Social Media State of Mind

Are faceprints becoming the new fingerprints?

gdholloway — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:34:36 +0000

Apps. Love them or hate them they are a major contribution to the Technological Revolution. These days there is an app for every function imaginable and even some not yet discovered.

Recently I purchased my first REAL smartphone. Not knowing exactly what to expect and being a little intimidated I eased my way into the world of Android.

I was an Smartphone virgin.

A ringtone novice.

For years, well not really years, maybe two years, I have been pondering on what it would be like to join all the COOL KIDS and purchase a phone that would not only store my email but connect me with the world and give me access to the best ringtones imaginable.

Well guess who is a cool kid now. ME.

That’s right. I am a Android tote-in “Jack Johnson Ringtone”, Smartphone consumer.

A little later than most, but highly satisfied with my new toy.

As technology has moved quickly I find it amusing how we have migrated from being mildly offended by someone asking for our fingerprints at the post office to where we are now with the evolution of facial recognition and a software program that actually gets smarter the more that you use it.

Interesting right?

surpassing the Iphone it seems that the Android has been top of mind and the topic of more than one conversation. Especially on Facebook. Imagine how the tween market will react to the release of the Social Camera.

The SocialCamera is one of the newest applications in facial recognition. A camera application that recognizes faces and tags friends in photos. The SocialCamera will allow users to easily share a photo with a tagged friend via MMS or email or posting to Facebook and Flickr and every time you take a picture it remembers who that face belongs to automatically tagging the next time you use it.

Those tech guys. They are so smart!

According to Wikipedia A facial recognition is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database.

Our phones will now not only store our email, coupons, social networking sites, phone numbers, video, pictures, files, ect.. Now our phones will store a facial database.

What do you think?

Good? Bad?

Scary? After all, most of this is good unless of course it gets in the wrong hands. Imagine a stalker with a Social Camera!

Is Facebook becoming its own World Wide Web

gdholloway — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:59:28 +0000

His parents are both doctors, he is a Harvard dropout, he is worth 6.9 billion. He produces a product that has become a virtual classroom for some, a connection for refugees in other countries, a soapbox for anyone with a cause, talent or psychosis, a fundraising and event promotion vehicle, a digital machine that won a presidential election and a platform that has transformed people’s lives.

According to Wikipedia - A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. When used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.

Mark Zukerberg has become a digital revolutionary and his product has created a major shift in our perception and how we conduct our daily lives. Our world is a funny place. Ten years ago we would have laughed at the casual nature of this magazine cover and today we are beginning to wonder…hmmm could Facebook be the new World Wide Web? After all our information is out there. 6 million of us. What would you do with all that information?

Take a look at Success Magazine and the trending topic of Mark Zuckerberg, also nominated for the Success 2010 Achiever of the Year award.

As Facebook continues to change consumer behavior, buying and of course marketing the stats are beginning to roll in for 2011. Check out these latest Hubspot stats.

When in doubt just dance

gdholloway — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:32:28 +0000

Tag art that describe who you are

gdholloway — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 01:25:38 +0000

It is fun and whimsical and a new way of sharing who you are and what you do.

Have you tried out Tagxedo?

Good little program with lots of features for creating and distributing your tag cloud.

This program also allows you to download the HTML version making it website friendly.

But besides all that it is just fun!

Do you love to create in the Digital Space? Tagxedo is a digital tool for creating word art.

Map of Social Networks

gdholloway — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:28:31 +0000

Stand out from the competition using online branding techniques

gdholloway — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:33:17 +0000

Here are just a few suggestions on ways to brand yourself online from Social Media Today.

Some of these sites are new to me as well and look interesting and complex, but worth checking out. Remember it is all about dividing and conquering online and making sure that your name or business is exposed in the right places and indexed by the search engines.

Social media is ever changing and new sites are popping up daily. This doesn’t mean that you have to be on all of them. It just means that you or your marketing department should be aware and not get to comfortable with just your Facebook Account. If you or your staff have the time to put into strengthening your online presence you will not be disappointed in the results of your online investment. The investment of time.

Creating list of online resources. One of the easiest ways to get started is to compile lists of recommended articles, books, audios, videos, and other online resources at URLi.st.
Sharing comments and opinions about websites. Bounce takes the idea of sharing online resources to the next level, by making it easy for you to take screenshots of web pages, add your comments and annotations, then invite others to contribute their ideas and comments. Here’s an example of Bounce in action.
Writing and placing articles online. One of the easiest ways to build your online visibility is to write articles for online articles like ezinearticles.com. Not only is this one of the largest article portals, but there are hundreds of articles, blog posts, and article writing tips to help you get started. Ezinearticles.com also provides you with a author profile page with links to all of your articles, plus tools and reports to track the popularity of your articles.
Creating online press releases. PressExposure.com, started by the same team that created Ezinearticles.com, will guide you as you write and place press releases promoting your articles, books, and other brand-building examples of your expertise.
Sharing ideas and inviting feedback without a blog. Choose Squidoo if you’re looking for a more robust personal branding platform, such as the ability to add multiple visuals and feedback options. Squidoo provides a level playing field that you can build upon as your skills develop.
Create and share your videos online. You can get started creating your own 5-minute screen casts using Screenr.com’s online video recorder and hosting services. If you have a microphone hooked up to your computer, you’re ready to get started in online video!
Creating and sharing online mind maps. Mind maps displayed online, like the one at the top of TheBrain.com, permit you to share vast amounts of information in a visual format that allows others to explore your ideas in as much detail as desired. (See what happens when you click on Products or Business Solutions.) .

Is Social Media Becoming The New Bandwagon?

gdholloway — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:31:49 +0000

Back in the day, jumping on the “Bandwagon” was a way of associating yourself with success.

According to wikipedia literally, a bandwagon is a wagon which carries the band in a parade, circus or other entertainment. The phrase “jump on the bandwagon” first appeared in American politics in 1848 when Dan Rice, a famous and popular circus clown of the time, used his bandwagon and its music to gain attention for campaign appearances. As campaigns became more successful, more politicians strove for a seat on the bandwagon, hoping to be associated with the success. Later, during the time of William Jennings Bryan’s 1900 presidential campaign, bandwagons had become standard in campaigns,and “jump on the bandwagon” was used as a derogatory term, implying that people were associating themselves with the success without considering what they associated themselves with.

In recent months I have continually seen social media experts sprouting up in the most unusual places. All professing to be knowledgeable/experts in a field that has truly only been in existence for about 4 years. Although I too work in the social media field and my business name touts the social media name, my work has consisted of research in the field, studying and mentorship by the true experts in this emerging field.

As a business owner, my focus has always been on education and helping business owners to understand how they can build online identities and communities and be successful in developing relationships with customers and potential clients. There is a strategy to this.

Some social media consultants are the real deal while others are just illusions. It is important to be able to tell those with experience from those who just want to capitalize on the ignorance of business owners and marketing directors who don’t know what they are doing.

As a marketing director it is up to you to educate yourself on new marketing techniques.

So here are a few things you should think about when hiring a professional to facilitate your social media program.

1. Having a personal social media account on Facebook is very different from managing a business page on Facebook or any other social network.

2. Just because they profess to have a business page for their own business doesn’t mean they can manage multiple social media accounts.

3. Thousands of Twitter followers or Facebook friends on a consultant’s personal accounts doesn’t help your company unless there is significant overlap between those people and your company’s customers. Also Think quality of contacts

4. Writing a personal blog is very different from corporate blogging where you need to manage groups of contributors.

5. Online identity management, monitoring metrics, and responding to mentions across the web is part marketing, part art form, and part science and takes lots of time.

6. When looking at a social media consultant, review where their focus is.

7. Do they have past experience managing social media programs as an employee of a company or years of consulting experience or a portfolio?

8. Get the URLs for corporate blogs where they contributed.

9. Ask for the names of Twitter accounts they managed, and review the tweets. Get an example of a monitoring and management tools they would use with a client and ask them what metrics they would measure to determine success for your company.

10.You might want to reconsider, if their past social media use is entirely personal or if their past job titles don’t reflect social media or marketing in any way…… Its tricky these days. You have to investigate who you hire.

Anytime someone professes to be all things, look a little deeper. Google them. See how they are positioned in the Google search. One thing about social media, you can’t really fake it, in the end the wagon leader emerges from those that hop on the bandwagon.

1 in 5 small business owners are using Social Media

gdholloway — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:08:55 +0000

The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business looked at the relationship between social media and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S. have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24%. Not surprising considering that on any given day I get at least 10-20 invites to become a fan or like a page of a local business. It is truly impressive to see how business owners have caught on to social media and harnessed the power of sharing. Mashable has put together a list of nationwide business owners who “Get It” and are using “It” every day in a big way. But at the T-Town level we have our own success stories.

Dwelling Spaces, is a local gift shop in the heart of Downtown Tulsa, with a unique spin on everything T-Town, carrying a wide variety of eclectic gifts from I Heart Tulsa t-shirts to Flaming Lips merchandise to local art. A MUST STOP SHOP while in Tulsa, OKLAHOMA!

Dwelling Spaces was an early adopter of Social Media and you can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and Flickr. By using the event page feature of Facebook, Dwelling Spaces announce their in-store events to their 1600 plus fan base, which in reality is like double or triple that considering that their post go into their fans news feed. Along with daily status updates and promoting their new in-store coffee shop, I would say Dwelling Spaces is a little shop with not only a love for Tulsa, but a love of online fans! Shop Dwelling Spaces Online at http://www.dwellingspaces.net and of course remember to join their Facebook page for up to date info on great items and events.

If I said meet you at “The Ivy”, you might think I was talking about the trendy Los Angeles, restaurant that caters to the Hollywood stars. But then I guess we would have to be in California for that and alas no we are in Tulsa. What I would be talking about is the Cool, and Hip new Venue Called “The Ivey” on Brookside in Tulsa.

The Ivey is a great little night club with a really cool roof top patio…. serving the stars of Tulsa’s night life.

The people are hip the music is pump-in but the really cool thing about “The Ivey” is how they use Social Media.

Known as Ivey Tulsa on Facebook, they let their fans know on a daily and sometimes hourly basis about all the great events scheduled at The Ivey on Brookside. For “The Ivey” , Social Media has become their connection to the City of Tulsa and lets face it who in that crowd above do you think doesn’t have a cell phone and is not on Facebook?

Fox Business sheds light on Social Media

gdholloway — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:37:58 +0000

5 Good Reasons To Go Digital

gdholloway — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:22:28 +0000

(If you live in Jenks you can find Jenks Express in your mail box every month. You can also find them online at www.jenksexpress.com at Facebook, and at their new digital magazine address http://issuu.com/jenksexpress/docs/jenksexpress)

Besides the obvious –no paper and your big contribution to saving the earth, there are several other reasons you should to go digital……….

1. Digital provides a viral distribution route.

Having the ability to share, email, and send your publication to social media networks will increase your readership. If you are looking to grow your network of viewers, this is a good place to start!

2. Digital allows for a strategic partnership when connecting with others.

You can leverage the benefit of partnering with other websites by having them embed your digital document, (like Jenks Express) , on their homepage to provide more content (not to mention

changing content). This will improve their websites “time on site” analytics which is a great benefit for them. For you, this is a way to digitally distribute to their website goers and gain viewers.

3. Digital entails little, to no overhead.

Think about it, if you decide to go paperless, you will start to realize a huge savings due to no printing cost every month.

4. It is on the cloud (web 2.0) providing limitless distribution anywhere, anytime.

Usually with a drop route you are limited to a certain area or zone based on target market, costs, etc. With digital distribution your coverage area is limitless and allows you to reach virtually anyone around the world.

5. It drives traffic with optimized search, tagging, and embedding to your homepage.

Digital Magazines allow you to use applied tags for search engine friendliness and indexing. It can also be embedded on your own homepage as well as other websites. If you banner trade with fellow websites, the banner can point directly to your digital document.

So there you have it.

Digital is fast, eco-friendly, cost-effective ($75/mth)

SEO friendly and great for advertisers exposure, with links to their websites!