There is no longer a need to argue that governments, the US government in particular, have been attempting to gain information about individuals through official requests to internet companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. As the internet and social media continue to expand and the amount of information people willingly and unwillingly put only grows exponentially, the value of this data is unquestionable. Businesses want it. Other internet companies want it. Sharing has become normal in our society and that data is extremely valuable. When governments increase their interest…

With 77% of B2C marketers capturing leads from Facebook, it’s fair to say that it deserves your attention. Referral marketing is becoming an essential part of most online marketing divisions. Continued growth in online advertising is overwhelming users with product and service choices. Similar to that of offline marketing over the last few decades, organizations are turning to their customer base to create a new marketing channel. Ambassador, a referral automation software, takes a dive into how brands are utilizing Facebook to create brand ambassadors. …

Is Facebook affecting the way our minds function?  It’s a safe bet to say that the vast majority of those looking at this infographic will have to resist the urge to click on the Facebook notification icon appearing at the top. It doesn’t matter if you know that isn’t an actual Facebook notification.  It doesn’t matter that you probably have your Facebook page open in another tab.  You still want to click the picture of a notification icon just to be sure nothing will happen.  This is the way our minds have been trained to react to things that have become staples of our society and interactions with…

Today’s world in America is one dominated by the mobilization of technology. So it’s only fitting that even the Presidential election be looked at from a mobile standpoint. With 88 percent of registered voters owning some type of mobile phone and about half of that number owning a smartphone, keeping up with this years Presidential election can be done in various ways. Over 35% 0f the total U.S mobile audience has access to some form of social network on their phone. Over half those people either posted a comment about a candidate’s campaign or either read someone else’s post either on Twitter, Facebook or…

In hindsight, it’s easy to see that it was only a matter of time. Facebook has been such an amazing marketing tool for businesses for a couple of years now, allowing effort and proper strategy to circumvent spending money on the platform. If a business worked hard and applied the proper techniques, they could perpetuate a formidable marketing strategy that helped with branding, drove traffic, and sparked engagement. Facebook fixed that last month. Page administrators started noticing their statistics fading. In some reports, the drops were dramatic, chopped down to a third or less exposure…

One would think that Facebook had learned its lesson about censorship. It has a hard enough time keeping self-harm and pornography off its pages and has run into troubles in the past over less-controversial censorship accusations. Now, Breitbart is reporting that a meme published by the Special Operations Speaks Political Action Committee (SOS PAC) was removed and the person who posted it was given a 24-hour “time out” from posting other images on Facebook. The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden,…

Some might say that Facebook has helped extend our “birthday power”. We are able to see who has a birthday now and in the future just by looking in the top right of our Facebook profile. It’s an excellent little calendar that makes the special day of the year for our friends and family easy to keep. No more marking up calendars hung on refrigerators once a year – Facebook is a birthday tracking machine. Moreover, it gives us a quick and easy way to give our birthday greetings to acquaintances. We might call our mom, take our buddies out for drinks, or throw a party for our kids, but Facebook gives us the ability…

Back in May, Facebook owners and Nasdaq suffered embarrassing mistakes at the loss of investors. Eyes are back on the social media company as settlements are argued over in New York courts and recent information about the company hiding data about mobile risks before their initial public offerings paints Facebook in an even worst light. …

I admit it. When I stated in June, 2011, that Facebook would be the worst tech investment in history, I didn’t know how bad it was going to get. I knew it was going to be awful. I just didn’t realize it was going to be THIS awful. Despite the follies, the company is still going strong. They’ve licked their wounds from the poor launch, watched as people became super rich overnight, then about half as rich a couple of months later, and kept with the vision of expanding the network and improving the service. So far, it’s really not that bad (as long as you’re not one of the initial investors) but it’s still funny…

One of the promises of social media in the early days was that it would help businesses generate new customers by exposing their brands and products to people who otherwise might never see them. It was a great reinforcement tool; much in the same way that television ads work through passive acceptance and absorption of messages, so too does social media allow for exposure while people are in their “happy place”. The biggest roadblock to seeing this promise become real is that the options available to businesses to allow them to market properly are so abundant that it can become extremely confusing….