Teens on Facebook Can Now Post Publicly

Before, teens with Facebook accounts could only share content with friends, friends of friends and specific custom groups. As of Wednesday, teens 13-17 years old will be able to post publicly and gain 'followers' on their profiles, just as anyone over 18 years old has the ability to do so.

Facebook recently blogged saying, "Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard. While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services."

To post publicly, teens will need to manually change their audience preferences on each post to 'public' before sharing. Note that the platform's audience settings will remain the same for all posts for all users, including the newly added teens. Having said that, a secondary reminder will pop up for teens after they choose to post publicly a following time.

Although we agree that younger generations are incredibly tech-savvy, we are curious to see how the recent changes will impact the current Facebook base. Teens naturally gravitate toward social platforms, but with the increase of the ability to share, will this simply add more noise to our already full newsfeeds, or will it simply mean that our community is better connected?

Tellus: How do you think this new freedom for teens will impact Facebook?

-- Samantha

Top 5 Ways to Tweet Like a Pro

Many digital experts believe that a presence on Twitter is a key piece in a successful social media strategy. We can't help but agree! Read on to find out how you can amplify your tweets to make the most of this popular platform.

#1: Be short & sweet. You only have 140 characters, so use them wisely! Like many journalists or writers, think about what is most important about your message and use words or terms to succinctly get that idea across to your followers.

#2: Enter the conversation. Don't make the mistake of tweeting in a vacuum. Join events taking place in real time by using a pre-existing hashtag and providing useful info to your fans. Don't forget to RT (occasionally) to show your support of others as well!

#3: Don't over hashtag. Although hashtags are a great way to aggregate content, be mindful of which ones you use -- and how often. Stick to two or three and make sure they pack a punch. For example, #social may be too broad, where as #socialmedia or #socialmediamarketing will carry more weight and will get more eyeballs on your content.

#4: Request a RT. Asking your fans to RT your content (every now and then) is acceptable and could bring your RT rate up by 12x, versus not asking. Make sure you leave enough characters in your tweet for your followers to add their own two cents!

#5. A photo is worth a 1000 words. If you have a relevant image to tweet with your message, do it! A tweet with an attached photo receives up to two times more engagement than those who don't.

Some more tips?

• Be consistent when tweeting! Once you tweet, it literally disappears in seconds on a follower's feed. As a result, make sure that you're tweeting several times a day, throughout the day. Use a platform like HootSuite or Tweetdeck to schedule tweets!
• Make sure that your company is following the right people. There are many fake accounts out there, so choose wisely by looking for quality content -- not just people looking for more followers!

Got more? Let us know in the comments below!

-- Samantha

Where Sports Fans Engage on Social Media

Big sports fan? Ever talk about the game on FB or Twitter? You're certainly not alone.

Catalyst's annual fan engagement study studies sports fans to better determine where they play on social media -- and where marketers can better reach them! In Catalyst's recent study, the team surveyed 2,100 sports fans (16 and 64 years old) who follow the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, college basketball and soccer.

A few top points are highlighted below, but check out the full infographic below

• Surprisingly, only 57% of fans surveyed "liked" a brand/sport team page to show their support -- versus 61% who "liked" a page for a coupon or discount.
• Although more fans are on Facebook in general, Twitter is the most popular platform on a game day.
• Post game, Instagram rises in popularity, when fans are most likely sharing images from the game or viewing party.

-- Samantha

Social Media Profile Photo Sizes

Customizing social profiles is important for any brand! Profile photos represent your company within the social space and should be clean, bold and consistent across all platforms. Read on to find out more information on specific profile photo sizing, so you can make the most of your social profiles and learn the tips to best optimize your content!

Facebook: 

Profile photos on this popular social platform are square (minimum of 180 x 180 pixels), so it'd be in your best interest to use an image with these dimensions or upload an image that is large enough that when cropped, will include the most important information, logo, etc.

When it comes to cover photos, choose wisely. This is a larger image than the profile photo, so it will be the first thing that a user sees when they visit your page. Although the minimum measurement is 399 x 150 pixels, your cover photos should be 851 x 315 pixels. Note that smaller images will stretch and as a result, will look pixilated and low-resolution.

To make sure that important information in your cover photo isn't covered by your profile photo, note that your profile image is 23 pixels from the left side and 210 pixels from the top of your cover photo. Try uploading a JPG file that less than 100KB for best results. If your picture includes a logo and/or text, use a PNG file.

Twitter:

Similar to Facebook, profile photos on Twitter are square -- but much smaller, which means that you will need to choose a clearer, bolder picture. Although the main profile photo displays as 73 x 73 pixels on your profile on Twitter.com (and a tiny 48 x 48 pixels in a tweet), you can upload an image as large as 2MB (but will need to crop accordingly).

The header image should be 1252 x 626 pixels, up to 5MB. This photo will show up behind your profile photo, but don't forget that your Twitter handle, bio information and URL will show over the image. As a result, we suggest choosing an image that won't take away from the text in the forefront!

YouTube:

FYI: The YouTube channel icon or profile photo is directly linked to your Google+ profile photo. Having said this, if you don't have a Google+ account, you can still fully optimize your channel with custom images and various downloadable templates.

The "channel art" or cover photo will automatically scale to fit the size of the screen that it is being displayed on. Try an image with dimensions of 2560 x 1440 pixels for the best results. Note that the smallest size for "channel art" is 1546 x 423 pixels. As a result, make sure that nothing important (logos, etc.) are in this area so they won't be cropped unintentionally.

Have more questions? Just ask! 

-- Samantha

Facebook Delivers Key Data to TV Networks

The relationship between television and social media has become more relevant -- and more important. Networks and specific TV shows are consistently pushing personal handles and hashtags to encourage engagement with their content. Some even launch fun contests and entice viewers to submit their own UGC (user generated content) through carefully thought-out integrations or during commercial breaks.

But how does one go about measuring the actual content being generated on social media and its direct impact as a result of television show, advertising and more?

Earlier this month, Facebook joined Twitter in the real-time news space as they announced that a select few news organizations, like CNN and Buzzfeed, would be allowed access to real-time public posts for an exact keyword and reports of the gender, age and location of those users engaging.

Most recently, Facebook began sending weekly metrics to four large TV networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as a few "select partners" according to The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog. Specifically speaking, the reports will stay private but will divulge in actions that take place on social media platforms during TV episodes (likes, comments and shares). On top of this, numbers will be calculated relating to how many Facebook users were behind such actions. Having these numbers will help networks get a better understand of what content is working with viewers and what is not, thus developing more highly integrated digital marketing strategies into the overall plan.

Although Facebook's new APIs are somewhat limited, experts believe that it will demonstrate how this social media giant is trying to set itself apart from its rival, Twitter, by placing more of an importance on its large fan base.

Daniel Slotwiner, the lead of Facebook’s measurement team says, “The conversation is being generated by a group that is much more representative of the general population– that means we should have a better signal as it relates to ratings."

TELL US: Do you tweet or comment during your favorite TV shows?

FOLLOW UP: Do you think data provided by Facebook will actually help TV networks?

-- Samantha

Twitter To Go Public

With the Twitter IPO looming, many are wondering what the ramifications will be to the user experience. According to analysts, not much will change. One of Twitter's greatest attributes has always been a positive user experience. The platform is clean and simple, and has been that way since day one. Unlike Facebook, who is constantly redesigning and overhauling their interface, user's have always been able to count on the Twitter they know and love.

Now that we have been reassured our day-to-day experience will not change much after the IPO, lets find out what will be different:

To begin, Twitter will most likely expand its international presence, specifically in Latin America and southeast Asia. This will be more of a behind-the-scenes type of change, so users will almost certainly not notice an impact on their experience. The next thing that Twitter's 240 million monthly active users may notice is an increase in new features and partnerships, for example shopping. Twitter recently hired the former president of Ticketmaster, Nathan Hubbard, to reportedly help bring a better shopping feature to the Twitter feed. This has the potential to be a HUGE change to the Twitter platform and online commerce as a whole. After all, how many times have you seen something on Twitter that you wanted to buy? If Nathan and Twitter can figure out a way to seamlessly integrate this feature, it could certainly be a game changer!

So, will Twitter continue to keep the user experience its number one priority post IPO? Only time will tell. We believe Twitter has always done a great job of adding thoughtful and useful features that actually enhance user experience, rather than just add revenue to the bottom line. We're excited to see what Twitter has in store for us. Of course, we will probably see more advertising one way or the other, but we have confidence that Twitter will do so in the least obtrusive way possible.

Which way do you think Twitter will go? Will they sacrifice user experience for marketing dollars or stay true to their user first ideals?

- Mike & Samantha

Esquire's 9/11 Social Media Fail

9/11. No matter where you were in the world, people took a moment (or more) to reflect on the terrible events that took place 12 years ago. And when it came to social media, many brands decided to run their own relevant stories or 'thoughts and prayers' for all of those involved. Others decided to go "dark" and not post any content in honor and remembrance of the lives lost on that fateful day. However, not everyone handled the situation with poise, including several large brands like AT&T and Esquire Magazine. Specifically speaking, the social media 'fail' that came from the popular men's magazine, Esquire, was the apparent mistake of running a story of the infamous 'falling man' from 9/11 -- next to copy that read "Make your morning commute more stylish: Look good on your way to work."

Almost immediately, people took to Twitter to show their anger for the insensitivity of the magazine's layout. Fortunately, the brand responded with an apology for the editorial mess-up. Unfortunately, the brand did so in a manner that enraged fans even more.

Although I'm only an opinion of one, I think this was a very inappropriate way to respond to those who were upset. By using the word relax, Esquire implied that the Twitter community was overreacting. Instead, I would've recommended genuinely owning up to the mistake, making sure to leave all "judgmental" statements to the side.  Even though an apology was included in the tweet, the impact of it was lessened by the lead-in.

Sadly, this type of insincere communication happens all of the time on social media between brands and their communities. Whether it's copy that could be easily misinterpreted or content that comes across too promotional in the wake of a tragedy, brands must be 100% aware of what reactions could come about from fans and what to appropriately say in the case that things do go awry.

As a former community manager for several major consumer brands, my team and I handled PR crises with much more sensitivity, as we knew how quickly brand loyalty could be washed away in a blink of an eye with one wrong or insensitive response. I hope that the community manager in charge of the tweet learned from this mistake and will do better in the future. I also hope that the team behind the magazine's digital strategy will put in a better checks and balances strategy in times of high sensitivity, so a simple reactionary tweet like "Relax, everybody" will be reviewed before going live in the future.

-- Samantha