The Confident Copywriter

Posts Tagged ‘facebook’

SeeWhy, a company providing conversion management software, conducted a survey of 476 online marketers in June, to uncover whether this group plans to add the Facebook Like button to their websites, or perhaps had already implemented the button.

68% of survey respondents said they have or plan to add the button to their websites. SeeWhy Founder and CSO Charles Nicholls explains, “It’s one line of HTML code that can be applied to any web page. Retailers have no reason not to do it—especially since it’s free.”

Since the survey was conducted, 15% of respondents have implemented the feature, while 18% plan to add the button in the near future.

Why are merchants excited about the possibilities for this little button?

Nicholls believes online marketers easily recognize the traffic-driving and marketing opportunities of such a feature. Additionally, after the consumer logs on to the website, the merchant can track the consumer’s activity, creating an additional opportunity to remarket to that consumer via email campaigns. This will also help merchants recover some of the abandoned shopping cart activity…perhaps as much as 15% of that activity.

Because Facebook claims consumers are three times more likely to log in to a website using the Log in with Facebook button, this offers another way for merchants to get the most out of Facebook plugins.

This may amount to a hill of beans if you use Facebook to say hi to friends. For online marketers, merchants, retailers…it may be a goldmine.

Your thoughts?

In an earlier post, I promised to provide you with the manual steps for protecting your privacy on Facebook. Without further ado, let’s begin.

1. Log in to your FB account
2. In the top right corner, click on Account
3. Click on Application Setting

In the drop down box at the top right of your list of applications, change “Show” to “Authorized.” You can now view all of your current applications.

For each app you wish to remove, click on the X in the right hand column of the list corresponding to that app. A pop-up box will appear. Click “Remove” to delete the app, then click “Okay” to confirm removal.

Being that the issue here is privacy and confidentiality, and given that FB offers little choice, some experts suggest deleting every app- wiping the slate clean, so to speak.

To avoid sharing your personal information, such as location and phone number, we’ll need to adjust the Privacy settings.
Once again, in the top right corner of your profile, click on ‘Account’. Then choose ‘Privacy Settings’.

From your privacy settings page, click each of the individual options, such as Profile Information, Contact Information, etc. and follow the on page directions to go through and choose the settings you want. In almost every case, you have the option to select ‘Only Me’ to ensure no one but you can see certain private information. You can select ‘Specific Friends’ by inputting their email addresses. You can select ‘Friends Only’ or ‘Everyone’.

From Privacy Settings, select “Applications and Websites.”

On the next page, go through each option and choose the settings you want. Most importantly, choose “Edit Setting” next to “Instant Personalization Program”.

You will arrive at the Instant Personalization Pilot Program page, the page causing all the hubbub. “Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features…” will already be checked. Facebook has kindly done this for you, so your information can be shared with sister websites Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft docs. If you wish to disable this feature, and we assume you do since you’re reading this, simply uncheck the box. Confirm your opt-out choice in a new window by clicking on ‘Confirm.’

ONE FINAL STEP…

You must also opt-out manually on Microsoft Docs, Pandora, and Yelp. Visit the following pages separately and select “Block Application.” A new window will ask you to confirm as before. Select OK.

Microsoft Docs: http://www.facebook.com/docs

Pandora: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=139475280761

Yelp: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=97534753161

VOILA! Control over your privacy! Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

At Facebook’s recent f8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed changes that may adversely affect your privacy settings, putting you in the unwelcome position of giving up more information than you intended to share.

Facebook has changed privacy settings and privacy policies, making it easy for the network to integrate with partner sites, and making it difficult for users to limit privacy invasion. So-called “instant personalization” provides Facebook’s business partners, Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft Docs, with access to users’ likes, interests, friends, etc. unless the user opts out.
Also removed is a key privacy safeguard that allows third parties to store user data indefinitely. NOTE: You’re also sharing all of your friends’ information by proxy, unless they’ve adequately protected themselves.

Zuckerberg offered no solutions to this dilemma, leading to speculation that this is just one step in FB’s ongoing bid to dominate the world.

Wait. I thought Apple was bidding for world domination with the iPOD on May 28th? (Somewhere, superheroes are cracking up.)

No doubt, thousands of previously satisfied FB users have been unduly alienated. Those who attempt to fix their own profiles will be even more disgruntled to discover FB has made the process quite complex, leading the Electronic Privacy Information Center and fourteen other consumer protection groups to file a formal complaint with the FTC.

Earlier in the month, PC World reported it had discovered an FB ‘bug’ that added applications to user profiles without their knowledge. While the bug has been corrected, any unwanted applications added to your profile must be manually removed to avoid unintentionally sharing your information.

What does this really mean? Everyone can see your personal interests. If that doesn’t sound so bad, consider this: If one of your interests is pornography, you are automatically linked to Facebook’s Pornography interest page. Anyone and everyone can see this, including family, your boss, your neighbors…Or perhaps you favor a specific religious or political affiliation, but usually keep your opinions under wraps.

Not anymore, you don’t.

How can you prevent this from happening? Good question. Tech types are scrambling to put together information to help us understand how to opt out.

FB boasts over 400 million users. The network now rivals Google in size and reach. But many believe Zuckerberg and his cohorts have gone too far. One thing we can all be sure of: The Internet keeps a-changin’, whether we like those changes or not. It pays to stay on top of what’s going on.

But never fear…Friday’s blog post will outline what to do to correct your settings and protect yourself.

Watch this space.

400 million active visitors. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook)

41% of all social media traffic. (http://bit.ly/92J1aw)

That’s how many people crowd Facebook. No wonder it’s so noisy!

What’s everyone doing? FB has grown up. It’s still a social gathering spot, but also a board room, a business meeting, a convention site…in short, a valuable professional environment. Employers – as many as 30% of them – screen potential employees using Facebook. If you think they’re not watching…

What I Do on My Time is My Business

It’s Saturday night and the gang is letting loose. Should you let your friend snap a pic of you dressed as a French maid? With a beer pyramid in the background? Even if you don’t post it, your friend might. Guilt by association can hurt you in the professional world, even when you’re just having fun.

There’s Something about Judy

What about professional venting or gossiping? Don’t do it publicly. Even if you’re ‘just joking’, it’s not funny for the target, and it’s really not funny when the office goons show up to escort you out the door.

Status Update: I’ll Have a Headache in the Morning

Don’t post a work-related FB message that says, “Jane’s boyfriend is visiting. She’ll be out sick tomorrow.” Even worse: “SCORE! Online Poker rules! Just won 150 bucks!”

You might as well post this: “Lazy, paycheck-seeking procrastinator seeks free all-day Internet access.”

Think! Your employer knows how to log on to Facebook too.

Potato, Potahto

Don’t fudge your personal, professional truth. Graduating from community college in Yale, Oklahoma doesn’t qualify as “graduated from Yale.”

Here’s What to Do
First, get familiar with the security settings (privacy options). Set your profile so only ‘friends’ can see your pictures and personal information. Lock your profile so you must approve every new friend.

Next, set up a second page for professional use, and keep it that way. Your Pro FB page should work like a resume, sharing only the information you would share in an interview. This way, you can demonstrate your tech-savvy, social networking side, minus the beer, costumes and…well…you get it.

Need help setting up your profile on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Drop me a note!