Buddy Cup

Ever find yourself missing out on adding a cool friend on Facebook that you just met at a bar because you forgot? Well, Budweiser is creating a cool new product called the "buddy cup" where, at events, every person will receive a beer cup with a microchip embedded in the bottom of the glass. And two people can instantly become Facebook friends when cups touch. To get started, drinkers have to connect their cup to their Facebook profiles by snapping a picture of the chip via a smartphone app. Even though the company hasn't released any more information about it yet, they have said they will start selling and promoting these at concerts or festivals. Kinda cool that social media and technology have come together to create this sort of thing. Now it would be so easy to meet people and exchange information while out with friends — and it's a more natural way to use technology in social settings than other connecting-concepts such as the QR-code. What do you think about this device? Would you participate if they had them at a concert or festival?

Cleaning up your LinkedIn account

Because LinkedIn is such a well-known and highly ranked search engine, it is important to make sure your profile is freshened up and attractive! If you don't even know where to start, here are some tips to help you below:

1. Picture Perfect: Having a professional headshot as your profile image is the way to go here. You don't want any party pictures from that one college party as your picture. Anyone who views your profile won't think very highly of you.

2. Be Descriptive: When describing the positions or previously held positions you had, describe them fully. People want to know the details of what you did. If you don't write them here, then you can definitely prepare for them asking when you interview!

3. Be Proactive: Don't just sit around when it comes to LinkedIn, be active! Asking for recommendations from previous employers, managers or teachers is highly recommended. This makes your profile way more attractive!

4. Be Linkable: Make sure to include a link to your website or your company's website so you can show off where you come from and present yourself and your skills in the best light possible.

5. Be Specific: Whether you are looking for a career in sales or medical research, write specific skills you have that would fit those types of jobs. That way, others who view your profile can see how well you would fit the job.

What do you think about these tips? Do you have any of your own? Let me know what you think about LinkedIn and what you want to get out of it!

Social Media Experience at Concerts

Brad Paisley created a Light Show app where members of the audience pull out their Androids or iPhones where the app is installed and then during the performance the app will sync the phones' screens to create a dazzling, flashing spectacle. This is a cool way for audience members and the country artists to come together using social media and create an experience they will always remember. The app creates a range of changing colors to create a really cool image. The app requires no data or wifi which is very convenient. What a cool way for people to come together and enjoy a concert no matter what background one comes from. If everyone works together on this and uses their phone, everyone can enjoy it and remember how cool it was! It also allows everyone to be a part of the show, which would give the audience a unifying experience. What do you think about this app? Would you use it?

Fire Me App?

So apparently, there is an app that notifies Twitter users if they have tweeted something that could get them fired. The app was created to track certain negative phrases about jobs or bosses and will warn the twitter user that this could result in him being fired. Out of all the people who have this app and were notified, only about 5% of these people actually deleted their tweets. Do you think this is useful or do you think people should get what they deserve if they are dumb enough to post something rude on Twitter? Do you think this app would be useful? Let me know!

Got the blues? Try Facebook!

Do you ever get those down in the dumps kind of feelings sometime? Like you need a quick pick me up? Well look no further than Facebook. Studies have shown that Facebook profiles help reassure people's self-worth and feelings about themselves. Facebook has been a useful tool that users have utilized to help them feel better about themselves. When they check out their profile page or picture, it reminds them of the relationships and (usually) positive comments people have written about your picture and what not. Also, looking at one's Facebook page and profile can help to remind users of their values, goals and personal relationships. It is pretty cool that Social Media can act as a personal (and free!) therapist sometimes! What do you think about this? Do you feel like this would be a useful tool to help you feel better about yourself? Have you caught yourself looking at your profile picture or page to help you feel better and be in a better mood? 

Facebook Faults

Anna Lamb-Creasey's son has disappeared without a trace. She has no idea where her son has been, and its been a month already. Unfortunately for Anna, the police had notified her through a Facebook message about her son's death. The message was sent to her but it was sent to a message folder called "Other" where any messages received from people you don't know are thrown. This folder is hard to see because of the gray font and the fading color. So the mother had no idea of the whereabouts of her son for a month. After figuring out the news, the police told the mother, "They did the best that they could do." But I'm not so sure of that. What do you think about this? Do you think social media is a good or bad way to find out about this kind of information?

The New Honk App

What do you think about an app that could find your parking spot when you forget where you parked? Do you think people would actually download it and use it? Basically, how it works is you swipe your finger on a scale to set how long you plan on parking for and the app records the location where you parked. Then as time ticks by, it will notify you through honking that your time is almost up so you have enough time to get back before you get a ticket! How accurate do you think it is and would you personally use this? Let me know!

Grammy's!

So if you watched the Grammy's tonight like I did, you would have also been checking Twitter updates every 60 seconds. As the show played on, I found myself glancing at my phone to see what others were saying about the song or award that was just handed out. I wouldn't go as far to say that there were more tweets about the Grammy's than the Superbowl, but I can safely say that I was getting 15 tweets per minute and about 90% of the tweets were Grammy-related. I was then wondering to myself, what if the Grammy's were given out based on how much a band/musician was talked about on social media? What would the results look like and would it be skewed? Just because someone talks or makes a comment about someone on social media doesn't mean they actually like the person, right? Well one could look at it in another light. When someone searches a certain band or artist on Youtube or Facebook, one would assume they are interested in their music. But when it comes to talking about someone or making a comment via Twitter, then that could consist of positive (supporting) or negative remarks which would make it hard for people to really know who is liked (or disliked for that matter) by the people who are the voters anyway. In an article on Mashable, they found results for some of the most popular songs/artists based on presence on social media. Some of the results were Album of the Year being Mumford and Sons Babel with 3,650,951 followers on Facebook. This number blew out every other artist in the running for the award. And Song of the Year would have been "Gangnam Style"with 1,275,457,758 Youtube hits. That is more than Carly Rae Jepson and Justin Bieber's top hit song!! So as you can see that is a little taste of how the Grammy's would have been run if they were based on presence on social media. What do you think about it?

Superbowl Blowout

February 4, 2012

To everyone who was watching the Superbowl last night, it was a HUGE success in the world of Twitter! It was reported that over 24.1 million tweets about the game and halftime show were posted by you all! Can't you see how capable the world is of bonding over one thing? Social media has become a tool for everyone to use to click somewhere with another person. It has helped spread the word about something, get people's attention towards an event, or simply to make someone laugh. The halftime show which included multiple songs by the gorgeous Beyonce generated 268,000 tweets per minute. That is a crazy influx of tweets per minute, and its all about one thing (or person I should say)...Beyonce. Also, another interesting note was that commercials were able to change their advertisements during commercials to make them relevant to the blackout during the Superbowl. Some companies like Oreo and Tide produced ads in minutes and posted them on Twitter about the blackout that happened. It was quite funny and got the attention of millions of followers. The power of social media and Twitter specifically has become revolutionary and we, the people of the US, can use this to our benefit! Learn more about something, get updated and current news, or simply voice your opinion on something...because everyone has one!! What did YOU mainly tweet about during the Superbowl?

Charity: Water

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/givingtuesday/water-changes-everything/

This organization is doing such a great thing and they are using social media as a way to spread the word. The organization called Charity: Water and they deliver safe drinking water to people in developing countries by using donated funds from people. They have really created a trusting relationship with the donors by using social media to track and update the donors on where their money is going. Because so many people are concerned with organizations that take donations but they never know where their money goes to, Charity: water does not make their donors feel like this. They show every dollar that has been given and where it is going. They also have GPS coordinates on a map that one can see where there money is going, whether it is going to a well in India or Africa. I believe they also have done a phenomenal job with spreading the word about their organization without being too overbearing or annoying to people. They created a brilliant campaign where people essentially "give up" their birthdays in order to raise money to go towards giving fresh and clean water to others in need. This is definitely a very good marketing strategy and it appeals to the emotions of consumers. The commercials in the article were very emotional based and made me feel like I wanted to do it too! I believe with social media one can persuade and quite possibly change the world. It is so awesome to see an organization use social media for good and not to spread nasty rumors about someone. I really think this could go viral and you never know, with social media we could change the world and no one would be drinking unclean water again!

First Blog!

First blog entry! Excited to learn more about social media in my MARK 5000 class this semester!