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Pinterest: 13 Tips and Tricks for Cutting Edge Users

Pinterest has been one of the hottest new social networks on the radar for a few months now. In fact, Pinterest has cracked the current list of top 10 social networks — and it’s technically still invite-only.

For many users, Pinterest serves as a comprehensive wish list of sorts. Users (a.k.a. Pinners) post Pins to Boards that they organize by topic or theme. For instance, a user who is planning to remodel a house may Pin interior decorating ideas to a Design Board. Or a bride-to-be can post wedding dress inspirations to a Wedding Board. With 32 different topic areas, users can browse everything from fitness to art to science.

via Pinterest: 13 Tips and Tricks for Cutting Edge Users.

Facebook

REPORT: Facebook Usage At Work Is Still Rising

Companies that are still fighting to keep their employees from using Facebook are apparently losing the battle, with games from Zynga scoring some significant victories, according to the latest research from Palo Alto Networks.

The firewall provider released the following statistics about Facebook usage in the workplace:

When measured as a percentage of total social networking bandwidth, active usage of Facebook applications, games, social plug-ins, and posting to Facebook more than tripled, to 28 percent in December 2011 from nine percent in October 2010.

The percentage of total social networking bandwidth consumed by Facebook apps alone also more than tripled over the same period, to 13 percent from four percent.

Zynga games were broken out as their own app ID in May 2011, and since then, they have been found in employee accounts at 53 percent of companies that participated in the study, accounting for some five percent of total social networking bandwidth.

via REPORT: Facebook Usage At Work Is Still Rising.

case study

How Two ‘Cave’ Men Brought Major League Baseball Into the Social Media Age

When it comes to capturing the attention of young people, baseball suffers from the same problem that plagues all forms of entertainment — infinite competition.

“You used to go outside and play sports, which put you on that path,” says Terry Lefton, editor-at-large for Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily. “Now there are more things to do. My 14-year-old plays video games constantly. I’ll be watching NFL with him, and if the game gets boring, he’ll go upstairs and play Madden. He doesn’t see any difference.”

via How Two ‘Cave’ Men Brought Major League Baseball Into the Social Media Age.

crisis

Social Media Contributes to Ethical Lapses at Work

Despite the number of corporate whistleblowers being at an all-time high, new research shows the presence of a culture that promotes ethical behavior in workplaces is at its lowest point in the last decade. A new study from the Ethics Resource Center reveals that over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics at work. The use of social media appears to be contributing to the problem, according to new research.

While reporting of the wrongdoing was at an all-time high, so too was the backlash against those employees who blew the whistle, the research revealed. More than 1 in 5 employees who reported misconduct experienced some form of retaliation, which ERC President Patricia J. Harned said spells trouble.

“Retaliation against whistleblowers and pressure on employees to compromise their ethics standards are at or near all-time highs,” Harned said. “These are factors that historically indicate that American business may be on the cusp of a large downward shift in ethical conduct.”

via Social Media Contributes to Ethical Lapses at Work.

auto

Auto makers take tips from social media – Corporate News – livemint.com

Due to their explosive growth in the past few years, social media platforms have become a key tool that helps auto makers improve their vehicles, besides keeping them connected with potential buyers.

At the Auto Expo that ended in Delhi on Wednesday, this was acknowledged in various forms at the stands of carmakers such as Maruti, Hyundai Motor India Ltd and BMW India Pvt. Ltd.

The Maruti pavilion allowed visitors to register a Facebook “like” by using fingerprint IDs.

via Auto makers take tips from social media – Corporate News – livemint.com.

measurment

Intel’s Social Cockpit: A Command Center for CES Buzz

CES 2012 is likely to be remembered as the most social trade show yet. The products themselves have had a huge focus on connectedness while social chatter around the event has increased significantly since last year.

For Intel, a social conversation tracker was a natural fit for the company’s booth this year. Dubbed “the Social Cockpit,” Intel’s tool is an Adobe-Air based desktop application that collects CES buzz on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and forums.

via Intel’s Social Cockpit: A Command Center for CES Buzz.

Facebook

Facebook’s Buggiest Page Was Created on Purpose

Lithuanian video artist Laimonas Zakas, who enjoys web production as a hobby, created a Facebook Page called Glitchr that messes with Facebook codes. The art project has garnered more than 12,657 likes so far.

Don’t be afraid to visit the harmless Facebook Page. It just takes your chat navigation line and causes it to appear in the sprawling line down your screen. Voila, art.

via Facebook’s Buggiest Page Was Created on Purpose.

google+, SEO

Our Google+ Conundrum

But if that’s how the world of Google works now, that means it’s very important that you tend your Google+ pages, so that you rank well in Google search. Google has pretty much gamed its own search engine to insure Google+ will succeed.

This is what happens when you tell your entire staff that your salary depends on winning in social.

Now, this presents us all a conundrum. If a large percentage of people are logged into Google and/or Google+ when they are searching for stuff, that means Google+ pages are going to rank well for those people. Hence, I really have no choice but to play Google’s game, and tend to my Google+ page, be I a brand, a person, a small business…. are you getting the picture here? If you decide to NOT play on Google+, you will, in essence, be devalued in Google search, at least for the percentage of people who are logged in whilst using Google.

I dunno. This strikes me as wrong. I’ve spent nearly ten years building this site, Searchblog, and it has tens of thousands of inbound links, six thousand posts, nearly 30,000 comments, etc., etc. But if you are logged into Google+ and search for me, you’re going to get my Google+ profile first.

Seems a bit off. Seems like Google is taking the first click away from me and directing it to a Google service.

Now, if I decide to protest this, and delete my Google+ account, I better pray no one else named John Battelle creates a Google+ account, or they will rank ahead of me. And while Battelle is a pretty unique name, there are actually quite a few of us out there. Imagine if my name was John Kelly? Or Joe Smith?

Yikes. Quite a conundrum.

via Our Google+ Conundrum | John Battelle’s Search Blog.

Facebook

Best Practices for Brand Building in the Social Media Marketplace – comScore, Inc

Currently, social networking accounts for 19% of time spent online globally. Four out of every five people who have access to the internet across the world use social networks in some form, many several times a day, some on multiple devices. With social networking being such a pervasive and integral part of the online experience, penetrating all aspects of consumers’ lives, it is vital for marketers to understand how their audience is reached through social networking and maximize the value of their social marketing strategies.

comScore Co-Founder and CMO Linda Abraham and Buddy Media CEO and Founder Mike Lazerow present insights on how brands can optimize their social marketing programs and evaluate their effectiveness using metrics that matter.

via Best Practices for Brand Building in the Social Media Marketplace – comScore, Inc.