Should You Un-Fan Your Friends?

It goes without saying that the social media giant, Facebook, has made a pretty noticeable shift in priorities as of late.  Yes, it still retains its mission of connecting every single person in the world.  However...

Now, YOU CAN ADVERTISE YOUR OWN CONTENT!

Does this jive with the above mission?  Or, does this more align with the goal of appeasing Wall Street?

As reported in multiple places (here being one example), Facebook announced that individual users will soon be able to promote their own posts to the News Feed of friends they might not otherwise reach.  All for a mere $7.00 per post (pure profit for Facebook by the way).

What will you see more of?

Probably babies, engagements, weddings, and pyramid scheme invites.

What will you see less of?

To All the Facebook Phone Rumors that Won’t Die

As you've probably noticed, the internet is more and more abuzz with rumors about a forthcoming Facebook Phone. Either this is folklore that will never die, or there might actually be some merit to the online whisperings.

So I ask, is it practical for Facebook to start from scratch and build the next coolest phone to try to compete with the likes of Android, Apple's iOS, and the Windows phone? My analysis says no. Would a venture such as this be successful and even stand a chance at capturing some of the smart phone market share? Again, not likely.

Google+ Branded Pages: But Where are the Customers?

The signs are up, the doors are open.  Turn up the music, it's awfully quiet in here...

Google has done quite well over the last few months with Google+... at least as far as keeping people talking about it.  (If you have missed out on that conversation, circle a few social media people and you'll be in the loop fairly quick.)

However, finding an accurate source for the total number of users that are actually using it is another story.

Google, for obvious reasons, prefers to emphasize how many people have signed up and logged in at least once.  Obviously, those should not count as active users, but Google is ultimately in charge of that decision.

Twitter: The Numbers Game

Let me start out by stating that Twitter is an open environment when it comes to social media. A VERY open environment. Setting up an account is a simple process and only takes a few minutes. However, to become influential and credible, there is an entirely new set of skills to master.

I am not going to discuss how to use Twitter.

Nor am I planning to help you filter through the fire hose of Tweets that make up your Timeline (see Lists). How to quickly read and understand the language of Twitter? You're not going to find that here either.

How about Tweeting effectively? Nope. That only takes a little bit of time and patience, and if you stick with it, you'll figure it out soon enough.

Okay, so what am I going to talk about? Numbers and credibility.