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Social Media Week in Review

by anush davtian on Aug 27, 2012 in Digital Media

iPhone users are celebrating the latest update to the Facebook app (Photo courtesy of mashable.com)

There was some shady business in the world of Facebook and Twitter this week. Read on to learn more.

Twitter Restricts Access to API – Moving Onto Entertainment? In a move to possibly take complete control over the information shared in its network, Twitter has yanked Tumblr’s access to its API – meaning the “Find Twitter Friends” capability will no longer be available. Twitter has been cracking down on making the network’s information more private and now they are turning their backs on Tumblr, a service that until now has been a team player with the social network and even helped them build “Twitter cards”.

Cutting off third-party developers and its recent deals with new partnerships such as NBC and the 2012 Summer Olympics, leads one to believe Twitter may have a change of heart on what they define as a successful social network.

Facebook Investor Dumps Stocks

Peter Thiel, Facebook’s first outside investor and board member confirmed he had sold about 20 million shares of Facebook last week. While Thiel still owns about 5.6 million shares, what does this say about the already poorly performing Facebook stock?

iOS App Gets Highly Anticipated Update

iPhone users are celebrating the latest update to the Facebook app, which totes a faster news feed, instant access to notifications, faster photo uploads and access to the Camera and Messenger apps all in one place. Facebook has combined the codes for the three apps into one, allowing the iOS apps to be closer to the online Facebook experience. The Android update of the app is most likely in the works.

On a Mission to Help Children

by Shelly Holmes on Aug 23, 2012 in Agency News

I always wanted to help children, but, unlike my parents I knew being an elementary teacher or principal wasn’t my calling. I also wasn’t cut out to be a doctor or childhood cancer researcher. I always cherished community volunteering and financially supporting causes, but I had a gnawing feeling there was something else I was supposed to do.

Several years ago, the opportunity came. I was asked to be on the board of the 90-year old Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic in South LA, an organization serving one of the most impoverished communities in our area. And through that journey, I’ve just been elected Board Chair of this amazing organization known for its award-winning treatment programs.

To say I am honored and humbled is cliche — but so very true. With a tough economy and healthcare reform changing the landscape profoundly, there is a lot to do — and an unbelievable need.

Getting mental health services to the most needy kids — as early as possible — can transform their lives. With the proper care, especially for those who suffer from trauma related issues, this can mean a child sidesteps the ravages of drugs and alcohol abuse, imprisonment, domestic violence (either as the abuser or the abused) and much more. They perform better in school, can build healthy relationships and can literally break the chain of poverty and abuse that has marred generations of their family.

The heroes in all of this are the folks who work at the clinic. From the social workers and psychologists who hazard home visits to dangerous neighborhoods to make sure kids get care to the clinic administrators who educate elected officials and donors on the need to keep the doors open, they are people worth honoring and supporting.

Whatever your skill or interest, I can’t encourage you enough to consider using your talents to help others in need in your community. Ironically, you’ll receive benefits in ways you’d never have imagined.

Social Media Week in Review

by Alex Krafcik on Aug 20, 2012 in Digital Media

Read on for the latest in social media news:

Twitter

Twitter released details of an upcoming API that has many developers up in arms. The new API will introduce a number of new “Developer Rules of the Road” meant to create a consistent and seamless Twitter experience. Twitter will also be tightening their grip on third-party clients like Echofon, Tweetbot, Ubersocial and TweetDeck by imposing a 100,000 user cap on third-party clients. Third-party clients with a user base over 100,000 will only be able to grow to 200% of their current user base before requiring permission from Twitter to grow any further.

Developers are bemoaning the new restrictions, with many predicting the end of popular third-party clients like Echofon and TweetDeck. For other developers this is no surprise. Twitter has been encouraging developers to stay away from developing traditional Twitter clients for over a year.

Also introduced in the new API are safeguards to make applications safer for users to use. Authentication is now required whenever an application attempts to access the Twitter API. Requiring authentication makes it easier for Twitter to allow the well-intentioned access to the API while keeping the bad guys out.

Facebook

Since 2009, a user deleting a photo on Facebook often meant a year delay before the photo would be deleted from Facebook servers. What’s the problem with that? Well, a photo that still exists on a Facebook server can be accessed via URL regardless of whether or not you’ve pressed the delete button. That’s changed this week, with Facebook now clearing deleted photos from its servers in up to 30 days.

Surprisingly, this is not an issue that Facebook shares with its competitors. Ars Technica found that deleting a photo from social sites like Flickr, Twitter or Instagram yielded instantaneous deletion from the sites’ servers.

As Facebook stock continues on its downward trend, investors will likely be keeping tabs on Facebook’s ability to respond to users’ privacy concerns. Allegiance to a social site can change in a blink of an eye and building loyalty with users will go a long way in securing Facebook’s dominance in social media.

Fake Social Accounts

Democrats were up in arms this week when Mitt Romney’s Twitter account experienced a mysterious influx of 141,000 followers in one day. Democrats claim that the Romney campaign bought the followers, citing results from a new utility, StatusPeople.com, which scans your Twitter account and determines how many followers are active, inactive, or fake. The Romney campaign denied the allegation and Republicans volleyed back that President Obama’s Twitter account has even more fake followers than Romney’s. StatusPeople.com concluded that of Obama’s 18.6 million followers, 41% are fake.

Fake Twitter accounts have become increasingly common with the creation of services that sell followers to Twitter users. Fake followers can be had for as little as $2 per 1,000 followers. These fake accounts are against Twitter’s terms of service, but Twitter is having a difficult time policing fake accounts.

Social Media Week in Review

by zanetta on Aug 3, 2012 in Digital Media

This week in social media the Olympics are heating up, Twitter is getting political and Facebook flounders to stay afloat. Read on for more!

Twitter

Twitter debuts tweet-based supplement to polling

A new generation, a new way for your voice to be heard! This week Twitter debuted Twitter Political Index, the newest tool for keeping an eye on public feelings toward President Obama and presidential nominees. Currently, the tool is sorting through Twitter’s 400 million tweets a day to analyze messages regarding Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Olympics: Twitter’s huge, varied impact

Watch what you tweet! “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.” – Jodi Picoult. If only more people would adhere to these powerful words. Social media has been taken to new heights within the past few years, giving the world quicker access to celebrities, athletes, major corporations and more. It is certainly taking a major role in the London 2012 Olympics where Twitter has played a part in people voicing their outrage against NBC and athletes have been thrown off their teams for tweeting inappropriate things.

Facebook

Facebook shares first time below $20

For the first time this past Thursday, Facebook shares have dipped below $20. It has lost half of its value since its premiere in May 2012. Many people are waiting for the stock to maintain a steady rate or even have the slightest inklings of growth for the third quarter. What do you think could happen when the shares become tradable in November?

Facebook rolling Timeline to all soon, launches new photo feature

Change is inevitable. For those who wanted to cling to distant memories of the “old Facebook”, they will be forced to conform to the new Timeline by the end of the year. The forced migration is happening because Facebook is launching a redesigned section for Photos on Timeline to allow users to highlight their favorite pictures.

Foursquare

Foursquare Launches Promoted Updates, Its Newest Effort To Generate Revenue

Foursquare launched their latest effort to generate revenue, promoted updates. Promoted updates will operate like Twitter’s promoted tweets and will appear when a user is searching for a venue in Foursquare’s explore tab.