Monday, October 31, 2011
Social Media in 7 Minutes Webinar
My customer service team received multiple requests from
some of you who couldn't watch my Social Media In 7 Minutes
Webinar.
So I've scheduled 2 more!
or...
I'll introduce you to some NEW strategies and tactics
I use with my social media marketing and automation
systems thathelp me...
...market my business and my VIP client's business'
while automating the process so well, that...
...it only takes me 7 Minutes a DAY!
This has COMPLETELY transformed my business and
I'm going to be showing you these Marketing Techniques
in a couple of webinars this Saturday and Sunday.
Talk soon,
Curt Maly
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Social Media in 7 Minutes Spend an hr with us to see how we do it in just 7 min! SocialMediaMarketing SocialMedia http://ping.fm/HONjC
Friday, October 28, 2011
Facebook Security Update: "Trusted Friends"
Facebook Security Update
The Facebook security update comes in light of recent issues with privacy thereafter the f8 conference and the unveiling of Facebook's Timeline. As all of these new developments are truly revolutionary for Facebook, many users were concerned with their privacy as Facebook continues to merge with third party businesses as it grows. This is why, during October's “National Cyber Security Awareness Month," the company had this to say on behalf of their Facebook security update:
Security and safety are at the core of Facebook. We have entire teams dedicating their time to building tools that give people even more control over their account and specifically the way they access their information. In fact, many of our most talented engineers are working exclusively on creating a secure environment on Facebook. This October, as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we are working with others in the community to help educate those online about techniques and tools for securing your devices and networks. Additionally, we thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you about some of the systems working behind the scenes to keep you and your data safe.
Today, we wanted to provide all of you with an update on some new features we will be testing in the coming weeks – Trusted Friends and App Passwords – and remind you of the many user tools we offer to help keep you secure on Facebook.
Let's dive right into "Trusted Friends," and "App Passwords" as these will be important advancements in keeping your business's security sound in the social networking realm.
Facebook Security Update | Trusted Friends
This Facebook security update may be a bit of a toss-up, I can see the potential usefulness of "Trusted Friends," but on the other hand I'm not yet completely convinced of its power to strengthen Facebook's overall security. Here's what Facebook says about "Trusted Friends":
We’re excited to begin testing this new tool to help you in case you ever get locked out of your account. Similar to other features that help you prove your identity through your friends, you can now select three to five trusted friends who can help you if you ever have issues accessing your account. It’s sort of similar to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation–pick the friends you most trust in case you need their help in the future.
If you forgot your password and need to login but can’t access your email account, you can rely on your friends to help you get back in. We will send codes to the friends you have selected for them to pass along to you.
Don't know about you, but I'm not comfortable passing on my password, especially for my business accounts, onto anyone. It seems like a further security breach. I'm interested to see what the readers have to say about this Facebook security update.
Facebook Security Update: App Passwords
The ever increasing third party apps on Facebook has allowed us to access some really great social tools from our Facebook accounts, however accessing these apps through Facebook means sharing your password as well. Now with this Facebook security update, App Passwords will allow you to create a different password for your apps. I really like this Facebook security update, no longer will third party apps be a threat to my Facebook security.
Facebook Security Update | Rolling Out
You won't be seeing the Facebook security update instantly. This Facebook security update will be rolling out in the next few weeks, possibly in correlation with the site-wide release of Facebook Timeline. Image attribution: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-steps-up-security-following-hack-2011-01
If you enjoyed reading "Facebook Security Update" then check out more of our articles right here at BlackBoxSocialMedia.
Lawsuit Over Yelp Reviews
Yelp Reviews
If you're a small business especially in the hospitality or service industry then you know the importance of good Yelp reviews for your business. Yelp has become a cultural phenomenon that gives your consumers a voice and now even offers Yelp rewards in order to compete with Foursquare. That being said good Yelp reviews equals good search results on their site. Well that or just forking out the cash for a sponsored ad on their site, which always shows up at the top. Now that the importance of Yelp reviews has been stressed, let's take a look at a recent lawsuit over Yelp reviews, in which the small business plaintiffs claimed that Yelp was extorting their businesses offering to remove bad reviews in exchange for money. Was this a legitimate claim against Yelp or completely ludicrous?
Yelp Reviews | The Case
This case was brought to court over a year ago in February 2010, and the plaintiffs included a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, CA amongst others. However the judge dismissed the case against Yelp reviews and gave the plaintiffs the option of refiling the lawsuit within a month, which they did. So what exactly was the veterinary's claim against the Yelp reviews?
...a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, California — claimed that Yelp’s sales team said it would remove a “false and defamatory review” only if the vet bought advertising at about $300 per month.
Now offering higher ranking search results for a small business isn't anything new, Google offers advertising on high ranking sites for payment, and just like Yelp it will let the user know that its an ad placement. However strong-arm small business bullying such as this is completely unethical, if in fact the Yelp sales team were treating positive Yelp reviews as commodity.
Yelp Reviews | The Ruling
Well apparently there just wasn't enough to convince the judge that their was any foul-play as far as the Yelp reviews go, so the judge once again dismissed the case. What's Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman have to say about it?
While we were confident that Yelp would ultimately prevail because we knew the allegations were false, it is helpful to have the matter resolved early so we can put these allegations behind us.
http://searchengineland.com/judge-throws-out-class-action-lawsuit-against-yelp-98574
Its one matter to allow businesses to pay for front page Yelp reviews, but to delete bad Yelp reviews for money? Thats complete fabrication of popular opinion of popular opinion and this kind of news will cause reviewers to think twice about posting to the site. Although Yelp beat the case, SearchEngineLand writer, Matt McGee, found evidence of more foul-play in his research:
This isn’t the first time Yelp has been hit with accusations of wrongdoing. (And may not be the last.) From reading numerous articles over the years, anecdotal evidence suggests that Yelp’s sales staff can be overly aggressive in courting small business owners, while also unable to explain to small business owners why certain reviews remain on their Yelp business listing and others are filtered out — not a good combination for communicating with many SMBs. Adding to the confusion was that Yelp used to offer advertisers the ability to promote positive reviews on their profile pages — a feature that Yelp finally killed in April 2010, just a couple months after this class action lawsuit was originally filed.
Yelp Reviews | Online Directories
Whatever the truth may be in the Yelp reviews case, the importance of listing your business in online directories such as Yelp and claiming these pages is extremely important in improving your online presence and SEO, if you don't have the time to do this, we can help!
If you enjoyed reading "Lawsuit Over Yelp Reviews" then read more social media updates right here at BlackBoxSocialMedia.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
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