Stone IG

Twitter Resets Follower Count To Zero After ‘Forced Follow’ Bug Discovered

Freaking out because you suddenly have zero followers on Twitter? No, you’re not unpopular.

Twitter temporarily reset users’ follow count to zero and suspended the follow/unfollow feature in order to restore a bug that allowed people to force anyone to follow them.

Gizmodo spilled details on the “Forced Follow” bug, explaining in explicit detail how Twitterers “could force any Twitter user—from Oprah to Kutcher—to follow you.”

At 1pm today, Twitter reported: “Follow bug discovered, remedied.”

Read more at the Huffington Post.

Tumblr: Microblogging Its Way Up

“Tumblr—which is beloved by its users for its clean interface, ease of use and community.”- The New York Observer

“…The smart thing to be doing online these days is tumblelogging, which is to weblogs what text messages are to email – short, to the point, and direct.” - Telegraph.co.uk

Tumblr is the slightly lesser known hybrid of Twitter and WordPress (or any other complex blogging platform). With all the capabilities of a blog but with a much more simple, attractive Web 2.0  WYSIWYG editor interface – or straight up HTML if you choose – this social media network caters to the needs of a time-crunched modern-day online user.

Much like Twitter, once you start following a certain user, their updates appear on your Dashboard (user-side interface). Follow loads of people, and a variety of real-time posts will display in your feed. As any social media site would be incomplete without creative interactivity features, Tumblr doesn’t disappoint. Favorite a post you like and view a feed of only favorited posts (similar to favoriting tweets).

The networking feature is the automated act of reblogging – literally stealing another post from a fellow Tumblr and posting it on yours, with accreditation (similar to retweeting). Tumblr puts it most eloquently: “The same way YouTube embeds make it easy for a video to become a viral hit, the “reblog” button on all Tumblr posts allows a meme to spread rapidly across thousands of blogs with just a click.”

Full post on the StoneIG Blog…

Dribbble: Twitter for Designers

Part image library, part discussion forum and part game, Dribbble is a site by and for designers. Users upload bite-sized work samples and do a show-and-tell on their latest creations or works in progress.

The site was in private beta until this past weekend, and Co-founder Dan Cederholm said the site will “likely remain invite-only. Can’t say for certain of course, but for now, absolutely.”

Here’s how Dribbble works: “Players” upload “shots,” or small images around 400 by 300 pixels. Shots are typically small segments of a work in progress, sketches that need feedback or new versions of previously uploaded shots. Players can tag their shots and comment on them. Tags make for great browsing material as well, from ampersand inspirations to typography exercises.

Source: Mashable - The Social Media Guide

5 Ways to Build Buzz and Traffic to Your Website

By Sheena Nix

The lines between PR, Marketing & Advertising are continuing to blur, especially in the online world. While there will likely always be professionals who specialize in one area or another, more and more people (especially those at smaller agencies & companies) are starting to wear multiple hats. In fact, some people are wearing all the hats. Many started out in a single role, but due to a variety of circumstances (e.g. layoffs due to the economic climate or their company wanting to jump on the social media bandwagon to name a few) they’ve found themselves the ‘go-to’ person for all things promotion. There should be a new term for these people, someone get on that.

In the meantime, here’s a mini-guide for building buzz and traffic to a website to help out those who have found themselves thrust into the online marketing world.

1. Move your press releases online: Chances are you’re doing this already (if you aren’t you should be!). Today’s press releases need to be focused on keywords so that the search engines can find and index them easily. Many of the distribution sites allow clickable links and anchor text – Voila!, instant quality links back to your website of choice. PRWeb is the biggest name (and priciest!), the team here at Stone really loves OnlinePRNews.com! You get the ability to add up to three anchor text links, not to mention video etc., for a fraction of the price.
2. Twitter: Get a profile or, if you have one already, start updating it. Nielson has said that 60% of people who sign up for twitter post once and then never return. What’s the point? For Twitter to be a valuable strategy you have to commit to becoming a resource in your industry. This means that is it is important to ‘tweet’ information that people will actually find useful (they don’t necessarily care what you had for lunch today). Twitter pays off when you take the time to build up a group of followers who value your opinions and look to you for information, in short they trust you. The best part, it’s ok to promote yourself and clients (within reason & with disclosure). Twitter can be a great source of traffic to the content you have elsewhere. FYI – you can follow us here: @StoneIG
3. Create a Resource List: Create quality content on your website or blog is a must, and creating a resource list is a great way to do this. Examples of resources could include free tools, magazines and blogs relevant to your industry, or case studies and white papers that would be valuable to your potential customers. Make sure that the resource list is targeted and industry specific. Not only will customers appreciate the information, chances are others in the industry will find the information valuable and link to it as well.
4. Article Syndication: Create great content that doesn’t go directly on your website. It sounds backwards, but writing articles on your industry or products and submitting them to the plethora of article sites and directories will get you lots of links. You relinquish a bit of control on your piece, but the pay-off is worth it. Websites and online content publishers grab articles and re-publish them constantly. By submitting a quality article 2 or 3 times you can get 100 links back to your site.
5. Top 10 lists: It’s called ‘link bait’ and it is good. Whether it be Top 10, 50, 100 or 5 (see what we did here), lists tend to be fan favorites when it comes to earning links. Lists can also give you valuable ‘expert status’ when packaged correctly. They can also be a start to a series, giving you automatic ideas for future blog posts or articles. They can be about anything, and as silly or serious as you’d like. Doesn’t matter the industry, lists are always good. Hair Salon – Top 10 Cuts for Fall. Law office – The Top 20 Craziest Lawsuits in History. Restaurant – Top 50 Things You Can Use a Spork For. People even makes lists of lists (I kid you not) Make it unique and interactive, a good discussion post will bring in comments and links for quite some time.

photo from here by Shane Michael
and post adapted from our Public Relations site.

Social Networks Becoming Less Social?

The explosive growth of social networking sites in the past few years has led to quite a bit of clutter, and people are starting to notice. Whether you choose to go on a manual de-friending spree on Facebook, or use a tool like UnTweeps to ax followers on Twitter, you aren’t alone.

In his post Six Social Media Trends for 2010, David Armano says…

With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more “exclusive.” Not everyone can fit on someone’s newly created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it’s likely that user behavior such as “hiding” the hyperactive updaters that appear in your Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it’s not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value out of our networks — while filtering out the clutter.

This makes sense, paring down your networks can allow you to get real value out of them. But now Sean Silverthorne at Bnet is asking what does this mean for all the companies flocking to social media as a marketing tactic? Well, as so often is the case, if you’re doing it right it shouldn’t matter.

Yes, the fact that your target audience is paring down their network connections will undoubtedly make them harder to reach. Sending out a few intermittent tweets and counting on your customers to find and connect with you on their own just won’t cut it. Social Media has become such a big trend that it may seem like the answer - or that easy button from the Staples commercials - when in reality it is simply just another tool in the toolbox. Companies who have success in the space realize this, and use the social media networks as tools to build up a loyal customer base - and actually continue to interact with them regularly. Which is why they make the grade the next time that particular customer goes to clean out his or her network. It’s about becoming a relevant resource and providing real value to your followers/customers.

Which is what quality online marketing teams have been telling their clients all along.

View original post on the Stone Interactive Group blog.