Social Media and Why You Should be Using it
Social media is here to stay and even though many of us are a bit reluctant to jump into it, it is very clear that your website growth and success, hinges on the proper utilization of social media.
From Website Magazine:
Technologies change so rapidly that they create the need for new ideas and improved strategies virtually overnight. You may be tired of hearing about social media, for instance, and you hardly consider it a new development. But if you employ the same social strategies in 2012 as you did in 2010, and fail to account for the changes coming in the next year, your business will suffer the consequences. To ensure that your website stays ahead of this trend, direct your focus on providing continually fresh and useful content that matters in real time — content that addresses the current needs of your audience. There is no better way to achieve this than by engaging with your customers on social networks.
Create and distribute helpful blog posts and informational videos on which users can comment and share with one another, and invite them to write reviews about your products, services and business. Build an application or optimize your website to ensure that users can access your business on their mobile devices and get the information they need right away.
To monitor the engagement, explore some real-time analytics solutions to determine how visitors are interacting with your site — while they are on-site. Optify provides just one of the solutions in this rapidly growing space, giving website owners instant analysis that allows them to immediately address the needs of their visitors.
The Dark Side of Facebook
Facebook is the current craze with just about everyone from little kiddies to grandmothers across the world. No one can dispute it’s popularity and ease of keeping all your friends informed by just one simple post, as opposed to a number of individual or cc’d e-mails. Posting photos and videos of your vacation, etc. are very easy. It would seem that Facebook is indeed a miraculous, “can’t live without” web application.
But, there is a dark side of Facebook that many people are unaware of. Many people who are new to Facebook and/or are not too web savvy can easily fall into a false illusion of security. After all, you’re just posting some innocent moments to share with your friends, right? At least that is what many people believe. What you might not know is that just about anyone can see a small portion or all of your Facebook posts even if they are not part of your “friends” list. Simply do a search on a name or e-mail address and you can easily find out just about anything about anyone you wish. Not sure of a name or e-mail address? Simply browse through someone you have added as a friend and view their friends list. Click on anyone of them and instantly get a preview of their world and private information. Some people have wisely gone into their account settings and blocked off most of their “wall” and other info, but there is still some information visible. On Facebook, you may run but you cannot hide…unless you shut down your Facebook account.
There have been a number of articles lately about online stalking and other crimes directly attributable to Facebook and other social networking sites like MySpace, etc. Some pretty scary stuff is going on out there in both the virtual world of the web and the REAL world. It would seem inconceivable that people would share personal and/or intimate details of their lives with total strangers but that is precisely what many are doing on their Facebook accounts. Perhaps the most foolhardy people are the ones who invite and accept anyone, trying to build a huge network of “friends” based solely on quantity not quality. I would be terrified to accept a friend invitation from someone unknown only to find out later that the person is a child predator or a serial murderer. Yet, some people don’t have a clue about who they are accepting (or inviting) into their circle of friends. That is a recipe for disaster.
Like anything else Facebook is what you make of it. If used responsibly and safely, it can be a great tool for business or keeping in touch with friends. Just be aware that whatever you are posting out there is just like standing on a podium and announcing it all to the whole world. Be careful and be safe!