Today, Facebook rolled out Timeline for business (fan) pages. This is a remarkable advancement in social branding pages. Facebook is now enabling companies to greatly enhance their Facebook profiles with key milestone “events” in their timeline, such as the date they were “Founded.” Think about all the cool old companies out there that can really leverage this visual timeline, e.g. the New York Times, Starbucks and Coca-Cola are a few that definitely come to mind. Do you have a favorite page? I’d love to hear about it – share those links in the comments below!

Here’s my blog post today over on Dell’s corporate blog, Direct2Dell.com, about Dell’s Facebook pages – http://dell.to/TimelineFBpages. Dell does have a LOT of Facebook pages, so I had to be quite selective in showing off just a few noteworthy pages that were really spruced up. The main Dell page is my favorite as it has nostalgic elements like an old handwritten invoice by Michael Dell when he was in college, the first Dell laptop, an old company photo celebrating the fifth year and a number of other fun “milestone” events on the timeline. Look for old photos you might have of Dell products and post those photos on the wall – do share!

What do you think of timeline for Facebook pages? An for that matter, what about your own personal profile? I have timeline enabled on mine (in fact I got it early thanks to a TechCrunch article with the hack!), so I am a big fan of timeline, obviously. I welcome your insights and take on timeline.

SXSW 2012 custom venue map

SXSW is next week, so guess who is going a million miles an hour to prepare? Yep, you guessed it, yours truly. One of the hardest things about going to SXSW is that it is a conference that is spreadout all over downtown; so, if you’re not a local, it’s very challenging to find your way around to make your schedule without losing your mind. So, I know I needed to solve this problem and develop a solution fast. I’ve only been in Austin a little over a year and half and live about 30 minutes NW of the city and don’t have the exact map in my mind just yet.

Well, this is where I needed a quick and easy map on my phone to help me in a pinch, without having to type in every address as I am avoiding throngs of people and trying to focus on what’s next. My first thought was to develop a schedule in evernote or a google spreadsheet with a link out to the google map url for each venue, which is nice, but i needed something visual so I could quickly assess feasibility of any last minute changes to my plans (this always! happens at sxsw for a variety of reasons, so be flexible and ready to go at a moments notice).

In order to solve my map dilema, I googled for a solution but nothing turned up. There are no SXSW maps for this mobile-attendee-looking-at-all-options purpose, so I developed my own today and am now sharing it with you so you can use it too! There are two “views” of my SXSW Map (web and mobile). First, a view via web browser of Google Maps to use on your laptop. Second, a mobile version optimized to display nicely on your smartphone or tablet. My phone always wants to open up the Google Maps application and doesn’t allow me to access Google Maps directly via the web, so there was a huge problem right away with trying to view my new custom SXSW map that way.

So next, I found a solution to address that very issue. That was all I needed to develop a highly useful mobile version of my custom SXSW venue map, so here it is: Custom Google Map designed just for SXSW – list of Austin venues / mapped locations

1. Web browser – SXSW Map (good for your laptop, see image above elow)

2. Mobile view – SXSW Map   (good for your smartphone or tablet, see both images below)

Using #2 Mobile view above, select the venue location you want to go to then the Google Maps application will pop up with on your device with the map, from there you know the drill, see the visual map, select the button to do more options like “get directions from here” (tip: select the pedestrian icon if you’re walking!).

Here are some screenshots below from my phone so you can see what the experience is like. Let me know if you have any feedback or ideas for improvements. I hope this is useful for you – let me know. Perhaps I will bump into you while you’re navigating your way around SXSW with my map on your phone! Happy mapping.

SXSW Venue Map - Mobile version (TIP: Click arrow, set Bookmark on Home Screen)

SXSW map google app (appears after you select a venue above)

See the MAP here as well…
Feel free to re-use / embed on your site; of course, please attribute back to me and link to this blog post here. Thank you.

View SXSW 2012 in a larger map

I published this blog post over on Direct2Dell.com, Dell’s corporate blog:

Today, we’re pumped to be a part of Twitter’s new “Enhanced Profile Pages” (EPP), a new feature Twitter is launching today with a select handful of partners, including Dell.

Key features of Twitter’s *new* Enhanced Profile Pages:

• “Pinned Tweet”: Ability to choose what Tweet appears at the top of your timeline. (think sticky tweet – great way to feature content!)
• Expandable Media: If the pinned Tweet contains a photo or video, it will auto-expand [as shown below]… rich, in-line media really adds punch to your twitter profile, and
• More branding: via banner @ top of page.

Exclusive partners like Dell will have early access to upcoming product enhancements, features, custom Twitter-produced events and marketing programs. Additionally, Twitter will provide custom 2012 analytics roadmap including online behavior impact studies, sentiment analysis and value of a follower.

Wow, that’s a ton of new, great features! For businesses, these improvements are fantastic. Now we can highlight featured content with rich media clearly displayed at the top of the stream.

For Dell, you’ll see these improvements across the following Dell twitter accounts, starting today:

• @Dell
• @DellOutlet
• @DellEnterprise
• @DellSmbUS
• @DellHomeUS

Here’s a sample mock-up of how our @Dell page could look with these new twitter features (once the page is live, I’ll update this post with a screenshot of it):

Notice how the pinned tweet at top includes an embedded YouTube video, which is playable right on your business profile (great way to keep traffic on your page and drive up engagement).

Be sure to check out Twitter’s blog post announcement today . Twitter will slowly roll out enhanced profile pages to a wide audience of brands in the coming months. Check out http://fly.twitter.com/

I think these enhanced profile page features really up the game when it comes to publishing social business content. No longer do we just see a stream of tweets, now we see vibrant content that is much more engaging!

What do you think of these new features? How do you anticipate businesses will put these new features to work?

More importantly, what do you want to see from Dell for the pinned tweet (featured content)? Do you want to see videos? photos? slideshare decks? whitepapers?

Let us know, we’re listening!! As always, your comments and feedback are welcome here.

Good news… Google+ now allows you to share your circles!

Check out the Google+ video here for more details on how to share circles with your friends:

Here’s how a “shared circle” will appear in your Google+ stream:

Unfortunately, I cannot yet “Share” my circles… waiting for the feature to roll out across the 50+ million or so users across this blue planet.

I am thinking of sharing these circles: Dell, Social Media Smarties (like my twitter list!), Entrepreneurs, Photographers and Austin, TX. I have many more lists I could share… pondering options. If you think I have a list I should be sharing, let me know!

What circles will you share first? Leave comments / links to those in the comments below so we can see your shared circles. Thanks!

Tune in on Thursday, 9/22,  for Live coverage of the Facebook  f8 event.

Starting at 9:30am PST / 11:30am CST / 12:30pm EST

Here’s an excerpt directly from Facebook regarding f8:

For those who can’t make it to f8 in person, we’re streaming the entire day including keynotes, sessions and interviews with partners, developers and Facebook product teams. We’ll have a full day of engaging content live from the Concourse on Thursday. Tune in to the Livestream on the f8 Page or at f8.facebook.com. This will be your main hub for connecting to the event and interacting with the Facebook team and other developers from around the world.

Be sure to like the f8 Page and follow regularly, including Thursday during the event. Join the f8 conversation by status tagging the f8 Page in posts on Facebook, commenting in f8 Live, and using the #f8 hashtag on Twitter. We’ll be checking all of these channels throughout the day for your input.

We are counting down the hours and look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Watch on your Mobile Device: www.livestream.com/f8live
 

I just got the new facebook “News Ticker” and “Top Stories” features rolled out to my profile this evening. I just took a screenshot and annotated it a bit so you could easily spot the changes.

Do you  have the new features? What do you think of it so far?  This new design will replace the prior “Recent News”  drop down menu style.

Facebook rolls out new home page features - click to enlarge

Here’s facebook’s page to “learn more” about the news update feature.

Check out this helpful video from the folks at Facebook which explains it very nicely. Let me know what you think of it.

Also, did you notice all the buzz with the new “Subscriptions” feature? I turned it FULLY ON so everyone can subscribe and chime in on my profile. Are you finding the subscription feature useful? Who did you follow right away? Oh, and did they automatically add Zuck to our subscribe lists – like everybody is now subscribed to him? pretty funny, if you ask me. Tell me what you think…

Here’s the evolution of SEO – Search Engine Optimization – a nice visual of the SEO historical timeline.

I remember lots of these early search websites and web directories. I even remember SEO developments like metatags, keywords and link-back strategies. What do you remember? Any SEO tips you care to share?

Girl Scout cookie pie chart

With Girl Scout cookie season around the corner, Wired pies it up with cookies showing percentage of sales. It’s all about the Caramel deLites. [Thanks, Elise] via Girl Scout cookie pie chart.

- via Flowing Data.



Source:Adecco USA – Labor Day Survey

Infographic by the PPC Blog.com

Click to Enlarge

Today, I stumbled upon a really cool social network graphing tool from the creative folks over at LinkedIn (part of the LinkedIn labs projects).

Basically, once you connect your account with this LinkedIn web application, you’ll see a visual rendering of your LinkedIn network, neatly organized by colorful groups of your network connections you’ve created over time.

So, for example, my connections relating to my 10 years in New York and my Social Media Club group in Rochester, NY are grouped together. Not only are physical connections like these obvious, but also virtual connections, such as “social media” connections. My largest network is comprised of my Technology industry connections; no surprise there as technology permeates my entire career.

Click to Enlarge

To get started go here: http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/network and allow LinkedIn labs to connect with your profile.

When complete, you can view the social graph rendered and then “label”your networks.

TIP: Use the magnifier tool in to zoom in and read the names in each color area. Then begin labeling accordingly.

I find this sort of visual rendering to be very appealing, not only because I am a visual learner, but because it allows one to see how their career connections are related. You can also easily spot key influencials and people who are very connected to the same circles of friends and industry connections you have. Some of those folks are the same ones who helped me make connections… very interesting data!!

What do you think of this? Do you find this useful and intriguing like I do? Does this kind of tool make it easier or harder to group your network of friends and professional connections?

Here’s a visual step-by-step of the screens you’ll see as  you generate your very own LinkedIn network social graph:

[slideshow]