Trending Topics

Ever wonder how many tweets it takes to get a topic trending on twitter?  This the million dollar question that everyone asks.

To get a topic to trend it depends on the number of people tweeting about the topic and the time. The type of topic also matters. For example Breaking news, technology, and politics are popular on Twitter.  Location of users is also important, to get a topic trending it needs to be a topic that interests those using twitter at that particular time.

Examples:

• Between midnight to 6 a.m. pacific time: it takes approximately 1200 tweets and 500 users to make a topic trend.
• Between 6 a.m. to noon: it takes approximately 1700 tweets and 750 users.
• Between noon to 6 p.m.: it takes approximately 1500 tweets and 800 users. This is because more people are on twitter at this time, however they are tweeting less.
• Between 6 p.m.  to midnight: 1900 tweets and 950 users. This is the most active time during the day for twitter.

Social DJ 101: How radio can embrace social media

In a way that has not been witnessed since the Industrial Revolution of the early 1900’s, social media has changed the way we live.  It has changed the way we communicate with platforms such as Facebook.  It has altered our perceptions on how much we should be communicating, a la Twitter. It has even changed the way we eat, thank you Epic Mealtime. One of the biggest areas affected is the world of media.  As a student of media, I have found difficulty finding a book I can reference when confronted with a tactical question, because there’s no guarantee the information will be relevant the next day.  My fellow bloggers in the h20sandcompany blogosphere and myself are in the process of creating a social media campaign for area businesses and nonprofits, something that would have been unheard of two years ago.

It’s made an impact on other websites, with the Facebook ‘like’ button on almost every page.  It’s affected traditional sources of media such as print (show me a page that doesn’t have url for a Twitter account directly underneath the company website url, if not above).  It has even impacted radio, one of the most resilient forms of advertising.

Radio has survived several shifts in the media spectrum: the creation of the TV, the internet, satellite radio, and the smartphone.  Instead of crumbling in the face of such innovative creations, it has learned to adapt and coexist around what these new formats have to offer, as well as continue to do what radio does best: give the audience what they want.  With social media, radio’s approach is no different.  As the social media director for KSPW Power 96.5 FM in Springfield, Missouri, one of the largest mid-markets in the Midwest, we must provide another platform for which we can communicate with our audience. Put in that context, we use social media exactly as it was meant to be used.  That said, there are certain ways in which radio must engage in order to successfully utilize social media.  Like all instances, there is no right way, only several wrong ways.

First: Take Requests. The main reason people listen to radio is because they want to listen to what they want to hear.  Radio is one of the best forms of niche media, each station caters to a different group.  Social media offers the opportunity for the radio personality to interact with the audience.  The more the audience feels like they are a part of a show, the more they will tune in for that show.

Second: Interact.  Post videos, upload photos. Let them know where you are anytime you are out on location hosting a remote.  It provides a humanistic quality to the voice they familiarize themselves and connect with every day on the radio.

Third: Never undersell the reach of your social message.  Consider social media like radio waves, although you may not know who is listening at any given point in time, it should be assumed that everyone is.  Be yourself, but know you represent more than yourself.  At the same time, don’t oversell yourself.  If you refrain from interacting and posting with the community you immerse yourself in online, you give the audience a sense that you are above them. And they will remember that.

A good example are some stations that are currently doing it right.

Radio has always adapted to it’s surroundings, even amongst the midst of the largest revolution since the 1800’s.  The waves change slightly, but they still rock the biggest of boats when done right.

“Like” the next president on Facebook?

The 2012 presidential election seems like a long ways away, but politicians are already throwing their names into the ring, and they’re doing so in a new, more social media savvy way.

President Barrack Obama’s first ad of the 2012 election year came out through a YouTube video. The video has gotten more than 665,000 views since it was loaded on YouTube on March 31. His Facebook has 19,317,240 “likes.”

Mitt Romney announced his bid through Twitter.

• “I am announcing my Exploratory Committee for President of the United States. Join us at http://www.mittromney.com#Mitt2012“

Shortly he followed that up with a YouTube video as well, just a week after Obama’s video went viral.

Users are also able to connect on a more personal level to the candidates through social media. They can friend, like, retweet, write on their wall, or many other options to get their voice across to the prospective elected official.

Who knows what Sarah Palin has in store. Her new website is making many speculate her run in 2012 which she has previously denied.

Social media is going to be a powerful tool in this upcoming election. “In 2008 Obama’s campaign pioneered the use of Facebook and Twitter to reach voters while John McCain’s campaign followed a more conventional path. Romney has more than 33,000 followers on Twitter and 840,000 fans on Facebook compared with 7.3 million and 19 million, respectively, for Obama.”

Only time and “likes” will tell who the people of America want as their president in 2012.

Want to get fired?

Being late for work is a sure way to get fired. This post, for example, is coming out later than I would like…cutting it extremely close and maybe going past due-date by a bit. But anyway, getting fired is nothing to brag about or one-up people on. You won’t be sitting at a coffee shop (because you are now unemployed…so you can’t afford coffee) with a group of friend’s saying, “Oh yeah, guess what I did…showed him who’s boss!” (Which would be a contradictory statement…because guess who is the one that got canned?).

With the world today, the causes of getting fired have diversified a little, especially with the key role that social media is now starting to play in companies. Over the past few class periods, we have been studying social media policies and even writing our own example of one for Drury University. We have read, researched, and brainstormed the best way of telling a number of people the best way to not do something. You do uphold respect, integrity, and practice common sense. You don’t talk bad about the company or release confidential information. As Dr. Waters said in class, social media policies protect both the company and the employee. You state the do’s and don’ts, explain why, announce repercussions of violation, and nobody is surprised.

I like to spice things up and make things a bit more colorful for entertainment and reading purposes. If you are going to make a violation of a social media policy, you might as well do it the right way, right? If you are one of those that can make the coffee shop trip and crack stories with buddies about how you flipped  Big Boss John the bird, took a picture of it, and then posted it on Facebook, then here are the top 10 ways to get fired using social media, brought to you by thoughtpick:

1. Speak badly about your boss/manager/supervisor
2. Post that you are looking for a job…when you already have one
3. Spread around that company info to your Facebook friends, twitter followers, and whoever else you got out there in the social media world.
4. Badmouth fellow employees
5. Break a law…and post about it! Use pictures.
6. Present yourself in a manner that doesn’t follow with company values. Also, use pictures.
7. Gossipgossipgossip…about work.
8. Let everyone have a dab into your personal life. Vent a little.
9. Talk about something controversial.
10. Constantly use social media. Something you put out there is bound to be taken the wrong way.

Please check out the blog thoughtpick, and specifically, the article (written by Beirut, March 12, 2010).

Amber

“audio-visual swine flu”

 

Ishraq, Lena, Abby Victor, Alana Lee, Madison Bray, and Amanda Williams. Chances are you’ve never heard of these musical acts or even knew their profession, but by now you’ve probably heard of their agent and who else they managed. These girls were all discovered by ARK Music Factory, who most recently helped Rebecca Black rocket to stardom.

 

“Rebecca fell asleep that night watching “American Idol” with her mom, exhausted from a handful of tests at school day that day and all the drama that arrived after school. In the morning, it all seemed slightly unreal.” This according to an article in The Modesto Bee is how Rebecca Black spent one of her last days and nights as a normal 13-year-old before going viral. Her first ever single and music video “Friday” has everyone talking as well as all the music charts abuzz.

 

“Friday” is Number One on Billboard Heatseekers Songs for the week of April 9, 2011 as the “week’s most popular song across all formats by a new or developing act.” Black also snagged Number 58 on Billboard Top 100 for the same week, slotting in near both Britney Spears and the Cast of Glee as one of the “week’s most popular songs across all genres, ranked by radio airplay and streaming activity data provided by online music sources.”

 

While most songs garner both radio and online airtime, Black has seen slow radio response to her work. “Radio programmers, however, are so far largely avoiding the widely-panned track,” states Billboard.biz. “While morning drive talents are discussing (and, thus adding to) the song’s buzz, it garnered just 12 plays,” for the week of March 16-22, 2011 across more than 1,200 monitored stations.

 

While radio stations seem reluctant to play Black’s “Friday,” buzz has created sales elsewhere. According to the aforementioned Modesto Bee “after rushing the song into release on iTunes, it ranked No. 54 on the iTunes sales charts, between Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” and Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song.”” This according to Forbes is making Black $.70 per single downloaded with over 37,000 downloads in the first week alone.

 

 With more YouTube views of her “Friday” than Lady Gaga has of “Born This Way,” reports are stating that Black is not going away anytime soon. No stranger to fame, Gaga recently defended Black by stating that “I think it’s fantastic,” she said. “I say Rebecca Black is a genius and anyone that’s telling her she’s cheesy is full of s–t.” X Factor judge and producer Simon Cowell also came to Black’s aide recently by stating that “her song is “brilliant” and labeling it “hysterical” that anyone could be so upset about the harmless tune.”

 

For those saying “Friday” is the worst song ever, Black stated in the aforementioned Modesto Bee that “this is my time to show them how strong I am. So say what you want, it’s not going to stop me. You’re entitled to your opinion. But I believe in myself. I just want to be able to keep doing what I love, which is singing,” and having “fun, fun, fun, fun!”

Flickr’s Playground

It seems that if a company has not started up it presence using social media, it has definitely missed a long passed train. As discussed in class, there is a lot of talk that yeah, companies need social media, but you really need to sell the use of it from a business standpoint. Once the tool of social media is sold, then it boils down to which social networking tool to use, and finally…the policy that goes with it. An important piece of wisdom taken from the article How to Write a Social Media Policy is this:

“Social media may be a huge opportunity for your employees to help build your company’s brand, but let’s not forget that there also exists a tremendous risk for individual employees to inadvertently damage the company’s brand and by defining a set of guidelines you help mitigate that risk.”

So, when looking through a couple of social media policies, I thought it would be interesting to look at a policy that a social networking tool uses for its community of users…kind of a “this is our playing ground, and this is how you play” set of do’s and don’ts. Flickr proved to be my place. According to the previously mentioned article, it is super important to accurately convey what people within a company can and cannot do when it comes to using social media. But it needs to go beyond that to truly be considered a good policy. It is not just stating “do this, don’t do that, and don’t even consider this…” but it is stating why an employee should not do this and it should encourage sound judgment through examples. Finally, it should relay the consequences, that way, the employee and company is protected.

Flickr’s policy is very thorough, simple, and has a lot of voice. Their social media policy is not called “Flickr Social Media Policy,” but instead called “Flickr Community Guidelines.” What I found extremely unique about Flickr is that it’s policy/guidelines does not pertain to it’s employees, but instead, to it’s account holders and the Flickr community as a whole. The guidlines provide a simple list that everyone can adhere to and they make it very fun for anyone to read. They not only state what to do/not to do, but there is a 2-3 sentence follow-up providing ideals and examples. At the end of their guidelines, they provide a list of Things To Consider, including the forewarning that not everyone is going to like what they see on Flickr…and a definite warning about copyright infringement.  Finally, the very last part states the consequences: you figure out if you can comply (if not, “Flickr isn’t for you”), abide by rules, or your account may get deleted.

Here is part of the guideline, taken straight from Flickr:

Flickr Community Guidelines

Flickr accounts are intended for members to share original photos and video that they themselves have created.

The following Community Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of Flickr. Don’t forget that your use of Flickr is subject to these Guidelines and our Terms of Service.

What to do

• Do play nice.
  We’re a global community of many types of people, who all have the right to feel comfortable and who may not think what you think, believe what you believe or see what you see. So, be polite and respectful in your interactions with other members.
• Do upload content that you’ve created.
  Respect the copyright of others. This means don’t steal photos or videos that other people have shared and pass them off as your own. (That’s what favorites are for.)
• Do enjoy Flickr!
  See the world through others’ eyes, participate, find your muse, and expand your horizons!

What not to do

Here’s the deal: We like to give second chances. However, stepping across any of the lines listed below may result in account deletion with or without warning.

• Don’t upload anything that isn’t yours.
  This includes other people’s photos, video, and/or stuff you’ve copied or collected from around the Internet. Accounts that consist primarily of such collections may be deleted at any time.
• Don’t show nudity in your buddy icon.
  Only content considered “safe” is appropriate for your buddy icon. If we find that you’ve uploaded a buddy icon that contains inappropriate content, we’ll remove the buddy icon, mark your account as “restricted” and send you a warning. If we find you doing it again, we’ll delete your account.
• Don’t vent your frustrations, rant, or bore the brains out of other members.
  Flickr is not a venue for you to harass, abuse, impersonate, or intimidate others. If we receive a valid complaint about your conduct, we’ll send you a warning or delete your account.
• Don’t be creepy.
  You know the guy. Don’t be that guy.

Want to view the rest of the guidelines? Click here

 

Walmart’s Tweets

When learning about Social Media Policies, I decided to look into how the leading sales giant Walmart to address the topic and how they intend to monitor their internet presence on social media sites.

Walmart’s Twitter External Discussion Guidelines states that:

• “Unless otherwise noted, U.S.-based Walmart approved Twitter users will follow the following naming conventions of “business unit + name/category.” They go on to mention approved examples such as “walmartmeeting,” “samsclubrobert,” and “walmartgames.”
• Walmart also links to a list and toolbar of approved Twitter accounts on a separate “Follow us on Twitter” page.

The discretion that Walmart chooses to use goes hand-in-hand with what I learned in the article How to Write a Social Media Policy where in one of their key steps to craft a policy they mention that:

•  “Employees should neither claim nor imply that they are speaking on the company’s behalf.”

Walmart has made sure to let the general public know that when anyone Tweets on a particular subject that their are only a handful of verified corporate accounts and that consumers should choose those when their looking for someone to follow.

Top 5 most common tips for using social media.

Social Media is everywhere. It is used everyday in a variety of different ways. However, some uses of social media can have a negative impact on peoples lives. Most companies have developed a social media plan for its employees. These policies give employees guidelines to using social media to avoid negative repercussions of things they post.

1.) Be transparent: always say who you are and who you work for. Be honest and be real.

2.) Add Value: share tips and insight. Make reading your posts worth the readers time.

3.) Be accountable: Know that you are responsible for what you post. What you post will be public for an indefinite amount of time.

4.) Write what you know: Be sure you are knowledgeable in what you are writing about and provide sources to back up your information.

5.) Accept and correct mistakes: Its ok to make a mistake in your posts, however accept your mistake and quickly fix it.

These tips where found on 4 different social media policies. These 5 tips appeared on Dell, Intel, Opera, and Kodak’s media policies. These 5 tips can help insure that use of social media will create a positive outcome rather then a negative one.

Guidelines for developing a social media policy

• Fact: It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people. It took Facebook less than nine months to reach 100 million users. 
• Fact: Seventeen percent of companies disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies. Nearly 9 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation (both increases from 2008, 11 percent and six percent, respectively).
• Fact: Fifteen percent have disciplined an employee for violating multimedia sharing/posting policies in the past 12 months, while 8 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation.
• Fact: US companies are experiencing an increase in “exposure incidents” involving sites like Facebook and LinkedIn as compared to 2008 (17 percent versus 12 percent). US companies are now taking a much more forceful approach with offending employees – 8 percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation as compared to only four percent in 2008.
• Fact: Short message services like SMS texts and Twitter also pose a risk. 13 percent of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services in the past 12 months.

As social media grows, it is evident that companies are not outlining what is and is not acceptable for the digital world. Without direction, employees are left to decide what they deem is web-worthy without the slightest hesitation to consider how it can impact your company’s image. So what can organization leaders do to keep this from happening? Scott Monty, Head of Social Media at Ford Motor Company, has the answer:“The same way it can keep employees from doing stupid things on email & the phone. Give them guidelines and resources. Have an online communications policy that follows standard communications policies and trust them to do the right thing.”

You need to develop a social media policy. A social media policy provides a guideline for employees that detail procedures for communicating in the digital realm. But even your social media guideline needs a few guidelines. Here are a few goals that your social media policy should include and how one organization, The Mayo Clinic, reaches these objectives. 

1. It should remind employees to familiarize themselves with company policies.

“Ask the Department of Public Affairs (4-5005 in Rochester, 2-4222 in Arizona, 3-2299 in Florida) if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog or social networking profile. Remember that if you wouldn’t want your manager or others at Mayo to see your comments, it is unwise to post them to the Internet”.

2. It should remind employees that they cannot disclose proprietary information.

“Follow all applicable Mayo Clinic policies. For example, you must not share confidential or proprietary information about Mayo Clinic and you must maintain patient privacy. Among the policies most pertinent to this discussion are those concerning government affairs, mutual respect, political activity, Computer, E-mail & Internet Use, the Mayo Clinic Integrity Program, photography and video, release of patient information to media and patient confidentiality”.

3. It should remind employees to add a disclaimer to identify themselves and their role within the company.

“Write in the first person. Where your connection to Mayo Clinic is apparent, make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of Mayo Clinic. In those circumstances, you may want to include this disclaimer: “The views expressed on this [blog; website] are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer.” Consider adding this language in an “About me” section of your blog or social networking profile”.

4. It should remind employees to never claim they are speaking on behalf of the company.

“If you communicate in the public internet about Mayo Clinic or Mayo Clinic-related matters, disclose your connection with Mayo Clinic and your role at Mayo. Use good judgment and strive for accuracy in your communications; errors and omissions reflect poorly on Mayo, and may result in liability for you or Mayo Clinic”.

5. It should remind employees that postings in which they discuss the company or the industry require approval.

“Use of external Web sites for work-related purposes (e.g. photo sharing through Flickr.com) must be first approved by Public Affairs in conjunction with the Office for Compliance”.

 To learn more about acceptable social media guidelines click here. To read the full Mayo Clinic social media policy for employees click here.

Social Vultures: How To Avoid Affiliation With The Wrong Crowd.

The Social Media Revolution has provided the world with a ridiculous amount of good things.  Instant communication, connectivity, and the ability for every culture in every language to laugh together at a hysterical baby.  However, for every view that video has amassed there are just as many and more people under fire at their jobs for a personal opinion/belief they have posted online.

Social media has given us a voice, and with that voice comes responsibility.  51% of America is now on Facebook, this means a lot of voices are being heard.  But how much responsibility is being accounted for?

Enter the social media policy.  Businesses are now starting to diffuse any potential firestorm an employee may create via a social media site.  A great example is BBC.  They have a Facebook network of 11,899 employees, and all are asked to monitor what they post on the site.

Members of the British Broadcasting Network are to contact management should any media company contact him or her regarding a post that has been made.  This I feel is the smartest way to control a company as large as BBC.  A social media policy may not guarantee smooth sailing in the online waters, but having a policy is better than no policy at all.