Social Media

1. Social Media
By : Khawar Nehal
Applied Technology Research Center
http://atrc.net.pk
http://Dubai-Computer-Services.com
khawar@dubai-computer-services.com
Date : 5 January 2014.
InterNations Dubai Technology Discussion
Meeting on Social Media

2. Tumblr
#1: Tumblr is Great For SEO
Because Tumblr is indexed, and contains lots of
social sharing – it has the power to attract a ton
of traffic to your websites.

3. Tumblr
#2: Microblogging on Tumblr
Tumblr allows you to microblog, which means
that you can share your posts quickly and easily
with your social communities.

4. Tumblr
#3: Shorter Posts on Tumblr
Tumblr allows bloggers to post small snippets of
content for the world to see. It’s a great platform
to use if you only have time for 250 word blog
posts.

5. Tumblr
#4: Post Mixed Media as They Are
If you use Tumblr, you can post images, videos,
links and more, directly to the platform – without
having to add in any content.

6. Tumblr
#5: Use Tumblr To Source Great Content
Tumblr can be used as a research tool, where
you can find great content in a matter of minutes.
Just browse through the blogs on offer, in your
select category.

7. Tumblr
#6: Content Curation on Tumblr
Using Tumblr allows you to curate content, or
collect it, by ‘reblogging’ or reposting blogs on
your page that you’ve enjoyed. This is great for
traffic and SEO.

8. Tumblr
#7: Tumblr is 100% Free
Unlike WordPress, which can cost a bit of money
to put up properly – Tumblr is a completely free
platform that doesn’t require any financial outlay.

9. Tumblr
#8: Track Your Progress With Analytics
You can connect your Tumblr account to Google
Analytics and actually track your progress. This
will help you improve your blog, your SEO and
your brand visibility.

10. Tumblr
#9: Build Interactive Communities
Tumblr was built to encourage interaction, like a
real social networking site. You’ll find that getting
people to respond to you is a lot easier here.

11. Tumblr
#10: Improve Your Business Network
You’re guaranteed to find some of your niches
biggest bloggers using Tumblr. They’re super
simple to become friends with, and that means
better business networks.

12. Facebook
Facebook is considered a social networking site
and, if used as such, can be a good way to make
connections with people with similar interests
and goals. Facebooking can be a way to connect
with or "meet" people that a person may not
have had the opportunity to before-including
other people, staff, and acquaintances

13. Facebook
Thanks to Facebook, meeting someone in
person has become a thing of the past. Making
friends is as easy as "Facebooking"-it can create
new friendships and renew old ones. Thus,
meeting people and staying connecting with
collegues and friends is a major benefit of
Facebook.

14. Facebook
Facebook can be a great way to understand and
stay connected to one's community as a whole.

15. Facebook
Facebook offers advertising to its subscribers.
Whether a person creates a "party" for an
upcoming event or pays the $5 for 10,000 "hits"
for an ad, Facebook is a GREAT way to
advertise as an organization, club, Greek
chapter, team, etc.

16. Facebook
Most importantly, Facebook offers people the
opportunity to create a positive self-image.
Facebook profiles gives people a chance to
create the image of themselves that they want
people to see by putting their best qualities "out
there." This shows that a people care about their
reputations and (to a certain extent) what people
think about them-whether its their peers,
managers, or future employers.

17. Facebook risks
People can be stalked by strangers (or even
acquaintances) because of the detailed and
specific information people post on Facebook
such as phone numbers, addresses, class
schedules, social plans, etc.

18. Facebook risks
People are getting in trouble with companies for
incriminating and inappropriate information or
pictures on their Facebook profiles that are
violations of company policy or the code of
conduct. (note: managers are not monitoring
Facebook; however, if information or pictures on
a person's account that violate policy are brought
to their attention or are reported to them, they
will follow up and investigate further.)

19. Facebook risks
People are being turned down by employers for
jobs, internships and even interviews because of
the information employers are finding out about
students on their Facebook accounts.

20. Facebook risks
Compromising and inappropriate pictures,
statements or other information on student
Facebook accounts can hurt peoples' chances to
gain (or even be considered for) employment.
Employers take the images that people are
portraying on Facebook very seriously as a
reflection of personal character.

21. Pinterest benefits
Pinterest is beneficial for visual businesses such
as interior designers, fashion companies and
lifestyle magazines to promote their products
and inspirations. By creating mood boards
around their different influencers or projects,
these companies can engage with their potential
market and drive interest to their corporate
website.

22. Pinterest benefits
Pinterest is also a great tool to use when you are
planning an event and want to collate a variety of
elements in one place.

23. Pinterest benefits
Unlike certain social media tools, Pinterest’s
early adopters appear to have been women with
mainstream interests like design, fashion and
travel. They are not geeks who are continually
looking for the latest technie craze. They are
genuinely engaged and hopefully will stay
interested in your brand.

24. Pinterest benefits
In addition, Pinterest is both attractive to look at
and easy to use. It can be a valuable book
marking tool and it is a simple way of way of
creating mood boards.

25. Pinterest cons
Whilst the benefits to creative and retail
companies are clear, the business case for many
organisations is not. Pinterest’s growth has been
rapid and as a result, successful cases are
limited.

26. Pinterest cons
It is definitely, at this stage, more relevant to
companies selling products – and in someways
creates more of a catalogue than social
experience. It can be used as a tool to record
things that interest you and to support your
personal blog at this stage.

27. Pinterest cons
Although the signs are positive, it’s still early
days for Pinterest, so we don’t know yet whether
the popularity craze will endure. Proceed with
caution.

28. Pinterest cons
You also need to ask yourself the question,
“Does your company have the time and
resources to devote to yet another social media
channel?”. Although even if you don’t it’s still
worthwhile creating a profile and protecting your
brand identity on the site.

29. Pinterest cons
There are potential privacy concerns because
Pinterest forces you to link through either your
Twitter or Facebook accounts. Pinterest’s current
privacy policy is not crystal clear when it comes
to how information they share with your other
social media channels.

30. Pinterest cons
The bigger that Pinterest grows the more issues
the site faces with images that are copyrighted.
They face a growing backlash from media
owners and users over their somewhat vague
attitude to copyright. Pinterest’s “Terms of Use”
put the emphasis on the user to make sure there
are no copyright or licensing violations so it could
be the user who would be sued.

31. Google+ Benefits
1. Get an SEO Boost: Bob Shirilla, director of
marketing at Simply Bags, says that his business
joined Google+ because he relies on Google
search referrals for sales conversions. "Google+
influences search for all the people who have
included my business in their circle," he says.
"We have also put a +1 button on each product
page. This is a great way to get free promotion
from people who like the product to people with
similar interests."

32. Google+ Benefits
2. Host a Hangout: "Hangouts offer an amazing
opportunity for businesses to engage in a highly
personal way with clients, customers and industry
thought leaders," says Roger Friedensen, president and
CEO of Forge Communications. "Plus, employees in
remote locations can hold team meetings to brainstorm
with one another from an interface that affords them
immediate and easy access to share and collaborate on
most of the information materials they might need, such
as documents and spreadsheets."

33. Google+ Benefits
3. Expand Content Distribution: Phyllis Khare, the social
media editorial director of iPhone Life magazine, says
that Google+ is a great platform for expanding the
publication's content distribution. "It took us almost a
year to get 1,000 Likes on our Facebook Page, and
three days on G+ to get that number to Circle us," she
says. "We are gearing up for Hangouts with some of our
writers in 2012 to answer iOS questions and a few other
fun things with contests and giveaways."

34. Google+ Benefits
4. Connect with Early Adopters: If your business falls in
the Internet or technology industries, Google+ could be
a great place to connect a tech-savvy audience. "The
people that are on Google+ already are most likely
going to be early adopters of other technologies and
marketing channels," says Jason Pinto, CMO at
interlinkONE. "When we look at what defines an 'ideal
customer' for our products, that criteria is certainly high
on our list."

35. Google+ Benefits
5. Segment Your Audience: "The obvious benefit of
Google+ is that it allows us to share select content with
specific audiences," says Chad Udell, managing
director of Float Mobile Learning. Google+ makes it
easy for businesses to segment their audiences and
share content directly with those certain groups of
followers.

36. Google+ Benefits
6. Use Google+ to Network: David Greenberg, president
of Parliament Tutors, says that his business does not
have a Google+ page, but that he uses his personal
Google+ page to network and gather contact data and
research the "personal side" of relevant contacts, such
as journalists and potential clients, so that he can better
create a connection with them. He adds that the "About"
section of a contact's Google+ profile is usually a great
start.

37. Google+ Benefits
7. Just Explore: Netronic Managing Director Martin
Karlowitsch says, "We currently use Google+ for
exploratory purposes. It is still a niche platform, but
quickly growing and with a platform giant behind it.
Knowing the impact that Google has on the way people
find relevant information on the web, Google+ soon can
become significant by combining social and search. I
want to start early using this platform to be prepared
when this inflection point arises."

39. Google+ Cons
1. Administration is Difficult: "The pages need to be
created from an individual's Google+ account, and you
cannot add admins or any other users to manage the
account," says Jason Donaldson, an account executive
at Formic Media. "Depending on the size of the
business, this may not be an issue.

40. Google+ Cons
For example, if you only have one or two employees,
there probably isn't an issue accessing the page from a
personal Google account. The problem becomes more
exaggerated with businesses that don't have a
dedicated social media manager (unlikely with small
businesses), because of the need to give out personal
account information for users to post on the business
page."

41. Google+ Cons
2. Facebook and Twitter Reign: Many of the small
businesses we spoke with pointed out that they
maintain engaged audiences on Twitter and Facebook,
but most of their customers and clients don't use
Google+. So, the platform isn't much of a priority for
their business. In the words of TwiloPR President Chris
Heuwetter, "The true value is in Facebook, where we
see a nice return on our efforts. Google+ seems like a
ghost town [for many small businesses]."

42. Google+ Cons
3. Social Dashboards Don't Integrate Google+ Yet:
While more progressive social media dashboards, like
Hootsuite, have integrated Google+ into their products,
many social dashboard services on the market do not
enable users to post to Google+. For businesses that
manage their social presences from one central
location, the lack of Google+ integration is a huge
barrier to Google+ usage.

43. Google+ Cons
4. Google Side Projects are Unreliable: James Beswick
manages online marketing for a bar in San Antonio
called Drink. He looked into creating a Google+ page for
the bar, but decided against it, since he's not certain
that the social network will pan out. "Google keeps
starting and shutting down products — Buzz, Wave and
Hotpot, to name a few — and I'm not entirely convinced
the same thing won't happen with Plus," he says. "Given
the time and cost of engaging followers, I think the effort
is better spent on Facebook."

44. Google+ Cons
5. Growth Is Small: Tara Parks, senior marketing
administrator at Convergence Networks says that she
sees potential in Google+, but that growth has been
small for her company. "The biggest drawback to
Google+ so far is that it's hard to grow a fan base, since
businesses can only add other businesses to their
Circles, and not individuals, the way you can on Twitter
(until they add you, that is)," she says. "It will definitely
be a lot more fun once more people start using
Google+."

45. Myspace benefits
Why do businesses rely on MySpace? It could be
because there are millions of members, or because of
the immense popularity. Either way, people seek use
MySpace as a place to promote their business and
services daily. The promotion is often hidden in blog
posts and bulletins with links to an affiliate site or
landing page.

46. Myspace benefits
The key to the businesses success is the friend base,
which is often stacked with thousands of other people
who are looking to promote a business for their own well
being. If everyone is running to MySpace to promote,
how is there any real benefit in the site?

47. Myspace benefits
The only real benefit that can be assumed from
business promotion on MySpace falls into the realm of
cross promotion. If a business person is on MySpace
and they are trying to promote a site, a freelance writer
may be able to step in and offer their services to the
webmaster or business owner.

48. Myspace benefits
If a beauty shop uses MySpace to connect with
clientele, a print company may be able to connect with
the beauty shop offering a special deal on flyers or
postcard printing. These are just "maybe" possibilities,
and therefore require you as the business owner to
decide for yourself.

49. Myspace cons
If you look beyond the spam and the annoying blog
postings and bulletins, there is one aspect of MySpace
which may be beneficial for the business--the contacts.
Contacts are the source of email marketing campaigns
and with a targeted email list being a hot commodity,
what better place to collect potential new clients than a
community of people looking for the same connection?

50. Myspace cons
The history of MySpace began with great intentions as a
social network. People can connect with people, but
businesses will not increase their organic traffic or their
organic sales from MySpace promotion enough to
concentrate on it with major time efforts.

51. Myspace cons
This is all a matter of opinion, and will depend on your
particular business or service. If you believe the benefit
will outweigh the security risks (phising sites, spam,
etc.) and take the time to dedicate to its use, then by all
means, make it work. If you do not believe it will be
worth your time, move on to another social networking
option.

52. Myspace
Overall, it is not tremendously beneficial to a business,
though small businesses in need of a local target
audience will probably see a greater benefit, because of
the connections.
The recent launch of a promotional program similar to
Google AdSense may change the face of MySpace for
business, but with the program still in beta, it's hard to
say.

53. Linkedin
LinkedIn is a new social networking website which
allows people to find business connections and solicit
their services. Of the sites reviewed in this series,
LinkedIn most certainly has the best contributions to
business purposes, and should certainly be used.

54. Linkedin
LinkedIn is the most business appropriate social
network in this series of social networking websites.
Though people may connect with old classmates,
profiles here allow people to showcase their skills and
work experience in order to find new business
connections and jobs. This site will help individuals find
jobs and has a recommendation feature to allow users
to vouch for each other virtually, so as to help in the real
world.

55. Linkedin
Companies may also create profiles which are listed in
a directory for users to search through just as the
personal profiles are. With a company profile,
businesses can let people looking for jobs know who
they are, what they do, common job titles they work
with, who else listed on LinkedIn works with them, and
more.

56. Linkedin
Unlike the other social networking websites in this
series, LinkedIn does not aim to help businesses find
customers and address the target audience issues; it
serves to help businesses find each other, along with
helping individuals find business connections to find a
job, or develop a deeper relationship with--such as
investing.

57. Linkedin
With company profiles, people will be able to see new
hires and position changes/promotions within the
company to learn about it. Some consumers may come
from this information through connections on the
network--say John Doe works for company profile A,
and Jane decides to purchase services from company
profile B, the company John worked for before
accepting the position at A--because Jane saw John's
profile on LinkedIn, and chose to check out the
companies. This is a possibility, though a long shot, as it
is not particularly the aim of LinkedIn.

58. Linkedin
Different account types allow for different experiences
on LinkedIn.The screen shot below is a comparison of
the account types, directly from the LinkedIn website.

59. Linkedin
The account type chosen will impact the experience a
user has on the website, though starting with a free
personal account will help a user decide if upgrading is
necessary. There are no frivolous features with LinkedIn
like photo or video sharing present in other networks.

60. Linkedin
Users may choose to elect to participate in market
research studies related to their field, though this
participation is completely voluntary.

61. Twitter
Twitter is a social networking website which allows
users to type a message no more than 140 characters
in length about what they are doing. People may follow
other users, and people who are not "following" each
other cannot see updates. The services SMS updates
along with being able to keep updates private, meaning
the updates will not be indexed in the search engines.

62. Twitter Benefits
The main benefit to Twitter is being able to connect to
your consumer audience and announce specials, sales,
and other promotions. You may also be able to connect
to others in related fields to expand your service base or
be able to offer discounts to your customers. An
example would be a web and graphic designer who
finds a printing company and an internet marketing
specialist. When the three of them work together, they
can all offer extra business for each other.

63. Twitter Benefits
The "tweets" or "twitters" as they are sometimes called
are short blurbs used to direct traffic to a particular URL,
such as a product page, an article, or a blog post.
These "tweets" are a great source of traffic, but
shouldn't be the center of an internet marketing
campaign.

64. Twitter Benefits
It's also a great way to see what people are talking
about so one can find out about the market, or see if
their product or service is being discussed. Business
owners can get an inside glimpse into the minds of
consumers and learn about competitors, too.

65. Twitter Benefits
Twitter provides a code for each account which may be
pasted into the HTML code of a website in order to link
the two together. Use this to gain followers on Twitter
who find the website first, and to fuel visitors to the
website from Twitter.

66. Twitter Cons
Using Twitter may become addictive. It is very tempting
to sit and refresh the page over and over to see what
others are saying. Sometimes, people may find
themselves posting more "tweets" than they should be,
and losing time they should be using to focus on other
tasks.

67. Twitter Cons
Though there are not really any direct security issues,
one should consider limiting the use of the program at
work, or installing an application like TweetDeck help
employees so they do not have to constantly refresh the
page to see who's saying what to who and when.

68. Instagram
Many of us have seen photos that employ the use of
Instagram technology to achieve a desired look. Often
times, this method revolves around slightly modifying
the brightness, contrast and hues of a photograph to
display a weathered and classical appearance.

69. Instagram
Since the launch of this technology into the mainstream
public just over one year ago, Instagram has enjoyed a
massive amount of success in social networks and
other photo sharing communities. Thus, some of us
may be wondering as to whether Instagram for social
media marketing campaigns is effective. Let us take a
quick look at some of the benefits and pitfalls of utilising
such a technology.

70. Instagram Benefits
We are all well aware that the success or failure of a
marketing campaign revolves just as much around the
presentation as it does the product itself. This is the
reason why advertisers are always trying to “push the
envelope” a bit further to capture the attention of a
certain audience. Instagram can aid in such an appeal;
offering a unique platform that can grab the visual
attention of a viewer.

71. Instagram Benefits
Also, the varying themes that this platform offers can be
matched with the “feel” of a certain product or service.
For example, a travel agency may wish to slightly
modify their pictures to emphasise the cerulean blue
waters of a beach landscape. Similarly, a law firm may
choose to highlight tonalities of grays and blacks;
stressing a “no nonsense” approach to their litigation
cases.

72. Instagram Benefits
Finally, Instagram tends to appeal to younger crowds
who are more well-versed throughout the Internet. This
growing demographic represents a powerful audience
that should be proactively targeted. A company that
uses Instagram can be considered “hip” and “modern”
in times that are defined by an increased amount of
competition.

73. Instagram Cons
While the aforementioned benefits cannot be
overstated, it is important to appreciate some aspects of
Instagram that can be considered slight disadvantages.
The most primary concern is the fact that some view
this platform as a mere trend and nothing more.

74. Instagram Cons
This may indeed be the case, for it does seem that
nearly everyone has jumped on the virtual bandwagon
in recent times. The danger here is the fact that if every
company uses Instagram for social media marketing,
the technology will quickly transform from “unique” to
“banal”.

75. Instagram Cons
Secondly, Instagram is certainly not for every company.
Not every picture should be modified. There may even
be times when an altered photo will detract from the
marketing campaign itself. In essence, such advertising
may actually do more harm than good. Finally (and has
been witnessed on social media sites), it is quite easy to
modify a picture much more than is considered
appropriate. The result can be transforming what could
have been a catchy visual advertisement into an
obtrusive and clumsy piece.

76. Instagram Cons
While Instagram obviously offers both pros and cons to
the user, it is nonetheless a powerful advertising tool
that should be considered in any successful marketing
campaign. Should one wish to experiment, there is no
harm at altering a handful of pictures and gauging any
responses from the audience. By employing Instagram
properly, valuable success can be potentially added to
any robust sales and marketing campaign.

77. Tagged
Tagged is a social networking website originally aimed
at junior high and high school students but is now open
to people of all ages. Despite a convoluted design,
complaints about inbox spam and excessive bot spam,
Tagged's popularity has grown over the past year.

78. Tagged Pros
One of the fastest-growing social networks
Customizable profiles
Users can 'tag' each other with pictures
A growing number of applications including games
like Poker and Mafia Wars

79. Tagged Cons
Questionable behavior leads to inbox spam
Advertisements not exactly kid-friendly
Lacks enough protection against spam bots
Convoluted design

80. Tagged
Tagged is one of the fastest growing social networks,
which means it will provide plenty of opportunity to
create a community of friends and meet new people.
With the ability to customize your profile, write on walls
and tag friends with pictures, Tagged provides a fun
atmosphere.

81. Tagged
Tagged also has a growing number of applications and
game like Mafia Wars, a game where you become a
Mafia Don and gather together a gang of thugs.

82. Tagged
By far the biggest complaint about Tagged is their
behavior in sending out email spam. Tagged is known
for sending multiple emails to a member's address
book, spamming friends and family with invites.

83. Tagged
Tagged also has a convoluted design which can make it
difficult to navigate and a confusing registration process
that can end in a never-ending loop asking for personal
information. The need to ask for a street address and
mobile phone number is also of concern.

84. Tagged
Tagged has been overrun with spam bots that grab user
profile information and spam user walls. These spam
bots can also lead to more inbox spam.

85. Tagged
While Tagged was originally targeted at junior high and
high school students, the questionable advertisements
make it not exactly kid-friendly. For this reason, there
are parental concerns with Tagged.

86. Tagged
While Tagged is quickly becoming one of the more
popular social networks, it still lags behind Facebook
and MySpace in design, functionality, popularity and
community. Add to this the negative aspects of inbox
spam, questionable advertisements and spam bots, and
it is difficult to recommend Tagged over other social
networks.