CRUSH – Your one and only source for juicy social media news in four minutes or less. Don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter, and get your daily crush at www.commonsensenms.com

As promised, we’ve got the latest on the debate heating up over Facebook privacy. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is adding fuel to the fire, asking the FCC to provide privacy guidelines for social networks. Schumer believes “The default policy should be one of privacy, and users should be in control of how they choose to share their information, not the other way around.” This “opt-out” to “opt-in” transition sounds smart to us, but check out the Senator’s Facebook page to find out what everyone else is saying and to put in your own two cents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFWAmMXmIiw

Taking a more active approach, a group in Germany expressed their concern over “privacy invasions” by sabotaging a Google “Street View” car. The Google employee returned to find the tires let down and the camera cables slashed. However, the protestors were kind enough to leave behind the informative note, “Please do not drive away, you have a puncture”.

And perhaps these privacy issues are the source of anxiety and worry bringing an influx of users to the site “Blah Therapy”. This new website pairs random strangers together as “venters” and “listeners”, however, when we tried to unload our feelings the site was down due to an overload of users.

But our epic privacy FAIL comes courtesy of Blippy, a social media site that lets users share with friends what they purchase. Several credit card transactions were visible via a simple Google search, exposing detailed information including amount spent, specific location, and full credit card number. While we hate to say it, we predicted this case of “TMI” from the beginning.

In Twitter news, a new report by Edison Research and Arbitron reveals that while the awareness of Twitter among Americans has increased from 5% to 87% in the past two years, the population is still struggling to find a reason to use it as only 7% of Americans are active users.

However, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has now joined the 140-character brigade in hopes of spreading Bolvarian Revolution. And if Chavez, who had recently declared Twitter “a tool for terror”, can be converted to the dark side, maybe Twitter still has a chance.

In an attempt to aggregate all the “Like’s” around the world, Facebook has created the new website likebutton.me. The site operates as a directory of “likes”, showing what your friends and the rest of the world have deemed most important from popular web sites, such as YouTube, New York Times and Pandora.

And that brings us to our CRUSH OF THE WEEK – we are taking on the serious epidemic sweeping the globe, “Internet Valleygirlification”. With Facebook only allowing a “like option” our freedom of expression is confined into a simplistic, 4-letter, click of affirmation. So that’s why we are hitting the pavement for the CRUSH Road Trip 2010. Don’t worry, we will find out what American’s really have to say and of course share all the juicy with you.

Post from: Social Media Vision

CRUSH: Road Trip 2010

I had to share this funny video called “THE NEW DORK – Entrepreneur State of Mind (Jay-Z ft Alicia Keys Spoof) for grasshopper.com with all the readers of Social Media Vision. This is for all us Social Media Geeks out there!!!

Post from: Social Media Vision

THE NEW DORK – Entrepreneur State of Mind – Funny Video

This video is courtesy of Shopper Approved a Consumer Ratings Software company.

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. (from good ole Wikipedia on Social Proof)

So we all know the importance of Social Proof and gaining trust with our visitors, but what are we doing about it? Most of us, NOTHING! Which is pretty crazy in my opinion. Social Media has made it easier than ever for consumers to instantly share information about a product or service. This doesn’t however help a website owner share rating, review and feedback with it’s visitors.

If you watch the video above you find that:

“63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews.”

(Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study, January 2008)

and

“82% considered user-generated reviews ‘extremely valuable or valuable’.”

(North American Technographics Retail Online Survey Q3, 2008)

I could give hundreds of other similar stats on the importance of Social Proof, but all the stats in the world won’t change the fact that most online and offline companies aren’t doing squat to gather ratings and reviews from their customers.

Lots of companies and entrepreneurs think that it is hard to capture ratings and feedback, and for this reason almost no one does. I felt the same way until I started working with the guys over at Shopper Approved.

Shopper Approved is a consumer rating and review network that allows website owners to easily gather ratings, reviews and feedback from their customers. By adding the Shopper Approved rating/review service to your website, your customers will be able to provide you with valuable feedback, ratings, and reviews automatically. You can then give your new customers easy access to this brand building information by displaying our exclusive ‘Shopper Approved’ trust seal in a prominent location on your website.

With their simple system all you have to do is paste a snippet of code on your thank you page after a customer has bought. Literally within 5 minutes you can start gathering Social Proof to share with future visitors and potential clients.

Scott Brandley, CEO of Shopper Approved says this about Social Proof:

“Adding online reviews to your website have been proven to increase conversion, increase the average transaction amount, improve customer satisfaction, and even lower product return rates, and Shopper Approved is the best customer rating and review solution on the market today. But don’t take our word for it, go ahead and try it for free! In less than 5 minutes from now you can be gathering incredible ratings and reviews! Collect them once, and reap the benefits for years to come!”

Now you have no excuse! Take a moment of your time to see if Shopper Approved can help build more social equity for your business today. Simply visit ShopperApproved.com

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Proof – What’s The Big Deal

I put the following social media poll together to see how much time individuals and businesses spends per day on Search Engine Optimization and Social Media. Would love everyone’s feedback! Simply fill out the poll below:

Here are some social media stats from Jake Hird

• Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities online, including beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populated place in the world. This means it easily beats the likes of Brazil, Russia and Japan in terms of size.*
• 80% of companies use, (or are planning to use), LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees during the course of this year. The site has just celebrated reaching its 45-millionth membership.
• Around 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week during campaigns, with 39% using it for 10 or more hours per week.
• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people… In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.
• Wikipedia currently has more than 13 million articles in more than 260 different languages. The site attracts over 60 million unique users a month and it’s often hotly debated that the information it contains is more reliable than any printed Encyclopaedia.
• The most recent figure of blogs being indexed by Technorati currently stands at 133 million. The same report into the Blogosphere also revealed that on average, 900,000 blog posts are created within a single 24-hour period.
• It’s been suggested that YouTube is likely to serve over 75 billion video streams to around 375 million unique visitors during this year.
• The top three people on Twitter (Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres and Britney Spears) have more combined followers than the entire population of Austria.*
• According to Socialnomics, if you were paid $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia, you would earn $156.23 per hour.
• The online bookmarking service, Delicious, has more than five million users and over 150 million unique bookmarked URLs.
• Since April this year, Twitter has been receiving around 20 million unique visitors to the site each month, according to some analytical sources.
• Formed in 2004, Flickr now hosts more than 3.6 billion user images.
• Universal McCann reports that 77% of all active internet users regularly read blogs.

Stats found at 20+ more mind-blowing social media statistics

Post from: Social Media Vision

How Much Time Do You Spend A Day On Social Media?

I am pleased to announce that I was recently interviewed from Social Media Portal.  I have been working on a local Social Media Event that is launching in January 2010.  The event is called Social Media @ The Beach.  This will be my 3rd event I have coordinated for and had the privilege in speaking at.

I had a ton of fun answering questions related to the event and Social Media topics.  I believe Social Media is a strong movement that is becoming more effective everyday and I am just happy to be part of the movement.

Read the whole interview here Interview with Justin Williams

For more information regarding Social Media @ The Beach please go visit here http://www.socialmediabeach.com/

Thanks to all my readers checking out my blog!  Feel free to leave a comment and have a great day!!

Post from: Social Media Vision

Interview with Social Media Portal

Facebook Backup Plan

It may not occur to you but have you ever though about backing up data from your Facebook account?

Recently for some odd reason Facebook has decided to go Battlestar Glitchtastica on some of my friends recently to the point of having some of my friends completely lose their Facebook account information and start over.  Crazy Right?

For the people who has lost all their friends Contacts, Wall Posts and even precious Photos, everyone pretty much said the same thing..They all wished they would of backed up their account somehow.

Socialsafe the Facebook Backup Application (http://www.socialsafe.net)

When Socialsafe first launched you could only download Facebook photos pretty much.  Now Socialsafe added some great new features:

• Backup Facebook friends & contact details

• Backup Facebook photos & tagged photos

• Backup Facebook profile details

• Backup Facebook wall posts

• View time capsule feature (view how has your Facebook profile progressed since the start)

Never worry again about losing important data on your Facebook account now.  The application is very cheap for only pricing at $2.99 its a steal!!

I love the new features and I have to admit the price is a small price to pay to backup everything you ever wanted in your Facebook profile.  Imagine getting your account hacked, Facebook glitches or ever wanted to delete your account without worrying about coming back, this is priceless.

SocialSafe Explanation .. Introducing Wall Backups from Pascal Wheeler on Vimeo.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Backup Your Entire Facebook Account, Wall & Contacts

The news of Kanye West disrespecting poor Taylor Swift on stage which resulted in Taylor Swift crying back stage was spread like wildfire on all the major social networks.

Before Kanye or his PR management team could control the fire and backlash, the news had spread so rapidly that no response from Kanye’s camp came until hours later from Kanye’s blog.

Could of Kanye spoke out and responded to his actions portayed on T.V before it got out of control?  Before we determine that lets recap for a moment for anyone who has forgotten or hasn’t had the opportunity to watch what happened at the M.T.V VMAs last night.

Photo credit AP

Taylor Swift had won the award for Best Female Music Video and went on stage to accept her reward when Kanye West bursted on stage, grabbed the mic and proclaimed that Beyonce had the best video of all time.  This of course left Taylor Swift stunned and motionless while MTV cut away the cameras leaving Taylor Swift a no show on her award speech, which btw was her first ever VMA award.

The Twitter Attacks

Soon afterwards, the Social Media retaliation mob started in full effect most notably with the celebrities voicing thier opinions about Kanye West which @Ijustine proclaimed over 300,000 Tweets in just one hour about the Kanye incident.

Well incase no one knows, Kanye West doesn’t have a Twitter account due to the fact he went on a rampage removing all imposters of his name on Twitter and has proclaimed he will never use Twitter.  More could be read here on his own blog.

Kanye did however blog about his apology hours later.  The only problem with a blog is that its only seen by the Blog Followers/Subscribers and is not an instant broadcast like Twitter is.

*Update*  This blog article has since been removed.  Just another reason why Kanye needed a Twitter presence.

The Social Media Rule

This is Social Media 101 folks.  Social Media is used to keep your online brand management under control and to monitor effectively.  Without having a proper online management, Kanye was left without a Voice to correctly address the problem and provide a solution.

Having a Twitter Account Kanye will benefit you by:

• Increasing Brand Awareness & Online Presence to of course gain more exposure for your ego driving force there Kanye.
• Increasing Reputation Management to handle the misunderstood press releases and news media out there.  Also provides you a way to voice your own side of the story straight

Instead you get attacks like these from various Celebrities on Twitter.

Kanye should rethink his Twitter presence

So Kanye we all know how much you love to voice your opinion but to really ban Twitter and not use this great Social Media tool in your online management and PR arsenal is such a waste and your PR manager should be fired.

For a person who loves to show how much of a voice he really carries ironically doesn’t have one in the Social Media sphere.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Why Kanye West Should Of Had A Twitter Presence At The VMAs

by guest Blogger Hanna Watson

Social media is being used for just about everything these days from keeping in touch with friends to promoting a business. While it works well for these uses, it can also be a great tool for doing good and making a change in the world as well. Perhaps the biggest and most successful example of this is the use of social media in the Obama campaign and in the recent health care debate. It worked for them and it can work for you too. Here are some reasons why you should consider it, if you’re not already utilizing social media tools for your charity, group or organization.

• You can spread information rapidly. Social media is a great way to get the word out about what you’re doing and what you support. Information on blogs, Facebook and Twitter is copied, pasted and spread around quickly, making it easier to inform.

• Let people know about real events. Using social media, you can easily let people know about real events in the community that your organization is taking part in. They can add it to their personal calendars and get updates and reminders about it as well.

• You can find new supporters. Every time someone links to your profiles, articles or videos through social media your organization gains a potential new supporter. Many people may not be familiar with your organization or what you support and the whole social aspect of social media can be a great way to spread the word.

• It’s easy to post a variety of media. Some people will be especially moved by photographs while others will require the action of a video to be engaged. Social media makes it easy to employ all of these different kinds of media in one place.

• You can support other charities as they support you. Social sites are called such because they support online communities, and as part of that community you can help lend a hand to other groups by supporting them through your site as well. When you help them, they can help you back and you both will get the support you need.

• It’s easy to get feedback. With social media it’s easy to get feedback from your supporters (or opponents) on what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. It can make a big difference in the success of your future endeavors.

This post was contributed by Hannah Watson, who writes about the distance learning colleges.

She welcomes your feedback E-mail: HannahWatson84 [at] yahoo [dot] com

Post from: Social Media Vision

How Social Media Can be a Valuable Tool in Promoting Your Cause

There will always be critics, haters and naysayers out there in the real world and online world.

How many times have we heard sayings like:

“I don’t care what people are doing or where they are going, don’t tell the world on Facebook/Twitter”

The funny thing is mostly the people who do complain about this rant are usually users who have not found a benefit in using Facebook or Twitter and merely have an account just to have one.  They maybe update their account once every 2 weeks and has less than 50 friends.  However there are your emos and haters who just like to bicker and rant on things.

Honestly these people just seem to be bitter in life generally and are grumpy grandpas, if you ask me.

Then there are a few who doesn’t seem to grasp the benefit in status updates.

Take a look at a few more examples below:

Heres a Facebook Group

Twitter Comments

The benefits of Status Updates – Enough with the pointless bashing

Ok so whats the real benefit of an update of:

“I am getting ready for my trip to NYC”

“I just bought a new puppy”

“Just saw the movie G.I Joe”

Close minded people may view these updates..just babble….pointless.  I beg to differ.  Matter of fact, the millions of other users who effectively use Facebook & Twitter as an excellent medium for communication and engagement beg to differ as well, here’s why.

The main point in displaying these updates are to open up conversations and provide the lead for engagement

Its that simple folks.  Most people don’t realize that this is an excellent way to strike up a conversation and a perfect time to engage so that you are effectively using your Social Network to its full potential.  Why let anything go to waste when your not using it at full potential?  That’s like buying a Fast Expensive Car that just sits in your garage.

Now some people may say that some updates are too excessive?

Yes I do agree, some people need to learn The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook by Tamar Weinberg, however it goes back to the old saying “Something is better than nothing”

Its just like in jr.high when the boys would be afraid to dance with the girls but one boy who may not be the best dancer, dances himself silly in the middle of the gym and magically girls start to dance with him.  While the cool guys were laughing at the silly boy, the silly boy got to dance with the girls.

So stop the bickering, its only making yourself look bitter.  Go out there and Engage!  Communicate!  Do what the Social Networks were created for you to do and that’s Socialize, no matter how pointless the updates maybe, its just another way to provide communication.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Why Facebook and Twitter status updates are not useless

Engage & Connect

So now you have all thje major Social Networks in your portfolio…Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIN, now what?

The biggest common mistake out there is when people sign up for Social Media and are not active on there or better yet develop a stasis lock and waits for something to happen.  This isn’t dating and in which dating rules apply you have to make sure the time is right before you make the first move.

There is no waiting for the perfect time to make the first move, anytime is a good time to make the first move.

Why Make The First Move?

The worst thing you can do is just have your Social Media profiles just sitting idle, collecting dust.  It will be a waste of time and conform to the myth that Social Media is a waste of time.

• Be Proactive

Don’t be afraid of rejection or feeling scared to engage people.  Quite often or not you will find most of the time that people on Social Media networks are generally receptive and engaging when you first contact them

Contacting people first opens up a Social Engagement and shows the recipient that you are providing value on your Social Media profile and validating that your not some spammer or non-active user.  What people hate the most are Spammers and users who just sign up for Social Media profiles but don’t provide value or any updates.  It’s like buying a Nintendo Wii because everyone is buying one but just showcasing it to the world without actually opening the box and playing with the system.

How To Maske The First Move?

Facebook / LinkedIN

• Join groups that fit your interests and niche – If you like surfing, then search for Surfing groups.  Find groups that can benefit you by networking and sharing the same interests.  An added bonus when joining groups, you will make new friends and it’s ok to friend request people in the same group as long as you indicate that in your message.

• Comment on your friends status updates often – Don’t wait for them to comment on yours, you make the 1st move.

• Friend new people – Proactively try to find new people to friend whether it be the ones Facebook suggest, Groups or manually searching.  More exposure the better and you can’t go wrong with a large network especially now since Facebook allows you to customize & label your feed stories so it won’t be too much noise in your streams.

• Facebook chat – Try often to just Instant Message someone on Facebook just by saying hi, this will open up conversations.

• Suggest a friend

• Wish Happy Birthdays

• Become humble and ask questions – Ask questions often, often we see self indulged narcisstic marketeers that get no respect because they are all about them them them and not enough of letting other people take charge in conversations.

• Join Q&A discussion threads – This tactic gets quite often overlooked but it’s so easy to do, especially in LinkedIN.  Find Question & Answer boards and actively answer questions or ask questions on here.  The point is to engage the community so they can either respect your authoritative responses or help you out and both ultimately providing you with meaningful relationship building.

Twitter

• Follow new people – Find Twitter directories like Twellow or Wefollow and again follow your niche and community, by reaching out to follow them first you can start building your follow empire and community.  Waiting for people to follow you will be the long and hard route so why not take the proactive approach.

• Ask open ended questions – Again often on Twitter people who don’t ask questions arent really engaging correctly and will have a hard time building quality relationships.  Try asking open ended questions and see how the responses are and more than likely great conversations will come about.

• Engage Twitter comments with full replys Just because you reply does not mean your actively engaging in quality manners.  Don’t be lazy and show some decency by replying back with full engaging replys so hopefully you can build quality relationships down the road.

• Retweet The art of retweeting is just to acknowledge the influence and authority of your friends on Twitter.  They will highly appreciate your Retweet

• Follow Fridays It may be a fad but theres a reason behind this madness, its to promote your friends and also become the influencer to your current followers,  The more quality people you recommend the more influence you gain.

• Recommend Friends Start promoting your friends and recommending ones that you admire, chances are the recipients will greatly appreciate that since you are adding value to them.

So like AT&T’s old slogan used to be “Reach out and touch someone”

Post from: Social Media Vision

This isn’t a date – Make the 1st move in Social Media