Friday Social Scoop #29
Welcome to the Friday Social Scoop number #29 – Valentines Edition! All of you loved up couples will love our post this week, those of you who aren’t so into Valentines… well… sorry!
Valentines Gifts for the Geek in Your Life
Not sure what to buy your loved one this Valentines day? We’ve scoured the internet for the best valentines gifts for your special little geek. Don’t own a special geek? Then treat yourself!
Valentines Lovestagram
Prepare yourself for the most romantic post you have ever seen on the GO optimisation blog. You may have heard of the popular photo networking app, Instagram, co-founded by Mike Krieger. Well Mike Krieger is about to receive an incredible thoughtful valentines surprise from his girlfriend, Kaitlyn Trigger.
In the hope that her and Krieger would be able to have long, romantic, candle lit conversations about coding, Trigger has taught herself coding to launch Lovestagram just in time for Valentine’s day.
Lovestagram creates a slideshow of select instagram photos which are shared between you and your valentines, through mutual use name tags, photos taken in the same location and within an hour of comment being exchanged. All you have to do is sign in with your Instagram account and enter the username of your loved one.
The app will work for anyone, whether you are married, a couple or just friends; however the frames are currently all love themes. So be careful not to give anyone the wrong idea…
O2 Get Romantic
Mobile operator O2 has created a “digital Love Nest in the Clouds” and are delivering Twitter user’s messages via YouTube videos, personally recorded by the ‘O2 Cupids’
If people want a completely personal message, customers and Twitter users simply tweet the message they would like to send to @O2 using the hashtag #O2Cupid. The company says that every message will be picked up, and personalised videos will be posted to the O2 Cupid’s YouTube page. O2 will even send user’s messages directly to other people, leaving recipeints guessing as to who their admirer is.
The Best of the Rest
We’re always looking for ways to make our blog useful for you guys, we’re added our top picks of the week to help you find the best of the web.
#ff @louisgray – This week we have been loving tweets from Silicon Valley Tech Blogger Louis Gray. Follow Louis to keep up to date with new websites or apps before anyone else. Louis can often be found tweeting from various well known social network HQ so you know he always has the inside scoop.
Website Lovestagram – See above!
Best Page Parcel 2 Go – Parcel 2 Go has really impressed us with their social media efforts, with their Facebook page really standing out.
Best Infographic
Anonymous
The hacking network ‘Anonymous’ gained a large amount of publicity recently, as they recorded and released a phone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, discussing how to prevent hacking. The irony was not lost on us!
The video depicting the conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard has gained 1.1million views so far on YouTube alone. Following the incident, an FBI spokesman made a statement saying, “A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.” However the damage has been done and Anonymous has increased their presence and awareness significantly with this move. Someone from Anonymous has also written that they have been hacking the FBI details for a long period of time now.
This was not the only protest made on behalf of Anonymous, as the activist group also made a post demonstrating against Greece’s recent actions in regards to the IMF and the EU. Anonymous hacked into the Greek Ministry website, and released a video condemning the government of their actions. “Democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it” was read out in a computerized voice from a figure wearing a mask identical to the one from ‘V for Vendetta’. read more…
Friday Social Scoop #28
More Changes To Google
On Tuesday Google made a controversial announcement of a plan to link user data across it’s email, video, social networking and other related services, claiming it will create a “beautifully simple and intuitive” user experience. Google claim that the new system will give users more relevant search results and information, while helping advertisers to find customers, particularly via mobile.
For instance, if you spend time searching Google for clothes, the next time you login to YouTube you may begin receiving recommendations for videos featuring stylists, as well as adverts for clothes brands and stores.
”If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google (Plus), Gmail and YouTube,” the company says on a new overview page for its privacy policies. “We’ll better understand (what) you’re searching for and get you those results faster.” read more…
Friday Social Scoop #27
Digital Death
Facebook has released a number of new applications this week, allowing you to catalogue everything you enjoy, from movies you’ve seen to books you’ve read. The 60 applications recently released is apparently just the first batch of a whole set of apps to be released, in order to make your timeline more detailed.
One Facebook App that really stood out was the ‘if I die’ application, which allows you to live on in a digital world once you have passed on. This will allow posts, messages and anything you want posted to people once you die to be sent. While this application appears incredibly pessimistic and fairly creepy, I can see the upside to this afterlife messenger. A final message saved from a good friend once they have passed away would mean the world to me, therefore a nice little message could be a very good concept. read more…
Blackout protest against SOPA
Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA:
This bill was introduced in the US on 26th October 2011 by House Judiciary Committee to give the U.S law enforcement and copyright holders the power to blacklist piracy sites like Pirate Bay* that share copyrighted films & music and fight against online trafficking. By blacklisting this means to disappear from the Internet for good.
*Some ISPs in Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Italy blocked The Pirate Bay after courts ruled in favor of music and film industry litigation. Wikipedia
Internet death penalty comes to mind.
SOPA sparked a controversy when they submitted the bill to the US, stepping on toes for the likes of Google, Firefox, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, eBay and many more. *See who for opposition net.coalition read more…
As Mashable identified in their Social Media Predictions for 2012, Facebook and Twitter won’t be the only social networks making a real impact on the web this year. A ‘second tier’ of social media is emerging with the likes of Tumblr, Google+, Polyvore and now Pinterest playing a growing influential role in the digital world. read more…
Friday Social Scoop #26
Facebook Business Cards – Get ‘em while they’re hot!
Moo Cards, the creators of the popular mini and DIY business cards, have partnered with Facebook to make Facebook Business Cards. Each card will resemble your Facebook profile, mainly using your Facebook cover picture and basic information.
Have you got used to the new Google analytics interface yet or are you still switching to the old one? You’d better start using the new one as the complete transition is scheduled any day soon!
I am sure many of you agree that Google had made incredible changes to the new reporting interface, even though I miss some attributes from the old one, such as exporting pdf files.
One useful feature out of many from the new interface is Analytics Data Alerts setting (used to be within the Intelligence Beta in the old interface). It enables you to set and receive automated reports based on your custom specifications, if any unwanted changes should happen to your site reporting. read more…
Social Media In 2012
Judging by all the changes within social media in 2011, it is near impossible to predict what will be happening in the world of social media in 2012, however we can take an educated guess as to what to watch out for in the coming year.
2011 in Social Media
A number of things changed in the ever developing world of social media through 2011. Possibly the biggest change was Google introducing a rival social network to Facebook called Google+ on the 28/06/11, and then allowing businesses and brands to create profiles from 07/11/11. Google+ was also the fastest social network to reach 10 million users at 16 days with Facebook taking 852 days and Twitter at 780 days. read more…