Don’t Let the Internet Lose Our Inner Net
As I awoke today I was enlightened with a video that I saw on the Social Media blog, Soshable, which has inspired me to write this post. I don’t normally write personal articles, yet I do believe that sometimes taking a moment to share a soulful thought can transpire into a knowledgeable action.
My biggest passion has been communication, since I was young, my favorite pass time was talking and that remains true today (Ask anyone who knows me). As I have grown as a human and in life, I have come to thoroughly believe in the evolution of communication and as you are aware, the most recent form has been the acceptance of Social Media within our lives.
With that said, many people still often find it odd that I only use my mobile phone for emergencies and that texting isn’t that big of a deal to me. I shock people when I say I do not own an iPad or a Tablet for reading. That I do still believe in good old fashion books, (which has struck up a debate or two) or that a smart-phone isn’t on any of my wish lists, (my “stupid phone” will do, thanks).
Although I say that in jest, what I am trying to say is that whether you do or do not have the same things or make the same choices as I do, does not make you or I any better or worse than the other, but rather me trying to put in perspective that although I truly adore the Internet and electronics, I do not allow them to rule over me, sometimes I think we get lost in them too much and though I do spend too many hours on my laptop (admittedly), I do make time to spend time away from it all, yes even Facebook.
After watching the following video I was reminded of this and touched by the spoken word that speaks truth to all of us. Us who are plugged in to electronics and at times, zoned out by voices within the same room, we prefer real-time data over real life experiences, perhaps forgetting that the two differ.
The Internet has brought us closer in ways that cannot be compared to anything before it, connecting us locally and globally through pictures, videos and text. Yet, has it caused us to disconnect from the offline world? The experiences in which can only be learned, felt or truly loved from 3D interactions.
People often take to their electronics to remain connected, and though I have a sincere passion for Social Media, I do often wonder what can cause us to be more connected than sharing time with people that are not avatars or talking heads.
I will never diminish the power of Social Media or be ungrateful for the many doors that it has opened to interact with people we may have never known, or the ability it has given to businesses to retreat back to genuine customer service, or the fact that a consumers voice is heard and matters more so now than perhaps ever.
I just hope that we don’t forget the people sitting in the next room, or stop having dinners around the dinner table. I wish for us to share in deep philosophical conversations that stems from something that happened throughout our day that did not have an electrical outlet dependency. The thought of people disregarding life that isn’t upon a screen is well… saddening.
There is a place for the Internet and its many useful tools and meaning of connections, and there is a place to shut it down before us as human’s power off.
The reason the Internet has become a popular hub to search and be social is due to the fact that we all yearn to matter. Even if we use aliases or hide behind thumbnails that don’t resemble us at all, because it is not the superficial factor that truly matters to us, it is the voice within us all that needs to be heard, to feel important and to simply exist. Let’s just not let it become silenced when we turn the computer off and not let the Internet deprive us from our inner net.
I hope this video does not deter you, but instead adds as a reminder to remain social online as well as, offline too.
Erin Ryan is a writer for various blogs and a Social Media Promotional Director who has a keen understanding of the power of Social Media for business and fervently stays up-to-date with the Social Media Industry. Erin enjoys teaching and helping people and businesses on how to use and connect through Social Media. You can connect with Erin on Twitter.
Read More Social Media News on our Socialeyezer Blog.
The Social Bowl
When the Patriots of New England take on the Giants of New York—a game that could be decided by kicking a oblong ball made of pigskin through a giant “H” for a most ripping victory—thousands of football fans will converge on Lucas Oil Field and the surrounding areas for Super Bowl XLVI. The vast majority of attendees are sure to use mobile devices to disclose various details of their fun during a full week of events. An unprepared city could experience a social media logjam, but the city of Indianapolis has taken all of this into consideration.
We all know about the importance of the commercials during this annual event. Advertisers who are able to pay the price for any multiple of 30 seconds in between the hard-hitting action gladly do so in order to communicate their messages to a captive audience of millions. Additionally, recent history has shown that viewers have used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and different blogs to vote on, share and otherwise interact with these spots. As important as that is to these advertisers, this is not the only proof of social media’s importance today. When the Patriots of New England take on the Giants of New York—a game that could be decided by kicking a oblong ball made of pigskin through a giant “H” for a most ripping victory—the thousands fans will converge on the Lucas Oil Stadium” the most wired stadium in the country.
Social Media at Your Command
Since social media is the medium by which so many people communicate nowadays, a digital team will be monitoring the Super Bowl Week conversation via numerous platforms from the day after the Pro Bowl through Sunday, February 5th. This team of strategists, analysts and other techies will also tweet directions to fans in search of parking, direct visitors to Indianapolis’s best attractions, and stand by to provide information in case of a disaster.
The digital marketing company, Raidious, will be in charge of handling all of this as well as measuring all of the analytics making a great study of how to prepare for and handle major events of like this as well as how many people have checked into the Super Bowl on Foursquare.
Can You Tweet Me Now?
Verizon has joined in on the fun reinforcing their own network from 3G to 4G LTE to WiFi by adding:
- 9 Antennas that are part of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) outside the stadium to handle increased downtown traffic.
- 400 Antenna Internal DAS to handle 3G and 4G LTE voice and data inside the stadium.
- 600 Antenna WiFi system capable of handling 28,000 simultaneous connected users. Free for Super Bowl XLVI.
- 3 Cell on Wheels (COWs). Stand alone generator powered cell towers to handle the extremely high demand areas.
While these additions vastly help those lucky enough to watch the game live and in person, there could easily be a time when someone int the stands needs to chat with their friend at home about whether or not the previous play should be challenged as they both watch the television coverage up close and personal. #humblebrag
Why is This Important?
Believe it or not, it’s 2012 and somehow there are still people out there who don’t think social media is an important part of a marketing mix. Because the Super Bowl is one of, if not the most important day of the year to advertisers, paying attention to how customers receive information is imperative. The statistics collected here will determine how they reach out and touch those who they are trying to influence to buy. Plus, a few extra shares never hurt anybody.
Read MorePrivacy on social media – do we even care?
I lost all my phone contacts recently, which of course was a pity, but it led to an interesting discovery about privacy. Here’s my story.
I wanted to restore my smart phone to its original state – it started to work pretty slow after some time. The thing is that I simply forgot to copy my contact list backup. Shame on me.
But no use crying over spilled milk. I started installing some apps, configuring etc. and after a while I noticed that I have a few hundred contacts! How’s that? Android simply imported all my Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn etc. contacts, merged them, and displayed on the contact list.
Since I didn’t want such a mess in my phone, I found and option that said something like Display only contacts with a phone number and… I still had tons of contacts displayed!
Ok, I admit it was less, but still quite a lot. As it turns out, lots of people enter their private or/and work phone numbers, their home addresses and other personal data. I always had doubts entering such data and saw no particular reason to do that. My friends simply have my phone number, and even if they don’t know my exact address (though they usually know how to get to my place 
) – there’s no problem asking me anytime. So why would I leave such information on my social media profiles? “Because there’s a field to be filled” or “because I can” are not real reasons.
Now what you probably want to say is that there are privacy settings, right? I can allow such personal information to be displayed only for specific people or groups and no one else will see it. That’s true, but I think it’s rather saying “don’t worry too much” than solving the problem. First of all, we do hear about a bug or inconsistency from time to time – people simply find ways to outsmart those systems. I’m not sure whether one day someone won’t say “Hey, I know how to get someones data from Facebook, even if they don’t allow it. All you have to do is…”
Of course you may think I’m paranoid, the same way I think I’m reasonable not to put some of my information at risk if I simply don’t have to. But there’s actually one more thing about publishing such information. Privacy settings may even work great, people may actually configure all this and keep their addresses top secret. Still, it doesn’t always do the trick.
What I observe (and what worries me) is that it’s pretty easy to make people accept friend requests. “Hey, let’s connect on Facebook!”, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” and so on – I’m not any kind of a popular person in the web, yet even I get such messages all the time. And people actually respond “sure, why not – that’s what social media are for”.
It’s very nice to make friends, chat, exchange thoughts etc. But it cannot be only “yeah, let’s do it!”, without any thinking whatsoever. Kevin Mitnick (and I’m sure you know the guy) claimed that he used mostly social engineering to get passwords. And this means people simply told him or allowed to easily get such information (for example, they were letting him into the office, where they had yellow notes with their passwords on monitors!).
What I’m saying is that privacy protection systems can be even designed and implemented well, but we are the weakest link. It difficult for most of us to find the right balance between socializing and being reasonable on the Internet. So far, so good – let’s just hope there’s no critical point to be reached here…
Read More8 Quick Steps on How-To Create a Business Card Using Facebook
An abundance of Facebook changes have occurred in the past few months, a common theme when it comes to Facebook, and with these changes it creates many benefits to be overlooked or go unseen, including a capability to create a quick and easy business card from Facebook.
This change has been made possible through Facebook’s Timeline, a new look to profiles, and with the help of Moo.com, a well know site for customizable business cards. Here is how you can use what is already on Facebook to conjure up a quick and easy Business card.
- Go to Facebook
- Go to the “About Section” on your profile
- Go to “Contact Info Section”
- Beside the words “Contact info” is a small square icon, click on it to see a preview of what your business card will look like.
- Click on “Print Cards” and it will take you to Moo, where you can create and customize your card. After allowing Moo access to your Facebook simply click “do not merge” (if you so choose) and continue to see that the card is made up of your current profile picture and background photo, as well as pulling your Facebook URL and listed contact information.
- On the back it places one of your listed favorite quotes.
- Remember, you are able to change any and all of this quickly and easily.
- With Moo, they will send a free batch if it is your first time using their service, however, it is a service that is not free and will cost a small fee for professional looking business cards.
This is just one of many undiscovered abilities that you as a Facebook user has access to and we thought you may find this information useful, since it is important to network even when socializing.
Business cards are something we all need to gain contacts and now Facebook allows you to do just that.
Would you create your business card using Facebook?
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Facebook Integration Complete
The Social-IST has completed the facebook integration into our wordpress platform and will be included in our PRO blogging package. It will include the following features:
- Facebook Connect – Allow, or force, users to register and login with their Facebook info – a login widget included
- User Profiles – Automatically fill in fields in user profiles when they register
- Autopost – Make it simple to post new content (custom post types as well!) to user’s walls, fan pages, events, or notes
- Comments - Import comments made on Facebook about a post into your Social-IST WordPress site
- Like and Send Buttons – With every customization option imaginable – place on posts, pages, custom post types, or with available shortcodes
- OpenGraph - Have complete control over the thumbnail image posted to facebook when users like/send or you autopost
- Facebook Albums – Display images from a Facebook album – as a widget or using new icon in page/post editor
- Facebook Events - Show upcoming facebook events in a sidebar or with shortcodes
- Fan Page Widgets – Like box, facepile, and recommendations – with complete customization options built right in
Who’s Who in the Alley and the Valley [Interactive Infographic]
For decades, Silicon Valley has been synonymous with innovation. It is difficult to dispute this claim given that it’s the home to technology and Internet giants such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. While it hasn’t lost its staying power, other hotspots for entrepreneurship and technology have emerged over the past ten years, in particular, New York’s “Silicon Alley”.
Although cities like Chicago, Austin, and even our own Research Triangle have produced a number of web-based businesses in recent years, New York’s startup scene is growing exponentially. The amount of capital and seed funding continues to rise as well as the success of local companies like foursquare, Gilt Groupe, and Tumblr. The city’s ecosystem also has the support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently appointed Rachel Sterne as the city’s Chief Digital Officer along with Steve Rosenbaum, the city’s first Entrepreneur at Large.
There’s no shortage of debates in the blogosphere as to whether one coast has the advantage over the other. Regardless of what side you’re on, many would agree that there’s no better time to be an entrepreneur. Organizations and incubators like the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), Startup America, Y-Combinator and Tech Stars are providing an unprecedented level of resources and support. In a recent TIME article, the YEC’s Scott Gerber even posited 2012 as “The Year of the Entrepreneur”.
Interested in seeing the growth that has been present on both coasts over the last 5 years? Interact with the graphic below to explore some noteworthy companies in both Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley, quotes from stakeholders, as well as the rise in Seed Funding from 2009-2011.
Via MBA@UNC: Online MBA
How to Spot a Social Gamer
To any of our readers who are into social gaming, please do not take this as an insult. It’s definitely not intended that way.
I’m not a social gamer. It’s not that I don’t like games – I do. It’s not that I don’t like social media – I do (obviously). At this point, I haven’t found a true social game that appeals to me. It will come, but I am somewhat still put off by them simply based upon the endless invites I once got (thank you Facebook and Twitter for fixing this) and the bias has yet to completely wear off. With that said, I am still definitely interested in learning more about who the social gamers are as there is a tremendous future in the industry.
The demographics of the social gamer are not as predictable as one might think. One part that truly surprised me was the skipping of ages – 30-39 year old people and 50-59 year old people are more likely to be a social gamer than 40-49 year old people. That’s not the only surprising part.
This infographic by Flowtown breaks it down nicely for us. Click to enlarge.
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