Why You Should Track Notifications of Group Names – Current Issues With Facebook Groups

I recently blogged about the Profile Watcher, and why the groups promoting it are not legit. After writing this post I found out that the creators of these groups have an alternative motive that I was not aware of.

Apparently they encourage Facebook users to join the group, and when they have reached a certain amount of members they change the name of the group. Name changes which might be far from what you would never choose to join voluntarily.

The Swedish Newspaper Aftonbladet recently wrote in an article that the group called  “See who is visiting your Profile with the Profile Watcher ,“ suddenly changed name to “People who have sex fantasies about our children.” Even worse is that many of the affected people might not have been aware of the problem, as they turned off the “Group name notification.”

To handle this, there are now discussion to implement a rule that will remove the possibility to change a name of a group after it has reached a certain amount of members.

But until then, here is 3 tips:

  • Check what groups you are a member of. To make sure that you know what groups your support, and that none of them have changed names.
  • Let Facebook notify you about name changes of groups. If you have turned off the notification for “Changes the name of a group to which I belong,” you should do go here and turn on that notification. (And just to be sure, do the same thing for events)
  • Think twice before you join a group. Even if you see the notification about the group change right away, perhaps you could avoid this issue by not joining certain types of groups.

Update 20/1/09:

I just found an update on Hans Kullin’s blog about what can happen: 200,000 Swedes joined fake Facebook group for Haiti

A Traditional Promotion That's Buzz-Worthy

I guess these pictures says more than all my words, but I’m still going to talk about it a bit.

This campaign is a contest to win an Alfa Romeo, which you can participate in if you shop in the Woluwe Shopping Mall in Brussels. (or at least with my beginner French it is.)

This is a Social Campaign based on traditional marketing, and here is why:

  • Eye-catching. The uniqueness of it, made people stop for a second and look at it. Most people, myself one of them, also took a few pictures, to pass on.
  • Buzz –able. Because of the look of it, people will tell their friends about it. Perhaps they will show them a picture and tell them what it is for. Thus, people will know about the campaign by word and might visit the mall because of it.

Now, if you log on to their website you can clearly see that this mall does not usually work with social media marketing, or any kind of active online marketing. They simply have a website where you can get information about what their open hours are, and what stores they have.

However, with a campaign like this (and hopefully, similar ideas in the future) their own social media efforts will not be as needed, as the visitors will do it for them.

Thus, this is successful way of making traditional marketing social!

You might say that this can happened with anything that is “out of the box.” Because, this is what we do nowadays, we share what we see through technology. Still, it is more difficult to convince people to spread your marketing message, than just any message.

What do you think? Do you have any other examples?

A Traditional Promotion That’s Buzz-Worthy

I guess these pictures says more than all my words, but I’m still going to talk about it a bit.

This campaign is a contest to win an Alfa Romeo, which you can participate in if you shop in the Woluwe Shopping Mall in Brussels. (or at least with my beginner French it is.)

This is a Social Campaign based on traditional marketing, and here is why:

  • Eye-catching. The uniqueness of it, made people stop for a second and look at it. Most people, myself one of them, also took a few pictures, to pass on.
  • Buzz –able. Because of the look of it, people will tell their friends about it. Perhaps they will show them a picture and tell them what it is for. Thus, people will know about the campaign by word and might visit the mall because of it.

Now, if you log on to their website you can clearly see that this mall does not usually work with social media marketing, or any kind of active online marketing. They simply have a website where you can get information about what their open hours are, and what stores they have.

However, with a campaign like this (and hopefully, similar ideas in the future) their own social media efforts will not be as needed, as the visitors will do it for them.

Thus, this is successful way of making traditional marketing social!

You might say that this can happened with anything that is “out of the box.” Because, this is what we do nowadays, we share what we see through technology. Still, it is more difficult to convince people to spread your marketing message, than just any message.

What do you think? Do you have any other examples?

Why the "Profile Watcher" and "Dislike Button" Groups aren't Legit

Lately, I see more and more of my friends joining groups on Facebook, which promise them that they will get a “dislike button” or that they will be able to see who visited their Facebook profile. So the message I want to send with this blog post is:

Why groups for “A dislike button” or a “Profile watcher” are not legit.

The Profile Watcher

Now, if you want to know why the” Profile watcher” does not work, I’m going to do my best to explain it to you:

  1. It is groups not applications. First of all this is groups and not applications that we are talking about. To be able to create this type of service they would have to create an application which can control who visits your profile page. An application that you would have to get and approve.
  2. You control what information applications get from you. In the Facebook Privacy Policy you can read that “You can control how you share information with those third-party applications and websites through your application settings.” This means that even if there were an application that was working, you would have to allow that application to show people that you had visited their profile.

Basically this means that to get this application to work both you and the people that are visiting your profile page would need to get this application, and then approve that the application can get this kind of information from your activity on Facebook.

I have read a lot about “visitor counts on Facebook profiles” on various forums and on the applications discussion board, where the general comments are “bullshit” or “Facebook privacy does not allow visitor count.” Ironically, I have to say that the first one of these are more correct from what I have read, as I have not been able to find any kind of statement about this particular issue in the privacy policy. Even though it is technically correct that “Facebook privacy does not allow visitor count” I am still waiting to find out where this is written.

The Dislike Button

First of all: There is a “dislike button” add-on available to Firefox users. Thus, all Firefox users which have installed this add-on can see what others dislike, which means that for them this is not an issue. Read more about this on Lifehacker.com.

Basically the first problem with the numerous “Dislike button” groups is the same as with profile watcher. It is groups not applications. Although this time, there are not any privacy issue that is the reason, it is common sense. Basically, the dislike button won’t appear just because you invite your friends to join the group, the groups are just created to market the person who created the account. There is an example of how on: Kramer’s blog.

Also, I do not know why Facebook have decided on not having a dislike button, because clearly people are interested in one, if you look at the petition group. However, if they did want to create one, it is not that difficult for them. They did the “like” button, right?

Some people still claim that they have heard that it has worked for other people, but I do not know anyone who have said so. Now, I cannot promise that there wont be a “Profile Watcher” or a “Dislike Button” for everyone in the future. But for now, please, think twice before you join one of these groups.

Friendly Reminder: Google or Bing the things that you cannot understand, or are not sure about. That is how I found these results.

Why the “Profile Watcher” and “Dislike Button” Groups aren’t Legit

Lately, I see more and more of my friends joining groups on Facebook, which promise them that they will get a “dislike button” or that they will be able to see who visited their Facebook profile. So the message I want to send with this blog post is:

Why groups for “A dislike button” or a “Profile watcher” are not legit.

The Profile Watcher

Now, if you want to know why the” Profile watcher” does not work, I’m going to do my best to explain it to you:

  1. It is groups not applications. First of all this is groups and not applications that we are talking about. To be able to create this type of service they would have to create an application which can control who visits your profile page. An application that you would have to get and approve.
  2. You control what information applications get from you. In the Facebook Privacy Policy you can read that “You can control how you share information with those third-party applications and websites through your application settings.” This means that even if there were an application that was working, you would have to allow that application to show people that you had visited their profile.

Basically this means that to get this application to work both you and the people that are visiting your profile page would need to get this application, and then approve that the application can get this kind of information from your activity on Facebook.

I have read a lot about “visitor counts on Facebook profiles” on various forums and on the applications discussion board, where the general comments are “bullshit” or “Facebook privacy does not allow visitor count.” Ironically, I have to say that the first one of these are more correct from what I have read, as I have not been able to find any kind of statement about this particular issue in the privacy policy. Even though it is technically correct that “Facebook privacy does not allow visitor count” I am still waiting to find out where this is written.

The Dislike Button

First of all: There is a “dislike button” add-on available to Firefox users. Thus, all Firefox users which have installed this add-on can see what others dislike, which means that for them this is not an issue. Read more about this on Lifehacker.com.

Basically the first problem with the numerous “Dislike button” groups is the same as with profile watcher. It is groups not applications. Although this time, there are not any privacy issue that is the reason, it is common sense. Basically, the dislike button won’t appear just because you invite your friends to join the group, the groups are just created to market the person who created the account. There is an example of how on: Kramer’s blog.

Also, I do not know why Facebook have decided on not having a dislike button, because clearly people are interested in one, if you look at the petition group. However, if they did want to create one, it is not that difficult for them. They did the “like” button, right?

Some people still claim that they have heard that it has worked for other people, but I do not know anyone who have said so. Now, I cannot promise that there wont be a “Profile Watcher” or a “Dislike Button” for everyone in the future. But for now, please, think twice before you join one of these groups.

Friendly Reminder: Google or Bing the things that you cannot understand, or are not sure about. That is how I found these results.

A few ideas for language-targeted Tweets

I about 80 % of the time, I tweet, blog and communicate online in English. Though most people know English is not my mother tongue nor do I live in a country where English is the official language. Still I choose to communicate in English, simply because more people can understand what I am saying.

Even when it comes to sharing information it is usually easier to just communicate in English because if I refer to others work or writing, people do not have to be confused when it is in English. Many might disagree and just share in what every language the information is available, and that’s fine for them.

Either way, Chris Brogan’s post today about Geo-targeting on Twitter really made me see the possible solutions for sharing in multiple languages from the same profiles, without confusing people.

Basically all opportunities for targeted tweets would be useful for various reasons, especially when you have got a couple of hundred followers. But let’s take a closer look on what we could to if Twitter allowed language-targeted tweets.

How language targeted tweets could be set up:

There are a few different ways to set this up.

One idea is to choice the spoken and understood language in the settings. Then the receivers will get all the tweets that the people they follow send out on those languages. To manage the individual tweets there could be a box where you choice language that you tweet in. Preferably with a default language, as there will most likely be a preferred language. This way the set up would be easy, and after the set-up it would only “bother” the people who actually want to have this opportunity.

Another way takes a bit more setting up, but works the same way with the tweeting. But basically you choice what languages you want to follow a person in, when you begin following that person. This mean that you do not have to follow all people in all languages, only the one’s that you are particularly interested in.

Possible ways to use language-targeted tweets:

The more obvious benefits are that you will be able to answer @replies in multiple languages; still only send them out to the people who understand that language. You can also share links and other information which is written in another language than your default, and be sure that people do not end up on pages they do not understand.

For companies with offices in different countries this might also be a good solution to handle customer service instead of having many twitter accounts which could confuse the clients.

But I’m sure that the uses of language-targeted tweets would create many more possible functions than the ones that I just mentioned.

What could you use it to? To you see any advantages or disadvantages of this? Or perhaps you have a better idea on how to set it up?

Can anyone afford to stay away from Social Media? And if so, Who?

I just found this move produced by Erik Qualman on a blog written by Swedish Gert Frost.

Watching this movie I start thinking about all the people who have made the choice to stay away from all types of social media for various reasons. How long will people be able to stay disconnected from social media? And on average is it better to join or not join? Who should join and who shouldn’t?

I have been thinking a lot about this, because I think that many people hurt their reputation more than anything by being online. But I have not to any conclusion, probably because there are none.

Let’s look at two examples:

First we have Lisa, who is 38 years old, she has two children and is happily married. Lisa has worked for a governmental organization for the last 12 years, and as she is very satisfied with her work and the possibilities for advancement within the organization she does not think she will change jobs anytime soon.  She has already “chosen” whom of her collage friends she want to stay in contact with and she is not interested to find out what her old high school classmates is up to.

Honestly, I think that Lisa is very hard to convince to join Facebook etc. And even if she did, if she does not spend any time using it, will it help her career or let her stay more connected? If she ends up losing her job in the future, she will probably be able to bet other applicant for a new job because of her experience, though others might be more available online. Or, do you think that society will think of her as lazy for not prioritizing her career and perhaps for not he taken any initiative that show interest of what she does on work on her spare time?

Compare Lisa with Paul, who is 52 years old, has three grown up children and is divorced. Paul has been working of a local factory all his life, and has lived in the same city all his life. He has heard about social media and his children have shown their online profiles from time to time. But he does not see the point of him being online as most of the people he knows also live in the same city and they talk on the phone and meet occasionally anyway.

Paul’s children might try to convince him to join Facebook and Linkedin, but he might not have many connections or even completed profile pages. If the factory closes, can Paul’s chances for a new employment rise if he is on social media. Perhaps a potential employer would see that Paul easily adapt to new things and tries to stay updates as promising characteristics if he has to change field? Though, it could as well hurt his changes if they think that he does not “understand” the new media.

Is Social Media for everyone, or can the Baby Boomers stay outside without it affecting them?

If you were not sure about your opinions before I guess you might be even more confused when I uses personas to demonstrate the problem. Personally, I think that both Paul and Lisa could benefit from social media if they were using it in a good way. However, if not, they might as well stay away. But because they are from the baby boomer generation they can both make this choice. I’m not sure that people that haven’t turned 30 yet can.

What do you think?

An open letter to Dell: Give me a reason to choose you again.

To everyone that have an opinion,

Almost two years ago I bought my first Dell laptop; it was a Dell Inspiron 15. The reasons for my purchase were many, everything from the fact that I heard so many good things about dell computers to the long lasting batteries. Personally, I needed a good, reliable computer to use mainly for school work.

Today, two year has not even passed but the problems have been so many that I see no other solution than to buy another computer.

  • I have changed the keyboard once, after it stopped working when I used a special key board cleaning spray.
  • I had to exchange the whole screen after it had cracked in on the side, which turned out to be a manufacturing defect.
  • I have not been able to run the computer on any other mode than “low-energy” for the last year as it overheats immediately.
  • The mouse point can move when I type though my hand hasn’t touched the touchpad. (This I have got instruction on how to fix but I have not had the time to yet)
  • Last but not least, my computer has started to “flare” and fail with the moves of the screen, which seems to be because of some issues with the motherboard.

 The last problem I have not talked to Dell about yet, because I’m just so sick of all the troubles and plan on buying a new computer instead.

Many might not even consider buying a laptop of the same brand again after facing the same issues as I have. But as Dell’s customer service has been impeccable I really want to give Dell a chance to convince me to try again (hopefully with better luck).

Any words, statistics, reasons, or perhaps advice on how I could have prevented having these issues are appreciated.

That’s what I have to say! Dell Employees or Dell customers, tell me why I should choice Dell again, or if any other brand wants to be in this conversation, tell me why I should pick your brand instead.

If I end up not getting any responses to this, I just want to send an extra tumbs up to Dells Incredible Swedish Costumer Service!

FB vs Twitter vs Bing vs Google: An Analzyis of 2009's Trending Topics

As always around Christmas, people, blogs and newspapers evaluate the last year, and of course publish the predictions of the upcoming year. One of the topics discussed has been the most used words on the different networks and I thought that I would take a closer look at this, and see what parallels that we can draw from this.

Do we discuss and research the same topics equally on the different networks? Or is it very different? How come there are these similarities or differences?

Google, Bing, Facebook and Twitter have all published statistic of different kind that shows what has been trending on each network. Thought the statistics is presented and research differently I still think that we can compare them at some level.

The Search Engines: Google & Bing

Here is the list that Google and Bing presented:

  Google* Bing
1 Michael Jackson Michael Jackson
2 Facebook Twitter
3 Tuenti Swine Flu
4 Twitter Stock Market
5 Sanalika Farrah Fawcett
6 New moon Patrick Swayze
7 Lady Gaga Cash for Clunckers
8 Windows 7 Jon and Kate Gosselin
9 Dantri.com.vn Billy Mays
10 Torpedo Gratis Jaycee Dugard

*Google published different lists of trending search terms this list is the one the named “Fastest Rising (Global)”

Google and Bing are two of the biggest search engines out there. Despite that the most search words are not that similar. The obvious one is Michael Jackson that has been trending on all networks. Other than that Twitter is the only other word that trends on both. Interestingly enough Facebook is not even on the top 10 on Bing, which makes me wonder, who are the people who use Bing and doesn’t use facebook? Or, perhaps, is it more common to type “facebook.com” wrong when using Google as a search engine versus useing Bing?

Facebook

On Facebook’s blog they choose to share the most trending topics, thus not individual words or term that was mentioned. This means that the deaths of both Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze goes under the topic “Celebrity Deaths.”

Here are the 15 most mentioned subjects on Facebook 2009:

  1. Facebook Applications
  2. FML
  3. Swine Flu
  4. Celebrity Deaths
  5. Family
  1. Movies
  2. Sports
  3. Health Care
  4. FB
  5. Twitter
  1. Years
  2. Lady gaga
  3. Yard
  4. Religion
  5. I

Twitter

Twitter has so far not published a post about the most mentioned words in general. Instead they a published a blog post called “Top Twitter Trends of 2009” about the most mentioned words in the following categories: News event, People, Movies, TV Shows, Technology, Sports and Hashtags.

I’m going to show you the results of only 4 of them, those that tend to be more discussed on the other networks; News events, People, Technology and Hashtags.

  News events People Technology #Hashtags
1 #Iranelection Michael Jackson Google Wave #musicmonday
2 Swine Flu Susan Boyle Snow Leopard #iranelection
3 Gaza Adam Lambert Tweetdeck #sxsw
4 Iran Kobe (Bryant) Windows 7 #swineflu
5 Tehran Chris Brown CES #nevertrust
6 #Swineflu Chuck Norris Palm Pre #mm
7 AIG Joe Wilson Google Latitude #rememberwhen
8 #uksnow Tiger Woods #E3 #3drunkwords
9 Earth hour Christian Bale #Amazonfail #unaccetable
10 #inaug09 A-Rod (Alex Rodriquez) Macworld #iwish

 A closer look at some of the words

 Facebook

It is interesting to see that Facebook seem to be discussed on Google but not on Bing. On Facebook itself it seems to be talked about as “fb” and on Twitter it does not top in Technology. Is this because it does not fall under the category technology, or simply because other technologies were more popular?

Google Wave & Windows 7

Another interesting thing was that Window 7 made the top list on Google and Twitter. But the Google product Google Wave did only make the list on Twitter. Although there is came in first. The same thing goes for Google Latitude which came in 7 on Twitter. Perhaps this has to do with the face that they sorted them in topics and thus it might not have reached the general top 10?

Swine Flu

The flu that has been in talked about around the whole worlds kitchen tables did not reach the top then on either Bing or Google, though it was highly ranked on both Facebook and Twitter. How come? Does this show a lot of talk and no facts? As you would Google for news etc. But talk about “rumors?”

People

No one can have missed the death of Michael Jackson, as this even tops the Swine flu discussions. But other than that people on the different networks seems to value talking about different people. Lady Gaga who even made her own spot in the Facebook top 15, compared to “celebrity deaths,”  and got in 7th on Google. She did not even reach the people topic on Twitter. Where Susan Boyle, and I assume the link the video was mentioned a lot. On bing Farrah Fawcett is the second most Googled individual, probably due to her death this year aswell. Why did difference in people? Has it to do with the “crowds” on the different networks?

Tiger Woods
Looking through this words the name Tiger Woods caught my attention, since he was not a person that I considered to be that “discussed” up until a few weeks ago. Thus, I wonder if the constant growth of twitter-users help to get trending topics in the end of the year a bigger chance to get mentioned here, compared to the other networks. Or perhaps the Tiger Woods drama was just something that everyone could talk about. What do you think? Am I on to something? Or do you think that he as been mentioned all year around.

Your conclusions

What do you think? Can you compare the results like this, or is it too many other factors that has to be considered? Do you see any other parallels?

FB vs Twitter vs Bing vs Google: An Analzyis of 2009′s Trending Topics

As always around Christmas, people, blogs and newspapers evaluate the last year, and of course publish the predictions of the upcoming year. One of the topics discussed has been the most used words on the different networks and I thought that I would take a closer look at this, and see what parallels that we can draw from this.

Do we discuss and research the same topics equally on the different networks? Or is it very different? How come there are these similarities or differences?

Google, Bing, Facebook and Twitter have all published statistic of different kind that shows what has been trending on each network. Thought the statistics is presented and research differently I still think that we can compare them at some level.

The Search Engines: Google & Bing

Here is the list that Google and Bing presented:

  Google* Bing
1 Michael Jackson Michael Jackson
2 Facebook Twitter
3 Tuenti Swine Flu
4 Twitter Stock Market
5 Sanalika Farrah Fawcett
6 New moon Patrick Swayze
7 Lady Gaga Cash for Clunckers
8 Windows 7 Jon and Kate Gosselin
9 Dantri.com.vn Billy Mays
10 Torpedo Gratis Jaycee Dugard

*Google published different lists of trending search terms this list is the one the named “Fastest Rising (Global)”

Google and Bing are two of the biggest search engines out there. Despite that the most search words are not that similar. The obvious one is Michael Jackson that has been trending on all networks. Other than that Twitter is the only other word that trends on both. Interestingly enough Facebook is not even on the top 10 on Bing, which makes me wonder, who are the people who use Bing and doesn’t use facebook? Or, perhaps, is it more common to type “facebook.com” wrong when using Google as a search engine versus useing Bing?

Facebook

On Facebook’s blog they choose to share the most trending topics, thus not individual words or term that was mentioned. This means that the deaths of both Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze goes under the topic “Celebrity Deaths.”

Here are the 15 most mentioned subjects on Facebook 2009:

  1. Facebook Applications
  2. FML
  3. Swine Flu
  4. Celebrity Deaths
  5. Family
  1. Movies
  2. Sports
  3. Health Care
  4. FB
  5. Twitter
  1. Years
  2. Lady gaga
  3. Yard
  4. Religion
  5. I

Twitter

Twitter has so far not published a post about the most mentioned words in general. Instead they a published a blog post called “Top Twitter Trends of 2009” about the most mentioned words in the following categories: News event, People, Movies, TV Shows, Technology, Sports and Hashtags.

I’m going to show you the results of only 4 of them, those that tend to be more discussed on the other networks; News events, People, Technology and Hashtags.

  News events People Technology #Hashtags
1 #Iranelection Michael Jackson Google Wave #musicmonday
2 Swine Flu Susan Boyle Snow Leopard #iranelection
3 Gaza Adam Lambert Tweetdeck #sxsw
4 Iran Kobe (Bryant) Windows 7 #swineflu
5 Tehran Chris Brown CES #nevertrust
6 #Swineflu Chuck Norris Palm Pre #mm
7 AIG Joe Wilson Google Latitude #rememberwhen
8 #uksnow Tiger Woods #E3 #3drunkwords
9 Earth hour Christian Bale #Amazonfail #unaccetable
10 #inaug09 A-Rod (Alex Rodriquez) Macworld #iwish

 A closer look at some of the words

 Facebook

It is interesting to see that Facebook seem to be discussed on Google but not on Bing. On Facebook itself it seems to be talked about as “fb” and on Twitter it does not top in Technology. Is this because it does not fall under the category technology, or simply because other technologies were more popular?

Google Wave & Windows 7

Another interesting thing was that Window 7 made the top list on Google and Twitter. But the Google product Google Wave did only make the list on Twitter. Although there is came in first. The same thing goes for Google Latitude which came in 7 on Twitter. Perhaps this has to do with the face that they sorted them in topics and thus it might not have reached the general top 10?

Swine Flu

The flu that has been in talked about around the whole worlds kitchen tables did not reach the top then on either Bing or Google, though it was highly ranked on both Facebook and Twitter. How come? Does this show a lot of talk and no facts? As you would Google for news etc. But talk about “rumors?”

People

No one can have missed the death of Michael Jackson, as this even tops the Swine flu discussions. But other than that people on the different networks seems to value talking about different people. Lady Gaga who even made her own spot in the Facebook top 15, compared to “celebrity deaths,”  and got in 7th on Google. She did not even reach the people topic on Twitter. Where Susan Boyle, and I assume the link the video was mentioned a lot. On bing Farrah Fawcett is the second most Googled individual, probably due to her death this year aswell. Why did difference in people? Has it to do with the “crowds” on the different networks?

Tiger Woods
Looking through this words the name Tiger Woods caught my attention, since he was not a person that I considered to be that “discussed” up until a few weeks ago. Thus, I wonder if the constant growth of twitter-users help to get trending topics in the end of the year a bigger chance to get mentioned here, compared to the other networks. Or perhaps the Tiger Woods drama was just something that everyone could talk about. What do you think? Am I on to something? Or do you think that he as been mentioned all year around.

Your conclusions

What do you think? Can you compare the results like this, or is it too many other factors that has to be considered? Do you see any other parallels?