Marketing Pilgrim Published: "Are You Prepared for Government Control of Twitter, Facebook et al?" plus 4 more

Are You Prepared for Government Control of Twitter, Facebook et al?
Like Facebook, LinkedIn Uses Your Image In Ads With Opt Out Only Scenario
Top 14 Infographics for Internet Marketers
New Tool Reveals WhoReTweetedMe
Syfy's Haven Hatches an Unprecedented Twitter Plot

Are You Prepared for Government Control of Twitter, Facebook et al?

Posted: 11 Aug 2011 06:42 AM PDT

It's been almost two years since I warned of a potential scenario that involved the US government taking over Twitter.

I portrayed one scenario where things would escalate enough that the POTUS would have to take action….take over Twitter. Well, it appears the UK government is pondering something similar, in light of the riots in England.

According to TNW, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement:

"Mr Speaker, everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

Shortly afterwards, the UK's Home Secretary announced she would be meeting with Facebook, Twitter and the makers of the Blackberry.

Scary huh? No, not the riots. Those aren't scary, those are a down right disgrace. No excuses, right?

Well, it seems like our western governments seem to turn a blind eye, when social media is used to create unrest in the Middle East. Heck, there are rumors that those talks with social networks are more of the encouraging kind.

Is there a double standard? When does the use of social media switch from "fueling democracy" to "fueling riots?"

This post could get ugly, so I'm going to stop now, with a question.

Do we want to live in a world where Big Brother has the power to stop our use of social media?

Like Facebook, LinkedIn Uses Your Image In Ads With Opt Out Only Scenario

Posted: 11 Aug 2011 04:43 AM PDT

I have to admit, this one surprised me a little. We seem give (me included for sure until now) LinkedIn a free pass on exactly what they are doing with the data they have. The social media world has both barrels pointed at Facebook, Twitter and Google at all times but LinkedIn plays it cool off in its own world and flies under the radar while having some serious success.

Well, not this time. According to The Naked Security blog, a blogger, Steve Woodruff brings to the forefront a change in LinkedIn's privacy policy from about two months ago which states:

LinkedIn may sometimes pair an advertiser's message with social content from LinkedIn's network in order to make the ad more relevant. When LinkedIn members recommend people and services, follow companies, or take other actions, their name/photo may show up in related ads shown to you. Conversely, when you take these actions on LinkedIn, your name/photo may show up in related ads shown to LinkedIn members. By providing social context, we make it easy for our members to learn about products and services that the LinkedIn network is interacting with.

In other words, LinkedIn is doing the same thing that ticked off so many Facebook users earlier this year.

Marketing Pilgrim's Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

If you would like to LinkOut of this particularly annoying Facebookian tactic you can do it very easily by:

1. Clicking on Settings
2. Click on Account
3. Click on Manage Social Advertising
4. Uncheck box which has conveniently been checked by LinkedIn on your behalf

Here's a visual for you if that's easier.

What you want to do after that is your call. Naked Security suggests you drop an email to abuse@linkedin.com and they even give you some neat copy to use that was leftover from their "WTF, Facebook?" phase when the 'bookies' trampled user privacy recently.

Dear ~~Facebook~~LinkedIn,
Why not lead the way on privacy?
Become truly opt-in – not just on the basis that a new user opts in altogether by joining up in the first place, but on the basis that everything is locked down until a new user opens up each feature.
Don't wait until the regulators in the world's developed economies start legislating to make you do so. Take the lead. People will love you all the more in the end.

Honestly, I am disappointed in LinkedIn doing this. I get what they are trying to do but to stoop to Facebook's privacy practices level is not cool.

What do you think?

Top 14 Infographics for Internet Marketers

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 09:02 PM PDT

Last year, Andy Beal did a post giving our readers a glimpse at the top Internet and social media marketing infographics he found.

So my question is: Why mess with success? Here is an updated list for 2011 with many great infographics from around the web including an updated version of our Infographics Channel sponsor, Voltier Creative's "DIY Infographics Production."

Enjoy the list and give the gift of infographics to your peers. They'll love you even more than they do now!Be sure to click on the Continue Reading link to see all of these great sources of Internet and social media marketing information.

1. DIY INFOGRAPHIC PRODUCTION

USE THIS INFOGRAPHIC FOR YOUR WEBSITE. GET THE CODE HERE.

<a href="http://voltiercreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/DIY_Guide_To_Successful_Infographic_Production_01.png" rel="thumbnail"><img src="http://voltiercreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/DIY_Guide_To_Successful_Infographic_Production_01.png" WIDTH="600PX" HEIGHT="8173PX"></a> Created By <a href="http://www.voltiercreative.com" >Voltier Creative</a>

2. SOCIAL MEDIA: BRIDGING THE GAP

3.THE SECOND ANNUAL CMO'S GUIDE TO: THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

4. SMALL BUSINESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE

5.WHY USE INFOGRAPHICS?

6. MOBILE MARKETING BY THE NUMBERS

7. WHO'S USING TWITTER AND HOW THEY ARE USING IT

8. A WORLD WITHOUT FACEBOOK

9. CONTENT MARKETING V. ADVERTISING

10. HOW ARE B2B MARKETERS OPTIMIZING THEIR FUNNELS?

11. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING BY THE NUMBERS

12. GOOGLE'S COLLATERAL DAMAGE – HOW THE EVOLVING ALGORITHM SHAPES THE WEB

13. THE FUTURE OF MARKETING: BLOGGING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

14. SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS

For those of you who can't stand that we stopped at 14 infographics do you have any suggestions for #15?

New Tool Reveals WhoReTweetedMe

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 03:12 PM PDT

A year ago, most people would have no idea what you were talking about if you asked who retweeted them. My, my how times have changed. Today, retweeting is the equivalent of coins dropping out of a slot machine. Bing, bang, ching — each one represents a boost for your business and depending on who retweeted, your reach can grow to 100 times more than your original message.

Because the care and feeding of RTers is so important, Hubspot is beta testing a simple tool that delivers all the stats you need in one place. It's called WhoReTweetedMe.com and all you have to do is submit the URL of the webpage or blog post that you Tweeted and the tool does the rest.

What you get back are quick stats which show the number of retweeters, the average number of followers between them and the estimated "reach" of the particular URL.

After that is a timeline that shows the life of the Tweet.

The last portion of the report shows the 20 most influential people who retweeted you including the Tweet they sent, their number of followers and a thank you button. That button is golden, people. Click it and you get a Tweet like this:

Thanks @ChronicleBooks! http://WhoReTweetedMe.com says you are one of my most influential retweeters.

Yes, it's promotional for the website, but it's the easiest way to thank those top Tweeters for their support and get them to RT you again.

Twitter and the third-party dashboards such as HootSuite, do give you access to RT's in your @Mentions timeline, but WhoReTweetedMe.com gives you more information in a more readable format. So go give it a try. Type in a recently Tweeted URL and find out who is reTweeting you.

Syfy's Haven Hatches an Unprecedented Twitter Plot

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Haven, Maine may look like a typical, small New England town but strange things happen here — on a regular basis. People turn to stone. Shadows run off on their own and a giant, killer ball rolling down the street is perfectly normal. In Haven, they call it The Troubles. In TV circles, they call it a hit.

This Friday, the folks behind the Syfy series will launch an unprecedented social media effort, a storyline that flows back and forth between the series and Twitter.

Executive Producer Lloyd Segan says,

"Although Twitter has been featured in TV shows before, this is the first time a storyline from a television series has been fully integrated with the popular online service. The story has been created in such a way that viewers who don't follow the Twitter plot can still enjoy the show. For those that do, there will be a special meaning to events in Haven during these seven episodes."

To keep up with the story, viewers will be prompted to follow three Twitter accounts. @VinceHaven and @DaveHaven represent the quirky brother duo who run the newspaper in town. They're a little older than your average Twitter user so this will be new ground for both of them. The third component is the mysterious @ColdInHaven who will interact with the brothers, leaving clues about Haven and its residents.

If that's too much for you to keep track of, you can use the hashtag #HavenNews to have it all filtered for you.

Syfy says they'll be monitoring the event closely, measuring the viewer engagement. Afterward, they plan to publish the results in an online case study.

Syfy is no stranger to social media. They recently ran a promotion with iPhone app Shazam and their new series Alphas and they regularly offer virtual stickers to viewers on GetGlue. But running a Twitter storyline requires a whole different level of real-time activity and it will be interesting to see if viewers hang on past the first two weeks. I'd say if anyone can make the connection, Syfy can.