Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

With 20 million members, StumbleUpon helps users to discover and share the best of the web. As you rate websites, your interest is shared with other like-minded users. The StumbleUpon experience is about seeing the exact content you want to see.

Research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB) recently published a study highlighting the purpose of interacting with a brand on Facebook. In a 15 minute web survey to 1,491 consumers, CMB found that 56% of users aged 18-35 interact with brands they use on Facebook. Overall about one in three users use Facebook to follow brands, where only 4% follow on Twitter and 1% on LinkedIn.

The main reason people “like” a brand is simply because they are a customer. Other popular reasons are to keep track of discounts or to show their support for the brand. A 77% majority consider the extent of their interaction to be reading posts on their newsfeed. However, a “like” could still mean good things for a business. 56% of respondents said they would be more likely to recommend a product after becoming a fan. About 51% said they would be more likely to purchase the product or service. Finally, 58% “like” fewer than five brands and 78% “like” fewer than ten. Therefore, for a majority of users a “like” is significant.

The first big takeaway from this is that Facebook should be the focus of a social media marketing strategy. A very small proportion of people in the study followed brands on other sites like Twitter and LinkedIn. Another thing to notice is that “liking” something is a fairly passive action. In order to make the most of a Facebook fan page businesses need to offer an incentive to be followed – like discounts, new product news, and interesting content – without being overaggressive.

If you’re interested in the rapidly growing world of online marketing, this is the perfect class for you! With Michigan State University’s New Media Driver’s License, you will learn all about the different aspects of online marketing from the experts. Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing, shows his students the many facets of the digital world in a fun, easy to learn way.

One of the greatest things about this class is that you are learning brand new things, but a lot of it is just expanding your knowledge of media you already use. Not everyone blogs, but it’s a pretty simple thing to do and you will learn the little extras that turn your good blog into a great blog. Most of the students who take this class already have accounts on at least one social media platform. Learn how to use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to their full advantage.

Some things you may know little or nothing about are search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and Google and Yahoo! search rankings. When you successfully complete this class, you will have an understanding of these things and just how great of an impact they have on a business.

Another great thing about this class is that it is (mostly) online. From experience, I can say this is one of the most enjoyable and most useful classes I have ever taken. I loved the convenience of being able to do my work when it worked best for me.

Sign up now for the Fall 2011 New Media Driver’s License (ADV420) course!

THE NEW MEDIA DRIVERS LICENSE IS PROVIDED BY The Michigan State University Advertising, Public Relations & Retailing Deparment in Partnership with Derek Mehraban.

The Ghost of Facebook Past

Do you remember what you were doing a year ago today? Two years ago today? Facebook has recently released a feature that shows what you posted as your status exactly one or two years previous to the current date.

Sounds like a cool idea at first, but then I started thinking about things that people post on their statuses.

For some days, I’m sure this feature is great. Reading a status about a great weekend that you had, a shopping trip, a family vacation, or a friend’s wedding can bring back some great memories. What about the not-so-great ones? Facebook is a great way to keep in contact with friends and family, and I often see status updates about people’s family or friends who have been in a tragic accident or who have passed away. These are not things that we need to be reminded of by Facebook.

If you’re interested in exploring this feature, it occasionally pops up in the top, right-hand corner of your page, where you would see friends’ birthdays or suggested friends. You will also be shown past status updates from your friends. There are still some kinks in this feature, as it is fairly new (only released in the past few days).

It is unsure if this feature has a purpose or if it is just another feature for users to engage with Facebook. It may even be a way to remind users that they have invested a lot of time into Facebook to keep them from switching to something new and different.

Anonymous, a well known group of “hacktivists”, has organized Operation Facebook to take place on November 5, 2011. The reason of the attack is for the lack of privacy that Facebook provides its users. Anonymous claims that “Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world.”

This group has claimed to have had some sort of participation in nearly every notable attack this year, including hacking into 70 law enforcement websites as well as completely taking down the Syrian Ministry of Defense this past week.

After being banned from Google+, the group has created its own social network called AnonPlus, but it is not yet available to the public. It is “a new social network where there is no fear … of censorship … of blackout … or of holding back.”

A tweet made by the group has stated that even though some Anons are organizing Operation Facebook, not the entire group agrees with it. Only time will tell if the threat to demolish Facebook is real.

Posted below is the video and statement released by Anonymous that explains the reason for their upcoming attack on the world’s largest social network.

Message from Anonymous: Operation Facebook, Nov 5 2011

Attention citizens of the world,

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.

Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.

http://www.physorg.com/news170614271.html
http://itgrunts.com/2010/10/07/facebook-steals-numbers-and-data-from-your-iphone/

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.

The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.

Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.

This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us

Search engine giant Google launched their very own social networking service on Tuesday. The Google+ Project attempts to take a bite out of, and possibly rip the head off of menacing social networking superstar Facebook. Parasitic social networking sites are rapidly invading Google’s territory, as Facebook and Twitter absorb the traffic once reserved for Google. Social networks cripple Google’s infrastructure by depriving important information from the systems used to enhance Web search and Google AdWords.

Google+ Project surpasses any other social networking attempt made by the company in the past. Standard social sharing is taken to the next level, converting the typical social networking mass communication model into a more personalized small group, real-life communication experience.Users can create separate communication groups between friends, family, acquaintances, ex-boyfriends, frenemies, roommates, running buddies, co-workers, etc., into “Circles.” Circles is a Google+ Project feature uses a drag and drop method and simplifies standard practices used on other social networks to dividing friends, foes and co-workers into individual sharing networks.

The iPhone and Android mobile applications for Google+ are very similar to the web version of Google+, making sharing and communicating easy and fluid. Users won’t have to use four different applications to share information or chat with friends in different ways. The magnitude of Google’s Web and mobile presence is enough to make smaller start-ups and mobile developers quiver in their boots. Add the element of social sharing into the mix and Google could potentially destroy its social networking competitors.

Fusing together content sharing, group video chat, video and photo sharing and a mobile app is an impressive start for Google’s social networking future. Google+ Project combines Internet social sharing habits into one centralized place where messages can be controlled and disseminated in real-life fashion. Google+ Project is still in its field trial period and more innovations and changes are expected. It will be interesting to see if Google’s search engine marketing skills will match their social media marketing abilities.

New York Times: Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook

The Google+ Project

In high school and early years of college my Facebook addiction appeared to distract me from what many others thought I “should” be focusing on. As I got older my Facebook addiction led to a fascination with Twitter and other forms of social media. Suddenly I was studying social media and digital public relations strategies in school. Within three years my degree in public relations went from cool to awesome. I was taking innovative journalism classes tailored to social media strategies and search engine optimization and all things digital. Was this too good to be true? Can I really make a career out of this?

Photo: DirJournal.com

It turns out you can. And there is quite the demand for digital agencies and social media strategist as the digital revolution continues to grow according to The Detroit News article, Aging Nation, Technology Give Rise to Five Hot Jobs. There is real value in social and digital and more and more people are recognizing that. The job market is fierce and there is good news for college students. According to The Detroit News Article. “By 2018 a million new jobs expected to be created.”  I don’t know if fate or luck or destiny brought me to my current internship in the digital marketing field, but the future is looking nice for me and for the digital agency.

The Detroit News: Aging Nation, Technology Give Rise to Five Hot Jobs

iPad’s are awesome and the applications are even better. I read about Deja, a new and highly anticipated iPad application last night that released today. I woke up excited because Deja is said to be similar to one of my favorite and most used apps, Flipboard. Flipboard is an app that beautifully arranges a completely customizable database of a users favorite websites, Twitter, Flickr, magazines and other online publications into a newspaper or magazine like layout. Then allows you to “flip” through different pages and view organized content seamlessly within the app. It is said that Deja does for videos what Fliboard does for photos and text and that is something to be excited about, after all Flipboard was named, “App of the Year,” in 2010.

I downloaded the app this morning and was instantly attracted. Videos are extracted from my Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google and RSS accounts, then compiled into a sleek and user-friendly design. Videos are updated accordingly and the sharing option is easier than ever. Users can share content on Twitter, Facebook or to email. Deja is what an iPad app should look and feel like. The interface displays tiles you can swipe threw zoom in on, and watch. Deja has a feature called ‘fling,’ where you can take whatever video you’re watching via Deja on the iPad, and view it on a TV connected to Apple TV.

You can search and view video’s, easily make playlists, view related videos, save and share in one place. It is beautiful and innovative but also very new. There are a lot of bugs and Deja crashed on me almost every time I used the app. I usually get very frustrated when something doesn’t work but I think Deja has serious potential and I can put up with it for now. A lot of time, effort and $200K of funding went into the Apps development and I really don’t think it’s going to fail. I’m hoping that the iPad 2’s video recording capabilities will help provoke the development of an option to upload videos directly to Deja. I want more customizable options for account preferences and I am also wondering if there are any privacy concerns. Deja has the potential to be a great social media marketing tool and I am interested to see how the iPad application evolves.

The website Formspring is notorious for its anonymous question format, easily allowing the occurrence of online bullying. The website allows its users to harass and intimidate members in question format and, in the past, really had no way of controlling the bullying. Although most members of the older demographic are able to handle such acts of harassment, a large portion of Formspring’s users are teens and young adults; the ages in which individuals are most emotionally influenced.

The recent tragedies due to bullying were heard around the world. No one should feel afraid or intimidated for living their life and Formspring has decided to take a stand for the kids who feel that way. The website announced that they are in the  process of creating detection tools of problematic content on its site, partnering with MIT’s Media Lab to do so. The MIT team aims to implement software with intelligence that goes beyond standard word filters. The team has been using natural language recognition to uncover content that could be deemed as harassing or aggressive content.

It’s sad that a social media site, which was made as a harmless way to have fun with friends, has turned into a breeding ground for online bullying. This new software is innovative and necessary; online bullying is has reached its peak this year, with countless children taking their lives due to online harassment by peers. Although I can understand the idea that Formspring is anonymous and some users who don’t engage in online bullying could be aggravated by the detection software, I definitely feel that it is a great idea. Children joke around with their friends sometimes, but other times it can go too far without them realizing the effect that they are having on their friends. Some can shrug it off, but others can be severely damaged by degrading and aggressive comments.

Social media has transformed the way companies market their products and, in my eyes, Kraft Mac & Cheese is the newest front runner. I logged in to Twitter yesterday and was surprised to see that “Mac & Cheese” was trending. I know, as well as the rest of the Tweetos, that whenever something is trending, there is a story behind it, but I couldn’t figure out why people’s tweets were including the phrase “Mac & Cheese.” Shortly after, I was perusing Mashable and discovered that an article was written about why the lunchtime delight was trending on Twitter.

To my surprise, Kraft has a type of game going, known as the Mac & Jinx promotion, in which the winner receives five free boxes of mac and cheese and a T-shirt. The game goes something like this: any time two different people tweet using the phrase “mac & cheese,” they’ll each get a link pointing out the “Mac & Jinx.” The first one to click the link and give Kraft his or her address wins. This contest is so different than the traditional “enter and win” contests and I think it’s a great idea. Twitter is revolutionizing the way we get our news, keep in touch with friends and now they are changing the way we participate in contests.

It’s great to see that companies are getting creative now, and I love the fact that Kraft is making it relatively easy to win the prizes; you don’t have to jump through hoops or have some special talent to be a winner. Anyone can participate in the contest as long as he or she has a Twitter account. I also like that there are numerous winners; everyone has the chance to win without dropping their name in a hat and finding out months later that they won. I love that Kraft is embracing what new age technology has to offer with its Twitter contest.