Getting searched!!

With graduation so close by, our professors and advisors keep warning us about what to put on our Facebooks. I used to not listen to them until I started taking Social Network Marketing for my Social Media concentration. My professor gave our class numbers about how putting up bad pictures and statuses could really hurt us, and since stats and cold hard facts make me listen, I checked over my own site to make sure my grandmother, or a future employer, could see it. More recently than this lecture, I saw an article on CNN "Could Facebook be bluffing on search-engine plans?" that was talking about how Bing and Facebook may join forces so that you could search people more easily. The real reason behind this is because Facebook is such a huge force on the web that it is messing with Bing's search results. 

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I think it's pretty crazy, but not hard to believe, that Facebook is such a huge force on the internet that it is effecting how things are searched. I think that having a strictly social search would be a smart move for the companies with search engines and also a good way to creep on future employees. I know this is just another warning about what not to put on Facebook, but these guys are making it easier to find you. What are your thoughts? Do you think this will happen anytime soon, or do you think bigger companies are willing to finance something like this so that they can search future employees faster and more efficiently?

Location, Location, Location!!

Gowalla, Foursquare, and now Facebook Places, are all social media platforms that are location based. With these applications you can "check in" to different locations and at the same time see where your friends are. This tool comes in handy when you need something to do on a Saturday night, or if you are driving around town during the week looking for something to get into. These applications are all in good fun, awarding mayors to people that check in the most often to a certain location, or getting merit badges if you party hop a lot one night. There is even an article on CNN.com that talks about how NASA is getting involved with the location based social media platforms. Above you see a picture of what I am talking about. NASA has hidden virtual gifts around the country to gain more recognition for the space program. Another article on CNN.com reveals that even the good people at CNN got into the game by offering up a healthy eater badge on Foursquare to people that ate well and shopped at local farmer's markets.


At the other end of the spectrum, people are telling all of cyberspace where they are. Is this really the safest thing we can do? I have read local reports of people going out of town for the weekend and checking into various places out of town, which then resulted in their houses getting robbed.


What are your thoughts about location based social media platforms? Do you think they are dangerous? Or do you think they are all in good fun? I feel like it is a double edged sword that could go either way. I personally will not be using this technology anytime soon.

Things seem to catch on....viral marketing

I know you have recently seen women all around the world updating their Facebook status to say things like "I like in the chair" or "I like it on the door." Reading statuses like these cause people to take notice and start asking questions. When people start asking questions the knowledge of what's going on spreads like wildfire. I admit I was one of those people that were like "what are they doing?" Since then, I have jumped on the bandwagon. If you were curious, the question that these women were answering with their statuses is "Where do you like your purse" and it was supposed to generate awareness of breast cancer awareness month. This is cool and all, but if you are like me, you change your status twice a day or maybe more so this was a very short buzz.

My favorite viral marketing ploy of the month has been the "Count me out" social media campaign to support National Coming Out Day, which they have stretched to continue all week. What you do is go to the link above and follow the instructions on the site. I am an "Ally" because I support those coming out this week, and my friend Skylar's picture says "Out" because he is already out. We are both doing this to support equality in the community and to support the anti-bullying and anti-homophobic efforts. 

I think pictures give you the best way of being heard. People notice when your profile picture changes rather than a status, just because you don't change your picture several times a day. I have seen several pictures like the ones above and asked the same questions like I did for the breast cancer awareness. Those statuses never raised as many questions and confused messages as these pictures did, and once people found out, they started changing their pictures too. Story short, if you want to raise awareness, Facebook is the way to go!