If you are an agency or a brand trying to decide whether or not social media marketing is worth the investment, consider these numbers from recent studies of social media users:
MORE: Why Social Marketing Will Deliver Positive ROI for Your Brand – Adrants.
The next time Facebook sends you an email about a friend tagging you in a new picture, be cautious — it could be a trap.
A new strain of malware identified by security firm Sophos as Troj/Agent-XNN has been circulating the social networking site, encouraging members to view photos as an attachment. After clicking on the infected link — which is disguised as a Facebook notification email — a ZIP file containing malware allows hackers to gain control over Windows-operated computers.
Although Facebook email notifications typically tell you which friends tagged you in a picture, this malware campaign states “one of your friends added a new photo with you to the album.”
MORE: Watch Out for This Sneaky Facebook Scam Disguised as a Photo Notification.
Apple has now identified eight of Samsung’s devices that it wants to have banned from sale in the US following its patent victory last week. But while the jury in Apple’s court case against Samsung said Samsung had willfully infringed in most cases, Apple has apparently focused its attention on devices that are mostly unavailable in the US already.
Apple’s list of devices it wants to ban, published on Monday afternoon, is as follows:
Galaxy S 4G
Galaxy S2 AT&T
Galaxy S2 Skyrocket
Galaxy S2 T-Mobile
Galaxy S2 Epic 4G
Galaxy S Showcase
Droid Charge
Galaxy Prevail
MORE: Ban this: Apple lists 8 Samsung devices it wants kept out of the US | Ars Technica.
The bulk of the companies here at the Republican National Convention are traditional media firms with dedicated spaces for their reporters to crank out stories about the big event. Then there are Twitter and Facebook. The two social media outfits are sharing a space upstairs and around the corner from a much larger area rented out by Bloomberg.
And why not? More and more, when people look for political information or post politics-related content, they do it on both platforms. The company names are synonymous with social media, and that’s partially why Twitter and Facebook decided to bunk together here at the RNC.
“We’re both here with the same mission. Our goals here are the same – to facilitate open engagement,” said Adam Sharp, who heads up Government, News, and Social Innovation at Twitter. “Obviously our companies have ways in which we compete, but it’s not a zero sum game,” continued Sharp.
Meanwhile Google – one of the only other “non-media” firms here (if it can still be called that) – has taken over a massive space on the main floor of the Tampa Convention Center, complete with primary colored walls, interactive experiences, and a coffee bar dishing out free cappuccinos for the caffeine-quaffing journalists embedded nearby.
MORE: Twitter and Facebook Get Cozy at Republican Convention | ClickZ.
Freelancing in web design and development is often a balancing act. You must carefully divide your time between doing work, getting more work, and ensuring you’re getting paid for said work. For each of these tasks, a huge range of tools exists – but it’s tough to know whether you’re using the best ones available.
We asked a number of leading designers to provide us with their favourites, so you can ensure your survival toolkit is the equivalent of a super-powered laser-armed jetpack, rather than a digital abacus.
In terms of approach, two distinct methodologies are clear. Some people, such as freelance web designer John Alex Jacob, favour a pared-down toolkit: “The way I do business has changed a lot this past year,” he tells .net. “I’ve been trying to keep things as simple as possible for my clients and me, improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary distractions while working.” He therefore advocates minimising what’s installed on your computer.
Others, however, advise exploring the diverse range of single-task indie apps and online services now available, in order to potentially boost productivity. Regardless of your own approach, we hope you find inspiration and exciting new tools in the selections provided by those we spoke to.
MORE: The ultimate freelance web design tools | Feature | .net magazine.
A vulnerability in the latest version of Oracle’s Java software framework is under active attack, and the damage is likely to get worse thanks to the availability of reliable exploit code that works on a variety of browsers and computer platforms, security experts warn.
The flaw in Java version 1.7 was reported on Sunday afternoon by FireEye security researcher Atif Mushtaq. A separate post published on Monday by researchers Andre M. DiMino and Mila Parkour said the number of attacks, which appear to install the Poison Ivy Remote Access Trojan, were low. But they went on to note that the typical delay in issuing Java patches, combined with the circulation of exploit code, meant it was only a matter of time until the vulnerability is exploited more widely by other attackers.
Members of Rapid7, the security company that helps maintain the open-source Metasploit exploit framework used by penetration testers and hackers, said they have already developed an exploit that works against Windows 7. They are in the process of testing it against the Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome browsers running on other operating systems, including Ubuntu Linux 10.04 and Windows XP. They went on to suggest that users should disable Java until a patch plugging the gaping hole is released.
“As a user, you should take this problem seriously, because there is currently no patch from Oracle,” a Rapid7 exploit developer wrote in a blog post. “For now, our recommendation is to completely disable Java until a fix is available.”
MORE: Critical flaw under active attack prompts calls to disable Java | Ars Technica.
The top sales executive credited with building Groupon’s national sales team has left the company, Groupon confirmed Friday. The departure of Lee Brown, head of national sales, came just two days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Groupon’s top saleswoman, Jayna Cooke, is also leaving the company.
Raj Ruparell, a four-month employee who was previously working on Groupon Goods, has replaced Brown effective immediately, a Groupon spokesperson confirmed. Brown joined the company in 2010 from Yahoo.
Following its initial public offering a little more than nine months ago, Groupon’s stock tanked 83 percent to an all-time low of $4.46 on Friday. Company stock spiked to $26.19 exactly two weeks after it went public and it has steadily declined ever since. Barely a year has passed since Groupon was routinely regarded as one of the fastest growing companies ever. The company, which gained prominence through its daily deals business, has suffered a series of key personnel departures and investors are reacting negatively to its latest earnings report.
MORE: Groupon’s National Sales Chief Leaves Company | ClickZ.
Of course, you don’t want to avoid social, but you should try to pull those customers ready for a deeper relationship into your email campaigns. Tactically, this is simple. You can post a message leading to your newsletter, or host a form field right there in the social platform.
But you’ll need a good reason for an engaged social follower to become an email subscriber. You need to show not just the value of your emails, but appeal to the unique social character of that follower. And guess what — not all followers are the same.
MORE: How to turn social followers into email subscribers – iMediaConnection.com.
In the upper part of your page, there is an Admin panel, which we will overlook for now, but later on, it will be a very important tool to track a progress of your Fan page. Under the Admin panel there is a place to set up and edit your Facebook page. You can add/change profile picture of your Facebook page, you can add/change cover photo, you can add/ change the ‘About’ information and lastly, you can write a status, add a photo or a video, or create an event, add a milestone, or ask a question.
Profile Picture
Facebook Profile Picture is a very important part of your Facebook page. When people are searching for Pages, the Profile Picture is one of the first things they will see. So bear that in mind, when you will create your stunning Profile Picture. The Facebook Profile Picture is displayed in 120×120 pixels resolution and Facebook will automatically create a 50×50 pixel miniature that will be displayed along with your Page’s updates and is also displayed in the Facebook search results.
MORE: Article: How to edit your Facebook page – Socialbakers.
It hasn’t been an especially felicitous year for the founder of file-sharing site MegaUpload: his domain name has been seized, his assets have been impounded, and Kim Dotcom faces potential extradition to the U.S. on criminal charges of copyright infringement.
That’s a fate that RapidShare is determined to avoid. The Swiss company says it wants to be a legitimate hosting service that not only responds promptly to removal requests from copyright holders, but that goes far beyond what the law requires.
RapidShare’s “responsible practices” policy may have pleased Hollywood when it was announced in April, but it nevertheless remains controversial. The U.S. advocacy group Public Knowledge responded by saying the policy “implies that cloud services that choose to merely comply with copyright law” are “somehow morally deficient or in favor of copyright infringement.”
RapidShare says it employs over 50 people and has over 400,000 files a day uploaded by its users to over 1,000 servers.
CNET spoke this week with Daniel Raimer, the company’s general counsel, about the techniques RapidShare uses to detect piratical material, and how far it’s willing to go.
MORE: RapidShare: We’ll help Hollywood, but ‘not at all costs’ (Q&A) | Politics and Law – CNET News.