Let others tag your Facebook page photos

By Tim Priebe on September 13, 2010 at 1:21 pm in Social Networking

evilfacebookcolor

It turns out that the default setting is that others cannot tag pictures you post on your business’s Page. They can for your personal profile, but not on your Page.

Luckily, a Facebook user figured out the following method, and we were able to use it on our Pages here at T&S. Works way better than a baseball bat.

Follow these steps to allow users to tag photos on your business’s Facebook Page:

  1. Go to your Facebook Page.
  2. Directly below your Page’s Profile photo, click on “Edit Page”.
  3. In your browser’s URL, note the number that comes AFTER ‘edit/?id=’ That number is your Page ID.
  4. Go to this URL, but change REPLACEME to your Page ID from step 3: http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/app_settings.php?id=REPLACEME&aid=2305272732
  5. Click the setting for “Allow All Fans to Tag Photos”
  6. Save your settings.

Not too difficult, and good to know!

Social Media book for absolute beginners

By Tim Priebe on July 26, 2010 at 10:13 am in Reviews,Social Networking

The Social Media Marketing BookFrom time to time, people ask me where to find a good absolute beginner’s guide to social media and social networking. As you might imagine, those aren’t books I read, so it’s somewhat difficult for me to find one I can really recommend.

Recently Jerry Pournelle, a famous sci-fi author, wrote a succinct review about The Social Media Marketing Book (affiliate link warning), by Dan Zarrella. Although Pournelle’s review here (scroll down a bit after clicking) is fairly succinct, here’s his comment on who this book is good for:

That should give you an idea of who this book is meant for: people who want to promote products by using the new social media like Facebook and Twitter, but who don’t know the game: either because they’re just getting started, or they are old fogeys who haven’t kept up with the enormous explosions on the Internet. Incidentally, you may count me in the latter group.

Sounds like it’s probably good if you haven’t used social media at all and really need a primer.

Friend your favorite T&S employees

By Tim Priebe on July 5, 2010 at 8:22 am in General,Social Networking

T&S on FacebookWhile you probably know you can become a fan (or like, or whatever) T&S on Facebook, you might not know that we require all employees to have a Facebook account as well. Here, just for fun, are some of our more interesting Facebook statuses, with a link to our accounts.


timjpriebeTim Priebe Neighbor’s kid setting off fireworks at 6am: Extremely annoying, but effective alarm clock.

priebechickLeann Bailey Priebe Going crazy. Must eat ice cream….

emilyspirekEmily Spirek Jimmy Johns is playing Little Miss Sunshine music…of course now I want to watch it.

elyssadolingerElyssa Stork Dolinger I’m just grumpy ’cause you drive stupid.

seansandersSean Sanders 40 cop cars lined up in anticipation of post-game Lakers riot. None for E3. Now, which games promote violence?

adamboothAdam Booth Ψε watching TRON, made in 1982… Epic special effects!!!

chrisengstromChris Engstrom Ψε just got back from working 9am-2am. kinda exhausted right now.

scotttribbeyScott Tribbey What a great day. I do dishes, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, then the once-in-a-century hail storm decides to hit, kill a couple of north windows in the kitchen and living room, and make my car look like craters on the moon. The Village looks like a warzone.

5 FREE Twitter Backgrounds

By Elyssa Dolinger on May 1, 2010 at 12:00 am in freebies,General,Social Networking

5freeHow would you like to be the proud, new owner of a custom twitter background? Rather than go through the pains of background design, why not let a professional take care of it? For free even! (That’s gratis, free of charge, for nothing, complimentary, on the house.)

In the Month of May, we’re offering 5 free twitter backgrounds.

So what do you have to do to get your mitts on a brand new, bouncing baby background? It’s as easy as 1, 2…

1) Follow @tandswebdesign

2) Simply tweet

Just entered to win a #FreeTwitterBG . Just follow @TandSwebdesign and retweet. http://bit.ly/aqt6Om

At the end of May we will be contacting the winners VIA twitter about their new background. Until then, enter the contest, sit back, tweet and enjoy some of our previous work:

screen-shot-2010-04-29-at-22105-pm
@littler4bbit

screen-shot-2010-04-29-at-22456-pm
@emilyspirek

screen-shot-2010-04-29-at-22558-pm
@cochristonline

screen-shot-2010-04-29-at-22525-pm
@timjpriebe

screen-shot-2010-04-29-at-24339-pm
@tandswebdesign

Twitter Resources

By Tim Priebe on March 3, 2010 at 2:09 pm in Link Roundup,Social Networking

PrintUnlike some other social networking sites, Twitter does not have third party applications on their website. Instead, they allow those to be hosted on other websites, and let those tie directly into Twitter. Here are a few of those Twitter resources I’ve found useful

TweetBeep.com

tweetbeep

If you are familiar with Google Alerts, then you’ll understand TweetBeep.com, which bills itself as Google Alerts for Twitter. Basically, you can enter search terms, and TweetBeep.com will email you tweets that match the search when they show up on Twitter.

TwitBacks.com

twitbacks

If you’re not a graphic designer yourself, TwitBacks.com is a good resource for getting a background image for your Twitter account that’s more customized than the backgrounds Twitter offers by default. They have over 80 backgrounds, and you can customize them online with your social networking links, a longer biography than Twitter allows, and even add a picture of yourself or your logo.

SocialOomph.com

socialoomph

If you’re looking to schedule tweets, automatically follow those who follow you or automatically send direct messages to new followers, SocialOomph.com is the choice for you.

Twitter Feed

twitterfeed

Tweeting about your latest blog entry is made automatic with Twitter Feed. Just enter in any RSS feed address, customize the settings if necessary, and every time you blog it will be pushed automatically out to Twitter. Of course, other RSS feeds will work as well.

Twitter Grader

twittergrader

Wanting to see how well you’re using Twitter? Twitter Grader is an automated tool from the guys that brought you Website Grader. While this type of tool should be taken with a grain of salt, it is neat to see how you rank compared to others in your town.

Your Twitter Karma

twitterkarma

Your Twitter Karma will give you a list of all the people who you’re following or who are following you, and will let you filter the list. A good tool if you want to see who’s following you that you’re not following, or vice versa. It was extremely useful when they would let you bulk unfollow people you were following who weren’t following you, but apparently Twitter asked them to remove that feature. Also, it’s a bit slow and the site is as ugly as sin, but it’s useful otherwise.

Know of some other great Twitter resources you’ve found useful? Please let us know!

Pros and Cons to new Facebook layout

By Tim Priebe on February 22, 2010 at 5:04 pm in Social Networking

Over the last month or so, Facebook has been rolling out their redesigned site, with many key elements changing in an overall layout overhaul. I asked some of the T&S staff to let me know what they thought of the new Facebook layout, now that they’ve had some time to use it. Here are their thoughts:

Elyssa Dolinger

I think it’s usable, but I always hate how they change things without asking. Yeah, they’re not going to listen to me, but I’d at least like to be asked. I miss my little bar at the bottom! I know it’s on the side but there is so much stuff over there it’s cluttered. I also wish there was just a little bit better definition between sections, color-wise. It all gets mucked together which means I gloss over the link I’m looking for.

fb-1The thing that I actually really DO like in this change of layout is the little notifications next to the Facebook logo on the top left of the page. The three subtle icons representing friend requests, messages, and notifications get these little red flags on them when you have some. It’ll even have a tiny number in there telling you how many you have so you can know what you’re getting into before you commit to clicking.

Sean Sanders

fb-2I feel like the new layout is more organized. Having the bar on the bottom made it less noticeable than it is now. Also, I like seeing all the categories broken down on the side. It just seems a lot easier to get to different places now. That’s about all I’ve noticed that’s really different.

Amber Hanks

I really like the new design of Facebook. I think the simplified look works better. It took a little getting used to though. I also like that the friend requests and messages are more dynamic. I also like how notifications show up in the left sidebar when you’re logged in.

Unfortunately, chat still appears to be buggy when you have several chats going. It will say people are offline for just a second, and messages won’t go through. Then a moment later, they’re back online again. It’s too bad they didn’t fix some of those things.

fb-4

Emily Spirek

My initial reaction of the new layout was the opposite of most. Although Facebook has made some questionable updates in the past, I don’t understand why so many people disliked this one. I think the overall intention was a good one, but there still needs to be some improvements.

Here’s what I like:

  1. The dashboard with a more central location of everything you need.
  2. “Live Feed” changed to “Most Recent”…not a huge deal, just think it makes more sense.
  3. I love icons, mainly b/c they simplify everything and look cool. I like the addition of Friend Requests, Messages and Notifications in the top left.

fb-3Here’s what I’d like to see:

  1. Home, Profile and Account on the same side as the new icons I just mentioned, and turn those into icons as well.
  2. I’m not sure if they were refraining from total shock by keeping chat in the same location, but I don’t understand why the Friends Online needs to be in 2 separate locations. On the left sidebar where it says “See All”, it’s awkward how a pop up appears across the screen. I feel like the random choices of online friends is a waste of space. Either put the whole list in the left sidebar or stick with the original chat in the bottom right.

That’s all I see so far, overall I think it was a smart move by Facebook.

Twitter isn’t so scary

By Elyssa Dolinger on February 10, 2010 at 6:44 pm in Social Networking

Twitter isn’t exactly new. People have been using, abusing and even making a living off of Twitter since it’s inception in 2006. In an instantaneous world, four years might as well be a million. It’s like an art form that I all-of-a-sudden need to know and I’m not even sure why. There are Twitter experts and then…there are people like me.

tweettrans

Hi. My name is Elyssa and I am Tweet-impaired.

The first step to using Twitter, I think, is to understand what it is. Twitter is like a Facebook status update. It’s like blogging in 140 characters. It’s like swimming in a pool of millions of people or stepping into a chat room with everyone in the world invited. It is like all those things, but not exactly any one of them. Twitter is Twitter.

So why is it useful?

It’s real time, instant action. You can follow the news not only by following a news station, but you can search for a topic and get real time information. Remember the attempted Iranian Revolution? As a fledgling twitterer, I watched with morbid fascination as people tweeted and re-tweeted which embassies were open, what streets were not safe and quotes of remembrance about why they were doing what they were doing.

People use Twitter like a community. It’s faster than a forum, and doesn’t require everyone to be present at once to hold a conversation like a chat or instant message. It’s a happy in-betweener. Like leaving a note for someone or sending a text message.

Businesses use Twitter to prove that they’re not robots. When you get a response from a large corporation, a non generic direct response, you’ll definitely start to feel important. @jetblue and @homedepot are actually pretty good at this.

So what can you do with it?

Make it easy to succeed. There are programs out there (like HootSuite, TweetDeck, or Twhirl) that make Twitter less overwhelming and more manageable. These applications will even let you load your Facebook on there (and other social sites) for cross posting…if you’re into that kind of thing. You can even use these applications to search twitter so that you can look for conversations that you might be interested in, or you might even find a conversation about you or your business.

Keep it short and sweet. You can post links/photos/videos you found useful or interesting in your community or even in the world. This is best done with the help of a URL shortening service like TinyURL or Bit.ly. It’ll help tidy up your tweets so that you can explain your link. People like to know what they are clicking into before hand, especially if they are at work.

Use your hashtags. As mind-boggling as they are, hashtags help tweeters follow a thread of conversation and discussion trends. It’s similar to tags on a blog. If you use them, it’ll help more people who are interested see what you have to say.

Yeah, I know. I’m late to the party. And I still feel like a fledgling Tweeter, but somehow Twitter is a little bit more understandable. Like any social media, the most important part is making connections. So get out there and make some friends.

Facebook on a dial-up modem

By Tim Priebe on December 9, 2009 at 3:29 pm in Social Networking

lite.facebook.comIf you’re connected to the internet on a dial-up modem (yes, non-believers, there are still dial-up modems out there), you may have experienced some frustration when trying to access sites like Facebook.

Fret no longer!

Facebook is offering lite.facebook.com, a site designed specifically for people who like less clutter, or just have limited bandwidth like dial-up users do.

Twitter Phishing Scam Alert

By Tim Priebe on October 14, 2009 at 2:07 pm in Social Networking

Phishing Scam ArtistTwitter has posted that some individuals are having problems with their usernames and passwords. I’m hearing from some sources that this is actually a result of an extensive phishing scam. Definitely don’t change your password after clicking a link in an email or direct message, and just be careful in general on Twitter for the next few days.

And, as always, if you’re about to enter your password on a website, take a look at the URL in your browser and make sure you’re actually on the right site, not some scamming or phishing site.

For those who don’t know, phishing is an attempt to fraudulently obtain sensitive information like usernames and passwords, often by looking very similar in appearance to a legitimate website you would enter that information on.

UPDATE

Just a few hours after posting this, I received the infamous direct message.

phishing-1

For the sake of posterity (or whatever), I went ahead and clicked on the link. Click below for the full version, and notice the URL is not a Twitter URL.

phishing-2

I went ahead and entered a fake username and password, and it sent me to the Fail Whale. So if you run into that yourself, immediately log into your account from Twitter.com and reset the password.

Facebook’s latest feature

By Tim Priebe on September 22, 2009 at 6:53 am in How-To,Social Networking,Video

Facebook just added a new feature where you can link to other people in comments. See how this works, and where it doesn’t work.

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