June 2, 2012

Facebook will be the first social media company honored at the GLAAD Media Awards, hosted annually by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Representatives from Facebook will accept a Special Recognition Award at tonight’s event, held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in California.

This will be the 23rd Annual Media Awards for the notable lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, recognizing fair and inclusive representations of the LGBT community in television, journalism, music and more.

GLAAD announced in March that Facebook would receive the award, citing the social media company’s efforts against bullying as well as the inclusion of various options — such as relationship statuses — for LGBT users of the social network.

Throughout the past two years, Facebook has taken many initiatives to promote and enable LGBT rights and equality. The company worked with GLAAD in October 2010 to monitor a memorial page for LGBT youth after users posted violent anti-gay images and comments. It also launched the Network of Support, a panel of five leading LGBT advocacy organizations with MTV’s A Thin Line campaign to help Facebook address LGBT issues.

More recently, Facebook launched the Stop Bullying: Speak Up campaign with Time Warner, which empowers students, teachers and parents to help prevent bullying. The campaign just launched across Latin America this week. Facebook also added Help Center content that provides guidance on how users can help an LGBT person who has posted suicidal content.

“Facebook has set the bar high for ensuring LGBT people have a safe space to connect with friends and family,” said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick in a statement on Thursday. “GLAAD is pleased to present this award to Facebook in recognition of its efforts to make their platform welcoming to everyone.”

Brittany McMillan, the high school student who founded Spirit Day, will present the Special Recognition Award. Facebook was among leading companies that participated in Spirit Day on Oct. 20, 2011, encouraging employees to turn their Facebook profile pictures purple and wear the color to show support for LGBT youth.

Andrew Noyes, Facebook’s manager of public policy and communications, will accept the award on behalf of the company with Sara Sperling, head of diversity and inclusion. Noyes, who acts as the liaison between Facebook and LGBT groups, was influential in launching the Network of Support.

Although Facebook’s higher-up executives will not be in attendance, a recorded thank-you video from Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will be played at the awards.

More About: Facebook, glaad, LGBT, Media, Social Good, Social Media

June 2, 2012

If you wish you could tweet during that round-the-block 5K, then Motorola’s latest update to MOTOACTV is for you. The fitness computer will display Facebook and Twitter messages on the device as well as offering more accurate mapping, easier WiFi network setup and more flexible workout planning. Additionally, golfists who plumped for the Golf edition get some more links-appropriate features like tee location options and putt distance-tracking. You can get the update by connecting the device to your computer and Motocast will handle the rest.

Motorola MOTOACTV update adds Twitter and Facebook to keep you company during marathons originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge, Droid-Life  |  Motorola  | Email this | Comments

June 2, 2012

It’s time to exercise your democratic right — not at the ballot booth, but on Facebook.

The social network is calling on users to vote on which privacy rules will govern the site. As in most elections, you only really have two choices: the current documents, or new ones drawn up with the help of user feedback.

So what’s different about the new privacy rules? Comparing the current and new rules side-by-side, one thing jumped out at us: the new Data Use Policy. It contains an expanded list of activities in which user data can be collect by Facebook — whether you’re interacting with an app or something else on the site.

The company states that “if more than 30% of all active registered users vote, the results will be binding. If turnout is less than 30%, the vote will be advisory.”

In other words, some 300 million users will have to vote to make this definitive. That’s roughly the same number as the population of the U.S.

Voting started this Friday and ends the following week, Friday June 8 at 9 a.m. PT. You can vote here.

In March, Facebook made changes to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (commonly referred to as terms of use) and Data Use Policy, which outlines how Facebook controls user privacy and protects user safety on the site, among other things. It asked users for feedback on the new documents and received 150,000 comments. Facebook incorporated that feedback into the new policies, and it’s now asking users to vote on which policy you prefer, current or new.

The company said a lot of users simply asked for expanded explanations on certain sections, which it did in the new policies.

Right away, you’ll notice that the Privacy Policy is now listed as the Data Use Policy. This is not new; Facebook made that change last fall, but now they’re making all the wording consistent. In the new Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, Facebook goes into greater detail about user privacy and explains what the changes in the documents’ wording means for users.

The new Data Use Policy will include an entire section with examples, too, just to make things more clear. Facebook says the “vast majority” of changes between the two documents are changes in wording and how sections are explained, not how user data is captured.

Facebook held a site governance vote in 2009. A spokesperson from Facebook said 665,654 votes were cast to support the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Principles, which won by a margin of 74.37%.

Are you going to vote? For which policy and why? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, lisafx

More About: Facebook, privacy, Social Media, vote

June 1, 2012

True Skype story: When I was in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, I almost missed seeing the Oscars. I’ve never missed Hollywood’s biggest event, but it was in the middle of the night local time and Spain’s idea of a useful telecast was fuzzy reception and loud Spanish-language translators speaking over all the show’s best bits. Awake at 3 a.m. Barcelona time, I called my family up via Skype. After a quick hello, I had my son turn his laptop to my HDTV and I subsequently watched the entire show via Skype.

This is the power of Skype and why CEO Tony Bates says the service is “in the inner circle for a lot of people’s lives.” Speaking at All Things D’s 10th annual tech and business conference, Bates said that he’s heard of last rites being read to someone via Skype and it’s not uncommon for a parent to see his newborn baby for the first time via the free video-conferencing service.

It’s a position Skype, which Microsoft acquired last year, shares with close partner Facebook. Bates noted that in his earliest talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, they realized they had “a shared vision” and soon launched one of Facebook’s deepest third-party tool integrations.

That partnership is one key component of growing Skype’s next 250 million monthly Users, but it’s not the only part.

Bates, who says he’s learning a lot from his new manager, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, plans on double-downing on Windows 8 (Microsoft launched a Windows 8 a release preview just a day earlier). He sees the Metro-style’s OS overhaul and Microsoft’s access to multiple platforms as clear paths to growing the already popular service.

Bates said Skype’s top priority is to be on mobile. Earlier this year, Skype unveiled a radically redesigned Skype for the Windows Phone platform. For now, despite the deepening relationship with Microsoft, Skype’s most important mobile market is still the iPhone (though Bates said Android has the most momentum).

Bates’ ambitions do not end at mobile. With the Xbox 360 gaming console, “Microsoft has a great footprint into the living room,” noted Bates, and Skype could one day end up working with the gesture and voice-enabled Kinect interface.

Ultimately, Bates said, video conferencing is not defined by one device or by the act of a single video call. What if, for example, video chat was persistent? Bates described watching a TV show together or having a telepresence dinner. He called it “ambient video.”

SEE ALSO: Tim Cook: Steve Jobs Convinced Me to Work for Apple in 5 Minutes

That may be a video bridge too far for some more privacy-minded folks, but Bates’ more aggressive plans for mobile should be welcome news for anyone who lives with their phones and tablets. Two of Skype’s 2011 acquisitions, Qik and GroupMe make it clear that Bates has more on his mind than simply growing the network (though that, too, is a stated goal).

Bates said GroupMe, which introduced the world to group-based texting, is, for Skype, really about collaboration. The $100 million Qik deal helped put Skype on ever more mobile platforms, but, more importantly, it gives it the technology to capture and relive the conference video.

As always, Bates sees Skype as “a Swiss army knife. Use it how you want when you want.” To that end, his dream is to have Skype on every major platform and every screen, at home, in the office and, most critically, on the road.

How big a role does Skype play in your life? If you don’t use it, what’s your video chat platform of choice? Tell us in the comments what you use, why and describe the major moments it helped you enjoy.

More About: Facebook, microsoft, Skype, Windows, Windows 8

June 1, 2012

Have an idea about how to use Facebook to promote human rights? Your concept might earn you $20,000.

Facebook is partnering with the team behind the Access Innovation Prize to reward individuals and businesses for coming up with the best way to use digital tech to promote social good, human rights and development.

Facebook has provided $10,000 toward the award, and Access will match the contribution. The social network will also participate in the judging process.

“The social web is a powerful tool for helping to promote human development around the world,” said Marne Levine, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy, in a statement.

“The Access Facebook Award will help to spur new ideas for leveraging Facebook to improve the world we live in, from creating tools that enhance the free flow of information to developing apps that expand educational access in rural areas, and we look forward to seeing the creative ideas that are submitted.”

Access — founded in 2009 — works with activists and groups around the world to help them advocate for digital rights. According to the company, the Access Innovation Prize is designed to discover and reward ideas that not only show promise, but also possibility. Applicants are allowed to submit projects that are nearly complete, improve upon an existing idea or come up with something entirely new.

“Tech innovation can deliver powerful human rights outcomes,” said Brett Solomon, Access’ executive director. “At the same time, technologists and digital activists often need financial support to turn an idea into a deployable platform, software or program. We can’t wait to see what gets submitted.”

The application process closes on Aug. 15.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tumpikuja

More About: Facebook, non-profit, Social Good, Social Media

June 1, 2012

Before confessing to killing and eating another man’s heart and brain, Morgan State University student Alexander Kinyua left a digital trail on social media and other corners of the Internet.

His online presence paints a picture of a deeply disturbed young man fascinated by violence and warfare.

The 21-year-old Kinyua reportedly admitted to police this week that he killed a 37-year-old man who was living with Kinyua’s family, then chopped him to pieces, ate the man’s heart and munched on parts of his brain before dumping the rest of the body in a trash can.

The incident came shortly after another man in Miami ate half of a homeless man’s face off.

Kinyua’s posts to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in recent months offer a bizzarre and macabre window into his mind. Kinyua started a Twitter account in early December with the handle @COREeye67, according to a Baltimore Sun investigation into his online activity.

His first original tweet, on Dec. 9, read simply and cryptically: “FIRST PRINCIPLES OF COSMIC COMMAND.”

He then tweeted 34 principles in a row, each individually numbered, and capped off the spree with this message: “STAY TUNED FOR MORE AS YOU PONDER EACH TWEET DEEPLY. REVIEW, REFLECT, SEARCH OUT ITS MEANINGS WHICH ARE SURELY THERE.”

On Dec. 10, he tweeted more than a hundred messages, seemingly at random, to businesses and celebrities. Most of them read “AWESOME JOB” or “COME HELL OR HIGH WATER!!!! KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!!”

He posted his last tweet on Feb. 25. Earlier that day, he replied to a tweet by Parenting magazine in which he referenced a friend who is “a veteran exorcist.”

On Facebook, Kinyua’s profile picture depicts a pair of lions mating. His gallery of cover photos include a painting of a shackled and shirtless man fighting off bears, an image from what appears to be an Alien vs. Predator scene, and the cover of writer Sophia Stewart’s The Third Eye.

On May 17 of this year, not long before his alleged act of cannibalism, he posted a pair of QR codes, each with the caption, “CRACK TEAM ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT!!!”

Kinyua currently has 96 Facebook subscribers. He joined Facebook on December 11, 2008.

Kinyua’s YouTube account, also under the handle COREeye67, has been deleted by the company because of third-party complaints over copyright infringement. According to the Baltimore Sun, he left comments on videos posted by the National Association of Pershing Rifles, a non-profit ROTC group.

He also had a self-published podcast on the website blogtalkradio.com, called Warrior Syndicate Radio. His profile picture there is a head shot of him apparently slathered in war paint.

The show’s description reads: “Warriors skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society coming together to form a syndicate learning portal for Warrior Clans.”

Check out the gallery below for a look at Kinyua’s online life. And let us know in the comments: is a social media trail like this useful for understanding the mind of an alleged killer?

@coreeye67

Kinyua started a Twitter account in early December with the handle @COREeye67. This tweet was from early March, before the alleged crime was committed.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: cannibal, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube

June 1, 2012

Your share-happy fingers in May found interest in the usual social media and tech suspects (think Facebook, Google, iPhone). But more than ever, Mashable‘s entertainment and viral news coverage enticed you tell your family, followers and friends about the web’s hottest topics, photos and videos.

Making a late run onto our Top 20 Most-Shared Stories monthly list was a May 31 story about Facebook’s new feature that allows page administrators to schedule posts and assign roles.

Based on figures from Mashable Follow‘s M Share button, the following 20 stories got the most love, garnering about 450,000 combined shares on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and StumbleUpon. To keep track of the most-shared stories at anytime, log into Mashable Follow and click on “Top Stories” next to the Mashable logo. You’ll have the option to view the top stories of the day, week, month or year.

• 20. 12 Extravagant Instagram Pics by the Rich and Famous
• 19. Facebook Finally Lets Page Admins Schedule Posts, Have Different Roles
• 18. Google Explains How Your Emails Travel to Their Destination
• 17. Who Googled You? This Website Knows
• 16. The Best and Worst Times to Share on Facebook, Twitter
• 15. Where and When to See the May 20 Solar Eclipse
• 14. Got a Problem? Rub Some Bacon on It [VIDEO]
• 13. 6 Sizzling Must-Have Gadgets for Summer
• 12. The iPhone 5 Might Look Like This [PICS]
• 11. This 121-Megapixel Photo of Earth Will Make Your Jaw Drop
• 10. Graduate Proposes to Girlfriend During Commencement [VIDEO]
• 9. SNL’s 100th Digital Short Packs in Stars and Raunch [VIDEO]
• 8. New iPhone: Tantalizing Details Revealed [REPORT]
• 7. 5 Fascinating Things We Learned From Reddit This Week
• 6. Mark Zuckerberg Gets Married
• 5. Noise-Canceling Tech Lets You Quietly Dine in Noisy Restaurants [VIDEO]
• 4. How Tech Is Changing College Life [INFOGRAPHIC]
• 3. 30,000 Dominoes Capture the History of Nintendo in 3 Minutes [VIDEO]
• 2. 5 Magical Real-World Creations Inspired by Harry Potter
• 1. This Is Crazy: Harvard Athletes Perform ‘Call Me Maybe’ [VIDEO]

Thanks for reading and sharing our content. We look forward to seeing which stories you share in June.

---

BONUS: Watch 11 Sports Teams Rock Out to ‘Call Me Maybe’

---

1. Harvard University Baseball

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: celebrities, Facebook, Gaming, mashable follow, Music, Social Media, trending, Twitter, viral, viral videos

June 1, 2012

So you’re new to this whole social media thing. Maybe you’re savvy enough to know your Facebook from your Twitter, your Pinterest from your Spotify. But what about Tagged? Xing? Futubra? Where do they fit into the social media ecosystem? Just learning their names is enough to make your head spin, let alone how large they are or what kind of numbers they’re pulling down.

Never fear. Mashable has got you covered.

This comprehensive infographic whipped up by social media strategist firm Hasai, below, serves both as a cheat sheet for the newbies and a scorecard for old hands; there’s sure to be a stat that surprises even the most jaded social guru.

Did you know Club Penguin has more employees than Twitter? That Spotify has larger revenues than Tagged, which in turn has more users than Twitter? That Pinterest may be a hot property, but Foursquare still has more users? (All revenue figures are in U.S. dollars, by the way.)

Facebook remains at the top of the social media tree, of course. But as Thursday’s trending Twitter topic, “RIP Facebook,” suggested, that can’t last forever. So who is best positioned to replace them? Take a look at the chart, and let us know in the comments what you think.

More About: club penguin, Facebook, pinterest, spotify, tagged, Twitter

June 1, 2012

Facebook’s stock may be dropping — as of Friday afternoon, it was at $27.52, down nearly $10 from its opening price — but Sheryl Sandberg is feeling light as a feather.

Sandberg, the social network’s COO, updated her Facebook Timeline cover photo Friday with this picture of her doing an impressive split jump at the House of Air in San Francisco. Part of Sandberg’s job is to be a cheerleader for Facebook — with jumps like this, it seems, she could take that role literally.

Sandberg wrote a caption for the photo with Memorial Day’s date (Monday). We knew Sandberg makes a point of clocking off at 5:30pm every day; now we know a little about how she likes to spend her holidays, too.

The warehouse building, on Crissy Field near San Francisco’s Presidio, is basically a giant trampoline playground for adults. With 8,000 square feet of trampoline space, a DJ booth and flat screen TVs this place is a sweet spot for company parties. (Mashable held its 2011 Social Media Day celebration here.)

Is this refreshingly candid behavior from a top tech exec? Would you like to see Mark Zuckerberg on a trampoline? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Facebook, House of Air, San Francisco-San Jose, Sheryl Sandberg

June 1, 2012

There’s no doubt the Redmond team is spending a hefty amount of time enhancing its search engine at any chance it gets. Adding to the Linked tweaks we’d previously seen, Microsoft’s now making Bing more social — at least in the US of A. The most recent changes bring a Metro-driven interface to the homepage, which boasts that Microsoft “three column design” we laid eyes on earlier this month. Naturally, the revamp will open the doors to improved search results, but this, of course, will depend heavily on if you’re up to linking your Facebook, Twitter or other social network accounts with Bing. That said, something tells us you’re definitely up to it.

Bing now more social in the US, hopes you ‘like’ it and tweet about it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Neowin  |  Bing Blog  | Email this | Comments

May 31, 2012

In an era where partisan bickering in Washington has created dysfunctional and ineffective gridlock, the Federal Trade Commission may be an island of bi-partisan accomplishment.

At least, that’s how FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz sees it.

In a wide-ranging discussion with All Thing D’s Walt Mossberg at the 10th annual D tech and business conference, Leibowitz described the FTC as “about as bipartisan as you can get.”

The FTC’s privacy cases against Google and Facebook have, Leibowitz contended, protected “the privacy of more than a billion people around the world.”

That’s pretty impressive for an organization that does not have the power to jail anyone. Its powers are limited to imposing fines and working with companies on ameliorative measures.

In the case of Facebook, the FTC’s oversight means that if at any time during the next 20 years Facebook changes its privacy policy, it has to offer users the right to opt in. In other words, Facebook can no longer change first and tell you later. You choose to enable the new settings.

The other big change is that now, if you leave the social network, you can take your information with you. The FTC created a similar settlement agreement with Google. Leibowitz acknowledged that the FTC is still investigating Google for anticompetitive practices, but wouldn’t say more than that they are trying to figure out if the evidence is there to pursue such a case.

Leibowitz was insistent that consumers, not web sites, own their information. He is not, though, anti-Google or Facebook and told the D10 audience that the services bring “tremendous value” to consumers. However, that admiration does not mean the FTC will pull back on trying to protect consumers’ online rights. Leibowitz outlined three areas of focus:

Privacy by Design:

According to Leibowitz, developers should envision privacy settings and controls as they are building their services and not have to add or radically improve them after the fact.

Transparency:

Leibowitz described a mobile privacy policy that required 102 clicks to get through (he joked that you might not want to do it while driving). Privacy information, Leibowitz said, should be as simple and straight forward as “the nutrition guide on the side of a cereal box.”

Choice:

For the FTC, this means the option to choose whether or not you want to be tracked. Thus far, all major Web browsers have introduced do not track settings, but Web site purveyors need to get on board, as well.

“If we knew 15 years ago what we know now, maybe more of the Internet would have been opt in now,” lamented the FTC Chair.

Leibowitz, however, is confident that Web sites will be engaged in self-regulation of third-party cookies by the end of the year. Leibowitz calls a Do Not Track for third party cookies “a pretty modest proposal” for these companies and one that most of them support.

There is the question, however, if these changes will satisfy consumers who, Leibowitz told us, have only “a vague, inchoate understanding of what Websites are doing with their information.”

Even so, he does think everyone understands that the services, information and entertainment Web sites deliver is funded by advertising and “no one wants to undermine them,” he added.

The FTC is also looking at other parts of our online experience. Leibowitz said they’re seeking to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule,which implements the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), for the first time in years.

Proposed changes include:

1. An opt-in from parents before web sites can track kids’ online activities
2. Parental permission for geolocation of children under 12.

There’s no timeline for implementing these changes, though. The FTC is still collecting public comments; Leibowitz said they have about 100 really good ones.

Leibowitz also responded to concerns about the ages of children on Facebook and acknowledged that there are likely many who are 11 or 12 years old (the official sign-up age is 13). It’s a complicated issue, said Leibowitz, since underage children have often spoken to their parents before creating the account.

“If a parent lets their child on at age 12, at least the parent is the gatekeeper,” said Leibowitz.

Do you think the FTC has been as successful in protecting your online privacy as Leibowitz says? What more can and should the FTC be doing to ensure your online rights are protected. Tell us in the comments.

Editor’s Note: The original post incorrectly identified the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the work the FTC is undertaking regarding the rule that implements the statute. We regret the error.

More About: Facebook, FTC, Google, privacy, US

May 31, 2012

A recent Facebook update lets page administrators schedule posts in advance, similar to the scheduling functions of HootSuite and other third-party apps.

However, users quickly noticed flaws in the user interface — that is, if they could even find the feature at all.

Check out the gallery below, where we pinpoint and troubleshoot these faults.

What do you think about the feature’s flaws? Will you still use it, or will you stick with third-party apps? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

1. A Good Scheduling Feature Is Hard to Find

If you’re waiting for the scheduling feature to roll out to your page, look a little bit closer — you already have it.

Go to your page and begin to write a post. In the bottom-left corner, you should see a small clock (yeah, it’s tough to notice). Click on it and set the time to the future, and the button that says “Post” will change to “Schedule.”

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Facebook, features, Social Media, trending

For more Dev & Design coverage:

• Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

May 31, 2012

The Facebook Marketing Series is presented by Webtrends, helping brands acquire, engage, nurture and optimize Facebook fans. Get the Social Media Marketing Playbook, a guide for maximizing returns. Download now.

Facebook looks completely different than it did a year ago, so it shouldn’t be surprising that marketing on the social network has also changed a great deal.

The biggest difference is Timeline, the photo-heavy redesign that Facebook herded brands into in March. Though there have been conflicting reports about Timeline’s effect on brand engagement, marketers are realizing that Timeline may not be more effective — but it definitely is different.

However, Timeline’s not the only catalyst for the changing marketing ecosystem on Facebook. Another is Facebook’s financial situation: We all know the company is under huge pressure from Wall Street to figure out a winning formula for advertising on the platform. The other big trend is driven by how advertisers view Facebook. With about 133 million users in the U.S., the social network has a potential audience bigger than the Super Bowl’s. Though GM has punctured Facebook’s air of inevitability, most advertisers haven’t lost faith enough to drop advertising on the platform wholesale.

The combination of influences has ushered in the following trends.

---

1. More, Bigger Photos

---

The success of Pinterest has prompted more emphasis on photos and may be a big influence in Timeline’s design. But consumers are adapting to a more visual web as well. Simply Measured, an analytics firm that measures brand performance on Facebook, found a 65% aggregate jump in engagement for photos and videos that brands posted on their Pages after Timeline. However, engagement for photo-less status updates fell over the same period.

Since Simply Measured looked at just 15 brands, you can take its findings with a grain of salt. However, a Facebook rep confirmed the trend: “Our research shows that posting photos and videos is significantly predictive of shares, comments and likes.”

Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of Simply Measured, says the trend towards more emphasis on photos is happening on Google+ as well. “Intuitively, it makes sense,” says Schoenfeld. “Pinterest is hot right now, and content presentation can be really powerful.”

One believer in the power of photos is Sprinkles Cupcakes, which regularly posts images on its Facebook Page. (The image above is of former Lois & Clark star Dean Cain using a Sprinkles cupcake ATM.) Nicole Schwartz, head of marketing and social media for Sprinkles, says while photos do better than text-only posts, “photos with a call to action (submit a photo to be entered into the Cupcake ATM photo contest) or special offer (whisper a special word for a free cupcake) receive triple the number of likes, shares and comments.”

---

2. Tapping Real-Time Data

---

The standard advertising model is that you release a campaign, then measure the results at some point to determine whether the ads are working. Facebook’s latest engagement metrics offer immediate visibility on your campaign’s success. Some brands are capitalizing on this by amplifying popular posts.

For instance, on April 17 — Tax Day — TurboTax saw certain posts that answered common questions about filing doing well on Facebook’s “People Talking About This” (PTAT) metric. In response, the brand bought advertising via Facebook that amplified the reach of those posts.

TurboTax may be ahead of the curve: Schoenfeld says that most brands are monitoring their Facebook activity on a daily or weekly basis, but doing so in real-time is still fairly rare.

---

3. Using Your Timeline Photo for Marketing

---

Some brands have realized that that huge photo at the top of the Timeline design can be a banner ad of sorts. For instance, Subway is using that real estate to promote its new Smokehouse BBQ Chicken sandwich. The image provides instant exposure to the brand’s 13 million fans.

In addition to using the lead photo to tout a new product, some are using the space to enhance posts or promotions. For instance, Tide used the image for a giant status update, asking fans to click on the image of a flag to answer the question, “What does the red, white & blue mean to you?”

---

4. Gamification of Posts

---

If you’re looking for a brand to emulate on Facebook, you might start with Coca-Cola, which is one of the most-followed brands on the platform. Recently, Coke has been trying some different things with its status updates, including URL riddles and the pictogram above.

Coke’s not the only one to realize that status updates can be used to do more than, well, update your status: JetBlue has also been employing gamification in the form of “Fill in the Blank” updates. For instance, a March 26 post by the brand asked, “If your city could be any district, it would be ____. May be the odds be ever in your favor!”

According to Simply Measured, JetBlue’s fill-in-the-blank updates garnered 182% more comments per post than the brand’s typical post. However, FITB posts, as they’re known, aren’t great for driving shares and Likes.

---

5. Creatively Saying ‘Thank You’

---

Singling out fans and giving them praise is Social Media 101, but a couple of marketers have discovered that if you do so in a creative way, you can entertain the 99.9% of other fans who would not be very interested in such a post. Kraft Mac & Cheese appears to be the first to realize this. In April, the brand thanked 4,800 fans who “liked” a recent post with a 7-minute tune that name-checked every single one of them. The following month, AT&T churned out 500 videos thanking fans individually for helping the brand reach its 2 million fans milestone.

---

Series presented by Webtrends

---

The Facebook Marketing Series is presented by Webtrends. With 850 million fans, Facebook is a marketer’s dream. Yet many brands are not seeing expected results. With the right tools and a four-step plan, Facebook campaigns can be measured, tested, targeted and optimized with remarkable results. Webtrends shows you how in this step-by-step guide. Get the Social Media Marketing Playbook Now.

More About: Facebook, Facebook Marketing Series, features, Marketing, mashable

May 31, 2012

Google has been on another one of its Google+ feature addition streaks lately, and it’s so eager to please that it’s spoiling other features early. More than a few people visiting Google Calendar have been given an introduction to “Events in Google+” in recent hours despite the extra component (and its splash page) being absent. From what we know, Events will provide the obvious Facebook-like option to create and track events among Google+ circles, but it will also let organizers slot in a Hangout video chat in advance as well as pool together photos and videos associated with an event. The Google+ app for Android has even been showing an empty button that’s speculated to be a dedicated Events section. Google hasn’t sent any official word as to when Events will go live, although we suspect it won’t be long before everyone from photographers through to grandmothers knitting scarves can use Google+ to coalesce.

Google+ Events leaks out through Google Calendar, will let your knitting circle schedule a Hangout originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  SmartDroid, Stadt-Bremerhaven, Wishublog  | Email this | Comments

May 31, 2012

More and more recruiters and employers are using social networks to screen job candidates. There are plenty of stories about companies rejecting applicants based on their social media profiles.

If you’re the parent of a recent college grad, you may have read these stories and thought of trying to have a chat about reputation with your kid. But what would you say? How would you put it in the language of social media? Here are some tips you can share about getting ready for the job market. Grads, listen up.

---

Investigate Yourself

---

• Take inventory of what can be found online about you. As job search site Monster suggests, just Google yourself and see what comes back. (It’s a basic tip, but one that a surprising number of Facebook-oriented twentysomethings simply forget to do.)

  Speaking of Facebook, be honest — is your profile filled with pictures from dorm parties from freshman year and other things you wouldn’t want a future employer to see? Time to master those Facebook privacy settings you always meant to check out.

• Peruse your profile and mark items as private, or untag yourself in pictures you don’t want to be seen in.
• Remove others’ ability to tag you in photos. In fact, you can review posts and photos you’re tagged in before they get posted to your Timeline by selecting that option in your privacy settings.
• Sign up for Google Alerts so you know when something new has been posted about you online.
• Quit Facebook groups that would look bad to an employer. Sorry, Thirsty Thursday Drinking Buddies. And watch what you post moving forward. Sport and games are fine; colorful opinions that might be read the wrong way are another.

---

Bury the Bad

---

One way to get rid of the things you’re not so proud of is to create new, positive content that appears in search results. Sign up for Google+, LinkedIn if you’re not already and create a professional profile.

Here’s a great guide to getting started. Sites such as BrandYourself will also help you do this.

---

Create Positive Profiles

---

Used correctly, Facebook is an amazing tool for any job seeker.

We asked Miriam Salpeter, author of “Social Networking for Career Success” for her tips on building a positive online reputation. Here’s what she offered:

• Allow “everyone” to view your Work and Education, About You, and your contact info. This makes it easier for people to find you if they are looking on Facebook.
• Find, visit, and “like” Facebook fan pages for any company that interests you. Interact there. The companies you want to work for are building “careers” pages, too. Join their communities. Ask good questions.
• Use Facebook updates to show what you know. You likely don’t have a whole lot of work experience, but research your field online and share links to articles in your status updates. Start sharing ideas. Your contacts will begin to think of you as a go-to resource on that topic, and will think of you if they learn about jobs.

SEE ALSO: Facebook Privacy: 10 Settings Every User Needs to Know

---

Investigate Facebook Applications

---

Finally, try these Facebook applications. BranchOut, BeKnown, Jibe.com, SimplyHired.com’s Facebook tool, and Glassdoor.com’s In The Door connect you with potential opportunities.

These tools tell you who you’re trying to impress, basically. They reveal who in your Facebook network is connected to companies you’d like to work for.

Then there’s JackalopeJobs, a platform that allows you to login with your favorite social network and see if you have contacts there.

And of course, there’s LinkedIn, which every grad in today’s job market should consider joining. Yes, it’s no Facebook when it comes to fun, but it is more effective (and far more widely used) when it comes to business introductions.

So, parents: along with the sigh of relief you get when you see your college student receiving that diploma, remember that you can still open a few doors for them. Even if it means joining up and making a few LinkedIn introductions yourself.

Have you talked to your kids about how they use social media? Got advice for recent grads? Let us know in the comments.

Images courtesy of Flickr, NazarethCollege; iStockphoto, fazon1, mkurtbas

More About: Facebook, job search, linkedin, online reputation, social networking, trending

May 31, 2012

Thinking of truly embracing Google+ as your go-to social network of choice? The folks at Infographic Labs have put together a compelling infographic as to why the Google service is worth your time.

From seamless integration with Google services such as Gmail, Google Docs and Picasa to better game integration, video chat Google Hangouts with friends and easy privacy setting enabling, Infographic Labs makes a good case for Google+.

SEE ALSO: Google+ Local Unlocks the Power of Zagat

But what do all of these compelling features really mean if your friends and family aren’t already on the site? Google+’s network of 100 million users still has a long way to go to build up its community to rival Facebook’s 800 million member base.

The infographic also highlights other interesting Google+ stats, including that nearly 70% of its members are female. Meanwhile, the top Google+ users on the site based on the number of followers is Britney Spears (2.67 million), Snoop Dogg (2.33 million), Google CEO Larry Page (2.24 million), Ashley Tisdale (2.04 million) and Hugh Jackman (1.96 million).

Have you made the switch to Google+? Let us know why in the comments.

Image via Infographic Labs

More About: Facebook, Google, infographics, trending, Twitter

May 31, 2012

Third-party apps like HootSuite just got a little less relevant with an update from Facebook that lets Page admins schedule posts. A new help center page from Facebook also outlines how brand pages can now dole out specific duties to multiple page admins, each with varying degrees of permissions.

The chart below outlines the new roles of manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser and insights analyst.

A separate help center page from Facebook also provides an answer to one question many Facebook Page admins have been asking for some time: How do I schedule a post to appear later? The answer:

Posts can be scheduled up to six months in advance at 15-minute intervals.

Facebook Page admins, are these features you’ve been waiting for? How does this change your Facebook marketing strategy?

---

BONUS: Facebook Promoted Posts: A Step-By-Step Guide

---

Want to Promote a Post?

Click “Promote” to open this drop-down menu. Clicking on the denomination pulls up another drop-down menu.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Facebook, facebook page, trending

May 31, 2012

Facebook has started rolling out Promoted Posts for Brand Pages, a new feature that allows businesses to pay for posts to be more predominantly displayed on news feeds.

Earlier this year, Facebook shared the statistic that a Brand Page’s content is only seen by 16% of the fans. Facebook’s slew of ad tools and these new Promoted Posts are geared to help businesses reach and engage more of their fan base.

A brand can now pay $5, $10, $15 or $20 to “get more people who like your Page to see this post.”

“Promoted posts help increase the people you reach for any eligible post. It’s an easy and fast way to reach more of the people that “like” your page and your friends,” says a Facebook spokesperson in an explanatory video.

Facebook users will see promoted posts labeled with “Sponsored” in the news feed (not in the right rail where Facebook ads live) both on desktop and mobile. Promoted Posts have the same targeting ability that regular posts do, so you can geotarget just to your company’s area to get the most bang for your buck.

We walked through the process of creating a Promoted Post and the insights that assess their efficacy, so check out the gallery below for the step-by-step guide. Will you use this tool, and do you think it’ll be more effective than Facebook Ads? Let us know in the comments.

Want to Promote a Post?

Click “Promote” to open this drop-down menu. Clicking on the denomination pulls up another drop-down menu.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Facebook, facebook ads, Facebook brand pages, facebook marketing, Promoted Post, Small Business, trending

May 31, 2012

MTV’s extensive social and digital tactics for the MTV Movie Awards offer viewers new ways to engage before, during and after the June 3 live broadcast.

Building off its social success with the VMAs, MTV is looking to deeply integrate social elements into its other major awards show, the MTV Movie Awards.

For the first time, movie fans can vote using Twitter hashtags. The live social voting works only for the new “Best Hero” category, which already has attracted more than 60,000 votes since Tuesday. Registered MTV.com users, however, can still vote in other categories on the show’s website.

Vying for the “Best Hero” title are Harry Potter (#votepotter), Katniss Everdeen (from Hunger Games, #votekatniss), Thor (#votethor), Captain America (#votecaptain) and Jenko (from 21 Jump Street, #votejenko).

MTV told us that it knows from past live-voting initiatives that fans love to get the word out to promote their favorite stars and franchises. “They love to game the system and we look forward to helping them do just that,” MTV told us. As a result, expect a showdown for “Best Hero” between fans of The Hunger Games and Harry Potter to continue until Sunday night.

MTV also has these digital elements on tap for the awards show hosted by comedian Russell Brand:

• Twitter Tracker: Like MTV did during the Video Music Awards in August, it will dissect Twitter conversations in a visualization that displays popular moments and celebrities. The feature will allow users to view how many tweets per minute any moment is garnering and share photos of certain moments across social networks.

  What’s different about this year’s implementation is that MTV will be providing context around what happens at the moment of a tweet. So instead of just seeing “Beyonce” as a trending topic, fans can see a clip or image from the show that correlates with the social activity taking place online.



• Facebook Tracker: MTV will introduce a Facebook Tracker to keep tabs on the level of Likes and shares of Movie Awards moments shared on its Facebook page.
• All Access Live: The show’s second-screen experience for desktops and mobile devices will give viewers six camera angles (red carpet, dressing room, paparazzi, audience, balcony and MTV cut), sharing capabilities, a place to chat with fellow viewers and animated GIFs from celebrities on the red carpet. The GIFs will be posted on MTV’s Tumblr blog.
• Shazam: The ceremony will be Shazam-enabled, meaning viewers can use the app during the broadcast to buy performers’ music and watch social media interactions.
• Post-Show Features: MTV will have a red carpet galleries and interviews, backstage video highlights and editorial coverage of the show and winners.

---

A Launchpad for the Future

---

Some of the features that MTV is launching for the MTV Movie Awards might just find their way into the big show — the VMAs — later this summer.

In this way, the Movie Awards are a testbed of sorts for the future initiatives for the VMAs. “It just so happened that the Movie Awards are first,” MTV told us, noting that it plans to refine the most successful initiatives into its flagship awards show.

Understanding that virility is a major component to award shows, MTV wants to make it as easy as possible for fans to tag and share the best moments of the show across mobile and the desktop in as close to real-time as possible. The net result — as last year’s VMA ratings proved — is that socially engaged audiences tend to watch more.

To pump up the shareability factor even more, MTV will air exclusive footage of The Dark Knight Rises with director Christopher Nolan and actors Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gary Oldman on hand for the occasion at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Christina Warren contributed to the reporting in this article.

More About: celebrities, Entertainment, Facebook, Film, GIFs, Movies, mtv, mtv movie awards, shazam, social tv, tumblr, TV, Twitter

For more Entertainment coverage:

• Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Entertainment channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

May 31, 2012

1. Bitmarks

This is Bitly’s definition of its new bitmarks, which act as smart bookmarks that save to your Bitly profile.

After you save a URL, Bitly files it as a bitmark and attaches data, such as shares, clicks and saves, which you may monitor in the stats section of your profile (more on that later).

You may share your bitmark to the social networks you’ve connected to Bitly (Facebook and/or Twitter).

Finally, you may also choose to file your bitmarks into one of your curated “bundles,” another new Bitly feature.

Click here to view this gallery.

No longer a simple URL shortner, Bitly has expanded access to its data archive, improved discovery and introduced an entire redesign, so that you may more easily monitor your shortlink shares.

However, “easily” may be a misnomer — reactions to Bitly’s new redesign have been lackluster. That’s why we’re here to sift through the confusion with an overview of the Bitly basics.

SEE ALSO: Behind the Design of Bit.ly’s Iconic Pufferfish

Learn how to use the service’s new “bitmark” tool, essentially a new way to organize and share bookmarks on the web. Find out how to organize and curate those bitmarks into “bundles,” wherein others might collaborate. And finally, learn how the heck to shorten a URL — after all, that’s what you used Bitly for in the first place, right?

Have you explored Bitly’s brand new site? Does the redesign add a valuable layer of data, or do you prefer Bitly’s former simplicity?

More About: bit.ly, data, Facebook, features, How-To, Social Media, Twitter