People soshalize. They don't care how it's spelled. They just do it.
At this point you’ve probably heard something about So.cl. At first I heard people say that it was going to go up against Facebook and Google+, even though anyone with a cursory knowledge would know that it’s not the case. I also have colleagues tell me that this shows that Facebook is getting into search engine marketing, but I think that’s not the case either.
Last April, Facebook launched a ‘Journalists on Facebook’ page, intended to serve as a resource for growing number of reporters using Facebook for the purpose of finding sources, interaction with people and to publish stories. A couple of months later, Twitter introduced a similar initiative as well. ‘Twitter for Newsrooms’ (#TfN), is a guide for reporters on how to best use the microblogging site for the purpose of reporting. The endeavor elicited a mixed response from journalists and media pundits.
Just so we are all on the same page, Apple Ping is a social media platform for music.
Ping is an underestimated platform that really has an incredible amount of possibilities for those who really love music. Not only does it allow for people to share what is in their libraries, but it also allows for people to see updates about a specific artist and even concert updates. It imports their Tweets and you can see what everyone is saying and listening to.
It’s fitting that a “Social Discovery” site holds people on the page longer than Facebook. In today’s ever-increasingly over-connected virtual world, we are no longer as fascinated with the daily machinations of our friends and family. We have become good at shuffling through pictures of little nephew Timmy sliding into third base with a quick Facebook like or clicking the retweet button when a friend declares their local sushi bar has the best Sake in Long Beach.
The New York City Department of Education has banned students from interacting with their teachers on social media. The policy pertains to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Flickr. No teacher is allowed to interact with students on these platforms unless it is through a page that is affiliated with the school.
I watched a movie with Bruce Willis called Surrogates. Willis is a detective who uncovers a conspiracy to destroy the nation’s dependency on surrogate androids. The film was based loosely on how society lives their lives around technology and how people depend entirely too much on it. With that said I checked my Facebook status twice, answered an email and texted a funny picture of Darth Vader to my cousin in Arizona from my home in New York; I love my phone.
As we discuss the ways that social media can be used instead of press releases as a superior method of putting out a brand message, one of the most enjoyable components of the technique is being able to add a flash of creativity and personality to the campaign in ways that press releases simply cannot. It’s the hippo in the room. It’s the fun stuff.
About 1/3rd of Soshable’s traffic comes from various referrers with Google being the biggest one (that’s not counting Google search traffic). When I checked my monthly totals there was a new player in my top 10: Pinterest. I had completely forgotten about a conversation with a friend at Pinterest who told me that the site will send traffic whether I try to use it or not because of the handful of visualization posts we do here.
For years, Facebook, Twitter, and most other forms of social media have had a fairly friendly online culture. Sure, on occasion you might come across someone bashing their ex on their Wall or a Tweet from an Exec that should have never gone public, but even these negative statements are met with strong reprimands. People just like to see their favorite social media platforms stay friendly – that is, until now.
Is it just me, or has the world become smaller and smaller? Maybe yes, but I really think that the Internet has mostly everything to do with it.
We have basically lost the element of surprise. The chance to really meet someone new, someone you have literally never seen before is a miracle to come by these days.
