Fancy, Pinterest for ecommerce

Pinterest may have some competition. Fancy is a new social media platform very similar to Pinterest. The difference is, Fancy is geared towards ecommerce. It’s like a Pinterest wish list. It’s less about inspirational quotes and creative pictures and more about the place you want to travel or the sundress you saw in Vogue and want to buy.

The ecommerce site is a great tool for merchants and retailers. After you “fancy” (“fancying” something is the equivalent idea as “pinning” something) the retailer can see that it was “fancied” and contact you to give you a special deal. According to Stylelist Home, Fancy has been described as “Groupon in reverse.”

It currently has 250,000 users, which is not much compared to Pinterests’ 10 million users. However, it has only been out for a few months, and with endorsements from celebrities like Kanye West and P. Diddy, I don’t think it will be much longer before the social media site really takes off.

In contrast to Pinterest, 60% of Fancy’s users are men; Pinterest’s user-base is comprised primary of women. That doesn’t mean the dynamic won’t change in the near future when the site becomes more popular. More women tend to use social media when compared to men, and shop online more than men, so we’ll have to see if men continue to hold the majority of users for Fancy

It will be interesting to see if the social media site will succeed or if it will flop. I think this might be the new big thing. What do you think? Check it out for yourself and let me know.

The Third Generation iPad

As I’m sure everyone is aware, the third generation iPad was released on March 7th, and no it’s not called the iPad 3, just the iPad. There have been a lot of media outlets saying that there were very few improvements made to the new iPad, but I disagree. Apple, as always, made some ground-breaking technological improvements, creating yet another amazing device. Here are my top three improvements for the iPad.

The first big improvement is the retina display. The 2048-by-1536 resolution is better than your 50-inch flat screen TV, with a million more pixels and 44 percent greater color saturation. The most amazing part is that it’s on a screen that isn’t even 10-inches. That seems like over-kill if you ask me, but I’m still looking forward to seeing it once it hits stores.

The second big improvement is the addition of 4g LTE. Apple is known for adopting new technology a little later than the rest of the industry, but that’s because it’s always good to make sure the technology is going to be reliable and will stick around before putting it in your products.

The third biggest improvement is the 5-megapixel camera. I must say, although this is an upgrade I was expecting more. The ability to record video with 1080p is great, but I was hoping for a camera with at least 8-megapixels, not 5.

Those are my top three favorite changes. I’m still undecided if I’ll purchase one, but it’s definitely on my wish list.

Why you should be blogging

If you’re looking for a job, blogging is a great way to show off your written communication skills. A blog allows you to show potential employers what topics you’re interested in and how well you understand them. It’s important for your employer to know that you can do your own research, that you have an opinion and that you feel comfortable sharing it.

Employers want to see that you are creative and can create your own content. Blogging easily lets you create your own content and is a great reflection of your personality. Also, you’re able to choose whatever topic you want. If you’re interested in fashion then create a fashion blog. If you’re interested in sports then create a sports blog. Normally, it’s great if it relates to your professional industry, but it doesn’t have to. Your professional experience may lay in marketing, but if you really love cooking there’s nothing wrong with creating a cooking blog. It shows that you’re an interesting person and no one wants to hire someone that isn’t interesting.

Your tone is important. You want to keep it professional, but it doesn’t need to sound like an academic paper. It’s okay to write in first, second or third person; no one is going to take out a red pen and give you a grade. However, it’s incredibly important to spell check, especially if you’re telling your potential employers about the blog. You wouldn’t apply for a job with a spelling and/or grammar mistakes on your resume, so make sure to edit your posts so you don’t have them on your blog either.

It’s not all work; blogging is fun. It allows me to take a step out of my academic life and speak with a different tone, as if I’m having a conversation with my readers. It allows me to communicate my opinions in a professional and interesting way that I really enjoy. Why don’t you give it a try?

Check out this related post on Businesses Grow, 7 Reasons Every Job-Seeker Needs To Blog.

Photo Credit: http://darrenjdeverux.com/tag/blogging-2/

What not to do on Twitter

If you’re working on your Twitter reputation there are a few things you should probably not do. All Twitter, had some great points that I would like to emphasize. Some of these are obvious, while some are maybe not so obvious. Although these tips are for your Twitter account, they would still be great pointers for your entire social media presence.

This is a big one: don’t drink and tweet
This should be obvious, but just in case you’re doing it anyway, you should probably stop. While you’re drunk it’s likely your tweets won’t make sense, and when you can’t make sense in 140 characters people wont think you make sense in real life either. This one goes hand in hand with saying whatever you want (and by whatever I’m referring to foul language, and questionable comments). This is a bad idea. People wont take you seriously and it definitely doesn’t make your opinion/statement any better by throwing the f word into it.

Talking about your hangover
It’s really not professional or appropriate to talk about your wild night out at least not on Twitter. Save it for personal messages with your friends.

Repeating your tweets
Repeating the same tweet gets annoying for your followers. If they already read it once you’re wasting their time when they read it again. If you can’t come up with enough content to not tweet the same thing multiple times a day then cut down on the number of times you tweet, because no one likes to be told the same thing twice, or three times, or four times… I think you get the point.

Don’t spam people
We all get them, the tweets that only contain your twitter handle and a link with no explanation of what that link may be. We know it’s a virus and most of us are probably avoiding you like the plague.

Begging for followers
Yes, I’m also talking about the #followback and #teamfollowback tweets. It seems pretty desperate, and to be honest the number of followers you have shouldn’t matter, the quality and relevancy of your followers should.

Creating a professional social media reputation is important, especially if you’re looking for a job, because almost anywhere you apply is going to put your name into a google search and see what comes up. If all your potential employer sees is your party pictures and your desperate need for followers, you probably wont be getting that call back for an interview.

Bottom line: think before you post.

Photo Credit: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/3-tips-for-writing-a-killer-twitter-bio-to-get-targeted-followers_b133

Invisible Children #Kony2012

I know this isn’t something I normally post about, but this is definitely worth talking about.

Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), better known as “the rebels” to Ugandans. Kony and the LRA, abduct, rape and kill children in Uganda, and in many other African countries. He takes children out of their homes, and forces the girls to become sex slaves and the boys to become child soldiers, forced to kill their parents and kill and mutilate innocent people.

This is a man who must be stopped. Jason Russell created a movement called Invisible Children that can help change the world. Through social media and word of mouth, people around the world, especially in the U.S. are getting involved to help raise awareness about Kony and stop him from abducting and killing children. President Obama sent 100 U.S. troops into Uganda to work with the Ugandan Army in finding and stopping Kony.

The only way to make sure the U.S. troops aren’t pulled from Uganda is to make sure Americans don’t lose interest in the cause. How are we going to do this? Keep talking about it! Tweet about it, post it on facebook and Google+, write about it and tell everyone you can. Make sure President Obama doesn’t pull our troops out of Uganda, because if they’re needed anywhere right now, it’s in Africa to stop Kony.

Although there have been some controversial articles about the intentions of Invisible Children, I believe that it’s a cause with good intentions to raise awareness about the issue. Like any other cause some of the money donated will to go to staff salaries, promotion and advertising, but the point here is to raise awareness about Kony, and isn’t that what Invisible Children is doing? Let me be clear, I’m not asking anyone to donate money to Invisible Children, I’m simply asking that we all help to raise awareness about Kony and Invisible Children is doing a good job of doing just that.

Please watch this video and spread the word.

 

Rebranding the Android Market

Yesterday, the Android market was rebranded as Google Play. Google play will consist of, not only the Android Market, but also Google Music, Google Movies and the Google eBookstore. The cloud technology will save all your music, movies and apps and you’ll have access to them on any of your devices.

From the Official Google Blog:

With Google Play you can:

• Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
• Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
• Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
• Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles

The rebranding was long awaited, since you don’t technically have to own an Android device to be able to buy Google Music or any books from the eBookstore the name “Android Market” was no longer a good fit for the technology being offered. The rebranding, of course, comes with a revamped web site and interface featuring links to search movies, music and ebooks in a more central space on the home page.

In addition to the rebranding, Google is offering deals on their ebooks, music, movies and apps for the first seven days following the rebranding, calling it the “7 days to play” sale.

Learn more on the about page of play.google.com

“Checking in” just got personal

Planned Parenthood has a pretty interesting new social media campaign, “Where did you wear it?” The campaign targets college students and millenials promoting safe sex throughout Western Washington. According to The Seattle Times, as a part of national condom week, 55,000 condoms were distributed on college campuses and Planned Parenthood health centers, each with a QR Codes on the wrappers so condom users can “check in” where they’re having sex, online.

Kind of weird, but if you knew everyone else on your campus was practicing safe sex, would that convince you to do the same? This photo from Where Did You Wear It shows where people are “checking in.” You might be surprised how many people are willing to share where they’re having sex.

Court Ordered Facebook Apology

A court ordered facebook apology. That’s a new one, right? Mark Byron was ordered to apologize to his wife via facebook or face jail time after posting a rude status update. Mark and Elizabeth’s marriage began to get rocky after having their son in July of 2010. Elizabeth then began claiming that Mark verbally abused and physically threatened her.

According to the Cincinnati news, after being exonerated of criminal charges, a civil protective order was issued against Mark, ordering him to stay away from his wife. Frustrated with the court and his wife, Mark wrote, “…if you are an evil, vindictive woman who wants to ruin your husband’s life and take your son’s father away from him completely – all you need to do is say that you’re scared of your husband or domestic partner…” on his own facebook wall.

Even though he had blocked his wife from his facebook page and the post was not addressed to her, she found the post and reported it to the judge. She believed it violated a court order, stating that Mark was not to, “to suffer physical and/or mental abuse, harassment, annoyance, or bodily injury.”

The court gave Mark an option, either go to jail for 60 days or post apologies on his facebook wall for thirty days. According to the Cincinnati news, free-speech expert Jack Greiner said, “The idea that a court can say ‘I order you not to post something or to post something’ seems to me to be a First Amendment issue.”

“The court’s order to compel speech is as much a violation of the First Amendment as suppressing free speech,” Greiner said.

Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation said, “Forcing someone to speak as punishment for speaking” could violate Mark Byron’s free speech rights.

If you ask me, I agree with Greiner and Fakhoury. Forcing someone to apologize or face jail time isn’t giving them much of a choice. What do you think? Did the court violate Mark’s First amendment rights?

Photo Credit: http://www.rivertoncity.com/departments.justicecourt.html

Twitter and the Presidential Election

TV and Twitter tend to coincide. Whether it’s during the Superbowl, the Grammys or the newest episode of The Bachelor people are tweeting while watching. This also means it’s very likely that people are voicing their opinions via Twitter during the presidential debates.

According to TechCrunch, South Carolina tested this theory with their Republican debate by having viewers tweet the candidate’s name and #dodge or #answer in regards to how well the candidate answered his or her questions. Participants were asked to tweet during breaks and after the debate. The results were displayed in a graph showing how well the public believed the candidates answered their debate questions. The only problem? Fox didn’t show the candidates the results in real time because, “influencers and technologists might be overrepresented.”

If you’re not going to show the candidates what people are saying in real time, then what’s the point of creating a real time, online conversation about the debate? If I thought candidates were “dodging” questions, I would want to give them a chance to backpedal and fully answer the question.

So, what if our tweets were broadcast in real time to the candidates during the presidential debate? Obviously there would need to be someone monitoring the chat or chaos would ensue, but that would at least answer some of our key questions. At minimum, the candidates would know when the people watching the debate believe they are not fully answering the questions presented. Real time opinions broadcast to the candidates might even improve the transparency of this year’s presidential election. Food for thought.

Photo Credit: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/15/flock-the-vote/

Building an App

There are so many tips and tools that anyone can use to build their own app. But how many apps do you know of that you downloaded then immediately deleted because, lets be honest, they sucked. And why do they suck?

Unless it’s the technology itself, it probably sucked because it wasn’t created with a plan. When creating an app, you can’t just say, “well, our competitor xyz has one that works for them, we must need one too.” Any app you create needs a strategic plan, just like anything else in advertising, public relations and marketing.

One thing you should be sure of:  Do you really need an app?  Check out these next few questions to see if you do.

First thing to ask yourself: Why are you building the app? If the app doesn’t solve a problem, then you’re just wasting time and money that would be better suited elsewhere.  Your app should identify a problem and solve it. Take Gasbuddy for example: If you don’t know where to find cheap gas Gasbuddy solves the problem by finding the cheapest gas in your area.

Secondly, who is going to use the app?  Although it is quite possible that those outside your target demographic may utilize the app, it’s important to have a general idea of the kind of person you’re gearing your app towards.

Where are people going to use the app?  If the app is Gasbuddy, people will probably be using it while behind the wheel.  Is it a cooking app?  If so, it’ll most likely be used in the grocery store and at home in the kitchen.  Knowing the “where” can help gauge how simple the app should be to use, and the amount of extras to throw in.

What is the value of the app? Figure out why someone would want to download your app in the first place. Is it for productivity? Travel? Entertainment? Figure out the value, and go from there. If the app isn’t valuable to people, then no one is going to download it, and if no one is downloading your app then you’ve just wasted a lot of time and money creating it.

If you’ve gone through these questions and still think creating an app is a good idea, ask yourself how you can make the app more meaningful.  Make people care about it, and make it a part of your target audience’s everyday life. If your app isn’t better than your competitors, then why should people choose to download your app instead of a different one?

Bottom line: If you’re going to build an app, think about it first. Do you really need it? Or would that money be better spent on something else?

Photo credit: http://www.hasoffers.com/blog/tracking-the-value-of-mobile-app-advertisin/