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We have heard it in the news, and it has become quite apparent when you see all the changes that Facebook and LinkedIn are focused on lately. I am talking about businesses and how they do business with each other. If you are a company or a B2B (business-to-business) marketer, it can be hard to choose what social networking platform to use in order to maximize your reach. Just a couple of years ago, I didn’t really have a clue about this whole area of Facebook and LinkedIn (and I can’t say that I am a maven on it now either), but today I understand enough to know that it is important and quite a vital part in today’s business climate.

However, in order to reach other businesses and close deals in quantity, you need to be at the right place doing your marketing. But where is the right place and how do you decide what that is? This is something that Bop Design can answer better than me actually. For Bit Rebels, this is a vital and highly important factor of our every day business since our whole business model is to sell our services to other companies.

It’s easy to think straight up that LinkedIn is definitely better, and that it doesn’t even compare to Facebook since it is completely based around business and the relationships between them. But Facebook is, as stated in the infographic, not to be overlooked. This giant in social networking is actually making up for it with sheer activity. This is valuable information for any business-to-business marketer and should definitely be considered. There is nothing that says you should just focus on one of these when you can actually focus on both of them. It’s just a matter of time, as always. The more time you have, and the more people you have working on it, the better chance you’ll yield better results, naturally. All you need to do is stay focused and determined. Every business that has ever made it big has been built by pure dedication and trial and error, so just go for it!

Click Infographic To Enlarge

Via: [Daily Infographic]

business-to-business-comparison-infographic

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What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you think about following someone on Twitter? Their profile, right? You want to see what the person is about, and if they posted a personal avatar of themselves as well. When you take the time to fill out your bio on Twitter and write little bits of interesting information about yourself, it gets others interested in you also. You are suddenly worth their follow.

If you don’t take that small amount of time to fill out your Twitter profile then why should someone else take the time to follow you? Twitter gives you 160 characters to write a bio, and you can use that for anything you want to say to describe yourself. My advice? Use all those characters and be interesting. Peek people’s curiosity about you. Make them want to know more. This will gain you their follow.

My recommendation for filling out your bio:

Even though people can’t see you, they want to be able to develop a friendship with the person they are following. You can help them do this by being yourself, explaining what makes you unique, what your passion is in life, why you use Twitter, and many other things that could make you stand out as different than others.

Your Twitter avatar:

Just as people want to learn about you, they also want to see you. Most people don’t want to follow an egg (the default avatar). They want to know who you are and what you look like. Take the time to put a picture of yourself up on Twitter. Show people who you are through the camera lens. Believe me, you will be surprised how many more followers you’ll get just from doing this one little thing. I am fortunate that my friend Paul does excellent photography work, and he was kind enough to offer me his services to help with my Twitter photo that you see displayed. If you’d like to get his help, you can find him at Paul Palm Springs Photo.

Filling out and completing your Twitter bio
is just as important as how you tweet.

Most people won’t take you seriously if you don’t show them a picture of you and give them a bit of background about who you are. Your Twitter peeps want to get to know you, so show them who you are.

Image Credit: [Media Bistro]

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This infographic asks the question, “Are jerks the future of the Internet?” Most of the sites where I’ve seen this posted elaborate with a story about jerk behavior that they’ve experienced in social media. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone a little bit right now because I’ve had a completely different experience in social media.

It’s true that I get the occasional troll comment on one of my 2,180 articles, but it doesn’t happen very often. A year ago when I wrote 10 Reasons Not To Block Someone On Twitter, I got a few nasty tweets, but those were just from people who were playing a game and trying to see if I would block them. I get that.

I have over 62,000 followers on Twitter, and 99.999% of the tweets I have ever gotten have been kind and fun. Maybe I’m just following the best people on Twitter, or maybe I just don’t invite negativity into my life, I don’t know. However, to answer the question on this infographic, no, I don’t think jerks are the future of the Internet. I still wanted to show you this infographic though because the information on here about cyberbullying is really fascinating. It’s a topic that definitely deserves attention, and I want to write more about it in the future. [Infographic created by Online Counseling]

Click Here For Enlarged Image

Via: [Geekosystem]

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I’m guilty. No, I haven’t done anything criminal, but I do admit to falling for one of the cardinal social media sins affecting users today: Waking up in the middle of the night to check a timeline. Here’s how it happens: when restless at 1, 2 or even as late as 3 a.m., it’s not unusual that I wake up in a fit with my mind racing. Maybe it was a dream, a nightmare, or a noise. But, the real problem is that instead of going back to sleep, I’m often kept up by none other than my Twitter feed.

See, once I’m awake with nothing but quiet in the background, my mind gets to thinking. I’m not ashamed to say it many times veers toward Twitter, that social media site that’s helped countless numbers of us in cyberspace make friends, build connections and expand our horizons. Here’s why I just can’t stop thinking about what I may or may not have seen on my followers’ timelimes earlier in the day:

• A user may have tweeted something that seemed particularly interesting, but my day may not have allowed the time to further explore it. I may not have been able to open a link to what I thought might be a fun blog post or an interesting news story.
• A  Twitter friend may have been at an event that I was interested in and knew he or she was live tweeting at. It’s not unusual to automatically think to go to that friend’s feed in the middle of the night to see how that event played out, how much money was raised at a charity dinner, or how many overtimes it took for a team to win a game.
• I may have forgotten to respond to someone who sent me a kind tweet earlier, but who I simply hadn’t had the time yet to respond. This is my moment to find the right words to say “thanks.”
• I want to catch up on a certain Twitter stream, such as #FLPrimary, which I relied on to keep me up to date on the latest happenings on the primary election in Florida just the other night.

No matter what the reason, any Twitter fanatic has cause to stay up late checking his or her tweets, whether for better or worse. Admittedly, in the mornings, it’s for the worse.

Image Credits: [Geeky Gadgets] [MSNBC]

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Yes, I sleep with my phone and check my @ mentions anytime I’m mildly awake in the middle of the night. Don’t judge or act like you don’t either. Twitter mentions are the new “You’ve Got Mail.”  The excitement from seeing the @ symbol light up is like Christmas morning!

You’ve tweeted a ton to your friends, RT’d a bunch of thought leaders, tweeted an original blog you are proud of, and even given your favorite celebrities shout outs…so who could the @ mention(s) be from?!?!?!

Gaaaaaaah! That nano second before you check seems like a FULL second! You click on the @ symbol and you chuckle at the inside jokes from your Twitter besties. You freak out because some thought leaders thanked you for RT’ing their post. You high-five yourself because your original blog post that you worked so hard on got some RTs, and then…you start to hyperventilate because your all time favorite celebrity retweeted you!

Quick, what do you do after you regain your composure? Thankfully, you’re home alone so no one saw you do that awesome dance, you “favorite” the tweet and screen print it for social proof and huge bragging rights. That is one of the most awesome things about Twitter. Besides the best friends you’ve made, you’ve also managed to get a coveted celebrity autograph!

Let’s face it, everything is going virtual these days, and so are celebrity autographs. The likelihood of meeting your favorite celebrity IRL is not very high. Now, the likelihood of you asking them a question or giving them a shout out and being RT’d is very likely! Celebrities welcome it. The more publicity the better. Tosh.0 and ESPN both answer your Twitter questions live on television! Some sports agencies are even trying to encourage more fan/player interaction by putting player Twitter handles on jerseys. I think this is brilliant move, one I hope the Pro-Bowl and NBA All-Star adopts sooner than later. After all, it’s all about the fan experience. The more a fan feels engaged and connected with the whole entertainment, celebrity experience, the more they spend. It’s a win/win/win.

Via: [DigitalRoyalty] [NewsFeed] Image Credit: [Osnapz]

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Is Your Community Fan Page Guilty Of Being A Trophy Wall?

You know the ones, they only post “community service events?” Guess why you don’t have many “likes,” comments and participation?

You are STALE & BORING!

With the plethora of opportunities, your Facebook presence has gotten stale. Why are you wasting it as just a trophy wall? You know, the ribbon cutting pictures, the kumbaya moments where everyone is picking up litter, and the pat me on the back moments that create no reason for people to participate past a surface level “good job.”

Here is your eggshell breaking moment

Your community wants to share with you their wants, likes and needs so that together you can reach a mutual goal.

Why are you wasting that opportunity by treating your fan page like a bulletin board?

Yes, it is good to spread the love and recognize people in your community with pictures of events and accomplishments. That is a given, but it should not be the purpose of your communication.

Your purpose is to create a space where the community comes to connect, discuss and learn from each other. Find new ways to support each other in your separate as well as mutual goals and solutions.

1. Are you looking at how to partner with the restaurants in your community to drive awareness, attention and business their way?
2. Are you making opportunities to spotlight the local day care centers helping your community support each other in their growth?
3. Are you bringing up local government issues that address your residents’ needs to generate public dialogue, giving a collective voice to your community?

When will you look passed the superficial ways to leverage your time and resources in social media?

When will you craft a strong purpose with an insightful strategy so you are truly serving your community?

That is when you will find government, developers and businesses willing to step up and play an active role with you and your facebook fan page.

Why?

You just gave them a reason to be part of the collective voice in your community.

It’s not about YOU, it’s about them.

Give birth to this…

Image Credits: [Atlantic Song] [Flickr / Christocollin]

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On a normal day, I spend about all the time on two or three different social networking services. Well, of course, I do this while I work so I am more or less just monitoring the streams as I keep on working. Every once in a while, I throw in a tweet or a status update to stir up the pot a little bit. It’s quite interesting to see how these services keep evolving while trying to stay ahead of the game. To say that they are trying to grab even more of our attention is an understatement worthy of a laugh really. They are businesses, so of course they approach it this way. However, there are some people out there who keep saying that social media is a true waste of time.

I strongly disagree with those people. If it wasn’t for Facebook for example, a lot of people around the world would never have come in contact with lost friends and family members again. Whole family structures have been patched up, and there are probably hundreds of thousands of people out there who have found the love of their lives that way as well. So how can you possibly say that social media is a complete waste of time?

Just have a look at the infographic that Schools.com put together. I admit that my statement that a lot of people think social media is a waste of time is a bit contradicting, since the percentage of people who say they use social media to stay in contact with friends and loved ones is quite high. When you put it all in context, we are talking about millions and millions of people who think it’s an utter waste. To me, it rather looks like we love using social media, and we love using it a LOT. What do you use social media for? Personal updates, work or just to browse through old friends to see where they are in life? The social networking services will most likely keep evolving to become the backbone of our daily communication between each other. They already are in a way, so be prepared… communication becomes more digital every day.

Via: [Killer Infographics]

]]> http://www.bitrebels.com/social/why-social-media-isnt-a-waste-of-time-infograhic/feed/ 0 http://www.bitrebels.com/social/is-pinterest-the-next-social-media-game-changer-infographic/ http://www.bitrebels.com/social/is-pinterest-the-next-social-media-game-changer-infographic/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:00:45 +0000 Richard Darell http://www.bitrebels.com/?p=130328

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The one social network that people are talking about right now is Pinterest. The image and video sharing social networking service has become a bit of a hypechild as of late. For now, you need an invitation to become a user to be able to try it out. At least that was the case a couple of weeks ago. It’s not as hard as it sounds though. All you really need to do is sign up to receive an invitation, and one should be emailed to you within a few days or a week. I take it they are doing it this way in order to keep the service on a stable level, and not to exhaust their server resources. It’s also a great way to get the hype going since everyone wants to try it out these days it seems.

It’s hard to estimate the success so far or where the service is heading. One thing is for sure, and that is that they are growing like crazy. Just between September and December 2011, the service grew an insane 429 percent when it comes to unique visitors to approximately 7.21 million unique visitors per month. It’s not a huge amount compared to the big boys like Facebook and Twitter, but they also started out this way and later became mammoths within the social networking hemisphere.

To somewhat box the success of Pinterest, the minds over at monetate have put together an infographic with the latest statistics called “Is Pinterest The Next Social Commerce Game Changer?” to tickle your interest for this new up and coming service. Looking at this infographic gives me the same feel as I got when Twitter first became a hypechild that everyone wanted to check out. Pinterest; however, seems to have a more business minded approach to it all. They have been picked up by global companies, and they are rapidly becoming a main outlet for ads and information visuals such as images and videos. Whether or not Pinterest will end up as one of the leading social networking services on the Internet, I guess only the future can decide. One thing is for sure though, and that is that Pinterest has a unique interface and approach to the whole sharing perspective, and that is always fun.

Click Infographic To Enlarge

Via: [Daily Infographic]

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It all started with this simple image of a cat at a laptop for me. I saw it one Saturday on Wil Wheaton’s Google+ page and it’s message “on the internet, no one knows you are a cat” totally made me laugh.

And then I kept seeing the hashtag #Caturday.

The Urban Dictionary has several definitions of Caturday. I like this one, “The greatest holiday on the internets. A day to celebrate the greatness that is Felis Domesticus, or the common house-cat.”

I am sure you have seen it while you were bouncing around the interwebs on Saturday mornings. A LOT of people are participating in Caturday, and you should join in too! All you have to do is use the #Caturday hashtag on Twitter or Google+.

Find a cute cat or kitten photo and share it!

• Wish someone a “Happy Caturday”
• Create a Pinterest board to save your Caturday finds
• Repeat next Caturday!

It is a fun way to meet new people and share something fun! It is silly, I know, but that IS the point! Stop taking life so seriously. Are you going to join in the fun this Caturday?

You know you have a cat or kitten video on YouTube that you love! Here is one to get you started…check it out right meow…

Image Credits: [ROLFcat] [Cheezburger]

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I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t read at least one story about how Facebook either builds or destroys relationships. At least yesterday there was some balance to the madness. First I read a story about a guy who “accidentally” had sex with an exotic dancer at his bachelor party. His brand new wife found out about it a few months later by reading his Facebook page where he was flirting with that same dancer. Now the newlyweds are getting divorced.

Right when I was wondering if Facebook is truly evil, or if it just simply brings out the best and worst in us… I went on to read this touching story about a woman who overcame her fears with Facebook. It’s a beautiful story which reminds us that we are never too old to stop learning and growing in life.

51-year-old ArLynn Press has agoraphobia, which is the fear of crowded places or enclosed public spaces. She’s barely left her house and hasn’t traveled outside her town in over 30 years. In December 2010, she decided to overcome her fears. What was her plan? She made a commitment in a blog post to meet all 335 of her Facebook friends in person.

She set out on a long journey, which eventually took her to 13 countries. By the end of 2011, she had met 292 of them. Before you start thinking that she didn’t meet her goal, keep in mind that 2 of the Facebook friends were profiles of pets, 5 had passed away (but were still on Facebook), 18 people ignored her when she tried to set up a time to meet, and a few people unfriended and blocked her when she even suggested it. So, overall, I’d say she did an amazing job!

ArLynn isn’t finished either. She just posted an article yesterday about how she is packing up and getting ready for her first Facebook meeting of 2012. You can read more about this story at Vancouver Sun and follow her travels by visiting her blog at arlynnpresser.

Via: [Oddity Central]