So Facebook has finally done it… it has risen to the challenge of Google+ by introducing Facebook Friends Lists.

These lists give you the ability to organize your friends into various categories, so you have much more control over who sees your news feed by filtering your updates to these different categories.

Smart list:  Facebook creates four lists (work, school, family and city) and updates them automatically based on the profile info that your friends have in common with you. One can also manage these lists by manually adding or removing friends from these lists. For example, I have listed SocialMetre as a place of work in my profile and Facebook has created a smart list called “Socialmetre” in my profile and automatically added friends who have Socialmetre listed as their workplace in their profile.

Close Friends list: As the name suggests, this list would consist of your best friends whom you want to keep in touch with on a daily basis and do not want to miss even a single update of theirs.

Acquaintances list: This list is typically for people you know causally or not in active contact with. For example, classmates you no longer are touch with on a regular basis or your business contacts can be added to this list. You won’t see each and every post of theirs but only the important stuff. So who decides what is important? … well! that is done by Facebook.

Apart from the above lists, you also have something called the Restricted list. Friends in this list will only see your Public posts. You’ll still be friends on Facebook so that you can send messages or tag them in a post or if you want to connect to them from time to time. You can be in total control of information flow here.

These lists are being rolled over to everyone in the next couple of days and will be rolling out on mobile over the next few weeks.

So what do you think of these lists?  Are you going to be using them?

Recently Linkedin made changes (long overdue) to their mobile phone ( android and iphone) app. This change brings big time speed improvements as well as navigational elements that highlight popular features like LinkedIn Today and Messages.

The first thing that strikes you is the simplicity, the ease of use and its much faster. Apparently the  new mobile application is between two and ten times faster across all features, ranging from search to reading your update stream.

Linkedin has decided to keep things really simple and have divided the application into 4 main areas:

1)      Updates: Know the latest that is happening with your connections. There is an easy share button with the option of choosing your update is visible to anyone or just your connections.

2)      Inbox: Read and reply easily to your messages. Also view your invitations, all at one place. So now you can easily send a quick email to your connections and invite contacts that you’ve just met.

3)      You: Access your profile, share an update. But beware you still can’t update your profile from your phone, maybe the next round of changes will incorporate this as well. You can also view your connections to see how their networks have grown, who you have in common, and what’s changed on their profile.

4)      Groups & more : This is my favourite change, being part of all the discussions and updates from your group all from the convenience of your phone. Though you can’t manage the members of the group.

Overall there is massive improvement. It’s clean, crisp and working very nicely.

What are your views on the new Linkedin app? Has this resulted in you using Linkedin more in your business?

On a recent trip to India, one thing that was evident was the use of social media by businesses. Businesses whether big or small..retail or consumer goods, even the Bollywood stars are seen  engaging with fans on Twitter, everyone has jumped on to the social media bandwagon.

Everywhere I was struck by huge amount of use of digital marketing. I must say India has come a long way from one of the lowest internet penetration in the world to what it is today.

Neilsen India recently conducted a study on the growth of social media in India and it did throw up some interesting facts: You can read the whole report here.

• Nearly 30 million Indians who are online consumers are members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on these social networking sites daily.
• Social Media in India is growing at 100 percent and is likely to touch 45 million users by 2012.
• Indians spend more time on social media than they do checking personal email.
• One third of India’s online consumers are aware of brands that have an online presence.
• A fourth of online Indians were able to recall brands using social media.
• Over the next six months 45,000 online Indians intend to join social networking sites every day.
• 60 percent Indians who are social media users are open to being approached by brands.

One thing is for sure that social media is going to be a growth driver for digital media and marketing in India. Companies have no choice whether to do social media or not but instead they need to ask themselves how well are they doing social media?

What is your take on social media in India..will it last ?

Twitter, the microblogging service used by everyone from your favourite restaurant to the beauty salon next door, can be a hugely useful tool for both home and business use. But how do you make the best of it? How do you separate noise from genuinely interesting messages, and how do you leverage your time?

Below are some of the tools which have been put together by Zebolsen which helps you to save time and to reach a wider audience.

1) # Hashtag.org : He talks about how we can reach a wider audience by using hashtags.
2) Ping.fm : is a simple and FREE service that makes updating your social networks a snap.
3) Hootsuite: A personal favourite of mine. A Social Media Dashboard, which you can use to monitor keywords, manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare profiles. It is web- based, not tied down to a computer so it can be accessed from anywhere.
4) Socialoomph ( formerly Tweetlater) : Can help you automate , follow those who follow you, Auto welcoming DM to your new followers etc.
5) Twollow : Is a great tool to find other tweeters with similar interests to you.
6) TwitterLocal.net: a great place for customers to connect to local businesses and then tweet about them using Twitter
7) TweetDeck : Can be downloaded for free and has a great number of applications like update shrinker, url shortner. It also lets you make a 12 sec video on your webcam and it will go out as your tweet.

Below is the video which outlines all the above tools.

If you have a favourite tool that you can’t live without, please share..

Facebook gets more page views each month than Google and is increasingly used by businesses to engage with customers via fan pages. Its no big secret that facebook plays a vital role in your online marketing strategy. But still, a lot of companies fail to capitalize on this amazing opportunity.

The main reason businesses fail with their Facebook marketing is that they do not have a strategy. They don’t have a clear idea of, “Why am I even setting up this fan page? What’s the purpose of it?” So its very important to set up an objective, which could be something as simple as building your e-mail list or driving traffic to your blog or to sell more products and services. It could be just 1 of them or all three or more, just be clear about it and then use the following 7 steps to achieve success with facebook marketing developed by Mari Smith.

Step 1 : Design Strategy

Once you have set your objective, design you page keeping in mind your objective. for e.g. if iyour objective is to build your e-mail list then include a sign-up box in your landing page. Design is imp but thers is no need to go overboard with heavy vide files and gimmicks which takes ages to laod. Also remember as much as 90% of fans do not return to your page, most of them tend to chose to read & interact with your page in their news- feed., which brings us tour next step.

Step 2 : Content Strategy

Do a nice blend of content _ your content mixed with other prople’s content., like blogs, twitter, on line magazines etc. get to know what your fans like, engage with them, make them familiar , this increases the likelihood od tem doing business with you.

Step 3 : Promotion Strategy

Once you have a decent looking page and content, you can go about promoting it. Think beyond facebook, use twitter, linkedIn, your blog to find new fans. Put ‘ join us on facebook’  at the back of your visiting cards, in your e-mail signatures, newletters etc. Be visible every where. If a business with physical location, take advantage of facebook places and deals. Use social plugins andGo all out to promote your facebook page.

Step :4 Engagement Strategy

Once you have the fans visiting your page, you need to engage with them. Devise a strategy to keep the fans with you, try replying to every comment they make.

Step 5 : Conversion Strategy

Clear calls to action are so important. If you don’t tell people what to do, where to click, where to call, what site to go to, exactly step-by-step of how to take advantage of your offers, they’re not going to know. Make it really, really easy for people to buy from you.

Step : 6 Track And Measure strategy

You need to know where you started from and where you are going . Numbersa re very important for that. Facebook  insights is a good way to start. Keep an eye on the level of engagement- likes and comments. The increase in likes is also another thing to measure

Equally important is to measure the number of unlikes, the people that have actually left your fan base. They have chosen to not be a fan any longer, and the number of what we call unsubscribes, that is people who are still your fns but have chosen to hide your posts in their newsfeed.

Step :7  Scalability

Think ahead, about how can you scale. Do group trainings, webinars, classes. Create new information products, share your knowledge. This is a great way to leverage yourself and your brand and to add extra revenue stream.

To sum it up, think clearly about what is the objective of your page and then design your strategy to achieve it.

You can also catch the full webinar by Mari Smith here.

With the cricket fever riding high, just giving al the fans a little background about the World Cup. The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup is the tenth and is being played in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.  Fourteen national cricket will compete in the tournament for the ultimate honour, to be crowned cricketing champions.

The teams are divided in to 2 groups. Each team in each group will play against each other. The top 4 teams from each group will advance to the next level, which will be a knockout round leading to quarter finals- semi-finals and ultimatley the grand Finale.

Group A – Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

Group B – India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Netherlands and Ireland.

Whats really unique about this World Cup is that it will be the first ever ‘Social Cricket World Cup‘. No one is going to be watching the World Cup alone in their living rooms. Already various fanpages and twitter Hashtags have originated. Fans from all over the world can communicte with each other. Amitha Amarasinghe has expalined very nicely the interplay between twitter hashtags.

You can follow all the action on Twitter by following the #wc11 and on facebook, cricket World Cup 2011, the official fanpage.

Not to be left behind are the smart phones, with app being created esp for the event.

The Cricket World Cup 2011 app is now available in the Android Market and AppBrain.

And for iphone users we have ‘ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – Official’ and offers you all the scores and match videos, updates from the tournament.

Let’s join in and watch.

Who do you think is going to win?

As I write, Egypt’s government and opposition have agreed to set up a committee to study constitutional reform, after days of protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak to quit. This unrest has brought to front a lot of issues in the country like political corruption, poor job market and also has been landmark for the role of social media.

It’s said one of the key factors in mobilising support against Mubarak has been Social Media. Various Facebook pages dedicated to the Egyptian uprising were created and thousands of followers used them to coordinate and spread the word for peaceful anti-government demonstrations. Raw footages of the Egyptian uprising are being uploaded on YouTube’s CitizenTube channel.  Twitter has also played a big part in helping early protesters organize themselves. All Twitter has compiled several different ways we can use Twitter to get up-to-the-minute reporting and analysis about the protests in Egypt, which include Al-Jazeera’s English Twitter account to Egyptian bloggers to columnists for major foreign correspondence publications.  Another way is to follow the hashtags “#Jan25″, “Egypt”, “#Jan28″ and “Opegypt” on Twitter.

Even though Social media sites were shut down by the government, Egyptians are reportedly using landlines, fax machines, ham radios, proxy sites, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and third-party apps to send and receive information. The news agencies have adapted to restricted communications in Egypt by adopting innovative social media techniques to extract news and views from the country. For example Al Jazeera have been using Skype to record messages by members of the public and made them available on Audioboo, promoting it through Facebook.

In today’s globalised world, problem in a country does not affect only the local people in the country but could have serious global implications. For three decades, the west has backed Hosni Mubarak as a stabilising force in the Middle East. Ruling over the Arab world’s most populous country – which sits on Europe’s doorstep and controls the Suez Canal, an important waterway for oil shipments – the former Egyptian Air Force chief has been an key US and European ally. Its collapse would have far-reaching consequences, affecting Cairo’s ties with the west and other Middle Eastern autocracies – including key oil producers – as well as the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process amongst other things. It could create geo-political unrest in the Middle East which could have severe consequences on the rest of the world and also on the global financial markets.

Hence what happens in Egypt could also affect our future lives in a way. It is important that we participate in bringing about a positive change, in the way Egypt evolves in future by sharing our thoughts using various social media platforms.

Let us know your views on the uprise in Egypt?

Source : suite101.com Watch Egyptian unrest unfold live on Social Media

They say ignorance is bliss, but definitely not in the case of social media.

What is the appropriate age for your child to start using Social networking sites like Facebook, My Space etc. There are conflicting views on this. Some parents might introduce it gradually to their kids and some parents ban it all together or worse pretend it does not exist, thinking by doing this, they are  protecting their child. It is the latter that worries me.

Our kids belong to the Gen Y as they call it where their main mode of communicating is going to be the internet. That’s the reality. Children’s lives are very different from what they were 20 years ago. Social networks are a way of creating a social bonds for them.

As parents we need to find the right balance, making sure they have a clear understanding of the benefits and dangers that come with social networking.

We need to keep an eye on what our children do online and not stop them from using it. Because they will find a way, with or without your permission.

Even some of the schools today are using social media to enhance student learning because it enables students to connect and form virtual communities. But of course all this is done under the watchful eyes of the teachers and are monitored.

Make them responsible not ignorant !

Would be lovely to hear what you think.

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the 9 Blog webinar presented by Michael Stelzner, Rick Calvert & Dave Cynkin as a run up to Blogging Success Summit 2011 to be held in February.

They presented 9 case studies of businesses that are blogging right and what we can we learn from them. In this blog I am going to summarize the key-points.

• Focus on adding value to a market that is bigger than your brand, valuable content that doesn’t talk about you product and services. Talk about what interests your readers, even if it has nothing to do with your product line.

• Great blogs do not try to sell their products; they focus on adding value to their customers. Keep your blog low key with sales messages. Remember it’s not about you, but about the customers.

• Connect personally with your readers. Know what attracts your audience, use photos, design, videos and audio to entice them.

• Weave a theme throughout your blog. Get informal, use behind the scene pictures and videos so you don’t feel like a corporation. Give real life perspective of what goes on behind the scene. Allow your employees to become the face of the brand.

• Get other people, experts from your industry to contribute to your blog.

• Integrate your blog with other social media platforms.

• Make it easy for people to share and for them to subscribe to your blog.

• Consistency is more important than frequency. If you have decided to blog once a week then stick to it since people will be expecting new content from you.

• Lastly, websites are about publishing information, blogs are about creating relationships …. so go create one with your readers!

Hope the above helps you to blog better.

Would love to hear your comments.

Over the years I have pondered this saying which has been attributed to several industrialists including Sam Wanamaker and Lord Hanson, half of my advertising expenditure is wasted, the pity is I don’t know which half. This saying has influenced how I buy advertising. I don’t!

As a small business owner, one tends to be at the mercy of snake oil salesmen who claim this virtue and that wonder for the advertising outlet they represent. It is very easy to plonk one’s money on the table in the hope that the phone would ring, or these days that the response form would be filled. Big fat hope!  It is almost impossible for a small business owner to advertise with any degree of success. Marketing yes! Advertising  no!

Every time I have got a call from an advertising pedlar, I have responded with this proposal: I am sure you are confident of your service, unfortunately, I have no idea it would work, in fact I am almost sure it wouldn’t  and it would be a waste of my money. So here is the deal, as the marginal cost of production to you is almost zero, you and I know that if this thing is successful, I would definitely want more of it hence, let me have it at zero cost for the first 6 months, if it works, everybody will be happy and I’ll sign up for the second 6 months of the year at double price, so in effect I would have paid full price for the deal.

Only one advertising house has accepted such an offer, and guess what, 6 months of adverting failed to yield a single lead.

The moral of the story is that advertising for a small business, is a mugs game, there is only one winner, and it’s not the small business.

This is where Social Media comes in. By the way, in no way is this suggested as all things to all men, but the various tools of social media afford the entrepreneur and the business owner the opportunity to engage with their potential clients on a cost effective and time efficient manner.

What are your views on Social Media and its effectiveness? Please do share with us.

This is a guest post by Ade Oduyemi, Inheritance Planning Manager at Maximum Inheritance Specialists,  http://www.maximum-inheritance.co.uk .They provide wills, trusts and power of attorney for the entrepreneur.