Facebook's top 10 hidden features

Even if you check Facebook daily, you may not have picked up on a few of the social network's less well-known features. Here are 10 of the best Facebook features you've been missing out on.

Facebook has a number of hidden features on its site Photo: AP

By Sophie Curtis

11:30AM GMT 30 Oct 2013

1. Create an interest list

Interest lists are an optional way to organise the content you are interested in on Facebook. You can create your own interest lists based on the things you care about, or follow other people's lists. For example, you could create a 'Top Indie Bands' list that features bands' Pages and public updates from band members.

To create your own interest list, go to https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/interests and click the 'Add Interests' button. The click 'Create List' and search for the people or Pages you want to add to your list, or use the categories on the left to browse. After you've selected the things you want to include, you can pick a name for your list and select a privacy setting. Choose 'Public' if you want others to be able to subscribe to the list you've created.

When you follow a list, you'll be able to see updates from that list by clicking the arrow at the top right of your homepage and then clicking on the list name. You'll see a feed of the posts and activity from the people and Pages on that list. You may also see highlights from this list in your main news feed.

2. View Friendship history

Look back at all the Facebook interactions you've had with a particular friend by going to their profile page, clicking in the arrow in the top right corner and selecting 'See Friendship' from the dropdown menu. If you’ve added a relationship to your timeline, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/us to see the friendship page for you and the person you’re in a relationship with.

You can also see a friendship page for two of your friends by going to a friendship page, clicking 'More' (under the cover photo) and typing in the names of two of your friends. 

3. Check your 'Other' messages

Just as Facebook highlights stories in your news feed that it thinks are of greater importance to you, it also sorts your messages. The main Messages folder contains messages from your friends and their friends. All other messages will go into an 'Other' folder where you can look at them separately.

This Other folder isn't visible until you view your main Messages folder, and Facebook doesn't send you a notification when a new message arrives in this folder. You might therefore have hundreds of unread messages that Facebook has filed in your Other inbox. 

4. View Photos the old way

If you don't like the way that photos appear in a pop-out black box when you click on them, you can simply revert to the preview Facebook photo display by pressing F5 on your keyboard. This allows you to flick through the photos in an album in classic view.

5. Prevent tagged posts from automatically displaying on your Timeline

Facebook gives you the option to manually approve or dismiss tags that people add to your posts. When you turn it on, anytime someone tags a photo or post you made, that tag won't appear until you approve it.

To turn on tag review, click on the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and select 'Settings' In the left-hand column. Then click Timeline and Tagging and look for the setting 'Who can add things to my timeline?' and click 'Edit' next to the option 'Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline' to turn this on.

It should be noted that this only controls what's allowed on your timeline. Posts you're tagged in still appear in search, news feed and other places on Facebook 

6. Turn your profile upside down

When the Pirate English language option appeared on Facebook several years ago it attracted a fair bit of attention. It changes, for example, 'What's on your mind?' to 'What be troublin' ye?' and 'Share' to 'Divvy spoils t' all ye mateys'.

Now you can also choose 'Upside Down' as your version of English, which upends all your interface text. Just click on the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and change 'language' to 'English (Upside Down)'.

7. Download your Facebook data

There is a feature in the General Account Settings that allows you to download information available to you in your account such as your timeline info, posts you have shared, messages, photos and more. Additionally, it includes information that is not available simply by logging into your account, like the ads you have clicked on, data like the IP addresses that are logged when you log into or out of Facebook, and more.

Click the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and choose Settings. At the bottom of the General Account Settings in an option to "Download a copy of your Facebook data". Unfortunately, there is no way to individually select which data you would like to download when you download your Facebook info, so you will have to download your file in its entirety. 

8. Activity log

Your Facebook activity log is a list of your posts and activity, from today back to the very beginning. You’ll also see stories and photos you’ve been tagged in, as well as the connections you’ve made – like when you liked a Page or added someone as a friend. You can also use it to review and manage what you share on Facebook.

You can get to your activity log by clicking the arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and choosing Settings, followed by 'Privacy'. Next to 'Who can see my stuff?' click 'Use Activity Log'.

This can be used to quickly review your photos, and photos you're tagged in, that are shared with Public, and also review photos that you have hidden on your timeline. 

9. Send a private message from a traditional email account

Send a message to someone on Facebook from your traditional email account (Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail etc) using their @facebook.com email address. This is in the format username@facebook.com. The emails will be delivered to your Facebook Messages folder

When you send messages to external email addresses, your emails will be formatted to look like Facebook messages, including your name, your profile picture and your message. 

10. Turn off mobile push notifications

Sometimes getting endless notifications on your mobile phone about Facebook updates is just irritating. Push notifications can be turned on or off from your Facebook app or the settings on your smartphone.

From your Android, iPhone or iPad go to Privacy Settings > Notifications > Mobile Push and un-tick the things you don't want to get notifications about. It is not currently possible to adjust push notifications from mobile browsers or from feature phones. 

More information here...

YouTube Launching Paid Subscriptions to Some Video Channels: Report

YouTube is set to launch a paid subscription model for its specialist video channels as early as this week, according to a report.

The move, which has been in development for months, aims to help channels finance a wider range of content such as television shows and films, and will serve as another source of revenue, according to the Financial Times.

The service will include up to 50 YouTube channels, and subscriptions to each channel will start as low a $1.99 per month, the newspaper reported Sunday, citing anonymous sources.

In response to the report, a YouTube spokesperson told Mashable, "We have nothing to announce at this time, but we're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer."

Rumors that YouTube will monetize its premium content have circulated for some time. In January, AdAge reported that the site asked a small group of channels to apply to be among those paid.

At the time, a YouTube representative told Mashable, "We have long maintained that different content requires different types of payment models ... The important thing is that, regardless of the model, our creators succeed on the platform. There are a lot of our content creators that think they would benefit from subscriptions, so we’re looking at that."

Other signs suggest that YouTube is likely working on à la carte and pay-per-view options for its video channels. Code found in a February app update mentioned subscribing and unsubscribing from paid YouTube channels.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Rego - d4u.hu

Use Social Media To Drive Massive Traffic To Your Website

Social Media is now taking control of the internet world. Nearly anybody that has some type of computer or smartphone has some kind of social media profile. No matter if it is Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Skype or Instagram or any of the other innumerable social media sites, billions of individuals use most of them and they are mostly all 100 % free.

How Do You Take Advantage Of These Social Media Websites For Your Business venture?
Just sit back and think of just how much you are putting in on marketing and advertising for new buyers or investors. Now all that investing for advertising and marketing was the best successful way of getting your business name on the market and producing leads to exchange sales. Now, it's a complete new picture. The web is a part of hundreds of millions of daily lifestyles and now you can get through to them all around the world without leaving your own home. Social Media, if used correctly is much more affordable and could be free in most circumstances for establishing relationships with potential partners or consumers. The perk to this is that it is equally as powerful as paid advertising if used the right way. With social media you can create a worldwide following like you have never seen before!
After Today, You Should Understand Ways to Utilize This Social Media To Your Benefit.

Listed here Are 5 Of The Best Social Media sites To Make use of For Your Business venture:

1. Facebook.
Having 1.06 BILLION regular monthly members on Facebook, this must be among your major social network tools to employ for your business promotion. Members can easily generate groups, pages, personal profiles, and may actually browse for individuals according to their profession. Presently are infinite options using Facebook which could require a complete book in order to describe completely. To get ideal payoffs when it comes to your business, you are going to most likely must develop a following to begin with on a relatively personalised degree along with your business venture, as opposed to just simply positioning an advertisement on there instructing individuals to explore your business as well as pay for regardless of what it is you are actually marketing. You should moderately reveal exactly how awesome your service or product is and also have a webpage committed to your work which many people can easily like and also track day-to-day to generate a ton of involvement, to convert in to future clients. Never simply just make use of Facebook in order to get consumers either regarding your business. Try to keep an open mind with all types of opportunities and you could also discover your future worker of the year or even dependable company companion on there. Be sure and make use of images, video clips, along with almost anything else that could possibly grab interest much more than only words.

2. YouTube.
Including about 1 BILLION people and also 4 billion views a day, YouTube must be high on your checklist of social media internet sites to benefit from with respect to your business. YouTube is actually particularly pertaining to video clips. The entire idea regarding YouTube is simply to possess one of the most highly utilized resource on the planet when it comes to online videos of every style for the general public to see. Regardless if it is "how to" clips, corporation persuasion web videos, or perhaps maybe even merely recreation web videos, they are certainly entirely on there. Virtually just about anything you could wonder about will certainly be on YouTube due to various individuals make use of it daily. A bit of helpful strategies can be to create a few fair quality online videos concerning your market that might intrigue your target niche and place all of them on there. Before long should you possess an ideal, your domain WILL CERTAINLY become discovered and become sought-after with using web videos with YouTube. Create a channel within there for your business venture video clips and curious users that view your business venture will likely subscribe with you and also check out each of your video clips. Thus produce excellent online videos which individuals will likely desire to view throughout and make every one of them count simply because that might be the big difference when it comes to a load of possible sales.

3. Twitter.
Offering 500 million overall members, Twitter is really simply one more type of social network which must be checked out with regard to your business venture. Supposing that you actually desire to generate a fan base, this is definitely the internet-site to utilize. Twitter is simply about whom you follow as well as whom is following you. The more supporters you acquire, the more prominent you are with Twitter. The more famous you are regarding Twitter, the extra visibility you can obtain when it comes to your business venture on the web with everyone. You may more or less employ it like a kind of progress report with regards to precisely how famous your business organization is becoming plus whenever you publish anything on Twitter, all your fans will likely see it. How awesome is that? When it is really a very impressive post, your fans could also retweet it in order for their supporters to check out, gaining you a lot more visibility to web traffic! Most prominent individuals and establishments may possess upwards of millions of fans. Perhaps even a fragment of that may be all you require to boost sales regarding your business because of admirers becoming future purchasers.

4. Google+.
Having 343 million involved members, Google+ should be explored for your business venture publicity efforts with social media. Google+, to a great deal of individuals, isn't really the favored social media website for individual factors, but much more for business. Google+ possesses a bit of many things on it. A awesome aspect of it is you possess several circles that you could form. You may create an acquaintance circle, a fan base circle, and a loved ones circle. You may considerably sort the circles of individuals in your daily life through Google+ and also have hangouts along with competitions alongside several additional features. You could utilize your following circle similar to twitter and attempt to create a fan base for your market so you could get a lot of them become buyers of the things your company features. It is equally beneficial to own a Google+ profile due to the fact that it will link to YouTube as well as be extremely beneficial to your Search Engine Optimization within the Google online search engine. As a matter of fact, it is ticket to getting your unique or company photograph alongside your posts in the Google search engine results, and that strengthens the chance of a person clicking on it by 100-150 %! Google+ is simply just a really effective well-rounded social media resource to get web publicity.

5. LinkedIn.
Having around 200 million members, LinkedIn is definitely a social media site which must be taken very seriously, notably with its tie-ins to business. LinkedIn is a far more professional social media website that is primarily for businessmen as well as business women. You could seek individuals within a specific occupation and also connect to all of them in order to possibly establish a working collaboration that might be good for the two of you. You are going to even discover several possible prospects on LinkedIn by limiting results to who could be a bit more probable to take advantage of what the company provides. You can also conduct paid promotions and job promotions that appear considerably professional and also are modified to your preference. You can personalize them to a particular level to get additional interest too. How ever sizable your budget plan is concerning the paid LinkedIn advertisements, will decide just how you design it and the level of publicity the advertisement will get based upon just how much as well as when you prefer the advertisement to be presented. The promotions even go to a specific kind of individuals depending on the narrowing of the niche with provided variables such as age or line of work. Thanks to tons of market possibilities and possible leads you could receive from LinkedIn, it is the fitting location to promote your business organization and ought to be a must-have social media source.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7648204

Top Five Twitter Tips

1) Keep your profile up to date, including:

• Picture - you/your logo, anything but the egg!
• Bio - tell people who you are, what you do; give them a reason to follow you.
• URL - where can people go to get more info? Website/Facebook/LinkedIn?

2) Follow, watch and learn.
Don't feel that you have to jump straight in. Follow a few people who you know, in your industry, or celebrities and watch what type of things they post and how (if they do) interact. Follow anyone you like, if you don't like their tweets you can always unfollow them later. What do you like/dislike about their actions? Chances are it's the same things others like/dislike.

3) Track trending topics and conversations via hashtags #
You can use the search function on Twitter to find tweets of interest to you. Just type in a keyword and hit search. All tweets containing that word/phrase will appear for you to trawl through. If there is a common #hashtag being used, you can click on it in most applications (twitter.com, hootsuite etc) and filter out tweets just using that #hashtag. Post a related tweet using that hashtag and join the conversation. Some #hashtags to note are below:
#TwitterTip
#ff - follow Friday - recommend people to follow to your followers
#sbs - Small Business Sunday run by @TheoPaphitis
#WOW/#MOM - Jacqueline Golds competition
#northeasthour, #clevelandhour etc

4) Tweet relevant info for your followers.
You can post anything on Twitter and whilst there are no hard and fast rules, I always advise client's that if you wouldn't say it in front of your granny or a client, don't post it on Twitter. The internet is marvellous and dangerous in equal measure. There is no "Law of the Stag", what you post on line is there for all to see and whilst you may delete a regretful post, you can be guaranteed that someone somewhere has saved a copy for future reference.
So what should you tweet? The following should give you a few ideas:

• Links to relevant info (not just your website)
• Pictures of products/events
• Advice
• Questions (great for interaction)
• Give your event a hashtag and have delegates throughout the day.
• Personal tweets are allowed, (and encouraged) just don't bore your followers with your life, especially if you're running your account for business

5) Don't broadcast, do interact
There is nothing worse than a tweeter who is all sell, sell, sell. People are instantly turned off if you are constantly trying to flog them something, so ffer things other than stuff they have to pay for. Advice (free), insights into your day etc always go down well and lead to conversations.
Retweet tweets you find interesting. Respond to tweeps who ask questions to which you have the solution or an opinion. All this encourages people to follow you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7607437

Google Bans Users From Reselling and Lending Glass

Explorer editions of Google Glass began rolling out to customers as of Tuesday, but the company has enforced restrictions on those lucky new owners, banning them from reselling and lending the eye-wear.
Here's what the company's terms of sale state:

"You may not resell, loan, transfer or give your Device to any other person. If you resell, loan, transfer or give your device to any other person without Google's authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the Device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the Device will be entitled to any refund, product support or product warranty."

While users can't commercially resell Glass, however, Google says they can give the device as a gift.
A Google Glass listing popped up on eBay in February, with a starting price of $1,500 (the original cost of the eye-wear). That number eventually shot up to $16,000 before eBay removed the listing for violating its "pre-sale listings policy."


Glass owners who don't want their device have up to 30 days from delivery to cancel their purchase, according to the terms. Google asks that returns include original packaging and accessories, and remain in "reasonable" condition.

The company adds that it will provide "initial support" for existing orders, returns, defective devices and general technical support.

Do you think Google's terms are reasonable or not? Discuss in the comments, below.

Image courtesy of Google

How To Use Twitter Hashtags to Help Your Business

On Twitter, hashtags are used to categorize tweets into specific topics and conversations, or to label tweets for easy discovery in the search tab.

Hashtags that are frequently used over a short period of time become trending topics, showing up in the Trends sidebar on the Twitter homepage.

Use hashtags to promote your business and follow conversations concerning your industry. Here is what you should consider when Using hashtags to raise your business’ profile on Twitter:

1. Keep it Short

Make sure that your hashtags are short and precise. Use an acronym if one exists or an abbreviation – like #SmallBiz for small business.

Don’t be excessive with your hashtagging. You only really need a couple of hashtags per tweet, three at a stretch. Too many will appear spammy and can alienate followers.

Hashtags are best placed at the end of a tweet, but if there is a keyword part way through which could be hashtagged, such as a brand or product name, then hashtag it.

2. Enter the Conversation

If certain hashtags that are specific to your industry are trending, you can use them to get a wider audience for your tweets.

For instance, #uksnow is currently trending on Twitter, so DIY store B&Q have used it to promote a competition.

You can also include frequently used hashtags in your tweets, such as #marketing or #socialmedia, to categorise your tweets into specific conversations.

Search for more tweets relating to your industry using hashtags and reply to, retweet or favourite the most relevant.

3. Start a Trend

Use Hashtags to promote certain deals or events your company has on Twitter. If you are running a competition on Twitter, ask users to feature a specific hashtag in their tweets if they want to enter.

For example, Domino’s ran a nationwide campaign last year promising to cut the price of their pepperoni passion by 0.01p every time someone tweeted #letsdolunch between the hours of 9am and 11am. 85,000 tweets later the price had dropped from £15.99 to £7.74.

4. Have Some Fun

Twitter is a service centred around the idea of instantaneous, personalized communication between people worlds apart from one another.

Use hashtags to make your company more personable: tweet a topical joke, poke some fun at yourself or just be irreverent. Add an ironic hashtag at the end of an embarrassing story, such as #eggonmyface if you have done something silly.

5. Follow Friday

Every Friday on Twitter is Follow Friday. #FollowFriday, or just #FF, is the day of the week when people are encouraged to follow others and, more often than not, get followed themselves.

Use the hashtag #FF or #FollowFriday every Friday to promote your business on Twitter.

Have you used Hashtags to help your business? How did it go?

What Is Facebook? - Ways To Monetize Social Media

If you could only search on the internet for facts and figures on Facebook, you will be shocked with the massive numbers you see. $100 billion dollars and plus: that's the value of this innocently named social networking website. How does it feel to know that every 13th person walking on this planet has a Facebook profile? So, if you are thrown on an island which you haven't ever heard of, it is possible that you might find the dwellers of that island using Facebook. Most of the users on Facebook are between 18 to 34 years old so it is the best place for businesses that target this age range.

Before you think that the above mentioned facts were astonishing for you read this: over 48% people who are below 34 and above 18 years of age do Facebook as first thing in the morning. You could go on and on when it comes to writing the interesting facts about Facebook but the most important thing is how you make use of Facebook to monetize social media and ultimately your business. Here's how Facebook can be the best source of leads and online traffic for any business.

The Many Ways Facebook (and other Social Media) Can Be Monetized To Generate Profits for Businesses
Before talking about anything it must be mentioned that Facebook is one of the best, most influential and revolutionary websites on the internet that has the strongest force of changing the consumer behavior towards a particular brand, company, manufacturer, government, celebrity etc.

· User recommendations are considered the most important factors steering consumers to or away from a particular brand. Most of the users using the internet for purposes of researching products and services like to look at user comments and recommendations before they make a purchase. The same can also be said for subscriptions to particular services. Therefore, if you have a representation on Facebook and most of the votes are positive, it is likely that you will receive recommendations and more business through Facebook.

· Several surveys and theories show that an unhappy customer is 10 times more dangerous to business as a good customer is profitable. If your customer didn't have a good customer service from your company or customer support representatives, he can spread the word in no time through his Facebook profile, sharing, wall or simply the shout. However, the Facebook page and representation allows you to interact with your customers personally and resolve their matters. Nothing makes a customer feel better than a company making him special. It's an essential component of customer satisfaction.

· Facebook has proved to be the best place for the introduction of your newly launched products and services. However, you must be stay on top of yourself and be sure that you are not throwing a sales pitch through your Facebook profile or page because that carries a very negative impact for the users. Go for a genuine introduction or announcement of what you are about to introduce in the market and your customers will just love it. The key is to build relationships with people not entirely based on business. Under no circumstances should you attempt to hard sell to anyone.

· It wouldn't be wrong to say that an efficient employee is another profit made by the company and by posting pictures and company habits on your company profile on Facebook, you could really invite some great professionals from all around the world to work for your company. This is the most effective way of inviting people to join your company for work and it doesn't even require any money or investment from you.

· Targeted advertising is another great benefit that Facebook is able to offer to businesses related to various industries. For a certain group of people or country, the businessmen could pay for getting the information from Facebook and after knowing the trends of those people on the internet, this company can place targeted ads only on the profiles of those people who it paid to target ads to.

· Branding is definitely considered the most important part of any business' marketing and advertising. Through branding you send a message to all the customers, new and old. If this branding is done through a social networking website such as Facebook, the impact is greater than ever before.

· Since every user on Facebook is spending some part of his day using Facebook, you are likely to get a great return of your newly introduced offers, promotions and special discounts. Many people become followers and fans on your business page once they have taken advantage of a particular offer to wait for another one.

· Once you have a Facebook page, you can be found anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter if someone is trying to search your business on Google because your Facebook business page will appear in the Google search results as well.

Facebook is the leader of social networking websites at the moment and with the number of users it has right now, it doesn't seem that it will be overtaken by any other social networking website anytime soon... If ever. If you have a business, an internet website and/or a blog but no Facebook page, there is a good chance that you are possibly missing out on the biggest profit earning opportunity for your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7509671

Twitter Tips For Turning Your Website Into A Business Machine

The following tips, if used diligently, will help you turn your website into a business machine.

Tip #1: Gain followers by giving your readers valuable information. Twitter is all about networking and building readership to promote your business in an artful way. The best way to do that is to tweet regularly, be informative and provide information that is relevant to your niche and important to your readers.

Tip #2: Use hash tags to get attention. Hash tags are searchable and using them results in your content being displayed to a wider audience. Popular hash tags can make a big difference.

Tip #3: Link back to your site or blog occasionally. It is not good practice to do this every time, but do it often to let your customers know where they can go to do business with you.

Tip #4: Interact with your readers. Reply to customers who leave comments. This is very important because, as you know, social media is all about interaction.

Tip #5: Always link your social media accounts. For instance, link your Twitter account to your Facebook, LinkedIn and blog accounts. People use various social media accounts so try to have a presence on as many as you can.

Tip #6: Hold contests and give freebies from time to time. Twitter parties are fun and are an easy way to gain new followers. How? Require your readers follow you in order to be eligible for the contest or freebie.

Tip #7: Respond to personal messages. This is just as important as responding to public tweets. You don't want to lose customers because you ignored them. Remember, for every customer lost you are also losing potential customers because of a damaged reputation.

Tip #8: Interject personality and levity into your tweets. It should not always be about business. Supply relevant content to your readers and you will grab their attention and keep them coming back. Refrain from constantly throwing products at them.

Tip #9: Use the personableness of social media to your advantage. Social media provides freedoms not found in conventional businesses. Use these freedoms to build relationships and form alliances. Keep in mind a great benefit of social media is that your customers help you gain new customers.

Social media marketing via Twitter presents a wonderful opportunity for your business. As one of the most powerful and influential social media sites, Twitter helps you connect with your targeted customer base in a whole new way. Take advantage of this opportunity and remember to use the tips provided in this articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7491243

Facebook Users Can Send Messages To High-Profile People For $100

Facebook has begun to test charging users should they want to send a message to a high-profile person via the site.

For $100 (£61) you will be able to send a direct message to CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg as well as other users with a high-profile. The cost of a message will depend on the profile and popularity of the recipient.

The social platform has said that ‘extreme price points’ are being tested as it attempts to increase revenue from its 1 billion users.

Last month, a $1 charge was distributed to those who wanted to send a message to someone who was not already a friend on Facebook. At the time, Facebook said that it was an “economic signal to determine relevance”.

"If you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox. For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them."



For those who don’t want to pay the price, messages will go straight to the ‘Other’ folder in the inbox. This is where messages appear if the social site deem it not important enough for you to want to read immediately.

This feature could prove to be influential for those seeking jobs or applicants to jobs. As another source of revenue, charged messages (should you be deemed important enough) could be a significant milestone for a business or entrepreneur.

What do you think of messages being charged up to $100?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

Facebook Jumps 5% As Wall Street Learns to Like the Stock Again

Facebook is off to a good start this year. The stock jumped by more than 5% on Wednesday to close at $28 a share, pushing the company's market cap back above $60 billion.

Several other big Internet stocks like Google and Yahoo also enjoyed gains on the first day of trading this year thanks to renewed investor confidence following the news that the U.S. Congress had approved legislation to avert the worst of the fiscal cliff.

However, there's more to Facebook's stock surge than general market optimism. After months of downgrades and sell-offs, analysts are gradually learning to like Facebook's business potential again.
Several analysts have put out positive forecasts for the company this week. JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth helped boost the stock after he raised his ad revenue estimates for Facebook by 6%-7% on the strength of mobile ads, noting that "marketer feedback on mobile and news feed ads has been very positive." Anmuth raised his target price on the stock to $35 from $29.

Likewise, William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart expressed confidence in the potential of advertising through Facebook Exchange. "Based on our findings, we believe FBX ads are being rapidly adopted by advertisers, and pricing has the potential to increase by three times, although timing of pricing ramp is unknown," he wrote in a report.

Meanwhile, Rory Maher, an analyst with Capstone Investments, reiterated his buy rating on the company, noting the big potential to generate revenue from Russia.

The stock is still a long way from its $38 IPO price and initial market cap of $104 billion, but it's heading in the right direction.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Robert Scoble

#EatDownTipUp Campaign Hopes to Save Restaurants Post-Sandy

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy that hit the east-coast of America, a new Twitter campaign is hoping to help restaurants bring in more money to repair damages.

The #EatDownTipUp initiative aims to help the restaurants that lost power for almost a whole week in Lower Manhattan. Many of which were severely damaged in the historic storm.
Standard tips in America range from 15-20% of the bill, but this Twitter campaign hopes to recover from the economic hit that many suffered due to the storm.
The campaign began when celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain sent out this tweet:



#EatDownTipUp’s official website said that; “from this one tweet, a movement was born and a group of renegade NYC residents banded together to help restaurants in need.”
The site links to a Foursquare page that lists the restaurants that people can help support as well as a ‘Restaurant Stories’ section that explains the trials and tribulations that some of the eateries have gone through.

How much do you think this campaign will help?

19% of New Facebook Fans Now Come From Mobile

Almost one in five new Facebook fans came from mobile devices in August, an increase of 280% in four months, according to a new research report.
PageLever looked at more than 500 Facebook Pages with 100,000 or more Facebook fans and found only 5% of new fans came from mobile in May, but that number jumped to 19% in August.

It’s unclear exactly what propelled the spike in activity. Facebook had 543 million mobile users in June and reported that the figure had passed 600 million in early October. One possible factor is Facebook’s introduction of a mobile advertising product in June. Some third-party studies have found those ads to be more effective than traditional desktop ads.


Jeff Widman, co-founder of PageLever, also cautioned that “when a new fan comes in from a mobile ad, Facebook has to choose whether to count them as ‘mobile’ or ‘ads’ and it’s not clear which they’re picking…”

Facebook reps could not immediately be reached for comment.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci

Facebook Rolls Out ‘Want-able’ Pics of Products in the News Feed

By now, most brands have figured out that the best way to get engagement in this Pinterest-saturated age is by posting photos. Now, Facebook is catering to this trend by offering some brands the option to post those photos with actions including “want,” “collect” and, of course, “Like.” Products within a collection will also have a Buy link, sending people offsite to purchase a product

Facebook is working with Victoria’s Secret, Pottery Barn, Michael Kors, Wayfair, Neiman Marcus, Fab.com and Smith Optics on the effort, which it calls “Collections.”
As a user, you won’t see the photos unless you or one of your friends have “Liked” one of them. The images are designed to be discovered in the news feed, and people will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends. Users can also click through and buy the items via Facebook.

The program is a fairly transparent hedge against Pinterest, which currently lacks a buy feature. If the idea takes off, it will be a shot in the arm for so-called “F-commerce” or Facebook-based retail transactions, which so far hasn’t gotten mainstream adoption. A Facebook rep says that the program does not employ Facebook’s big acquisition of the year, Instagram. However, it’s easy to see how in the future the features could be added to a brand’s Instagram feed as well. The rep added that Facebook doesn’t get a cut of the transactions.

What do you think of Facebook’s latest gambit? Let us know in the comments.

How to Stay Updated About the Latest News Via Social Media

If you are associated with social media business, then it is important for you to stay updated with the latest news feed related to it. Updating your existing knowledge with the latest feed can be of great help, but you may run short of time to find the relevant news. So, from now onwards you can use your social media profile to get the required news, information and also to communicate directly with the source of news. This can help you in staying up to date with the current happening in your industry.

Some of the most popular social media sites these days, comprise of the following list given below:

Facebook:

It is beneficial for social media marketing consultants or brand managers to create a separate Facebook profile with a company-taken photo wherein, information related to business can be posted. It will help employees in managing a professional appearance while running the Facebook page of the company.

Make sure while doing this, you have hit a like on other companies' relevant pages and join their groups. This will help you in getting the latest feeds about your competitors and you can also observe how there are ruining their social media account. For example, a marketing agency should follow leading blogs on marketing on Facebook. You can find that blogs, websites and companies posting relevant information and links that make getting news from social media site much easier than searching on Google.

Twitter

The above mention concept goes with Twitter, apart from one thing that an employee cannot run a separate Twitter account; instead the company's Twitter account can be maintained and handled. It can follow blogs, websites and a competitor, which is a matter of worry for many companies that what impact it will have on the followers. But the fact is that it does not leave any negative impact on either party, rather it is giving one more follower and a chance to know what their competitors are doing.

Following websites, blogs and brands through the company's Twitter account can allow you to re-tweet the relevant news after it has been reviewed. Widen your search ability on Twitter and follow all important accounts to get the required latest updates.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has various resources that can help you in staying updated with the latest trends, events and news about other companies. Employees can use their person LinkedIn account to post questions related to their industry on LinkedIn Answers. This will help in starting a discussion amongst professionals of other industry. In addition, answering questions of other users can also help in improving professional brand awareness and credibility.

Further, joining different group can help you in getting emails of all group discussions weekly or daily.

Could Facebook Become the First $1 Trillion Company?

You’re right if you think it’s premature to talk about Facebook as a contender to become the first $1 trillion company.

The social network is set to go public Friday at a valuation of around $100 billion. Should Mark Zuckerberg find a way to multiply that value by 10 in the coming years, it would have a value higher than the GDP of all but 17 countries.

The grandiosity of the goal has has not, however, stopped Facebook from reportedly telling its new employees that it aims to be the first company to reach the milestone. Facebook’s high-level employees are fond of saying it is “1% finished,” and, according to a Facebook representative who lead a recent tour of the headquarters, the phrase is one of Mark Zuckerberg’s favorites.

While the idea that a seven-year-old social network could become the world’s first trillion dollar company — blasting by established giants like Apple, Exxon Mobil and Walmart — might seem ridiculous, it’s not out of the question.

To put it in the words of technology analyst and Enderle Group president Rob Enderle:

“It’s not probable, but it’s possible.”
How It’s Possible

Facebook brought in $3.7 billion in revenue last year. It is valued at around $100 billion — 27 times that revenue.

In theory, if this multiple were to remain constant, Facebook would need to bring in $37 billion in order to reach a $1 trillion valuation. Let’s say Facebook somehow managed to continue the 120% annual revenue growth it has experienced on average over the last two years. It would hit $37 billion at some point in 2014.

But by at least one analyst’s watch, that puts it neck-and-neck with Apple. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted in April that Apple shares will reach $1,000 — pushing the company over the $1 trillion valuation mark — in 2014.

To be first, Facebook would have to grow revenues even faster than it has in the past.

The most likely source of this growth would be advertising. Facebook, which depends on advertisers for 85% of its income, announced a new suite of advertising products in February. Meanwhile, a report from BIA/Kelsey released earlier this week predicts social media ad spending will grow from about $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2012.

Facebook also has heaps of unleashed mobile advertising potential. Facebook didn’t offer mobile advertising until two months ago, and it hasn’t figured out how to monetize the 500 million users who log in on mobile devices.

“Growth in use of Facebook through our mobile products, where our ability to monetize is unproven, as a substitute for use on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results,” the company wrote in its IPO filing.

Cracking this problem, however, could open up a new growth area. In any case, as an Internet communication company, rather than a hardware company, Facebook has a huge advantage over Apple in increasing its growth rate.

“You don’t have the distribution problem, you don’t have the manufacturing problems, you don’t have problems that typically limit growth,” says Enderle. “Facebook’s limits are simply the speed at which it can grasp a particular group.”

Why It’s Unlikely

Facebook is not being valued at $100 billion because of its income. If income were the basis, Enderle estimates the company would more likely be valued at around $40 billion. Facebook’s pre-IPO valuation is hinging on the expectation of demand for stock — In other words, it’s a bet on Facebook’s future.

To trade and continue trading at 27 times its revenue, Facebook would need to continue looking like a good growth bet.

Current trends, however, suggest its growth may be leveling. Facebook increased its monthly active userbase by 118% between March 2009 and March 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, it increased by just 43%. And last year, it increased it by even less: 33%. Such is a common plight of the graduating startup.

The discouraging news doesn’t end there. Even as its userbase continues to grow, Facebook’s advertising revenue actually dipped last quarter. And, just in time for Facebook’s IPO, General Motors pulled $10 million of ads from the platform — calling them “ineffective.”

The other 15% of Facebook’s income comes from apps like Zynga games. In 2010, Facebook mandated all games that run on its platform to use its currency, which guarantees it a 30% cut of all purchases. Zynga, which generates 12% of Facebook’s revenue, agreed to abide by the new policy.

But that agreement expires in 2015.

Facebook also faces more competitors than it did in its early years. Twitter and Facebook have evolved to compete with each other; search advertising giant Google has launched a social product; and new social sites such as Pinterest are getting attention from mainstream audiences for the first time.

One of the worst things Facebook could do for its prospects of hitting a $1 trillion valuation, Enderle says, is to promise anybody a $1 trillion valuation.

“If Facebook were to focus on becoming a $1 trillion company, they probably won’t make it,” he says. “You over-set expectations. If employees are led to believe it will be a $1 trillion company, and if investors are led to believe it will be a $1 trillion company, and if Facebook only triples itself, in the eyes of those people it will have failed.

“That would be a textbook mistake.”

Spotify Launches Preview of Revamped Android App

Spotify is on fire with announcements these days. Fresh off of the news that the music-streaming service is partnering with companies such Coca-Cola and will build branded apps for them within the platform, the company is rolling out a preview of its new and improved Android app.

Spotify for Android is getting a new design with easier navigation and a feature that allows you to check out friends’ profile pages. Although it won’t be live in the Google Play store yet, it is available for download as a preview app starting now.

Among other new features of the app that runs with full support for Android 4.0 are more artist imagery in high resolution, faster navigation and a related artist view tool.

“That’s not the end of it,” Spotify said in a press release. “We’re working hard on adding further features, including folders and Last FM scrobbling, before the app goes live in Google Play.”

SEE ALSO: Spotify Details Strategic Partnership with Coca-Cola

To gain access to the Android preview, set your phone to allow installation from “Unknown Sources” by going to the Settings, Applications and then Unknown sources menu. When finished, click the button below to get the update.

Many many are expecting a Spotify iPad app soon, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said during a press conference on Wednesday that it’s “in the works.”

In addition to recently announcing partnerships with various brands, last week Spotify launched a tool for music fans and web editors to embed playlists, songs or albums to a website or blog for free. The Spotify Play Button was designed to give users a way to legally share music online.

Spotify also recently announced plans to keep the service free in the U.S. indefinitely. The company initially granted U.S. consumers access to the platform with no restrictions for six months. For those who didn’t sign up for a premium package — ranging from $4.99 to $9.99 a month — the site would be limited to 10 free hours of streaming music each month. It’s unknown how long the streaming service will remain free in the U.S.

4 Facebook Features Marketers Can’t Afford to Ignore

If you have a brand or a business to market chances are you’re using a social media management application to monitor online mentions, schedule updates, and generate reports. But if you really want to be an effective marketer, you need to develop a deeper understanding of which networks are most vital to your company, and what network features are key. In Facebook’s case, we’re talking about some powerful community management components that are unmatched by its competitors, and often overlooked by marketing pros. Here are the four that simply can’t be ignored.

1. Activity Log

Facebook’s activity log is like a Facebook Timeline for every interaction that fans have with your page. It also includes updates you’ve made, like comments or Facebook Questions. What makes this tool unique and powerful is that it offers an archive of your Facebook interactions that you can review at any time. This is useful for tracking how well you’re following up and engaging with fans, and what kind of feedback you’re getting from them during specific events.
2. Demographic Targeting

The manage tab in Facebook Page’s Admin Panel allows you to publish updates to specific demographic groups. The feature isn’t as robust as it should be, but it lets you reach out to people who, for example, speak a certain language. This is useful if your page serves audiences in different countries.

Netflix is a prime example. Due to the nature of its content licensing deals, the site offers different movie and TV-show libraries in the United States than it does in Canada. If the Netflix page administrator wants to announce a new movie that’s only available in one country, he or she can hide that update from fans in the other. Other options include making a post completely invisible to people outside of a certain location, or to people under a certain age.
3.Twitter Linking

Cross-promoting between social networks is a critical component of any social media marketing strategy. Facebook recognizes this, which is why it offers the ability to link your Facebook page to Twitter for the purpose of publishing updates to both sites.

The one caveat is that the implementation here is slanted pretty heavily towards promoting Facebook. This means tweets that originate from your Facebook page always have a link back to Facebook. If that’s not your thing, you can supplement with a third-party tool.
4. Smart Moderation

You probably already know how to moderate individual comments on Facebook, but you can also dive into your Facebook Page’s settings and add specific terms you want to automatically block. While it’s better to allow open conversation on your Facebook page — customers don’t like to be censored — there will be specific situations that call for more control. This tool will give you that.

Three Things You Need to Leap Into Pinterest

As marketers ponder what to do with Pinterest, a few leading companies are reaping considerable traffic and sales from the emerging platform, now one of the most popular social media channels for women 25-54. There’s a debate going on as to whether B2C companies in the consumer goods space are the only beneficiaries of this growth, or whether B2B and services companies can also leverage it. Colleagues across the country are weighing in, with some B2B firms finding that there’s value there for all. The debate over whether to join Pinterest or not, whether it’s relevant or not for your industry, misses something of the point: companies do well on the channel if they resonate with the core audience. Industry is less important than finding a niche that’s fresh, relevant, and works in the unique universe of Pinterest.

Regardless of industry, there are a few things every great Pinterest page has in common:



Image

Passion-Pinterest is the community for hobbyists and enthusiasts of all stripes, from quilters to knitters to graphic design fans. You need to share your audience’s enthusiasm if you’re going to connect on a visceral, meaningful level. It’s better to pin what you’re passionate about than to devote hours to pinning content that is purely meant to make a sale. Find your company’s niche, one you can geek out on, whether that’s a pinboard of great fonts for a creative agency, financial infographics for a bank, or social media quotes.
Quality-Pinterest’s community, more than any other, is quite vocal about wanting to keep the channel free from promotional content. Sure, you may see pins that are not of any interest to you, but that’s part of the charm of the channel—it’s all about niche passions and individual creativity. Pins of high quality, meaning something that’s meaningful, visually compelling, and professionally-produced, attract thousands of repins. Make sure your images are truly appealing. For consumer products, it’s essential to invest in professional photography and perhaps even a photo stylist. For services, top graphic design quality is a must. Spammy content gets voted off the Pinterest island very fast.
Fun-For a channel that focuses on the creative side of life, it’s essential for companies to bring fun to the table. Contests that encourage interaction among brand advocates, great images, and personable comments need to be the order of the day on Pinterest. Again, it hearkens back to the idea of passion—choose topics for your boards that you truly can engage with, and don’t be afraid to exercise creativity in how you position products and services. This is a new, experimental channel for many companies, with few hard and fast rules. Your audience is on Pinterest for recreation, so facilitating that fun is a great way to win loyal followers.

Putting these three keys to Pinterest into play is the essence of making it work for marketers.

5 Content Marketing Tips To Include In Your Social Strategy

Content is king. That’s not the first time you’ve heard that, nor will it be your last. I do have a question though" Why aren’t more dealerships creating more content? One of the most effective and low-cost ways to drive traffic is through the creation of relevant and engaging content.

Content can be blog posts, videos, podcasts, status updates on Facebook, Tweets and much more. In this post I’m going to give you tips on what to include in your content marketing strategy that will help you to attract and influence more people to become your customers.

Keep in mind though, while reading this post, that it is but one part of your overall inbound marketing plan, a big part, but it is just one piece of the overall puzzle. Get this right and the rest will fall into place without much problem. So, are you ready?

Create A Content Creation Calendar

That’s right, plan! An editorial calendar will help you stick to your overall content marketing goal. By creating and sticking to an editorial calendar you will limit the time scratching your head wondering what to write about. Also, you should continually add to the calendar as you move along. I like to stay a month ahead, that way I’m never fighting for something to write about.

Another idea is to download the Evernote app to your iPhone or Android device so that whenever ideas strike, you can write a note to yourself to add it to the calendar. Of course you can use any app you like but I like the fact that Evernote syncs to both your desktop and the web, ensuring that no matter where you are you will have access to your notes.

Out of ideas? Read. Read as many in industry blogs and out of industry blogs as possible. Seek out the blogs of other non-competing dealerships for ideas. Also, remember that you can repurpose your content. What is a blog post this week can be a video a month or so later. Or even a slideshow, podcast, status update or even an image. In other words, one idea could be half a dozen

Optimize Your Content For Search

When writing your titles make sure that you do a little research to figure out what people are searching for in your local market. Then ensure that your key phrases are sprinkled throughout the body of your post or in the descriptions of your video or podcast.. Don’t overdo it, be natural and stick to your topic. As an example you could write a post about finding a repair shop and title it, “5 Things Your Need To Know Before Choosing A Repair Shop In Denver.”

Be sure to include the name of the city, it well help to keep your content local. Notice how the title draws you in with a promised list of 5 things you need to know. That brings me to my next tip.

Create Interesting Titles To Peak Interest

Think of your title as your headline, it’s what people will see that will encourage them to want to click on your content in order to consume it. I’ve always liked short lists, if you take a look at my blog you will see that I use the number 5 a lot, even in this article!

5 Steps To Connecting With The Movers And Shakers On LinkedIn
5 Reasons To Aim For Social Depth Over Social Breadth
5 Things You Need To Know BEFORE Designing Your Social Media Strategy

I use 5 because it’s not to long and it’s not too short and gets people to act. In fact Two of the above posts were syndicated on SocialMediaToday.com and have over 20,000 combined views! If the titles were poorly thought out, people wouldn’t have clicked on it, no matter how good the content was.

Have A Call To Action

Everything you create should have some sort of call to action. If it’s a picture that you post on Facebook, ask a question about it to get people to respond. If it’s a blog post ask people to leave a comment giving their opinion of something you said. If it’s a video tell people to give you a call to schedule their next vehicle check-up. Whatever it is, ask people to act even if it’s to check out another piece of content that you’ve created.

Create A Downloadable eBook

Create something of value to get people to download so that you can add them to your email list. A few ideas:

The 10 Irrefutable Laws Of Car Shopping
5 Ways To Spot A Bad Car Deal
7 Tips To Ensure That You Get Top Dollar For Your Trade
10 Maintenance Tips That Will Keep You Out of The Repair Shop

The list can go on and on, the idea is to create compelling content that people want to read. From there you can create a lead nurturing campaign to turn those people into leads