We’re logging off for the weekend with these in mind:

President Obama Supports Gay Marriage, Twitter Explodes
By now you should have already seen it taking off on your feeds – and if not, who are you? The POTUS formally came out to the public with his support for same sex marriages. And of course, social media exploded. Mashable rounded up “top 10 Tweets” from rather official Twitter accounts from news outlets and other politicians, which you can check out here, but we want to know, why was RuPaul’s snappy Tweet not included? Incidentally, this should lead to an interesting song selection on the POTUS’ “Campaign Song” Spotify playlist, which they’re soliciting user requests for.

Pinterest Continues Expansion to WordPress
Pinterest continues its acquisition of share buttons all over the world Internet, and it seems that Word Press is no exception to this. WP Pinner launched beta on Wednesday, allowing WP users to carry over their witticisms and musings onto Pinterest; installing WP Pinner mounts a dash on the blog admin’s area, which displays the board name, dates, clicks, likes, and repins. WP Pinners can also schedule pins and automatically follow users who interact with them on Pinterest. Nifty! You can read up on the marvels of WP Pinner here.

The Best and Worst Posting Times 
Posting times on platforms usually have a sort of blind  science to them; obviously everyone’s going to post according to their user demographics – but is there an actual hard proof to when is best? Mashable says there is, and while its article provides interesting details on best times, traffic patterns on Twitter and Facebook, and the longevity of bit.ly links, it doesn’t really offer anything for CMs who work with communities that span across state lines and countries even.

Facebook’s New App Center and Beta Program 
Facebook has opened a beta program that will allow developers to charge users a flat fee to use their apps, which will also cover HTML5 apps and canvas apps. This all ties in with Facebook’s larger announcement regarding its new App Center (for Web, iOS, Android, HTML5, Pre-Paid). For peeks at the what the App Center looks like and for developer guidelines on eligibility, read this link. For a roundup post of “what this all really means,” read this post.

YouTube Takes the Next Step with Vloggers 
YouTube is focusing on vloggers with its next class of creators to go through its  Next Program, which initially launched six weeks ago.  The platform picked 16 vloggers who will undergo mentoring and receive cash and advice on how to expand their already sizable kingdoms. While YouTube isn’t shy about investing millions in professionally produced content, it’s also looking to nurture the next level of creators by helping amateur and semi-professionals who’re looking to improve.  For the final list of 16 vloggers, check the link above.

Drinking the Kool Aid with Google on Reddit’s AMA 
Sharing network Reddit got a hold of an anonymous Google employee for their AMA (Ask Almost Anything) threads; an employee from Google’s Kirkland office agreed to answer all questions candidly and honestly on the condition that he didn’t violate his NDA and users were aware that he was speaking as himself, not as a representative. Disclaimers aside, the conversation was interesting to follow, especially since folks were curious about the Kool Aid and mystery of Google, the point of Google +, and the ongoing “creativity war” on the tech scene. You can read through the unfiltered and raw Reddit thread here, but if you’re just interested in specific tech and social media questions, read Mashable’s “highlights” post.

Highlight Your Facebook Posts
About 12% of your friends see the average Facebook post on their newsfeed, and it’s become known that most users don’t bother clicking away from their home feed. So Facebook has decided to counter it by testing an optional “highlights” program where users pay a little money to have their post be visible longer and to more friends and subscribers. This leads us to wonder how this will work with a user’s privacy settings if they’ve hidden you from their feed, among other things. In other news, Tumblr too has a “highlights” feature.

Did we miss a bit o’buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here! 

StumbleUpon Hits 25M Registered Users, Intends to Take Over the World: 
Or not. But still, hitting 25 million registered users who are pretty active is a CM’s dream come true, especially if the result is about 1.2 billion Stumbles a month. The bookmarking and recommendation platform has been for the most part, under the radar, but taking steps to increase its mainstream popularity, like launching a user friendly redesign, and integrating with Facebook Timeline. It seems that StumbleUpon has a three-pronged approach to increasing userbase however: mobile, international growth (site translations and launches), and API. If you want to read more about StumbleUpon and why it’s kind of a big deal, you can read our  post here!

U.S. House Passes CISPA Cybersecurity Bill 248 to 168
Yesterday, the US House of Representatives passed the controversial CISPA Cybersecurity bill, 248 to 168. Unlike SOPA, CISPA aims to protect Internet companies and the government (but of course) tools to protect themselves against cyber attacks by sharing information with each other. This of course, raised alarm and outcries about some major privacy invasion, as companies can now hand over any and all user data and actions in the name of “cybersecurity.” Although the bill has passed in the House, it has yet to reach Senate. President Obama is also threatening to veto the bill as well.

Facebook Launches Support Dashboard 
Facebook wants to let you know that it’s heard your complaints about abuse, bullying, and spam, and that it cares. The platform has unrolled the initial testing of its Support Dashboard, the second step after you click “report” on upsetting material. In an effort to push towards more transparency, the Support Dashboard lets you track the progress of how the issues you’ve redflagged are being handled. You can read the rest of Facebook’s blog post at the link.

Procter & Gamble Launch a Sneaky Campaign for the Olympics
We’re not sure how Proctor & Gamble intend to tie back their products to Olympians and their moms, but this campaign sure is a tearjerker – so it must be working, right? The “Thank You, Mom” ad pays homage to all moms who spend countless hours schlepping their progeny to and fro practices. The campaign is the largest in the company’s 174 year history, just in time for the 2012 London Olympics, and has its own Facebook tab that not only allows users to share the ad, but thank their moms, and contribute money for a fundraising campaign. Well done, P&G.

Google Forever Immortalized Through Song
We dig the straight forward approach – “Google that.” Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon decided he was tired of listening to the tomfoolery and stupid questions by creating a song telling prospective friends to simply “Google that” when they don’t know something. Just kidding. (Edit. note: Teyana Taylor did it first.) The rapper, NORE, and Styles P have vocalized the new standard of fame in this day and age by telling prospective friends to “Google that” to see their infamous past deeds and jail time. It works? Check out the NSFW video for yourself here:

We’re logging off for the weekend with these in mind:

Instagram 
At this point, if you haven’t already heard about the grand Instagram acquisition by Facebook (for $1 billion, no less!) then we don’t know what to tell you, other than maybe a serious cull of your RSS feeds and Google alerts is in order.  Envy and wistful wishing aside, this grandiose acquisition is definitely inspiring conversation about what made Instagram so successful, why it happened, and the hunt for the “next” Instagram.

We’ve rounded up some articles for your reading perusal here:

• Every Time You Love a Service, It Gets Closer to Being Acquired
• Here is Why Facebook Bought Instagram
• Instagram, Facebook, and China
• Facebook + Instragram = a Slide
• How to Scale a $1 Billion Startup: A Guide from Instagram Co-Founder Mike Krieger
• Selling Versus Selling Out 
• Instagram Aftermath: It’s Time for Entrepreneurs to Go All-In 
• The Hunt for an “Instagram for Video” is On
• Many Instagram Users Already Heading for the Exits
• Facebook Instagram Acquisition: Top 20 User Reactions 

Maryland Passes Legislation Protecting Facebook Passwords… 
In our previous Social Media Playground roundup post, we mentioned the growing concern of users who have been asked by potential employers to submit their private Facebook passwords as part of the job screening process. Facebook openly shunned the practice, but official legislation that would make the practice illegal failed to pass the U.S House of Representatives. Despite this, the state of Maryland in a progressive move, has passed legislation that protects the Facebook passwords of private users from such requests. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

…But Facebook is Still Somewhat Creepy
Despite the somewhat heartening news above, Facebook still remains a bit creepy in its never ending mining for information. Facebook has announced that it has upgraded its “download your information” feature, first introduced in October 2010. For those who’ve never heard of this, it is exactly what it sounds like – users can request their entire Facebook archived history, from likes, comments, photos, chats, messages – and more! The newest addition? Friend requests and IP Addresses. In addition to logging IP addresses, Facebook announced today that your email address and Timeline are now synced up. What joy.

Pinterest Rolls Out Vimeo Integration
While Pinterest has already rolled out a Youtube support feature, it’s now taken it a step further by allowing users to pin Vimeo videos. While the basic gist of pinning a Vimeo video is pretty much the same as YouTube, readers can read the exact announcement on the Pinterest blog. Now with companies like Amazon and eBay scrambling to add Pinterest buttons to their sharing buttons, when is Pinterest going to be bought out?

Pinspire Tampering with Users
In a huge SMM “no-no”, employees of Pinterest clone Pinspire have been charged with potentially one of the biggest reputation killers – tampering with user accounts. Techcrunch is reporting that Pinspire employees have been allegedly deleting, hiding and removing pins, ‘likes’, comments, re-pins, and “pinpoints,” the system Pinspire uses for giveaways and contests. In addition to the already damning allegations, Techcrunch has evidence of people with Pinspire email addresses astro-turfing blogs asking for coverage in return for cash payments and gifts of iPads. You can read the rest of the evidence and red flags that Techcrunch has detailed at the link.

There’s Only One Direction for UK Boy Band: UP
U.K boy band One Direction has been sweeping the charts and setting hearts aflame. It could be argued that the teen quintet rose to the top through hard work, boyish good looks, and pure talent, but adults know that there was a serious social-media campaign propelling them.

For those not familiar with the story, the five were grouped together by ever popular reality TV judge Simon Cowell after failing as individual competitors on British talent show X-Factor (like American Idol, except with accents!). Cowell’s label Syco, then teamed up with ad agency Archibald Ingall Stretton to create a “transmedia adventure.” The results? Over 50 days, the campaign doubled traffic to One Direction’s website, attracted 200,000 participants who then completed 20 separate challenges, created 12 Twitter trends, and racked up more than 2.5 million YouTube views and now a lot of headache for those who’d began to hope that Justin Bieber and his ilk would fade away. To read the full details of the story, check the link.

Tumblr Rolls  Out Monetized Model 
Social blog Tumblr has been slowly but surely implementing changes here and there for not just users, but an eventual model for brands. What started out as tinkering with the internal messaging systems for private users has rolled out into “highlighted” posts (highlighted meaning you’d pay for prominent spots on a user’s dashboard). CEO David Karp sat down for an interview regarding his plans for Tumblr, brands, tools for brands and users, and advertising:

Mr. Karp: [In regards to highlighted posts] [Not] a bunch of buttons to pay for things, but we want to offer a set of nuanced creative tools for users on Tumblr. And was the right starting point. And this is not the first user-oriented promotional paid feature. There are two in production — the highlight posts and the ability to purchase and sell themes, but before that we had the ability to put your blog’s avatar up on the dashboard.

We tested the ability to promote yourself in our directories. That was one of the most successful revenue-generating features, not only in driving traffic to our blogs but in acting as a filter on our network, and it’s something we want to get back to very soon.

Ad Age: Are brands using it, too?

Mr. Karp: They are. We designed it without brands in mind, trying to work it in such a way that it makes it clear that this isn’t the killer feature for you. We’re not expecting Vogue to spend a buck on every one of their posts to make it stand out. In fact, that would make the experience kind of crappy. In fact, one of my favorite use cases is Reuters, when they use it to highlight breaking news.

Read the rest of the interview at the link.

Mayor Cory Booker Saves Woman from Fire, Ignites Hashtag Trend
In a “feel good” story for today, Newark (of NJ for those not in our tri-state area) Mayor Cory Booker  became a local hero after he ran into a burning building and rescued a woman who was trapped inside. The politician thanked followers for their concerns and accolades through Twitter. Incidentally, #CoryBookStories is now a trending hashtag.

Did we miss a bit o’buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here! 

We’re logging off for the weekend with these in mind:

Facebook Says “No Thank You” to Employers Requesting Passwords
There was a bit of a stir across the web following reports that employers have begun requesting potential employees‘ personal Facebook passwords as part of the hiring process. Needless to say, this caused some distress and a few choice words. It seems that agencies, colleges, and employers alike needed to be gently reminded that soliciting another person’s Facebook password is a direct violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Facebook quickly responded to the growing alarm with a public statement assuring folks that they will help say “no”  to snooping.

Facebook takes your privacy seriously.  We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.

While we will continue to do our part, it is important that everyone on Facebook understands they have a right to keep their password to themselves, and we will do our best to protect that right.

While Facebook’s assurance was nice and all, legislation that would have made it officially illegal for employers to ask for passwords has been rejected in the U.S. House of Representatives. Such are the times.

Google’s Proposed Commenting System: A Case in Schadenfraude 
Google, in its never ending spiral of schadenfraude, just isn’t really learning from its very public mistakes. Reports have surfaced saying that Google plans to launch a new commenting platform to “rival Facebook’s”, along various other new features. While we’re not surprised that Google is constantly trying to ante up to Facebook, we were a bit alarmed at this one section:

The Google comment system, which will almost certainly rival that of Facebook, will have deep links to Google’s network of services and websites, indexing comments in Google Search, and most significantly, the system will be available for use on third party sites.

What? No. No, thank you.

Facebook’s Timeline Boosts Engagements on Brand Pages
While this “study” of brand pages and their engagement post Timeline switch is initially optimistic, we’re still a bit skeptical, especially as this goes against what we’ve been actually seeing in our day-to-day line of work. While a 46% boost in engagement is nothing to snuff at, it should be noted that the sample size is not only too small (only 15 brand pages), but the brands in question were already well established and have a large fanbase to begin with. TechCrunch is also reporting that the Timeline switch is good for only 95% of Facebook pages, which means that there’s a 5% that’ll actually be at a disadvantage.  So the question still remains – how will Facebook’s Timeline affect brands?

Pinterest’s First Documented Marketing  Campaign
At this point, we’ve seen various marketing campaigns, contests, and brand efforts across our various boards on Pinterest. But one thing that’s interesting to note however, is how Kotex decided to take it one step further and document their marketing efforts.

Kotex targeted and studied 50 women who were active on Pinterest, researched what they were pinning and who they were pinning from, and sent them a gift box that was tailored around their specific tastes. What ensued was repins and some delighted fans posting this not only on Pinterest, but on Facebook, Twitter, and Instragram as well. A rough estimate of the campaign calculate over 2,000 interactions that created close to 695,000 impressions. Watch the video at the link to see the fruits of Kotex’s labor. Incidentally, this expose from a Pinterest Spammer is also a very interesting read.

Did we miss a bit o’buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here! 

I haven’t missed all of the recent news about f-commerce. Stories being shared about the Gap, Nordstrom and others removing their Facebook stores, and headlines claiming the end of f-commerce before it even took off. If you find yourself dismissing f-commerce after reading news like this, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity for your brand. You don’t have to invest a significant amount of money to bring your entire store to Facebook, many experts discourage doing this, but instead you should start by asking yourself, what can I do to deliver value for my customers?

Value is what keeps your visitors coming back and your community growing. With f-commerce, your greatest value comes from providing your customers with a unique experience that they can’t find anywhere else. The most popular way companies do this is by issuing a special deal. According to a study from Insight Strategy Group, 58% of people said the number one reason for following a brand on a social network is to get special news and deals. By offering a ‘Facebook Only Deal’, you’ll see a boost in brand equity and loyalty, along with additional revenue. To get you thinking, here are some of my favorite strategies for leveraging f-commerce to deliver value to your customers and their friends:

Pop-Up Shop: Reward your Facebook fans with an opportunity to be one of the first people to purchase a new product. Limit it to the first 200 customers, or open it to everyone; either way you’ll bring attention to the new release. If you want to gather customer data, launch the tab a week before the pre-sale and require customers to register for a special code to use on the pre-sale date.
Example: Rachel Roy launched a pop-up store on Facebook for three days in advance of the release of her new jewelry line. The collection that was sold included an exclusive, limited edition piece that sold out in only six hours. Rachel Roy’s fan base increased 25% the first day, and 100% by the end of the campaign.

Discount Stores: Offer special discounts on a select number of products. To create a habit, pick a day each week to change the items and get people coming back to see what’s on sale. If you want to get customers even more excited about the store, limit the quantity of items so the most popular purchases sell out before the end of the week. Create that sense of urgency and you’ll be rewarded immediately.
Example: Social commerce platform provider ShopIgnitor used their own experience and other studies to run a report on the effectiveness of flash sales on Facebook. They saw a 368% increase in consumer interest from limited-time curated sales and report that 79% of consumers say they expect brands on social media to deliver special offers and discounts.

Exclusive Items: Release a Facebook Collection, sell limited edition items, or re-release products that once sold out to fans that ‘Like’ your page. Provide that exclusivity that they can’t get anywhere else. Not only will this bring new and some of your most loyal customers to your page, it will give fans an extra reason to share something with their friends.
Example: Heinz Soup UK opened a Facebook store for 4 weeks in October 2011 to sell one of a kind, personalized cans of “Get Well” Soup for Facebook fans and their friends. Heinz UK reported 1 sale per 8 fans, and increased their total Facebook ‘Likes’ by 200%.

Celebrity Recommendations: If you have a relationship with an influential person, use them! Leverage their following to generate buzz and attention around your page and products. People love recommendations, and what’s better than the approval from someone they admire and trust?
Example: Brand Affinity Technologies, a celebrity marketing company, released a study in March 2011 that supported a 50% “performance lift” from celebrity endorsement campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. In earlier research that they administered, endorsements from athletes led to a 27% increase in purchase intent, and 39% improvement in brand favorability.

It isn’t time to fold your f-commerce cards just yet. Ante up and analyze what you can take from a new sales strategy. The value that many believed was once in f-commerce is still there. The community that you’ve invested so much in is only growing. Customers are still spending a lot of time using social media, and there are many other people looking to discover something new. The opportunity for additional engagement, transactions, and buzz around your products and service is all still there! You just need to come up with a creative strategy that’s going to work for you and your customers.

Google Analytics Sneak Peeks Social-Focused Report
Google Analytics plans to unveil new reporting tools designed to help convince your CEO that the ROI of social media is legit. Companies will not only be able to see how much traffic is coming in from social media referrals and which networks are driving the most traffic, but can speak more to the conversions from those referrals. Google claims if someone clicks a link from Twitter to your website, but doesn’t buy anything until a week later, they can still track such activity. We’re thrilled at the possibilities professionally, but terrified at the Big Brother-style ramification personally.

Countdown to Facebook Timeline
As March 30th (the day Facebook claims all Pages will switch over to Timeline automatically) draws nearer, we’re knee deep in Timeline work for our clients. While we love how visually captivating Timeline can be when executed well, we are a little concerned with how Timeline will affect community interaction on Facebook brand pages. If you’re a procrastinator who still hasn’t selected a cover photo, our design extraordinaire has created a nifty design guide (complete with downloadable templates!) to help you out.

If You Think Size Matters, Facebook Says You’re Doing It Wrong
We’re talking ad unit size, here. Facebook’s Global Brand Experience Manager Paul Adams recently addressed a crowd at the Federated Media Publishing Conference on topics including why marketers’ obsession with accessibility to larger ad units are misguided and shows that they don’t understand how Facebook works. Adams went on to suggest that the aggregation of small stories (such as NewsFeed updates via custom apps such as Spotify or Runkeeper) is a more powerful way to build relationships with consumers.

RT: @affinitive: @TweetDeck Thanks for bringing back the RT function!
A new update to TweetDeck brings easier list-making functionality and a stalkeriffic Activity column that allows you to spy on the actions of everyone you follow, including who they follow, favorite, and list. But what we’re most excited about is the comeback of the RT! No more “quoting” accounts, you now get to “Retweet” or “Edit & Retweet”, the latter of which returns to the more user-friendly “RT @username” format.

We Really Want To Make A Payola / Pinola Pun Here
Fashionista takes an interesting look into Pinterest’s transparency issues – or lack thereof – as power pinners are not only accepting payment in return for pins, but “turning down more offers than they accept”. While we’re not surprised this occurs as such transactions have been a muddy integrity issue for bloggers for ages, we can’t help but wonder

Got any buzz? Leave a comment or send it our way.

1. Cover Photo Tricks Are Tricky

Cover Photos have a fair amount of rules and regulations, but there’s one big thing no one is talking about: how hard it is to align your photos just right for a neat Cover Photo hack. The issue isn’t the cover photo itself, but the profile photo. Profile photos must be uploaded at a certain size, which are reduced to a slightly smaller size on your Timeline, and then even smaller on the newsfeed. Getting your photos to line up just right can take quite a bit of time. Luckily for you, our design extraordinaire discusses some tips and even provides a downloadable template here.

Another tip: remember to clean up your work. Otherwise people will be able to see all of your failed attempts to nail it.

2. Re-order your featured app avatars.

“Tabs” have a more prominent display area at the top of your Timeline. Only one, the Photos tab, is stuck where it is.  The other three featured spots are up for grabs, so be sure to highlight your best and most engaging areas.

Our tip: remove that “Likes” section.  Your likes are listed right at the top of your timeline, next to your PTAT. Featuring this section is repetitive and means that the expensive app you built is not getting the attention it could be.  When Ben & Jerry’s launched their Timeline during the first featured wave, they had their Likes section prominently featured at the detriment of their Whirled Map and other applications. They changed this shortly thereafter to better highlight their own branded content.

Bonus tip:

Speaking of the Likes box, if you click it, you can get a little bit of insight into the demographics and activity of the page. This could be a little more useful then merely comparing PTAT scores with competitors, and also has practical applications when it comes to Facebook ad targeting.

3. Most of Your Consumers Interact With You Via The Newsfeed, Not Your Page

Whether Timeline will change this is still to be determined, but it’s worth keeping in mind that Facebook announced at fmc that your content only reaches 12% of your fans and the majority of these fans see your content through their Newsfeed, where most people spend their time on Facebook.

Yes, pinning posts is useful for featuring content you want to highlight. Yes, the visual enhancements of Timeline mean more people might spend time perusing the beautiful experience you’ve cultivated for them.

Every digital designer out there made a collective groan when Facebook announced Timeline was coming to brand pages. Brand Managers everywhere began scrambling together what it is they want to do with their brand on Facebook in terms of strategy and suddenly designer hours nearly doubled overnight in an effort to get everything ready for the March 30th launch date. As the Senior Design Manager at Affinitive, I’m here to give you a quick and dirty breakdown of the basic elements of Timeline that will require some design. So don’t be skerred, embrace the change!

Let’s begin with the changes that will be happening. Here’s a breakdown of all the new elements to Timeline and their dimensions, I go into further detail for each so keep reading!:

-Cover Photo (851 x 315 pixels)
-Profile Photo (180 x 180 pixels)
-App icon boxes (111 x 74 pixels)
-Apps (810 pixels wide)

Now on to the details for each…

COVER PHOTO

851 x 315 pixels

Ah yes, the cover photo. This is the bread and butter of the new Facebook Timeline in terms of design. This is the first thing a user will see when they come to your brand page so it has to pop. Unfortunately for us designers, Facebook decided to overlap the profile photo on the cover timeline so not only does that mean more options for creativity, but is also means you HAVE to consider it when creating your cover photo.

Luckily for you, I’ve made a a PSD that you can download here with rulers marking where the profile photo will be. Don’t have photoshop? Download the JPG here and thank me later.

Before you get all design happy, please note that Facebook does NOT allow cover photos that include:

- Price or purchase info, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”

- Contact info such as a website, email, address, or any other info that should go in your Page’s “About” section

- References to Facebook features or actions such as “Like Us” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features (but feel free to have an arrow point to your profile photo if you feel so inclined)

- Calls to action such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

- False or misleading info that infringes on 3rd party intellectual property

Now that you know the how and the don’t, here is my quick advice on strategy for your cover. Use this space as an opportunity to capture the essence of your brand. That could mean a cool product photo, a behind the scenes shot of where the magic happens, (not that kind of magic, get your mind out of the gutters people) highlight user generate content, or use it to show off a new product. Of course you want it to be really cool looking, just try to remember that it should reflect your brand strategy, not just be a random, albeit cool design.

PROFILE PHOTO

180 x 180 pixels

Your profile photo should be at least 180 x 180 px, but be warned that it will be reduced to 125 x 125 on your timeline and will even shrink down to 35 x 35 on the newsfeed, so when designing your profile photo, keep in mind that small details will get lost and text will be unreadable if there’s too much of it. My advice? Keep it simple, clean and recognizable.

If, however, you saw the Captain Morgan timeline cover photo and was like “Dude that’s so rad! They integrated both the cover and the profile photos!” BE WARNED: It will take you several attempts to get everything lined up. Since you have to submit the photo at 180 x 180 and it shrinks to 125 x 125, be prepared to adjust your profile photo a few pixels here or there in photoshop to really get things to line up just the way you want them to. Oh, and if you do end up going this route and it does take you a few tries to get it right, don’t forget to go back into your profile photos and delete the old ones.

CUSTOM APPS

810 pixels wide

Praise be! Apps are no longer at the narrow 520px width and have been gloriously expanded to 810px wide. I won’t be getting into custom app design here because you probably shouldn’t be designing these yourself and instead hiring us to design and build them for you.

APP BOXES

111 x 74 pixels

Each of your custom apps will now have a box on your Timeline directing users to the app. You’ll be able to control the look of these icon boxes as long as they are for custom apps – for non custom apps (like YouTube or photos), you’re stuck with what the Facebook gods give you (and whatever you uploaded last). I’d suggest keeping these box designs consistent with eachother rather than their app designs, it’ll look cleaner on your Timeline.

Happy Friday! Admittedly with Daylight Savings in effect, it’s been hard to not stay outside all day, but we’ve been coping. When not giggling over Pictures of People Scanning QR codes, we’ve been contemplating deleting all those smug SXSW tweets from our stream, puzzling over the use of homeless people as hotspots, and mourning the end of the print editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

We’re logging off for the weekend with these in mind:

Google + Ruined Google
Google’s weathered its fair share of criticisms and pointed fingers for recent changes in mission, algorithms, and that “Search Plus Your World” gig they pulled. Former Google Exec James Whittaker (who now works for Microsoft) finally broke fourth wall by publicly airing out his grievances with the platform and its changes in a very public blog post.  We chortled into our coffee when we read this gem:

Google was the rich kid who, after having discovered he wasn’t invited to the party, built his own party in retaliation. The fact that no one came to Google’s party became the elephant in the room.

That’s a pretty good burn!

Yahoo Sues Facebook: a Case of Schadenfreude Ensues
In a case of Internet Schadenfreude and copyright, Yahoo has filed a suit against Facebook for patent infringement. The 19 page lawsuit over 10 patents certainly has caught the attention of the interwebs, as everyone is silently wondering if the heads over at Yahoo have finally cracked, or if there’s something that the rest of us don’t know, especially after reading this statement:

Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles for and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology.

Apparently Yahoo’s stolen patented technology is beyond royalty payments and includes the News Feed, advertising methods, and privacy settings – just to name a few. Yahoo is currently demanding triple damages and to enjoin Facebook from operating aforementioned patents.

Maybe Yahoo should have taken a look at other platforms that have the same features, although there is one feature that Facebook can’t claim is too vague – the seamless messaging between chat and email. Now to sit and wait.

CNN to buy Mashable?
Rumor has it that news outlet CNN is looking to snap up Mashable for around $200 million, according to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon. The piece of gossip was picked up by the New York Times as well, but only going as far as to say that there were talks. There have been no official comments from the Social Media blog itself, however.

PayPal Launches Credit Card Reader
E-payments business PayPal has decided to go (in real) live by coming in-store in a move that may allow it to bypass NFC, QR codes, or any other existing mobile form of payment.  Small businesses who aren’t already using Square for such transactions can now invoice and accept payments directly to their mobile device by plugging in PayPal Here. Simply plug the triangle into the headphone’s jack and then either swipe customer’s credit cards or scan checks and cards. Nifty! For more on the technicalities on how it all works, check this link, or watch the demo.

Pinterest Launches New Pages
Just when you thought that you knew everything there is to know about Pinterest – ever -  the platform goes and launches its new profile pages. This is the first major site redesign for the platform since its burst in popularity over the last six months. The new design has “opened up” the look of user’s profile, making it easier to see a user’s boards and pins right away. Next for the ever busy platform will probably be cross-pinning from sites like Hulu, Netflix, and Vimeo, as well as developing an iPad app and Open API for developers. User beware however, with the rise of user signup and popularity, it seems that Pinterest scams are also on the rise.

Transparency in Government Leads to Sarcasm Bombing
Kansas governor Sam Brownback learned firsthand that transparency through social media can set up just that – a lot of people throwing stones at your glass house. The politician earned the wrath of the general public when he announced that he did not read a controversial, 69 page anti-abortion bill, but would sign it anyway. The governor’s nonchalance was met with a flood of sarcastic messages and wall posts on his Facebook page. Some of the more SFW gems included:

“Hi Sam- I had sex with my wife and she didn’t get pregnant. I’m here to turn her in.”

“I just called your office, and they wouldn’t let me schedule a pap smear. I’m confused, aren’t you taking care of all this now?”

“Hey Governor Brownback, I was considering going on birth control because I’m fed up with being a teacher who has acne. Which one would you recommend for this?”

“UPDATE: My wife changed her pad. You may resume regular activities. Thanks again for caring so much, Sam.”

In a social media “no-no” the governor has made an attempt to clear some of the negative comments.

Did we miss anything? Let us know and join in on the conversation here. 

Everett Rogers’ adoption lifecycle from Diffusion of Innovations illustrates how new ideas and technologies spread in different cultures.  This same model could be applied to brands.  After all, brands are people too

Plot your brand on this curve as you see it now.  How is your social media program perceived within the organization, how is it being measured, how is it controlled and managed, is it stable with a dedicated team and integrated across the organization?

These are some of the questions to be asking and addressing if your brand is to move nearer to the front end of the curve.

Try this exercise to get a sense of where your organization sits on this graph.  Rank each statement on a scale of 1-5 with 5 indicating the statement is very accurate, 1 indicating the statement is not at all accurate.

1. Your social media program is as important to your organization as other marketing channels.
2. What you and your employees understand and believe about your brand is more or less what the customer understands and believes it to be.
3. You have policies, guidelines, and protocols in place to manage and direct your social media program across the company and the individuals who work for it
4. You have a social media leader with a team who reports to them
5. You have a measurement system in place with KPIs that tie back to business goals and objectives, and report performance to executives on a regular basis -OR- You are evaluating measurement practices, but fundamentally understand the value in social media in the absence of a direct ROI and place importance on the business opportunities that are visible in social media and believe you can achieve similar results presented in case studies for like organizations.

Add these up.  If your score is:

• 24-25 – Innovator
• 20-23 – Early Adopter
• 15-19 -  Early Majority
• 10-14 -  Late Majority
•     5-9 -  Laggard

This is just a quick exercise.  There’s not much (read: none) science behind it.  Think of it more as a way to reflect on where you might want to focus your attention.

If you’re Late Majority or Laggard, look before you leap.  Focus your efforts on a single objective and strategy, and work on improving your score before jumping on the next bandwagon.

If you’re Early Majority, you likely join trends and services when there is a clearly defined value for your brand.  You’re still seen as progressive in the practice of marketing and connecting with customers, and your customers appreciate that.  You are likely set up on at least one social platform with a critical mass of consumers (Facebook – 850m users commanding 1 in every 5 page views, Twitter – 465m users with 17m tweets a day), and are evaluating other trends and networks to engage with your customers.

If you’re an Early Adopter, great!  You’ve developed the tools and best practices to bring the brand into social media quickly and effectively.  You may not be the first brand to participate, but you’re likely on board as your customers discover it and find your brand’s familiar ‘face’ there to welcome them.  You’re likely not as concerned about ROI, but trust in the value of the connections you’re making and the promise of future returns.  You may be venturing into territories where the audience is small, but the engagement is high (Instagram – 27m users as of March with 60 photos uploaded per second, or Google+ – 90m users as of January.)

Virgin America on Pinterest

If you’re an Innovator, well, you set the trends and often invent opportunities for your customers to engage with you and each other by leveraging social media in original ways, such as the recent SXSW promotion from Virgin America and American Express . You’re integrating social across your business.  ROI isn’t an immediate requirement.  Plus, you get plenty of PR/buzz for your latest initiatives on the new hot thing (think Pinterest - 10.4m users with a daily user increase of 145% since 2012. Plenty of how-tos use the first mover brands as examples).   Many have eyes on what you’re going to do next.

Where your brand should be on this curve depends largely on the behaviors of the customers you serve, and how you plan to serve them.  If your customers are innovators, push your organization to be an innovator, too.  Focus on serving your customers in a way that fits their behavior and your company culture, and then you’ll have an easier time deciding if the next best trend is right for your business.