Policing social media sites is no easy task, because users can post almost anything they want, often without consequence. Other users can report inappropriate content, but it's not possible for social networks to remove every post that violates their guidelines.
Next time you receive an invitation to connect on LinkedIn from someone unfamiliar, think twice before you accept. This is not only sound advice, it's part of LinkedIn's official rules. Section 8.2 of the site's user agreement specifies that members agree not to "invite people you do not know to join your network." While Facebook and Twitter are great for broadcasting random thoughts and bragging about your private life to complete strangers, LinkedIn is designed to be personal and relevant to your professional life.
Social media can be a fun part of your day. You get to interact with friends, family and strangers -- and maybe if you're lucky, get a retweet from your favorite celebrity. But as much as you may like to put yourself out there, it can be easy to forget that your public social media accounts are just that: public.
Following your favorite professional sports team before and after games -- and beyond the nightly sports broadcast -- has never been easier. Social video apps, such as Periscope, Meerkat, Vine, Snapchat and Instagram, are disrupting the traditional content distribution models of teams, TV networks and radio stations. While the transformation is already riddled with concerns over content rights, it represents a valuable opportunity for sports organizations to engage and interact with fans, particularly younger generations.
Every day, countless individuals and groups are victimized on social networks. The abusers, detached and cloaked in anonymity, often take on different personas as they shame, troll, incite and denigrate others with relative impunity. The ramifications can be devastating and, until recently, the majority of social media companies failed to acknowledge -- let alone confront -- the vulgarity and vicious threats that fly so freely on their platforms.
Twitter conjures up images of funny celebrity tweets and corporate PR gaffes rather than job searching and recruiting. However, there is an emerging pool of job candidates on Twitter. In fact, 45 percent of job seekers report that they use Twitter, compared to 40 percent who use LinkedIn, according to 2014 research from JobVite. The same research also points to an increased interest in Twitter for recruitment, with 73 percent of companies reporting a focus on increasing social network recruitment.
Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest arrived on the social scene after Facebook and Twitter, but they quickly made their marks, especially among millennials. After reaching critical mass, the three companies are attempting to monetize their services by rolling out new features for advertisers. Select large, global brands, including McDonald's, are testing the new features and could be role models for other marketers interested in the apps. However, all three services are still relatively young, and it might be too early to tell if ad campaigns are worth the investment.
Later this month, Pinterest users will be able to purchase some of the products they "pin" without leaving Pinterest's app or website. The new "Buy It" button will show up next to the "Pin It" button that appears when you're about to pin an image of a pair of shoes you like or a coffee table you've had your eye on.
People love reviews. Just look at Amazon, TripAdvisor or Yelp. And now, the public's growing desire for reviews has extended to the job search, as evidenced by Glassdoor's steady rise in popularity since its launch in 2008.
Social media can make or break your career. We've all heard at least one story of an employee getting fired over a Tweet or Facebook post. And when you apply to a job, most hiring managers will first turn to Google to vet your background and qualifications.
Twitter Cards are one of the core features of Twitter's platform. However, if you aren't aware of them or confused by what they do, you're not alone. Twitter Cards enable developers for brands, publishers and other businesses to add photos, videos and a richer media experience to tweets. Marketers see them as a tool to boost their business in varying ways while users just see the better experience they provide in their timeline.
Facebook's ongoing courtship of news, media and entertainment companies has had its ups and downs, but partnerships always seemed inevitable. Today's Internet users spend less time on walled-off websites and in apps with narrow focuses, and Facebook has become a default distributor -- some might say gatekeeper -- of all things media. Publishers might be concerned about ceding too much control to Facebook, but the concept of users consuming more and more news through Facebook seems like another inevitability.
Facebook has been somewhat quiet in recent days, but that doesn't mean it isn't innovating.
Sure, you know your company needs to be on Facebook and Twitter. Maybe you want to be on Instagram to share photos and LinkedIn to find employees. But what about Pinterest?
Facebook's unparalleled reach into the daily routines of consumers around the world, and the ongoing consumerization of IT trend, put the world's largest social network in a unique position to make a significant mark in the enterprise. Catering to large businesses isn't easy, however, and Facebook will have to overcome some key challenges before enterprises see it as a worthy contender for their business.