Instagram Testing Removing "Likes"

By Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Brush Up Your LinkedIn Page

By Susan Finco, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Facebook Changes Coming Aug. 1

By Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

What we can learn from LInkedIn analytics

By Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

New Words

By Scott Stein, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Facebook Events, Are you Attending?

By Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Social Media Spring Cleaning

By Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

No Budget? No Problem!

By: Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Staying Safe on Social Media

By: Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations 

Being an active social media user and working with it day-to-day, we see and hear about updates to platforms all the time. New features appear fancy and fun, getting users excited to try them out. One downside, however, is not knowing how that update impacts our account.  

For example, this June brought an update to Snapchat that pinpoints to friends where you are located on a map. But here’s the scary part. The update shares your exact location and depending on your settings, will also share your location with the public. Looking at the map, users can zoom in on your location, which includes street names and an aerial view of where you are.

This update was meant to show Snapchat users where large amounts of activity are going on, but the controversy of sharing the user’s location detracted from Snapchat’s goal.

Staying safe on social media is essential. You also need to be smart and always be aware of changes to settings. Follow these steps to being safe:

• Check your privacy and account settings regularly, and think about who you want to see your posts or profile. Social media platforms provide options on who can see your profile and what you want them to see. These options range from completely private, to only your friends, to open for everyone to see. 

• Be smart about what you are sharing with followers. Are you comfortable with sharing your location or what you are doing? Will a photo or post embarrass a family member, friend or employer? Being cautious of what you are posting is another way of staying safe.

• Keep your personal information personal. Hide information like your email address, phone number and home address from your profile and don’t publicly share this information. If someone you know requests this information from you over social media, private message or email your information to them.

So how can you keep your location private from the latest Snapchat update? Open the app and pinch your fingers together like you would to zoom out. The map screen will open, with a pinpoint on your current location. In the upper right-hand corner, click on “Settings.” Three options will be provided under “who can see my location,” Ghost Mode, My Friends, and Select Friends. Ghost Mode will hide your location from anyone, including your friends on Snapchat. 

Reporting live from…everywhere. Can your business incorporate live video to reach your audience?

By: Allison Barnes, Account Assistant, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Social media is constantly updating to incorporate new features and compete with other social media platforms. The latest trend seems to be offering live video to show your followers what you’re doing in real time. Facebook now lets users share live video when they launched Facebook Live in 2016 and Twitter lets users rewatch live videos that were made with their live video app Periscope at any time. Instagram is the latest to join in on the craze, offering a live video stream after their November 2016 update. Instagram alerts followers that you are posting live on Instagram story, similar to a Snapchat story, but the live video can only be seen when the video is live and is immediately deleted.

Celebrities and social media users have been using live videos to show followers what they are doing and to talk about their lives. But how can you incorporate Facebook Live or live video into your businesses social media? Here are a few ideas:

• Set up a demonstration of a new product. Let viewers watch how the product works and learn how to use it from the people who created it. Viewers can comment with questions about the product that could also be answered during the live video. Why not show off a cool feature of the product that viewers may not have known about?
• Go live at an event that few people can attend, but might be interested in seeing. Sharing a live feed at an athletic event, groundbreaking or a special guest speaker lets the audience feel like they are there even if the event is states away. Offering a sneak peek of a display or new project would be fun to show to followers too.  
• Post a live interview, question and answer session or news conference. Let followers get to know your company from the CEO and employees. Followers with questions can have them answered immediately and they can learn what is new to your organization.  

Have you or your business tried live video on social media? We would love to hear what you thought!

The Epidemic of Oversharing

By: Allison Barnes, Account Assistant, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
     

We can all think of at least one friend on social media who posts too much, whether its baby pictures, political opinions, what they’re eating or what they did over the weekend. It’s fun to see what people are up to or what they have to say, but after a while newsfeeds seem to be flooded by the same people, talking about the same things over and over again. As a young professional, I understand the fun and business sides of social media, but I don’t understand where people lose their filters and share too much. Are we attracted to the idea of people liking our photos, being jealous of what we are up to, or think people really care what we have to say? Let’s evaluate this epidemic and ways to avoid being “that friend.”

I try to be cautious on social media; do we really know who is watching our profiles? Will my boss, future employers, parents or future children read this someday? Privacy settings change without us being aware of it. Just because a private account on Twitter says “this account’s Tweets are protected,” one of your followers could retweet you and other people can see it. I once asked a colleague who I was not Facebook friends with to search my profile because I wanted to see if my privacy settings worked. While my posts and photos did not appear on my profile, every profile picture and cover photo I had ever posted did. We don’t know how long our imprint on the internet will last, so let’s leave something to be proud of. Check your accounts privacy settings occasionally and “edit” your profile to best represent you.

For young professionals, remember to watch what we say, how we are representing ourselves and how we represent the businesses we work for. The freedom to share what we want, when we want and who we want to share it with, is not exactly easy. Friends can share, tag, and mention whoever they want without our permission. Don’t be afraid to remove the tag of yourself on a photo or ask a friend to take down a post on social media. It they’re a good friend, they will understand.

So how do we decide what to share with the world and what can wait to be shared in person? Consider who will see your posts before posting them. How will my parents or friends feel if I shared this with others? How am I representing myself? Photos and comments live on the internet forever. Do you want your future children reading an inappropriate comment you wrote, 20 years from now?

When I am unsure if I want to post or tweet something, I usually don’t share it. Another option is to try waiting a few hours or sleeping on it before posting. After a good night’s sleep, you might realize how the post may appear to others or you may have completely different feelings about the topic.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts, feelings, opinions, photos or stories with the world. Social media is an expression of who we are, and I think our profiles should reflect our personalities. Let’s take a step back every once in a while to evaluate what our profiles say about ourselves.