Facebook celebrated its 8th birthday this month. How much has it changed? How much has it changed us? Are we all a little more batty now that Facebook has become a prominent part of so many of our lives, giving us insights into friends and family that we never had before and offering a venue through which we can exclaim the nuances of our lives for the world (or simply our world) to see?

This fun and somewhat creepy video by Daniel Koren, a NY based musician, touches a little too close to the truth for most to bear. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

Created By: MBA Online

When the Patriots of New England take on the Giants of New York—a game that could be decided by kicking a oblong ball made of pigskin through a giant “H” for a most ripping victory—thousands of football fans will converge on Lucas Oil Field and the surrounding areas for Super Bowl XLVI. The vast majority of attendees are sure to use mobile devices to disclose various details of their fun during a full week of events. An unprepared city could experience a social media logjam, but the city of Indianapolis has taken all of this into consideration.

We all know about the importance of the commercials during this annual event. Advertisers who are able to pay the price for any multiple of 30 seconds in between the hard-hitting action gladly do so in order to communicate their messages to a captive audience of millions. Additionally, recent history has shown that viewers have used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and different blogs to vote on, share and otherwise interact with these spots. As important as that is to these advertisers, this is not the only proof of social media’s importance today. When the Patriots of New England take on the Giants of New York—a game that could be decided by kicking a oblong ball made of pigskin through a giant “H” for a most ripping victory—the thousands fans will converge on the Lucas Oil Stadium” the most wired stadium in the country.

Social Media at Your Command

Since social media is the medium by which so many people communicate nowadays, a digital team will be monitoring the Super Bowl Week conversation via numerous platforms from the day after the Pro Bowl through Sunday, February 5^th. This team of strategists, analysts and other techies will also tweet directions to fans in search of parking, direct visitors to Indianapolis’s best attractions, and stand by to provide information in case of a disaster.

The digital marketing company, Raidious, will be in charge of handling all of this as well as measuring all of the analytics making a great study of how to prepare for and handle major events of like this as well as how many people have checked into the Super Bowl on Foursquare.

Can You Tweet Me Now?

Verizon has joined in on the fun reinforcing their own network from 3G to 4G LTE to WiFi by adding:

• 9 Antennas that are part of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) outside the stadium to handle increased downtown traffic.
• 400 Antenna Internal DAS to handle 3G and 4G LTE voice and data inside the stadium.
• 600 Antenna WiFi system capable of handling 28,000 simultaneous connected users. Free for Super Bowl XLVI.
• 3 Cell on Wheels (COWs). Stand alone generator powered cell towers to handle the extremely high demand areas.

While these additions vastly help those lucky enough to watch the game live and in person, there could easily be a time when someone int the stands needs to chat with their friend at home about whether or not the previous play should be challenged as they both watch the television coverage up close and personal. #humblebrag

Why is This Important?

Believe it or not, it’s 2012 and somehow there are still people out there who don’t think social media is an important part of a marketing mix. Because the Super Bowl is one of, if not the most important day of the year to advertisers, paying attention to how customers receive information is imperative. The statistics collected here will determine how they reach out and touch those who they are trying to influence to buy. Plus, a few extra shares never hurt anybody.

To any of our readers who are into social gaming, please do not take this as an insult. It’s definitely not intended that way.

I’m not a social gamer. It’s not that I don’t like games – I do. It’s not that I don’t like social media – I do (obviously). At this point, I haven’t found a true social game that appeals to me. It will come, but I am somewhat still put off by them simply based upon the endless invites I once got (thank you Facebook and Twitter for fixing this) and the bias has yet to completely wear off. With that said, I am still definitely interested in learning more about who the social gamers are as there is a tremendous future in the industry.

The demographics of the social gamer are not as predictable as one might think. One part that truly surprised me was the skipping of ages – 30-39 year old people and 50-59 year old people are more likely to be a social gamer than 40-49 year old people. That’s not the only surprising part.

This infographic by Flowtown breaks it down nicely for us. Click to enlarge.

For most people and most pictures, sharing it on Facebook or Twitter is enough. It may be a quick snapshot of you and your friends out on the town or a cool sunset from a mountaintop and sharing it with our friends and family is enough. Other times, we’re able to capture something amazing, stunning, hilarious, or otherwise important enough to want to expose it to the rest of the world.

With those, we want to go viral. Here’s a (relatively) quick way to maximize the exposure of your perfectly-timed, once-in-a-lifetime shot.

To do this, you’ll need to be on several different social networks. It may seem like a large list but once you’re signed up the actual posting of this and future pics is a breeze.

You’ll need accounts here:

• Chime
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Buzzfeed
• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Facebook
• Twitter

Wow! That’s a lot, right? Not really. If you’re into social media at all these are all sites that you should be frequenting monthly, weekly, or even daily. They’re the only social sites you’ll need if you’re into photography, laughs, tech, offbeat, or just about anything else.

There are some notable exclusions, here, for those who have been in social photo sharing for a while. Flickr comes to mind as the first place that many people think of when wanting to share images, but there are challenges. First, it breaks frames, an announcing on sites like Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon where sharing is often done from with a toolbar. The results for those who click on a Flickr link is that it will not display the image but rather an obnoxious message telling you they don’t support frames.

Okay, once you have your accounts created, it’s time to start exposing it to the world.

My Unfortunate Choice of Pictures

As fate would have it, I’m not in a position to go take an amazing picture (it’s 2am right now) and this is the only thing on my camera with even a remote chance of going viral. It’s a picture I took while at the mall with my family and the sign struck me as being funny because of the wording of the message. In retrospect, it wasn’t that funny, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.

No matter – I love a challenge. If I can make this particular image go viral, your masterful piece of photography should be able to use the same techniques to spread around the world.

Once you have it on your computer, it’s time to get to work…

Chime It

Our first destination is Chime.in. The social network that was formerly Mixx before being grabbed up (and dramatically improved) by Uber Media hit the scene last year and is making a big splash. It’s the place we start for several reasons:

• It resizes large pictures for you automatically. in the world of sharing pics, it’s great to have a 10mb 2500px-wide image from your iPhone, but it’s hard to share. Uploading to Chime reduces the size to make it manageable and sharable.
• You can easily upload multiple images into a single gallery. Be sure that the primary image you want visible is the one that is uploaded last.
• The domain does well on the social sharing sites (discussed below).
• Unlike many of the photo sites, it allows you to write long descriptions with line breaks and links.

Again, I’m working with a challenging image to make viral, so I chose a headline that I thought would draw attention. It’s borderline offensive (the concept of eating kids is, well, sick and takes a depraved mind to think of it) but hopefully won’t be so bad that people won’t get the joke.

Be sure to use descriptive tags; you can post up to 7.

Pin It

Once you have it on Chime, use your “Pin It” bookmarklet to pin the image to a Pinterest board.

Don’t upload the original image. Using the bookmarklet will allow you to grab the image directly from your Chime. This links it back to the original Chime while making a separate instance of the image available on Pinterest.

The site is growing just like Chime and is getting plenty of positive press, so getting started early on these two sites will give you geek cred – like a hipster, you were on Chime and Pinterest before they went mainstream.

Pinterest does not allow you to title images per se, but you’ll be able to put in a short description. Unlike Chime, Pinterest does not do long descriptions very well and does not allow line breaks or links, so you’ll want to keep it short.

Tumbl It

Tumblr is a hybrid of many social functions. It’s decent for blogging, good for microblogging, and great for sharing image and videos.

It’s a bit more complicated than Chime or Pinterest, but it’s much bigger as well and gives you a nice venue for more than just pictures if you choose to use it or such things.

If you aren’t already on Tumblr, you can skip this step if you don’t want to invest the time into personalizing your blog with a theme, URL, etc.

As with Chime, tags are extremely important on Tumblr. Without them or a lot of followers, you won’t get natural views of your image. Don’t forget to set your click-thru link to either your Pin or your Chime.

Buzz It

Buzzfeed is one of the best-operated social networks out there right now from a sheer business perspective. They are aggressive and have a very clear understanding of how to drive traffic to their own site, reward their users, and get advertising dollars in ways that Twitter and others have failed at thus far. If they were as large as Facebook, they’d be making as much money as Google.

Unfortunately for you, it can be challenging to get to the front page. If you aren’t on the front page, you’re not going to get views from Buzzfeed itself which is why quality of content and promotion of your image is extremely important.

The good news is that Buzzfeed does very well on the social sharing sites, so even if you don’t make the front page of Buzzfeed initially, you’ll still be able to get visitors to it through the other networks, particularly StumbleUpon.

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As more of the world puts cameras on their “don’t need” list and starts taking all of their pictures and videos with their smartphones, the need for better tools to enhance the media and the experience grows. Photo-sharing apps come and go, but one is making a splash that is, for the first time in a long time, deserved.

Storie combines the ease and availability of the iPhone with the social sharing functions of Facebook to allow users to create relevant albums. It’s not just for images that we take, either; the app allows users to add images from the web to make their “stories” enhanced and engaging.

The embed feature is arguably the best part. People love to share images on Facebook, but the walled-garden there is challenging to share with the rest of the world, particularly for those who have their privacy setting set appropriately. When a topic or event are important enough to share on blogs, Tumblr, or other venues, Storie allows users to place them on their sites and increase exposure.

Here’s an example from the Storie homepage currently:

Sharing our lives is one of the greatest assets associated with social media. Through Storie, the telling of the “stories” makes a little more sense.

If you really want to ruin a life, here’s the perfect last minute gift to give to those you hate. In the future, we may see a need to use Facebook credits as a true form of legal tender that can be used for a variety of things, but right now it’s a pretty safe bet that anyone who uses this will be buying virtual goods on various addictive Facebook games like Farmville.

Get them hooked. Make them pay. The Facebook master plan.

Every year, I ask the same question around the end of December. Every year, I answer my own question by saying that people are going to eventually learn the difference between going directly to a website by typing a domain name into a browser and typing the same thing into a search engine like Google.

Every year, I get disappointed. Enough is enough.

The most recent yearly report of the most searched-for terms according to Hitwise demonstrates that year-after-year, people are dumb. This isn’t some elitist statement that non-tech-savvy people are dumb, nor is this an insult against people who use search engines to find various websites that they should already know about.

Wait. Yes it is.

Look at #5 and #8 on the list. People search for “facebook.com” and “www.facebook.com” for whatever reason. They do it a lot, apparently, as they’re both on the top 10. Why? Why would anyone go to the search engine or type in their browser’s search bar the full URL of the site they want to visit? They then have to click on the search result to get to the page. It’s an extra, unnecessary step.

What do searches like “yahoo.com” and “ebay” tell us about people? Simply, they don’t know how to use the internet. They rely on search engines to answer even the most mundane questions such as “what do I type into my browser to get to yahoo.com?”

People fail my faith test in humanity every year. Maybe 2012 will be different.

The Facebook founder discusses the last 7 amazing years during which Facebook has grown to a multi-billion dollar juggernaut of a company. With the upcoming IPO expected early next year and with Google+ making a push into their territory, it’s important for Facebook’s enigmatic CEO to leave his comfort zone and hit the interview circuit.

This piece by the BBC takes a look at the network and the man who has been at the center of building it to what it is today (and what it will be tomorrow). Known as one of the most hands-on CEO’s in Silicon Valley, the fate of Facebook has always been at his fingertips. Tivo whatever you’d normally be watching tonight and spend some time with Zuck.

Facebook has recently improved its pages’ insights, supplying meticulous facts for administrators to improve a brand’s online success and overall marketing labors. Many page administrators overlook the insights on a Facebook page; yet, the data within the insights details your pages efforts and that of the people who have “liked” your page. This is vital information that can assist you in better quality engagement and understanding the core audience that your page attracts.

Therefore, comprehending the information that Facebook provides for you is crucial and remaining informed regarding any changes that occur to your pages insights further fuses the connection between your business and that of its current and potential customers.

Relationships are Elemental.

Many people will state that content is key within the Social Media Industry, and although it is true, a relationship with customers is fundamental to truly make an impact for your business. Posting great content to a page is the commencement of constructing a relationship with the people who have “liked” your page. Identifying what types of content you have shared entices the people who have “liked” your page to then “like” or “comment” on a post. This is what will keep them interested in your page, hence your business.

Here is a breakdown of the anatomy of Facebook Page insights.

(First, we will begin with the basics, if you already understand how to gain access to insights, skip ahead to “Facebook Insights Explained”.)

How Can I View My Facebook Page Insights?

In order for you to be able to review the insights of a Facebook page, you must be an administrator to that specific page. A person who already is an administrator can add you by doing the following steps below.

• Click “Edit Page”
• Located on the left-hand side menu, click “Manage Admins”
• Enter the e-mail address that is associated with the person’s Facebook Account.
• Enter your Facebook password
• Enter the Captcha
• Click “Save Changes”

You can add numerous “admins” to your page, keep in mind that you have the ability to remove “admins” at anytime as well.

How Do I Access My Page’s Insights?

If you are already an Admin to a Facebook Page and would like to view your insights, simply follow these instructions:

• Click “Edit Page”
• On the left-hand menu, click “Insights”

Yes, it is free and no, you do not need to download anything to access your page insights.  They are readily available to you, however, each page that you create or are an “admin” to will have its own insights and no, you cannot merge pages. To begin viewing the latest changes to your Facebook page insights you will need to allow it.

Ok, so now that the basics are covered, let us begin understanding the insights.

Facebook Insights Explained

The first part of the insights to your Facebook page continuously fluctuates, so keep that in mind prior to becoming discouraged if you see the “down red arrow”. However, these are the “Important Metrics”, monitoring them regularly as they oscillate will aid in assessing the size and impact of engagement from the content and discussions made on your page. You are able to choose the duration period in which you would like to view these metrics, usually based on a day or weekly time span.

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What is “Total Likes”?

The metrics of “Total Likes” depends on the amount of people who have “liked” your page. The number beside the percentage is formulated from the date period you have chosen or will automatically show the past weeks percentage of the “likes” or non-growth of “likes” on your page; you can view the date period by hovering over the percentage number.

What Does “Friends of Fans” Mean?

The “Friends of Fans” shows your potential reach of the friends of people who have “liked” your page. This again, will fluctuate, as your page “likes” increase or decrease.

What is “People Talking About This” Metric Mean?

This form of metrics indicates the number of unique people who have created a “story” regarding your page, which means any type of interaction amongst or about your page within a defaulted or chosen period. (Examples: comments, likes, tagging etc.)

What is the “Weekly Total Reach” Metric?

This metric displays the week’s total amount of people who have seen associated content regarding your page, including any ads or sponsored stories pointing to your page.

Insights Overview

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The Overview of your insights highlights the retrieved data within a graph. This graph displays your influence amongst your page, allowing you to measure your overall impact and reach. This information is gathered from the content on your page, engage more and receive more feedback.

Page Posts

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Understanding the impact of your posts on your page will help in providing the best content for your audience, knowing which posts have generated a vibe, will help you create a better connection with your audience by posting similar content.

This display highlights the date it was posted, the title of the post, how many people engaged on that post by clicking or commenting, “liking” etc. The Virality is a new feature that indicates the percentage of people who have created a “story” from your content by sharing it with others. The Virality is also an indicator that measures the types of posts your audience would respond and share. (Do not be alarmed if the percentage at first seems low, it is a new feature.) You can also choose to sort the tabs. In addition, the default shows a 28-day cycle.

Demographics and Locations

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Located under the details of the “Who’s Talking About This” tab, you are able to discover your demographics and locations about the people who have “liked” your page. This tab is a vital resource in targeting your market audience; this data can be used for a variety of your marketing needs, including campaigns and dependent on how in-depth and active you are within your local market.

If the numbers are not showing you what you hoped, take the necessary steps to gain popularity where you need or want it most by sharing directed content towards the type of people or location you want.  Also suggested is to socialize as your page on Facebook, “liking” and engaging with pages that are of businesses within your local community. The demographic data will only be collected if thirty or more people are “talking about” your page within the last 7-days proceeding the last day of your selected date range.

How People Talk About You

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You are able to view the amount of people that “talk about” your page by hovering over the “dots” within the graph. To see further stories click on the “All Stories” defaulted drop-down, the dates are displayed at the bottom of the graph. The “viral reach” graph highlights the amount of unique people that saw a story that the people who have “liked” your page then shares with their profile, therefore having their friends and friends of friends see it depending on their activities.

Exporting Data

As an admin to the page, you are still able to export the insights data by choosing the type of data, the format and the date range of exported information. Please note, that there is a time frame, so if you need to export data for any reason, do so on a regular basis.

This is the anatomy of the recent changes to Facebook Pages insights, this gathered information is from an actual Facebook page and will display differently according to the data Facebook acquires from your page, but the basics are the same.

If you want to see better numbers, demographics and locations, you will need to modify the way you interact on and with your page, including the choices made to consolidate with your business’s overall marketing strategies. Combining the insights from your Facebook page with that of your overall marketing data will help you capture the appropriate audience for your business.

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