Facebook

As we enter a new year it’s easy to look back and wonder about what we could have done better or differently, but it is a lot more fun to guess about what is coming in the year to come. The following are some predictions about the computer industry and how it will affect businesses in the next year. Please read this with the same attitude of fun I am using to write it.

Since the advent of the Internet the ability of fans to share brands and shape brands has never been more open. Many are afraid of what it means when fans, clients, detractors and others can have fun with, share, mock, or otherwise talk about a brand.

The E*Trade Babyis a popular character representing the E*trade Brand. With recent turbulence in the marker a funny (yet somewhat crass) version of an E*trade baby commercial was made. E*Trade got it taken down for copyright infringement.

By default Facebook has you post on your Public Profile with the name of your Public Profile. In the past this was the only option. You can now post as your personal account rather than your business.

While some may not want to do this others will want to extend their social presence by using their personal accounts. The efficacy of this is a topic for another post.

To switch the setting so that you can post as yourself do the following.

Facebook has recently given itself a facelift and some structural alterations. As with most changes growing pains and users frustrations with change are inevitable. The following are a couple of the major changes.

When we go to websites that use our personal information we expect that they are secure. We also want security on our email so that people cannot send email on our behalf. Facebook has not been secure in the past and using it at Coffee Shops and on the road poses a significant risk.

foursquare allows users to share their location with friends by “checking in” to businesses via a smartphone application or by text message. When you sign up for foursquare and have the application on your mobile device you can physically walk into a brick and mortar store (hotel, restaurant, etc.) and an alert will notify friends that you are there, in real time, via Facebook or Twitter.

Recently there have been many people reporting SPAM emails that appear to be from Facebook. SPAM and scam emails from social networks, banks and others are not new. However remember to look at emails closely and check that they come from the source they say they are from and that the links go where you think they go.

This evening I taught a session at the Rocky Mountain Micro Finance Institute (RMMFI) about creating a free or almost free presence on the Internet for small businesses. We discussed that there are many options for getting started that can help you put your shingle up on the Internet before you need to spend thousands on professional web presence. We also looked at tools that everyone should be using.

Today I clicked on an ad on from Facebook for Sprint and I got to the new Now Widget which is one of the coolest/strangest things I have ever seen. From this talking widget you can see how many sticky notes are being created, top words being used online, Google searches as they happen and news. This disying aray of content is put together to promote the Sprint Now Network. I wonder if Sprint will see sales from this site? This site just goes to show you that there are many things left to try with social media and the Internet.