Tag Archives: Social Media

Twitter: Protected Updates are a False Sense of Security

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Every morning I check out what happened in DC via Twitter.com for my Living in the District Blog. Basically what I do is I have an RSS feed set up that looks for “DC”, “Washington, DC”, and “Washington DC” that gets piped into my Google Reader and sometimes I randomly reply to them with @livingindc. Today I found a major Twitter bug that I think I should share.

Lately, I have seen more and more twitter users protecting their tweets so that only approved followers can read them. This morning I came across a tweet that I wanted to respond to via my RSS feed and when I went to twitter.com it said that the person had protected their tweets. But how so if I saw it in my feed. This is the problem.

I wanted to respond to this tweet.

kml73_tweet

When I went over to twitter to get the tweet to reply to this is what I got. [Link]

twitter_protected

However, if you go to search.twitter.com and search on this persons tweets this is what you get. [Link]

search_protected

I would say that this is a major security and privacy hole for Twitter users. This is a false sense of security that I think people who protect their tweets need to know about.

Twitter also has described the protect my updates setting incorrectly.

protected_rule

Protected updates are CLEARLY SHOW in the public timeline via search.twitter.com

Branding Youtube Channels

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Company branding is pretty much everything these days and with the onslaught of social media applications taking over as a key marketing tool, company’s must keep in mind how they brand them.  Take for an example YouTube.  Many people use YouTube as a marketing tool which is great way to get in touch with millions of people, but have you seen some of the branding on these channels?  I think this is a key area where company’s are losing out.  Look at the two presidential candidates YouTube Channels (Obama, McCain).  They aren’t that great are they?  Look at one of the most subscribed to channels of all time the Universal Music Group.  Look at that background, that’s so 1997 when I was in 9th grade.

I spent a while yesterday looking for good branding of YouTube Channels and didn’t find many. Below are a list of channels that I thought were awesome and had a clean design.

What do you think about those?  I think they get it when it comes to branding.  When I look at a bad design all I can think of is a cluttered MySpace page or Wal-Mart, but when I see the designs that look amazing and easy on the eye I instinctively think Target or Facebook.  If I was a consumer of a product or your marketing technique, I would definitely want to feel Target-ish and Facebook-ish because I want to be with the in crowd.

So that brings me to this.  I am interested in finding more YouTube page designs and what you the consumer of these channels are looking for?  Do you link simple or complex?  What is the makeup of a good YouTube Channel and what are some good channel designs that you like?

Flickr for your Blackberry

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flickr is like the ultimate photo and video sharing website for the social world. What would be better than taking a photo from your blackberry and posting it instantly to your flickr page? This is very possible and there are multiple ways to do this. For me I like to use the blackberry flickr application to upload photos and use the email process to push video. Yes that’s right, the blackberry videos can be sent and displayed on your flickr page.

The BB flickr application is pretty straight forward and very simple. You can download it from here. Once you are logged in to flickr through your phone you have the ability to send photos directly from the BB camera application or from the flickr application. The flickr app then lets you add a title, description, tags, add it to a photo set, set the privacy, resize the image, and if your carrier enables the GPS,  geotag your photo. Once you have added your necessary information click on the upload button and your photo is transmitted in the background to flickr. This is great because it doesn’t halt your phone when transmitting the photo. Below are some samples that I took and posted to flickr from my BB Curve.

You can also upload video through the email address provided in your flickr settings page. You can post your photos this way to but I recommend the BB applicaiton.   Once you have captured your video on your phone just email it to that flickr email address (located in your flickr settings) and it will be automatically uploaded to your page. Here is an example video that I shot and posted via email.

Some tips and tricks to keep in mind. Use the flickr app to upload photos and the email to upload video. In your settings you can set tags so when you send a video through email it tags it with what you want. Then you don’t have to worry about your photos being tagged with video tags. Also I think it’s a good idea to set up a photo set to capture all your mobile uploads. Doing it this way will be easier to sort though the photos when you are looking for something. Lastly, it’s best to add the flickr email address to you address book so that you don’t have to keep typing it in all the time.

Using your blackberry and Flickr can be very powerful so go out and capture the world!

This is part of a series “Ten days of Blackberry, Making your Phone Better“

Facebook for your Blackberry

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Facebook is like the crack of social media apps for some people and what would you do if you couldn’t access your facebook profile and update your status when you are away from your computer.  No need to work addicts.  Facebook indeed has a pretty good blackberry application.  Some phones even come preinstalled with it.  I know my Verizon phone did.  With the facebook app you have access to update your status and view status updates of your friends, share a photo that you took, get a list of your friends, invite new friends, poking, the ability to write on a friends wall, and sending messages.  The application is by far the prettiest one out there.  It’s almost better than going to the actual facebook site becuase you don’t see all that other junk such as the super wall and other 3rd party apps.  One down side is that when you want to look at someones profile is that it opens the mobile browser it load it. The browser layout is a bit messy and sometimes is pretty slow.

Overall this is a good application for facebook users.  I find myself updating my status and posting more photos because of this.  If you are interested, you can download the application from the blackberry site but check your phone, It may already be installed.

This is part of a series “Ten days of Blackberry, Making your Phone Better“