Get the best prices and offers from your favorite online shops and retailers. Kobon ME offers savings you can trust, making saving easy and a whole lot of fun. The website features a coupon database and is simple to read and sort, making it easy to find an applicable coupon. Coupons are listed along with the associated retailer, item, and expiration date of each coupon or deal.

Visitors can also browse curated deals for the day, read money-saving tips, learn how to shop on Arabic e-commerce websites and take advantage of the coupons for extra discounts on the following categories:  clothing & shoes, beauty & health products, electronics, baby products & children’s toys, home & garden and jewelry & accessories.

TOP 5 REASONS TO USE KOBON ME:

1. Find great deals and coupons so you can shop on the go.
2. Never miss a deal again – deals and coupon codes offer plenty of ways to save
.
3. Take advantage of deals from over a hundred of retailers.

4. Enjoy offers on thousands of local and international brands.

5. Tons of ways to save anytime! Up to 70% off offers, coupon codes and more.


Kobon.me makes it easy to save with thousands of deals at your favorite stores and e-commerce shops! Whether you’re hungry for food deals or shopping for new clothing items or electronic gadgets, Kobon.me finds all the best deals so you don’t have to.

It seems the winter holiday season is upon us. Not convinced? The team in our Arabic sister website, موقع كوبون, have started the count down till White Friday by checking Google Trends and showing you the searching habits of shoppers in the Middle East.

White Friday: the Arabic version of the Western Black Friday

Black Friday, an American retail tradition, introduced to the Middle East and Arab World for the first time in 2014 by retail giant SOUQ.com, and named White Friday. With regard to Friday’s cultural / religious significance in the Middle East, being the day of worship and gathering of friends and family. In addition to the fact that the color Black is associated with bad luck/superstition in the region; therefore the introduction of “White Friday” to better suit the Arab world.

SOUQ.com introduced huge sales and deals up to 70% off on a wide variety of their products under the name of “White Friday”. The White Friday offers included discounts on mobiles and electronics in general, clothing and accessories, children toys and many others.

According to موقع كوبون, the RetailMeNot of the Middle East, the highest searches in the Middle East are: كود خصم نمشي ٢٠١٨ ، كوبون سوق كوم، كوبون نمشي.

White Friday’s Increasing Popularity as shown by Google Trends

Every year and specifically around late October / beginning of November, all shoppers whether price driven or not, are waiting for the BIG Black Friday Deals! How do we know? Google Trends reveals it all. Expectations this year are even more optimistic than previous years, here’s a chart showing the year by year increase in searches for الجمعة البيضاء (white friday in arabic).

As you can see the surge started in 2014 and is exponentially increasing every season. The table below shows you the surges in search volume in more depth:

This is more than 11x growth in just 2 years!

With top searches being from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, UAE and Kuwait, consecutively. In the image below you can see the Interest by Region values, calculated on a scale from 0 to 100 where 100 is the location with the most popularity as a fraction of total searches in that location. The following are the top 5 Regions by Interest in White Friday:

The chart below covers the “White Friday” shopping season in-depth over the past 5 years – revealing the latest trends and various retailers who are known for White Friday sales. Non-Arabic speakers, I got your back:

• Blue – White Friday
• Red – Souq.com (most known in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the rest of the gulf)
• Yellow – Namshi (another online fashion retailer, well known in the Gulf)
• Green – Amazon (mostly searched for in Saudi Arabia, Libya and Kuwait)
• Purple – Jumia (e-commerce platform, mostly known in Egypt)

The Winning E-commerce Retailers in the Middle East

And the award goes to:

1. Souq.com (searching for: الجمعة البيضاء على موقع سوق دوت كوم)
2. Amazon.com
3. Namshi.com
4. Jumia.com

Clearly, search volumes for these retailers are strongly correlated with the White Friday searches,with Souq.com being significantly way, way ahead!

Based on all the numbers Google Trends has revealed, I think it’s safe to say that white friday sales in the middle east are going to blow last year’s sales out of the water. All I can say is: Middle East, let the games begin! And Souq.com competitors, may the odds be ever in your favor !!

We are busy running our popular app, Tweepi, which is taking most of our time. We will continue publishing posts on the Tweepi Blog. Don’t forget to follow @tweepi and if you have any comments and would like to get in touch with us, just use our contact us form.

For those that don’t know what we’ve been doing, the best place to start is the “Learn Social Media by Example” category. If you are running a business of any size, or your job involves marketing an idea, you’ll love our Learn Social Media by Example stories.

We always love to discuss new ideas or help anyone with social media campaign discussions. All you need to do is contact us.

Thank you all.

The Thoughtpick Team

Google Plus

So, what are the features that make Google+ this attractive? And why is it being called the “social backbone” of the web these days?

• Circles: Google has come up with the exclusive concept of circles — you can create a circle of contacts that are family, friends, work friends, former co-workers and so on. With these circles, you can define who gets to see what kind of updates. If you are a Facebook user, you will see that this features is still unavailable and rolling it out now is a bit too late!
• Hangout: It is essentially group video chat done in a unique and different way; all you need to do is click on the Hangout button and invite members of a certain group by sending them a notification. Moreover, Google uses its own platform to perform this rather than a third party.
• Instant Uploads: Google was able to create a new approach to mobile photos & videos called Instant Uploads. Take a photo and it uploads to your Picasa or YouTube account and then you can share those videos via Google+  to specific “circles.”
• Sparks: It is a feature that allows you to create topics of interest and use them as source of information and then share them with various groups. It is a great way to share interests about any topic at any time with anyone.
• Huddle: A little bit similar to Whatsapp, this feature is a mobile multi-user chat service which allows you to chat with a group of people simultaneously which is a great feature for businesses when combined with Circles.

Hope you enjoyed this list of Google+ features. Stay tuned for our list of drawbacks coming up real soon.

Please do not hesitate to share any related insights and feedback in the comment section below :)

It had been almost 2 weeks since I deactivated my account, and day by day, I came to realize how much my life had changed since I had set up my account many years ago! The truth is, I’ve wanted to deactivate the account on several occasions, however, I kept making excuses like: “I need it for work”or “I need it to keep up with friends”. (By the way, I am back now!)

Bye Bye Facebook!

But I finally did it, and so I would like to share with you the 10 ways in which leaving Facebook have changed my life, maybe you would be inspired to leave as well, or maybe you would reconsider your Facebook use!

1. Rediscovering My “Real” Friends:

You know that pinching ache you get in your stomach when you miss a friend? When you wonder how he/she is? What they are doing? Well, if you think Facebook is the cure, you are mistaken! Since I deactivated my account, I realized that real friends don’t need reminders that you exist in order to remember you; they will contact you by phone or e0mail and ask about you whether you have a Facebook account or not.

2. Focusing More on Work:

Although I did use Facebook for work, I have already written and posted around 5 Facebook related posts since I deactivated my account and it did not effect their popularity on social media or Facebook at all. Actually, I realized that Facebook used to distract me from work more often that not!

3. Having A Clearer Mind:

Without the continuous comments and reactions to everything you do or say on Facebook, you can actually think better. Moreover, when you spend more time focusing on your life rather than other people’s business, you have more time for you!

4. Spending More Time with People:

Facebook has the power of fooling you into thinking that you are spending time with your friends and family through the occasional poke, message, tag or photo share. In reality, though, Facebook can lead to the death of interaction. When I left Facebook, I started having more meaningful talks with people and I now can choose whom to tell about what, when I want.

5. Pissing off Less People:

It might sound weird but yes, my favorite part of leaving Facebook is that now I piss off less people. You know why? Because if I decided to put a group of people on my limited profile, they will take it personal and get pissed off. If I don’t want to be tagged in a photo, someone will complain ad if I wrote my opinion about something, someone will get offended!6. Dealing with Less Privacy Concerns:

Although I know my information is still there and that Facebook can use it, I feel so much better about sharing less with the world and regaining some of my lost privacy!

7. Waiting Time is Reduced:

When you want something from someone on Facebook, you have to wait until they check their Facebook account to get it. I hate waiting! So now, when I do need something from someone, I use the phone or the email; less waiting time and more effective communication!

8. Remembering Things on My Own:

Since I signed up with Facebook, my memory has been really bad; I got to a point where I could not remember my best friend’s birthday! However, now I am forced to do so and I am very happy about it1

9. Receiving Less Criticism:

Although some criticism is constructive, most of it can be very destructive. Since I left Facebook, I just get criticism and advice from those whom I seek and trust. It makes life simpler!

10. Having More Time to Discover:

There are many things to discover on the web, and Facebook takes away from your time to do so. try deactivating your account for a few days and see how many new articles you will read, or how many interesting sites you might stumble upon!

Hope you found my points valuable to your own experience.

Looking forward to your comments and insights down below :)

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 25th list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

Funny Food Art

1. Don’t think of yourself as an ugly person, just a beautiful monkey :P

2. Tips to reduce weight: First turn your head to the right, and then turn it to the left. Repeat the exercise every time you are offered something to eat.

3. At the end of the day, one thing we have in common is that we are all screwed up in some way.

4. I found a lipstick that helps you lose weight…..it’s called super glue.

5. The awkward moment when a GPS tells a gay person to go straight :)6. TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O. TEACHER: What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it’s H to O!

7. Two roommates were watching the news. News: Serial killer on the loose. Blonde: Oh no! (runs to kitchen) Brunette: What are you doing? Blonde: Saving my cereal!

8. Wife standing in front of a mirror and telling to her husband, “I am fat, old, wrinkled and no longer pretty. Will you still give me a romantic compliment?” Husband replied, “Your eyesight is still excellent.”

9. One student fell into a cycle of classes, studying, working and sleeping. Didn’t realize how long he had neglected writing home until he received the following note: “Dear Son, Your mother and I enjoyed your last letter. Of course, we were much younger then, and more impressionable. Love, Dad.”

10. What is meant by Mixed Emotions? Your enemy falls from 17th floor on your brand new Audi and you don’t know whether to laugh or cry!

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Campaign Idea & Objectives:

Ask, Listen, Learn is a creative, multimedia campaign which was designed by a team of educators and psychologists specializing in middle school-aged students.

The campaign efforts are divided into 2 main parts: one which concerns the minors and the other which acts as a support for their parents.

On the minors’ website, all they need to do is sign a pledge (see below) and register and they are immediately a part of the team. The Ask, Listen, Learn Team Pledge is designed to help minors stay healthy and active by making an agreement with themselves to make good decisions.

The Pledge

As for the parents’ website, it contains information about when and how to discuss alcohol consumption, useful links, answers to important questions minors might ask as well as related materials and statistics.

Campaign Buzz:

Apart from the millions of views generated on Century Council’s Youtube channel, here are some actual results of the campaign:

Highlights from Youth Evaluation:

• 84% of kids said the Ask, Listen, Learn brochure helped facilitate a conversation about alcohol.
• 86% said they would consider reading the brochure without the survey.
• 81% said brochure made them think and 78% said it has a lot of important information.
• 92% said mom is their number one source of information about alcohol.

Highlights from Parent Evaluation:

• 70% of parents and half of kids said they discussed alcohol after receiving Ask, Listen, Learn survey.
• 92% said the Ask, Listen, Learn brochure helped facilitate a conversation about alcohol.
• 66% said they would consider reading the brochure without the survey.
• 88% said brochure made them think.

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

Usually, campaigns designed to tackle major problems and issues lack the creativity needed to make a change, Ask, Listen, Learn is different. Not only does the campaign combine unsettling facts with humor, videos and even games, it also addresses both parties involved in this struggle: the minors and their parents.

So, what can we learn from this campaign?

• Think outside the box when determining your target audience: If the campaign only addressed one of those parties concerned, they would definitely fail in achieving the overall campaign’s goals.
• Carefully design your campaign channels: On the minors’ website, you will find games and other things of interest to them, this is very important. Minors will not go onto a site to get a sermon or lecture about how to live their lives, however, they will visit a site which they can related to or find interesting and then will think of reading some of the important information it has.
• Get feedback and make use of it: Not only did the campaign rely on the views generated on its Youtube channel, it also did evaluations to really measure the effect of the campaign on both minors and children.

Finally, have you heard of this campaign before? Would you have liked to be a part of it? Do you know of any other similar ones?

Looking forward to your comments and insights down below :)

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 24th list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

Photo By *Joélisa*

1. Sticks & stones may break my bones, BUT chains & whips excite me!

2. A priest asks Johnny if he’s scared of Satan. Little Johnny says “I have nothing to b scared of you are the one that must be scared; you talk crap about him every Sunday……”

3. Autocorrect can kiss my ask..!!

4. My wife’s jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.

5. The average power nap is 20 minutes. This works out well because I can fit 3 of them evenly into one hour.

6. If you blink your eyes really fast, it looks like there are strobe lights in the room. I have been having random parties throughout the day!

7. I am wondering why Facebook bothers to give the option of “liking” my own comment? Of course I like my own comments. I’m awesome :p

8. I like to stop the microwave with 1 second to go. Makes me feel like a bomb defusal expert!!

9. I love in horror movies how the person yells out “hello?!” as if the killer is gonna say “yeah I’m in the kitchen, want a sandwich?”

10. When butterflies are in love, do they feel human’s in their stomach? :)

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Share Your Visual Life

Ad agency, Amsterdam Worldwide, unveiled a series of blogger films, called “Visual Life,” for technology brand Intel back in January 2011. The series showcased top bloggers discussing how they use technology and how it has transformed their work.

Campaign Idea & Buzz:

The first video of the series documented the work of fashion blogger and photographer Scott Schumann, The Sartorialist. The video generated around a quarter of a million views in its first two weeks and has been viewed more than 850,000 times on YouTube and the Intel site, helping increase Intel’s YouTube channel views by 200%.

This campaign has done quite well, as it targets a digital savvy audience that is interested in learning about how top bloggers are utilizing photo and video technologies. Such viewers are more likely to share the videos with their social graphs, increasing the virality of the series.

Overall, the series takes on a lifestyle approach that is uncommon for tech brands, focusing on the effects that technology has had on each video’s featured subject, both personally and professionally.

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

I am totally head over heals for this campaign; it is fun, creative and shows concern for people, which is what great advertising is all about!

So, what can we learn from this campaign?

• Care about your customers and they will care about your brand in return. When you show your customers that you care about their brand experiences, you are building loyalty and attracting new customers as well.
• Create a full on experience. Pictures, videos and audio are great tools for attracting attention so use them for building an unforgettable online experience.
• Choose your social media channels carefully. One of the reasons this campaign was such a success is the combination of channels used to promote it. Youtube, Facebook and blogs are effective channels for marketing dynamic content. Always remember that when choosing your social media venues.
• Know how to target your audience by understanding your audience. Amsterdam Worldwide understood what Intel’s tech savvy audience needs and created a campaign that will suit their needs and thus ignite their interest and attract their attention.

Finally, I would like to know what you think of this campaign: Did you participate in it? And what do you think it it might have been missing?

Looking forward to your feedback and insights in the comments section below :)

Angry Birds

If you’re wondering what an Angry Birds movie might look like, T-Mobile has put together a life-size version of the hit game with projectile birdies, explosions, and all.

Campaign Idea & Buzz:

With a combination of creative online and offline advertising, T-Mobile demanded customer attention and got it using the one and only Angry Birds!

Aiming to leverage the popularity of the game, T-Mobile created this to connect the love of Angry Birds to it’s entire smart phone product range, and with a life sized installation, real exploding pigs and about 5 million views in a week! Moreover, most of the web based reactions and buzz about the campaign were refreshingly positive.

Conclusion:

Simple, fun, colorful and uniquely creative: these are the elements which every campaign seeking success should consist of.

How about you? Are you an Angry Birds fan/addict? Did you watch the video? What do you think could have been done to make the campaign more viral?

Looking forward to your comments and insights down below :)

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 23rd list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

1. A man asks a trainer in the gym: “I want 2 impress that beautiful girl , which machine can I use?” Trainer replies: “Use the ATM”!

2. Whatever it is — I didn’t do it!

3. Dear friend #317, maybe you should slip into something more comfortable….. like a Coma :D

4. The only reason people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.

5. I wants all my FB friends to know I loves them all…….except #669.. YOU sir, are an a**!

6. I’m not weird. I’m a limited edition!

7. A 3 a.m phone call :$. “Were you asleep?” “No, I was skydiving!!!”

8. They SaY ” Love Is In The Air ” …. I Say My Share Of Love Is Lost In Pollution :P

9. Facebook should change the “Friends” section to “Friends & People I’ve Only Made Eye Contact With”.

10. If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Turkcell Twitter campaign

Heavy internet users tend to be excellent adopters of technology and they also tend to be the early adopters of technology. That makes for an excellent group to target with non traditional advertising.

A Turkish company, launching a line of smart phones with internet bundles, wanted to attract those heavy internet users therefore they decided that the best approach for this campaign is to go where the heavy mobile internet users are; Twitter.

So How Did they Do it?

To attract the Turkish heavy internet users, Turkcell decided to go into their natural habitat; Twitter. So they took a prize, a Nokia or a Samsung smart phone, wrapped it in a box, and covered the box with post-it notes. The goal of the game is to tweet the message on the post-it note using the contest’s hash-tag (#turkcelltweet). Along the way, the users can play a bunch of games to win free minutes and other perks, and to win the smart phones the user has to get a celebrity to re-tweet them.

The campaign was a great success, during the 7-days of the campaign it had garnered more than 56,000 tweets, and was a trending topic for the entire duration.

How they did it?

They created an entry barrier. Now that might sound negative but if you want to attract heavy internet users, you need to make it a point that you need a certain amount of traction and internet prestige to qualify. In simpler terms, stroke their egos.

Double exposure. The post-it notes carry little advertisements in them, and that’s just an added bonus.

Attention boosters. If you are running a multi-day live campaign, you will probably have to add some little prizes to keep everyone’s attention. Those little prizes will give people something to look forward to and a reason to participate beside the grand prize.

Triple exposure. Not only did they get the participants to advertise for the brand, they also encouraged them to get a celebrity to re-tweet the advertisement as well. The power of a celebrity in the Twitter community is one that can create valuable exposure.

Verdict

Gone are the days of a simple banner advertisement, targeted campaigns with an innovative idea behind them go much further and achieve a lot more than the traditional campaigns. Also, getting people to advertise for you is the wet dream of every marketer nowadays, so a campaign built around that idea will always be a winner.

Did you hear about this campaign? What do you think of it? Looking forward to your comments in the section below…

I found several of their findings very interesting especially the fact that Facebook is not a sausage fest but I bet that this is not true in Jordan.

What did you think of this infograph? Share with us your comments and thoughts below.

Drink Coba

Campaign Idea & Objectives:

Sensis launched a social media-based ad campaign promoting the change to Cobá and aimed at expanding the 2-year-old beverage company’s loyalty base by introducing its drinks to an audience eager to taste something authentic.

Cobá fans on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/drinkcoba) and followers on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drinkcoba) will be able to participate in contests for prizes. Los Angeles locals can use Foursquare to find Cobá and the authentic flavors it compliments.

Buzz Generated:

Coba on Facebook

Currently, Coba’s fanpage on Facebook has only 301 likes with slow activity on its wall as well.

Its Twitter account has 81 followers with the tweets there being mostly done by Coba and not its followers.

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

Although it might be too early to judge, it still seems to me that Sensis could have done a better job in promoting Coba via the wide array of available social media channels. I also think that such a product needed to have a presence on Youtube in a form of fun, short and creative clips in order to encourage potential customers to try the drink and become fans on Facebook and Twitter.

So, what could we learn from this campaign:

• Just like more is less, less is more: Sometimes, companies and agencies do so little with their social media campaigns and wait for magic to happen. They underestimate the consumers’ power of comparison!
• Different products require different approaches: You can not always use the same social media channels to promote different products. Social media channels are designed in such a way that makes each of them more valuable for a specific group of products and services than others.
• Not all prizes matter: Sensis seems to have relied heavily on the prizes they will be giving away to fans without mentioning the prize or finding the way to attract potential fans to it.

Finally, did you hear about this campaign? What do you think is missing and how do you think it could be improved?

Looking forward to your insights and feedback down below.

Ask Them What They Think?

A simple question.

One way to get your fans excited and active on your fanpage is by asking them to vote for their preference. When writing a poll, make sure to use simple words, offer options that cover a wide range of possible answers, limit the options to 4 or 5, and make sure to use close-ended questions.

The advantage of polls over just asking the questions is that they are easier to participate in and they also open up the doors for people from opposite sides of the aisle to discuss their opinions.

Everyone Loves a Prize:

As simple as a Song

Nothing gets people excited like offering them a chance at being a winner. When you rub people’s competitive spirit in just the right way, they will be eager to compete and would jump on the opportunity to challenge their friends as well. This is an excellent way to extend your exposure beyond your core audience. The prize doesn’t have to be extravagant, a $50 gift card would do.

Celebrate Milestones:

Panties, at a time like this?

You reached a thousand fans? Thank them. You picked up new business through your fanpage? Thank them. It’s your one year anniversary? Thank them. It is spring? Celebrate it with them. The point is regardless of what qualifies as a milestone, be sure to thank your fans and celebrate it with them because they stuck with you all along. That makes them feel closer and develop a more personal relationship with your brand.

Showcase Your Fans!

Even if they are weird...

Fans always love exposure so showcase them on your fanpage. Ask your fans to upload photos of themselves on your Fanpage and possibly ask them to include your brand in them. Or just award those fans who give a lot of attention to your brand with having their picture showcased on your page or possibly thank their efforts in some other way.

Leverage Your Archives:

Behind the Scenese are always a hit on Porsche

If you are an old brand, or you have certain exclusive content that you can share with your fans on Facebook on regular intervals, then you will be able to give them a reason to keep coming back.

Do you have any other suggestions for engaging your people on Facebook? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

Sometimes, all you need to increase the level of interaction on your Facebook Page is to sweeten the deal a bit with a little contest. This will not only give people a reason to keep on checking your page, but it will also increase the exposure of your brand and excite new brand fans of to join your page. Here are some contest ideas that you can refer to for inspiration.

The “Tag” Marketing

Simply post a picture of your product or your brand on a weekly or monthly bases and ask your fans to tag themselves in various parts of the picture for a chance to win either the items tagged or some other prize. IKEA was probably one of the first brands to leverage this technique effectively and it was a great hit with their fans.

Scavenger Hunt

While a scavenger hunt might be a bit more taxing on the contestants, its benefit is that it forces contestants to check your information a bit more in-depth. You can create a scavenger hunt on Facebook by laying out a trail of clues that might stretch over from your social media presence into your website or even Google maps. Buick is about to run another contest in their series of city focused scavenger hunts, which have been very successful in the past.

A Chicago Scavenger Hunt

A “Submit Your Picture” Competition

This one can be held in various ways; you could ask you fans to submit their photos with your products, or ask them to submit their photos according to a certain theme, or just submit their photos for the heck of it and, in general, the response is a flood of pictures. Recently, Citroen UK asked their fans to submit their photos to convey three emoticons; :) :( and :S.

Great Picture submissions

Pictionary With a Twist

This contest idea is usually interesting and creates a lot of engagement amongst your fans. The contest revolves around getting your fans to guess on a photo that you post on your Facebook and the person that gets it right, wins a prize.

Like This Update

This might be the simplest, just ask people to like a comment, photo, or a new fanpage for a chance to win a prize.  MovieWeb, a popular movie news website, is running a contest for people who like their page to enter into a draw for a chance to win a couple of DVD sets.

The Simplest Contest

Have you found this post helpful? Do you have any contest ideas? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

This is by far the best case I’ve seen for this argument, because nowadays anything that doesn’t make a blip on social media, at least locally, was not worth holding and went completely unnoticed.

What do you think about encouraging people to share their experiences in conferences and meetings? Share with us your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 22nd list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

1. Dear Face, Nice to meet you! Sincerely, Palm.

2. A cop pulled me over today and said: “papers”, so I said: “scissors, I win!”

3. How can it be considered stealing when the WiFi signal is trespassing in my house?

4. I think firetrucks & ambulances would be more effective if they were to replace that annoying siren with the song “Move Bitch” by Ludacris :P

5. It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. I mean you’re here aren’t you?

6. What’s common between air & a student? Both turn the pages without reading them!

7. I don’t have ugly hand writing, I have my own font.

8. I’ve just renamed my WiFi network to “Police Surveillance Van #02” That should keep my weird neighbors on their toes for a while!

9. Dear Students, I know when you’re texting in class. Seriously, no one just looks down at their crotch and smiles every five minutes. Sincerely, Teacher.

10. Hey! Wanna make $$$$ fast? Just follow these simple instructions! 1:Hold down the Shift key 2:Press the number 4 four times. It’s that easy!

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Personalize Your Drink

So, What’s the Deal?

My Starbucks Signature lets you build your drink, name it, and share it with your friends. My Starbucks Signature can also show you nutrition information, but it’s wrong, at least in my case. It doesn’t show the result of all customizations.

The site is user-friendly and the steps to creating one’s personal drink is very easy.

My Drink :)

The Buzz:

Google is buzzing with articles and posts about this great social media based experience. Moreover, the website has more than 17,000 likes on its Facebook page and people are sharing the drinks they create on Twitter as well!

Sharing Coffee Creations on Twitter

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

I have always been a big fan of Starbucks, especially when it comes to their awesome Caramel Macchiato and Raspberry Frappe! This marketing move makes me even a bigger fan since it feels great to have my own personal drink, with my signature all over it. Smart, creative and definitely appealing indeed!

So, what can we learn from Starbucks approach to social media?

• Empower Your Customers: Whenever possible, allow your customers to take the steering wheel; not only does it make them feel good about themselves, it also strengthens their loyalty towards your brand, product and/or service.
• Take Risks: At this day and age, taking risks using internet and social media outlets costs less in terms of time and effort. Therefore, don’t be afraid to go out of the ordinary and try out new ways to attract potential customers and further build on customer loyalty.
• Make It Simple: The great thing about My Starbucks Signature is its user-friendliness and simplicity. In order to really inspire people to try out your latest ideas, make sure they are not too complicated!

Finally, have you made your own Starbucks drink yet? What is your overall evaluation of the experience?

Looking forward to your insights and feedback down below :)

Recently, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) received KO caliber punch when the brains behind their social media strategy, Louis Marinelli, had a change of heart about what he wants to stand for and decided to leave NOM and actually start campaigning for equality instead of against it.

The New Protect Marriage Page

Besides losing Mr. Louis’s talent, whom they have been underplaying his role at the organization by painting him as being just another driver, they have lost access and control over many of their Facebook, Twitter and Blog pages that Louis was responsible for. Whether you are agree with NOM’s cause or not, from a social media point of view, they committed various mistakes when it came to managing their social media campaign.

For instance, Louis was acting independently when he created the Twitter account “NOMUpates” and the “Protect Marriage” Facebook page, so he had complete ownership and control over them. Due to his hard work and effort, the popularity of his page increased and he got noticed by NOM and was hired by them and brought on board. At this point, NOM should have taken control of the page by adding their own administrators, documenting the transfer of ownership legally, but they didn’t and hence they lost a page that had close to 300,000 fans.

Their damage control has been impotent, they have sent emails to their fans asking them to unlike Louis’s page and like the NOM page. The pace at which fans has responded has been slower than molasses in January. So far only 2,896 have liked their new page while Louis’s page still has more than 280,000 fans. So, in the mean time, all of those fans are getting exposed to the arguments that convinced Louis Marinelli to change his mind and NOM stands the chance to lose even more supporters now that they are hearing from someone whom they have known and followed for over a year and developed a relationship with through the Facebook page.

In conclusion, any organization should plan and develop a recovery strategy in case the person or group of people that are responsible for their social media campaign go rogue. The best option available is for them to always maintain control and only give limited control to the administrators of the page rather than allowing them to completely control the page. It’s also helpful to actually own the pages and feeds that are being used in your name.

So What do you think about the way NOM ran their Social Media efforts? What will the extent of damage be? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

Being in a social setting is not a complete experience without twiddling thumbs on a smart phone for the entirety of your presence there, you, my friend are a Social Media Fanatic (SMF)!

In the past, it was very easy for your to set yourself apart from the crowd and be an SMF, all you needed was a smart phone. Nowadays, since everyone and their yuppie have one, you need to go the extra mile to set yourself apart.

Attire

Kick Like a Twit

To look the part, you need to be fully decked out with some cool social media outfitters. The Facebook and Twitter Adidas kicks from Gerry Mckay are perfect for the job. To complete the look, be sure to pick up an UpdateMe T-shirt with a washable marker so you can wear your status update wherever your go and have people actually commenting on your chest and belly.

Office and Business

As an SMF, you should treat your business with the same care and attention that you treat your social media profiles with. So why sign a paper when you just can like it or dislike it? Get your own Facebook Like and Dislike stamps from Jail Break Toys.

For entertaining your guests, be sure to provide them with some reading material that they can entertain themselves with while their waiting for you to finish up your latest update and what better way to fill them in on yourself and company than by providing them with a printout of your Facebook account’s updates, photos, and link over the past year in the form of a book. You can also get your hands on a Facebook coffee mug either one that flaunts your beautiful friends profile pics or one with an “I need more coffee” status update. Moreover, to complete your business look, make sure to print your business cards in a Facebook format.

Now that you are aware of all the wonderful things that you can acquire to truly display how much of an SMF you are, stay tuned for our next installment that will introduce to wonderful items that you can get for your co-workers, spouses, or even kids.

How do you feel about Social Media Fanatics? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 21st list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

Have a great laugh :)

1. My grandfather always said, “Don’t watch your money; watch your health.” So one day while I was watching my health, someone stole my money. It was my grandfather!

2. One day, I showed up late for work. The boss yelled “You should have been here at 8:30!” I replied: “Why? What happened at 8:30?”

3. My sister was with two men in one night. She could hardly walk after that. Can you imagine? Two dinners!

4. I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.

5. The only reason people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.6. To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize on them is infinitely worse.

7. If ugliness was a crime, you would be serving 3 life sentences.

8. I’ve been in love with the same woman for 49 years. If my wife ever finds out, she would kill me!

9. A murderer, sitting in the electric chair, was about to be executed. “Have you any last requests? Asked the chaplain. “Yes,” replied the murderer. “Will you hold my hand?”

10. Note – The key to a good relationship is the key. Give me back the key.

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Regardless of the reason you convince yourself with, one thing should be clear in your head: A person with no friends or followers should not even exist, his existential strife should just tear him apart and hence your existence and its importance is tied to the percentage of the world population that get to hear about what you had for lunch. So if baiting others with a gift is the only way to get those privacy nuts, Amish or even toddlers to join social media then so be it!

Twitter Bear and the Facebook Penguin

Let’s face it, Twitter is not the most attractive platform, instead of having bright colors, pictures and videos you are essentially relegated to the SMS format so having a bear that would read your tweets in a cute Japanese Engrish accent is a great pull for girls of all ages. With this toy, they will be following you religiously in no time. On the other hand if your target is to add more Facebook friends then Pingo the Facebook Penguin is the right gift for you, a tomodashi for the social media kids. Though its a tad bit pricey at $150.

The Toddlers Social Media Play set

Why limit yourself to adults and teenagers when there is an entire untapped age group? Pass the mantle to the toddlers and get them started on their social media routine with the IOBR Shape sorting box. This will allow toddlers to inform the world of when they want to eat, sleep and any of their 4 other activities that they manage to achieve during their less than a 10 hour up-time.

Luckily there is no pesky 13 or older limit on this one

They Can Tweet Too

Hell, why limit your self to human followers when canines can tweet. With this dog accessory you can allow your dog to express themselves with one of 500 preloaded messages that can at least make a psychic guess at what your dog (or the neighbors for that matter) is thinking.

Canine Twitter Kit

So if you are willing to spend some extra bucks, you will surely be able to recruit a large number of unassuming followers who will be glad to add to your statistics in social media.

As an SMF have you benefited from this guide? On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your recruiting success using this guide? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

1. Want to be friends?

Maybe we can handle a few companies asking us to be “friends” on Facebook, but it never ends there! You go into you Facebook account and find friend requests from companies you have never bought from, or even worse, you have never heard of!

2. Hackers alert!

Don’t you just hate it when you get those messages from your Facebook friends that their account has been hacked and they have a new one you should follow them on? I mean I really don’t know which accounts are real and which are fake any more!

Hacking Facebook accounts is easy!

3. Never ending quizzes:

Every day, one of your friends decides to take a quiz and almost always in involves you. But the problem is, although they are annoying, they are addictive too and a great way to waste time!

4. Give me more:

Many of Facebook users actually bloat about the number of their followers thus they end up adding people they don’t like or can’t stand just to show the world how popular they are!

5. Enough with the “Likes”!

I can understand why people would like a status update about how happy someone is, but what I hate about Facebook is people “liking” a status update that begins with “RIP”. Really?

What if I dislike?

6. What’s your status?

One of the most annoying this about Facebook is that you need to explain to people why your status changed from “single” to “in a relationship” or “it’s complicated”!

7. Cartoon tagging sucks:

What I don’t get is why people think it’s fun to tag you in useless cartoon spreads along with 50 others. That by itself is annoying and then comes the notification of each comment from every one tagged in the same cartoon spread!

Cartoon tagging is simply annoying!

8. Another poke? Really?

It’s not that they are annoying per se, but they kind of indicate the amount of free time you have on your hands and how bored you really are!

9. Life, documented:

In case you still don’t realize it, your life is constantly documented on Facebook: everything you did with a friend, partner, or a family member and you shared on Facebook will be always there for others to see, if not on your profile page, then through tags and shares on your Friend’s pages!

10. Desperate, are we?

What sucks most about Facebook Is that it could work as a suck-o-meter for everyone who is trying to be cool. Who wants their desperate attempts to get hooked marked on Facebook through revealing profile pictures and frantic status updates about love and finding “the one”?

Hope you enjoyed part 2 of this series.

Looking forward to any additions that you may want to add about the things you hate about Facebook in the comments section below :)

Therefore, I will be sharing with you the 10 worst things about Facebook that you should keep an eye out for:

1. Where is our money?

As you know, Facebook has around 500 millions users and is valued at 65 billion dollars – which means that each of our memberships has added $130 to Zuckerberg’s bank account. What do we get in return? A big fat nothing!

2. Who remembers us, really?

Every birthday, you get loads and loads of short Facebook messages on your wall wishing you a happy birthday. You do realize that the only reason why most of them “remember” is Facebook’s notifications. Don’t you?

Facebook's birthday notifications

3. Replies galore:

Whenever you post anything on your wall, people jump right in offering advice, making judgments and acting like they know better. Your one sentence status update is followed by manifestos of related and unrelated comments which usually drive you insane!

4. Looking for me?

If you don’t know this by now, it’s time that you do: No matter what your privacy setting are, any pervert, weirdo or creep can be looking at your profile picture right now!

5. When did that happen?

Sometimes, when you have nothing to do, you go to your friend’s profiles and check out their pictures – weird but kind of alright. However, what is even weirder is your friends inviting you to view albums of events that you weren’t even invited to!

6. What is your profile picture?

Whether it is a male or a female, I don’t really get the obsession with profile pictures and the never ending struggle to find the perfect one!

Obsession with your profile picture

7. Advertisers matter more than us!

Did you ever notice how Facebook’s business model is designed in a way that depends on sucking away out every last bit of privacy to benefit advertisers?

8. No more redesigns please:

Once you get the hang of your new Facebook profile and design, they go and change it once again. However, no real improvements are ever made!

And yet another Facebook redesign!

9. Looking for a few friend?

Did you ever notice how almost all your “friend suggestions” are never really people whom you know, ever met or would like to meet?

10. What if I “dislike”?

One thing that truly annoys me about Facebook is its “Like” button! What if I don’t like, why can’t there be a “dislike” button?

That’s it for part 1 of this series.

Looking forward to any additions that you may want to add about the things you hate about Facebook in the comments section below :)

Simply put, Reppler is a social media monitoring service designed to keep your social reputation clean and safe. It addresses three critical pillars of your social reputation — content, privacy and security.

My Facebook Account on Reppler

What Does it Do?

Reppler continuously monitors your social networking profiles so you can present a positive image within your circle of friends and professional network. The initial version of Reppler is free and supports Facebook.

Reppler warns Facebook users about pictures or written posts that might hurt their images, highlights public information best kept private and rates how members of the leading social network look online.

“People are concerned about overall perception from the outside world,” said Vlad Gorelik, who worked at cyber security firm AVG Technologies before starting Reppler in the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto.

Moreover, the service also studies recent trends on your Facebook wall, the overall impression you give as well as the latest information you have posted.

Shortcomings:

So far, it seems to me that Reppler’s shortcomings can be divided into 3 categories:

1. Reppler’s inability to recognize the difference between some words which are pronounced the same, yet have a different meaning. In the picture above, you can see how Reppler recognized “weed” as a drug although it was followed by “through” which changes its overall meaning.

2. I can see how Reppler can be a very useful tool for Facebook but can’t seem to wrap my head around how it could be used for other social networking platforms such as Twitter.

3. Although my overall mood has been dark and gloomy on Facebook lately, Reppler still analyzed my impression of Facebook as “partly positive”; after all, it is not human enough to read emotions and between the lines!

However, all in all, I really liked trying out Reppler and I am looking forward to see what more they could offer as premium services.

What is your take? Did you try it out yet? What do you think it might be missing? Looking forward to your insights and comments down below :)

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our 20th list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummings

1. If you choke a smurf what color does it turn?

2. Opera is when a guy get stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding he sings!

3. I exercise not because I care about being big and strong, I just want to look good naked!

4. I keep trying to lose weight , but it keeps finding me.

5. How can I think outside the box when I work inside a cube?

6. I’m on a 30 day diet. So far I’ve lost 15 days :P

7. Did you hear about the new “morning after” pill for men? It changes your blood type!

8. A man said his credit card was stolen but he decided not to report it.The thief was spending less than his wife did.

9. Silence is golden but duck tape is silver.

10. An optimist is someone who falls off the Empire State Building, and after 50 floors says, ‘So far so good!’

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Facebook Mosaic

The Thoughtpick team is dedicated to bringing you top of the line social media tips and howtos in order to help you get the most of your online experience. Therefore, today we will be reblogging this great article we found at onlinecollegecourses.com: 50 Great Ways Colleges Are Using Facebook.

Colleges have fully embraced Facebook as a way to interact with current and prospective students, alumni, and even the general public. It’s a natural fit for finding and communicating with students who are online all the time anyway, and affords colleges a seemingly limitless opportunity for sharing photos, recruiting new students, featuring professors and visiting speakers, and bolstering the image of the institution. Here are 50 great ways colleges are using Facebook.

Prospective and Current Students:

From recruitment strategies to supporting current students, here’s how colleges are working with students via Facebook.

1. Getting their own Facebook page: Colleges set up their own Facebook pages to give students a more interactive platform for researching schools.

2. Schools find interesting students on Facebook: By visiting profiles, admissions officers find new students to recruit based on their extracurriculars and other interesting activities.

3. Share news and events for prospective students: Updating application deadlines and special campus events is common among admissions officers on Facebook.

4. Badgering sports recruits: Unfortunately, some colleges take recruiting too far and post too frequently on prospectives’ walls or leave too many messages.

5. Admissions officers add Facebook to their signature: E-mail signatures often include “Follow us on Facebook” or other Facebook links to encourage students to seek them out elsewhere.

6. They reach prospective students where they are everyday: Colleges feel that Facebook is a natural place to meet students, since that’s where they spend time everyday anyway.

7. Provide the whole admissions experience: Texas A&M has customized a Howdy! page with links to the A&M campus tours website, admissions homepage, and a lot more.

8. Direct students to articles and videos: Some recruiters direct students to informative articles or videos by sending them links on Facebook.

9. Allowing individual admissions officers to have their own accounts: If students feel uncomfortable contacting the Admissions Facebook page, they can talk with an officer one-on-one.

10. Show support via “liking”: Recruitment officers show support by liking students’ statuses and links. 11. Share more photos: Traditional college websites don’t have a lot of extra room for photos, but on Facebook pages, visitors love clicking through albums to view the campus and student life.

12. Free recruitment: Posting messages on Facebook is free, unlike sending packages in the mail.

13. Open up questions: Ohio State features an AskOSUAdmissions page on its profile, letting future Buckeyes type in questions that will be answered by officers.

14. Facebook Places: The University of Kentucky encourages students to check in to different spots on campus so that its name will keep showing up in news feeds.

15. Link to applications: The University of Kansas lets students apply directly from the Facebook page.

16. Host discussions: Forums among prospective students, current students, staff and faculty thrive on Facebook pages.

17. Visit student pages: Many schools won’t use information on a student’s profile to make a decision about admissions, but they also don’t have rules prohibiting officers from visiting student pages.

18. Notes: Schools can make more announcements under the “Notes” page.

19. Organize a list of school websites: List all relevant links on one page for easy referencing.

20. Scholarship stories: Stanford’s students can submit their stories of financial aid onto the Facebook page as a recruiting strategy.

21. Allow open conversation: From roommate requests to random shout-outs, colleges allow all kinds of wall posts on their pages.

22. List majors: Clearly list all the majors offered for easy prospective student research.

Public and Alumni Relations:

Colleges reach out to alumni networks and the general public through Facebook, too.

23. Sharing news stories and links about the university: When a news story is published about the school, colleges use Facebook to point friends to the article so that everyone can see it.

24. Separate alumni pages: To focus on alumni news and events, colleges often set up a totally separate Facebook page for past students only.

25. Show off traditions: Colleges explain and give examples of different traditions, including chants, songs and mascots.

26. Boosting school spirit: Simple quotes or status updates about school spirit are a hit with students, fans and the public.

27. Answer questions: When the public or students ask questions on the Facebook wall, a moderator jumps in to give a personal answer and strengthen that person’s bond with the school.

28. Invite fans to events: Invite Facebook friends to public or alumni events, like game day.

Multimedia:

Videos, iTunes U and other media help enrich the Facebook experience.

29. YouTube channels: Lots of schools have their own YouTube channels and link those videos to their Facebook pages.

30. Link to Twitter: Some colleges even encourage Facebook fans to then follow them on Twitter, too.

31. Link to the blog: Sync your blog’s RSS with your Facebook page.

32. Facebook videos: Besides YouTube, colleges upload videos onto Facebook directly.

33. iTunes U: Texas A&M links to its iTunes U page to share podcasts and other media.

For the complete list, click here… And let us know what you think down below :)

Campaign Idea & Objectives:

The idea of the campaign is simple yet emotionally oriented. “Dear Sophie”, the latest ad, shows a father using Google products to catalog his daughter’s life events from birth to a hospital stay for an unnamed illness, to the loss of her baby teeth. He writes her notes using Gmail, for instance, and posts videos of her on YouTube.

The ad is part of Google’s another emotional ad from Google that aired during Glee. That ad supported the LGBT community with a 91-second compilation of “It Gets Better” clips on YouTube.

Campaign Buzz:

“Dear Sophie” currently has around 560,00 views on Youtube although it has been online for a week only! Furthermore, the ad was able to score 6,386 likes and 878 comments so far.

As for the “It Gets Better” ad, it currently has more than 400,00 views on Youtube.

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

Although the ad got a few dislikes because viewers worried about privacy issues as well as the purposeful manipulation of people’s emotions just for gaining more users, I loved the ad and the idea of the campaign in general. To me, it is heartfelt and very creative.

So what can we learn from this campaign?

• People are not always looking for a laugh: One might think that humor is the best way to enter the minds of your audience, it’s not. Sometimes, the tears can bring your audience closer to your brand as well.
• Find the right social media channel for you: Not every campaign needs exposure on multiple social media channels, remember that when designing your campaign and matching it with the campaign objectives you have in mind.

Finally, did you happen to see this campaign? What did you think of it?

Looking forward to your comments and feedback down below :)

Contest Idea & Objectives:

Lead photomosiac by Dan4th

The contest idea is innovative, unique and fun: Contestants were asked to create a photomosaic; a photo made of several smaller photos while making sure that every photo is their own and that the main photo, the mosaic template itself, is as well.

Sadly, the contest ended on Monday, March 28th. I wish I heard about it earlier!

Contest Buzz:

Since the contest was mainly advertised through Gizmodo’s site, Twitter and Facebook accounts, it was impossible to figure out its buzz as a separate event. (I even tried contacting Gizmodo for some details about the buzz the contest acquired, but I got no response.)

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

I just loved the idea of the contest just as I love everything Gizmodo are doing online: Not only are they active, but they are loaded with creative and innovative ideas which are two highly important elements in the field they are in!

So, what can we learn from Gizmodo’s Photomosaic contest?

• Creativity rules: If you have creative ideas, you will attract people to what you are doing and gain their love and loyalty.
• Time Frames Count: What I love about Gizmodo’s campaigns and contests is that they are time framed in a way that ensures people do hear of the event and have the time to submit their work yet not too long that people get bored of waiting for the results!

I hope you enjoyed my analysis :)

Looking forward to any feedback you might have about the idea and its execution :)

Today’s application is one of those few that deserve to be reviewed and appreciated: Disney “Tickets Together” App.

The Application:

Disney Ticket Together on Facebook

The idea of the application is to transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining purchases with the powerful forces of social networking.

What They Did:

Disney made the application very easy to use: all you needs to do is to go the application’s page, choose the movie you want to purchase the tickets for, the Facebook friends you’d like to invite, the time you’d like to go and viola, you are good to go!

Choosing Facebook Friends You'd Like to Invite

But that’s not all! The application developers added a little spice to the experience by allowing ticket buyers to compete via badge collection! As you use Disney Tickets Together to create fun Facebook movie events for you and your friends, you can earn exclusive badges based on your activities! The more friends invited, dates selected, and events created, the better the badges you receive. You can even share them in your feed to show off your success!

A round of applause to Disney and its developers!

But that’s our take, what’s yours? Do you like the application? Would you consider using it? What more do you think it should have to be more viral than it already is?

Looking forward to your comments and insights down below…

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our nineteenth list of the 10 top funniest list for this week.

Funny & Cute!

1. A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said ‘no’!

2. Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.

3. Biologically speaking, if something bites you, it is more likely to be female.

4. I believe in rules. Sure I do. If there weren’t any rules, how could you break them?

5. When life gives you lemons, squirt them in your enemy’s eyes!

6. People in cars cause accidents. Accidents in cars cause people :P

7. Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

8. Now that Microsoft is so big, should it be called Macrosoft?

9. He said to me: “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list!”

10. Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook updates, jokes or quotes in the comments section below.

Banned by Facebook

When you go to the bank to rent out a security, they will inform you of their policy. They will also ensure you that if they want to terminate your contract at any point, they will first inform you of the reason they are terminating your contract for, they will offer you a respite and in certain cases some options for corrective actions, and they would always allow you to retrieve all of your personal effects that you have with their business. So if, for instance, I placed a photo album in my security deposit box, I will be able to retrieve it in case of termination so why is that not the case with Facebook?

There is a lot of talk about the evolving usage of social media, and especially about how their usage policy might be incompatible, harsh and sometimes completely biased in the way that it views the users of the service devoid of their circumstances. In the case of the protests in the Middle East and North Africa, there are several people that had their accounts deleted mainly because they didn’t register with their birth name. You need to look no further than the comments on our post about activating disabled Facebook profiles to learn how draconian the Facebook termination policy is.

But today, I don’t want to discuss how fair or unfair the policy is, what I do want to talk about is the way that Facebook treats the content its users place on the website. The popularity of Facebook comes from the people and the content that they place on the website. The majority of  Facebook users are under the false impression that they own the content on their Facebook profiles when that is not the case at all.

For example, when you upload your photos to Facebook, you are creating content on the site and if they disable your account, you have no way of accessing content that you own on there. Given that you own this content, denying you from accessing it is akin to a bank confiscated the content of your security deposit box.

What is even more ludicrous is that you are not able to remove content off of your Facebook account. To this day, even after various people have written and complained about the issue, people can still find images deleted 2-3 years ago still offered through Facebook’s content delivery network and anyone who has a direct link can access it (problem verified as off March 28th). As a matter of fact, anyone can share any “private” photos on Facebook if they have this direct link, regardless of any privacy settings that you may have on the photo which is another violation of your right to control how your content is shared.

Therefore, if Facebook is in no hurry to delete your content they should be able to accommodate the calls to allow those who have their accounts disabled to retrieve their content before they are completely denied access. That would be the fair thing to do to thousands of people who lost their personal photo albums because they have trusted Facebook and uploaded their photos there only to find later on that their accounts have been disabled and they have lost the only copies that they have had of those precious moments. For the time being, I encourage everyone to back up their Facebook account(s) because you’ll never know when the Facebook police will decide to axe your account.

Who is the owner of the content on Facebook? How do you think Facebook should treat disabled users? Do they have any rights? Share with us your thoughts and comments in the section below.

Underline or bold a chat message:

You can underline or bold any chat message by either adding a * or an _ to the beginning and end of a chat message.

Bold Message –> *Bold Message*

Underline Message –> _Underline Message_

Using more than 420 words in a status update:

You can easily overcome the 420 word limit of status updates. All you have to do is upload a picture and then you can write without any limitations:

Breaking the Limit

Show post from all your friends:

Show posts from all friends

Did you notice that only a limited number of your friends appear in your News Feed? The reason is that not all your friends appear in News Feed by default, only the ones that you interact with the most appear there. To adjust that, you will have to go to News Feed–>Most Recent–>Edit Options–> select ‘All of your friends and pages’. Also, you can hide any annoying individuals by naming them under the “Hide Posts From” section.

The Facebook Directory:

Everything from people, application, pages or places listed in alphabetical order you can access it all on the Facebook directory.

Extra security for your account:

Protect your account

If you are worried about your account being compromised, you can enable a feature on Facebook that will inform your through an email or an SMS whenever a new location logs on to your account. To enable this feature: go to your Account–>Account Setting–> and select  ‘Change’ on Account Security and then check the medium you would like to receive your notification through.  It’s also a good idea to enable the https browsing to protect your self from account hijacking attacks.

Download Your Facebook:

While in the past you had to rely on 3rd party services to backup your Facebook information, videos and photos you can now do it from Facebook as well. While you shouldn’t go ahead an cancel your backup accounts because this feature is only available as long as you have access to your Facebook account, it’s still useful to have a copy of the data as well, just in case.

So to download this information go to Account –> Account Settings –> Download –> Learn More. It will take Facebook sometime to gather your information, pictures and videos and when its done it will send you an email providing you with a link to download a zip archive (.zip) of your Facebook account. This archive does not included photos uploaded by your friends that you are tagged in, or your friends email addresses but it’s better than nothing.

Have you found the tips to be helpful? Share with us your thoughts in the comment section below.

VIDA

“VIDA is a community of people like you. People that accept you just the way you are. People that support you in achieving your full potential, safely at your own pace. Be stimulated into action, stimulate others, and be loved for it.”

Check out myvida.me for more about the vision and concept.

Examples of Pledges on Facebook:

Family Related Pledge

Personal Pledge

Work Related Pledge

How Far Can It Go?

The way we see it, VIDA Project is a unique approach to change. Moreover, since it is being driven by youth, the project should be able to have a strong impact only if the following points were thoroughly considered:

1. Consistency and Longevity: A project such as VIDA needs time and continuous efforts for it to reach its goals. Patience is a very important element because it will take time for the project to get the exposure it needs to make the change desired.
2. Clever Use of Social Media Channels: Although VIDA is utilizing its website and Facebook account for exposure, there are other venues which it needs to consider, such as Twitter, in order to expand and obtain a wider reach to fully make use of social media communities and their power.
3. Work on Related Blogging: I think what can further help VIDA fulfill its objectives is a blogging platform where comments, insights, questions and suggestions could be posted and thoroughly discussed. Also, such a platform would help attract attention to the work VIDA is doing and link it to others working towards similar goals.
4. Make Use of Audio Visuals: When I first came across VIDA, the first thing I was looking for was some videos of those who initiated the project and their stories in addition to the video recorded pledges of some of those who are active in it. I think it will give more credibility to what VIDA is trying to achieve plus add to it the fun element which will help people get more connected to the cause being promoted.
   
5. Aim for International Exposure: Although VIDA is a Lebanese project, I believe it should aim to get international exposure because that will give it a stronger base and reflect a great image of Lebanon and its people as well.

Finally, I would like to ask you what you think of VIDA Project? Do you think it would work in the long-run? What other advice and recommendations could you give those working on this project to help ensure more exposure and future success?

Looking forward to your insights and feedback down below :)

1. Blabber T’ yer Mates Like A Pirate

Perfect for a Talk Like a Pirate Day

If you fancy being a bit silly and having your Facebook read like a manifesto out of a dead man’s chest, then you should be interested in changing your Facebook Language to Pirate. To do so, go to Ye Ship’s Rigging, err; Account Settings => Language and then select your Primary Language as English (Pirate). Sadly, you’ll be the only one seeing your pirate talk.

Y'er Tongue, Mate!

2. Flip It

Flipping Facebook

If you have a tendency to browse your Facebook while doing your headstands, make sure to change your language to English (uʍop ǝpısdn) and if you want to talk to your fellow “headstandees” then make sure to use Flip Text website which allows you to post in upside down English.

3. Play Asteroids

A MySpace Wet Dream?

Most of us, Generation Y’ers, grew up with video games all around us, and the old Tetris and NES games hold a special place in our hearts. So it’s fun to mess with Facebook and play asteroids with it. To play the game, drag this bookmark on your browser (courtesy of Erik Rothoff Andersson) and just click it on Facebook or any other website for that matter. It is perfect for deleting names from Facebook screen captures or destroying those Facebook ads. It also keeps your score, Try it out.

Do you have any other silly tricks or guilty pleasures on Facebook? Share with us your thoughts or comments below.

Therefore, I invite you to invite you to enjoy our eighteenth list of the 10 top funniest Facebook updates, jokes & quotes.

1. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good :P

2. Life is like a roller coaster, and I’m about to throw up!

3. Bullshit: the art of making the idiotic sound sensible.

4. Due to recent cutbacks and until further notice, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off!

5. Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

6. I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

7. Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings :P

8. I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places!

9. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don’t have film.

10. When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room!

Hope you had a good laugh! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your favorite funniest Facebook status updates in the comments section below.

So What’s The Campaign About?

The Campaign is pretty simple in a sense; it doesn’t have the high production values of the usual Pepsi commercial. As a matter of fact it doesn’t even explicitly say or show Pepsi at any point in the commercial. The only thing that indicates that it’s related to Pepsi at all, beside the glimpses you get of the can every now and then, is the fact that it’s on Pepsi’s Youtube page.

The Buzz

The video to date has been watched more than 1.48 million times on Pepsi’s Youtube channel and has sparked a heated debate on the authenticity of it spread across blogs, Twitter, Facebook and a 1,300+ comments on the original video. The debate is completely void of any mentions of Pepsi, even though it’s a Pepsi commercial, but every single one of those people must have noticed the new shiny silver Pepsi can in the commercial. and those interested enough in getting either more Beckham or Pepsi must have clicked on the link below the video for Diet Pepsi’s Facebook page.

Twitter Debate of The Video

Lessons Learned

• In a post-branding era the conversation is more important than the traditional aspects of branding and with this commercial Pepsi attracted a crowd that might have scoffed at the idea of discussing a Pepsi commercial when that’s exactly what they are doing.
• The attraction power of a star. If it was just a random person doing this trick it surely wouldn’t have attracted that many people over this short span of time, the fact that people knew who David is made them have some ground for a debate.

What do you think? Share with us your thoughts and comments below.

Therefore, they went for a campaign that was part reality show, part commercial, and that interacts fully with the public through social media, the Xperia Hotshots Campaign.

Campaign Idea:

The Xperia Hotshots will follow six up and coming female Tennis stars. The show will follow the girls around the world on the WTA tour, having fun off court and meeting the stars of the world on their way to stardom. The lucky girls are Bethanie Mattek-Sands from the USA, Heather Watson from the UK, Alize Cornet from France, Sabine Lisicki from Germany, Sorana Cirstea from Romania and Dominika Cibulkova from Slovakia, and fans will be able to vote on their favorite contestant who, in September, will receive a €100,000.

Campaign Reactions:

The campaign has been well received; three days after the reveal on the 21st of March and their Facebook page already has more than 87,000 fans.

Each of the upcoming stars has their own Facebook page and Twitter accounts to interact with their fans, and currently some are more successful than the others in garnering likes and followers. Currently, Sorana Cirstea is leading with 26,000 likes, but haven’t used her Twitter since May, 2010. A quick look at the many comments left on the campaigns’ Facebook page you will notice that the majority of the them are about how hot, beautiful, and wanted those women are, and that the majority of the people commenting are males.

Lessons learned:

• Know your audience. The campaign is squarely aimed at youth which will be a win-win for both Sony Ericsson and WTA given that the majority of the audience of both brands are from the youth and knowing the young stars of the WTA will appeal to them, especially the males.
• Attach a big name for initial exposure. Attaching Maria Sharapova’s name to hotshots gave the campaign the initial exposure required to make more than 80,000 fans to like the page on Facebook in the span of the first 3 days after its lunch.
• Understand the medium you are using. People watch reality shows not because the contestants are friendly but because there are some amusing and usually scandalous situations and contestants so I’m not quite sure whether this was the best medium for the campaign since the WTA would be keeping an eye on this to maintain their image. Therefore, sadly I doubt that this campaign will be a success because people will quickly lose interest and, come May, no body will care about this campaign or any of the constants because frankly there will be nothing meaty to chew on here. But I do hope I’m proved wrong.

What do you think of reality shows as a form of campaign? Do you think the campaign will be successful? Share with us your thoughts in the comment section below.

In case you have never heard of FireFly, here’s a short clip:

Idea & Objectives:

Firefly Cast

In order to make bring back FireFly, the internet has launched HelpNathanBuyFirefly.com, which offers the following plan of action:

1. Create a limited partnership to be owned by the fans. Anyone who invests in the company has a voice.
2. The purpose of this partnership will be to enable what everyone has been hoping for all these years: the production and distribution of more of our favorite show.
3. Create a system through which anyone can invest in the organization. If we can’t raise enough money, or if we can’t acquire the rights we’re after, we return the remaining funds. No hassle, no questions, no worries.
4. Look for a few good Browncoats to serve as a board for oversight.

Generated Buzz:

So far, numbers have been promising and fans have been interested, active and involved in a way that you seldom see for similar campaigns!

There are already 113,621 likes on one of the campaign’s Facebook pages, with ongoing conversations about the TV show, the Browncoats and Nathan Fillion. Other related pages also have thousands of likes as well!

Likes and comments on Facebook

As for Nathan Fillion’s Twitter account, it currently has 760,134 followers and counting. Moreover, there are hashtags for #FireFly #NathanFillion & #Browncoats circulating the Twitter stream on an hourly basis!

Campaign Hashtags

And, as for the money raised so far from the pledges page, well, you might want to take a look at the figure yourself:

Total Pledges

Opinion & Lessons Learned:

In my humble opinion, and although I have never watched the show, what the fans were able to achieve so far could not be described by anything less than genius! Frankly, their dedication amuses me and even scares me a little; too cult-like for my taste!

However, I can’t but fully respect the effort and the hard work that has been put in this campaign so far.

So, what can we learn from this campaign?

• Loyal fans are more valuable than gems! Yes, they are indeed. Look at what Nathan’s fans were able to do and understand how important it is to have a fan base that loves you and would do almost anything for you!
• Have a plan of action: If you want to succeed in your campaign, always try to have a clear plan of action which all your audience have access to.

Finally, and to wrap this up, I would like to ask you a few questions: What do you think of this campaign? Have you participated in it? And do you think it would succeed?

Looking forward to your comments and insights in the comment section below :)

Update: The social media campaign actually worked and Firefly Returns to TV in HD on Science Channel