Imagery has become far more prevalent across social media over the past 12 months. Instagram alone boasted over 32 million users prior to its acquisition by Facebook, whilst Pinterest is now the third most visited social network in the US and is growing at a rapid rate.

Facebook only recently updated its functionality around imagery, now displaying higher resolution images in a separate window, whereas Google+ has made imagery one of its USPs. In addition, Twitter recently updated its own functionality to better support the use of imagery in Tweets, whilst Pinterest has also started a revolution in the way that people share pictures around the web.

Instagram has been a leading photography sharing application for around 18 months, making use of the instant and spontaneous advantages of smartphone applications and combining it with basic image filter functionality, allowing users to customise and share their images with their network in an instant. It is likely that Facebook found this functionality attractive, as well as seeing acquisition as an opportunity to add more users to Facebook.

Philip Keightley, account director at online PR company Punch Communications, said: “The rate at which social networkers interact with content has increased significantly over the past few years, meaning that sometimes images get a message across more efficiently than words. Images can be much more personal and can tell a story more effectively in social media.

“Technologically, smartphones have revolutionised digital image consumption, in terms of the sharing process and also ease of access from the internet. This is predominantly achieved through social media, so Facebook is clearly looking to improve its image offering in order to be better placed to compete with Google+ in that area.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/04/15/prweb9400388.DTL#ixzz1sDShLunz

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402689,00.asp

In less than a week this month, the stomach-turning epithet for ammonia-treated ground beef filler suddenly became a potent rallying cry by activists fighting to ban the product from supermarket shelves and school lunch trays. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to announce today it will offer schools choice in ground beef purchases in response to requests from districts.

Though the term has been used pejoratively for at least several years, it wasn’t until last week that social media suddenly exploded with worry and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools lit up, quickly garnering hundreds of thousands of supporters.

“It sounds disgusting,” said food policy expert Marion Nestle, who notes that the unappetizing nickname made it easier for the food movement to flex its muscles over this cause.

“A lot of people have been writing about it. Therefore, more people know about it, therefore more people are queasy about it, particularly when you start thinking about how this stuff turns up in school lunches,” said Nestle, a professor at New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health.

Click to continue reading http://durangoherald.com/article/20120315/NEWS03/703159958/-1/s

Geotagging uses GPS technology to identify a person’s location, often via their mobile device, and it is becoming an increasingly popular feature on Facebook and other social media sites.

For example, it’s a key aspect of Foursquare, an online service that lets users “check in” at various places to let their friends know where they are and to enable shops, restaurants, and other services to offer them loyalty discounts and other promotions.

Click to continue reading http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/232602499

And just who is this incredibly upbeat, health-conscious buddy, with a propensity to post quotable quotes, and recipes for things such as low-carb pumpkin muffins?

Her doctor.

Actually, it is her doctor’s office, the Surgical Weight Control Center of Las Vegas, which has had a Facebook page for about three years as a way to keep patients connected to the practice. It seems to be working. Surgical Weight Control Center of Las Vegas now has about 300 “likes” on its page, including folks such as Watson, a 28-year-old office manager at a local law firm, who checks her updates on a regular basis via cellphone.

Click to continue reading
http://www.lvrj.com/health/social-media-linking-las-vegas-doctors-patients-141389473.html?ref=473

A short time later, their inbox filled up with messages, and nearly 75 people came to the locally owned eatery on Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre waiting for her, said owners Mike and Nicole Theodore and general manager Samantha Grant.

It showed the power of social media for business, they said.

“This helps our sales because people are coming in that may not have come in,” Mrs. Theodore said. “It’s a direct form of communication to our fans.”

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/local-businesses-like-social-media-1.1280667#ixzz1oB8zYia1

Online websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Yelp help small businesses in Arizona to market themselves.

Mary Lewis, social media director for Netwirks, a social media marketing company based in Phoenix, said that building an online social media presence consists of two things: building a community and increasing sales.

According to Lewis, many small business owners simply focus on increasing sales, not realizing that building a community on sites like Facebook or Twitter will increase sales much more.

“It’s frustrating,” Lewis said. “People focus on fast results and it can be hard to build community quickly.” Click below to continue reading.
http://bit.ly/yfOCKF

1. Listen to Podcasts
Sure, they’ve been overcome by newer and sexier social flavors du jour but podcasts are still the best way to spend time when you’re not in front of a screen. Driving to work? Listen to Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation or MarketingProfs’ Marketing Smarts with Matthew Grant . Working out? Put on the earbuds and embrace John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing , or Chris Penn’s Marketing Over Coffee . I’d love to have your ears on my weekly Social Pros Podcast, where we focus on real people doing real work in social media. (you can put your eyes on it too, because we run full text transcripts here).

2. Take and Curate Photographs
I’m not certain if a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s definitely worth 140 characters. This is the year that photos challenge writing as the lingua franca of the social web: Instagram; Pinterest; Path; Google + using large thumbnails in the news feed; face recognition technology. All trend lines point toward photography. If you’re not taking and posting pictures to dedicated photo networks and cross-posting (when appropriate) to Twitter and Facebook, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your network and see the world through the eyes (or cell phone cameras) of thousands of new friends. Click Link Below to Continue reading.

http://bit.ly/z6YJob

Since its launch, I’ve been a big proponent of it. It’s, in a sense, an online scrapbook. You find images and videos you like and “pin” them to your online boards.

For instance, I have “must make,” “winter training,” “books worth reading,” “gift ideas,” and more that feed my creativity. But the best part? The “what do you want for dinner” discussion has left our house. Now we just look at the “must make” board and decide very quickly what’s for dinner.

Something like 84 percent of us are visual learners. Pinterest feeds that in a big way.

I’ll admit I avoided it for a long time. I knew there were business applications for it, especially if you sell something visual such as clothes, food, or jewelry, but I knew once I got on there, I’d have to quickly attend rehab. I was right.

But the more I play with it, the more business applications I’m finding.

Following are three things you can do for your business right now.

Hold a contest. When I saw what Samuel Gordon Jewelers was doing with their “Pin It” contest, I was very intrigued. In order to win Honora Pearls, Samuel Gordon encouraged people to visit their website, pin photos of the jewelry to their personal boards, and share with their networks. Because Pinterest incorporates Facebook and Twitter, the sharing capability is automatic and the viral effect is large.

Add the “Pin It” widget to your sites. Just like you have the social network widgets on your website and blog, you can add the Pin It widget. This allows readers and visitors to automatically share something they like on your site with their networks.
Create a company board. The site is still by invite only (let me know if you want an invite), but once you get in, you can create a branded board. While you’re not allowed to blatantly promote your business, you can follow the lead of brands such as Nordstrom and Whole Foods.
Granted, there aren’t a ton of applications for a business-to-business organization, but if you’re thinking about how to share your products and services visually, you’ll want to consider Pinterest. It might be behind-the-scenes shots of your manufacturing floor, the insides of an engine, oxidizer, or gauge, or how-to videos.

Remember most people are visual learners so think about how you can cater to them while showing off the cool things you do.

http://spinsucks.com/social-media/three-ways-to-use-pinterest-for-business/

Back in June, Timberlake led a group of investors to purchase the ill fated social networking site from Fox for a reported $35 million dollars. Until the initial announcement was made the tech community hadn’t heard a whisper about the pop stars apparent interest in Myspace.

Last month at CES Timberlake spoke on reinvigorating Myspace with a focus on music. According to the new Myspace they have a library of over 42 million free songs, making it the largest freemusic library in the world.

With Google+ catching on like wildfire and Facebook continuing to report more and more users, for a while MySpace had stunted their growth. Myspace has reported that they are seeing 40,000 new sign ups per day and added 1 million new users last month.

“The numbers tell an amazing story of strong momentum and dramatic change for Myspace,” said Tim Vanderhook, CEO, Myspace said in a statement, “and the one million-plus new user accounts we’ve seen in the last 30 days validates our approach. Myspace is building meaningful social entertainment experience around content, where consumers can share and discover the music they love. Consumers are getting excited about Myspace again – a testament to a great music product.”

MySpace has been focusing almost entirely on it’s new music player and a lot less on the social network it was for many years. The music player offers unlimited, on-demand listening, personalized radio and a sophisticated recommendation engine. Myspace also offers easy integration with Facebook, the site that was essentially the downfall to the original Myspace.

http://thedroidguy.com/2012/02/did-justin-timberlake-just-bring-myspace-back/