Social Media and How to React to a Tragedy

Apr30
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Hayley Radachi

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, scheduled tweets from Twitter users have come under fire. While scheduled tweets can in fact save time for users, the pre-determined messages can be seen as insensitive during a tragedy, especially when the posts surround self-promotion.

Due to the fact that there are no concrete rules of how to go about posting content during a tragedy or after a national crisis, etiquette is oftentimes difficult to determine. As a result, Social Media Today and PR Daily have suggested a few practices on how to handle and post social media content in such an instance.

First, deactivate scheduled tweets, posts, and other automated content. With the influx of developing updates, fans and followers of your accounts may find the content insensitive, and may start to believe that your company is unaware of what is going on around them.

Second, be sure to review your content calendar and make adjustments. One seemingly harmless word in a post could have a whole new meaning after a tragedy, so take the time to reassess.

Third, do not promote, but instead consider pausing your message. Again self-promotion could come across as insincere, so delay your company’s message.

Lastly, show compassion by offering condolences, and if possible share helpful resources.

What changes do you make to your social media efforts when something unexpected strikes?

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Rediscover New Music with Twitter’s Music App

Apr25
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Nirma Hasty

The ambiguity behind Twitter’s new music app has finally been put to rest as Twitter officially launched the app to the public this past Thursday. This new service is available on music.twitter.com, as well as on a separate app for the iPhone through the App store. The application allows users to discover new music through the tweets of the artist and others, listen to their music on iTunes, Spotify or Rdio, check out concert dates, watch videos on Youtube and more from just one platform.

The feature to find music you like, play it and share it directly from the Player screen is one of the many conveniences of this application. The layout makes it easy on the eyes, as it cleverly lists 140 of its most popular artists and songs. When you hover over the artwork, you get to choose whether you want your music to play on iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. If you are in need of new music, then this is the place to go.

Before releasing it to the public, Twitter gave artists like Ryan Seacrest and Wiz Khalifa a sneak peak of the service. Both artists gave their approval of the app on Twitter.

This move was made in efforts to engage artists more on Twitter. For instance, if artists use the feature called “Twitter Cards,” it can conveniently send out a song to all of their followers and generate a buzz through Twitter’s music app. The artist will benefit as their fans become more informed of their new music, concerts and more.

Twitter foresees the growth of this application, as it plans to be made available for the Android Market in the near future. In addition, Twitter would like to expand to other music providers beyond just iTunes, Spotify and Rdio.

This new service will be beneficial for the music industry as it gives them a better sense of what their fans are listening to and what they would like to listen to in their future. Also, they can receive feedback from millions of users instantaneously.

Tired of your same old playlist? Then, you might want to check out Twitter’s new music discovery service.

Will you be using Twitter’s new music app?

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Websites’ Speedy Reaction to the Boston Marathon Explosion

Apr17
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Monica Chung

Some websites responded quickly to the explosion that occurred at the annual Boston Marathon Monday. Two of them were Google, a widely used search engine and Reddit, a social news and entertainment website. These two sites proved the power of internet – allowing people from all over the world to connect with just a touch of their fingertips…literally.

Shortly after two bombs went off near the finish line at the marathon, Google launched Google Person Finder to help people track their friends and family members that were present at the tragedy. This service is allowing anyone to search for someone by “entering the person’s name or parts of the name.” People can also post a status or information on someone. As of now, there are about 5,500 records, which is data available to the public. Since this is information anyone can look at and post, it is not the most accurate. However, what can be more reassuring than a helpful service to track your friends and family at a time of catastrophe?

Not only was Google fast at providing service, Reddit was quick at posting updates on the Boston Marathon explosions, only to prove that Reddit is indeed “the front page of the internet.”  Many Reddit users constantly kept updating on the Boston explosions. There were even people at the scene of the explosions that gave live, useful commentaries. “Another possible incendiary device at UMass Library. Get it out on social media that people should get away from the area as soon as possible,” wrote a Redditor. Other Redditors made sure to vote the entries about the explosion “up” so were able to remain their position on top of Reddit’s page.

It is already hard enough to look for someone at a national marathon filled with runners and spectators, but it was even harder just trying to get in contact with someone on the day of the Boston Marathon explosions. Google Person Finder made it possible for people to look up the status of their loved ones while Reddit users informed the current situation that was occurring. Some people may bash on the usage of social media on the internet, but the way Google and Reddit used their own pages on the day of the Boston Marathon explosions should make them think otherwise! Don’t you?

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How #Hashtags Can Make All the Difference

Apr16
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Hayley Radachi

 

 

 

In case you are not familiar with the hashtag, it started as a way to categorize tweets on Twitter by using specific keywords. Those keywords and phrases would be preceded by the symbol “#”, and feature no spaces in between words for it to be considered a hashtag. Essentially the hashtag works as a filter, and makes all tweets with those specific phrases or keywords searchable.

As far as social networks, plenty have incorporated trending hashtags as a user feature for their sites. Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram are well known for their users’ hashtag habits, and according to Mashable, Vine recently announced on their blog that they would be launching the feature in order to “bring focus to a greater variety of Vine content and users,” thus allowing videos to get more exposure.  Even Facebook is looking to rollout the feature as the Wall Street Journal reported, although a date has not yet been set.

While many have embraced the hashtag for personal use, the feature could in fact be a helpful tool for companies. Social Media Today identified ways businesses can benefit from hashtags. First, it’s a great tool for research and marketing. Hashtags allow users to better analyze social media trends and understand potential consumers’ mindsets. In other words, it is a way to keep track of what your target audience is engaging in. In addition, hashtags are a great tool to find feedback from customers who use hashtags provided by brands.

Second, hashtags allow businesses to get discovered by the right people and reach a larger audience. Think of hashtags as the next SEO for social networks. With the correct hashtags, businesses can partake in discussions with those of similar interests, connect with the right people, and can ensure that their brand name gets across.

As a result, hashtags can help businesses expand their audience and create better content to engage their customers with. Just be aware that some businesses may take hash tagging to a whole new level and make come off as spam. Just remember short, simple and straight to the point.

Do you use hashtags on other sites besides Twitter? What are some ways you use hashtags to engage your followers?

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Brands Should Take Advantage of Facebook’s “New” News Feeds

Mar29
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Amanda Rochlen

Facebook revealed a beautiful new redesign of the social network’s news feeds, introducing separate feeds and a heavier focus on visual content.  While Facebook will be slowly rolling out the new design to its users, brands should be looking at how these changes will impact their content and advertising strategy as well as notice the opportunities they have to increase engagement.

The biggest change that is being introduced in this redesign is the separate content feeds. The “new” news feed will consist of your own feed, “most recent”, “all friends,” games, music, and of course photos.  These sub feeds will give users more control over the content they see. According to mediabistro the most important addition brands may find is the following feed. This stream will allow Facebook users to see all the posts from brands they “like” as well as posts from other fans. In other words fan engagement will become even more important.

 

Another major change coming to the popular social networking site is its visuals. Facebook ‘s “new” news feeds are cleaner and are much heavier on visual content.  This size of photos and videos have been enlarged which is great for high quality images but will make low resolution pictures look worse.  Which is why publishers should be investing in producing high quality visuals. This will also give brands a reason to have a great cover photo because it will now be appearing in the news feed. Facebook has said that “having an engaging cover photo that tells your or your page’s story is even more important to improve your discovery through connection stories.” This implies that creating great original visual content is more important then ever.

While we won’t know the effects of these new Facebook updates anytime soon it is important to realize that brands now have the opportunity to bee seen on different feeds as well as promote creativity in advertising strategy to be seen more.  What do you think about the changes?

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