Facebook’s Big Announcement

by Courtney Elizabeth · January 18, 2012 · Social Media ·

Just got a new RSS Update from the Facebook Developer Blog. Seems like they’re rolling out the new changes that I’ve been seeing here and there.

And since I’m not at a place where I can load all of this…. Here’s the breakdown, courtesy of TechCrunch.

Source: TechCrunch

Facebook has partnered up with sixty different partners to add their “stories” to Facebook Timeline, apps that span different verticals from Food, Fashion to Travel. Already apps like Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest,Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, and TripAdvisor have signed on to share their stories. “When we say anything we really mean anything,” Carl Sjogreen said as he took the stage and announced that verbs like “knitting,” “read” and “shared” are now a part of Timeline story options.
The apps are basically an expansion of stories apps like Spotify and the Washington Post app, and use verbs beyond “listen”, like “watching” and “reading” like “bought,””want” and love.
“What we tried to build with Timeline apps was that each app should pick the actions verbs and nouns that best defines their usecases,” says Facebook engineer Mike Vernal.

Per Vernal – Facebook won’t limit apps to which verbs the can use, and each app will have anywhere 2-10 verbs.

@MichelleObama Joined Twitter Today

by Courtney Elizabeth · January 12, 2012 · Social Media ·

The First Lady Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) joined President Obama (@BarackObama) on Twitter Today.

While her account will be managed by campaign staff, any tweets from the First Lady herself will be signed “-mo.”

The First Lady’s first tweet was:

Hi, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here. -mo

No doubt, David Axelrod and Jim Messina are hoping that Michelle Obama’s tweets will help to add a feminine touch to Barack Obama’s 2012 Presidential Campaign.

It actually makes a lot of sense.

Since joining twitter, @michelleobama has just under 136,000 followers. She’ll be able to promoter her Let’s Move campaign for child obesity more effectively on twitter.

Photos of Flipboard for iPhone

by Courtney Elizabeth · December 8, 2011 · Social Media ·

Loving the #Flipboard for iPhone app. I wish it had landscape mode, but beggars can’t be choosers…just yet.

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Review: Flipboard for iPhone

by Courtney Elizabeth · December 8, 2011 · Social Media ·

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It’s a great day to be a social media networking geek.
No. REALLY.
Flipboard AND Twitter? In one day?
#comeonson

Flipboard for iPad has been around since 2010, but today they announced an update for iPhone and iPod Touch. So – if you have both the iPhone AND the iPad, you’ll be able to sync your devices using your Flipboard account.

Pardon me while I gush over Flipboard for iPad.

I feel welcomed, #Flipboard.

What? And I can mute users on my Flipboard too?
This is like pure visual sex for your iPad.
This is just too much.
Give me just a moment while I get my thoughts together.

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Twitter: Flying High with New Design

december-2011-twitter-updates-newtwitter

by Courtney Elizabeth · December 8, 2011 · Social Media ·

Twitter released it’s new simplified design today!

If you haven’t gotten it yet, don’t worry! You’ll have it shortly.

You’ll see their new design both on Twitter.com and on your mobile phone, so that you’ll have a familiar experience any time, anywhere. They also updated TweetDeck to be consistent with this new version.

I can’t wait to download the new Twitter App for iPhone to see what’s changed!

Make sure you login and check it out! #newtwitter

#newtwitter fun

Celebrities are already catching #newtwitter fever.

newtwitter justin bieber Twitter: Flying High with New Design

newtwitter rihanna Twitter: Flying High with New Design

Click here to learn about Twitter’s New Design.

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Review: Path | The Private Facebook Alternative

by Courtney Elizabeth · December 3, 2011 · Social Media ·

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Launched in November 2010, Path has over 1 Million users. It is being touted as the “Private Facebook Alternative”. So today, I installed the Path app on my iPad. Being that it was built for iPhone, the resolution is small, as with all “built for iPhone first” apps, but I was still able to set it up, and get my social networks connected rather quickly.

At first glance, it reminded me of Facebook.

Cover Photo
Profile Timeline (including “Asleep” and “Awake”)
Photos
Location Check-Ins

But it seems Path succeeds in several key areas that Facebook is failing – Privacy, Speed, Double-Posting and Emotion.

Privacy

Because Path is limited to Mobile Application viewing, currently only those with iPhone or Android with the Path Application installed can view Path. And only those you accept as friends can view your Path. Your “Activity” shows you not only whats happening with your friends, but also who is viewing your page whether – they’re a friend or not. Granted, because they’re not a friend, they’re only able to view your cover photo, but at least you know who tried. Hell, maybe they saw your cover photo and didn’t want to send you a friend request, but at least you know! Ha!

The designers and engineers at Path have dreamed up and realized the Smart Journal–a journal that’s with you everywhere you go, posts entries without your effort, combines photo, video, music, people, places, and text, and most importantly, includes your loved ones. Path upholds the expectations for privacy of both the mobile phone and the journal with its limited, intimate, more personal network.

Speed

Path is fast. Much like Twitter, you’re able to share your thoughts, photos, and check-ins in record time. It can easily be argued that the amount of friends one has on Facebook can cause the Facebook Application to load slowly. But the number of Facebook users logged into Facebook via mobile and/or web must be accounted for. Path is currently smaller and private, so Path doesn’t have that issue.

Double-Posting

I created my Twitter account in 2007…about 5 months before I created my Facebook account. And the thing I hated the most was that I could not post from Facebook to Twitter. With most Social Applications, you can post from Twitter to Facebook, but posting from Facebook to Twitter required another 3rd Party Account somewhere that would sync at a specified interval. It was never instantaneous. Path gives you a “per post” option to share with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare. With every post, you make the decision of which social network you’d like to share with. Imagine that.

Emoticons

Facebook is currently limited to “Like” and the ability to “Unlike” the things you “Like”. But Path gives you Happy, Wink, Sad, Surprised, and Love emoticons that you can select and unselect.

Having already been around one (1) year, I’m not sure how long Path will last, but it seems like a viable option for those who are interested in sharing their everyday lives with their family and friends, without being concerned about who else has the ability to view that activity.

Notables

Filtered Photos. Path ripped Instagram ‘a new one’ when they added photo filters. In fact, I think the people at Instagram are concerned. But as with most iPhone Camera Filter apps, if you want more filters, you’ll need to cough up the $.99 to do so.

Suggestions

Limited Photo Albums. Sometimes one (1) photo isn’t enough, but no more than 3 – 5 should be sufficient. I think more than 5 photos would cut down on the speed that makes Path great.
Shazam Listening.
IntoNow Watching. Path already has selected “Listening”, but if they had “Watching”, that’d be cool. Further, if they had the Yahoo! IntoNow power of hearing what you’re watching on TV, that’s be even more awesome.

I’m sure I’ll have a few more suggestions, but Path just released an update, so who knows what they’ve got for me to explore today.

Cost? Oh Yeah. It’s Free

Yep. But it’s only been a year. They’ll need funds coming from somewhere, and those photo filter purchases are going to slow down eventually.

Anyways…

Welcome to the mobile era, welcome to Path.

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You are Sociable and Entertaining.

by Courtney Elizabeth · November 19, 2011 · Social Media ·

I didn’t think my reality check would come in the form of a fortune cookie.

One would ask, “Why haven’t you been posting as much as you used to?”

Well, I’ve been busy. I’ve been sociable, but not as much as… let’s say…circa 2008?

It’s never too late to get back into the swing of things. So instead of promising an outrageous number of updates each week, how about I just try to update once a week. No promises.

How-To: Edit Facebook Timeline Favorite Apps

by Courtney Elizabeth · September 27, 2011 · Social Media ·

Facebook’s New Timeline gives you boxes for your “Favorite” Apps at the top of your profile.

What’s cool is that you can add, swap or remove apps!

I wasn’t too fond of the “Maps” app, so I was more than excited to remove it. The new “Maps” app is basically a map of everywhere you’ve posted from. Since I don’t travel as much anymore, most of my posts are from home/work. So there’s no need to have this huge DOT over Los Angeles. That’s just silly and pointless. Ha!

To Add, Swap or Remove a Favorite App:

[learn_more caption="Step #1" state="open"]Click on the up arrow that’s next to your Favorite’s section – to the far right. This will bring up a menu with options.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="Step #2" state="close"]If you hover over an empty box, a “+” sign will appear. If you click on a “+” sign over an empty box, you can “Choose an app to place” in the empty box.
[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="Step #3" state="close"]If you click the edit icon for an app, you’re given a choice to either “Remove [the app] from Favorites”, or “Swap position with” another app.[/learn_more]

I like the freedom of deciding what my favorites are.
I’m sure you will too.

x0x0.

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How-To: A Cleaner Facebook Ticker

How-To-Remove-Comments-and-Likes-Facebook-Ticker

by Courtney Elizabeth · September 25, 2011 · Social Media ·

Facebook’s Latest Update allows users to view the up-to-the-second activity of friends that they are subscribed to in a “Ticker”.

Some of the information is cool, but some things you probably don’t care too much about. I mean, who wants to be a stalker? That’s not sexy.

To remove a particular users “Comments and Likes” from your Facebook Ticker, here’s how:

[learn_more caption="Step #1" state="open"] Move your cursor over your friend’s name; a box will load.[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="Step #2" state="close"] Move your cursor over the “Subscribed” tab.

[/learn_more]

[learn_more caption="Step #3" state="close"] Un-check the “Comments and Likes” link.[/learn_more]

Your Facebook Ticker will be a lot cleaner once you go through all of your friends.

However, if you’re like me, and you have way too many friends that you’ll need to do this with, you’ll probably just ignore the new Facebook Ticker all-together. *wink*

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New Pandora Player – Unlimited Listening!

by Courtney Elizabeth · September 23, 2011 · Girl Geek, Social Media ·

Around the same time Facebook made some major updates, Pandora made some as well.

You probably weren’t paying attention because you were too busy b*tching about Facebook. *smirk*

The ”New Pandora” boasts the same personalized radio experience you’ve enjoyed for years, wrapped in a new HTML5 look that makes it more responsive, easier to use, and better integrated with the friends and music lovers in your life.

Of the few new features that have been added to the New Pandora, the only things I really care about are:

Discovery of Music with Friends
Simplified Station Creation
And Unlimited Listening – No more 40 hour cap!

As with all of the latest web applications, they’ve finally added the Facebook API, allowing you to connect with your friends and see what they’re listening to.