Warning : Written on a Saturday morning before a cup of coffee. Ignore the typos.

I use Facebook quite actively and this is something that I just noticed yesterday. I am pretty sure this feature was rolled out sometimes yesterday cause I had not seen it before. I have yet to see anyone talk about it and there could be two  reason for that – either I am way behind and this is old news (which I doubt) or people are not realizing how awesome this little feature is and how it can tremendously help boost your fanpage.

If you have noticed, before when you shared a link from a fanpage on your profile, it wouldn’t say where it came from unless you added “via” yourself. Most people don’t care to add that cause they just want to share the link and aren’t really worried about giving credit to the fanpage where they found it. Besides, many don’t know how to tag people or fanpage yet on Facebook (just add @ and type in the name for example : If i am your friend on Facebook just type @r and you should see all the people with the “r” in their name and choose one. You can type in the full name, first name, whatever.)

Anyways, this is what it looks like when you share links from the fanpage now,

When you share links and the share window opens, you have the option to either give the page credit or remove the “via” option. By default the via option is active so you have to manually remove if you choose not to give credit (not giving credit is a very douchebag act by the way)

This came into effect yesterday (at least for me). I checked the profile pages to see if they had activated this feature when sharing from profiles, but it wasn’t. However, this morning I checked my wife’s page and there it was, this feature has been now activated for profile as well. So if someone shares links from you profile, it will show the “via” option unless they remove it. If you are one of those people who likes the whole privacy things and doesn’t want others to see everything you share, might want to keep you profile private. I keep everything public so I don’t give a rat’s ass. Anyways, here is an example showing this feature when shared from profile

Like I said before, this feature might seem small but it will have huge impact when it comes to visibility, especially for fanpages. If 5 people share links from a fanpage now by default it will show via and fanpage name on someone’s profile. That option wasn’t there before unless you added it manually. If you have a popular fanpage or one people regularly share links from, you should see some good growth coming your way.

Anyways, it’sSaturday morning and I haven’t grabbed my cup of coffee yet. Just wanted to let you in on this. Have a good one.

By the way, what do you think of this feature? I find this one of the best and most useful feature, although small the impact is big.

Tags: Social Media, social media marketing // Add Comment »

I rarely use hootsuite but there is a good chance I might be using them soon. I logged in this morning and was surprised to see a little “plus” sign next to each tweet. That plus sign is your gateway to finding what the URL is all about. If you see a link, whether it’s the actual link or shortened URL, hootsuite now gives you a preview of the link. Whether it’s an image, video, article, etc. can all be seen before you click on the link.

The problem with shortened URL is that you don’t know what the source is. With this new upgrade, you’ll be able to see the main source of the link and whetyher or not it’s safe to click. That’s one of the reason why many people are more likely to click links on Facebook than on Twitter because Facebook gives you a preview.

I am really glad to see this feature and it certainly sets them apart from other twitter clients. The only reason I don’t use Hootsuite is because of their frame they use when shrinking links through their service. But they seem to be rolling out some cool features, so will see if I’ll make the switch. They have also rolled out some other features such as wordpress integration and more. Visit their blog to learn more about other features.

What do you think about this new feature? I love it!

Image source

Tags: Microblogging, Social Media, social media marketing // Add Comment »

As usual I got up this morning, turned the computer on and started going through the news feed on Facebook. I saw Mashable’s update and almost had a heart attack. This is why :

They have changed the title since then, but the Retweet button on that post is still pushing the same misleading title on Twitter.

And on Digg,

Do you see why I am going crazy over that title? That title straight up implies that both “Twitter” name and “Twitter.com” domain belongs to MSNBC. That was a lame move. I mean come on. Anyways, they got what they deserved from their community. Check out the comment on that post . They have now posted an apology on their facebook page in regards to that title. However, the misleading message is going around on the web through many different platforms.

For a site that has that big of a following and an editorial guideline and what not, that was pretty low. Lame move Mashable, lame.

Tags: Social Media // 4 Comments »

At least on 43things.

I was just browsing the web and thought I would stop by 43things to see what was going on that side of the internet. They have a nice little list set up which shows the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions of 2010. I guess a lot of people are planning on losing their virginity. Some of the other popular resolutions are “lose weight,” “fall in love,” and other things that most people will forget starting next week.

But wait, that’s not all. There are 1,277 people who want to “do this” and there is also an article on how to lose my virginity.

I don’t know, I just find these kind of things as “too much information.” Some things are just meant to be shared with people that are close to you, behind closed doors and not publicly on the web (maybe I am too “old school”). Whether you are using your real name or fake, you can be traced one way or the other. My only prediction in 2010 at this point is that, this year we will be seeing a lot of people getting divorced, fired and what not because of their Facebook updates, tweets, etc.

Compare this to the list above. It just goes to show people are getting comfortable sharing private and unnecessary information much easily than they were in the past. When it comes to social media, we are so used to hearing all the good stuff, but there’s a downside to it as well. We’ll be seeing the flip side of social media and transparency quite often this year, I am sure.

Tags: Rant, Social Media // 1 Comment »

My apologies for using such a strong word but it is what it is. I remember back in the day when things used to be private. We shared only so much information and with only so many people. Today everything we do, from drinking a cup of coffee to taking a shit is either being updated on Facebook or sent as a tweet. We are social animals. We like to connect and interact. And different social networking channels have made is much easier for us than what it was a couple years ago.

It’s hard to imagine a time when there was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube, Wordpress and many other platforms that we find hard to live without. And it’s unbelievable to know than when we entered the 21st century, these services weren’t there. Yet, after 10 short years here we are, a society that can’t live without socializing with the unknown. I am quite active on many different platforms. My first choice is Facebook, second Twitter and all other platforms come after those two. My social participation mostly consists of links to articles and then at times my personal stuff. You know the kind where we all share what we did today, what we are going to do tomorrow and what we have plans for the next year and so on and on.

We are a society of attention whores. These different channels give us a chance to gain that 15 second fame which wasn’t possible a few years ago, few as in 5-7 years ago. When a home made video on YouTube hits a million views, when an article lands on the frontpage of digg, when your tweets are retweeted many times, we are asking for attention. Some use that attention solely for work and some use it to network and the worst are those that use it to fuel their ego.

The only thing we had yet to share publicly on the web could be our purchases. Well, that will soon be taken care of as Blippy comes out of private beta. All in all, although as harsh as it may sound, we have become a society of attention whores. When I tweet and update my Facebook status, I am asking for attention. When you update your blog, you are asking for attention. It’s hard to label ourselves as that but in a increasingly social web, that’s who we all are – attention whores. We have all become marketers, seeking attention of those that are willing to give and in some case going out of our way to seek from those who are not as willing.

2010 will be an interesting year to watch. It will be fun to see how we will turn out by the end of the year. Hopefully, we don’t sell ourselves so hard that by the end of the year the social web turns into traditional media, you know the one that we ignore. Let’s stay on track folks and let’s make sure while trying to garner this attention we don’t forget our roots, the roots that remind us to give first and not just ask.

I’ll admit that I am an attention whore. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t be on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, Scribd or anywhere else. What about you? Are you saying you are not?

Tags: Rant // Add Comment »

If you’ve been following this blog, you already know I have three projects in the pipeline for 2010. Well, one of them is is ready and I just couldn’t wait two more days. I am horrible when it comes to being patient, especially when they are ideas that are ready to be executed. The other two projects that I am planning on won’t be ready for quite some time. I am shooting one for March and the other one is a big project, hopefully I can get that one out by the end of 2010.

Anyways, I just wanted to quick let you know about the one I launched. There are just too many links floating around on the web. Each day millions of articles are written and it is hard to differentiate between good and bad by just looking at the title. My project that I launched is related to social media and search engine optimization. I felt there was a need for a service that would bring you the best in both social media and search, as they are both critical to success on the web.

I am very happy to announce that Social Media and Search News is live, and ready to serve you with the best content in social media and search. All the links shown on the site are hand picked by me and a few others. There are no algorithms and it’s not automated at all.

Check out Social Media and Search News. If you have any suggestion or feedback, please let me know.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I’ll see you guys in 2010

Tags: News, Social Media // Add Comment »