Pinterest is Relevant Folks!

In the past year, social media sites have been making additions to their programs, creating new apps and services while also fixing bugs and hiring “hackers” to help. In an article on Mashable.com we are informed of how much these fixes, innovations and additions are actually helping the sites to stay relevant and popular. More specifically; sites wanted to see how popular they were on the mobile front.

I personally don’t have a smart phone but, I have an iPod and iPad which are slaves to wifi. Therefore, my social media access is limited especially from a mobile standpoint. It was interesting to see that from a report from comScore, “Instagram users in the U.S. spend 98% of time with the network on mobile”. This apparently wasn’t surprising to Matt Petronzio, the author of the Mashable article because Instagram was actually a mobile-only site when it first came out and then later became desktop friendly.  

The second highest ranking mobile social media site is Pinterest which I thought was amazing. Users spend 92% of their time on mobile whereas Twitter users only chose the mobile experience 86% of the time.  This makes my inner Pinner sing with delight. I thought that Pinterest was mainly used by women who were crafting at home on their desktops. I feel so in-with-the-times now because whenever I latch onto wifi, I make additions to my boards. I also thought this was surprising because I always assumed that Twitter users essentially only used mobile because tweets are normally in “real-time” and not many people carry around their desktops.

A serious announcement on the funniest of days!

Today is April Fool's day, the day where people decide to play funny pranks on their friends and family members to get a really good laugh. Well apparently Twitter decided today would be a perfect day to launch their way into the wearable device world! Today they announced their new helmet  that will cover the whole head and allows for people to interact with the world through a special custom aviary interface. The device of course, also allows people to be able to tweet by using a simple pecking motion much like that of a bird. The device is set to come out in September at a surprising low price of $139.99 and will also include various items that are bird related.

I honestly am not at all sure if this is a very clever prank by the Twitter organization or not; but I don't know how many people would be interested in this product. It is a very cool idea but something still seems a bit sketchy to me about this all. The article from Mashable has pictures of the images of what this device will look like but each photo is captioned at the bottom saying " photos taken by secret source." I guess we will just have to see if more news comes out about this later down the road, but if you're interested check out the article here. Mashable

Introducing Flappy Bird...again

Photo taken from appadvice.com

It wasn’t until I saw all of the tweets going back and forth on our class blog about Flappy Bird that I decided to find out what all of the hype was about. It was after it was pulled from the market by the creator, Dong Nguyen, so it was a different version, but I was hooked. I just kept thinking that I could do better and “I almost made that one!” I am not as obsessive about this game as some others, which is why the creator decided to do what he did.

Not very long after this app was erased from the store, Nguyen has gone on record saying that there will be another Flappy Bird, even “better than the original”. You have to wonder why, with not much time having passed, has he decided to do this. Could it be that all of the fuss was purposely made to get more publicity for him? That this was his plan all along, to get people to want the app even more because it was gone? It just doesn’t make sense to me why someone would create a second version of something that seemingly caused him so much stress.

 I’m sure that many of us would like to see another “original” Flappy Bird, but only time will tell if people will respond to the up and coming app like they did the first one, and, if they do, then what? Will the creator pull this one like he did the first? However, the creator is quoted in the article as saying that, when and/ or if the game is released again, he will likely put a "warning" to, "please take a break." I don’t foresee people actually paying attention to this, however. The author states that Nguyen nearly disappeared on Twitter after the app was pulled, for what reason it doesn’t say, but it does make you wonder.

Article posted on mashable.com on March 20th, 2014

Flappy Bird is Coming Back!

Flappy Bird may soon arrive… again.

By now we all know the story. Flappy Bird was the number one app for most of January and February 2014. It became a craze, and people lost their minds trying to play the game. Flappy Bird became so successful it brought reportedly brought in $50,000 a day in ad revenue. But then its creator, Dong Nguyen, rather abruptly took the popular game off the market. Nguyen said that Flappy Bird would never return, stating he couldn't handle the pressure from its irate game players.

 It seems that Mr. Nguyen spoke too soon. This past Wednesday, in an article on mashable.com, Samantha Murphy Kelly wrote that the Twitter account of Flappy Bird's creator had some buzz-worthy activity. Responding to his followers, Dong Nguyen wrote in several replies that he is re-releasing Flappy Bird and it "will not be the original game [but] a better one." The cryptic game developer, when asked for a release date, tweeted only that the game would be released soon.

I think the entire ordeal surrounding Flappy Bird is overdone. We've all heard about the game repeatedly, and I think part of the hype was the fact that Flappy Bird was taken down at its peak. Even if Flappy Bird was truly taken down for the reasons asserted by Mr. Nguyen, it's a brilliant marketing strategy. Taking away the most popular game in the iTunes App Store at the height of its popularity doesn't make people disinterested - it makes them more determined to play the game. Now, this 'new and improved' version of Flappy Bird has to be spectacular. It has to blow everyone's mind because we're all expecting it to live up to the hype that was placed on its infuriating predecessor. It seems Flappy Bird’s reign of frustration isn’t done quite yet.

LinkedIn vs. Twitter & Facebook

Everyone seems to forget about LinkedIn due to the massive popularity among other social media networks including Twitter and Facebook. These two social networks have been in control of the marketing and media world, especially in the United States. However, LinkedIn has made the decision to further expand into China. On a side note, Twitter, Facebook, as well as Google are all generally blocked by China's government. As a result of LinkedIn's growing presence in China, LinkedIn has already acquired approximately four million new users. 

The new Chinese-language website aims to broaden the LinkedIn business world. "Our mission is to connect the world's professionals and create greater economic opportunity—and this is a significant step towards achieving that goal,” Derek Shen, LinkedIn’s president of China, wrote in a blog post. In addition, Shen wants to continue upgrading the technological world at the same rate and pace of the business world. Because of China's hands-on government, this could become very difficult. 

Due to China's strict government regulations, censorship will definitely come into play. The company must regulate and censor any content from the users in China. Any information outside of China will not be censored. The creation of the Chinese website makes it much easier for the Chinese government to control the content of their users. Traditional LinkedIn users do not typically or traditionally censor content. However, this massive expansion into a huge business-oriented economy is a major step forward for LinkedIn. 

In my opinion, social media networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook all can not only serve as personal profiles, but as well as business profiles, professional portfolios, and any other business-oriented utility. LinkedIn's expansion into China really sets them apart from Twitter and Facebook, especially in the business world. In general, this is LinkedIn's opportunity to finally become the definitive professional publishing platform.

For more information, here's the link to the whole story.
http://qz.com/180755/linkedin-is-doing-what-facebook-google-and-twitter-cant-expanding-in-china/

Love is in the Tweets!

Valentines Day is a great excuse to share adorable pictures of you and your loved one. Sharing updates on your love life has always been a part of social media and this year politicians got on board.

Subscribers of twitter were no doubt bombarded by messages of love and romance; two things hardly associated with politics. So, this year seeing the human side of some of the most powerful men and women in the country was a simple reminder that at the end of the day we all want to be loved. 

For this blogger, it was refreshing to see a human side to people that can come of cold, uncaring and down right scary sometimes. On this day that we celebrate the loved ones in our lives, it's a good reminder that we all have people we love and maybe, just maybe, if we let the spirit of Valentines day carry on throughout the year, we'll all be a little sweeter to each other.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/michelle-obama-tweets-a-valentines-day-love-note-to-potus/

SNL is making a comeback with social media

Saturday Night Live, or SNL, as frequent watchers of the show call it, is in a transition period after losing many of its regular and loved cast members. The replacements for those cast members are generally young, and there has been some hesitation as to whether these cast members are true replacements for the lost talent. While they are still setting down their roots, the cast had started heavily participating in social media, which could not only help their popularity, but the popularity of the show as well. Such social media include a YouTube channel called #AskSNL, #Freshman15 on Instagram, and a Twitter account where cast members can give current and potential viewers a personal look into the show. All of these social media outlets seem to have given the show a freshness that could really change the way that people view SNL.

This article immediately caught my attention because I have grown up watching SNL and continue to watch it every week. I have watched through cast changes and the in between times, including this one. I have to say that I did not know about any of the social media outlets that the cast participates in. That being said, I think it is a really good idea. It is good for the show to branch out and create new interest.It is also good for these social media sites to have a well-respected and liked show to keep people using them.

I have always wanted to go to a taping, and this is a good way of being apart of the show, if you can't get around to actually going to New York City. In terms of the new cast members, I think only time will tell. I think that it is still too soon to tell, and it will take some time for people to solely look at their comedic abilities and not compare them to the people that they replaced.

Article posted on mashable.com on February 15, 2014

Job Searching Through Social Media: It's All About Being Professional

          Take a good look at your Twitter profile. Is it private or public? Is your profile picture professional, or are you chugging a bottle of Merlot? Are you tweeting about information that is relevant to your future career, or are you tweeting about how much you drank the night before? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself when job searching. Nowadays, employers are strongly utilizing social media platforms to scope out their future employees. However, will your profile make the cut?

                Steinfield goes into detail about what employers are specifically looking for in an employee, based off of their social media profiles. First and foremost, always make sure that you have an appropriate profile picture on all of your social media platforms. Yes ladies, that means no “duck-face” poses! It has been proven that recruiters are “turned off” when they do not see an “appropriate headshot.” Another biggie is to make sure you’re posting about information that actually matters. For instance, if you’re looking to go into the sports field, you will most likely be posting the latest information about sport teams. Recruiters are interested in your trends, and how you interact with others by using social media.

                Another aspect employers are looking for in their future employees is a thorough Linkedin page. Linkedin is a huge networking site, and should be used whether or not you’re a college student or professional. The amount of connections that you can have on Linkedin is incredible, and you must take full advantage of the opportunity. Not to mention, it’s free! Facebook and Twitter are also not just places to post pictures and videos, but they too are just as important for professional networking. Make sure you’re always following powerful leaders on Twitter that pertain to your field of interest; you never know what could happen. Although, once again, you need to make sure you take the proper privacy precautions if you do not want professionals to see certain photos or posts.

                So remember, the next time you’re about to post a picture/video of yourself “twerking” on the wall with you friends, make sure you remember who your publics are. You never know what professional could be watching. Be smart with everything you do on social media.