The use of social media to report events has become a normal occurrence. Any time anything happens that is newsworthy, many turn first to social media, plugging in Twitter hashtags and searching the Facebook news feeds for information. As disorganized and young as the industry is, it has been influential in getting the word out during times of crisis. There’s a caveat. It simply isn’t as correct as traditional news sources. The space allotted for reporting, both professional- and citizen-based, isn’t enough to paint a full picture at times. There are also those who intentionally mislead through…

The internet gives everyone a voice, and that’s a beautiful thing. However, the things people say online can actually have a bigger impact than they think. When an unhappy customer goes online and leaves a bad review of a business, other customers take it to heart and the company looses business– maybe just a little at first, but when companies start to develop a bad reputation online, it can spread and grow in the blink of an eye. Luckily there are ways that businesses can help prevent that.   Creating a good online presence Everyone wants to have a strong online presence, especially businesses….

Twitter and Facebook exploded this past Sunday night with tweets and statuses surrounding the shocking ending of this week’s episode of Game of Thrones. I missed the episode and watched it a day later, so I cut myself off from the social media world to avoid any spoilers. However, after watching the episode, I saw what all the fuss was about. Game of Thrones is one of the most popular shows on television right now. Many of the characters on the show have encountered problems at some point, but many of them could have easily been avoided had they logged into these social media accounts.   Arya…

What is the first thing that pops into your mind during or after a disaster? Well during the course of each and every year 800,000 people are affected by these disasters and some people don’t know where to turn to for help. When phone lines are damaged and electricity delivery is interrupted, where should the people turn for help? Did you ever think of using a social network for help? Well, in this tech savvy world, social media is becoming the leading form of contact during an emergency. The quick and efficient way to look for help is to turn towards the Internet. It’s important to check social media…

If there’s one thing that plays well, almost universally, on social media, it’s animals. From pets to wild beasts, animals dominate social media pictures and references. Some go so far as to become celebrities on social media. It isn’t just Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Even some of the edgier social sites like Reddit and Fark have an affection for the other inhabitants of the planet. It’s to the point that people are making up videos to get attention for one reason or another using animals such as the golden eagle that digitally snatched a kid. In the infographic below by Equestrian Supply…

More and more people are deleting their Facebook and Twitter accounts because of all the advertisements that flood the page. What if I told you there was FINALLY a way to interact with your friends online completely ad-free? Facebook and Twitter both have tons of spam, annoying games, and basically garbage thrown onto your screen. Since Facebook went public, this problem has only gotten worse. App.net (ADN) provides users with a purer social media experience, one free of spam, advertisements and invitations to play Candy Crush Saga. The Twitter-like website allows users to follow one another…

These days technology is all pervasive, unavoidable even, and we are grateful. It has made it simple to get things done from anywhere in the world. It is hard to imagine going back to the way things were before smartphones. But what happens when we become over reliant on technology? Our gadgets aren’t used to simply accomplish tasks: they are constant distractions that stay by our side all day every day. As this infographic points out, an average smartphone user will check their phone almost every five minutes. When does this become a problem? When does this become an addiction? When does this…

If there’s one thing that could bring down the whole Twitter empire outside of a catastrophic meltdown of all of their servers, it’s spam. Hackers and malware agents have been limited over the years as more users are keeping their accounts secure and are hesitant to click unfamiliar links, so the annoying little luncheon meat is the last remaining major threat to the social network. Yesterday, they took a big step towards minimizing spam with a victory in court over TweetAdder, a software company that specializes in Twitter marketing automation. Their purpose is the key to Twitter’s (and users’)…

A social media study conducted by Pew (pdf) reveals some interesting facts about social media use by teenagers. One of the most interesting takeaways is that Tumblr just isn’t as popular as many people believe in the youngest demographic. Twitter is. It’s growing substantially with 24% of teens microblogging their 140-characters regularly in 2012 compared to 16% in 2011. Instagram is also growing in popularity with 11% of teens using Facebook’s mobile image darling. Compare this to Tumblr, a much older service and one that is wrongly associated by many to be a teen haven, is sitting at only 5%…

Yahoo is finally tossing its hat into the social media ring. Recently, Yahoo announced that it would be incorporating tweets into its newsfeed on Yahoo.com. This signals a serious shift, since Yahoo is giving equal weight to tweets and ‘bona fide news.’ Anyone who’s paying attention will have noticed that Twitter is one of the largest growing companies in the world. With over half a billion users and over $250 million in advertising revenue just last year, Twitter is also one of the most valuable brand strategy tools available to a company. However, Yahoo is now using Twitter as a news outlet,…