Google Getting Bad Social Media Buzz?

Now that the Best/Worst Social Media Practices assignments are all done for our class, it was interesting that today, Google, the company that my technology group used as our best practices company, is getting a lot of hatred for something they do every year and actually all the time around holidays or other special days in history.

Today, for Easter Sunday, Google featured American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez on it's homepage. This act, something they again do all the time, riled up Christians on social media sites.

Anti-Google tweets began appearing, bashing Google for using Chaves instead of Jesus Christ on such a day.

The reason Google chose Chaves was because it would have been his 86th birthday.

One tweet protestor mentioned how he was going to start using Bing from now on, Google's biggest competitor. It is interesting to note, though, that Bing did not feature Jesus Christ either. Instead, there were brightly colored easter eggs.

I thought this was rather interesting because it appeared that Google, in my eyes, was just trying to be neutral, and offend no one person or religion by choosing a historical figure like Cesar Chaves.

I guess you just can't please everyone.

New Facebook for Android?

Facebook announced to the media via invitations that they would be unveiling a "new home on Android" on April 4th. 

The social media site has already announced it would be releasing many new things this year but this invitations seems like it is going to be something special to only Android. TechCrunch speculates that it might even include an altered version of Android.

Speculations of this unveiling include the possibility of Facebook acting like the user interface “skins” that companies like Samsung and LG use on their Android devices. It may also act as an “application” layer that integrates native applications like Messenger into the phone. Other rumors point to the idea behind “Facebook Home,” which would essentially be a heavily skinned Home screen.

Obviously these are all just rumors and speculations, but regardless, something big is coming with Facebook and Android.

Equality Painting Social Media Red

With the Prop 8 and DOMA hearings taking place this week, you may have noticed many social media platforms changing with a sea of red. Users are changing their profile pictures to the Human Rights Campaign sign, only this time shown as a red box with pink equality lines. 

The image is replacing profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and elsewhere. The usual symbol of yellow lines on a blue background was changed to this red and pink format to symbolize the color of love.

HRC release the image on Monday, before the hearings, and by today there were and estimated tens of millions of shares.

Some wondered if the message that HRC tries to convey with their symbol was being muddled by the fact that many memes and spoofs of the image were being made, mostly in a positive way though. Images of the symbol with the frowny Internet star Grumpy Cat and "True Blood" fangs began to appear, as well as many other.

"There's a lot of serious conversation going on and there's an awful lot of important concepts that the Supreme Court justices are discussing," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C.  "What this logo going viral means is individuals have reduced it to a very straightforward concept."

So it appears that the widespread usage and sharing of the image, in almost any form is a welcomed occurrence. Thanks to social media sharing, things like this are possible.

Criminals Get Caught Because of Social Media

People commonly use social media to let people know what they are up to on any given day or at any given time. Most people, though, wouldn't think of a criminal doing so when they are committing a criminal act. ABCNews.com just reported several criminal acts caught via social media. These criminals were basically showing off their crimes for the world to see.

1. A Pennsylvania man's nativity Jesus was stolen from his yard during this past Christmas season. While trolling through Facebook pages of the various people in his town, he came across a picture of the Jesus figurine that was taken from him. Police contacted the Facebook user who, along with a juvenile accomplice, had indeed snatched the figurine.

2. Couple Tareq and Michaele Salahi made the mistake of posting a picture on Facebook of themselves crashing the White House state dinner. Most people know that it is actually a crime to crash that specific party.

3. A 19-year-old young man broke into someone's home to steal various items, and while in these strangers home, proceeded to long onto his Facebook page and then flee the scene. His Facebook page was left open for the homeowners to see when they arrived home.

4. A man posted all over his Twitter as to how his recent computer hacking activity lead to the stealing inappropriate pictures and other various items of an innocent person. One thing he forgot to do, other than just not saying anything at all, was to turn off the GPS data his Twitter was providing, which lead authorities right to him.

5. An alleged rapist decided to chime in on a string of Facebook comments about his crime, speaking directly to police. This prompted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office to inform him, also via Facebook, that his warrant "calls for nationwide extradition." McCombs continued on, despite the Sheriff's Office continued reminders, and eventually a demand, that he make use of his right to remain silent.

6. A young woman posted a YouTube video, where she completely confessed to car theft and bank robbery while obviously under the use of illegal narcotics.

These criminals may not be the smartest when it comes to committing their crimes and making it known to the entire world, but they sure know how to use social media!

My First Twitter Chat Experience: Finding Out More About LinkedIn

Last night I participated in my first Twitter Chat experience ever. I'm still working on getting the hang of using Twitter, so I'm really glad that my strategic communications class assigned us a Twitter Chat assignment. We were asked to attend an entire Twitter chat session and contribute to the chat.

The chat session I chose was #LinkedInChat. This chat session focuses on answering peoples questions about using linked in and people also give advise about how to make your LinkedIn profile better.

I just recently created a LinkedIn profile and I am working on improving it's quality and contents. The chance to get some questions answered and see other people's questions and answers really helped I believe.

Here are some of the tweets I sent out using #LinkedInChat:

It was great to contribute to the chat and I actually got some great feedback from people I directly asked questions to and even people I didn't. I look forward to attending more Twitter Chat sessions that relate to other areas of interest I have in my professional life as well as my personal life.

The #LinkedInChat chat session happens every Tuesday night from 8pm-9pm. The hour I spent attending this chat session seemed to fly. Everything seems to happen so fast. I could barely keep up with all the tweets attached to the hashtag for the chat session. 

The one thing I really liked about this chat session was that even though the moderator, Viveka von Rosen (@LinkedInExpert), provides a discussion topic for each nights chat session, you can ask her any question you have. It does not need to relate to the discussion topic, it only needs to relate to LinkedIn.

I would definitely suggest people who want to get advice on making their LinkedIn accounts better attend this twitter chat session.

Social Media Profiles Serving as the New Resume

Many companies are focusing more and more on their social media presence these days. With that being said, looking for new employees to already have great social media reputation and professionalism is key. 

Time magazine recently reported that a Jobvite survey of over 1,000 companies found that 92% of employers said they will use or already use social media as a means of recruiting. They even seek out shared connections on social network sites and even message potential candidates directly.

Having a strong presence on social media can be an effective way for people to get noticed by companies, as hiring practices are moving away from emailed resumes and job board postings. 

The best way to get employers to even look at you in an online format is to make sure your name is a search magnet. If employers look you up online and can't find a single thing about you, your chances of getting the job, through social media or not, are less likely.

Recommended ways of getting noticed online include:

• Maintaining blogs,
• Keeping active LinkedIn profiles
• Posting evidence of professional skills
• (YouTube video of an impressive speech)

So, when making posts on your Twitter and Facebook, make sure you are being aware of what you are writing, how you are writing, and who is able to see what you have written. Hopefully you already have nothing to worry about and can use your social media profiles in a more professional manner.

Instagram: Now on Your Computer and For Your Business

A few weeks ago you may or may not have noticed something interesting about your Instagram. Instagram announced that they would now be allowing users the ability to browse their entire Instagram feed on the web, just like they can on their mobile devices.

Users are able to use the web to do the same things they can do on their mobile phones. Browse through photos, liking photos by double-clicking or clicking the like button, and conversing with others through inline commenting. 

Instagram felt a strong need for the creating of a web page to allow more accessibility to it's  ever growing community.

The website is only meant to allow browsing through your Instagram feed, as Instagram is focused on keeping the taking of photos to be on the go, in the real world, and in realtime.

Instagram is proving to be a great platform for companies to start using as it gives their followers a more unique and visual form of interaction with the company. Many clothing stores and event planning companies are finding Instagram to be a very valuable asset.

Reasons businesses should use Instagram include:

• Showing your products
• Showing how it's made
• Going behind the scenes
• Showing what your products can do
• Giving a sneak peek
• Showing your office
• Sharing travel experiences
• Introducing employees

Twitter and Facebook are known for being the leading social media outlets, but now it's time to start making room for Instagram.