Hashtags May Be Coming to Facebook!

Facebook is reportedly working on incorporating the hashtag into the social network.

A Twitter staple, the Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook has plans to bring the hashtag to its service, offering users the ability to index conversations around a particular topic, just as they currently do on Twitter. Sources ”familiar with the matter” told the Journal that while Facebook is working on the feature, it wouldn’t necessarily be released anytime soon.

Hashtags are already incorporated into Facebook-owned Instagram.

Hashtags seem like the natural evolution of Facebook’s newly-released Graph Search. The search is currently limited to information input by users on their location, friends, and Likes. Adding hashtag support would enable an expansion of that search functionality, letting users tune into public posts based around certain topics such as #Elections or #HarlemShake as well.

For now, the social network is remaining mum on when or if it will be adding hashtags. A company spokesperson telling us simply, “We do not comment on rumor or speculation.”

Would you like to see hashtags comes to Facebook? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Mashable.com

Dirty Facebook? Now you have an App to Clean it Up!

Did you have a wild weekend or are there photos of you tagged doing things you might not want everyone to see?  Are you just about the head out to a job interview and you’re not sure about some of the old content on your  Facebook page?  Some people, including potential employers might think it’s inappropriate.

But, there’s an app for that. It’s called “Simple Wash” and it can help you clean up your Facebook profile.

A few simple clicks of the mouse will wash your social network's mouth out with soap via FaceWash's precompiled list of "dirty" words (sex, drugs, cursing), or a personalized word list into which users have full range over what terms they'd like to eliminate.

The app will search through comments posted on your wall or remarks left on photos you've been tagged in, as well as photos you've posted, links and pictures you've liked, status updates, and pages of which you are a "fan."

Results are returned in conceptual chunks, highlighting specific terms and providing a direct link to the post, where users can delete or privatize the message.

Not every post SimpleWash picks up will be something you want to remove (i.e., when I ran it, "crack me up" often got picked up as a potential drug reference), but it's a good way to quickly review the messages you're sending to the world.

Oh, but SimpleWash only detects words. So for now, you'll still have to filter out those old college party photos on your own.

Get SimpleWash for Facebook and Twitter. The Twitter version is currently in Beta, but if you're desperate to clean up your feed, just shoot the company a tweet.

Rebecca Marino Quits Tennis Following Attacks on Social Media

Canadian tennis professional Rebecca Marino announced she is quitting the sport, following a bout with depression that has been exacerbated by cyberbullying on social media sites.

Marino — the 22-year-old who was once in the top 40 players in the world — told reporters on a conference call she had received hateful messages such as "go die" and "burn in hell," according to Canadian publication The Star. Others berated her for costing them money while betting on her tennis performance.

Although Marino said she has "thick skin," the "really hurtful" words were compounded by the fact she has suffered from depression for the past six years.

“My depression had come way before the so-called cyberbullying,” said Marino. “Social media has also taken its toll on me.”

Following her announcement, she deleted her Twitter and Facebook accounts.

“Social media is actually a really important part of our society and there can be a lot of good that comes out of it,” said Marino, before adding it became too distracting. It's unknown if she will return to those sites in the future.

Last year, Marino took seven months off from tennis, but had recently resumed competing. Social media and depression aren't the only reasons she is leaving the sport, she said.

“I don’t think that I’m willing to sacrifice my happiness and other parts of my life for tennis,” she said. "There’s more to life than just tennis."

Your Twitter Archive: You Can Now See all Your Old Tweets!

In Dec. 2012 Twitter began allowing users to see their old tweets. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

Get ready to spend even more time reading tweets and not ones from others. Today, Twitter started to roll out a feature that allows users to download and view all their tweets.

Yes, surprisingly, you haven't been able to go back in to your tweet history (or twistory!) until today.

"Today, we're introducing the ability to download your Twitter archive, so you'll get all your Tweets (including Retweets) going back to the beginning," Twitter's Mollie announced on the company's blog this morning. "Once you have your Twitter archive, you can view your Tweets by month, or search your archive to find Tweets with certain words, phrases, hashtags or @usernames. You can even engage with your old Tweets just as you would with current ones."

So how do you get to your old tweets?

Head to the Settings menu on Twitter.com and at the bottom you will see a button to "Request your archive." Click on that and Twitter will then email you with the instructions on how to download your archive.

When you download the file sent by Twitter you will be able to open the file in your web browser and view your tweets and even share them. It's an offline file, but you can view it in your browser and even view the Tweet on Twitter. You can't retweet your own tweets since Twitter doesn't actually let you retweet yourself.

Twitter has also organized your tweets by year and then month. You can hover over the months and see how many times you tweeted at a specific time over the last few years.

Twitter says this feature will begin rolling out to everyone today -- if you don't have it just yet, it's on the way. Just get ready to sift through a few more tweets soon.

Review of Social Media in 2012 and Predictions for 2013 [Info-Graphic]

Yet another eventful year gone by and a lot has developed in this time gone by. Thankfully the world is not showing any sign of ending (it's already 9/12/12 and three more days to go for the 'D' Day) and so I thought I can gather up my grey matter to try and envision what would be the predictions for the Cyber Marketing and Social Media in 2013.

Now before I go ahead with my predictions for 2013, I'd like you all to review my predictions made for 2012 (Evolution of Social Media in 2012) which to my surprise has hit the bulls-eye on accuracy:

• Content Marketing was THE WAY all through out.
• Businesses started to focus more on the level of influence on their fan following rather than just the number of fan followers.
• Marketing, Technology and Data have converged that resulted in a lot of new tools / ORM products being launched in the market to fight the menace of 'Big Data'
• Talking of legal battles in Social & Cyber space the story of companies buying the klout of bloggers and threatening them was not a surprise to me. Everybody knows about the Samsung fiasco with blogger community.
• Social Security was another prediction that took the lime light of lot. Lots of cases of people being booked or arrested were trending on Social News circles just for using their democratic right to expression and speech. The Indian Government virtually proposed to create a watchdog body to monitor social networks users and manage their online reputation.

All this said and done still does not make me the Nostradamus of the Cyber & Social Media space. All my predictions are based on in-depth analysis, experience and a little bit of the gut. This time I thought to make my prediction a little more simpler and interactive. Below is an info-graphic of the 13 most probable topography of Social Media Marketing in 2013:

Any predictions of your own? Share your comment below or on Twitter @thesocialppl and Linkedin.

Twitter to reduce its character limit to 117 coming February

Think 140 characters isn’t enough to say what you want in a tweet? Get ready for 117.

Starting in February, tweets that contain URLs will be reduced to 118 characters, 117 for https links. While that may seem like a huge drop, the change represents a two-character drop per tweet from what you are currently able to send when a hyperlink is involved.

Announced Thursday on Twitter's developer blog, the adjustment is due to some upcoming changes in Twitter’s t.co link wrapper. The revision extends the maximum length of t.co wrapped links from 20 to 22 characters for non-https URLs and from 21 to 23 characters for https URLs.

What that means: When you tweet out hyperlinks that Twitter shortens, those links will now take up a little more space, reducing the content you'll be able to add to the message.

The announcement this week was meant as a heads up for developers, in order to give them time to update their applications before the change takes place.

Twitter users won’t see the switch go into effect until Feb. 20, 2013.

Do you think the two-character loss will make a difference in how you tweet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Mashable.com
Author: Emily Price

Campaign Trail: "Hello Honey Bunny", What an idea Sirji!

Idea Cellular's "Honey Bunny"
TVC going Viral.

Someone shared a video of the new Idea Cellular TVC on my Facebook timeline warning me it’s going to be addictive and it sure has been. So, if you are still grooving to the Gangnam style, then here’s a much more equivivalent funny song that is sure to make you go, “Feeling something something, Hello Honey Bunny Honey Bunny, You’re my pumpkin pumpkin Hello Honey Bunny”. If that looks cute, the tune makes it even peppier; you just can’t get it off your mind!

The new TVC shows Indians from around the country, with varied cultural backgrounds, connecting as one big happy family of over 120 billion people, all of whom are seen humming one song - ‘Honey Bunny’, albeit with a regional flavor!

Now as an online Marketer I was curious to study this campaign trail and see where this is heading. This new approach by Idea Cellular in their TVC made me think about the means most of the telecom providers are following. Upon studying the common factors I came to see the big picture; all the telecom companies in India are following a particular theme clubbed with their USPs or trending offerings at that particular time.

Look at Airtel’s campaign which focused purely on the buyer sentiment and EQ with their “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” & “Jo tera hai wo mera hai” campaign; or Vodafone’s with their variety of adds focusing on the cost effectiveness (Irfaan Khan ads) or the network range (Pug ads) to the various VAS (Zoo zoo ads) or Reliance Mobile talking about their cost effective tarrifs. All these TVC had a purpose/theme or a philosophy behind them as a route.

Now let’s get back to our Idea Celluar’s “Honey Bunny” TVC which honestly left me confused. Until now all their ads had their flagship route of “What an idea Sirji!” strongly fulcrumed on some CSR initiative or social message. But with this new TVC the whole campaign seems derailed to me. No doubt the jingle is catchy and simplistically obsessive and Amit Trivedi (composer of ‘English Vinglish’ & ‘Dev D’ fame) has done an exceptionally great work contributing a jingle which is simple yet obsessive after a long time (the last simple jingle to be composed to my knowledge was for ‘Nirma’ in ‘80s).

Looking at this on the positive side I have a strong feeling that this new campaign of Idea Cellular is a well planned attempt by its brand communication and marketing team to strengthen their social media and online presence. What’s interesting to note is that Idea Cellular has been creating a buzz on its Facebook page a few days prior to releasing the TVC. Fans were asked to guess who or what is a Honey Bunny. In addition, there were many updates with teaser videos that helped in building up the suspense.

Below graph shows the viral growth in traffic on the TVC’s YouTube channel:

So to summarize on my campaign trail - initially I was skeptical with my assumption that this TVC was a desperate attempt of company’s brand communication team to get their brand viral, but at the end of it I realized that the Marketing team at Idea Cellular has done an exceptional work in terms of reaching the masses with its unique content strategy centered around ideas in a weekly set pattern, till this severely addictive song promotion, the Idea Facebook strategy seems to be well aligned. The telecom brand’s intention to create exclusive content for its fans is indeed impressive and would definitely help in building a long term community.

I’d like to congratulate the Idea’s creative agency Lowe on this note and sign off in a typical Idea Cellular way, “What an idea Sirji”.

You can’t stop singing ‘Honey Bunny’, can you?

Viral Thaker, Founder & Director | TheSocialPeople
A seasoned HR & Marketing professional, Viral was one of the early adopters of social media. With over a decade of industry experience under his belt, his skills span corporate strategy, delivery management, customer relationship management, business development and operations management. Viral is a voracious reader, a travel enthusiast and enjoys adventure sports. Follow Viral on Twitter @vrlthaker

Social Media Education - A thought!

Last week Wednesday we had our first Twitter chat on “Is Education ready to embrace Social Media” and I must confess I was quite amazed with the kind of response that we received. Honestly I was under the impression that this idea would face a lot of inertia and that people from the Academic world would not be willing to accept this change.

But the actual reality was at exact 180degrees. People really want to use Social Media as an easily & readily available Learning Management or a Content Management tool. But then I was stuck on what’s stopping them. Now this was a billion dollar question, and just like any billion dollar question this had a simple logical answer but a complex execution algorithm (talk of complexity of simplicity).

What I learnt during the Twitter Chat (FYI - look for hash-tag #TSP_EduForum, it’s an acronym for TheSocialPeople Education Forum) is that there seems like there is general agreement among social media users/evangelists/consultants that education is crucial. However social media education can be quite vast and can pretty much mean anything. It's like trying to teach someone to be a mechanic in a few days or even a few hours, there's a lot to learn. The challenge is keeping the learning community up-to-date on those latest tools/tactics/strategies.

As you know social media is a very dynamic in nature and what you learn today might change tomorrow. So if we keep seeing new tools/techniques/strategies emerging almost daily, how to we create and administer social media training programs? My answer, focus on the core of social media principles or global best practices. Here are the main topics I would consider (I'm going to leave a few out because I'm more interested in what you have to say):

1. High level Social Media Strategy (This I feel is the most important and vital topic. Wrong strategy and you or your idea is doomed.
2. Identification of the right social media tools/platforms that suites your need
3. How to identify existing social media communities (or create new ones if needed)
4. Social Media measurement or metrics.
5. Understanding how to monitor social media and respond to sentiments shared by users\
6. Benefits/value of social media and risks of social media with effect exit mechanism, just in case.
7. Resources needed to succeed in social media
8. Case studies/examples/results of social media campaigns

So here I have listed 8 high level topics that make up a part of what I consider the Social Media Education core. Instead of focusing social media education efforts on details (that will change quickly) I think it would be much more valuable to focus on applications that are relatively constant to rephrase this more scientifically, strategize and use media that is evolving rather than mutating. I would also strongly advice that the herculean tasks of planning and strategizing details can be left to the experts who are implementing the actual strategy or to the consultants that are advising the company.

Do you agree with me? What other topics would you add to the Social Media Education Core?

For those of you who would like be a part of our Twitter Chat, it happens every Wednesday at 10AM Indian Standard Time. Don't forget to hash-tag - #TSP_EduForum.

Fashion2.0: How Social Media to revolutionize Fashion Industry.

I happened to come across this article on the Forbes which particularly picked my interest for 2 main reasons:

1.     It had the magical words "social media"

2.     The Content had something that I and my colleague Vikram had been discussing lately – Taking Fashion Industry on the Social Media.

Whether you are interested in fashion or not, it is difficult to escape the constant onslaught of information on the latest fashions and trends that we receive through social media and the internet. This is a fact that none of us would deny. Considering the quantum of information one gets to see on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube the fashion Industry is definitely becoming accessible to the general public or should I say reaching a larger group of people.

 The beauty of this initiative of taking fashion industry on the Social Media is that one gets to see all sorts of opinions and dialog on a fashion trend or outfit rather than the traditional one way opinion of the designer. Just like in any other industry Social Media once again proves that would help bridge the buyer-seller relationship with its multi dimensional communication channel.  It also makes it evident that, in this era of the social media, fashion designers and retailers are no longer operating in an ivory tower or for solely the red carpet. Because of the close relationships they now have with customers on social networking sites, many have adopted an "ask and ye shall receive" policy.

As quoted in the Forbes article it’s undoubting that Social Media would the next big muse of the Fashion Industry and its here to stay for quite some time.

Just recently there has been a rush of retailers advertising & setting up programs to help gather customer feedback on the fashions and trends for the season ahead including Debenhams, ASOS, Calvin Klein and likes. This show much customer sentiments matter to the fashion designers and fashion brands. Now just imagine the same in case of private fashion boutique owners who have selected and limited customers. One bad design might just cost them a loyal customer... forever!

Yet another interesting website that I came across is www.jooraccess.com. Started by a Mona Bijoor who is a seasoned brand consultant for the fashion industry. Joor basically is a network that makes it easier for brands and boutique owners to connect and conduct business with their customers in an interactive and collaborative manner. It can be called as the Facebook of Fashion world in lay definition. This again shows how Social Media can play a vital role in the Fashion Industry.

Now considering all this above gyaan and cases on how Social Media can benefit the Fashion Industry, I don’t really know if this liberalization or the democratization of the fashion world by the social media good or bad as I’m not really a fashion expert. This is something that time shall tell us. But from a lay man’s perspective any creation created in an collaborative environment has always been a masterpiece. Hopefully such would also be the case in Social Media Fashion.

Social Media in 2011 by TheSocialPeople

Can Social Media find a place in the Classroom? (Research)

Growing number of Educators say a “Yes” – says a research!

The post, “Can Social Media ever have an Academic Purpose”, is one of the most consistently viewed article on this blog. Similarly, “Why the Education sector is keen to adopt Social Media?”, resulted in the 2nd most trafficked day here this month. While Facebook and Twitter are both hugely popular Internet tools, I still find myself a little surprised by the popularity of these posts, considering the academic perspective of we - TheSocialPeople. Upon a general research online amongst the Academic community, I learnt that many teachers, even those at online universities, are hesitant to use such popular tools, given their inherent risk of exposing students to inappropriate content.

Of course these are two very different types of tools, but they both have their place in the social networking sphere. Facebook’s place is at the top of the heap (as of this writing it is the second most popular site on the Internet, right behind Google), while Twitter defined the genre of “micro blogging” (but much of its use is also in a social networking context).

It appears that Twitter is more widely used in the classroom, based on the volume of articles on this topic that I have come across during my online research. One obvious reason for this difference is that Facebook is limited to ages 13 and over, while Twitter has no age restrictions. Facebook is also more likely to be restricted on school networks. Perhaps if teachers were more aware of how a Facebook page and profiles can be configured to provide an appropriate level of privacy for course work, they (and school administrators) might be more open to considering its use (more on that below). Of course, there are also other educational scenarios that lend themselves more readily to a tool like Facebook, such as online universities and online courses.

Here are a few of the examples of Facebook playing a productive role in the classroom that I have come across. I will be doing a detailed case study about the use of popular social networking applications in the classroom and will discuss examples like these, and others that I learn about on this blog in the coming months:

·         Professor Gideon Burton’s work with Facebook: I first learned about Professor Burton during a random search on Facebook on “Social Media Education” where I ended up on a profile of a student where she commented, 

“In my British Literary History course last winter semester, my professor created a class Facebook group which we all joined.  We’d finish our reading for class and then get online and write a paragraph about what we’d read, focusing our comments on the specific course aims that my professor had created for the class.  We would then go to class where my professor would note the ways in which we’d covered the material well and he’d teach anything we missed as well as anything else he wanted us to know.” 

This was definitely a lovely insight on how a simple initiative and lead to an effective collaborative learning environment. It really justifies my statement I always habitually quote in context to this – “A tool is after all just a tool, the real person to blame is the person who chooses to use it or abuse it.

Click here to visit a Facebook discussion group for one of Professor Burton’s Early British Lit classes.

·         University of South Florida teacher uses Facebook in class: I recently came across this article about USF graduate student Alessandro Cesarano, who teaches a Beginning Spanish class, and uses Facebook for homework assignments and class discussions in lieu of Blackboard. Cesarano is seen quoting that he likes the Facebook page better than Blackboard because students have more access to authentic cultural material, and so it saves him a lot of time that otherwise he had to invest to train people on how to use the Learning tool.

·         Facebook has recently launched a “Groups at [University Name]” feature as an initiative to promote a highly collaborative learning environment amongst the Educational Institutions. This article explains on how this feature works and also disproves a lot of accusations on Facebook that it is a major distraction in the pursuit of a Learning tool. Honestly I am really excited to look at this feature to be rolled out to more schools and other communities.

Below is the snap shot of my comment that I couldn’t help put up on the trail and it’s corresponding comment:

On the whole the prospect of Social Media and Education eventually going hand-in-hand is no longer a matter of choice. From the data that I see, IT IS THE FUTURE. It’s just the matter of time that people start accepting it. So the real question here is not whether Social Media can/cannot be an ideal learning platform; I guess a choice on this is already made globally and the real question is on “HOW to make Social Media an ideal learning platform. I would be writing on this in my blog in the near future. 


To conclude - like any great idea even this one (Social Media collaborating with Education) has to go through all the 3 laws of Newton – Inertia, Momentum & Friction!

I’m really excited to see the day when Learning becomes Social in every way, global networking will be the essence of learning rather than limiting it to 4 walls, projects & assignment would be done & rated globally and over all to the day when there'll no illiteracy on the face of this planet.

[InfoGraphic] Social Media in Education Sector as of Today!!

[InfoGraphic] 2011 Social Media Sharing trends via AddThis

How a 140-Character Twitter Resume Could Land Your Next Job

Brangelina, TomKat…. Twesume?

Just like it sounds, “Twesume” unifies Twitter (your favorite micro-blogging platform) and your resume (yep, the one sitting on your hard drive).

In essence, a Twesume is a short bio or resume condensed into 140 characters or less. Sometimes paired with the #twesume hashtag, the Twesume can be tweeted, messaged or emailed to potential employers.

The great thing about the Twesume is that it’s a completely flexible, living document. Did you get promoted? No problem, just tweet the addition to your resume. Relocate? Totally fine.


What’s the Big Deal?

Like it or not, social media is only getting more influential. In 2011, 89% of companies used social networks for recruiting. As we venture into 2012, you’ll find that social recruiting will become more prominent, edging out job boards as a means to connect employers and job seekers.

Twesumes help job seekers get noticed by companies who use social recruiting. With the Twesume, a job seeker can introduce himself and engage with an employer in less time (and space) than a traditional resume and cover letter could ever manage.

How Can I Write My Own Twesume?


If you’re interested in jumping on the Twesume bandwagon, all you need is a Twitter account and something to say. Once you have your Twitter account squared away (be sure to have a picture, bio and some followers/followees), write your very own Twesume. While the Twesume can be anything you like, try to include this information: what you do, an accomplishment, a goal, skills and/or a link to a detailed profile or website.


Santa Claus: World traveler and toy expert. 300+ years management experience. Looking for position in entertainment industry. http://tinyurl.com/c9ursdp #twesume

Tweet this to your followers, DM to a specific employer or use as your Twitter bio. It really is as simple as that.

What does your Twesume say? Do you think Twesumes are here to stay? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes and grades resumes instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Weinberg has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes. You can connect with Sean and the RezScore team on Facebook and Twitter (@RezScore)

How Social Media can enhance the effectiveness of Medical Devices firms.

Around the globe, social media venues, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs to name a few, have experienced exponential growth, as a means for sharing and discussing ideas, information, and trends across various industries. But the medical device industry, worldwide, is lagging behind in using social media to communicate with prospects and customers mainly due to lack of a robust social media strategy by organizations and unclear FDA regulatory guidelines governing the use of social media.

Although employees are familiar with and use online networking tools as part of their day-to-day work flow, a cohesive company-wide social media policy is not present at the vast majority of medical device organizations. A 2011 research completed by MassMEDIC involving medical device industry personnel revealed that only 50% of the respondents’ companies have social media policies in place.

Social media, being a flexible, rapid and transformative communicative medium, offers an immediate and direct communications channel for medical device organizations to indulge in a dialogue with its customers, potential consumers and other key audiences. Tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter provide device companies an opportunity to introduce, educate and comment on multiple issues affecting the industry in terms of policy, product or competitive issues enabling the development of a more personal relationship with the consumer. Facebook, like LinkedIn, enables a device company to communicate directly with its audiences, answer questions, introduce and address issues. Twitter tends to allow and encourage more immediate initiation and response and allows medical device companies to develop a database of "followers" who can be future consumers of their products.

Social media can be used in the following areas by the medical device industry:

a) Product Innovation through consumer feedback: One-on-one conversation with the consumers through social media tools can provide tremendous insight into the various shortcomings of the medical device and help the organizations to improve their products based on the feedback by the customers and hence providing enhanced customer experience.

b) Marketing and Branding: Through thought leadership material, newsletters, company initiated dedicated blogs and portals that allow consumers to share experiences and gain valuable information about the device as well as the organization. But it is a double edge sword as negative publicity can also be a result.

c) Defining target market: With more and more people using internet as an effective source for gaining information on diseases and treatment options, social media tools provides an engaging platform for medical device industry to identify target consumers of their products and implement direct marketing strategies in their marketing mix.

I feel this is not an exhaustive list but surely there can be other ways in which Social Media can be integrated into the medical Devices industry business processes.

I would love to hear your views on the same.

About the author

Dr. Sumeet Kad is a Marketing and Business Strategy professional with over 4 years of experience in Healthcare/Life Sciences & FMCG sector. He is an avid reader, irregular blogger and a gadget freak. He blogs at www.newagemarketing.wordpress.com and has co-authored a book based on it. He can also be followed on Twitter @sumeetkad.