Are you a Verizon customer?

If you are currently on a Verizon plan, you are in luck for some Cyber Monday deals. Verizon has bought the hashtag #Cyber Monday , and if you tweet or post a status on Facebook that Verizon supplies, then you are able to unlock a series of discounts. Every time you use their status you unlock a new discount. For example: Today's deal, you can receive 15% off a new blackberry. 

I wasn't aware that you could even buy hashtags, but it is an awesome idea for a business. This may be a useful technique for our shenanigans project. Shenanigans could buy a hashtag that mentions their name, and in return the customers could may get a 5% discount of some sort. 

Social Media has really opened up new techniques for businesses to give out discount and other promotional items. Think back to 10 years ago when we didn't have any of these sites, technology has moved our generation to a new era that is more customer savvy. What would we do if we didn't have all of these social media sites? How would people be aware of the discounts? I guess we would have to go back to just the paper ads that come along with you local paper. How awful/ non eco-friendly that would be. 

A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words

As we currently discussed in class, whatever picture of you in on the internet will ALWAYS be on the internet. In the article 5 Facebook profile pictures that will make you look like a tool , from CNN.com. It discusses five different sorts of pictures that shouldn't be displayed on your Facebook page. With most of us either currently looking for a job or will be looking for a job within the next 6 months, we really need to take into consideration on how your profile picture perceives us.

The 5 profile pictures it says that we shouldn't display are as followed:
1. "The Myspace Shot" which is generally a picture taken of yourself. Often sometimes people will look seductive and this gives off a bad vibe to friends and future employers.
2. Pictures of your pet or baby, yes these may be cute but when an employer is looking for someone, how are they suppose to know what you look like, if the picture isn't even of you.
3. "Liquoring Up," I think the title enough sums up why you shouldn't have these pictures as your profile picture. It shows a lack of responsibility.
4. Group Shots, when having a group shot as a default, an employer may be confused as to who you are.
5. Holiday or Wedding pictures months after they have already passed. These pictures just aren't professional and yes they are okay to use for a week or two but you don't need to use them for a long period of time.

Hopefully these five profile picture types can help you choose the right picture for when you are looking to be employed in the future.

How Location Based Social Media Can Help Save You a Buck

With tough economic times people are always trying to find ways to save a dollar. In the article on mashable.com it discusses how stores on black Friday are offering discounts to people to check in using location based social networking sites. Once you have checked in and you can prove that you checked in you are sometimes awarded a badge that will allow you to get the discount or you can simply show that you have checked in and you are awarded the discount on the spot. Sears also awarded discounts to people who had like a certain product of theirs

By promoting these special discounts to people I believe it brought more people to the foursquare website to join, in return raising the awareness of the site. I know personally that I have seen in multiple places lately the little foursquare logo, either by the cash register, seeing it on their website or Facebook page or being told about it by a sales associate. If more stores would make it aware I believe foursquare would be a little more popular.

The stores who did promote their location based service properly probably will have a successful return rate on black Friday. So if you are looking to save a buck then make sure to check out your favorite stores websites, facebook pages, and foursquare announcements.

An Advance in Twitter

Ever wonder how popular you tweets are? Well you will soon be able to track that, when Twitter launches their new analytical service . The new service will allow you too view the popularity of your tweets, your own popularity on the service, number or retweets and replies and favorites each tweet has received.

For businesses and marketers I believe this is a wonderful and useful tools because you will be able to track the popularity or items, such as if you have a new picture of a new product, you would be able to see how many people were curious to see what it looked like. This could give you an idea of how many of your followers would be interested in purchasing the product. I am surprised Twitter hasn't offered this service sooner considering newer sites such as Foursquare has already had this service available.