Twopular.  They also tell you how to get an RSS feed of searches and touch on the best sites to advance your search: TwitterSearch (search.twitter.com), Monitter and Tweetgrid.

Other Twitter features revealed in the book:

  • Bookmarking  tweets
  • Using ‘Third Party Programs’ like TweetDeck
  • Tracking searches with email alerts
  • Picking the best mobile clients

Keep in mind I’m not including half of the helpful links, strategies, and advice available in the pages of the Twitter Book in fear of revealing too many of O’Reilly and Milstein’s great secrets.  So it pick up to get the full scoop.

Didn’t your mother ever tell you how to ‘unfollow graciously?’

Twitter Book doesn’t stop at basic functionality.  The authors give their take on how to be Twitter savvy by making yourself known, keeping others interested and using your Twitter manners in ‘Hold Great Conversations’ and ‘Share Information and Ideas.’

It turns out even Twitter follows the Golden Rule. O’Reilly and Milstein point out that “Twitter isn’t so much a broadcast medium as it is a discussion channel.”  In other words, despite the “What are you doing?” prompt, you should utilize your 140 characters to maximize your contribution to the community because “the more value you create for the community, the more value it will create for you.”

Although you’re looking at a computer, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re building real relationships and some of the same rules apply as with face-to-face encounters.  There are tools for how to know your new followers and a warning that ‘Auto-DMs’ and spamming are big no-no’s.  Also, unfollow people if their accounts aren’t contributing to your Twitter experience—but don’t make the act a big deal by worrying they’ll care or by signing yourself up for ‘unfollow notices.’

O’Reilly and Milstein also encourage picture posting (Twitpic), live-twittering from an event, publishing posts according to a theme and participating in “Follow Fridays” where people post suggested followers.

Three main points are mentioned in these sections and are essentially relevant to anything you do on Twitter:  1. Be interesting 2. Be conversational 3. Follow relevant people.

Cashing in

“Because it’s so lightweight, Twitter may tempt you to just dive in and give it a try. Which is a reasonable approach if you’re an individual. But for companies, an unfocused stab at twittering can lead to accounts that don’t represent the business well or that conflict with other communication channels.”

Twittering for companies isn’t a platform to throw out links to their Web sites every once-in-a-while.  Use Twitter to improve customer service, connect with other businesses or reach out to potential clients.

Some of the best advice in Twitter Book: “Twitter gives you an unparalleled opportunity to build relationships with customers and other constituents, and we suggest you think of it in those terms, rather than as part of a campaign.” See my blog:

O’Reilly and Milstein also mention that corporate Twittering should be a slow process to ensure no time is wasted on something that isn’t helping the company.  Check out TweetStats and see how some companies stack up.  Again, there are many, many more useful links in the book—especially if you’re trying to get your business tweeting efficiently.

The ‘Twitter for Business: Special Considerations and Ideas’ chapter tells you how to manage a staff of Twitterers, coordinate multiple accounts and how to make sure you’re findable, which is important information that may be difficult to find on your own.  It also details establishing credibility, posting creatively, how to integrate your products and even how to make more money with Twitter—now tell me who doesn’t want to try that?

So no matter what your relationship is with social media, or Twitter for that matter, Twitter Book should have a spot on your desk. Twitter has proven itself as a legitimate marketing tool among other things, and you don’t want to be left behind.  Looking at a book might also be a nice change for your eyeballs that may always be glued to your computer screen like mine.

So for all of you beginners, don’t get discouraged. For all you regular tweeters, I hope this inspired you to try some things you were missing out on…and I bet even you Twitteraholics realized you can definitely still learn a thing or two.

Ok, now go practice and tweet this blog :)

Follow me : lizapeif23

Learn "how you can tap that power" with the 'Twitter Book'

Long-Tail Earned-Media Blogger Relations

Internally, we at Abraham Harrison call our blogger outreach “long-tail” because these brand promotion campaigns aim at all the passion players of the blogosphere, not just the top few some consider the most important.

Think about it this way (an acting analogy): Every actor from the A-list through the D-list are working actors. They certainly don’t act for free. To these actors, acting is a job, a business.  However, there are also thousands of actors who populate community theaters worldwide.  They act because they love it, they’re passionate about the craft, and they don’t care if they’re paid or not, they have other things going on — work, family, kids, hobbies, friends, etc.

The same thing is true with most bloggers on the Internet.  Everyone is so focused on getting the attention of maybe 1,000 celebrity bloggers, they’re missing everyone else.

In many ways, our online long-tail blogger outreach is almost identical to traditional PR, just using different channels, different protocols, and different rules of engagement tailored best to bloggers and other online influencers.  Before we reach out to bloggers, we spend a lot of time and attention developing a compelling narrative and a perfectly-targeted and appropriate “gift,” be it a literal gift such as a two-dollar off coupon the blogger can offer her readers, a review copy of a book, karmic dispensation (an opportunity to help others), a funny video or widget (a dancing bear, anyone?), or just the opportunity to be recognized as an influencer and being engaged with on a high level of attention and appreciation.

Part of this requires that we make things very simple.  If we can’t convince a blogger to “take our call” and then post, all within 5 or 10 minutes, it’s probably not going to happen.  The way we do this is keep the pitch email very brief, one or two paragraphs at the very most.  We have tried many different styles and this is where we are: short, terse, minimal, highly textual, with a clear message and a clear request, no verbiage that sounds like it is selling or marketing. All assets, graphics, movies, or videos are collected into a “microsite” or “social media news release (SMNR).” Finally, we never include conversion GIFs, hyperlinks, hot emails, images, or attachments in our message.

Then, we offload all of the “press release” and “news release” information into the aforementioned Social Media News Release (SMNR), something we also call a client microsite. Rather than send the blogger the press release as an attachment or inline in the email or directly to a website where there could easily be information overload, the SMNR breaks down the goal and message the client wants repeated and simply gives the blogger the ability to copy and paste any or all of the info directly to her blog — all of the content, including embeddable video, banners, and widgets (with their embed code), photos, graphics, links, copy, and whatnot.  Our SMNRs are boiled-down into one easy-to-navigate page with various sections of info — a Who, What, When, Where, Why of text, images, logos, videos, widgets, banners, etc.

Depending on how compelling the issue is to the blogosphere, we get from dozens to as many as 200 postings in a 4-8 week outreach cycle, reaching millions of readers from an outreach.

Mind you, bloggers are busy, bloggers have other stuff going on, bloggers are very independent-minded people by their very nature.  It is impossible to tell them what to do from on high, so it is important to not only make each outreach as pleasant and as easy to understand and navigate as possible, is also essential to be human, be responsive, and make sure the blogger knows, without a doubt, that there is a person behind the pitch.

After the email pitch goes out to all the bloggers, all replies, questions, query, and frustrations must be dealt with immediately and personally by a human being — just say no to autoresponders and noreply email addresses.  Offering bloggers a rapid and personal response is the most important and most time consuming portion of the blogger outreach — a real person responding to every email response whether it is positive or negative can be the difference between a success or failure.  Our mantra is “respond quickly and with love.”

If positive, great! We respond thankfully and ask them to please send a link to their post or tweet when it goes live;  if negative, we respond accordingly and are often able to sway a negative response into a positive post by simply engaging him or her thoughtfully, quickly, and with compassion.

Follow ups are key as well. By not following up on bloggers who say they will get back to you, will post later, or will look into it, you are letting posts slip through the cracks. By gently following up with these folks, we are able to remind them of our last conversation, continue to be on their mind, and hopefully are able to get them to post for us.

In our outreach campaigns to bloggers and press, we regularly get 50 to 250 posts for a client per 4-8 week outreach cycle – this is generally an order of magnitude more articles than most PR shops get their clients, and we achieve it because we don’t assume some bloggers are more worthy of our attention than others and because we strive to approach all bloggers with respect and gratitude.

Via Abraham Harrison LLC and Marketing Conversation

Long Tail Earned Media Blogger Relations