Who doesnt' have a Facebook or Twitter?


Nowadays, you'll rarely meet a person who doesn't have these two social media websites. The online presence of these two have an influential reach, that's why a lot of popular brands have jumped in the social media bandwagon since it began. It is truly an effective way to engage with your customers and followers, as it easily gets your messages across and helps build reputation and brand recognition.

Now, what social media platform to use, you might ask. It's advisable to have both Facebook and Twitter for your products and services. But if you want to know which has the most advantage when it comes to social media marketing use, then read on.

1. Images/Links

Posts are easily seen, such as screencaps of links, pictures, and videos.

In Facebook, posting a picture can be easily seen, and users immediately have an idea of what the post is all about. Even if it's with links to other pages, you get an idea of the topic of the article through an image screencap. Making an album is easier through Facebook, and you can easily locate your images through the timeline photo album or a more customized one. Even videos are sorted out into an album.

In Twitter, you can post an image, but you have to click on the image preview so you can see the whole of it. And you can't make an album; instead, you have to go to the "Photos and Videos" part of the Twitter page and click on the link to see the images and videos posted.

When it comes to user-friendly image interface, Facebook wins in this one.

2. Events/Groups/Invitations

Facebook provides a feature wherein you can make groups or events, and can be customized into public or private. If it's a public group or event, anyone can join. If it's set into private, the group or event is through invitation only. Either the user applies to be invited, or another invited member invites another user to join the group or event. When you're invited, you can post on the wall, comment on other posts, and be in the know about the latest about the group's cause.

Twitter doesn't have a feature wherein you can create a public or private group. But one can create a Twitter page about certain causes, products, services, and events, and have people follow you.

Facebook is still the way to go if you want to create a group and gather like-minded people to participate.

3. Hashtags

Twitter pioneered in hashtag use that helps users find a certain topic. Using the hash sign ( # ), a Twitter user will be directed to tweets about the said topic. This is very effective in marketing, because campaigns are started on Twitter through a user-generated hashtag. For example, a cosmetic industry can promote their new line of make-up through a hashtag in order to spread word about their newest products. #BoldRed is an idea if the cosmetic line wants to promote their newest lipstick color. So that's how hashtag marketing works.

Facebook just caught up with the hashtag use, and users can now use hashtags on Facebook. But it still has a long way to go before it can achieve what Twitter has done with hashtag marketing. Some posts in Facebook are private, and therefore, you can't see all posts using a certain hashtag. Twitter wins with hashtag use.

4. Customer Interaction

Facebook is more of reactions, while in Twitter, you can get directly by tweeting a Twitter user. Say, a customer had problems with a certain restaurant and wants to speak up about it through social media. If it's on Facebook, it's more on ranting and posting. There's a chance that even if you tag the said establishment on your public post or go directly to the Facebook page, your post might drown in all the other wall posts. If you decide to take it out on Twitter by tweeting the page for that establishment, it can be seen easily, because of the mention of the page on that tweet. There's a chance that someone might directly reply to your tweet.

It's a mix of timing, word choices, and user interaction if you want to praise a service or complain about it on Twitter or Facebook. So there's no singled-out social media platform for this purpose.

5. Popularity

Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular forms of social media platforms. Both are highly recommended for brand promotion and interaction, although you have to tailor your posts and tweets so you will get noticed. What is it that makes your brand different? Make it stand out from the rest. Gaining a lot of followers doesn't happen overnight, and it takes hard work to spread the word about your products and services through these two social media outlets.

These are just comparisons between Twitter and Facebook for social media marketing. It's up to you on how to utilize both websites for marketing purposes. After all, it's not with the platform, but with the presentation, that makes social media marketing effective.

Author Bio: Lauren Todd is a freelancer at uk essay writers. She reads a lot about social media marketing, and it helps her to be in the know about the subject.

Photo by re:publica / Flickr

As well all grow increasingly involved in online communities and social media, we expose ourselves and our families to more and more people, in more and more ways. While this is fun, entertaining, and even builds real connections, some caution is recommended. As with any strangers, be aware of danger!

What’s at Risk?

Identity theft is usually the first risk that comes to mind when discussing online safety. Identity theft is a major concern and can lead to disastrous ripple effects. This is not at all the only risk present though. You could also go the TMI route and cause problems at work or for future jobs.

Stay Safe Out There!

Follow these ten privacy tips and you will have a safer experience online using social media.

• Nom de Plume - For purely social interactions, such as on FaceBook or Twitter, there is no good reason to use your legal name. Your friends all know your nickname, so why not use that? Using a legal full name is an invitation for criminals to see you as ripe for the picking. 
• Address Unknown - Never post your address publicly online. Really, why would you need to? PM, baby, PM!
• App Aversion - Avoid the social media apps as much as you can. They notoriously offer some cute game in exchange for the data they mined from you. All that risk for crushed candy?
• Nothing to See Here - No nudity, okay? Not even a nip slip. Just don’t do it. And limit the crazed party shots too, drunky!
• The Separation of Work & Friends - Try not to hook up with your co-workers on non-career oriented social media. It is all too likely that things will overlap, possibly causing some awkwardness for you. Nudge, nudge, know what I mean?
• What’s the Password? - This is the best online safety tip that there is, and the most frequently ignored admonishment as well. Choose good passwords, and change them often. The definition of good is probably best chosen by a random password generator. Often. Just do it.
• Do Not Trust, Verify - As you go around social media you may see things that are almost too good to be true, that is because they are. Do not trust who you meet, what you read, offers to buy, and more, without verifying the source and the information.
• On Vacation - Stop telling the internet when you are leaving for vacation and your house will be conveniently open to thieves!
• No Children Allowed - And keep your kids off of most social media too. These last two tips are just so obvious, but...
• Privacy Settings, Use ‘Em - When all else fails, read the instructions.

Lock Up!

The dangers you face online using social media are very real. But most of these dangers can be avoided entirely, or at the very least lessened significantly. If you batten down the hatches and take some precautionary steps, you’ll be fine out there.

Author Bio: Sara Xiang searches for homes in lake Tahoe online when she's able to spend a little time dreaming about her future life.

Photo by Free Creative Commons/Flickr

Everyone knows about using photos of more attractive strangers to catfish unsuspecting suckers on the internet. There’s the enraged ex,posting photos of their beloved with the intent to humiliate them into reconciliation. But more often than not, photos are stolen by the lazy. Those too slack to make their own images.

It seems the only guaranteed anti-theft is to never post anything. If thieves want it, they’ll take it. Depressing, and true.

How do you know if your photos are being used by other people? These steps will guide you through a simple search of the internet to find your photos. With any luck, you’ll just find your Facebook page, Twitter feed, or Instagram account.

Are You Feeling Lucky?

You will end up with a list of all websites where your photos appear, with or without your permission. These steps are simple - follow them carefully. Here we go!

• 
  
• You are going to use the website Google to create a “Reverse Image Search”.
• Open your internet browser.
• Find the image you want to investigate.
• Bring your pointer to hover over the image.
• Use the right click function.
• Now you will copy the URL of your image.
• If you are using Firefox, select “Copy Image Location”.
• If you are using Safari, select “Copy Image Address”.
• If you are using Explorer, select ‘Properties’, highlight the “Address”, click CTRL-C.
• Paste your image’s URL that you copied into Google and click “Search”.
• You will get a result page and you next click “Search by Image”.
• A grid of “Visually Similar Images” will appear.
• Scroll down to see the image you are searching for.
• Click on each image to take you to where your image is posted on the internet.
• Freak out.

Aaahh, Freak Out!

Well, don’t immediately freak out. Have a look around and decide the level of freaking out per result. Of course you’ll see anywhere you have posted the image yourself. You may also see where friends or relatives have copied and posted your image. And you may even find some places that your image is posted that discusses if for some reason, hopefully a reason related to you, and hopefully not with a sour snout full of snark.

But if you find your image on a site that is completely irrelevant to you and appears to be flat-out stolen you do have a few options, some preventative, some after the fact.

Protect Yo’self!

• 
  
• Digitally watermark or emboss your photos.
• Layer your images so thieves get only the top layer, which you’ve made clear.
• Cut your images up and reassemble via HTML code.

But remember, no preventative measure protects you against a thief who knows about taking a screenshot. Your recourse when you find theft is to complain to the culprit...ummm, yeah. You can complain to the company who hosts the offending site. You can complain to Google. Or you can crawl into a hole and stop using the internet. Sigh. SIGH.

Author Bio: Sheila Kurdinger likes DontPayFull because they offer such a wide selection of items. She also likes to read all sorts of infographics online whenever she has a little spare time because they help her understand complex topics easily - at least the good ones!

Photo by Thunderchild7 / Flickr

Are you looking to become an Internet Marketer? The skills needed to effectively work in internet marketing range from proficient writing skills and creative design to a firm grasp of online usability and social media. Understanding search engine optimization and the analytics of good marketing calls for someone with diversity in their skillset. It comes down to one point: knowing how sell it to the viewer or customer.

In a Word, No.

Social networking sites have the largest internet traffic as compared to any other sites. There are thousands of employees sitting at the back end of these sites that ensure that it keeps on running successfully 24/7. Almost everybody we know is also present on social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc). Facebook became popular merely a decade ago. Orkut and MySpace were one of those glittering sites previously; but they were replaced within few years by Facebook. Now Facebook is the next big thing and has been ruling the social media networking sites from the past six-seven years.

Apple in recent months has held negotiations with Twitter to explore investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the company, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing people briefed on the matter. The Wall Street Journal said such discussion were held over a year ago, citing a person familiar with the matter.


It is unclear if the two companies talked about a deal in the past and at what level such discussions were held, but there are no current, formal talks between the companies on an investment or acquisition, the sources said.

Both Apple and Twitter declined to comment on the matter.

The iPhone and iPad maker typically does not take equity stakes in companies and prefers to acquire technologies by buying up smaller startups that are lesser known. Twitter executives have said repeatedly they are in no rush to seek additional financing, either privately or on public markets, since they have "truckloads" of cash.


Apple has never delved deeply into the social media space dominated by Facebook Inc, but it has dabbled in trying to make music more social by launching a social network on iTunes called Ping, which has not caught on.

Twitter, the Internet phenomenon with some 140 million users that allows people to "tweet" 140-character messages, is already well integrated into Apple smartphones and tablets. Apple customers can directly share their comments on Twitter when on their iPhones, iPads or Mac line of computers.

Twitter, the San Francisco-based startup that is viewed as the most significant candidate for the public markets following Facebook, is ramping up its efforts to generate revenue from the 400 million tweets that cross its networks daily.