Social media

If you're a social media user (as I am), you might find yourself wondering why some "tweets" and "posts" do better than others. It's not just about content; timing plays a major role in social media success and, believe it or not, certain days of the week and certain times of day equal more bang for your buck in the social media universe.

After my blog about Pinterest's somewhat concerning terms of service, I promptly deleted all my boards and stopped using the network. That may have been a harsh step, but Pinterest's terms of service were so disturbing, I felt strongly about taking a stand. And (believe it or not) Pinterest has now responded. Not only to me, of course, but to everyone who had concerns about its terms.

If you've got a Facebook account (either personal or business), I'm sure you've heard the news: Facebook Timeline (the new profile page layout system) is coming. It's coming whether you like it or not.

Considering that we blogged just a couple of weeks ago about Pinterest as the possible "next big thing in social media" it's disturbing to hear that careful users have identified some serious concerns about the service.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of Pinterest by now. It's the hottest new(ish) thing in social media.

I had an interesting experience related to my Facebook account last week, which I think might be worth sharing. Here's what happened:

A friend (that is, a real friend who is also a Facebook friend) told me that he wasn't able to see any of my updates on his mobile device/smart phone and that he'd been missing out on all my big annoucements. (I recently shared news of my engagement.)

I'm vigilant about keeping my Facebook settings up to date, so this problem surprised me. Had Facebook been making even MORE changes to its privacy policies? Had I missed something?

I had an interesting (and slightly irritating) experience with Twitter last week that seems worth sharing.

I was just meandering along, reading tweets and responding to the ones that seemed interesting. I noticed a tweet from @TweetSmarter about a young girl who'd sent out more than 100 "cry for help" messages on the social network before eventually committing suicide. It was a sad story, and I said as much to the original poster. I responded:

@TweetSmarter That is a really sad story.

Fair enough, right? Well, the next thing I knew, @TweetSmarter was giving me unsolicited advice. They said:

Until recently, I didn't know much about Twitter bots (which is to say, "robots" or automated Twitter accounts). I'd only experienced "funny" bots — the sort designed to tweet silly messages at you, depending on what you post to your own account.

The Internet really is a wonderful thing. Recently, I began thinking about writing up a complete, easy-to-use guide to social media use for not-for-profits. We've written a lot about social media already, but I felt that Nyman Ink had yet to provide you with a really comprehensive (and accessible) guide to doing it yourself.

And then, while doing my research, I found that someone had already written up something just like this. And it's great! Easy to understand, comprehensive and practical. So rather than reinventing the wheel, I decide to share it with you here.

Has anyone else noticed how far off the rails Twitter's #FollowFriday convention has gone, of late?

It's out of control.