SnapHawk Blog

Running Scared?

To be blunt: Facebook users cannot bear to leave the site after years of commitment. I find the recent major changes just as annoying as the next person but we learn to adjust and adapt because we can’t imagine actually erasing the history contained within one account. Many may threaten to shut down their accounts but when the mouse hovers above the “delete account” button and the site asks “Are you sure you want to delete your account?” they just can’t seem to follow through.

Do “123456”, “abc123”, and “Qwerty” look familiar to you? That’s probably because they are some of the most popular passwords around. If you’re like most people, then these examples or some variation of them may have been one of passwords at some point. Because we’re living in the age of awesome, but sometimes frustrating technology, a lot of our personal data is stored on the Internet, which makes us all potentially vulnerable if personal data were to fall into the wrong hands.

With all the recent hackings in the news, it’s imperative that you secure your personal and business accounts to the fullest extent. We here at SnapHawk always try to inspire tech awesomeness and marketing savvy so the following are some helpful tips that should amp up your security and let you continue managing your Internet marketing campaign, business, and overall lifestyle smoothly.

The other day I wrote a blog post about tablets that are currently on the market. In the post I noted that the information presented was accurate as of August 18th, 2011 (the day the blog was published) and also mentioned that it’s always good to double check which make and model you are looking at when buying a technological device. Just seconds after I published this post—and as proof of the fact that technology changes faster than most people can keep track of — news broke that the HP Touchpad (one of the tablets compared in the blog) is being discontinued. 

Lately there has been some serious buzz about tablets and it seems like a new one gets released every day. Since it feels like every tech company in the world is creating their own version of the tablet, there must be something that makes these devices so popular. I am on a mission to find the best features the tablet has to offer – and what differentiates some of the many versions out there.

First off, what are some of the features of a tablet that make them so popular?

With 750+ million users, 55% of all social site visits, and 40% of daily web traffic, Facebook is more than just a simple social media website. It enables users to stay up to date with current news about their friends and the world, check into places where they are currently hanging out at, view advertisements tailored to their interests, and send private messages and chat with friends. Facebook has also become a business tool, giving businesses a channel to connect with an interested audience who are more likely to respond to advertisements, deals, or discounts.

While Facebook is clearly not lacking in variety of features, the social media giant continues to innovate and launch new applications and updates frequently. It’s hard to stay current with all the new features, so here’s a summary of Facebook’s latest additions and how they can make your social experience even more awesome.

With an abundance of social media sites out there, and new ones cropping up all the time, it has become difficult to differentiate each site. After a while they start to blur and it can become frustrating and tiring to try and keep up a presence on each one and to keep up to date on the newest social media  and Internet trends. One site that is sometimes overlooked and is becoming increasingly important for professionals who want to be "plugged in" is LinkedIn.

Over the past few weeks, as I myself have become even more familiar with LinkedIn, I have noticed there is a lack of understanding of the benefits of LinkedIn and how the site is in fact different from other social media platforms. The questions, “Isn’t LinkedIn the same thing as Facebook?” and, “Do I need to be on LinkedIn?” are common ones. This may come as a surprise to some but no, Facebook and LinkedIn are not the same thing, and yes you need to be on LinkedIn if you are in the college phase of your life or beyond. Here’s why:

With Apple’s iCloud.com just being released this week (currently for developers only), cloud technology will continue to be the next big thing and is clearly here to stay. According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is “the logical computational resources (data, software) accessible via a computer network, rather than from a local computer.” You may be wondering what does this mean to me? Why do I care?

How about making your life more easy and your technology more integrated? For instance, cloud technology will allow you to access your documents, contacts, calendar, photos, and any other information that you want on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc. This technology is revolutionary because users will no longer be required to install specific applications, such as a word processor, because the programs will be managed by their web browsers.

Technology has changed the way we read, communicate, and even think so it’s no surprise that it has also changed the way we listen. From record players to cassettes to CDs to MP3s, music is always evolving. Our own tech hawk, Jim, has demonstrated this progression by creating a music compilation site, Box of Cassettes, which blends retro tech and images with current digital realms. When you enter the Website, you will see a message that indicates how many cassettes are in the box. The visuals include a creative mash-up of ripped labels and broken cassette cases complete with awesome music driven by cutting-edge computer programing. Today, music is provided by online streaming and here are some popular services and useful links.

Pandora - allows you to create stations based on a song, artist, or genre and suggests songs similar to your taste.

Grooveshark - similar to Pandora, this site recommends music through Grooveshark radio. It also lets you search for a specific song and play it instantly.

In the past year or so, the world of gadgets, devices and consumer technology products has expanded and astonished shoppers around the world. Time and time again we learn that technology keeps advancing faster and doing more exciting things than ever.  Here’s a quick look at the coolest, most revolutionary products to hit the market in recent memory:

Smartphones that are even smarter. We all know it: smartphones have been on the market for a while now.  But there’s no doubt their presence is growing, and they’re getting more advanced every day.  Touch screens are becoming the norm, and there are over 70,000 “apps” available in the Android Market and 200,000 available in Apple’s App Store which can do pretty much anything you could want or imagine (within reason).  Now that 23% of all mobile subscribers have a smartphone, people are using these devices more and more for Internet searching and browsing.  And even though Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are getting most of the buzz, RIM’s BlackBerry is still the U.S. market leader.  The growth of the market size and fierce competition leave us with no doubt that smartphones will be hot gadgets for a long time.

If you need an example of how to perfectly integrate social media and viral marketing into your business’s marketing campaign, look no further than Old Spice.  If you haven’t seen the new hilarious Old Spice Body Wash commercials, you should check them out right now.

What’s most impressive about the campaign isn’t how humorous or unique its ads are, but rather how quickly it generated huge viral buzz stemming from Old Spice going out of its way to interact with fans all over the Internet.  On July 14, Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice guy himself, replied to comments and questions on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks via personalized YouTube videos.  Within 24 hours there were 181 reply videos posted on YouTube, producing over 6 million views.

The analytic capability now possible for measuring online behavior is astounding, and it’s only going to get better.  Amazingly, we are only in the infancy period of what is actually going to be feasible with website analytics in the future.  Even now, analytics enables smart business decisions and advertising that is more relevant, targeted, and cost efficient than anything in marketing history.  With all of the powerful tools available, though, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of data that’s out there. 

Mark Jeffery’s Data-Driven Marketing gives techniques to simplify this abundant data with 15 metrics.  Five of these easy-to-understand metrics are directly related to search engine marketing (SEM), and can help you determine which strategies are effective and which are allowing you to lose money.  Of course there are other metrics out there, but Jeffery’s are important to consider in the ongoing evolution of website analytics, and are relatively simple and easy to apply.   Below is a brief overview of how each metric can work for you.

OK, I’ll admit it:  It’s a little late to be writing about Twitter’s growth, but the site’s incredibly fast evolution still has me intrigued.  Twitter’s explosive user growth took place way back in early 2009, but Twitter activity didn’t boom until mid-2009 and well into 2010 when the number of tweets per day skyrocketed from around 2 million to 50 million.  Since tweets, which are small text-based posts, are the biggest indicator of the site’s activity, this showed that Twitter is still growing extremely rapidly.

So what makes this relatively simple social networking and microblogging website so popular?  And just how has the site progressed from reaching a somewhat niche, obsessive audience to a more mainstream pop-culture savvy population? I mean, I’ve met a lot of people – frequent social media users and technophobes alike – whose first response to my explanation of the Twitterverse results in a dumbfounded look and a subsequent puzzled, “Huh? I don’t get it.”