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Facebook Announces Graph Search: Your New Go-To Search Tool?

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Facebook Graph Search Header

We heard that Facebook had something big to tell us today – and so we all started speculating. Is it a phone? Is it a new layout? We couldn’t wait to see what Zuckerberg and his team had waiting for us today. The news was bigger than we expected as Facebook announced that they will be slowly rolling out their latest product: Graph Search. That’s right, Facebook is upping their search game.

So what does this mean for us? Through Mashable’s comprehensive liveblogging of the press event, and Facebook’s dreamy video explaining the functionality of Graph Search – it became quite clear that Facebook is taking the data-rich content of it’s users and compiling it into neat, searchable terms that will be way more accessible than it is now.

Currently, if I wanted to search each and every one of my friends that lives in New York City, there is no easy option – I have to remember who lives in NYC and visit their profile to confirm that they do in fact, live there. Now, Zuckerberg & Co. has made it a smooth process for me to stalk all my friends in NYC by entering the search term “Friends who live in New York City” and having all of their profiles displayed in front of me. Of course, it doesn’t end there.

As you can see in the video, you can search for ‘Bands my friends listen to’, ‘Friends who work at my company and like to ski’ (double whammy!), and so on. Graph Search seemingly brings the already strong community aspect of Facebook to a whole new, personalized level. On one hand, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside knowing I can call up specific data, gain new insights about friends, and recall hilarious posts that are in the depths of my Timeline. On the other hand, it makes me weary of what information will pop up in my friend’s searches.

According to Facebook, your privacy settings dictate what will appear in searches. Graph Search allows you to look up anything that was shared with you, or that you had shared with others, “including public content,”. If you’ve hidden a photo from your Timeline – but not detagged yourself (same goes with posts and location tags), that item will still appear in searches. So now I’m thinking I need to comb over my content to see what I do and do not want appearing. According to Mashable, as Facebook unrolls Graph Search, a notification will appear at the top of your page reminding you to review your content. Phew!

Of course, Graph Search is not limited to just searching through your friends and personal pages. The impact that Graph Search will have for Brands is potentially huge. Community Managers will be able to gain greater insight into their community’s likes and interests. Unlocking the great potential to delve deeper into your community’s preferences can allow you to tailor more meaningful content. Another example provided by Mashable’s liveblog was the potential for cross-brand pollination, as one person pointed out, a search for, “‘Yogurt liked by BMW owners,’ etc.” can be run. The information that you can learn about your audience could yield very interesting developments for brands.

What about normal web search results? Bing is still very much going to be integrated – if you want to do a search for “restaurants in Toronto” Bing will provide the answers. As someone who rarely uses Facebook for anything search related, this is definitely a game changer for me – and I for one, am interested to see how the changes will roll out over the next few months. According to Mashable, Zuckerberg made sure to remind everyone that this product is still in beta.

But, you can still get thee-self over to the FB headquarters and join the waiting list for Graph Search beta today, and check out more about Graph Search. We’d love to know your thoughts about the new product – will you be using Facebook as a search tool now? How do you think this will weigh in on privacy issues? Leave your comment below!

Dana White Discusses Social Media at the 2013 New Media Expo

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New Media Expo presented by BlogWorldDana White is a smart guy. That is a statement that we feel quite comfortable and justified in making.

Since White and his partners purchased the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand in 2001 for $2 million it has grown to become the world’s fastest growing professional sports league in popularity and profitability and is currently valued at over $1 billion by Forbes Magazine.

On Monday, at the New Media Expo presented by BlogWorld in Las Vegas, Dana White sat down with Managing Editor of Forbes Magazine, Bruce Upbin to talk about how the UFC went from being $44 million in debt to being a $1 billion industry through investments in social media, fan interaction and by ensuring active participation of his athletes in the process.

The 51 minute video presented by UStream covers the origins of the UFC after White and the Fertitta brothers bought it, the philosophy of the organization and how it was shaped by traditional sports like football and boxing, and how social media is helping Dana White manage his brand and his business effectively, efficiently and exceptionally.

Check it out, maybe there’s something we can all learn from the self proclaimed biggest fight fan in the world.

Dana White at the New Media Expo 2013[click image to play load video]

What To Write In Your “About” Section

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The Blog Studio - About UsIf you have a brand website, personal blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or a YouTube account, you have probably stared at the blank screen of your computer and tried to write the copy for the “About” section.

It’s a tricky thing, writing what you want other people to know about you while walking the line between personal and professional achievements. It’s important to let your audience/potential clients know what you are going to be able to deliver – without any sweeping statements.

If you have a specialty or proficiency that is vital to your work, share it. If you have a fun hobby or special talent that you are known for, share it. If you have won an award that pertains to your services or expertise, share it.

We are social media pioneers with a deep understanding of internet culture.

Your “About” section is the place to share the things that you want to get across quickly. The shorter, the better. Your personal biographies and posts are great places to get into more detailed stories of your past and present accomplishments. Use your “About” section to grab the attention of your reader and make sure that they know they’ve come to the right place.

If you click on About Us at the top of our page this is what you’ll find:

We are social media pioneers with a deep understanding of internet culture. We create brand awareness.

Our team is comprised of award winning designers, online user experience experts, internet culture creators, PR consultants and content creators. We live and breathe everything and anything happening on the web and pride ourselves on being at the forefront of technology and social media.

We aim to always be 5 steps ahead of the crowd.

There it is. Not complicated. Not an overload of information, but it does tell you who we are and what we do.

And that’s the point. The “About” section of your website should tell everyone who you are and what you do and leave the meatier, more specific information to the rest of your website content – your work speaks volumes about your business.

Get your audience hooked with your “About” section and they’ll be turning through the rest of your pages to learn more about you and discover just how fit you are for the job!

 

2013 Social Media New Years Resolutions

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Happy New Year - The Blog Studio

Tis the season for New Years Resolutions! We’re extending resolutions all the way to Social Media habits.

If you’re looking to improve on using social media platforms to represent your brand we suggest looking at this list of resolutions and making sure that you keep them in mind as you work your way through 2013.

Happy New Year!

I will not retweet myself.
Why: We know, we know – you are a hilarious/thoughtful/informative tweeter but retweeting yourself is poor form and it accomplishes nothing since the same audience is seeing the tweet. Instead try saying the same thing but in different words – spice it up.

I will not post the same tweet with the same link over and over and over again.
Why: To avoid looking lazy and unimaginative with your secondary tweets change your wording to get the most mileage from a single link.

I will not leave the link in my Facebook posts.
Why: Links will appear as stories when posted. If you’re using the preview feature, remove the link.

I will use proper sizing when posting images and graphics to Facebook.
Why: Your Facebook page will look fabulous if all of your photos and graphics are sized properly. Poorly cropped images are soooo 2012.

I will respond to questions promptly and helpfully.
Why: Social media is the new customer service line. Be ready to help your customers, readers and followers with whatever they need – don’t wait for someone else to swoop in and help.

I will not use my twitter account only when responding to questions.
Why: Create conversation with your followers, share information about your brand or pertinent industry info. Be a leader in your community.

I will use social media platforms to link back to my website.
Why: It’s all about getting traffic to your website. That’s your homebase where you control the content and the rules. Use social media as a breadcrumb trail leading your audience back to your website.

I will be consistent in posting.
Why: Monitor your posting trends – do you have more views if you post at 9AM or 10AM? Understand when your audience wants content – and be consistent. Posting content around the same time each day conditions your audience to know when to look for your great content!

I will keep the brand voice in mind at all times.
Why: Having a consistent voice in your posts will help followers and fans identify with your brand and get to know you.

I will not fight with trolls.
Why: There is no winning in a fight that is only being fought for the sake of entertainment. Diffuse the situation with kindness and customer service.

I will spell check.
Why: It’s the safest and easiest way to avoid errors that everyone can see. Save yourself the embarrassment and double check before you post.

I will fact check.
Why: Keep your face egg free with some simple fact checking before you post. Make sure of your dates, names and stats before you share your thoughts with the world. You don’t want the conversation about your post to be about how wrong it is.

I will always make sure I am not posting from the brand account when I mean to be posting from my personal account.
Why: We’ve seen it happen before! There are many examples of personal tweets being posted on brand accounts, and it never goes well for the brand or the person. Be careful, we recommend using a separate browser on your computer and a 2nd app on your smartphone to manage brand accounts.

Good luck & make 2013 your best SOCIAL year ever.

Instagram Terms of Service: Another New Filter

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Instagram Image 1
Instagram giveth and Instagram taketh away!

Just a couple of weeks ago we all got very excited about being able to see our Instagram profiles on a real website like this: http://instagram.com/theblogstudio! No longer were we looking at bad attachments to tweets and searching through Facebook feeds to see what people had posted when our phones weren’t in our hands. We could pull up profiles on a real computer screen and look at photos in a full size. It was a great change that was rolled out well with people checking daily to see if their profile had been set up in the new format. We checked it with more interest than we had our Klout scores!

But now we’re all up in arms about the new Terms of Service that Instagram has rolled out. If you haven’t seen the new TOS, check them out right here. The issue that most people are having starts at point #1 under the heading of Rights.

Instagram giveth and Instagram taketh away!

“Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service…”

The new addition to the Instagram legal fineprint is very similar to the wording that Facebook currently uses, “you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook…” which isn’t really all that surprising since Facebook bought Instagram in April of 2012.

Here are some of the opinions being expressed via Twitter today:

And here is Instagram’s official statement via Twitter:

The new terms of service will take effect on Wednesday, January 16, 2013 and already we are starting to see people announce that they will be or have already deleted their accounts. These actions and responses are nothing new to social media and once again, only time will be able to tell us what long-term effect this will have on Instagram’s business plan and bottom line.

So, are you keeping your Instagram account or are you deleting it and going to another service like Flickr (which has a new app available now) – We’d love to know!

 

Edit: A blog post was written by Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom and posted just before 5pm EST on Tuesday to address the concerns of Instagram users. Read it HERE

Why You Should Still Blog

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Our friends over at Sysomos posted a blog recently with some great reasons why blogging is still important in a world where Facebook updates and Tweets are the most prevalent forms of online information sharing.

The post says that blogging is important (read it here) and we agree!

Using a blog on your own website gives you and your brand the opportunity to talk about what is important to you and your community without worrying about restricting character limits or complicated sharing algorithms. A blog is a place to share thoughts and ideas and announcements that deserve explanation and expanded thoughts.

When you’re writing for your blog remember a few things that can help with your success moving forward.

Be Consistent:
Consistency is key. Not only in posting frequency, but in voice as well. Just like in your marketing materials and social media, the voice that you use in your blog posts should be part of the same plan and execution.

Say Something:
This may be the hardest part of blogging for your brand. While it’s important to be consistent with your posts and hit the publish button often, posting something without any relevance to your company or community should be avoided.

Say It Well:
We know that not everyone is a writer. And we know that writing doesn’t come easily to some people. But if you are going to write a blog it is important to make sure that you aren’t posting with spelling errors, typos, overlooked grammatical issues and other easily remediable mistakes.

Blogging is still a great option for brands to say what they want to say, how they want to say it. It’s also a great way to get people on your website where they can find more information about your brand and what you do and what you have to offer!

So, if you think you’ve still got something to say – keep blogging! We can’t wait to read it!

WordPress 3.5, Update On The Way!

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WordPress 3.5 is almost here! The newest update to the host of more than 20% of the world’s websites is close to release and will soon be ready for download.

Update: WordPress 3.5 is now available! The launch date was pushed back from the original target of December 5 to December 11.

There are some changes coming with the update to WordPress 3.5, and one of them is something that you will probably notice right off the top. Twenty Twelve has become the new default theme and is now available for download if you want to test it or see how it may change your website if you are currently using WordPress 3.4.2 or higher. Twenty Twelve is a fully responsive theme that will adjust to fit the screen size for anyone who stumbles across your site on their desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.

There are also updates coming to the media management and how you upload photos, arrange galleries, insert images into posts, and more. These changes will make media handling easier and more intuitive as an overall experience in WordPress for users of all backgrounds, experience levels and needs. The simplified process is easy to learn, easy to use and allows you to work quickly with your media uploads. It’s a large scale upgrade from the developers at WordPress and it will be interesting to see if the reaction from users equals the time and effort that the team has put into the changes.

Added to WordPress 3.5 is something that bloggers have been waiting for (somewhat patiently) for quite some time now, a Tumblr importer support. While everyone loves Tumblr, it certainly doesn’t match up with WordPress when it comes to customizable options and development. Now that you have the option of importing all of your Tumblr posts that you love, you can start with a better system and have a better website.

Here are some instructions for setting up your Tumblr import from Technosailor.com: On the Settings > Import page, you can now activate Tumblr import support. Warning: The process of importing Tumblr is a little kludgey and that is due to Tumblr’s own systems. You will need to register an app with Tumblr, enter certain key information about your WordPress install into the Tumblr app registration page, and copy certain key information into WordPress.


Wordpress 3.5 will also give you the chance to browse and install plugins that you have marked as favorites on WordPress.org, right from your dashboard. It’s an addition that could become very helpful to developers who have plugins that they find themselves using on a regular basis. Anything that saves time and is easy to use is a win. You can also search user names to see what plug-ins other developers have marked as favourties which is a great way to make better websites based on the sites that you like.

Another change is the removal of the Link Manager or Blogroll. The change means that all link management will have to be done through plugins moving forward. Many people saw the old Blogroll system as antiquated since WordPress is being used as a full scale website development tool more now than ever before and many professional web developers using WordPress seem to be happy that this old school feature has been removed.

Other changes include:
- Retina Display Admin to allow for more clarity in print versions and better resolution and rendering on high end Macs, iPhone 5, iPad 3, Kindle HD and many new Android devices.
- A simplified welcome screen and dashboard for new users which should make starting with WordPress easier for new website developers and bloggers.
- A more advanced color picker to assist in everything design related in your day to day use of WordPress.
- A new look on the buttons on your add new post screen that removes the rounded edges and goes with a cleaner, squared up look.
- Improved keyboard navigation and screen reader support for easier day to day use and management of your WordPress website.

As always, remember to back-up all of your files and information before you upgrade to the newest version of WordPress or give us a call and we’ll help you upgrade.

Keep your eyes on the web for reviews and information as more users and developers start using their update, and let us know what you think of the NEW WordPress 3.5!

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