5 Social Media Headlines which Grabbed My Attention

Social Media evolves and changes constantly. It's so hard to keep up to date on the latest trends and happenings world wide on social media.


So here's the latest information which grabbed my attention:

1. Twitter will be rolling out ads for small businesses -in USA http://blog.twitter.com/2012/02/coming-soon-twitter-advertising-for.html

2. Facebook is going to be releasing timeline for Facebook business pages - http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-release-timeline-brands-month/232760/

3. Men are from Foursquare and women are from Facebook!
The research covers users in the UK, France,Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands -http://www.slideshare.net/PNLondon/men-are-from-foursquare-women-are-from-facebook

4.  Social Media Studies, mainly looking at US brands - http://mygoodbuzz.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/coca-cola-is-hosting-hangout-on-google.html

5. Australia's top Facebook pages - http://wearesocial.com.au/blog/2012/02/09/facebook-brands-australia-infographic/ 

For more up to date info, lessons, case studies, changes and trends read:

 - Social Media Examiner - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

 - Mashable - http://mashable.com/

source: http://chelseanewton.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/thursday-news-day-social-media.html

Keep learning

Thanks Jo, who is doing the New Skills Festival this September for today's post regarding social media and my basic guide.

As a trainer, I have to learn something new every day. Social Media is constantly evolving, even Blogger has just changed its entire interface and set up some basic mobile messaging blog options.

The people I teach, learn the value of social learning, social skills, social etiquette and social communication - I encourage you all to keep learning, to find information and to read as much as you can about your industry, your clients, your customers in order to really communicate and engage with them.

Although I do encourage you to do general searches, I'd like you to dig deeper. 

Attend free webinars (if time and money is a problem) - webinars will give you helpful insights, guidance, an introduction to something new and how tos.

If you can take a course, from 12 weeks, to a weekend, part time or full time for a few years, workplaces generally encourage their staff to further their skills and increase their training. Speak to your employers about improving your skills - if you're an entrepreneur - there are some great evening courses, weekend options and I recently found a 12 minute marketing course which I love the sound of.

Take advantage of slideshare, people are constantly uploading informative slides. slideshare is an excellent place to put up your slides (regarding your thoughts, business practices) where you can view and share information while finding excellent content.  

Search blogs, they are often personal accounts or journals and can give you great insight into any subject. 

People who blog are experts themselves, they are sharing their day to day knowledge, thoughts and experiences with you. People are renovating, building houses, starting businesses, studying,  travelling, dreaming, having babies, recovering from illnesses and business blogs (often) keep you very informed.

Keep searching Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube for advice, questions, reviews, data, statistics, information, answers ... anything which will help you learn.

Have a look at all the conferences, or webinars, Tweetups, mashups available (the easiest way to find them are on Twitter), they are often after hours and this is a great way to meet people offline.

Social Media has changed how we interact. We are no longer working standard business hours, 5 days a week. We have to schedule Tweets/Updates/Posts, monitor accounts on weekends and be online when our clients and customers are online ... you need to work out when best suits you and how.

Never stop learning. It's one of the most important things I have learnt on my social media journey.

Ban social media?!

There are hundreds of articles this morning about banning social media - or monitoring certain accounts and shutting them down as a result of the riots throughout London this week.


The London riots have been a news item all week. On social media, people (or *looters) are posting photos of the goods they have stolen and being arrested for it.


And on Twitter by following the #Londonriots hashtag, it has been streaming up to date information while police men and journalists have been confirming or denying rumours and keeping locals informed. Twitter is a site where all information is shared publicly and the information can be used both positively and negatively.


While people were Tweeting about the riots and asking questions, others were embracing #Londoncleanup #OperationCupofTea and #riotcleanup to assist with the clean up and to show the world that people use social media for good  and that Twitter and Facebook were a way of reaching locals and encouraging them to clean up the streets and aid and assist people who had been affected by the riots.

Let's Talk About Twitter

I love Social Rabbit, whose very helpful post will provide you (and beginners) with 5 essential Twitter tips, to help you get to know and use Twitter effectively.

Have a look around the Social Rabbit site, Lara Solomon is an excellent business women, who provides very valuable tips and information about social media (and training) she is very interactive on social media, follow her example and you will learn how to use social media wisely!

Twitter is an excellent business tool, it will help you find people in your industry, find you like minded people and help you market and promote your products and services.

One advantage with Twitter is the ability to know your competitors and you will find that a lot of companies are followed by or do follow companies who have similar products and services. I feel that places your business or organisations amongst peers who have different ways of getting their messages across. It helps to see what similar organisations are saying and you can ReTweet their links and get inspired to write Facebook updates and blog posts from regular updated information which you can source on Twitter.

Following competitors at the beginning of your Twitter journeys means you can get a feel of the content, links and blog posts you can add. It also gives competitors a feel of your company and as far as I know, this method of sharing, ReTweeting, being inspired by content to write your own will not be harmful to your business.

I recommend that you find and follow people who have your interests in common and such as charities/authors or anything really where you get your inspiration and motivation from. Being human on Twitter, communicating with others, responding, answering questions, going off topic ( just a little bit) will help. This means that you will be truly connecting, think of it as being at a professional networking function, sure you talk mainly about work and work issues but you end up talking about other things - on Twitter many people have benefited by the authenticity of their accounts and by being connected and receptive.

Please note a link at the bottom of Lara's Post refers to Google + please have a look, this is Google's social media platform , which will be open to the public soon. Google+ is going to be another form of social media, another way to get your message across, a site  to find and to reach your clients and certainly will be another tool which will be useful for marketing your products and services.

Benefits of Social Media

With social media you can find information from anywhere about anything you are interested in.

I love finding information and reading other blog posts and sharing information with people who are using social media or are just learning how beneficial social media is as a business tool, for people who work at home and for anyone who wants to learn and explore.

I regularly update the Social Status Facebook Page to share with you the benefits of social media. People are writing blog posts, opening social media accounts and sharing information 24 hours a day.

If you want to find out something, whether it's an idea to promote and market your business, or how to use a certain tool or program, you can find your answers by searching on YouTube for how to videos, and by following realtime search on Google, find the realtime tab on the left hand side of the Google home page by clicking the more button. This will keep you up to date on whatever is happening in the world.

Use Facebook and Twitter search to find and follow great business pages, read blog posts, watch videos ... information is constant and changes in the blink of an eye, so a great way to make sure you don't miss something of interest to you; is to add links, pages and blogs to your favorites or if you want the information to come to you as soon as it's put on the Internet then subscribe to RSS feeds.

We are certainly learning to search and find information. And then we are sharing across Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other software programs to reach other people.

I love Read It Later, you can save any link from Twitter or the Internet and then read it later when you have some down time. I use Read It Later to track information and find references and get ideas for blog posts. I find it is also great to track information to send to clients to assist them with their marketing and promoting and to help them with their social media.

The greatest benefit is that social media is so accessible to use as a learning tool.
Social Media gives you a chance to learn, to connect with people all over the world, to find tips and info and to share, therefore helping other people with a how to, or a tip or a blog post on their journeys.

And remember learning never exhausts the mind - Leonardo Da Vinci.

Schedule your social media

Make time for social media.

Schedule 15 minutes twice a day into your work calendars.

For the first schedule in your calendar:
Check your social media accounts, write an update or two, write a blog post, answer queries, track your industry ( updates, news, comments)

For the second schedule in your calendar: Find information, articles, facts, news, updates so you can write blogs, updates and posts. Track your industry, answer questions, respond to comments on all  your social media accounts.

By scheduling in your social media, you are making the time to write about, market, promote and communicate about your business. You are staying on top of everything happening in your industry and you are keeping people up to date on what us happening in your business.

Social media is dynamic, fast, things happen and change so quickly. Social media accounts have become a good way to keep track of all kinds of information.

Doing 30 minutes of social media work a day will give your business results!