Social Media Psychic

When Jack Vale used his ‘psychic power’ to rightly identify the birthday girl, her reaction was “How do you know me? Did you just make that up?” Vale would call out names and personal information of the strangers, such as what they ate for dinner last night and their nicknames for their loved ones.

Jack Vale is a comedian with 880,973 YouTube subscribers and 165,269,749 views and he is a ‘Social Media Psychic’. Jack Vales knows what you did when if you have mentioned it on Instagram or Twitter. Vale freaked out strangers by checking their social media accounts using publicly accessible geo-data and use their publically available yet personal information to troll them. The result was cranky victims who were amazed and shocked, thinking the man was a psychic or mind reader at first. The man walked through streets leaving people spellbound.

Social Media is becoming a stalker’s delight. People post their likes, dislikes, date of birth, spouse’s name, what they eat, where they are and much more. On many websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram any user can view what you post and what you upload unless you have changed your privacy settings. It isn’t difficult to do what Jack just did.

Though, Jack did it as a practical prank, he was concerned by the information people post on social media. You could be invite criminals to your home by posting “Alone at home”

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/26/social-media-psychic/

Twitter and Times Magazine to decide ‘Person of the year’

It seems that this year Times Magazine decided to go social for deciding the ‘Person of the year’ contenders. Times Magazine has joined hands with social media giant Twitter to help them list the most deserving candidates for the award.

Twitter users can support their favorite person by using hashtag, ‘#TIMEPOY’ in their support tweet. Users can send in their votes by 4th December. However, unlike other twitter votings, the person with the maximum votes will not be declared winner. Instead, the editors at Time magazine will consider the public opinion from the tweets before reaching upon a concrete decision.

“TIME will also be incorporating Vines, Twitter’s 6-second video product, into its Person of the Year walk-up, with celebrities, politicians and other influential people weighing in on who they would choose.” According to Time’s POY blog.”The announcement of the TIME Person of the Year will be made by TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs on NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday, December 11, coinciding with the news breaking on Twitter from @TIME.”

What’s interesting is that Time will be using Poptip, a twitter conversation analytics tool by company of same name, for the campaign. The social media analytics start up will get a major boost with this campaign.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/26/twitter-and-times-magazine-to-decide-person-of-the-year/

Twitter’s stocks fall down by 4%

The success of Twitter’s IPO made many shareholders very happy, until monday. On November 25, Twitter’s stocks fell down by 4.73% closing at $39.06 per share which marks a new low for the company’s stock performance.

The company got an amazing start trading at $45.10 in the beginning and rose up to $50 but after 2 weeks, the company’s hot streak has cooled down apparently. Though, Twitter was not the only one having a bad day. Facebook also saw a drop of 3.05% and the day was even worse for Yelp whose share value dropped by 6.71%.

Twitter’s performance shows a striking resemblance with Facebook early days performance, though Twitter is relatively less volatile. Both the companies had a great IPO, but saw a declined steadily in next two weeks. However, a major difference between the two is that Twitter is still trading above its IPO price of $26, but it took Facebook more than a year to reach back to its IPO price of $38.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/26/twitters-stocks-fall-down-by-4/

Its Twitter all the way

When on November 23, Obama announced the first step agreement of nuclear deal with Iran, political leaders all around the world shared their reactions on this historical events on Twitter.

Under the agreement, the U.S. and UN security council and other countries will begin to impose economic sanctions on Iran, provided the country offers sufficient proof that it does not intend to develop a nuclear weapon.

Obama in its speech said “Over the next six months, we will work to negotiate a comprehensive solution, but because of its record of violating its obligations, Iran must accept strict limitations on its nuclear program that make it impossible to develop a nuclear weapon.”

The Iranian President had been working on the deal since May and upon achieving it said on Twitter with all serenity about the signed petition.

Around the world leaders have shared their reaction on the impact of this deal on the future of the world. Many just tweeted their support to the deal. However, Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the deal saying that the deal is a bad idea and “This is not a historic agreement, it’s a historic mistake.”

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/25/its-twitter-all-the-way/

First look of Pitbull’s Video on Facebook

Pitbull announced the Facebook screening of his new Timber video with Kesha. The screening was announced on all his official social networking accounts and website “My fans get to see my #Timber video with Kesha before anyone else…. Right after our #AMAs performance come back to my FB page and be the first to see the new video.” the post said.

The video was screened on Pitbull’s Facebook page on the night of November 24. Already, The single from Pitbull’s upcoming album Global Warming: Meltdown holds the No. 4 position on the iTunes tops songs chart.

This promotion created a lot of buzz on the social media, wherein the fans eagerly waiting for Pitbull’s next, were been given to glance the video first hand before any news channel could show its excerpts.

Within 5 hours of its upload, the video generated about 36 thousands likes and 12000 shares. Pitbull sure knows how to create a buzz.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/25/first-look-of-pitbulls-video-on-facebook/

Vine Now in 19 More Languages

Vine, the video sharing app, has become a phenomenon since its launch. The app has registered more than 10 million installs on Android alone. New version of the app was rolled out on November 21, 2013 for Android and iOS users in 19 new languages.

This feature has been added to enhance the app experience for global audience. According to the blog post, Vine is also “beginning to explore ways to surface Vine videos that are popular in a particular country.”

Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai and Turkish are the new additions languages.

Targeting the locals around the globe may turn out to be a successful strategy for the app, as it did for the owner Twitter in the past.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/23/vine-now-in-19-more-languages/

YouTube Now on Xbox One

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month, but that is not enough. The video sharing site has now launched an app for Xbox One, allowing users to watch their video in High-definition on their Xbox one. According to the blog post, with this app users will be able to see videos from their subscriptions and latest trends.

In the blog post, Microsoft said the YouTube app will be updated with new features down the line, including ‘Snap mode’. The app was launched on November 22, 2013 in selected countries. However, Microsoft plans to roll it out to remaining countries in the coming months.

The app shall be compatible with all Xbox features streaming videos in high-quality 1080p.

Seems like a huge step for both sides, especially considering that Microsoft launched Scroogled merchandise earlier this week.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/23/youtube-now-on-xbox-one/

Instagram to Add Private Messaging

Rumor has it that photo sharing app Instagram is all set to unveil private messaging feature. Reports reveal that this new feature is close to launch and the company is also trying to incorporate a group messaging feature along with it. The group messaging feature is expected to be out by 2014.

Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, has also been putting an emphasis on messaging lately. Facebook Messenger was updated last month for both iOS and Android. It makes sense that the company is looking to add personal messaging functionality to Instagram as well.

The app has more than 150 million users. Including a chatting option will increase its usability rate manifold. You never know that in times to come Instagram might be able to repeat the success Facebook success.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/23/instagram-to-add-private-messaging/

Chromecast Your HBO Show

Hooked to a TV show but missed its early episodes? For all you fans out there who have missed their favorite BBC TV shows like Game of Thrones, New Girl etc., we have good news. Now HBO Go is supported by the Google Chromecast. If you want to watch any old episode of your favorite TV series, all you need to do is to plug your Chromecast into any HDTV and stream online episodes of your favorite show, controlled from your tablet or smartphone.

HBO Go subscribers can now watch their previous episodes of their favorite show through its website or its app on their smartphone. The Google Chromecast, launched this year, supports Vimeo, Redbox Instant, Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and Hulu Plus. Stream the videos and music from your smartphone to your HDTV with this little dongle lookalike.

The partnership of HBO and Chromecast has made lives bearable for all Game of Thrones and other HBO show’s fans. To view all your favorite shows, just download HBO Go’s latest updated iOS or Android app and connect the Chromecast to your TV and Voila!!.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/22/chromecast-your-hbo-show/

Twitter TV Conversation Targeting

Six months after its announcement on their blog, Twitter has launched a TV conversation targeting feature for its users in US and UK. According to Twitter’s blog, “Now advertisers can easily reach Twitter users exposed to integrations, sponsorships, and other innovative TV tie-ins for an additional touch point or message expansion.”

With Twitter’s new mapping technologies, networks and brands can target their promoted tweets to the viewers who engage with a specific TV shows. It doesn’t matter if the brand is running a spot on the program or not.

This feature would enhance the capability of advertisers to target Twitter users based on their likes and their behavior. Using this feature, they can strike conversations related to a TV show with the viewers during the show.

The potential of this feature will only be limited by the imagination of the brand managers.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/22/twitter-tv-conversation-targeting/

Iran blocks Internet Freedom

Just 5 months after promising internet freedom, the Iran Government has banned yet another web application. The new victim to Iran’s internet policy is Cryptocat, a tool that allowed secure and encrypted chat.

Cryptocat is available as an app for Mac and as plugins for Firefox and Chrome. The app is well known for bringing encrypted communications to the masses. The tool has been used by many activists and journalists throughout the world for private conversations. The app had been blocked in Iran since November 18, 2013.

The Iranian Government has the technological capabilities which they used to redirect any user, who was trying to access Cryptocat, to another site with the message from the government.

The strange thing is that other such apps have still not been banned in Iran and are functional. Possible explanation is that Cryptocat was used by the political groups that Iran government was targeting.

However, Tor browser came to the comfort of the people, allowing them to access Cryptocat using a hidden address catmeow2zuqpkpyw.onion.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/22/iran-blocks-internet-freedom/

The Project Link

It seems like Google is taking its initiative for total global connectivity one step further. The company started a new initiative to bring high speed internet to the less developed nations of the world. The initiative, known as The Project Link, will aim at boosting the internet connectivity of areas in developing nations.

According to a blog post made by Google, they are trying to link cities in developing countries via fiber networks that could speed up the connections manifold. “By making this connection, we’re strengthening a crucial piece of the Internet supply chain”, Google blog post said.

Google has already wired up Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, using Project Link. The network in central Kampala, about 100 kilometers of fiber, is growing out from the center of the city.

Two ISPs, Roke Telkom and One Solutions, already signed up with Google to help them take this initiative forward. This particular project will be extremely crucial in increasing the penetration of internet in developing nations and can turn out to be way more effective than the Project Loon, where Google was planning to provide internet connection in remote areas using hot air balloons.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/21/the-project-link/

Snapchat- a women territory

It seems that Snapchat is becoming quite popular with the ladies. According to the Evan Spiegel, CEO, Snapchat, 70% of Snapchat users are women. Spiegel revealed this statistics in a closed door Goldman Sachs conference on November 20, 2013. However, he refused to disclose the number of users of the app.

According to Evan, 400 million “snaps”(pictures and videos) are shared on a daily basis. The number has doubled since June 2013. Though the app is not making any money right now, it has already declined the $3 Billion Facebook offer.

Spiegel is now planning on inviting advertisers to their app. However, they are taking every precaution, as they “want to do it right”.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/21/snapchat-a-women-territory/

10 Most Popular Questions by WordPress Beginners

I believe it became a sin today not to know what WordPress is. This CMS platform and blogging system is so popular and widespread that some people think it’s the only one that exists. You may not believe, but I have really met such curious opinions. It may be funny. However, it can give a clear idea of WordPress’s importance for the web, for bloggers and developers in particular.

Everyone knows that a good start often means a good result. This thesis concerns WordPress as well. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, and also to give a base from which beginner can move forward, I would like to present a digest of 10 most popular questions by WordPress beginners; with my answers, of course.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is word. It consists of two parts: “word” and “press”. This fact can give a clear understanding that WordPress system was initially aimed for blogging purposes. This system is customizable with template and plenty of plugins that can be found on the official WordPress website.

What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

WordPress.com is a blogging system like Blogger, where you can create account and get a ready blog hosted on this system. WordPress.org is a website for community gathered around WordPress system, which is used by users to be put for their own hosting. On WordPress.org you can find useful plugins to customize and improve your website base on WordPress.

What technologies is WordPress built on?

WordPress uses MySQL database to drive HTML, CSS and PHP.

How to install plugins?

Plugins serve as the main elements that customize the structure of WordPress websites. The pretty thing about WordPress – especially for beginners – is that it’s very easy to install a plugin. Just go to Admin panel, choose Plugin  Add New – and it’s done. However, it is your responsibility to choose a proper plugin.

How to change templates?

The front-end of WordPress website can be easily customized by changing templates. Different premium and free themes can be found on WordPress.org and throughout the web.

To install the template you like, go to Admin Panel. There, choose Appearance and then Install Theme. Upload the theme from your computer. Go to Manage Themes to customize the features.

How optimize WordPress site for search engines?

WordPress is already good for SEO. You just need to keep in mind the fundamental principles of SEO in your content building and everything will be fine. Above that you can also install some SEO plugins, such as WordPress SEO by Yoast or All in One SEO Pack.

How can I speed up my WordPress website?

Actually, WordPress is quite quick and sturdy by itself. Nevertheless, you can make its function even more efficient using plugins working with cache: for example, Total Cache.

How can I protect my WordPress website?

First of all, make a backup to avoid any content loss. Then, make it your policy to use only quality plugins and themes. Finally, keep WordPress updated. These are the main pillars of WordPress security.

However, you can improve it even more by extra means. You can use some plugins to improve the defense. For example, Login Lockdown protects the login form, when people are tempting to guess your passwords. Another useful plugin is WP Security Scan, which analyzes the level of your security, so you can make proper efforts to deal with the “holes”.

How can I monetize my WordPress blog?

There are many different ways of making money on your WordPress blog. The most widespread are selling links and posting prepaid articles. Also, you can pay attention to context advertising; however, it can be more like additional and secondary income.

How can I set a mobile version?

This question is not surprising in our age, when handheld devices become more and more wide used. Well, the answer is simple – just take a Responsive Theme.

These 10 question concerns the basic aspect of starting WordPress. So, I believe my answers provide you with all the necessary information for your first steps.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/20/10-most-popular-questions-by-wordpress-beginners/

Yahoo Upgrades its security

Yahoo has announced its resolve to increase the protection of its users’ accounts. Yahoo mail is planning to increase security by introducing SSL encryption with a 2048-bit key across the network by January 8, 2014. Google has already declared its successful migration to 2048-bit key SSL encryption this week.

Yahoo is taking this measure in response to the rumors evolving over the last six months about the U.S. government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies.

According to an official blog post by Yahoo, the company will be encrypt all information flow between data centers, offer users to encrypt all data flow to and from Yahoo and ensure that Yahoo co-branded mail accounts are https-enabled.

It seems Yahoo is taking every possible step to make sure that their users feel secured.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/20/yahoo-upgrades-its-security/

Google Honors Lincoln’s Gettysburg Speech

Google is known for finding innovative ways for showing its appreciation to inspiring personalities and events. This time, Google has built a digital museum to commemorate the US President Abraham Lincoln’s inspirational speech at the Battle of Gettysburg and pay homage to the great American leader.

150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln gave a two minute speech at the Battle of Gettysburg, a civil war in which Union troops defeated the Confederacy, and changed the course of the war. Lincoln’s words on such an occasion transformed the war into a fight for human equality.

Since that very day, Lincoln’s words have been inspired many books and have been represented in golden letters across the country. On November 19, 2013, 150th anniversary of the speech was made, Google decided to pay its respect to this inspiring event.

The digital museum exhibit shows trivia and exhibits related to the speech and the events at Gettysburg, the text of the speech and what the address inspired in people. The information shown in the exhibits by Google was a result of exhaustive search in Library of Congress, the White House, the Lincoln Library, Cornell University and Dickinson College. The digital exhibit is now a part of the Google’s cultural institute that houses many such exhibits from different parts of the globe.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/20/google-honors-lincolns-gettysburg-speech/

Selfie: Oxford’s Word Of The Year 2013

selfie noun, informal

(also selfy; plural selfies)

a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website

The word selfie has recently earned the honor of being Oxford’s word of the year 2013 and a place in Oxford Dictionary. According to a press release on the Oxford Dictionary’s blog, the usage of this word in the English language has seen an increase of 17000% in the past year.

A word generated from the social media domain, Selfie was first used on Instagram when Jennifer Lee updated her own picture on January 16, 2011 with a hashtag “#selfie.” She herself had no clue that she would be making history that day.

There are around 55 million photos shared on Instagram on a daily basis and according to the company, the word ‘selfie’ has been used 57 million times on the website.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/20/selfie-oxfords-word-of-the-year-2013/

Google fights against child abuse

After heated campaigns hosted in Britain, Google has decided to take strict measures against child pornography. Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt has announced company’s plans to globally lock child pornography websites.

According to David Cameron, the UK PM, “A recent deterrence campaign from Google led to a 20 per cent drop off in people trying to find illegal content, so we know this sort of action will make a difference.” Tests are being run on all platforms of Google such as YouTube, to inspect and remove any kind of illegal content.

In the initial stages, the measures are limited to English speaking nations but the initiative is expected to be expanded to other nations as well in near future. New algorithms are written by the company especially to block websites with such contents.

The UK PM being totally against the entire issue went ahead to say that, “If the search engines are unable to deliver on their commitment to prevent child abuse material being returned from search terms used by pedophiles, I will bring forward legislation that will ensure it happens.”

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/19/google-fights-against-child-abuse/

YouTube down

On Monday November 18, YouTube servers went down for 30 minutes. The Google owned video sharing site was showing error messages to some users and poor connection to others.

YouTube said, “Some people are encountering errors, or a slower than normal experience on YouTube today. We’re working to fix the problem as soon as possible.” The error persisted longer than expected resulting in a great deal of disappointment among website’s avid followers.

YouTube is one of the largest video sharing platforms and receives millions of followers on a daily basis. So, an absence of just 30 minutes did an awful lot of damage to the platform. Though the world didn’t stop functioning, but both the website views and the YouTube brand took a serious blow.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/19/youtube-down/

The Facebook Messenger App Update Unveiled

Facebook has rolled out its messenger app update to all Android and iOS supported smart phones. The update, announced in late October, was initially offered to selected users during test phase.

The most essential and helpful feature of the update is that now you can send messages to anyone on Facebook whether they are there on your friend list or not. According to Peter Martinazzi, Product Manager at Facebook, the speed of the app messages has also been improved, giving the feel of chatting via SMS.

The update has been designed specifically for Android and iOS users complementing the design, style and the overall outlook of these operating systems.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/19/the-facebook-messenger-app-update-unveiled/

New Twitter alerts for UK and Ireland

Twitter will now also support emergency alerts according to the company’s latest blogpost. There are in total 57 Governmental Agencies that have agreed to join the Twitter alert program.

In this program, when any participating agency tweets with a hashtag ‘#alerts”, the tweet will be accompanied by an orange bell. This is a graphical addition to the site which will highlight the urgency of the message.

In order to sign up for this service user will need to fill up a form in the participating agency’s twitter account. You can also get this service via push messages but then the user’s number will be visible to other users on Twitter until you change the settings.

Social Networking sites are becoming the most responsive ways to reach out to people and share any information. So with Twitter alert, the government agencies can create a faster response to emergency information broadcasts. Twitter is truly changing the paradigm of social media.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/18/new-twitter-alerts-for-uk-and-ireland/

Tell your stories with Google’s Tour Builder

Tour Builder is an extension to the Google Earth which allows its users to virtually go all around the world by the push of a button. According to a post by Google, “We originally created Tour Builder to give veterans a way to record all the places that military service has taken them, and preserve their stories and memories as a legacy for their families. But we also thought it could be a useful tool for anyone with a story to tell, so we made it available to everyone.”

With the help of this tour builder, you can create complete tours with an introductory page, pictures and vivid details. You can create your tour in a slideshow presentation-like layout and let the other viewers enjoy the beauty of the place through your eyes. There are 25 pictures allowed per frame which can be added at a particular location in the tour.

You can also use Google Street View to make your tour more attractive and life-like. This will enable you to pin the exact locations of the tour where the software will zoom in on its own to showcase the place more clearly.

The product is currently in its beta phase. Bringing all elements together, it simulates a complete visit of a particular place or event.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/18/tell-your-stories-with-googles-tour-builder/

Google’s Winter Wonderlabs

Google has taken marketing to a new level. Inspired by the winter season, Google has made temporary installations in six US cities to try out the latest Google hardware, and to experience interactive magic. Inside the Winter Wonderlab are igloo shaped structures, with virtual snowfall and People can also create slow motion videos of their Wonderlab experience.

These are structures made to market the new Google devices. People can try and purchase Nexus 7 tablet, Google Chromecast smart-television tool and its Chrome-OS based Chromebook. At the moment, Google Wonderlab has temporary installations in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California.

According to reports, the New York centre is already functional and some Twitter users have already tweeted their experience at the Wonderlab. Winter Wonderlab will run from Nov. 16 until Dec. 22, and the New Jersey installation will run from Nov. 16 until Dec. 24.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/18/googles-winter-wonderlabs/

Importance of Social Media Marketing

Long time ago, marketing campaigns were confined to the traditional methods and yet they fulfilled all the needs of a marketer to create a buzz about their brand in the market at that time. In today’s world, having a general idea of marketing a brand is not enough. The market demands creativity and along with it other attributes that can give you an edge over the others.

The answer to this need is Social Media Marketing which, in such a short time, has reached staggering heights and has captured the attention of marketers worldwide. It goes without saying that social media has become a great platform to promote a brand owing to its wide reach and frequency of use.

There are a large number of factors contributing to success of social media as a marketing platform. When a marketer promotes his product, his primary aim is to reach to the right audience and understand their needs. One of the most important merits of social media is the “instant feedback” option that it provides to all its users. The users can comment on the posts and campaigns that are done as a part of marketing strategy which give the marketer a fair idea of what the needs and desires of its customers are.

Social Media Marketing combined with Social Media Monitoring gives a marketer an opportunity to peek into the likes and dislikes of a prospective client and shape their campaigns accordingly. A check on the competitor’s activities helps marketers to adapt their campaigns for better results.

People forget easily. It is important to remind them about your existence every now and then. Regular interactions play a major role in this respect. Posts and comments maintain a healthy relation between the brand and the client, helping them overcome any kind of communication barriers that might have existed otherwise.

Social Media has established and promoted many brands, though it has rarely been used to its full potential. It has turned out to be a highly effective platform for marketing a brand. Social media marketing has helped establishing many brands and has helped them reach at the apex of the field. It will not be surprising if in future Social Media will beat traditional marketing methods to be the preferred choice of every marketer.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/18/importance-of-social-media-marketing/

Vine’s new challenge

Mashable is all set to take you back to your childhood days. The Mashable Vine challenge aims at creating a number of classic video games like Tetris, Street Fighter etc to make you relive some of those old memories. The new challenge is open to all Vine users. Points will be given to all entries, bonus points if you can incorporate those bloops and bleeps of classic arcade games into a Vine video as well.

You can use any kind of material with rules and regulations of your choice to recreate the games. You can use any technique to create the video. However, the videos need to be expressive and leave behind an impact as well as bring a gush of memories back to the viewers.

The entries are to be submitted latest by Friday, 22nd November, 2013 by 10:00 am using the hashtag #OldSchoolGames.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/18/vines-new-challenge/

Facebook’s CFO cashes in $43 million

David Ebersman, Chief Financial Officer, Facebook sold 911,700 shares of Facebook stock at the rate of $46.76 a piece to earn about $43 million. The 900,000+ shares equated to roughly 8.5% of the CFO’s total equity in the company.

The sale of these shares by Ebersman was pre-scheduled and was a part of trading process. Hence, it does not have anything to do with company’s current financial status.

David Ebersman joined Facebook in 2009. 8.5% of his Facebook equity has made him $43 million. It does say how much Facebook has earned in past few years for its employees.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/14/facebooks-cfo-cashes-in-43-million/

Nissan 3E: Google Glass’ Twin

Lately Google’s wearable device, ‘Google Glass’ is making news on a regular basis. Now, this piece of technology has found its twin. Nissan is all set to unveil a glasses-type wearable computer specifically designed for drivers later this month. Nissan announced the arrival of Nissan 3E via a video. The device in there looks quite similar to the Google Glass.

According to a company statement, 3E will be ready by the end of the month. It will be able to connect to the Internet in real time, allowing the users to overlay acquired information on the glass screen, record projected images and communicate with others by sending information to their screen.

Although, there have been objections regarding such devices stating that such device may distract the drivers while driving. The first ever ticket for wearing the Google Glass and driving was given to a lady in California on the grounds of driving with monitor visible to driver. Although the ‘Car and Driver’ has approved Nissan’s device, the users will still have to be on the look out.

The device will be launched at the Tokyo Motor Show, which will run from November 22 to December 1 this year.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/14/nissan-3e-google-glass-twin/

Snapchat turns down Facebook’s $3 Billion

Recent reports say that popular messaging app, Snapchat has turned down a $3 billion all cash acquisition offer from Facebook. This is the second offer by Facebook to acquire Snapchat. Earlier in October, Snapchat turned down Facebook’s offer of $1billion.

According to reports, Snapchat’s co-founder Evan Spiegel is planning to wait till 2014 hoping for a better evaluation of the company. The Snapchat app developed by a group of Stanford University students has become one of the most popular apps among teenagers, a target group Facebook is losing. Facebook declined to comment on the offer.

Based on the industry trends, Snapchat’s value is estimated to increase significantly in the coming times. In October, Snapchat was looking to raise a round of funding that would have value the company at roughly $3.5 billion.

Both the companies have refused to comment on the offer. However, new evaluation reports for Snapchat are still coming out.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/14/snapchat-turns-down-facebooks-3-billion/

Instagram’s Promoted Photos: Future Success or Failure?

Open up your social media account or a mobile app, and chances are you’ll see an advertisement. Companies have rolled out a slew of new advertising options.

Recently, Pinterest began selling “promoted pins”. Commercials areplayed when viewer’s stream is loading on TV provider apps like FiOS TV and Hulu. Facebook is also planning to roll out its auto-play video ads.

Just days ago, many Instagram users saw the first “sponsored” picture from Michael Kors. It received more than 230,000 likes and that number continues to grow. With approximately 150 million active users, Instagram has potential to become one of the most financially successful social media services;Orbecome irrelevant in just a few years from now.

Will Instagram stay focused on its social platform?

It’s easy to place ads on a social media website. The hard part is keeping the attention of users. To incorporate ads without losing users’ interest, Instagram needs to:

• Continue to innovate its services


• Not overpower users with more ads than they can handle


• Keep an eye on the unsuspected competition

Here are two social media websites that tried to monetize and failed. Hopefully Instagram can learn from the mistakes of others.

Flickr forgot about innovation

When Yahoo purchased Flickr, they tried to hold on to every penny and earn the most profit possible. Ads were placed on Flickr and money spent on innovation was cut.

Unfortunately for Flickr, Instagram was on the rise. While Flickr users were bombarded with ads, Instagram users were browsing quality images without being bugged by annoying ads. While Flickr was cutting costs on innovation, Instagram rolled out its mobile app.

It wasn’t hard for users to choose between the two photo-sharing social media websites. No ads and a mobile app ultimately helped Instagram rise above Flickr.

MySpace watched users flee to Facebook

Just a decade ago, MySpace had more than 100 million users and Facebook was just a concept in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room. MySpace saw potential to become the top money-making social media site and began to display ads on pages.

Users showedno interest in these ads and rarely clicked, making it nearly impossible to sell ad space to companies. With hopes to make money quickly, MySpace focused solely on its advertising platform and forgot about its social platform.

When Facebook swept in, the MySpace population flocked to this new website that had a better social experience to offer users.

In the end, MySpace wound up with little money and few active users. The website has been relaunchedthis year but so far, it has not seen its previous levels of popularity.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/14/instagrams-promoted-photos-future-success-or-failure/

Save email attachments on Google Drive

Google has been making some serious changes in its mail platform, Gmail. After introducing Google Quick Actions, company has merged Google Drive with Gmail attachments. Now whenever you receive an attachment in your mail, the attachment can directly be saved into the Google Drive. The news was announced by Google in an official blog post.

The new feature has transformed the list of attachments into previews. That is the attachments are now visible and on clicking on the preview button the same shall be seen at a full screen resolution. This feature has been enjoyed by many iOS and Android users already but now it has been rolled out for desktop users

However, the most significant feature is Google Drive icon with attachments. Now below each attachment will be a Google Drive icon. By clicking on it, a user can select which folder in the drive the attachment goes to and the document shall be saved in that folder. The traditional downloading option is also available but this new method has made work a lot easier.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/13/save-email-attachments-on-google-drive/

The Instagram Scam

Instlike was free for download on the Google Play Store and Apple iTunes Store. More than 100,000 users downloaded it and shared their credentials with the app which included their Instagram username and password. Little did they know that they were becoming the victims of cyber forgery and that their passwords would be stored by the app to use in the future.

The scam was detected by a computer security company Symantec which then warned Google and Apple to ban the app from their app stores. But the damage was already done. The app had already liked and followed many accounts and pictures. The scam resulted into a pool of likes appearing on random posts. Anybody who had “#instlike_com” as a part of the description of pictures would get 20 extra likes.

Today smartphones users are quite aware about such frauds. Nobody shares their password easily. But Instlike with its sophisticated appearance convinced thousands of users to share their username and password with it. “People didn’t realize that they were being duped into giving their login credentials to this app,” said Satnam Narang, Security Researcher at Symantec.

The app has though been removed from major app stores but the website is still operational and is still continuing its work of posting on others behalf. Change your passwords if you ever downloaded the app and shared your credentials with it.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/13/the-instagram-scam/

Vine for Windows

Twitter promised Vine for Windows phone and after 4 months of wait, Vine for Windows phone is here. The app is being adored by Windows phone users. The app was initially offered on iOS and Android platform. Now, Windows phone users will also be able to share videos and be a part of the exciting Vine community.

The Windows Phone version of the app is almost similar to the other versions except for the fact that the app takes advantage of the Windows phones lenses feature. The app makes use of the platform’s live tiles, alerting users to new content using the app’s icon on the home screen.

There are a number of apps that are available on iOS and Android that are slowly making their way towards the Windows Phones. Slowly but surely, Windows platform is establishing itself in an Android ruled market.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/13/vine-for-windows/

Top Online marketing tips

We have been over and over again on the importance of an effective social media presence. Social media marketing and online marketing hold a very thin sheet of difference. Social media marketing is to promote a product, service or an individual on a social networking website and online marketing is to market everywhere on the world wide web.

The world wide web itself shows how diverse and huge its arena is, marketing on this platform requires the expertise of a marketing executive. Today there are a large number of brands available in the market and each one of them are marketing their products online as well. To meet this competition that is ever increasing, to satisfy the large number of online customers and to create an identity of brands online marketing needs to be done effectively. Top online marketing tips include;

1. Know your market

You are going to market your brand on the social medium, you will create ads, run campaigns, make your content go viral but before any of this happens you need to analyse your market. The audience that you are catering to needs to be assessed carefully before any of the marketing strategy is put to practice. Since the needs of the market is to be catered, its interests, demands need to be taken care of before anything is said or done in the online domain.

2. Set a budget

There is no end to a marketing practice. Longer the marketing better is the output. It is important to set a proper budget before incorporating any marketing services, this will allow you to ensure a better approach to online marketing and all your work will be coordinated. For managers who do not establish a budget beforehand face issues in generating revenue and making profits.

3. Blogging

Blogs are the most effective marketing tools. Not only do they help in managing the online reputation but also provide with important back links that can be used to improve a brand’s ranking on search engines like Google. These links are valuable and help increase the traffic reaching to the websites and the concerned pages. Blogs also educate the users about a brand and provide useful information regarding the same.

4. URLs

When different pages are created of a website, there are many URL’s created as well. A lot is dependent on these URLs. It is to be ensured that the complete link that is made should be such that it is not very complicated for users to understand and at the same time should contain the websites name along with the page details. URLs if go wrong the page is lost and the credibility of such websites go down. Proper, short and relevant URL’s help in marketing a brand as they are easy to search and are caught faster. The URL should under all odds contain the most frequently used keywords with respect to the brand.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/13/top-online-marketing-tips/

Veteran Day celebrated by Google

Google paid its tribute to the Veteran day in its usual way. Google showed gratitude towards the nation’s heroes by creating a doodle. This time, the doodle created was bigger than the normal size and was very impressive.

November 11 was initially celebrated in United States as Armistice day to honour those who served in the World War I. After the World War II, the idea was expanded to include all veterans who had served in the armed services.

It is refreshing how Google takes time to pay its respect to everything and everyone in such a creative way.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/12/veteran-day-celebrated-by-google/

Google Quick Actions

Google mails have added a new feature to helps its users access their emails more easily. “Google Quick Actions” will allow users to act upon messages without having to leave the message inbox.

With Quick Actions, a Google mail user will be able to RSVP for events, view folders on cloud services and even write a restaurant review with a click. If one receives any kind of message that contains a link, this new feature will open the link in a new tab automatically.

Whether to enable the feature or not is for the user to decide. Users just need to authorize the application and provide the required data and Gmail will manage the rest.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/12/google-quick-actions/

Chrome Beta: Your best friend

Have you ever felt annoyed when all of a sudden some automatically starts playing audio and you start checking all your open websites trying to find out the source of that loud annoying audio? Google Chrome has devised a solution to these hidden links within web pages that play automatically. The New Chrome version shall demarcate the tab in which the audio is playing with a speaker icon with the tab title. This feature will come out as a relief to those who like to browse multiple internet tabs at a time. Google will release this feature in new beta version of Chrome.

Not only this, the new version of Chrome will also prompt alert when a web page is opened that can access your webcam and any other kind of details. Other features include an app launcher for Windows 8 and automatic blocking of malware along with alerts upon your visit to some kind of malicious websites.

It seems that Google has been learning from its users because these features are just what internet users need.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/12/chrome-beta-your-best-friend/

Teen’s Choice: Facebook or YouTube?

Facebook in a recent update acknowledged the fact that there was a certain decrease in the number of younger teens using the social networking website on a daily basis. Younger teens of age 15-18 years are favoring Youtube more than Facebook.

Fifty percent of teens surveyed cited YouTube as their favorite site versus 45.2% for Facebook. Evidently, Facebook is still popular amongst all, except the younger generations who have built a sort of liking for the video sharing website at large.

After all sorts of attempts made by Facebook to lure every age group to use the website, such as making the profiles of the younger teens public, Facebook has observed a slackening impact that may impact the future of the website.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/08/teens-choice-facebook-or-youtube/

YouTube enhances its commenting threads for videos

YouTube is one of the most widely used video sharing platform that is used by almost all social media users. This platform is making many modifications these days, to give enhance user experience. This time, YouTube has modified its comments section to make it look more authentic and easy to approach.

YouTube has upgraded and modified into a threaded commenting format, added Google+ integration, and a better sorting. Influential people’s comments will be visible at the top and rest will follow. The top comments list can also be easily altered and changed as users desires. Video owners can also remove or report the comment to YouTube.

These changes have turned out to be one of the most crucial changes, making the platform much more desirable.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/08/youtube-enhances-its-commenting-threads-for-videos/

Facebook planning office in Boston

After setting up offices in Seattle, London, New York and California, Facebook has announced a new office in Boston area for its engineering team. The team will manage, modify and focus on new infrastructure projects in areas like networking, storage, security, and language runtimes.

According to an official blog post by the Ryan Mack, Engineer and Office Site Lead, Facebook, “The tech community here is world-class, from the incredible academic institutions to the vibrant startup ecosystem to the bevy of global companies who have teams here. We are thrilled to have found a new home here and hope we can help the community continue to thrive.”

The new office will be situated in Kendall Square, Boston. The company is also planning to build an extension of its Menlo Park campus.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/08/facebook-planning-office-in-boston/

Google Helpouts

It looks like Google wants to be the answer to all your questions. After search engines, videos sharing websites, Google+, and much more, Google has now announced ‘Helpouts’ a new tool that connects users with experts who can help them with questions about home improvement, cooking or even medical advice, via live video chat .

So far, Google is positioning it as a marketplace and has approached several big companies to be a part of this new phenomenon. “With Google Helpouts, we can open the whole world to everybody. Most of the world’s most useful information resides in people’s heads,” said Udi Manber, Vice-President of Engineering at Google.

The companies can choose their own time and pricing, whether they wish to keep it per minute or by number of sessions. Google will take 20% of each transaction. The new service is able to highlight many Google products. Ranging from Google hangouts, Google search, Google+ and Google Wallet.

The tool can be very useful in times of needs. However, whether or not will it succeed is yet to be seen.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/07/google-helpouts/

Newspaper President is Pinterest’s new Head of Content Partnerships

Joanne Bradford, President of San Francisco Chronicle, is all set to join Pinterest as the Head of Content Partnerships. She has about four years of experience of valuable experience, working as Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at Demand Media, after some important positions at Microsoft and Yahoo.

Bradford’s role is likely to be similar to Schiller’s at Twitter. Bradford’s new responsibilities will include building both commercial and content partnerships globally. She will also serve as a liaison between Pinterest and the San Francisco Chronicle’s parent company, Hearst Corporation, developing strategic partnerships between the two companies.

Pinterest has always positioned itself in a way that it can be considered as journalism site. The company had introduced article pins in September to lure and encourage publications to come and be a part of the website largely. Hiring an executive with industry connections to bring together the social and journalism sides, was a logical step.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/07/newspaper-president-is-pinterests-new-head-of-content-partnerships/

Twitter priced at $26 a share

The Twitter IPO has been making news for a long time. The company has finally set the value of $26 per share for its first day of trading on November 7, 2013. Rumors estimated the value to go up as high as $28 per share but even at $26 per share Twitter will be able to make up a sum of $1.8 billion and reaching the final valuation of $18 billion.

The company tweeted about its estimated figures on November 6, posting all its values and credentials. In comparison to Facebook’s public offering, the price decided is low but then it is just apt for Twitter considering that the company yet to return any profits.

Ever since Twitter filed its public offerings and completed the paperwork for the IPO, the company is looking extremely positive and is set to show high growth in coming years.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/07/twitter-priced-at-26-a-share/

Case Study: Crop Insurance Keeps America Growing Photo Contest generated 37 entries and 1000+ votes

National Crop Insurance Services

National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) is an international not-for-profit organization that provides education, research, training and statistical analysis to the crop insurance industry. Its nationwide members provide agricultural producers with risk protection through private and public crop insurance programs. The organization promotes the crop insurance to protect the producer from the risk of crop failure in USA.

Campaign Focus

NCIS launched the contest, as a part of their campaign “Crop Insurance Keeps America Going”, in an effort to generate awareness about the drastic impact of drought US was facing at the time (2012-13). The social media campaign focused at creating making crop producers aware of the need of the crop insurance. The organization believed that farmers suffering from droughts believe that crop failures are non-recurring isolated events that they might not have to face again. Due to this, they considered crop insurance as non-productive expense. By showing producers the impact of the drought, a well deserving need of crop insurance can be created.

Crop Insurance Keeps America Growing Photo Contest

The “Crop Insurance Keeps America Growing Photo Contest” invited farmers, ranchers or crop insurance agents to share the images of drought struck areas and crops. The participants were encouraged to promote their ideas to attract votes for a chance to win an Apple iPad and Visa gift cards. Thus, a photo contest app, powered by SocialAppsHQ, was installed for this campaign which included the following important aspects:

• Like Gate: The photo contest page was like gated so each participant had to like the page in order to view or post an entry. This helped NCIS’s initiative to reach a larger audience and creating awareness about the impact of crop failure on the society.


• Entry: Each participant had to post an image of their experience with the drought the country was facing. This personalized the photo contest, creating awareness about the impact of crop failure on the country. The participants were also required to invite friends to vote on the entry so as to gain maximum votes.


• Prize: The top three participants with the highest votes won an Apple iPad, $500 Visa gift card and $200 Visa gift card respectively. The attractiveness of the prize encouraged people to share their experience.

Impact

Even in a community like farming that is not deemed very tech savvy, the photo contest helped NCIS increase awareness about the cause. The contest also generated excitement within the community.

Entries: 37 participants

Votes: 1,002 votes

The contest was a huge success with 1,002 votes that helped them reach their current base of 1,332 fans on Facebook.

All this was made possible by SocialAppsHQ, an all in one social media marketing platform for your brand.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/05/case-study-crop-insurance-keeps-america-growing-photo-contest-generated-37-entries-and-1000-votes/

Man blocked from Facebook for liking Faggots

Facebook blocked a man for liking faggots as his favorite childhood dish. Robert Wilkes had made a comment regarding the same, owing to which he was blocked from the social media website.

Facebook is trying to keep up with its recent statement regarding the regulation of content that had landed it into trouble in the recent past.

The cultural differences between countries resulted into a misjudgment by the social giant’s end says Wilkes. Speaking to the Sun, he said: “It may have a different meaning in America but I used it in a food context.

Facebook has become part of many such controversies lately and are looking out for ways to take care of the fact that such occurrences do not take place again in the future.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/04/man-blocked-from-facebook-for-liking-faggots/

YouTube’s first music awards

The very first music awards organized by YouTube were aired on November 3, 2013. The show witnessed large crowd from every walk of life every walk of life. The awards were divided into 6 major categories and were decided on the basis of number of votes received by each player in the music industry.

Awards went to the eminent rappers like Eminem and hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The show gained much response from YouTube channels rather than from being broadcasted on the television.

The music awards market is almost as crowded as the music market itself. YouTube featured big stars such as Lady Gaga to attract attention, while keeping enough of a viewer perspective to differentiate itself from MTV, the Grammys and other music powerhouses.

The first year of the show saw a great success which will give the Google owned company much courage to continue it next year and may be make it an annual thing.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/04/youtubes-first-music-awards/

Social Media Marketing vs Offline Marketing

Social Media Marketing and Offline Marketing are the two most used processes to promote and advertise a product or a service. Both of these are very useful in their own arenas, both have benefited a large number of brands and have increased the brand influence to a varied degree. Both are still used by every other brand manager in order to build a positive and a worthwhile reputation of the corresponding brand.

Two sides of the same coin, online and offline marketing both have their own pros and cons.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/04/social-media-marketing-vs-offline-marketing/

Oreo’s successful Vine video

Oreo is one of those brands that have established themselves using the social media domain to a large extent. They have been named as the social media innovators ever since they tweeted during the blackout chaos at the time of the super bowl. This time Oreo’s Vine video has done the trick for them.

Oreo joined this social media platform soon after it was announced by Twitter and has been using it to its full potential ever since. The video made this time, shows an Oreo cookie rolling towards a big pool of milk. The video aims to imply, “All milk and no dunk makes Oreo a dull cookie”.

The video is too sweet but is, apparently, well accepted by the crowds and is a worthy addition to the various innovative and creative videos that the cookie brand has created in the past.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/02/oreos-successful-vine-video/

USA to monitor employees

USA is in a dilemma regarding the safety and security of the nation. There have been talks that reveal that the state is considering making use of certain social media tools to keep a tab on the workers and their activities to avoid any further issues.

After the Edward Snowden and the Washington Navy Yard shooter incidences, the country is trying to incorporate modern methods of security and bring the social media monitoring concepts. Lawmakers want to know how “a troubled, unstable individual possessed a security clearance from the U.S. government.” There have been initial pilot studies which have given some clearance to the social media solutions.

Many national security experts have long argued that the security clearance process is antiquated and in need of modernization, it’s high time that US had certain high tech measures that could prevent the occurrence of any such problem again in the future.

At the moment the country has definitely made certain reforms that have brought about a change and has made the authorities more strict and concerned.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/02/usa-to-monitor-employees/

An Accessory Store for Google Glass

Recently Google launched the upgraded version of Google Glass, one of the most sought after wearable device ever. Thereafter, Google has launched its accessory store to take care of the minutest needs of a Glass user.

The store is accessible only to the Glass Explorers (the early users of the device). The store is equipped with an extra cable and charger, a microfiber pouch, a new Clear Shield and an extra mono ear bud, which also comes with the new version of the glass.

As expected, the cost of these products is very high. The present prices of these products range from $50 to $75. As the device is not available for public at the moment, such prices can still be catered. Experts expect that the prices are supposed to go down once the device goes public.

via SocialAppsHQ Blog http://www.socialappshq.com/blog/2013/11/01/an-accessory-store-for-google-glass/