Category: Social Media (Page 4 of 12)

      How Long Do Your Posts Stay Online? A Look At What Forever Really Means

      December 20, 2012 /

      Life is funny. One day we’re hiding something from our parents. The next we’re trying to find what our kids are hiding from us. Soon after, we’re helping our grandkids sneak sweets and stay up too late. As we toggle from one side to the other, we see things from different perspectives. But our online reputation lasts forever. Here’s a look at what this means for you, your life and your privacy.

      Teens and Online Reputations

      We enter our teens needing permission to visit a friend. We exit in full control of our lives, able to leave the state or even the country without permission. This maturation process means we slowly leave our parent’s protective shield and start making our own decisions – and our own mistakes. Many teens today post their mistakes all over social media, without appreciation for what this means later in life. Teen’s reputations are based on the coolness factor, not what an employer, future spouse or eventually their kids might think.

      Adulthood and Online Reputations

      Before social media, the worst thing we had to worry about was Uncle Larry showing up with those pictures from camp freshman year. Parents who grew up on Facebook and Twitter have endless timelines that prove we did everything we’re trying to tell our kids not to. It’s not just parents who need to worry. Now that we’re adults, our bosses, people who could lend us a mortgage or car loan and the guys who evaluate our insurance claims have access to this information. Reputation CEO Fertik says there aren’t sufficient laws in the works to protect prying eyes from this information.

      Senior Adulthood and Online Reputations

      So, you’ve raised your kids and finished your career and your online reputation no longer matters, right? Not so fast. Now that you’ve accumulated wealth over a lifetime, you’re the target for online predators, such as scammers and identity thieves. If your accomplishments are featured in articles about you, you can believe con artists bet on you having a buck or two they can shave off. It might come in the form of an email scam, stealing your credit or blackmail.

      In this digital age, forever truly means forever. The high school paper or the high school prank, the way you discipline your children and how much money you’ve banked in your IRA – it’s all online for the world to see. How can you protect yourself, your reputation and everything you’ve worked so hard to earn? Visit Reputation.com for valuable advice on safekeeping your forever.

      New Media, Social Media

      Online services have to be part of your search

      October 16, 2012 /

      The Internet has become a part of our daily lives, and social media has only enhanced the importance of the web. Yet it’s still amazing how many people don’t take full advantage of the tools that are available online or through their smartphone. Of course that’s changing, particularly with the exploding popularity of phones. Now you can check directions or the weather with a quick tap on your phone. You don’t need to sit down and boot up your computer or tablet.

      Still, web searching is much easier on a laptop or desktop if you’re doing real research, and if you want to take full advantage of the web, you should make the time to do research for all sorts of things. This is true in your personal life along with your business life. For example, would you really do work on your home without researching potential contractors online? If so you’re being foolish. If you’re looking for online printing services, you should compare various options like UPrinting brochure printing against your local printers. If you’re shopping for anything, you should always check places like Amazon first or even while you’re at the store.

      The bottom line is that you’ll get lower prices and better quality if your spend the time doing common sense research.

      New Media, Search, Social Media

      Parents holding Facebook back

      July 30, 2012 /

      Would you invite your parents to a party you’re having with your friends? Probably not, unless you’re maybe 35.

      This reality helps explain why teens and college kids are spending less time on Facebook – their parents are there as well. This is obviously very bad for Facebook, which is having all sorts of problems since it went public.

      I remember hearing teens I know tell me how they use Facebook less and have moved to new options like Twitter. They didn’t mention their parents, but the reason was obvious.

      It’s not the only issue of course. Social media has made some teens much more careful about who they have around when they do stuff like smoke and drink, as everyone now has a camera on their phone. The times they are a changin’!!

      Social Media

      Evgeny Morozov: The ultimate social media skeptic

      June 24, 2012 /

      It’s easy to get excited about the potential of the Internet and social media to have positive impacts on our lives. We see proof of this every day, from the self education movement to the Arab Spring.

      Yet there are downsides to all this connectivity as well. Evil forces can also use these tools to harm their enemies.

      Evgeny Morozov has emerged as one of the leading wet blankets in this area. He seems to get a big kick out of making fun of people who get overly optimistic about the potential surrounding social media and political movements in general. His skepticism offers a healthy contribution to the discussion, though he seems to focus much of his energy on the wide-eyed evangelists. Most people are optimistic yet don’t see social media as a panacea. Yet we can all recognize that the balance of power has now been altered within nations once controlled exclusively by dictators. Unless a regime goes to the extremes taken in North Korea, which then necessitate a stagnating economy, it is now much more difficult to manipulate public opinion through state television due to the Internet and social media.

      Morozov may have some valid points, but this fundamental change is striking fear in leaders around the world.

      Social Media

      Rise of influence marketing

      May 28, 2012 /

      Remember Conan O’Brien’s tour, and how he launched it with one Tweet? Think about how much commerce is initiated now through the recommendation of friends through social media. These are examples of Influence Marketing.

      I recently had the opportunity to exchange a few emails with Azeem Azhar, the CEO of a startup called PeerIndex that is focused on “Influence Marketing”. Founded in 2009, the company provides a service that helps consumers benefit from their passions, interests and influence particularly with respect to the services they get from companies and for brands and agencies to better identify effective and interested word-of-mouth advocates, something they call “Influencers”. It’s a service similar to the other big player in the place, Klout, with a unique spin.

      According to Azhar “Influence marketing is going to be huge – and will become an essential part of the marketing mix over the coming years. In essence, influence marketing recognises that buyers trust other buyers, their friends and experts they know. “

      A recent McKinsey report shed light on the trend indicating that word-of-mouth recommendations may be the primary reason for purchases in 20-50% of buying decisions. Further adding to the buzz, Forrester stated that 80% of all B2C and B2B purchases there is some form of word-of-mouth recommendation at play during the purchase cycle. If venture funding is any indication of the success, Klout, with its more than $40 million, leads the pack of companies looking to capitalize on this fast growing trend. Yet Klout isn’t alone in this fast moving sector. Several other start-up companies are quickly adding their own unique approaches.

      We’ll see of this particular startup does anything, but the idea of influence marketing through social media is something that every company needs to consider.

      New Media, Social Media, social networking

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