Today I had the privilege of being asked to speak and share my thoughts on social media and it’s current “state of the union” (if you will). The #PRSApd event was interesting- it unexpectedly (the event organizers did not know this would happen) was in an underground basement with no cell phone reception- which certainly made for an interesting ‘no Tweets’ presentation!

If you’re interested here is the PPT slides I shared at the session:

There’s something to be said about the trend over the recent years about the usage of infographics. You’ve probably seen many online (but may not have been aware they’re called infographics). This design trend is a great way to convey complex data information clearly and concisely. Let’s be real- data and numbers for most people isn’t exactly sexy and interesting.

Visual.ly is trying very hard to become the homebase and repository to all things infographics. They have over 10,000 in their database and average over 2 million visits per month.  Today, they released a “Create” section where you can choose from different themes and data sources to dynamically make an infographic (right now it’s just Facebook and Twitter). It appears they’ll be building out this feature on the site for customization and different types to choose from. Right now they have these auto-generated themes you can choose from:

• Twitter Showdown (account vs. account)
• Life of a Hashtag (performance of a hashtag)
• Facebook Monster (data visualization of your Facebook usage)
• Facebook Insider (FB page Insights visualization)

…just for fun- I did a comparison of Justin Bieber and my twitter account using the Twitter Showdown template

Let’s be honest with each other- we #geeks love to use many different shiny objects social services. Facebook, Evernote, Foursquare (the list goes on). And like with all great technologies, everyone uses them differently. But many times you find yourself wanting to connect or link Apps like Instagram to Facebook or your email.

A couple months ago, I came across a great website service called http://ifttt.com (“if this, then that”). The idea is simple- when something happens (this) then the system will do something else (that).

There are many social networks/platforms that are integrated with the site:

The interface is super simple. And it’s organized by what they call “tasks”. These are essentially commands and instructions you create that will be automated once you set them up.

For my account, here’s what I have setup and running (feel free to steal them! and use them!)

1.) Any picture on Facebook that I’m tagged in, upload it to my Flickr account. This way I get a copy of the photo in my photo storage account I have for Flickr.

2.) For my clients (Timberland), I have setup alerts to send me a text messages when they post a status update or photo. This way, I’m able to passively get pushed alerts of every status update in a simple text message. This way I’m always up-to-date-down-to-the-minute with what is proactively being pushed out by my clients.

3.) When you Tweet a photo using TwitPic, I always have found it frustrating that you don’t get to “keep” the photo. I setup a task so every TwitPic is sent and uploaded to my Flickr account.

4.) I’ve been in many situations when I’ve asked myself- “I wish I could search my sent Tweets” <– when I’m trying to find a link or content I posted. However there is no way to search your own Tweets using Twitter.com. And if you search using your own name on Twitter.com, the results typically only for the last 2-3 weeks. However, with ifttt.com you can setup a free account on Evernote (which is searchable) and then send all your Tweets to Evernote! How slick is that! BONUS TIP: if you have clients, this is a great way to store and index Tweets for later reference.

5.) Ever wish you could see on a visual calendar all your check-ins from Foursquare? Or search previous check-ins? I have a task setup so my check-ins sync to my Google Calendar! And since Google Calendar is searchable I can go back and search my check-ins to find out the exact day and times I’ve checked in locations. BONUS TIP: If you use Outlook, you can download a Google Calendar sync program to Outlook and waa-la you’ll have a triple integration (foursquare to Google Calendar to Outlook).

6.) Similar to my archive of Tweets from #4, I’ve always wished there was a way to search through your Facebook status updates. Setting up a sync for links you’ve posted is essentially your own custom version of Delicious for Facebook!

7.) Currently I have this one de-activated, but it’s nice to know it’s possible. You are able to easily customize an auto-Tweet or auto-DM message for Twitter to your new followers. A clean, simple, easy way to set one up if you want one.

8.) Sometimes you forget to check the weather. Or you forget to look at your phone at the conditions. This task is simple and fun- you get a text message if it’s snowing.

9.) Many people use Facebook to upload their photos. However, there is not an easy way to download and backup the photos. This task is any easy way to ensure it gets sent to your flickr account for storage and downloads.

Are you using ifttt.com already? What tasks do you have setup? Share them in the comments!

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I noticed that most of my friends aren’t using Pinterest for video? I scanned all my friends and the major businesses and brands I could find (Today Show, HGTV, Whole Foods) and none of them had pinned a video.

Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because the “Add a Pin” prompt says this:

…which the way it’s worded is confusing (“Find Images” probably throws people off).

Or perhaps- it’s because people don’t know that you can pin videos?

It’s simple to do. You can add video from YouTube to Pinterest like this:

I even created my own board for my video blogs:

So- back to my question: why aren’t most of my friends and brands/businesses not using Pinterest for video? There’s an entire section in the main navigation dedicated to ‘Videos‘. You can even view videos on the iPhone App:

What’s your take? What do you think?

Are you pinning videos? Why- or why not?

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Recently, I added some Gmail shortcut stickers to my keyboard at work- and then tweeted about it

A few days later I got an email from Google asking to feature it on a few of their Gmail blogs/SoMe. Check it out! (btw, if you want to buy these gmail stickers you can here)

Every once and a while I come across a tool or tip that I think it’s so cool- I just have to share it…

Read any digital marketing or social media blog or publication in the past year- chances are you’ll come across articles featuring or highlighting the social influence scoring system Klout. They’re positioned as a influence measurement platform that makes it easy to identify whom is influential online (this is measured by analyzing: RT, mentions, Facebook comments/likes, Google +1′s etc.).

Typically, to see Klout scores for any given person- you have to go to Klout.com/[INSERT-NAME-HERE] (or tools like CoTweet have plugins built in to see scores). However, I came across this nifty plugin that was developed at Klout’s own internal hackathon. This allows you to see the scores on Twitter.com right next to each Tweet like this:

Yeah- pretty slick isn’t it?! I think so.

You can download and grab the plugins here:

• Chrome Klout Extension
• Firefox Klout Add-on Extension

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This is a helpful tip and trick I discovered- this is how to embed a Tweet into a blog post. The advantage of doing this (other than not having to take a screenshot) is this allows you pull in the Tweet with native Twitter buttons that allow people to 1-click: retweet, reply, favorite, and follow the account of the embedded Tweet.

Copy and paste this 1-line of code:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> ^TS</p>&mdash; Twitter API (@twitterapi) <a href="PUT-THE-TWEET-URL-HERE"></a></blockquote>

*Please note, you need to copy this on the HTML editor not the Visual tab

The result should look like this:

^TS

— Twitter API (@twitterapi)

Pretty slick huh? Tell your blogger friends- or better yet, click the RT button above

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Just thought I should share if you didn’t know… “group messaging” is a default setting on the iPhone for iOS 5. You should know this before you send out a group text message- because everyone gets the reply <-- :) something think about before you send out a mass text message

note: you can disable group messaging (<--scroll down on that link)

Have you heard of Title Boxing? Some would say it’s a fairly new trend in fitness (they even claim if you workout there for one hour just three times a week and you will lose at least one pound a week without dieting).

We just launched a new Facebook giveaway app for Title Boxing (a client). Here are 3 learnings I wanted to share given the many clients we work with for these types of promotions. 3 tips to keep in mind when developing a giveway or contest:

1.) The “5-second rule” applies.
When deciding on a contest or giveaway, it should take less than 5-seconds to understand what it is and how to enter. “Clever” isn’t always the most effective. And far too often in the boardrooms and those posh marketing conference rooms people get caught up in complicated promotions. The attention span of a user on Facebook is much lower than the average user. Facebook is inherently designed for media snacking, so a contest that takes time and work is typically less successful. Rule of thumb: make it simple and tell them in words how “easy it is to enter”.

2.) Ask for their email address.
Giveaways and contests are highly effective email acquisition tactics. We believe you have to “give to get”. And customers are ok with this. So make the [email address] field required. Also, the information you require on the form should be dependent upon the minimum amount of data you need to segment and take action on from an email and CRM perspective. Don’t get greedy and ask for more. Remember my advice from Rule #1.

Also, in compliance with Facebook Promotions Guidelines, you cannot use Facebook to notify winners, such as by sending them a message, chat, or wall post alerting them to their win. So having their email address is vital.

3.) When you build it, they won’t enter.
Just because you build an amazing contest or giveaway app, it doesn’t mean hundreds or thousands of people will flock to enter. Cascade and flex your digital channels (email, website, twitter, facebook) with a drip roll-out to drive traffic, stimulate buzz, and attention about contest. Bonus Tip: one of the best promotional strategies for a giveaway or contest is to work with influential bloggers or existing communities to push and support the promotion <– coorindate this prior to the launch

KCTV5 asked me to come on to their morning show with Carol Long to talk about what parents can do to let their kids use social networking tools like Facebook and still keep tabs. During the interview, I shared 5 tips …but I ran out of time and didn’t get to share a new service I think parents should consider. A new service called Zone Alarm SocialGuard allows you to monitor Facebook for your kids. It’s only $2 per month/$20 per year (pretty cheap if you ask me). What I really like about this service is it’s “invisible” (your kids won’t know you’re monitoring them). And the service sends email alerts right away to parents (this way you don’t have to login to see if there are things that need your attention). WSJ has a great review on SocialGuard on it, if you’re interested.

You can watch my interview on KCTV5 here. If you want instructions on my last tip I share in the interview, here are step-by-step instructions on how to follow your kid(s) every time they update their status on Facebook.

Do you use Gmail? There are some hidden features in Gmail that you can turn-on that will save you hours of your life (if not days). I put together this instructional video blog to share with you my 5 favorite Gmail hacks and tips (click here if you can’t see the video below).

BTW, if you ever want to see all the keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, press: SHIFT + ?

When I’m training clients and friends on the differences between Twitter and Facebook, there is 1 important difference between the two tools that I underscore: the feeds: real-time (twitter) vs. delayed + filtered (facebook).

Understand how the feed works.

Facebook and Twitter’s feeds may look similar- but they’re very different. If you want to best leverage the “how” and “when” to use the channel(s), you must first understand how each are presented and read/consumed by its users (the context). When you look “under the hood”, you’ll see the data is organized very differently between Facebook vs. Twitter.

Delayed + Filtered (Facebook)

You may not realize it, but there’s logic behind your Facebook News Feed. What you see on your Facebook homepage is based on an algorithm (referred to as “Edge Rank“) that determines what you see from your friends and pages. This is a smart filter- so you only see relevent, valuable content from your friends based interactions (# views, likes, comments, shared). Furthermore, your News Feed has a “freshness” delay to what content to show you. Meaning, you are not seeing every up-to-the-minute updates from friends and pages. Instead, you’re viewing the results of a highly complex equation- that’s delayed and filtered just for you. It’s a custom experience. And you can bet Zucky designed (and continues to refine it) Facebook’s algorithms to best help users weed through the mess of seeing every action users are taking.

Real-Time (Twitter)

Your Twitter feed is like a never stopping, flowing river, with snippets of 140 characters of text and links. It’s unfiltered and raw. Meaning, the moment any of whom you’re following updates on Twitter, you see it in your Timeline. It’s as simple as that.

So what should you do?

Twitter is a channel in which content moves fast. Minutes, not hours (and it moves fast in everyone’s feed, no matter the device they’re using). The speed and velocity is so quick- a study found the average lifespan of a Tweet is only 1 hour. The content and updates you post in this channel are very disposable. And I’m a firm believer that no one reads all your tweets. (so get over yourself).   But it also means Twitter is a great communication channels for live events and commentary about things happening right now. For example, you could ask your friends and followers what was the song just sung on American Idol? Or complain about the bad foul in the NBA Finals on the basketball game you’re watching. Tools like Facebook and Google aren’t best designed to help you with answers to these types of real-time questions.

Facebook is different. There is a much longer expiration date for content on Facebook. It’s more likely to “stick” to friends’ News Feeds longer (hours). Look at your own News Feed. When you scan it top to bottom, what do you see? If you look closely, there are time stamps ranging from “15 minutes ago” all the way to “18 hours ago”. This means, when you create and share content- understand the Facebook channel has a longer shelf-life.

It’s important to understand that users consume and view Twitter in real-time vs. Facebook, which is delayed and filtered. This context provides important considerations for [what] you should share and [how] you do it. Knowing this information, informs how you craft relevant, valuable content, and message it appropriately in each channel.
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This is a simple Facebook hack that you can use for your friends or even for work (great for Community Managers, marketers CMOs and executives).

Many people often complain they don’t have time for Facebook. But yet, they also know they should be aware of certain activity and things that are happening on Facebook with their friends and family. Sometimes there are business/work/research reasons that you might have in regards to following activity from competition or certain businesses who have Facebook pages.

Did you know Facebook provides a free text message service for status updates? It allows you to get a push text message, when specific friends you choose or a page you like updates their status (in real-time). You can have up to 50 alert subscriptions (friends/pages).

While it might seem extreme at first to sign-up for this service, I really like getting updates from people like my sister, best friends, and my favorite brands. This is just one of the many ways you can integrate social media in your life to augment relationships (it’s what I refer to as ambient intimacy). Knowing these details creates intimacy. (It also saves a lot of time when you finally do get to catchup with these people in real life!) It’s not so much about meaning, it’s just about being in touch.

Just follow these instructions:

1.) First, you need to activate Facebook Mobile Texts for your phone (if you haven’t already). To activate Mobile Texts, go to the Mobile tab on the Account Settings page, click “Register for Facebook Text Messages,” and complete the steps that follow.

2.) Click “Account” -then- “Account Settings“.

3.) On your Account page, click the “Mobile” tab.

4.) On this screen, under the heading “Whose status updates should go to my phone?” <– type the names of your friends and FB pages that you’d like text messages alerts.

That’s it! It’s a bit tricky getting to the screen on Facebook that lets your do this, but it’s really simple once you know where it is. Social media enables ambient intimacy to occur. It allows us to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible. And these social technologies have the power to greatly augment (not destroy or lessen) existing relationships. But like anything, you must understand how to integrate it appropriately- but once you do, it’s powerful stuff.
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Have you ever visited a new city and wished there was an easy way to find out which of your friends live there? Well, there’s a “Facebook Hack” I came up with for that About once a month I find myself traveling for work. Each time I drop into a new city, I use Facebook to tell me which of my friends live in different cities. It’s really simple and just takes a few clicks to get to the right screen.

Just follow these instructions:

1.) Click “Friends” on the left side-bar.

2.) Then click the “Edit Friends” button in the middle of the page.

3.) Click the drop-down option “Recently Interacted” and change it to “Search by Current City”.

4.) Type the name of the city you want to filter your friend list by, to see which of them are in specific cities. Here’s an example of what it looks like:

That’s it! It’s a bit tricky getting to the screen on Facebook that lets your do this, but it’s really simple once you know where it is. This is just another example of how social tools and technologies can truly make life better and easier.
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Mobile is exploding. People who access the internet from a mobile device daily has increased dramatically (anytime, anywhere). According to Jan. 2011 research, 20% of US mobile phone users- use the mobile internet once a day or more often.

Smartphones killed the phonebook.

When is the last time you opened a phonebook to lookup a phone number? Be honest (perhaps the better question is, do you even own a phonebook?). We now search on Google for local business phone #’s using our mobile devices. And often, we aren’t looking for a website to read, but just a phone number to call.

Create “click-to-call” phone numbers on Google.

Did you know, as business owner, you can advertise at the top of Google’s search results page with a “clickable” phone number? You can customize the AD with phone number shown based on person’s location, and even track analytics on # of calls received. All you need to do, is sign-up for GoogleAdWords, setup location extensions, and check mark “show ads on iPhones and other mobile devices” on your profile. That’s it. Customers will then be able to click-to-call you from any ADs you run. And the costs are the exact same as the cost of a click to visit your website.

Here’s an example of a search I did for “chinese food” in Kansas City. There’s an opportunity here for someone to bid on this phrase and put their business in this result listing. Also, I should also probably charge my battery. 31% is scary close to being low battery!

Given the proliferation of smartphones and the behavioral shift that Google has become the new phonebook, have you adjusted your digital marketing accordingly? Setting up ADs like this are simple. Don’t over think it. It just makes sense. Have you done this already? Is it working well for you?
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