Using Twitter's Quote Feature for Better Engagement

Twitter just added a feature that we Twitterholics have been dreaming of! No, its not the Twelfie Stick, though I'm sure lots of people actually wanted that one, it's better.

In the past responding to a tweet was a bit of a hassle. You'd either reply to the tweet knowing that anyone coming across that tweet later would see it entirely out of context, or you'd add a comment to a retweet and edit the heck out of the original tweet to get it all to fit. No more!

Now when you hit the retweet icon you'll see a new field with the option to add a comment to the original tweet, then simply click the tweet button and the message will be shared with your followers as a tweet.

Followers will see both the original tweet and your comment together, making it much easier for them to add their own two cents. Nice huh?Just like retweets you can delete your quote. Just find the more button on your tweet and you'll see an option to delete. Easy peasy.

Why should you care? 
This will allow a much richer conversation to happen on Twitter, and it holds the context of your message which will definitely lead to more discussion. And for those who simply hit retweet and forget about it, you'll be prompted by the new field to maybe say something and add value to the conversation. It will be worth it, I promise.

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Your Favorite Social Media Networks Are Turning Into Amazon

We’ve all grown accustomed to liking, re-tweeting, pinning, and sharing each other’s posts and materials in the world of social media, but all of that may soon be supplanted by the next step in social evolution: buying and selling.

Word is leaking that social media site Pinterest, a platform that more or less operates like a digital scrapbook, is planning on adding a “buy” button to its interface. The news comes our way via Recode, which reports that Pinterest has had the idea in gestation for a long while, and appears to finally be willing to pull the trigger on its implementation. The network itself boasts 70 million daily users, and by moving forward with its new e-commerce strategy, is finding a prime way to further monetize all of that traffic.

Like its social media counterparts Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest has focused on generating revenues through advertising sales thus far. But making the jump to e-commerce will be a rather large and potentially monstrously profitable change. And Pinterest isn’t alone. Both Facebook and Twitter have also been kicking the idea of adding a ‘buy now’ button to their platforms, and it appears that even Google will be getting in on the action.

The risk that these social media networks run when enacting this plan, of course, is that they will ultimately malign their respective user bases. That was the initial fear when Facebook first started to implement advertising several years ago, and instead of scaring away users, the company became an international business power. Thus, other networks followed suit by adding paid advertising with little to no negative effect. Adding e-commerce and further revenue-driving capabilities to these sites seems like the next logical progression for them to make, especially with coming valuations and plans for further expansion.

When you crunch the numbers on how much money is out there and up for grabs, it only strengthens the case for social media companies to jump into the fray. Amazon has really pioneered the platform for e-commerce over the years, and by adding “buy now” buttons to their interfaces, social networks will start to straddle industry lines by assuming a different identity than the one that sparked their initial growth.

  

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Really, though, it’s hard to blame the leadership behind these social media giants for wanting to make this move.
 eMarketer reports that worldwide retail sales topped $22 trillion in 2014, and 5.9% of that — or $1.3 trillion — was through e-commerce sales. By 2018, that share is expected to grow to 8.8% of all sales, and probably continue an upward trajectory from there.

So, using 2014’s numbers, there is $1.3 trillion in potential revenue being spent by consumers online this very moment. It would really be foolish for social media companies — who already have some skin in the game on some level — not to try and siphon off some of those dollars for themselves. Social media use accounts for 22.5% of all the time Americans spend online, according to e-commerce company Wiser, and consumers are 71% more likely to buy products from a brand that they currently follow on social media. Companies like Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter obviously have our attention, so it only makes sense that they should bridge the gap between buyer and seller, while taking some commission for themselves.

Otherwise, wouldn’t consumers just jump over to Amazon and order it? There’s little reason not to simply step into that role, and act as the intermediary.

Again, the only real risk any of these platforms are running is changing the experience for their users, and ultimately scaring them away. But if all of these platforms are adding e-commerce capabilities at roughly the same time, it’s really limiting where users can ultimately flee to. That may not be intentional, but it’s certainly going to work in their favor. And it’s really unclear whether users will actually see their experience change on these sites, other than simply seeing “buy now” buttons, and actively using or ignoring them.

From a consumer and social media user’s perspective, the biggest difference the implementation of e-commerce protocols on social media networks may simply be that these platforms adopt a more Amazon-esque appearance or functionality. But they are social platforms first and foremost, so there probably isn’t too much to worry about.

For social networks themselves, there’s really no downside. With literally trillions of dollars up for grabs, there’s no reason no to wade into the e-commerce fight. Amazon and others may find a way to counter, but for now, online shopping is about to get a lot more social.

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Dozens arrested as NYC protests Eric Garner decision

Demonstrators block the West Side Highway during a protest against the grand jury decision on the death of Eric Garner, in New York December 3, 2014.(Reuters / Adrees Latif)

At least 30 people were arrested by the New York Police Department on Wednesday evening, as thousands of protesters flooded city streets after a grand jury declined to indict an officer for killing a Staten Island man via chokehold.

Following the decision, demonstrations began popping up throughout the city. Protesters disrupted traffic by blocking numerous streets – including the West Side Highway – marching into Times Square, and taking over the area near Rockefeller Center, where the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony was taking place. Streets and sidewalks were blocked, with police telling people they could only pass if they had passes to the ceremony.

Protestors gather in New York Grand Central Station on December 3, 2014.(AFP Photo / Timothy A Clary)

Demonstrators also poured into Grand Central Station by the hundreds, where they staged a “die-in” and spread their bodies across the floor. Numerous protesters told RT they wanted to “shut down” the city as a result of the decision, and traffic jams were subsequently reported at Lincoln Tunnel and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, as well as other areas.

Approximately 30 people were arrested, according to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, though more have been reported since he spoke around 10 p.m. So far, police have not reported any violent incidents or injuries.

While the protests were not previously planned, momentum for them began building soon after the grand jury’s decision was reported. The case involved 43-year-old African American Eric Garner of Staten Island, who was placed in a chokehold by Officer Daniel Pantaleo for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner was taken to the ground with the help of several others. Despite repeatedly complaining that he couldn’t breathe, Garner ended up going into cardiac arrest and dying.

People take part in a protest against the grand jury decision on the death of Eric Garner in midtown Manhattan in New York December 3, 2014.(Reuters / Eric Thayer)

People take part in a protest against the grand jury decision on the death of Eric Garner in midtown Manhattan in New York December 3, 2014.(Reuters / Eric Thayer)

The July incident was caught on video by a civilian bystander and ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner, but the grand jury did not indict Pantaleo on any charges.

The decision was met with fierce criticism immediately after it was revealed, drawing condemnation from all over the political spectrum. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was “a very emotional day for our city,” adding that Garner was “a man who should be with us, and now isn’t.”

Soon afterwards, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Justice Department is opening a federal civil rights investigation into the incident, one that would include a “complete review” of the evidence collected during the local investigation.

However, this news didn’t quell outrage among residents, many of whom also protested last week’s decision by a St. Louis County grand jury not to indict a white officer for killing a black teenager. People marched through the streets chanting slogans such as “I can’t breathe,” referring to Garner’s last words. They also yelled, “No Justice, no peace.”

Following the decision, Pantaleo issued an apology for what occurred back in July.

"It is never my intention to hurt anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner," Pantaleo said."My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope they will accept my personal condolences for their loss."

Protesters against the Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer involved in Eric Garner's chokehold death, walk together December 3, 2014 in New York.(AFP Photo / Yana Paskova)

Speaking alongside Rev. Al Sharpton, Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, said she did not accept Pantaleo's apology.

"I couldn't care less about his condolences," she said. "He's still working, he's still feeding his kids. And my husband is six feet under and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids now. Who’s going to play Santa Claus for my grandkids this year? Who’s going to do that now?"

"I am determined to get justice for my husband because he shouldn't have been killed in that way,” said Esaw Garner.“My husband’s death will not be in vain. As long as I have breathe in my body I will fight the fight.”

Meanwhile, Sharpton announced that there will be a march against police brutality in Washington, DC, on December 13.

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15 Secrets of Boosting Social Media Engagement: Visuals, Memes and More.

You’ve set up your social media pages, added fun cover and profile photos and received several new likes; that’s excellent! However, are you getting little engagement on your sites, or at least a significant amount below that of your competitors, who have incredible engagement on their social media accounts? What’s going on? Why isn’t anyone participating with you on social media? Here are 15 remarkable secrets that can help you boost your social media engagement through some very simple methods.

1. Uploading Pictures Is Vital. Believe it or not, pictures are the lifeblood of social media. For a time, people enjoyed reading status updates and such, but now with things such as Instagram, more and more people want to see a picture post or two throughout their day. One guess as to why this is the case is simply that people no longer have time to read through the hundreds to thousands of status updates on their newsfeeds. However, if they see a photo, they will look, like, and share pretty quickly. Just how important is a picture post? Well, according to Forbes, researchers have discovered an 85% increase to Facebook interaction and a 35% retweet increase. Moral of the story: start sharing those photos!

2. Create Your Very Own Shareable Image. “But what type of photo should I share?” If you don’t have any photographs to share from your business, craft your own shareable image. You can do this by adding quotes to photographs, whether your own or stock images. In addition, you can also create just a simple quote box with a solid color background like this image we made—it took just 10 minutes to whip up! 

When you create an image, make sure to play around with your hashtags a bit to see what’s out there to add your quote to an adequate tag. You can do this for both Twitter and Google+. Always brand your image—add your Twitter handle, and the topical hash-tag.

3. Know How Often To Post. The main question everyone asks regarding social media is when the best time to post is? The best times vary from social network to social network, but you shouldn’t stop there. You should also start wondering just how frequently you should be posting to social media. This varies on who your followers are and what they want to say, but Buffer does point out it is a great idea to find the fine line between being informative and being a nuisance. The best way to find this out is to play around with it, ask your followers, and pay attention to your analytics.

4. Have Collaboration Boards On Pinterest. Wait, do you really want to allow your clients to add pins to a board? Is that safe? It is actually! According to Social Media Examiner, all you will have to do is follow one of their boards, invite them to be a collaborator on one of your boards, and they have the ability to pin. This can be exciting for everyone involved and really promote a great sense of community and involvement. If you find that you want or need to delete a collaborator and his or her pins, you can easily do this.

5. Have A Funny Bone? Use It! We all have a funny side, whether it is sarcastic or dorky, you and I both have a funny side. Do you know what you should do with that funny side? Use it for your social media campaigns! Yes, I understand that you want to have a more professional aspect to your business, but sometimes humor can really add to a social media experience. A key thing to remember when utilizing humor is that you should always make sure that you don’t offend your audience and that you research just what makes them laugh. Take a look at how Old Spice uses humor on their Facebook account:

6. Keep Twitter Posts Short And Sweet. According to Jerry Low over at The Daily Egg, it is a good idea to keep yourTwitter posts short and to the point. He suggests between 80 and 110 characters. He says that this gives your followers the ability to re-tweet you and add their own take without editing your post down any. Try this out for a few of your tweets; in fact, avoid sharing links in some of your posts as this can take up more characters than you realize!

7. Use A Conversational Tone On Social Media. As I mentioned earlier, it is a great idea to add humor to your posts, and this is easier if you adopt a conversational tone. This is possible whether you are an easygoing, laid back company or if you need to keep things more professional. Just think of when you go to a company-wide event; do you go around talking like you are writing for an academic journal? Of course not! Yet you still manage to be professional. This is the type of voice to take when you use social media. You might find that the more conversational you sound, the more likely you are to have great engagement on your posts.

8. Ask For A Retweet And You Shall Receive. It might seem like begging, but asking for a retweet can oftentimes, well, get you a retweet! It is exciting when that happens, and you’ll find that more people are willing to do this if you ask them. You can always add an incentive such as a retweet being a giveaway entry, but many times people will retweet you without an incentive. That’s one of the many beauties of Twitter.

9. Poll Your Audience. According to Social Media Examiner, a great way to increase engagement on your social media sites is to poll your audience. This doesn’t mean to poll them with what they’d like to see on social media, though that can work, too! You can poll your followers with things such as what their favorite Saturday activity is, which book is their favorite to read on a rainy day, or which Spice Girl is truly the best. This will have people jumping on quickly to give their opinion, and can open up fun dialogue between you and your clients. This is, in fact, what the creators of the new Bioware game, Dragon Age: Inquisition are doing until the release of the game:

10. “Caption This” And “Fill In The Blank” Are Perfect. In the Social Media Examiner article mentioned above, it also says that having your audience caption a photo or fill in the blank will also help improve engagement. Fill in the blank questions are fun, especially since it can often remind someone of Mad Libs. I don’t know about you, but I sure enjoyed those as a kid and still do! Chances are, your audience still enjoys those as well.

11. Make Your Social Media Sites Sound Like A Person Is Running It. This goes in connection with having a conversational tone; make your social sites sound like a person is running it. You don’t want it to sound like some cold robot is running it. If so, you are less likely to have any engagement. Sound like a human, have fun, and be silly with your posts. You can still maintain a manner of professionalism while being fun and engaging. Consider not sacrificing engagement to sound more professional.

12. Always Respond To Customer Comments And Posts. In an infographic from Media Bistro, it says that a great way to promote and improve engagement is for you to comment and respond to people. This goes in connection with point 11, and shows people that someone is actually there listening to what they have to say. You’ll find people are more apt to comment if they see that you are more apt to respond to them.

13. Connect With Those In Your Field And Boost Each Other. You can also improve engagement if you partner with those in your field. This might seem counterproductive because they might just be a competitor, but you might find that both of you see great success if you start working together. If you’d rather not go with a competitor, find someone that provides services that complement your services or products to form a partnership. This can encourage people to engage with you because many people do enjoy seeing others working together.

14. Stay Consistent With Your Social Posts. In the same infographic from Media Bistro, it says that you need to stay consistent with your social posts. This means that you need to find the voice you want to use, and stick to it. People will notice if the voice changes, and this can often turn people off of your social posts. Staying consistent helps people believe only one person is operating the site, which encourages them to engage more if they think only one person is updating and responding.

15. Utilize Great Social Media Sites Like Hootsuite. When it comes to managing all of the social sites, you will find utilizing something such as Hootsuite will help tremendously. This will make sure you can see whenever someone comments or responds to your posts on several sites, giving you a central location from which to comment. This will help you engage more with your clients, therefore helping them engage more with you.

Until Next Time

I hope you’ve found these secrets to be helpful to you and your social media campaigns! You’ll find that even implementing a few of these will help keep you from stressing out too much over engagement, and soon you’ll start seeing an increase in client interaction!

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Forget the selfie, it's time to master the mermaid hair flick: Social media is flooded with newest portrait trend

• The mermaid hair flick has taken over from the selfie
• Women across Australia are dipping their hair in the water and flicking it back to create a rainbow of water
• The mermaid society ran a competition for the best mermaid hair flick picture
• The photo had to showcase the water in a creative way
• the craze has swept through Australia

If you're still perfecting your best 'duck face' selfie then you may be behind the times, as a new trend of hair flicking is flooding social media.

In true Willow Smith fashion, girls are whipping their hair back and forth in an attempt to capture the ultimate mermaid hair flick. 

Captioning their photos with the hashtag #mermaidhairflick, women across Australia have started the bizzare trend, which sees them dipping their head in the water and quickly flicking their hair back behind them, creating a rainbow of water.

Kirra Innes won the mermaid hair flicking competition run by The Mermaid Society

The site asked their followers to post their best hair flicking picture and post it to Instagram. The picture was supposed to showcase the beauty of water

Women across Australia have started the bizzare trend, which sees them dipping their head in the water and quickly flicking their hair back behind them, creating a rainbow of water

The move manages to generate an impressive display of saltwater and makes for a pretty epic Instagram shot.

The Mermaid Society appear to have started the new craze, after asking women around Australia to post their best mermaid hair flick pictures to Instagram, showcasing the water as creatively as possible. 

The winner of the competition was Kirra Innes, who posted a breathtaking mermaid hair flick shot, showing Lake Wooloweyah glimmering in front of an orange sunset.  

The move manages to generate an impressive display of saltwater and makes for a pretty epic Instagram shot. This picture of @worldofclaire was taken at Whitehaven beach 

@karina1994 won second place in the Mermaid Society' hair flicking contest

This photo of @semplicemente_ash is a stunning display of a perfect mermaid hair flick

The Mermaid Society is dedicated to providing information, news and interviews for girls of the sea, including surfers and received hundreds of entries for the competition. 

Many other Instagram users have posted mermaid selfies to Instagram from Millaa Millaa Falls in Queensland.

The waterfall was famously used in the Herbal Essences advertisement, where the woman flicks her hair back in front of the waterfall.

It was also used in the Peter Andre video for Mysterious Girl. 

@bresby and her friend showcased their best hair flicks in this picture from Noosa

@racheliza_ proved that even girls with short hair can flick their hair like a mermaid

@lyssi_skye captioned her photo with #living #freeeeeintheseaaa at Freshie Beach

Kim Kardashian famously posted a video of her best mermaid hair flick to her social media account in April. 

The star can be seen dipping her hair in the water and whipping it back in slow motion, creating a wave of water in her trail. 

The trend seems to have finally caught on with girls all over the country emulating the famous 'it girl'.

This stunning backdrop of Millaa Millaa Falls made up the scene for @ljodgers mermaid hair flick photo

Kim Kardashian famously posted a video of her best mermaid hair flick to her social media account in April. 

The star can be seen dipping her hair in the water and whipping it back in slow motion, creating a wave of water in her trail. 

The trend seems to have finally caught on with girls all over the country emulating the famous 'it girl'.

@yasminhulin and her friend were backpacking in Cairns when they took this mermaid hair selfie at Millaa Millaa Falls

@lindseymcalister got the mermaid hair flick spot on in this photo at Millaa Millaa Falls

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The Mermaid Society -

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Researchers warn against Facebook, Twitter data
TORONTO: As researchers are mining Facebook and Twitter data to learn about online and offline human behaviour, a new study warns them to be wary of serious pitfalls that arise when working with huge social media data sets. 

Such erroneous results can have huge implications as thousands of research papers each year are now based on data gleaned from social media.

"Publicly available data feeds used in social media research do not always provide an accurate representation of the platform's overall data — and researchers are generally in the dark about when and how social media providers filter their data streams," explained Derek Ruths, assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"A large number of spammers and bots, which masquerade as normal users on social media, get mistakenly incorporated into many measurements and predictions of human behaviour," Ruths said.

The design of social media platforms can dictate how users behave and, therefore, what behaviour can be measured.

"For instance, on Facebook the absence of a 'dislike' button makes negative responses to content harder to detect than positive 'likes,' added study co-author Jurgen Pfeffer of Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Software Research.

Researchers often report results for groups of easy-to-classify users, topics and events — making new methods seem more accurate than they actually are.

For instance, efforts to infer political orientation of Twitter users achieve barely 65% accuracy for typical users — even though studies (focusing on politically active users) have claimed 90% accuracy, the authors contended.

"The common thread in all these issues is the need for researchers to be more acutely aware of what they are actually analysing when working with social media data," Ruths concluded.

The article appeared in the journal Science.

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Ferguson shooting reaction a study in the growing impact of social media

Sharing sites have done more than bring the fatal shooting in Ferguson to global attention - they also enabled the world to respond. Instantly.

The National Guard patrols outside the Ferguson Police Dept. Photo AFP

The Ferguson shooting is a study, according to one observer, in "how social media make everything everyone's business, whether you want that or not".

Ferguson Democratic committeewoman Patricia Bynes said social media had helped local people share their fears and feelings. "It has kept the conversation going and it has helped inform people about the evidence and circumstances," she said.

Bynes also thinks social media helped export the conflict and meaning of Ferguson to the rest of the world. Ferguson became everybody's business.

On Tuesday night, Ferguson became more than a neighbourhood demonstration over a grand jury decision: It expanded into a national night of protest.

The public was ahead of the media from the outset. According to the Pew Research Centre, more than one million tweets with Ferguson hashtags were traded between August 9, when Michael Brown was killed, and CNN's first prime-time story on Ferguson, on August 12.

In the months since, Ferguson community leaders used social media to urge peace and organise crowd-minders.

"We've seen a lot of creativity in Ferguson, as with other social movement uses of social media," says Mark Lashley, assistant professor of communication at La Salle. "There's a mix of humour and seriousness, as you also see in protests in Hong Kong and Mexico."

According to tracker site Trendsmap, as of Monday morning, the hashtag Ferguson was buzzing all over the world, and from coast to coast in the US, with major spikes in Missouri, but also in Philadelphia and New York, and in Florida and California.

Bynes said that, thanks to social media, "people felt the shock we in this community felt, when they started seeing images of Michael Brown's body in the street uncovered, and it kept being retweeted and people kept seeing it. For others it was images of the mother and stepfather at the scene. They saw the agony happening right there. It's just been a storm ever since, as it should be".

On Tuesday, organised by local and national social media campaigns, largely peaceful protests were launched throughout the country.

In New York, Al Sharpton gave a speech in Harlem, and a large crowd marched from Union Square to Times Square then to Columbus Circle. In Chicago, hundreds marched from the police station through town.

It had its spectacular side. Brooklyn Bridge and the Triborough were briefly shut down in New York, as was Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. In Los Angeles, protesters shut Interstate 110.

And at the White House, Jennifer Bendery tweeted: "At least 200 people chanting 'How many black kids will you kill?'"

As all these things happened, people posted and tweeted. According to the tracking site Topsy, more than 3.2 million tweets using the hashtag Ferguson were posted between Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

Exactly how is this different from the civil rights demonstrations of the 1950s-1970s? Didn't people say, "The whole world is watching" back then? Yes, they did. But as many remarked on Tuesday, today it's in real time.

But the truly new, truly now thing is this: The world could respond. Instantly. And it did. A survey of hundreds of tweets from all over the world suggests that, to these tweeters, the no-indictment decision of the grand jury was yet another racist episode in American history. French justice minister Christine Taubira tweeted: "How old was Michael Brown? 18. TrayvonMartin? 17. TamirRice? 12. How old next? 12 months? 'Kill them before they grow' - Bob Marley".

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as The social media grand jury

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