Posts Tagged ‘website’

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@SocialMedia411: an expert who ‘doesn’t suck’


2012
11.16

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Californian Jeff Pester has perfected the craft of utilizing social media to discuss, promote and critique social media.

It’s hardly redundant.

In fact, it’s genius: His market of adamant, interested people is already gathered in one place, ready and willing to ingest the information disseminated with a click of his mouse.

With a tagline touting the phrase “Highly recommended by people who like things that don’t suck,” most people wouldn’t expect Pester’s Twitter-based organization Social Media Insider (@SocialMedia411) has many insightful things to say.

It’s this sort of casual confidence, however, that makes his account so effective and well-received by a relatively young, tech-savvy audience eager to analyze today’s rapidly evolving technology.

Social Media Insider curates highly relevant content for more than 130,000 social media practitioners, according to Pester’s LinkedIn profile. The account congregates social media news, commentary and insight in one place, providing links to outside sources on a constantly updated news feed.

The account was named one of the “35 Influential People in Social Media” by The Poynter Institute and was ranked No. 5 on the list of “25 Twitter Accounts Corporate Communicators Should Follow.” Twitter Grader ranks Social Media Insider 100 out of a possible 100.

Although I’m not involved with corporate communications and I’m not a social media guru, I still found Social Media Insider interesting, entertaining and insightful. Its links ranged from quirky news stories to hard-hitting business news, as well as information of general interest to a Twitter-using community.

A few articles that caught my attention Friday while I was writing this post discussed the following topics: Facebook’s stock shares increasing, updates to Twitter resembling a visual format similar to Instagram and a Catholic Minnesota teen being denied the sacrament of confirmation due to a pro-gay marriage Facebook post.

I found all this information in a matter of minutes.

Simply put: I was impressed.

Anyone wishing to improve their online presence or stay up-to-date on social media trends should definitely follow Social Media Insider.

Expert insight like Pester’s will only become more valuable as social media continues to play a vital role in all aspects of our lives.

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Social media is our generation’s second nature — why not capitalize on it?


2012
09.15

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Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »

Doesn’t an ages-old saying state “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”

It appears a handful of company owners and Internet gurus want to challenge that mindset, based on some articles and blog posts surfacing online.

Authors are advocating for businesses to think before they hire young college graduates to operate their social media services. It appears they want to teach older employees how to use social media, rather than hire someone new who already has the skills to utilize it.

A recent article in Inc. Magazine is bold enough to blatantly warn business owners “a 23-year-old shouldn’t run your social media” in its headline. Although the author contradictorily retracts the generalization in the first sentence of her article, the statement still irks me, because it is hugely inaccurate.

A majority of the Inc. article’s 11 reasons to not hire fresh college graduates to manage social media services are based more on stereotypes of younger adults than on fact. (For example, this statement: “… if you hire a young person to manage your social media, you may also need to need to worry about how he or she is actually spending his or her time. Will you need to be monitoring the person?)

I hope businesses would conduct normal hiring practices when considering to hire someone for a position to manage social media. I agree, it is foolish for a company to hire someone strictly based on their young age, but it is also foolish to assume a younger person is too immature to handle a position if they are more qualified than any other candidates for the job.

While interning at The Columbus Dispatch this summer, I met a younger staff member who was hired a few years after she graduated college to help operate the newspaper’s Internet presence, including its Website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr. She works with a Web staff of several people. When she gave an engaging presentation to the interns about social media it was clear she knew more about it than the rest of the staff members combined.

She taught us — no one had to teach her. And she was definitely mature enough and skilled enough to handle the position.

Social media is second nature to a majority of recent college graduates. Hiring a young employee with fresh ideas — someone who is responsible, hard-working and knows how social media works — is not a bad idea. If the new hire has the right credentials, it’s smart and cost-effective.

A person’s age shouldn’t be the only reason he or she is hired. But if a person is qualified, age shouldn’t be a reason he or she isn’t hired, either.

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When does “creeping” cross the line?


2012
08.29

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Social media users today have given the term “creeping” a whole new meaning. What was once a frowned upon real-life invasion of privacy has morphed into a socially acceptable digital practice, with a great number of people participating daily.

It’s perfectly fine to thoroughly examine someone’s Facebook profile, Twitter feed, LinkedIn page or Instagram photos from the comfort of your home — after all, they’re posting the information for you to look at in the first place, right?

But is there ever a time when this so-called “creeping” crosses the line, specifically in the business world?

Late this spring and early this summer, media outlets across the country quickly nabbed attention with stories of businesses demanding social media passwords of potential employees prior to their hire. The idea was to investigate websites like Facebook for information that could influence their hiring practices (or simply put, to “creep” on potential employees in search of drunken photos, offensive posts, etc.). Most Americans, including myself, were outraged by the practice.

It’s worth noting that I think it is perfectly acceptable for employers to utilize social media to learn more about potential hires or current employees. Today it’s not uncommon to perform a Google search on everyone from our college professor to our upcoming weekend date. We have the tools to do so with ease and it’s foolish to expect employers not to utilize what’s available to anyone with an Internet connection. This is why it’s important for working adults to keep their social media profiles both personal and professional.

I do not, however, think it is acceptable for employers to demand passwords to Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites to learn more about potential hires or current employees. The act is a blatant invasion of privacy and a threat to a person’s online security. If an average person (or average employer) surfing the Web cannot find the information due to privacy blocks, why is it necessary to obtain that information with a password? It doesn’t threaten a person’s reputation or a company’s reputation if it is not easily accessed online.

Social media is free and readily available for anyone with an Internet connection. It can be used for great things in the professional world, including obtaining feedback and establishing relationships with customers. Unfortunately, I fear employers may deter employees from utilizing social media altogether if they ask for employees’ passwords and they place so much emphasis on constantly reviewing it.

A little common sense goes a long way, and I think that’s all employers need to emphasize to keep social media professional, safe and effective for everyone.

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