Don’t Humiliate Yourself on Social Networking Sites

How active are you on social networking sites? Almost three in four online adults are actively using social networking sites. With 90 percent involved, the 18-29 crowd is most heavily involved in social media. With 1.26 billion users, Facebook is the most popular of these sites. Its main purpose is connecting friends and family together. It’s also an outlet for people to share pictures, videos, music and stories. Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Snapchat are all extremely popular as well. They all tend to serve different purposes.

As best practice, you should always be careful with your personal identity. Never share private information with anyone on social sites. Be sure to act your age and avoid trying to act so cool. Be selective with what you post as well. The world doesn’t necessarily care where you check in every single day. You should ask before you tag—not everyone wants to be associated with embarrassing stories or photos.

To make sure you’re maximizing social, check into some classes or online courses, make a checklist of what you want to accomplish with your social presence and even consider asking your kids for advice.

Do you actively use social networking sites? Which one is your favorite? Does other people’s lack of etiquette ever bother you? Please share in the comments, and take a look at the infographic for more helpful information!

Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/nowsourcing/2369601/don-t-humiliate-yourself-social-networking-sites

Pinterest Adds Smarter Search Tool

IMAGE: PINTEREST

BY KURT WAGNER3 HOURS AGO

Pinterest is adding new search features to help users better navigate the 30 billion pins on the site.

The company just announced Guided Search, a new product that lets users filter their search by adding specific filters relevant to the original search term.

SEE ALSO: How To Plan Your Summer Vacation on Pinterest

For example, searching for "hairstyles" will now provide filters like "wedding," "round face," or "short hair." Users searching for "burgers" may see filters like "vegan" or "easy recipes." The filters can be added or removed without leaving the search results page, and appear on mobile as visual tiles below the search bar.

The hope is that users will come across more relevant content, as well as discover new content they didn't even know they were looking for, says Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann.

Part of what made the expanded search necessary is the total number of pins on the platform. Silbermann says that Pinterest users have created 750 million boards, and pinned more than 30 billion items. Those numbers have grown 50% in the last six months alone, he says.

Guided Search isn't the only way the company is hoping to identify new content for its users. Pinterest also unveiled custom categories on Thursday, meaning users can now add pins to categories that didn't previously exist.

The title is slightly misleading; users cannot actually create their own categories. Rather, Pinterest is offering many more detailed categories to the company's existing list. These are rolling out to users slowly, according to a spokesperson, so not all pinners may see them immediately.

Pinterest will also surface relevant categories to users based on what they've recently tagged. For example, adding a pin to a category for a certain breed of dog may mean Pinterest recommends you check out pins from other dog-related categories.

This is a strategy the company has already been using, in part. Pinterest surfaces related pins whenever you view a pin, and more than 90% of content on the platform now includes related pin suggestions at the bottom of the screen, says Silbermann.

The advanced search and discovery tool is yet another obvious step toward eventually adding ecommerce capabilities to Pinterest. In order to make purchases on the platform, users will need to be able to search for the items they want and discover new items they hadn't even considered.

Silbermann did not elaborate on Pinterest's monetization strategy Thursday.

Guided Search is only available on Pinterest's mobile apps for now, and users should be able to download an update on iOS and Android by Friday morning, according to a spokesperson. Guided Search will be rolled out to Pinterest's web version at a future date, but the company has no timetable for that.

Source: http://mashable.com/2014/04/25/pinterest-guided-search/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner

Brands, Meet Your Customer Of 2015

Meet Mike. Mike is your customer, circa 2015.

Like his peers, Mike checks his smartphone throughout the day, every day. Mike has an opinion on your company, and will happily post his thoughts on social media.

Mike doesn’t pay much attention to your ads – they’re not authentic, after all – but will consult reviews and pay close attention to what his friends think when making a purchase.

And most importantly, Mike is loyal. He’s a big fan of your brand, and wants to keep buying your stuff. But if you make a major mistake or lose his trust, Mike will move somewhere else. You know: to your biggest competitor.

This visual from Reuven Gorsht takes a closer look at the customer of 2015.

(Source: Reuven Gorsht. Buy button via Shutterstock.)

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/customer-2015_b56392?utm_content=buffer55149&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer